FINDINGS
Friday, February 9, 2007; Page A07
Researchers Find Hope Against Rett Syndrome
Scientists are raising the first hope of recovery from an autism-like disease that leaves thousands of girls unable to talk or walk -- with an experiment that erased symptoms of the disorder in genetically engineered mice.
Yesterday's report challenges the long-held belief that the brain damage from Rett syndrome is permanent, but it comes with a big warning: Researchers do not know how to try such treatment in people yet.
"The thing that keeps your feet on the ground with this study is it shows the principle of reversibility, but doesn't give you any clue about how to accomplish that," cautioned lead researcher Adrian Bird of Scotland's Edinburgh University.
To their surprise, the researchers found they were able to reactivate a gene called MECP2 that controls other genes involved in the maturation of neurons. The gene shuts down in Rett victims.
The work, reported in the journal Science, could affect more than Rett syndrome, because the same genetic culprit plays a role in certain forms of autism and other brain diseases, too. Rett syndrome is rare, afflicting roughly one in 10,000 girls. (Affected boys almost always die in infancy.)
Fertility-Treatment Risks Played Down
Babies conceived through fertility treatments have higher rates of birth defects, but the overall risk is so small that it should not keep couples from having children this way, according to a study of more than 61,000 births in Canada.
"What's important and reassuring is that the absolute risks are still low," at less than 3 percent of all births, compared with 2 percent for babies conceived naturally, said one of the study's leaders, Mark Walker of the University of Ottawa.
Couples who want to lower the risk should have only one or two embryos implanted at a time, specialists said. The danger of defects from twin, triplet and other multiple births is far greater than any risk posed by the fertility treatments themselves.
Results of the study were to be reported today at a meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in San Francisco.
Spiritual Help Lacking Among Terminally Ill
Spiritual support appears to help improve the quality of life among people with terminal illness, a study found, but many patients said they were not getting that support from religious communities or the medical system.
In the study of 230 patients, 88 percent of whom considered religion to be at least somewhat important, nearly half said their spiritual needs were largely or entirely ignored by organized religion; 72 percent said those needs were not addressed by the medical system.
The researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, wrote in the Journal of Clinical Oncology that barriers often hinder doctors from helping provide spiritual support. The worlds of medical science and religion are separated in many hospitals, the authors said, and there is concern that doctors might try to impose their own beliefs on patients.
Doctors need not become spiritual advisers, but "they can participate appropriately in spiritual care . . . by recognizing spiritual needs and advocating for attention to them," the study said.
"Our findings suggest that such support can help improve patients' quality of life at the end of life," said Tracy Balboni of the Harvard Radiation Oncology Program.
The study evaluated 161 patients who underwent treatment at 16 research centers for six months.
-- From News Services
