EBOLA GENOME BROWSER ONLINE TO AID RESEARCHERS RESPONSE TO CRISIS

The UC Santa Cruz Genomics Institute late Tuesday (Sept. 30) released a new Ebola genome browser to assist global efforts to develop a vaccine and antiserum to help stop the spread of the Ebola virus.

The team led by University of California, Santa Cruz researcher Jim Kent worked around the clock for the past week, communicating with international partners to gather and present the most current data. The Ebola virus browser aligns five strains of Ebola with two strains of the related Marburg virus. Within these strains, Kent and other members of the UC Santa Cruz Genome Browser team have aligned 148 individual viral genomes, including 102 from the current West Africa outbreak.

UC Santa Cruz has established the UCSC Ebola Genome Portal with links to the new Ebola genome browser as well as links to all the relevant scientific literature on the virus.

"Ebola has been one of my biggest fears ever since I learned about it in my first microbiology class in 1997," said Kent, who 14 years ago created the first working draft of the human genome. "We need a heroic worldwide effort to contain Ebola. Making an informatics resource like the genome browser for Ebola researchers is the least we could do."

Scientists around the world can access the open-source browser to compare genetic changes in the virus genome and areas where it remains the same. The browser allows scientists and researchers from drug companies, other universities, and governments to study the virus and its genomic changes as they seek a solution to halt the epidemic.

The release of the new Ebola genome browser comes as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tuesday confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States.

The Ebola browser was started shortly after a phone conversation between Kent and his sister, an epidemiologist at the CDC, who spoke of how she and her staff were consumed with Ebola research in the face of the escalating crisis. UC Santa Cruz Professor Phil Berman, an HIV specialist, had also asked Kent for help with his efforts in developing a vaccine for Ebola.

Kent asked his supervisor, UC Santa Cruz bioinformatics researcher David Haussler, if he could divert his team to Ebola work. Haussler replied with an enthusiastic affirmative, and they pulled together a team of UC Santa Cruz bioinformatics scientists that, within a week, was able to create a fully functional Ebola genome browser.

"The incredible speed with which this group was able to assemble all the genetic information about Ebola and make it available to the world shows what a great team Jim Kent has assembled," Haussler said.

In June 2000, Kent and Haussler released the first working draft of the human genome sequence on the web. Two months later, Kent developed the UCSC Genome Browser, which has become an essential resource to biomedical science.

In a similar marshaling of forces in the face of a worldwide threat 11 years ago, UC Santa Cruz researchers created a SARS virus browser.

Foot Neuropathy A Doctors Response

Today's post from uexpress.com (see link below) is the initial conversation you would want to have with your doctor, if you turned up at the surgery with neuropathic symptoms. Unfortunately not all doctors are as clear as this during their consultation and many patients leave feeling confused and frustrated that they're not being told what's going on with their nerves. Communication is key with neuropathy. You need to get an umbrella view first and with that information in hand, move on gradually onto the treatment ladder. If you know of someone who is at their wits end as to what their problem is, show them this doctor's response - it's by no means comprehensive but at the beginning it doesn't need to be. At least the patient will have a good idea of what he or she is dealing with.

Foot Neuropathy Isn't 'Major' Problem, but It Sure Can Hurt - Ask Doctor K by Anthony Komaroff Apr 17, 2015

DEAR DOCTOR K: I have neuropathy pain in my feet. What can I do to relieve it?

DEAR READER: Neuropathy, or nerve damage, is a remarkably common problem. I get asked lots of questions about it -- both from readers of this column and from readers of the Harvard Health Letter, which I edit. It isn't considered a "major" health problem by many doctors, because it isn't potentially fatal. But, like many other problems not labeled as major by doctors, it sure can make people miserable and interfere with their lives.

Fortunately, there are several treatments that bring relief to most people who suffer with this condition. There are different types of neuropathy, but I'll assume you have the most common type, called axonal neuropathy.

Neuropathy affects many of the nerves in your body. Each nerve is like a highway that connects your brain to the rest of your body. Signals from your brain travel down the nerves sending orders, such as the order for your muscles to move different parts of your body. Signals from your body travel up the nerves to your brain. When your fingers touch something, for example, signals from your fingers tell the brain how cold and how hard that thing is, and whether touching it causes pain.

The longer a nerve is, the more likely it is to be affected by neuropathy. The nerves connecting your brain to your legs and feet are the longest, so the symptoms of neuropathy almost always begin in and are worst in the feet.

The most common symptoms of neuropathy are numbness, burning, or unpleasant sensations that people have a hard time describing. The loss of sensation in the feet can cause problems with balance when walking. If you can't tell where your weight is being carried (is it on your heels or the balls of your feet?), your brain gets confused.

Among the most common causes of neuropathy are diabetes, alcohol abuse, an underactive thyroid gland and some types of cancer chemotherapy. However, about one out of every four people with neuropathy has none of these known causes.

If you have any of the known causes of neuropathy, the first thing to do is treat the cause. If you're diabetic, do everything you can to lower your blood sugar. If you drink too much, cut down. If you have an underactive thyroid, take your thyroid pills as directed and get regular thyroid blood tests.

The most widely used medicines for reducing symptoms are an anticonvulsant -- either gabapentin (Neurontin) or pregabalin (Lyrica) -- and tricyclic drugs, including desipramine. Other anticonvulsants and drugs that decrease the number and severity of muscle spasms also can be helpful, including phenytoin, carbamazepine, topiramate and baclofen.

Not all of these drugs help for everyone. But if you work closely with your doctor, the odds are good that you can find one that will give you considerable relief.

http://www.uexpress.com/ask-dr-k/2015/4/17/foot-neuropathy-isnt-major-problem-but