Gene That Creates Cerebral Cortex Discovered

Researchers have identified the gene responsible for creating the brain's thinking center, in a finding that could one day help people with brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases.

The gene, called Lhx2, tells stem cells in the developing brain to form the cerebral cortex, which controls functions such as language, decision-making and vision, according to a University of California, Irvine, study published in the Jan. 18 issue of Science. Without the Lhx2 gene, these cells wouldn't form, the researchers said.

"This new understanding of Lhx2's role in cortical development can potentially be used in stem cell research efforts to grow new cortical neurons that can replace damaged ones in the brain," Dr. Edwin Monuki, an assistant professor of pathology at the university, said in a prepared statement.

"This finding has implications for continuing efforts to help people recover from a stroke or slow the progress of neurodegenerative diseases," he said.

Researchers in Monuki's lab are now trying to activate Lhx2 genes in neural stem cells to prompt the growth of cortical cells. If successful, their efforts could led to clinical studies that could one day help treat patients, he said.

Auto coverage explained

Understanding Your Auto Insurance

Auto insurance can seem confusing. But once you understand the different types of coverages that make up your policy, it’s not hard at all. Your auto insurance is really a package of seven primary coverages. Taken together, these coverages make up a standard auto policy. Each of these coverages has its own separate premium. Your premium payment is the total of these separate premiums.

In addition to the primary coverages, for additional premiums you can also add on coverages such as GEICO’s Mechanical Breakdown Insurance and Emergency Road Service.

1. Bodily injury liability provides protection if you injure or kill someone while operating your car. It also provides for a legal defense if another party in the accident files a lawsuit against you.

In the event of a serious accident, you want enough insurance to cover a judgment against you in a lawsuit, without jeopardizing your personal assets.

Bodily injury liability covers injury to people, not your vehicle. Therefore it’s a good idea to have the same level of coverage for all of your cars.

2. Medical payments, no-fault or personal injury protection coverage usually pays for the medical expenses of the injured driver and passengers in your car. There may also be coverage if you are injured by a vehicle as a pedestrian.

3. Uninsured motorists coverage pays for your injuries caused by an uninsured driver or, in some states, a hit-and-run driver, in a crash that is not your fault. In some states there is also uninsured motorist coverage for damage to your vehicle.

Given the large number of uninsured motorists, this is very important coverage to have, even in states with no-fault insurance.

4. Comprehensive physical damage coverage pays for losses resulting from incidents other than collision. For example, comprehensive insurance covers damage to your car if it is stolen; or damaged by flood, fire or animals. To keep your premiums low, select as high a deductible as you feel comfortable paying out of pocket.

5. Collision coverage pays for damage to your car when your car hits, or is hit by, another vehicle or other object.

To keep your premiums low, select as large a deductible as you feel comfortable paying out of pocket. For older cars, consider dropping this coverage, since coverage is normally limited to the cash value of your car.

6. Property damage liability protects you if your car damages someone else’s property. It also provides you with legal defense if another party files a lawsuit against you. It is a good idea to purchase enough of this insurance to cover the amount of damage your car might do to another vehicle or object.

7. Rental reimbursement coverage pays for a rental vehicle (usually up to $25 a day) when the insured's vehicle is out of commission as a result of a loss covered under comprehensive or collision coverages.

Stages of Breast Cancer

Is it Stage II? Is it inflammatory breast cancer? Although learning where you fit in the scheme of breast cancer stages can feel like a jail term ("So now I guess I'm stuck at stage III"), this information is a key part of figuring out how you and your doctors will approach your treatment. The purpose of the staging system is to help organize the different factors and some of the personality features of the cancer into categories, in order to:

* best understand your prognosis (the most likely outcome of the disease)
* guide treatment decisions, since clinical studies of breast cancer treatments that you and your doctor will consider are partly organized by the staging system, and
* provide a common way to describe the extent of breast cancer for doctors and nurses all over the world, so that results of your treatment can be compared and understood.



3 spheres measuring 1 cm, 3cm, 5cm

Stage 0

This stage is used to describe non-invasive breast cancer. There is no evidence of cancer cells breaking out of the part of the breast in which it started, or of getting through to or invading neighboring normal tissue. LCIS and DCIS are examples of stage 0.
Stage I

This stage describes invasive breast cancer (cancer cells are breaking through to or invading neighboring normal tissue) in which

* The tumor measures up to two centimeters, AND
* No lymph nodes are involved.

Stage II

This stage describes invasive breast cancer in which:

* The tumor measures at least two centimeters, but not more than five centimeters, OR
* Cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm on the same side as the breast cancer. Affected lymph nodes have not yet stuck to one another or to the surrounding tissues, a sign that the cancer has not yet advanced to stage III. (The tumor in the breast can be any size.)

Stage III

Stage III is divided into subcategories known as IIIA and IIIB.
Stage IIIA

Stage IIIA describes invasive breast cancer in which:

* the tumor measures larger than five centimeters, OR
* there is significant involvement of lymph nodes. The nodes clump together or stick to one another or surrounding tissue.

Stage IIIB

This stage describes invasive breast cancer in which a tumor of any size has spread to the breast skin, chest wall, or internal mammary lymph nodes (located beneath the breast right under the ribs, inside the middle of the chest).

Stage IIIB includes inflammatory breast cancer, a very uncommon but very serious, aggressive type of breast cancer. The most distinguishing feature of inflammatory breast cancer is redness involving part or all of the breast. The redness feels warm. You may see puffiness of the breast's skin that looks like the peel of a navel orange ("peau d'orange"), or even ridges, welts, or hives. And part or all of the breast may be enlarged and hard. A lump is present only half of the time. Inflammatory breast cancer is sometimes misdiagnosed as a simple infection.
Expert Quote

"When you're in the midst of the diagnosis and staging process, and the tumor information is coming back in bits and pieces, at many different times, it is an extremely stressful time in your life. Uncertainty really stinks! But you will feel SO much better once you know what you're dealing with, when your treatment plan has been worked out, and you start your treatment. Only then does much of that dreadful uncertainty lift, and you finally feel that you are doing something to get rid of the problem." —Marisa Weiss, M.D.

Stage IV

This stage includes invasive breast cancer in which

* a tumor has spread beyond the breast, underarm, and internal mammary lymph nodes, and
* a tumor may have spread to the supraclavicular lymph nodes (nodes located at the base of the neck, above the collarbone), lungs, liver, bone, or brain.

"Metastatic at presentation" means that the breast cancer has spread beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes, even though this is the first diagnosis of breast cancer. The reason for this is that the primary breast cancer was not found when it was only inside the breast. Metastatic cancer is considered stage IV.
Additional staging information:

You may also hear terms such as "early" or "earlier" stage, "later" or "advanced" stage breast cancer. Although these terms are not medically precise (they may be used differently by different doctors), here is a general idea of how they apply to the official staging system:
Early stage:

* Stage 0
* Stage I
* Stage II

Later stage:

* (stage II if there are many lymph nodes involved)
* Stage III (IIIA, IIIB)

Advanced stage:

* Stage IV

You may also hear the cancer described by three characteristics:

* size (T stands for tumor),
* node involvement (N stands for node), and
* whether it has metastasized (M stands for metastasis).

The T category describes the original (primary) tumor:

* TX means the tumor can't be measured or found.
* T0 means there isn't any evidence of the primary tumor.
* Tis means the cancer is "in situ" (the tumor has not started growing into the breast tissue).
* The numbers T1-T4 describe the size and/or how much the cancer has grown into the breast tissue. The higher the T number, the larger the tumor and/or the more it may have grown into the breast tissue.

The N category describes whether or not the cancer has reached nearby lymph nodes:

* NX means the nearby lymph nodes can't be measured or found.
* N0 means nearby lymph nodes do not contain cancer.
* The numbers N1-N3 describe the size, location, and/or the number of lymph nodes involved. The higher the N number, the more the lymph nodes are involved.

The M category tells whether there are distant metastases (whether the cancer has spread to other parts of body):

* MX means metastasis can't be measured or found.
* M0 means there are no distant metastases.
* M1 means that distant metastases were found.

Once the pathologist knows your T, N, and M characteristics, they are combined, and an overall "stage" of 0, I, II, III, IIIA, IIIB, or IV is assigned.

For example, a T1, N0, M0 breast cancer would mean that the primary breast tumor:

* is less than two centimeters across (T1),
* does not have lymph node involvement (N0), and
* has not spread to distant parts of the body (M0).

This cancer would be grouped as a stage I cancer.

lung cancer

Q. What causes lung cancer?

A. The vast majority - over 80% - of lung cancers are caused by smoking tobacco or by indirect exposure to tobacco smoke (passive smoking). The other main causes are breathing industrial chemicals such as asbestos, arsenic and polycyclic hydrocarbons or the natural radioactive gas, radon .


Q. Who is at risk?

A. Like most cancers, the risk of lung cancer increases with age. The longer you smoke, the greater your risk. Very few cases are diagnosed in people under 40 and the most common age of diagnosis is between 70 and 74. In the US 91,000 men and 79,000 women are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. In the UK the figures are 23,000 men and 15,000 women .


Q. Does lung cancer run in families?

A. There are very few, if any, inherited conditions that increase the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers. However, not all of the people who smoke get lung cancer and there may be an inherited component which influences whether or not smoking will cause lung cancer .


Q. Does diet affect the risk of getting lung cancer?

A. This is still being investigated, but research to date has not found any link between diet and lung cancer .


Q. Are there different types of lung cancer?

A. There are four main types of lung cancer: small cell lung cancer, squamous cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Tobacco smoking is strongly linked to the first three but only weakly linked to adenocarcinoma. However, this type of lung cancer has been linked to the use of low-tar cigarettes .


Q. What are the symptoms of lung cancer?

A. There are a variety of symptoms of lung cancer, including difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, chest pain, loss of appetite, weight loss and general fatigue. Some lung cancers do not cause any noticeable symptoms until they are quite advanced and have spread to other parts of the body .


Q. How is lung cancer diagnosed?

A. Lung cancers are sometimes first detected on routine chest X-rays. However, the main method of diagnosis is bronchoscopy, in which a thin, flexible tube is inserted down the airways (under anaesthetic), allowing doctors to see the inside of the lungs and even take a biopsy (a sample small of the suspect tissue). A CT scan, liver ultrasound or bone scan may also be used to find out if the cancer has spread .


Q. How is lung cancer treated?

A. Drug treatment (chemotherapy) is the usual treatment for small cell lung cancers, because they usually spread too quickly for surgery to be useful. Radiotherapy is also often used. For the other types of lung cancer, surgery is first used to remove the main tumour, if it has not spread too far. If surgery is not possible, then radiotherapy is used instead. Depending on the type of tumour and how advanced it is, chemotherapy can be used in different ways: either to shrink the tumour before surgery or after surgery to kill off any remaining cancer cells .


Q. How effective is the treatment?

A. cancer is one of the most dangerous cancers. The available treatments can prolong the patient's life, but complete cures are very rare. Four out of every five lung cancer patients die within one year of being diagnosed. Only one in twenty is alive five years after diagnosis. Many of these are people diagnosed with early squamous cell carcinomas, which can be treated successfully by surgical removal .