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Welcome to the Sigma Beta Prospective National Charities page. Here you will
find links and information on potential National Charity Projects! All Sigma
Betas are encouraged to learn more about prospective projects before voting
at Sigma Beta's annual Convention. Click on the
links to the organizations' web sites for an in-depth look. If you have
questions about the proposed charity projects, feel free to contact the
chapter who's sponsoring it or the organizations' liaisons.
For Your Consideration......
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Gamma Tau Chapter seeks support for
Parkinson's Disease Research at the
Lerner Research Institute at the
Cleveland Clinic. Please direct your questions to Mary Pat Fenner
at 937-258-2374
or
mpat1938@msn.com. |
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Proposal
Details: |
Dr. Albert's
research focuses on the understanding structure-function relationships
within the central nervous system and the upper body. Currently he is
working on two projects geared towards helping people living with
Parkinson's disease (PD) and they include:
1) Diagnostic - Dr. Alberts is currently working to develop a better
diagnostic tool for PD. Currently diagnostic measures are not uniform
and are subjective at best - it can take years for a patient to be
decisively diagnosed with PD. With help from the Michael J. Fox
Foundation, Dr. Alberts hopes to develop a tool that can be used online
- in an individual's home or in their doctor's office. By developing a
standardized diagnostic tool, available world wide, people can receive
more accurate and earlier diagnosis of their disease. Information that
patients can then use when developing their treatment plans going
forward.
2) Treatment - Dr. Alberts has conducted preliminary research which
indicates that "forced exercise" leads to reduced PD symptoms (please see
enclosed DVD) - the next question is why and how?
Through previous research that Jay has done we know that this is
occurring. Dr. Alberts designed a tandem bicycle that measures and
monitors patients' performance, power and pedaling rate. The bicycle
forces PD patients to pedal at rates 40% to 60% faster than they can
achieve on their own. One encouraging aspect is the improvement in motor
function in patients' arms even though they're only using their legs
during the exercising. We've seen as much as a 35% improvement in motor
function. This suggests that forced exercise is impacting higher brain
function and improving central motor function.
Scans ofPD patients' brains show that exercise seems to stimulate the
supplementary motor area of the brain, the region that controls general
movement and governs 60% of our daily physical activity - the manual
tasks that range from buttoning shirts to tying shoe laces to
handwriting. Dr. Alberts has been working on the project with Mark Lowe,
PhD, Cleveland Clinic's Imaging Institute, and Michael Phillips, MD,
Section Head of Imaging Sciences in the Cleveland Clinic Department of
Diagnostic Radiology. There's an increase in activation after just one
forced exercise session. We've seen improvements remain for four weeks
after a patient stopped forced exercising. We believe driving of the
central nervous system may be necessary to produce the underlying
biochemical changes which need to occur to improve motor function.
The next steps are to understand the mechanisms underlying improved
function, what is the minimum dose necessary for improvements to occur,
are these effects long-lasting and does forced exercise ofthis kind slow
the progression of PD. In other words what is happening in the brain and
body ofthe PD patient to causes such a dramatic change in symptoms and
can we recreate that affect with pharmaceuticals. The answer to this
question will impact patient's living with PD but ALL Neurological
Diseases (ie Alzheimers, MS, ALS, epilepsy, Dystonia etc). Understanding
what is occurring in the body and mind in key to making this happen.
A $25,000 grant is sought by
Dr. Albert to move the exercise study into clinical studies.
Funds from the
Sigma Beta would be used
towards that effort. I have enclosed multiple copies of a summary of
Jay's work - please feel free to distribute to your board. I also invite
you and board members to come to the Lerner Research Institute and meet
with Jay in person and see how forced exercise is making a difference in
the lives of those living with PD.
Learn More at
www.lerner.ccf.org. |
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Christine A.
Iacobuzio-Donahue MD, PhD,
Associate Professor, Pathology and Oncology seeks
support for her research on pancreatic cancer at
Johns Hopkins University. |
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Proposal
Details: |
For the past five
years we have been studying how pancreatic cancers
spread to other organs, called metastasis. With the
invaluable help of a Sigma Beta
Sorority Award to my research, we have made great
strides in this area. Our lab has discovered that there
is not one but two types of pancreatic cancer. While
they appear similar at diagnosis, they differ
dramatically in how they continue to grow within the
pancreas or their ability to metastasize to other
organs. This is a huge step forward as it suggests that
one of the reasons for the failure of many clinical
trials is that we have been unknowingly comparing these
two types of cancer, in essence comparing “apples” to
“oranges”. Now that we have discovered how to recognize
these two types of pancreatic cancer at the time of
diagnosis, the next step will be to a) reanalyze
clinical trial data that already exists within these two
types of cancer to confirm this finding, b) continue to
accumulate information of the molecular features of
these two types of pancreatic cancer to better recognize
them at diagnosis, and c) begin a small scale clinical
trial at Johns Hopkins using treatment regiments that
are more appropriate for the type of pancreatic cancer a
patient has.
A $25,000 grant from
Sigma Beta will provide
critical support to begin small clinical trials at Johns
Hopkins using treatment regimens that are more
appropriate for the type of pancreatic cancer a patient
has.
Learn More at
pathology.jhu.edu/pancreas. |
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Epsilon Lambda Chapter seeks your
support for Cure
Childhood Cancer.
Kristin Connor is the liaison. |
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Proposal
Details: |
Founded in 1975, CURE Childhood Cancer’s mission is to
conquer Childhood cancer through research, education and
support of patients and their families. Since our
establishment is a grass-roots organization, CURE has
focused our efforts on improving the care, quality of
life, and survival rate of children with cancer.
Although our efforts on behalf of children with cancer
are extensive, our primary activities are focused in
three areas: Research, Training and Family Support.
Support for research is a critical par of CURE’s
mission. We are passionate about growing our support of
childhood cancer research because we know it is only
through vigorous and unwavering research support that
less toxic treatments and ultimately cures will be found
for childhood cancer. Less than 2% of federal funding
towards cancer is directed toward solving children’s
cancer. Major drug companies focus their research
initiatives on treatments for adult cancers, not
childhood cancers. CURE is committed to help bridge the
funding gap left by the dwindling federal funds. CURE
focuses much of our research funding on seed grants. By
providing the “seed money” CURE fills a direct and
urgent need in the scientific community.
A
$25,000 grant to support our pediatric cancer research
initiative. CURE Childhood Cancer asks for the generous
support of Sigma Beta to further our mission of
conquering childhood cancer through research, education
and patient and family support.
Learn More at
www.curechildhoodcancer.org. |
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