Disease

Some of the country’s top medical researchers arrived in Newport Beach on Thursday to help find a cure for a fatal genetic disease that strikes young boys. The Newport Beach-based nonprofit CureDuchenne is hosting its first Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Summit at the Newport Beach Marriott this week to discuss the latest developments in medical research on the disease. “I’m very humbled, first of all, to have this level of top researchers in the world giving up their weekend to come out here,” said mom and CureDuchenne co-founder Debra Miller.

A study by UC Irvine researchers could prove that stress is even more harmful to the human body than previously thought — specifically to the brain. The researchers, led by Frank LaFerla, discovered a hormonal connection between stress and Alzheimer's disease. The study shows that increased levels of stress increases acceleration of the disease through the brain. UCI researchers Kim Green and Lauren Billings worked to solve the connection between stress and Alzheimer's using a crew of genetically altered mice.

The Islamic faith does not prohibit embryonic stem cell research or its use, especially for the treatment of major diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and others. However, the problem arises when this type of research is used for cloning, which might end up in devastating repercussions on humanity. IMAM MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI Islamic Educational Center of Orange County Costa Mesa "Choose life," Deuteronomy 30:19, seems so simple and directive.

The state’s stem cell agency have given $1.5 million to UCI researchers Sunday under two separate grants to study Huntington’s disease and an eye disease, school officials said Monday. One will go toward researching stem cells and the other will fund the planning stages of the research for the disease, officials said. UCI professor Leslie Thompson was awarded nearly $1.4 million to develop a treatment for Huntington’s disease. She also received $54,618 to coordinate the disease study.

Last week, my boss asked me to tag along with him for lunch at our favorite spot, the Yardhouse. He was planning to meet with Debra Miller, a Newport Beach woman who had started the organization CureDuchenne Muscular Dystrophy, www.cureduchenne.org , to discuss news coverage of her group and its events. Not one to turn down a free lunch, I agreed. I'm sure glad I did. Miller told us her story about how she founded the organization, and it was both heartbreaking and inspirational.

Young Chang The title of the Alzheimer's Assn. of Orange County's next conference -- Spiritual Care of Patients and Families Affected by Alzheimer's Disease: A Conference for Clergy -- might raise some eyebrows. Why the clergy? "We try to encourage leaders in our community to understand. The family stops going to church. They lose their connection with their religion," said Linda Scheck, executive director of the organization. To bring caregivers and people with Alzheimer's back to their faith -- and to help keep them from straying in the first place -- the Interfaith Outreach Committee of the Alzheimer's Assn.

At the UC Irvine Brain Imaging Center, treatments and diagnoses of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and other brain-related illnesses are being discovered through the center's state-of-the-art imaging technology. The center is a world-class imaging facility, and one of its most recent technological advances has pushed it to a new height. It now houses a High Resolution Research Tomograph, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner with 10 times the resolution of the center's previous scanner.

It was 41 months ago today that Augie Nieto was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. His motor functions have been compromised and his family shaken, and his life is often an attempt at finding balance. Nieto said half of those diagnosed with ALS don’t survive past 18 months. But Nieto, 50, has fought through those months and worked to raise awareness and money to support research about the disease. For Nieto, it is his quest — and that of his wife, Lynne — to champion the cause for the rest of his life, which he intends to have last for a long time.

Bill Bisch was in the midst of throwing a football during a family Thanksgiving game when his legs gave out and he fell face down. The 57-year-old San Juan Capistrano resident was quickly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). "MS changed my life dramatically," he said. "Who plans on retiring at 39?" For the second year in a row, Bisch was the top fundraiser at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Walk MS event, hosted Saturday at UC Irvine. Along with his wife and sons, and members of Team Momentum, he contributed more than $30,000 to the cause.

Lucas Brandom climbed a mountain for his brother. Shivering cold, soaked to the skin and numb with exhaustion, Lucas made the excruciating final push to reach the 13,455-foot summit, then swore he'd never do it again. But, sure enough, after several months, the memories of his aching body receded. Propelled by the strength of his brotherly devotion, the 17-year-old Newport Beach resident is preparing to climb Mt. Kinabalu on the island of Borneo in Malaysia once again to promote awareness of the disease that has robbed his sibling of a normal life.

Bill Bisch was in the midst of throwing a football during a family Thanksgiving game when his legs gave out and he fell face down. The 57-year-old San Juan Capistrano resident was quickly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). "MS changed my life dramatically," he said. "Who plans on retiring at 39?" For the second year in a row, Bisch was the top fundraiser at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Walk MS event, hosted Saturday at UC Irvine. Along with his wife and sons, and members of Team Momentum, he contributed more than $30,000 to the cause.

Joyce Mary Kelly January 7, 1948 - March 4, 2013 Joyce Kelly, 65, of Cost Mesa died peacefully at Hoag Memorial Hospital after a long struggle with an autoimmune disease on Monday, March 4, 2013.  Her husband, Bob, and her daughters, Laurie and Suzann, were present at her bedside when she passed. Joyce was born and raised in North Hollywood, California by Clarence and Bethel Purcell. She had an older sister, Jean Purcell McCulley, who passed five years ago.  Joyce and her family spent many summers vacationing in Newport Beach, and she often felt herself as a resident of Newport-Mesa as well as North Hollywood.  She graduated from North Hollywood High School.  She worked in Los Angeles for several years as a ski instructor, for Capital Records, for Budget rental car agency where she was in local commercials, and as a tour guide.  She became an official resident of Newport Beach in 1971.  Her daughters attended Newport Heights Elementary, Ensign Intermediate and Newport Harbor High School.  She was active in the Newport Heights community for many years and worked for a medical practice in Newport Town Center for fifteen years until she contracted her disease sixteen years ago.  Her husband, Bob, was a teacher at Newport Heights Elementary for 41 years and recently retired to become a caregiver for his beloved wife.

Call it kismet. Cristy and Rick Spooner of Rancho Santa Margarita finally learned two and a half weeks ago that two of their three daughters have a rare genetic disorder, a diagnosis for which they waited more than a decade. All it took was reconnecting with a UC Irvine geneticist last summer. The Spooners' oldest, Calyn, who goes by "Cali," started having tremors at 4 months old, says Cristy, 35. She and Rick, 41, took her to a pediatrician, then to a neurologist. The doctors thought she was having seizures.

Buddy Belshe, a lifeguard who retired after 58 years, most of them working in Newport Beach, has died. He was 78. Belshe, who started out as a lifeguard in Huntington Beach just before his 16th birthday, had suffered from Alzheimer's disease, according to Corona del Mar Today, which was first to report that he had died Wednesday. He originally thought about being a physical education or biology teacher, but the waters kept calling him, he said in previous Daily Pilot articles.

Three Huntington Beach residents, a Newport Beach man and an Irvine woman were among 45 people who were reported to have tested positive for West Nile Virus in Orange County this year as of Nov. 20. None of those cases were fatal. Of the 107 total avian cases countywide, four birds were found in Huntington, two in Costa Mesa, one in Newport, one in Laguna Beach and one in Irvine. No horses have tested positive this year. The tallies were released in an Orange County Health Care Agency report last week.

The ballroom at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort was filled with some 500 guests from all over the nation. They had come for the inaugural Champions of Hope Gala benefiting the Global Genes/ RARE Project, a nonprofit advocating research and treatment for roughly 30 million Americans affected by rare and genetic diseases. The Sept. 27 program in Newport Beach kept 500 people still for three hours. Not a sound came from the audience intent on capturing every word from a line-up of speakers, advocates, doctors, parents, caregivers and patients facing challenges in life brought on by afflictions most folks have never heard of, let alone had to face.

A group of UC Irvine scientists have contributed to an international study that could help researchers develop medicines for brain conditions. After studying two-and-a-half male human brains, the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science and the UCI team found evidence that human brains may be more similar to each other than they are dissimilar, despite differences in personalities and talents among individuals. "The strength of this study is not the number of human brains we looked at, but the different parts of the brain in one or two people," said Marquis Vawter, research associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at UCI. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this story incorrectly had Vawter's first name as Marcus.

Tucked away in the corner of UC Irvine is a 100,000-square-foot structure against a grassy hill. For those working inside the campus' relatively new addition, the mission is simple: Discover new technologies that help people who suffer from debilitating diseases. Dr. Weian Zhao is one of the latest academic superstars the university has added to its roster. He was recently recognized in MIT's Technology Review list of 35 innovators younger than 35 who are making profound and lasting societal contributions.

A Newport Coast teen is set to donate 200 teddy bears with medical ID bracelets around their necks to Children's Hospital of Orange County next week. Devon Cohen, who has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, has raised almost $30,000 for diabetes research. The 13-year-old will speak in front of almost 250 people at his bar mitzvah Saturday in Costa Mesa and will read excerpts from an edition of the Torah that survived the Holocaust. The bears and bracelets project was part of his mitzvah project, a social endeavor that Jewish children undertake.

Lucas Brandom climbed a mountain for his brother. Shivering cold, soaked to the skin and numb with exhaustion, Lucas made the excruciating final push to reach the 13,455-foot summit, then swore he'd never do it again. But, sure enough, after several months, the memories of his aching body receded. Propelled by the strength of his brotherly devotion, the 17-year-old Newport Beach resident is preparing to climb Mt. Kinabalu on the island of Borneo in Malaysia once again to promote awareness of the disease that has robbed his sibling of a normal life.