Blog on Chicago CF!

For Halloween, the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and CARSTAR Collision Repair centers are sponsoring the purchase of Frightlight glow sticks for trick-or-treaters. What would be appropriate for Chicago? Deep-dish pumpkin pie? Frango Pan de Muerto?

Carrier and prenatal screening for CF is available at the Chicago Center for Jewish Genetic Disorders. According to their informational page, the incidence of Cf among Ashkenazi Jews (Jews with Central and Northern European ancestry) is the same as in other caucasian groups. Chicago boasts the third largest Jewish population in the USA, after Los Angeles and NYC.

Jerry interviewed four Directors of USACFA (United States Adult Cystic Fibrosis Association) during the August 2006 Cystic Fibrosis Research Institute annual conference in Redwood City, CA. Listen to it on your PC or MP3 player:CF Roundtable Gives Back to the Cystic Fibrosis Community (episode #0040). They talk about CF Roundtable, a dynamic newsletter founded in 1989 by and for adults living with CF; it is available for an annual subscription of $10, but is free to anyone unable to afford it. Cynthia Dunafon (on the left in the photo), one of the Directors interviewed, lives in the Chicago area and actively participates in the Chicago CF Awareness Day event.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health contains links to, presumably, all federally and privately supported CF clinical trials that are currently recruiting volunteers. The individual pages describe the study, list the sponsoring institution, trial protocols, prospective enrollment, dates, and inclusion/exclusion criteria. The site is part of ClinicalTrials.gov, a searchable database. To limit your search geographically, type in the search field “cystic fibrosis, Chicago”.