- - European weblog on food, health and environment
News - Week 6 - 2009
In Lies We Trust
This feature length documentary about medical madness, cloaked in bioterrorism
preparedness, will awaken the brain dead. It exposes health officials, directed by the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), for conducting a “War of Terror” that is
killing millions of unwitting Americans. This urgent life-saving DVD comes without
copyright restrictions. Every viewer is encouraged to reproduce and distribute copies to
others. Donations to Tetrahedron Films to cover costs and produce more films like this are
greatly appreciated online at http://www.inlieswetrust.com or by calling toll free
1-888-508-4787. You can screen the film on behalf of local charities. It was produced by
award-winning humanitarian, Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz (http://www.DrLenHorowitz.com), a
world-renowned authority in public health education, covert intelligence agency
operations, and emerging diseases investigations. He is the author of three American
bestsellers, including Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola—Nature, Accident or
Intentional? and Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse. (Tetrahedron Press;
1-888-508-4787) This monumental film exposes the agents and agencies behind: Hollywood
films and the media creating a profitable culture of bioterror; the “War on
Terrorism” used to control populations; the most lucrative war in history—the
“War on Cancer;” the onslaught of dozens of new immunological diseases and
deadly flus; the “War on AIDS” triggered by contaminated vaccines; the anthrax
mailings resulting in restricted freedoms, and sales of toxic drugs, deadly vaccines, and
more. Documents displayed in film may be viewed online at http://inlieswetrust.com For
over 400 of the top Critically important videos see http://netctr.com/media -- Much more
at the site. Wake up, get involved, Save the Republic - Your kids, grand kids and your
life will depend on what you do from now on. Key words: propaganda, war, terrorism,
vaccinations, immunizations, cancer, biological warfare, weapons of mass destruction,
pharmaceuticals, AIDS, anthrax, healthcare, Hollywood, CIA, CDC, and FDA
Rochester Study Raises New
Questions about Controversial Plastics Chemical
A University of Rochester Medical Center study challenges common assumptions about the
chemical bisphenol A (BPA), by showing that in some people, surprisingly high levels
remain in the body even after fasting for as long as 24 hours. The finding suggests that
BPA exposure may come from non-food sources, or that BPA is not rapidly metabolized, or
both. Controversy around BPA is mounting. In December the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration agreed to reconsider the health risks of the chemical, which is used to
make plastic baby bottles, water bottles and many other consumer products. Scientific
studies suggest that BPA may harm the brain and prostate glands in developing fetuses and
infants; adults with higher BPA levels in their urine were linked to higher risks for
heart disease and diabetes, according to a study published last September in the Journal
of the American Medical Association. The latest finding from Rochester is important
because, until now, scientists believed that BPA was excreted quickly and that people were
exposed to BPA primarily through food. Indeed, the FDA and the European Food Safety
Authority have declared BPA safe based, in part, on those assumptions.
Old technologies, bone cement and a well known antibiotic, may effectively fight an
emerging infection in soldiers with compound bone fractures, according to a study
published online today in the Journal of Orthopedic Research. An urgent search for
solutions is underway as 20,000 additional American soldiers head for Afghanistan, and as
evidence emerges that the infection studied may set the stage for more dangerous
infections that can lead to amputation. Osteomyelitis is (OM) a bone infection caused by
various bacteria, and usually occurs in severe fractures when bone is exposed to open air.
Although Acinetobacter baumannii rarely causes OM in the United States, it is very
prevalent in the Middle East, and is now present in more than 30 percent of soldiers
recovering from open fractures in field hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan. Past studies
have established that one in four severe war wounds in Iraq is a fracture, more than 80
percent of which are open, where the bone is exposed to airborne bacteria.
Brain Structure Assists in Immune
Response, According to Penn Vet Study
For the first time, a team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of
Veterinary Medicine have imaged in real time the body’s immune response to a
parasitic infection in the brain. The findings provide unexpected insights into how immune
cells are regulated in the brain and have implications for treatment of any inflammatory
condition that affects the brain. Toxoplasma, a common parasite of humans, is found in the
brains of approximately 30 percent of the population. Yet, because the brain lacks its own
lymphatic system for localized immune response and the blood brain barrier limits antibody
entry, researchers have found it provides unique challenges for the immune system to
control local infection. Therefore, little is known about the processes by which T cells
access the central nervous system during toxoplasma infection or how the immune system
keeps this parasite in check. In this Penn study, researchers aimed to better understand
how the immune system is able to control infection in the brain. Using recent advances in
two-photon microscopy that allow the visualization of T-cell populations in the brain,
Chris Hunter’s lab focused on the visualization of effector CD8+ T cells during
toxoplasmic encephalitis.
Study Shows Younger Women With
Endometrial Cancer Can Safely Keep Ovaries, Avoid Early Menopause
In the largest study to date on the safety of ovarian preservation in women aged 45 and
younger who were surgically treated for early-stage endometrial cancer, researchers have
found that there is no survival benefit associated with surgical removal of the ovaries,
compared to women whose ovaries were left intact. Leaving the ovaries in place could spare
many women from the side effects of surgery-induced early menopause, such as hot flashes
and vaginal dryness, as well as the long-term increased risk of heart disease,
osteoporosis and hip fractures. “Our research suggests that oncologists may no longer
need to remove the ovaries during surgery in younger women with early-stage endometrial
cancer, which has been the standard approach for many years. Leaving the ovaries intact
appears to be a safe option that offers women a range of important short- and long-term
health and quality of life benefits,” said lead author Jason D. Wright, MD, assistant
professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at Columbia
University College of Physicians & Surgeons.
What separates the few cancer cells that survive chemotherapy – leaving the door open
to recurrence – from those that don’t? Weizmann Institute scientists developed
an original method for imaging and analyzing many thousands of living cells to reveal
exactly how a chemotherapy drug affects each one. For research student Ariel Cohen,
together with Naama Geva-Zatorsky and Eran Eden in the lab of Prof. Uri Alon of the
Institute’s Molecular Cell Biology Department, the question posed an interesting
challenge. To approach it, they needed a method that would allow them to cast a wide net
on the one hand – to sift through the numerous cellular proteins that could
conceivably affect survival – but that would let them zoom in on the activities of
individual cells in detail, on the other. Letting the computer take over the painstaking
work of searching for anomalies enabled the team to look at the behavior of over 1000
different proteins. Even so, it took several years to complete the project, which entailed
tagging the specific proteins in each group of cancer cells with a fluorescent gene and
capturing a series of time-lapse images over 72 hours. A second, fainter fluorescent
marker was added to outline the cells, so the computer could identify them. A chemotherapy
drug was introduced 24 hours into this period, after which the cells began the process of
either dying or defending themselves against the drug. The team’s efforts have
produced a comprehensive library of tagged cells, images and data on cancer cell proteins
– a virtual goldmine of ready material for further cancer research. And they
succeeded in pinpointing two proteins that seem to play a role in cancer cell survival.
Most bacteria from craft
goat’s cheese come from lactic acid and could be very beneficial for health
UGR News A research work carried out at the department of Microbiology of the University
of Granada has carried out an analysis of the DNA extracted from different varieties of
craft goat’s cheese, determining that most of them belong to the group of lactic
bacteria, which could have important technological and functional properties, and be even
beneficial for health. The doctoral thesis by Antonio M. Martín Platero has been
supervised by Professors Manuel Martínez Bueno, Mercedes Maqueda and Eva Valdivia, and is
the first research work carried out around Andalusian cheese through the combination of
classic and molecular techniques and/or methodologies.
Weizmann Institute Scientists
Create Working Artificial Nerve Networks
Scientists have already hooked brains directly to computers by means of metal electrodes,
in the hope of both measuring what goes on inside the brain and eventually healing
conditions such as blindness or epilepsy. In the future, the interface between brain and
artificial system might be based on nerve cells grown for that purpose. In research that
was recently featured on the cover of Nature Physics, Prof. Elisha Moses of the Physics of
Complex Systems Department and his former research students Drs. Ofer Feinerman and Assaf
Rotem have taken the first step in this direction by creating circuits and logic gates
made of live nerves grown in the lab. When neurons – brain nerve cells – are
grown in culture, they don’t form complex ‘thinking’ networks. Moses,
Feinerman and Rotem wondered whether the physical structure of the nerve network could be
designed to be more brain-like. To simplify things, they grew a model nerve network in one
dimension only – by getting the neurons to grow along a groove etched in a glass
plate. The scientists found they could stimulate these nerve cells using a magnetic field
(as opposed to other systems of lab-grown neurons that only react to electricity).
Stress disrupts human thinking, but
the brain can bounce back
A new neuroimaging study on stressed-out students suggests that male humans, like male
rats, don’t do their most agile thinking under stress. The findings, published this
month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that 20 male M.D.
candidates in the middle of preparing for their board exams had a harder time shifting
their attention from one task to another than other healthy young men who were not under
the gun. Previous experiments had found that stressed rats foraging for food had similar
impairments and that those problems resulted from stress-induced changes in their brain
anatomy. The new study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to scan the
stressed students’ brains, is a robust example of how basic research in an animal
model can lead to high-tech investigations of the human brain. “It’s a great
translational story,” says Bruce S. McEwen, head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken
Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at The Rockefeller University, who worked on the
project with colleagues at Weill Cornell Medical College. “The research in the rats
led to the imaging work on people, and the results matched up remarkably well.”
Researchers Identify New Function
of Protein in Cellular Respiration
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that the protein Stat3 plays a key
role in regulating mitochondria, the energy-producing machines of cells. This discovery
could one day lead to the development of new treatments for heart disease to boost energy
in failing heart muscle or to master the abnormal metabolism of cancer. In the study,
published online Jan. 8 in Science Express, researchers reported that Stat3, a protein
previously known to control the activity of genes by acting in the cell nucleus, also
plays a key role in cellular energy production. The team examined oxygen consumption in
cultured cells and hearts of mice. They discovered that when Stat 3 protein was missing,
cells consumed less oxygen and produced less ATP, the key molecular form of cellular
energy. The findings revealed that Stat3 is necessary for the function of the
mitochondrial electron transport chain that generates ATP. Changes in energy production
and expenditure are essential to maintain cellular homeostasis.
Diabetes treatment may lie in
helping muscles to burn fat better
Scientists in Sydney and Melbourne have produced results that could silence the current
debate about exactly how fat molecules clog up muscle cells, making them less responsive
to insulin. The finding is an important milestone in understanding the mechanisms of
obesity related insulin resistance, a precursor of Type 2 diabetes. Dr Clinton Bruce,
first working with Professor Ted Kraegen from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical
Research, and then with Professor Mark Febbraio from Melbourne's Baker IDI Heart and
Diabetes Institute, has added to evidence that fat molecules clog up the cytosol, or cell
interior, but not the mitochondrion, or energy powerhouse of the cell. This is an
important distinction because the groups have also found a way to reduce the build-up of
fat molecules in the cytosol by increasing the ability of mitochondria to take in fat
molecules and burn them. The finding, already online and critical for our understanding of
fat metabolism, will be published in a future issue of the prestigious international
journal Diabetes. Professor Kraegen believes the finding indicates a direction for further
pre-clinical research. "There's a lot of work being put into developing new drugs and
methodologies for improving insulin action," he said. "Our work clarifies what
are likely to be the important therapeutic directions to improve insulin action in muscle
and hence new approaches for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes."
Jane Hightower will discuss the risk of consuming too much mercury when eating top
predator ocean fish such as tuna, swordfish and sharks. She is a San Francisco doctor who
discovered in 2000 that many of her patients had the classic symptoms of mercury
poisoning, including nausea, trouble concentrating and tiredness, and she traced these
symptoms to eating fish several times a week. Public health warnings are still inadequate,
she says - The Commonwealth Club of California
Natural brain substance blocks
weight gain in mice, UT Southwestern researchers discover
Mice with increased levels of a natural brain chemical don't gain weight when fed a
high-fat diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.The chemical,
orexin, works by increasing the body's sensitivity to the "weight-loss hormone,"
leptin, the researchers report. Finding a way to boost the orexin system may prove useful
as a therapy against obesity, said Dr. Masashi Yanagisawa, professor of molecular genetics
at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study, which appears in the January issue of
Cell Metabolism. "Obese people are not deficient in leptin," Dr. Yanagisawa
said. "They have tons of leptin floating around. The problem is that their brain
isn't very sensitive to it." Orexin, which Dr. Yanagisawa discovered about a decade
ago, is involved in controlling appetite and sleep. He found that reduced levels of orexin
lead to the sleep disorder narcolepsy in both rodents and humans. Orexin can boost the
appetite in the short term, but, paradoxically, a lack of orexin leads to obesity in the
long run. "It's been confusing," said Dr. Yanagisawa, an investigator with the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UT Southwestern. Part of the confusion comes about
because orexin acts on two different molecules in the brain, OX1R and OX2R. In the current
study, the researchers aimed to distinguish which action was involved in weight control.
The researchers increased the levels of orexin in mice, either through genetic engineering
or by administering the hormone into the brain.
Researchers identify compound that
frees trapped cholesterol
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified in mice a compound that
liberates cholesterol that has inappropriately accumulated to excessive levels inside
cells. The findings shed light on how cholesterol is transported through the cells of the
body and suggest a possible therapeutic target for Niemann-Pick type C disease (NP-C), an
inherited neurodegenerative disorder characterized by abnormally high cholesterol levels
in every organ. “What we’ve shown is that very quickly after administration of
this compound, the huge pool of cholesterol that has just been accumulating in the cells
is suddenly released and metabolized normally,” said Dr. John Dietschy, professor of
internal medicine at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study appearing online this
week and in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“With just one dose, you excrete a large portion of this pool of cholesterol.”
Cholesterol in the body comes from dietary sources and is also made by the body itself. It
is essential for many biological processes, including the construction and maintenance of
cell membranes. Cholesterol normally is transported through cells and is excreted by the
body.
Surprising discoveries contribute
to memory research
Like countless neuroscientists around the world, Northwestern University Professor Nelson
Spruston knew H. M. well -- his personal story and the sound of his voice. But it wasn't
until H. M. died last month that Spruston learned H. M.'s full name -- Henry Gustav
Molaison. In 1953, Molaison, aged 27, had brain surgery to control his severe epilepsy.
Both medial temporal lobes were removed, the first and only surgery of its kind. His
seizures improved, but he became frozen in time, unable to form new and lasting memories.
When Molaison died, his body was 82, but his mind and personality were in many ways still
27. Molaison's experience has pointed Spruston and other scientists interested in
understanding learning and memory to the temporal lobe, particularly the hippocampus. In a
new study to be published in the Jan. 29 issue of the journal Neuron, Spruston and his
research team report discovering a new cellular mechanism that could be critical to the
formation of memories in the hippocampus. Something in the brain must change in response
to experience in order for individuals to learn. Spruston and his colleagues studied the
electrical output of neurons and discovered that two different types of neuronal
metabotropic receptors together produce biochemical changes that change the way a neuron
fires, increasing the neuron's electrical output and strengthening the signals it sends to
other brain regions, including those involved in reward and decision making. Two things
were particularly surprising to the researchers. First, the change, or plasticity,
requires both receptors to be biochemically stimulated, not just one or the other. Second,
the change in output occurs independent of any electrical stimulation or synaptic change.
New research findings may enable
earlier diagnosis of uterine cancer.
Cancer of the uterus (womb) is the commonest gynaecological malignancy in the West.
Research carried out at the University of Gothenburg has now identified a gene that may
simplify future diagnosis. Cancer is a genetic disease. It occurs when changes take place
in the genes that regulate cell division, cell growth, cell death, cell signalling and
blood vessel formation – either due to mutations caused by external factors such as
smoking or radiation, or due to inherited changes. This interaction between defective
genes and environmental factors means that cancer is an extremely complex disease. Cancer
of the uterus, or endometrial carcinoma, is no exception.
High levels of certain proteins in the spinal fluid could signal the onset of Lou Gehrig's
disease, according to researchers. The discovery of these biomarkers may lead to
diagnostic kits for early diagnosis, accurately measuring the progression of the disease
and monitoring the effects of treatment. Lou Gehrig's disease -- or Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS) -- is caused by the degeneration of nerve cells controlling the voluntary
movement of muscles. However, it is hard to diagnose because symptoms such as muscle
weakness are common in other ailments and currently, there is no diagnostic test for the
disease. "The disease has to progress far enough so that the patient begins to
experience significant muscle weakness, so that a physician can identify the
problem," said James Connor, distinguished professor and vice-chair of neurosurgery,
Penn State Hershey. "If we had a biomarker we could start treatments earlier and
perhaps save more nerve cells and slow the disease." The problem is compounded by the
speed at which the disease progresses. In some patients the disease can run its course in
just a couple of years, while in others it can take seven to ten years. To find an early
warning signal for the onset of Lou Gehrig's disease, Connor and his colleagues, Zachary
Simmons and Ryan Mitchell at the Hershey Medical Center, focused their attention on
proteins related to inflammation in the spinal cord. Studies show that the progression of
the disease involves excessive inflammation of nerve cells. The team also argued that
because these proteins tend to be much smaller than most other proteins, they are likely
to be overlooked in large-scale protein studies. The researchers extracted spinal fluid
from two groups of patients. The first group, comprising 41 patients, was known to have
Lou Gehrig's disease, while the second group of 31 patients complained of muscle problems
such as weakness and cramps.
Omega-3s ease depressive symptoms
related to menopause
Omega-3s ease psychological distress and depressive symptoms often suffered by menopausal
and perimenopausal women, according to researchers at Université Laval's Faculty of
Medicine. Their study, published in the February issue of The American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, presents the first evidence that omega-3 supplements are effective for treating
common menopause-related mental health problems. Dr. Michel Lucas and colleagues recruited
120 women age 40 to 55 and divided them into two groups. Women in the first group took
three gel capsules containing a total of one gram of EPA, an omega-3 fatty acid of marine
origin, every day for eight weeks. Those in the second group followed the same protocol,
but took gel capsules containing sunflower oil without EPA. Test results before and after
the eight-week period indicate that omega-3s significantly improved the condition of women
suffering symptoms of psychological distress and mild depression. "The differences we
observed between the two groups are noteworthy," commented Dr Lucas, "especially
considering that omega-3s have very few side effects and are beneficial to cardiovascular
health." However, no positive effect was observed among a small group of women with
more severe depressive symptoms. Women with hot flashes also noted that their condition
improved after consuming omega-3s. At baseline, the number of daily hot flashes was 2.8
and dropped by an average of 1.6 in the group taking omega-3s and by 0.5 in the control
group. The change that can be attributed to the use of omega-3s, i.e. a decrease of 1.1
hot flashes per day, is equivalent to results obtained with hormone therapy and
antidepressants. Details of these results were published in the November 20, 2008 online
edition of the journal Menopause.
Blast overpressure is generated
from the firing of weapons and may cause brain injury
The brain may be injured by the noise, which is produced when, for example, an anti-tank
weapon (Bazooka, Karl Gustav) or a howitzer (Haubits) is fired. Scientists at the
Sahlgrenska Academy demonstrated mild injury to brain tissue. In response to this, the
Swedish Armed Forces restricted the number of rounds per day Swedish personnel can be
exposed to. A number of reports, which have appeared during the last few years, have shown
that the brain is sensitive to blast. This study determines whether the occupational
standards for the highest levels of blast exposure were valid enough to avoid brain
injuries. Traumatic brain injury is very common among war veterans from Iraq and
Afghanistan and the majority has been exposed to explosions. The soldiers have symptoms of
disorders of memory, mental processes, emotion, sleep, speech, vision and hearing. The
symptoms may be similar to those of post traumatic stress syndrome, which may be caused by
factors other than combat experience. The Swedish Armed Forces sponsored a study, which
has been carried out by scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg,
Sweden. They have examined the effects of noise after the firing of a Haubits, an anti
tank weapon (Karl Gustav) and an automatic rifle and by the detonation of plastic
explosives underwater. The study was done on anaesthetized pigs and rats. We examined the
maximal peak level of the blast in the brain transmitted from the blast in the air, as
well as, brain tissue changes that were detected with the microscope, says Annette
Säljö, one of the scientists who conducted the study. The noise produced by the firing
of both the haubits and the anti-tank weapon exceeds the occupational standards for
highest levels of blast exposure. The scientists found that the maximal peak levels of the
blast were unexpectedly high in the brain, i.e. that skin and bone appeared to protect the
brain poorly. The results suggest that the degree of transmission of a pressure wave from
air or water to the brain depends on the dominating frequencies in the frequency spectrum
of the noise; low frequencies are transmitted considerably better than high frequencies.
Researchers may have found why
women have an edge on salt-sensitive hypertension
Researchers may have found why women have an edge in keeping a healthier balance between
the amount of salt they eat and excrete - at least before reaching menopause.
Premenopausal women are known to have fewer problems with salt-sensitive hypertension and
hypertension in general, but afterward their risks are essentially the same as men, says
Dr. David Pollock, renal physiologist in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical
College of Georgia. The reason appears to be related to female hormones and a new-found
role of a cell receptor previously thought to be only harmful, he and colleagues report in
the February issue of Hypertension.
DNA component can stimulate and
suppress the immune response
A component of DNA that can both stimulate and suppress the immune system, depending on
the dosage, may hold hope for treating cancer and infection, Medical College of Georgia
researchers say. Low levels of CpG increase inflammation, part of the body's way of
eliminating invaders. But high doses block inflammation by increasing expression of the
enzyme indoleamine 2,3 dioxygenase, or IDO, an immunosuppressor, the researchers say.
Funny clip from the 1970s anti-smoking ephemeral health film SMOKING: IT'S YOUR CHOICE.
The short is actually quite good and effective as far as these "school health scare
films" tend to go. It doesn't try to force the viewer's hand, it simply shows you the
negative effects of smoking for what they are and allows the viewer to make up their own
damn mind. The presentation is pretty strange by today's standards, though. This scene
shows us, with the help of a creepy mannequin who looks like a relative of the Fuccon
family of OH! MIKEY fame with cotton filled glass bottles inside meant to stand in as
lungs, just how filthy cigarette smoke really is. Some animated diagrams also come in
handy.
CUTTING SALT ISN'T THE ONLY WAY TO
REDUCE BLOOD PRESSURE
Most people know that too much sodium from foods can increase blood pressure. A new study
suggests that people trying to lower their blood pressure should also boost their intake
of potassium, which has the opposite effect to sodium. Researchers found that the ratio of
sodium-to-potassium in subjects' urine was a much stronger predictor of cardiovascular
disease than sodium or potassium alone. "There isn't as much focus on potassium, but
potassium seems to be effective in lowering blood pressure and the combination of a higher
intake of potassium and lower consumption of sodium seems to be more effective than either
on its own in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Paul Whelton,
senior author of the study in the January 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Whelton is an epidemiologist and president and CEO of Loyola University Health System.
Researchers determined average sodium and potassium intake during two phases of a study
known as the Trials of Hypertension Prevention. They collected 24-hour urine samples
intermittently during an 18-month period in one trial and during a 36-month period in a
second trial. The 2,974 study participants initially aged 30-to-54 and with blood pressure
readings just under levels considered high, were followed for 10-15 years to see if they
would develop cardiovascular disease. Whelton was national chair of the Trials of
Hypertension Prevention. Those with the highest sodium levels in their urine were 20
percent more likely to suffer strokes, heart attacks or other forms of cardiovascular
disease compared with their counterparts with the lowest sodium levels. However this link
was not strong enough to be considered statistically significant.
Common Medication Associated With
Cognitive Decline in Elderly
A study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggested that the use of
certain medications in elderly populations may be associated with cognitive decline. The
study examined the effects of exposure to anticholinergic medications, a type of drug used
to treat a variety of disorders that include respiratory and gastrointestinal problems, on
over 500 relatively healthy men aged 65 years or older with high blood pressure.Older
people often take several drugs to treat multiple health conditions. As some of these
drugs also have properties that affect neurotransmitters in the brain that are important
to overall brain function, the researchers examined the total effects of all medications
taken by the patients, both prescription and over-the-counter, that were believed to
affect the function of a particular neurotransmitter, acetylcholine.The findings show that
chronic use of medications with anticholinergic properties may have detrimental effects on
memory and the ability to perform daily living tasks, such as shopping and managing
finances. Participants showed deficits in both memory and daily function when they took
these medications over the course of a year. The degree of memory difficulty and
impairment in daily living tasks also increased proportionally to the total amount of drug
exposure, based on a rating scale the authors developed to assess anticholinergicity of
the drugs.
Major immune system branch has
hidden ability to learn
Half of the immune system has a hidden talent, researchers at Washington University School
of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered. They found the innate immune system, long
recognized as a specialist in rapidly and aggressively combating invaders, has cells that
can learn from experience and fight better when called into battle a second time.
Scientists previously thought any such ability was limited to the immune system's other
major branch, the adaptive immune system. The finding, published online this week in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, will help scientists better understand
the immune system and seek new ways to modulate its responsiveness. Low immune
responsiveness like that found in some genetic disorders and conditions like AIDS can
leave the body dangerously vulnerable to infection; but too much can put it at risk of
autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Vaccines take advantage of a property
researchers call "immune memory," which is found in adaptive immune cells that
can learn to recognize a particular invader and more quickly and forcefully attack the
invader if it returns. By exposing the immune system to a weakened or dead version of a
pathogen such as measles, a vaccine stimulates the body so that it can much more
effectively respond to naturally occurring infections of the same or similar agents. The
new ability scientists identified has a similar result — cells that can fight back
more effectively after an initial stimulation – but the cells are not adaptive immune
cells. They are the innate immune system's natural killer cells, which can switch between
an active infection-fighting state and a dormant resting state. "We're calling this
new property 'memory-like,'" says senior author Wayne M. Yokoyama, M.D., the Sam J.
and Audrey Loew Levin Professor of Medicine. "Natural killer cells can't specialize
in recognition of a particular pathogen, but we found that once they've been activated,
they can respond more easily and effectively to the next call for activation."
Scientists uncover new genetic
variations linked to psoriasis
Two international teams of researchers have made significant gains in understanding the
genetic basis of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition that can be debilitating in some
patients. Their research, involving thousands of patients, is reported in two studies
published this week in the advance online Nature Genetics. "Taken together, the
studies help us get closer to realizing the promise of personalized medicine," says a
senior author of both papers, Anne Bowcock, Ph.D., professor of genetics at Washington
University School of Medicine in St. Louis. "Eventually, we hope to be able to target
treatments for psoriasis patients based on the genetic alterations that have contributed
to their disease." The researchers found a number of new genetic variants that affect
an individual's risk of psoriasis. Their discoveries point to different biological
pathways that underlie the disease and may eventually lead to targeted drugs and
treatments that hit specific pathways, Bowcock says.
Researchers identify risk factors
for contralateral breast cancer
A preventive procedure to remove the unaffected breast in breast cancer patients with
disease in one breast may only be necessary in patients who have high-risk features as
assessed by examining the patient's medical history and pathology of the breast cancer,
according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Their
findings, published in the March 1, 2009 issue of Cancer, may help physicians predict the
likelihood of patients developing breast cancer in the opposite breast (contralateral
breast cancer), stratify risk and counsel patients on their treatment options. "Women
often consider contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) not because of medical
recommendation, but because they fear having their breast cancer return," said Kelly
Hunt, M.D., professor in the Department of Surgical Oncology at M. D. Anderson and lead
author on the study. "Currently it is very difficult to identify which patients are
at enough risk to benefit from this aggressive and irreversible procedure. Our goal was to
determine what characteristics defined these high-risk patients to better inform future
decisions regarding CPM." According to the researchers, approximately 2.7 percent of
women diagnosed with breast cancer choose to have CPM. Recent statistics have shown that
the rate of CPM in women with stage I-III breast cancer increased by 150 percent from 1998
to 2003 in the United States. Potential reasons breast cancer patients choose to undergo
CPM include risk reduction, difficult surveillance and reconstructive issues such as
symmetry and/or balance. To begin to classify such risk factors, researchers reviewed the
cases of 542 women with breast cancer only in one breast who received CPM to remove the
second breast at M. D. Anderson from January 2000 to April 2007. Out of this group, 435
patients had no abnormal pathology identified in the opposite breast, 25 patients had
contralateral breast cancer identified at surgery, and 82 patients had abnormal cells
(atypical ductal hyperplasia, atypical lobular hyperplasia and lobular carcinoma in situ)
that indicate a moderate to high-risk for breast cancer development in the contralateral
breast found at the time of surgery.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have found a surprising link between
brain iron levels and serotonin, a neurotransmitter involved in neuropsychiatric
conditions ranging from autism to major depression. Appearing in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences this week, the study by Randy Blakely, Ph.D., and colleagues
also demonstrates the utility of a powerful in silico approach for discovering novel
traits linked to subtle genetic variation. The serotonin transporter protein (SERT)
regulates serotonin availability in the brain and periphery, and variations in human SERT
have been linked to many neurobehavioral disorders – including alcoholism,
depression, autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder. SERT is also a major target for
medications like the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) used for treating
depression. Thanks to a serendipitous mix-up in an animal order, Blakely and first author
Ana Carnerio, Ph.D., discovered that a mouse strain they had been using to studying SERT
function – called C57BL/6 – actually carries a mutation that reduces the
function of the transporter. "Importantly, low-functioning variants of human SERT
have been associated with anxiety, depression, and reduced efficacy of SSRI
medications," notes Blakely, senior author and director of the Vanderbilt Center for
Molecular Neuroscience. By querying an online resource called the Mouse Phenome Database,
they found that most mouse strains possess a SERT version called "ER" –
which is identical to the sequence found in human SERT. A small number of strains,
however, including the commonly studied C57BL/6 strain, carry a different version (called
"GK"). Carneiro realized that she could utilize her identification of SERT GK to
elucidate new aspects of brain chemistry and behavior. Vanderbilt collaborator David
Airey, Ph.D., helped Carneiro and Blakely exploit a separate panel of mice where the SERT
GK variant is presented on many different genetic backgrounds – a so-called
"recombinant inbred" population termed BXD mice.
Researchers identify a cell type
that limits stroke damage
A research team including Serge Rivest of University Laval's Faculty of Medicine has
demonstrated the existence of a type of cells that limits brain damage after a stroke. The
study was recently published in the online version of Nature Medicine. Laboratory
experiments showed that three days after a stroke, the affected area of the brain is 20%
larger in mice without regulatory T (Treg) cells than in normal mice. Effects on locomotor
control are also more severe in mice lacking this type of cells. "These results lead
us to believe that we could better preserve crucial functions like sight, speech, or
control of the limbs if we rapidly stimulated the production of Treg cells in stroke
victims," commented Professor Rivest. "We are particularly enthusiastic about
this discovery because we already know what chemicals stimulate the production of Treg
cells," continued the researcher. "So a treatment may be available in the not
too distant future. We also believe that the protective effect of Treg cells could be used
to treat other types of brain damage, especially that caused by head injury."
Fast-food diet cancels out benefits
of breastfeeding in preventing asthma
Many studies have shown that breastfeeding appears to reduce the chance of children
developing asthma. But a newly published study led by a University of Alberta professor
has found that eating fast food more than once or twice a week negated the beneficial
effects that breastfeeding has in protecting children from the respiratory disease. The
article appears online in the international journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy
based in London, England. A number of different findings led the researchers to their
conclusion – showing links between fast food and asthma, breastfeeding and asthma,
and all three together. "Like other studies, we found that fast-food consumption was
associated with asthma," said the senior author, Dr. Anita Kozyrskyj (pronounced
koh-ZUHR-skee), an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics in the U of A's
Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. The research confirmed the findings of many other
studies about the benefits of breastfeeding in relation to asthma. Kozyrskyj et al. found
that breastfeeding for too short a time was linked to a higher risk of asthma, or
conversely that children exclusively breastfed 12 weeks or longer as infants had a lower
risk. "But this beneficial effect was only seen in children who did not consume fast
food, or only occasionally had fast food," she added.
A regular high-intensity, three-minute workout has a significant effect on the body's
ability to process sugars. Research published in the open access journal BMC Endocrine
Disorders shows that a brief but intense exercise session every couple of days may be the
best way to cut the risk of diabetes. Professor James Timmons worked with a team of
researchers from Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, Scotland, to investigate the effect of
'high-intensity interval training' (HIT) on the metabolic prowess of sixteen sedentary
male volunteers. He said, "The risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type two
diabetes is substantially reduced through regular physical activity. Unfortunately, many
people feel they simply don't have the time to follow current exercise guidelines. What we
have found is that doing a few intense muscle exercises, each lasting only about 30
seconds, dramatically improves your metabolism in just two weeks." Current exercise
guidelines suggest that people should perform moderate to vigorous aerobic and resistance
exercise for several hours per week. While these guidelines are very worthwhile in
principle, Timmons suggests that a lack of compliance indicates the need for an
alternative, "Current guidelines, with regards to designing exercise regimes to yield
the best health outcomes, may not be optimal and certainly require further discussion. The
low volume, high intensity training utilized in our study substantially improved both
insulin action and glucose clearance in otherwise sedentary young males and this indicates
that we do not yet fully appreciate the traditional connection between exercise and
diabetes".
Telomeres are DNA repeat sequences necessary for DNA replication which shorten at cell
division at a rate directly related to levels of oxidative stress. Critical telomere
shortening predisposes to cell senescence and to epithelial malignancies. Type 2 diabetes
is characterised by increased oxidative DNA damage, telomere attrition, and an increased
risk of colonic malignancy. We hypothesised that the colonic mucosa in Type 2 diabetes
would be characterised by increased DNA damage and telomere shortening.
Gene therapy demonstrates benefit
in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Researchers have reported the first clinical evidence that gene therapy reduces symptoms
in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, an important milestone for this promising treatment
which has endured a sometimes turbulent past. Described in the February issue of the
journal Human Gene Therapy the findings stem from a study of two patients with severe
rheumatoid arthritis conducted in Germany and led by an investigator at Beth Israel
Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).Originally conceived as a means of treating genetic
diseases, such as cystic fibrosis and hemophilia, gene therapy involves implanting a
normal gene to compensate for a defective gene in the patient. The first clinical trial to
test gene therapy was launched in 1990 for the treatment of a rare, genetic
immunodeficiency disease."This study helps extend gene therapy research to
nongenetic, nonlethal diseases," explains principal investigator Christopher Evans,
PhD, Director of the Center for Advanced Orthopaedic Studies at BIDMC. "Rheumatoid
arthritis [RA] is an extremely painful condition affecting multiple joints throughout the
body. Arthritis is a good target for this treatment because the joint is a closed space
into which we can inject genes," adds Evans, who is also the Maurice Muller Professor
of Orthopaedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School.A classic autoimmune disease, RA develops
when, for unknown reasons, the body's immune system turns against itself, causing joints
to become swollen and inflamed. If the disease is inadequately controlled, the tissues of
the joint are eventually destroyed. Although anti-inflammatory agents and biologics can
help to mitigate symptoms, there is no cure for the condition, estimated to affect more
than 2 million individuals in the U.S. alone.Evans has spent many years studying the
molecules responsible for the breakdown of cartilage in patients with arthritis,
identifying interleukin-1 as a good target. But, he adds, once he had this answer, another
question was not far behind: How could he effectively reach the joints to block the
actions of this protein?
Aspirin can prevent liver damage
that afflicts millions, Yale study finds
Simple aspirin may prevent liver damage in millions of people suffering from side effects
of common drugs, alcohol abuse, and obesity-related liver disease, a new Yale University
study suggests. The study in the January 26 edition of Journal of Clinical Investigation
documents that in mice, aspirin reduced mortality caused by an overdose of acetaminophen,
best known by the brand name Tylenol. It further showed that a class of molecules known as
TLR antagonists, which block receptors known to activate inflammation, have a similar
effect as aspirin. Since these agents seem to work by reducing injury-induced
inflammation, the results suggest aspirin may help prevent and treat liver damage from a
host of non-infectious causes, said Wajahat Mehal, M.D., of the Section of Digestive
Diseases and Department of Immunobiology at Yale School of Medicine. "Many agents
such as drugs and alcohol cause liver damage, and we have found two ways to block a
central pathway responsible for such liver injury," Mehal said. "Our strategy is
to use aspirin on a daily basis to prevent liver injury, but if it occurs, to use TLR
antagonists to treat it."
Children with inflammatory bowel
disease have surprisingly high folate levels, study finds
Children with newly diagnosed cases of inflammatory bowel disease have higher
concentrations of folate in their blood than individuals without IBD, according to a new
study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley.
The findings bring into question the previously held theory that patients with IBD are
prone to folate – also known as folic acid – deficiency.“This is exciting
work that opens the door to additional research into the role of folic acid and its
genetic basis in the development of IBD, especially in young patients,” said first
author Melvin Heyman, MD, a professor of pediatrics, chief of pediatric gastroenterology,
hepatology and nutrition, and director of the Pediatric IBD Program at UCSF
Children’s Hospital.
Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) commonly called secondhand smoke, can harm a developing
fetus and may account for complications during pregnancy and birth. It is now known that
non-whites experience more adverse pregnancy effects than do whites from smoking and ETS
exposure. In an article published in the March 2009 issue of the American Journal of
Preventive Medicine, researchers examined whether black, non-smoking women were able to
avoid ETS exposure early in pregnancy and the social contextual factors that affected
their success in avoiding secondhand smoke. This study was conducted by investigators from
The George Washington University Medical Center School of Public Health & Health
Services, Children's National Medical Center, RTI International, and the Eunice Kennedy
Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Data were collected from
1044 women as part of a randomized, multiple–risk behavior intervention trial that
addressed four risks for adverse pregnancy outcomes: cigarette smoking, ETS exposure,
depression and intimate partner violence (IPV). In this study, the investigators analyzed
data from 450 non-smokers who reported having partners, friends, household or family
members who smoked. Demographic factors such as age, education, marital status and
household income were collected, as was reproductive history information. Attitudes about
being pregnant were assessed, as were mental health-related items such as depression
symptoms and alcohol or illicit drug use. Interpersonal factors included having a current
partner, the father's desire to have the baby and the incidence of IPV either before or
during pregnancy. Direct ETS exposure factors such as smoking by others in the household,
household smoking bans, perceived support from significant others to avoid secondhand
smoke and perceived harmfulness of ETS exposure to the baby's health were also measured.
To accurately determine ETS exposure, cotinine levels in the mother's saliva were
measured. Cotinine is a widely accepted biomarker for tobacco exposure. Twenty-seven
percent of pregnant nonsmokers were confirmed as ETS avoiders. The odds of ETS avoidance
were increased among women who reported household smoking bans, reported the father wanted
the baby and where no/few family members/friends smoked. The odds were decreased among
women who had a current partner, reported any intimate partner violence during pregnancy
and reported little social support to prevent ETS exposure.
Diabetes significantly increases
risk for Alzheimer's disease and other dementia
Diabetics have a significantly greater risk of dementia, both Alzheimer's disease —
the most common form of dementia — and other dementia, reveals important new data
from an ongoing study of twins. The risk of dementia is especially strong if the onset of
diabetes occurs in middle age, according to the study. "Our results . . . highlighted
the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle during adulthood in order to reduce the risk of
dementia late in life," explained Dr. Margaret Gatz, who directs the Study of
Dementia in Swedish Twins. In a study published in the January 2009 issue of Diabetes,
Gatz and researchers from Sweden show that getting diabetes before the age of 65
corresponds to a 125 percent increased risk for Alzheimer's disease. Nearly 21 million
people in the United States have diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association,
which publishes the journal. This risk of Alzheimer's disease or other dementia was
significant for mid-life diabetics — as opposed to those who develop diabetes after
65 — even when controlling for family factors. In other studies, genetic factors and
childhood poverty have been shown to independently contribute to the risk of both diabetes
and dementia.
Early childhood stress has
lingering effects on health
Stressful experiences in early childhood can have long-lasting impacts on kids' health
that persist well beyond the resolution of the situation. The conclusion comes from a
study revealing impaired immune function in adolescents who, as youngsters, experienced
either physical abuse or time in an orphanage, when compared to peers who never
experienced such difficult circumstances. The report from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison appears online the week of Jan. 26 in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences. "Even though these children's environments have changed,
physiologically they're still responding to stress. That can affect their learning and
their behavior, and having a compromised immune system is going to affect these children's
health," says senior author Seth Pollak, a professor of psychology and pediatrics at
UW-Madison. As director of the Child Emotion Laboratory in the UW-Madison Waisman Center,
Pollak focuses on how experiences early in life affect children's subsequent development.
In the current work, he and fellow Wisconsin psychology professor Chris Coe, an expert on
the links between stress and immunity, turned to the immune system as a way to isolate the
consequences of early events. "The immune system is not preset at birth," says
Coe. "The cells are there, but how they will develop and how well they'll be
regulated is very much influenced by your early environment and the type of rearing you
have." Led by Elizabeth Shirtcliff of the University of New Orleans when she was a
postdoctoral fellow at UW-Madison, the authors evaluated immune-system strength among
adolescents who had experienced either typical or unusually stressful childhoods. The
researchers looked for high levels of antibodies against the common and usually latent
herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1).
People with a particular gene variant may be more likely to develop brain tumors, and at
an earlier age, than people without the gene, according to a study published in the
January 27, 2009, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy
of Neurology. The study involved 254 people with brain tumors and 238 people with no
cancers. All those with tumors had glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of brain
cancer. People with this type of tumor survive an average of 12 to 15 months. Through
blood samples, researchers looked at the tumor suppressor TP53 gene. This gene acts as a
tumor suppressor and is involved in preventing cancer. People younger than 45 with brain
tumors were more likely to have the Pro/Pro variant of the gene than older people with
brain tumors or the healthy participants. A total of 20.6 percent of the young people with
brain tumors had the gene variant, compared to 6.4 percent of the older people with brain
tumors and 5.9 percent of the healthy participants.
Compromised skin barrier function
plays a role in psorasis development
Researchers at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) and the Anhui Medical University,
China, have identified genes that play an important role in the development of psoriasis,
a common chronic skin disease. The research, led by GIS Human Genetics Group Leader and
Associate Prof. Liu Jianjun, will be published online on 25 Jan. 2009 in the journal
Nature Genetics. Studying genetic variants in the human genomes of a large cohort of
patients with psorasis and healthy controls in the Chinese population, Dr. Liu and his
colleagues, who are one of the three independent teams that have been simultaneously
performing genetic studies on psoriasis, found that a genetic variant within what is known
as the LCE gene cluster is able to provide protection against the development of
psoriasis. One of the LCE genes' functions is to code proteins that are part of cells
located in the outermost layers of skin. These proteins are important for maintaining
skin's barrier function.
Researchers discover brain's memory
'buffer' in single cells
Individual nerve cells in the front part of the brain can hold traces of memories on their
own for as long as a minute and possibly longer, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical
Center have found. The study, available online and appearing in the February issue of
Nature Neuroscience, is the first to identify the specific signal that establishes
nonpermanent cellular memory and reveals how the brain holds temporary information. It has
implications for addiction, attention disorders and stress-related memory loss, said Dr.
Don Cooper, assistant professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern and senior author of the
study conducted in mice. Researchers have known that permanent memories are stored when
the excitatory amino acid glutamate activates ion channels on nerve cells in the brain to
reorganize and strengthen the cells’ connections with one another. But this process
takes minutes to hours to turn on and off and is too slow to buffer, or temporarily hold,
rapidly incoming information.
Processed Meats Linked to 74
Percent Higher Risk of Leukemia
New research published in the journal BMC Cancer reveals that children who eat processed
meats like bacon, hot dogs and sausage are 74 percent more likely to develop leukemia than
children who avoid such processed meats and eat more vegetables and tofu instead.This
study, carried out in part by Dr. David C. Christiani of the Harvard School of Public
Health in Boston, and it's just one of many research studies linking processed meats to
leukemia, pancreatic cancer and colorectal cancer.
AHCC goes way beyond that. It increases immune system function in a half dozen different
ways. For example, T-cell activity goes up as much as 200 percent and interferon levels
(which keeps viruses from multiplying) increase, too. AHCC feeds your immune cells exactly
what they need to heal your body and keep you well.
The U.S. Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) of vitamin D is 200 IU. Yet, studies have
shown that 200 IU/day has no effect on bone status.10 Reinhold Vieth, Ph.D., of the
University of Toronto, recently published a landmark review of vitamin D in the May 1999
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vieth says adults may need, at a minimum, five
times the RDA, or 1,000 IU, to adequately prevent bone fractures, protect against some
cancers and derive other broad-ranging health benefits.
The Rise in Autism and the Role of
Age at Diagnosis
Autism prevalence in California, based on individuals eligible for state-funded services,
rose throughout the 1990s. The extent to which this trend is explained by changes in age
at diagnosis or inclusion of milder cases has not been previously evaluated.Autism
incidence in California shows no sign yet of plateauing. Younger ages at diagnosis,
differential migration, changes in diagnostic criteria, and inclusion of milder cases do
not fully explain the observed increases. Other artifacts have yet to be quantified, and
as a result, the extent to which the continued rise represents a true increase in the
occurrence of autism remains unclear.
Researchers identify protein that
may explain 'healthy' obesity
Mice whose fat cells were allowed to grow larger than fat cells in normal mice developed
“healthy” obesity when fed a high-fat diet, researchers at UT Southwestern
Medical Center found in a new study. The fat but healthy mice lacked a protein called
collagen VI, which normally surrounds fat cells and limits how large they can grow, like a
cage around a water balloon. The findings appear online and in a future edition of
Molecular and Cellular Biology. “The mice lacking collagen VI fared much better
metabolically than their counterparts that retained this particular collagen,” said
Dr. Philipp Scherer, director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT
Southwestern and the study’s senior author. “The mice without collagen VI
don’t develop inflammation or insulin resistance. They still get obese, but it’s
a ‘healthy’ obesity.” When people take in more calories than needed, excess
calories are stored in adipose or fatty tissue. The fat cells are embedded in and secrete
substances into an extracellular matrix, a type of connective tissue that provides support
to fat tissue, like scaffolding. Collagen VI is one component of the extracellular matrix.
Too much of this connective tissue prevents individual cells from expanding and can lead
to fibrosis and eventually inflammation.
Teen smoking could lead to adult
depression, study says
Teenagers who smoke could be setting themselves up for depression later in life, according
to a groundbreaking new Florida State University study. Psychology Professor Carlos
Bolanos and a team of researchers found that nicotine given to adolescent rats induced a
depression-like state characterized by a lack of pleasure and heightened sensitivity to
stress in their adult lives. The findings, published online in the journal
Neuropsychopharmacology, suggest that the same may be true for humans. "This study is
unique because it is the first one to show that nicotine exposure early in life can have
long-term neurobiological consequences evidenced in mood disorders," Bolanos said.
"In addition, the study indicates that even brief exposure to nicotine increases risk
for mood disorders later in life." The Florida State researchers injected adolescent
rats twice daily with either nicotine or saline for 15 days. After the treatment period
ended, they subjected the rats to several experiments designed to find out how they would
react to stressful situations as well as how they would respond to the offering of
rewards. They found that behavioral changes symptomatic of depression can emerge after one
week of nicotine cessation and -- most surprising -- that even a single day of nicotine
exposure during adolescence can have long-lasting effects. "Some of the animals in
our study were exposed to nicotine once and never saw the drug again," Bolanos said.
"It was surprising to us to discover that a single day of nicotine exposure could
potentially have such long-term negative consequences."
Chondroitin Slows Progression and
Relieves Symptoms of Knee Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis (OA) causes disability and is a major public health problem. A new study
examined the effect of chondroitins 4 and 6 sulfate (CS) on OA progression and symptoms.
CS, unlike other chondroitin sulfate products sold as dietary supplements in the U.S., has
been approved as a prescription symptomatic slow acting drug for OA in many European
countries. The study was published in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism
(http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/76509746/home). Led by Andre Kahan of the
University of Paris Descartes in Paris, the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled
study involved 622 patients with OA from France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and the
U.S. Patients had knee X-rays at the time of enrollment and at 12, 18 and 24 months. The
X-rays were evaluated for joint space loss and patients were also assessed for OA symptoms
and pain.
Surgical Implants Coated with One
of "Nature's Antibiotics" Could Prevent Infection: UBC Study
Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a mimic of one of
“nature’s antibiotics” that can be used to coat medical devices to prevent
infection and rejection. The study, released today in the journal Chemistry and Biology,
found that a synthetic form, short tethered cationic antimicrobial peptides (peptide), can
protect surfaces, like those of medical devices, killing bacteria and fungi that come into
contact with them. Peptides are small proteins. Medical devices such as surgical implants,
catheters, hip replacements, and joint prostheses have the potential to become infected
with bacteria, leading to many medical problems including degeneration or rejection of the
implant. Currently, the metal silver is sometimes used to coat medical devices because of
its antimicrobial properties. Nature’s antibiotics are short naturally peptides that
are produced by all complex organisms including humans and animals, for protection against
microbial infections. These peptides can be found in cells and tissues, on the skin and
mucosal surfaces and in fluids like blood, sweat and tears.
Biology exists in a physical world. That’s a fact cancer researchers are beginning to
recognize as they look to include concepts of physics and mathematics in their efforts to
understand how cancer develops -- and how to stop it. Traditional cancer biology involves
taking a sample of cells and holding them in time so they can be studied. Then the
researchers look at that slice of cells to understand what signals and pathways are
involved. But that doesn’t capture the full picture, says Sofia Merajver, M.D.,
Ph.D., co-director of the Breast Oncology Program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Stress May Hasten The Growth Of
Melanoma Tumors But Common Beta-Blocker Medications Might Slow That Progress
For patients with a particularly aggressive form of skin cancer – malignant melanoma
– stress, including that which comes from simply hearing that diagnosis, might
amplify the progression of their disease. But the same new research that infers this also
suggests that the use of commonly prescribed blood pressure medicines might slow the
development of those tumors and therefore improve these patients’ quality of life.
The study, the third by Ohio State University scientists in the last two years that looked
for links between stress hormones and diseases like cancer, is published in the the
journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity.
Effectiveness of Progesterone in
Reducing Preterm Births May Be Altered By Genetic Predisposition
New research that may explain why taking progesterone to prevent preterm birth is only
effective for some women was unveiled today at the 29th Annual Society for Maternal-Fetal
Medicine (SMFM) meeting – The Pregnancy Meeting™. The drug, 17
alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (or 17P), a synthetic form of the progesterone hormone
naturally produced during pregnancy, has been demonstrated in clinical trials to prevent
some recurrent preterm births – but not all. “This study helps strengthen the
theory that genetic variation in the human progesterone receptor plays an important role
in the effectiveness of 17P,” states Tracy Manuck, M.D., study author and SMFM
member. Women who have a spontaneous preterm delivery are at greatly increased risk of
preterm delivery in subsequent pregnancies. Preterm birth is a leading cause of infant
death in the United States and babies who survive face serious lifelong health problems.
More than 543,000 babies are born too soon each year and recent federal statistics show
that the nation’s preterm birth rate has risen to 12.8 percent -- a 36 percent
increase since the early 1980s.
People with Parkinson's disease commonly suffer a slowing or freezing of movement caused
by the death of neurons that make dopamine, a key chemical that allows brain cells to send
and receive messages essential to voluntary movements. Patients regain the ability to
move, seemingly miraculously, by taking L-DOPA or related drugs that mimic the missing
dopamine. After a few years on L-DOPA, however, most patients again lose motor control
— but in an opposite way. Instead of too little, there is too much movement, like
involuntary nodding and rocking — side effects known as L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias.
"L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias are a major problem for patients, and there is a great
need to help with these drug side effects," said MIT Institute Professor Ann
Graybiel, a prominent Parkinson's researcher at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research
at MIT. Graybiel and her colleagues have identified two molecules whose expression in the
brain is altered in the brains of animals with L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias. The results may
lead to new approaches to the treatment of dyskinesias in Parkinson's patients, of which
there are more than 1 million in the United States alone. "We're very excited because
these genes are concentrated in precisely the places that lose dopamine in Parkinson's
disease, so they might be reasonable targets to go after therapeutically," Graybiel
said. This research was published Jan. 26 in the advance online issue of Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
New pathway is a common thread in
age-related neurodegenerative diseases
How are neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's initiated, and why is age the major
risk factor? A recent study of a protein called MOCA (Modifier of Cell Adhesion), carried
out at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, provides new clues to the answers of
these fundamental questions.Under normal circumstances, MOCA is a key member of the
squadron charged with keeping Alzheimer's disease at bay. A team of researchers led by
Salk professor David Schubert, Ph.D., demonstrated what happens when MOCA goes on
furlough. In the process Schubert identified a novel pathway with broad implications for
both Alzheimer's and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases.Their findings, reported
in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, show how neurodegenerative disease
starts, initiating in the nerve ending and inducing gradual changes, like a chain reaction
over a long time. The animal model used in the study also will allow scientists to better
understand the processes behind the formation of the protein aggregates that are common to
most neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, it will provide new opportunities to target
the earliest steps for therapy.MOCA was initially identified as a protein that binds to
presenilin, a molecule that when mutated causes familial Alzheimer's disease. MOCA is only
found in neurons and regulates the expression of the beta amyloid protein responsible for
the Alzheimer's plaques that are the hallmark of the disease. To better understand MOCA's
function, Qi Chen, Ph.D., a senior scientist in Schubert's laboratory, created a line of
mice genetically engineered to lack the gene for MOCA.
Blue light destroys
antibiotic-resistant staph infection
Two common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA,
were virtually eradicated in the laboratory by exposing them to a wavelength of blue
light, in a process called photo-irradiation that is described in a paper published online
ahead of print in Photomedicine and Laser Surgery. The article will appear in the April
2009 issue (Volume 27, Number 2) of the peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann
Liebert, Inc. The paper is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/pho
Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections represent an important and increasing public
health threat. At present, fewer than 5% of staphylococcal strains are susceptible to
penicillin, while approximately 40%-50% of Staph aureus isolated have developed resistance
to newer semisynthetic antibiotics such as methicillin as well. Chukuka S. Enwemeka,
Deborah Williams, Sombiri K. Enwemeka, Steve Hollosi, and David Yens from the New York
Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, NY) had previously demonstrated that
photo-irradiation using 405-nm light destroys MRSA strains grown in culture. In the
current study, "Blue 470-nm Light Kills Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus
(MRSA) in Vitro," the authors exposed bacterial colonies of MRSA to various doses of
470-nm light, which emits no UV radiation. The two MRSA populations studied—the
US-300 strain of CA-MRSA and the IS-853 strain of HA-MRSA—represent prominent
community-acquired and hospital-acquired strains, respectively. The authors report that
the higher the dose of 470-nm blue light, the more bacteria were killed. High-dose
photo-irradiation was able to destroy 90.4% of the US-300 colonies and the IS-853
colonies. The effectiveness of blue light in vitro suggests that it should also be
effective in human cases of MRSA infection, and particularly in cutaneous and subcutaneous
infections. "It is inspiring that an inexpensive naturally visible wavelength of
light can eradicate two common strains of MRSA. Developing strategies that are capable of
destroying MRSA, using mechanisms that would not lead to further antibiotic resistance, is
timely and important for us and our patients," says Chukuka S. Enwemeka, PhD, FACSM,
Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and first author of the study.
Stem cell transplant reverses early
stage multiple sclerosis
Researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine appear to have
reversed the neurological dysfunction of early-stage multiple sclerosis patients by
transplanting their own immune stem cells into their bodies and thereby
"resetting" their immune systems. "This is the first time we have turned
the tide on this disease," said principal investigator Richard Burt, M.D. chief of
immunotherapy for autoimmune diseases at the Feinberg School. The clinical trial was
performed at Northwestern Memorial Hospital where Burt holds the same title. The patients
in the small phase I/II trial continued to improve for up to 24 months after the
transplantation procedure and then stabilized. They experienced improvements in areas in
which they had been affected by multiple sclerosis including walking, ataxia, limb
strength, vision and incontinence. The study will be published online January 30 and in
the March issue of The Lancet Neurology. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease
in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system. In its early stages, the
disease is characterized by intermittent neurological symptoms, called relapsing-remitting
MS. During this time, the person will either fully or partially recover from the symptoms
experienced during the attacks. Common symptoms are visual problems, fatigue, sensory
changes, weakness or paralysis of limbs, tremors, lack of coordination, poor balance,
bladder or bowel changes and psychological changes. Within 10 to 15 years after onset of
the disease, most patients with this relapsing-remitting MS progress to a later stage
called secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. In this stage, they experience a steady
worsening of irreversible neurological damage.
High-school kids who watch too much TV are likely to have bad eating habits five years in
the future. Research published in BioMed Central's open access International Journal of
Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity followed almost 2000 high- and middle-school
children and found that TV viewing times predict a poor diet in the future. Dr Daheia
Barr-Anderson worked with a team of researchers from the University of Minnesota to
investigate the relationship between television and diet. She said, "To our
knowledge, this is the first study to examine the association between television viewing
and diet over the transition from adolescence into young adulthood. We've shown that TV
viewing during adolescence predicts poorer dietary intake patterns five years later".
Stronger and more consistent patterns were seen during the transition from high school to
young adulthood than during the transition from middle school to high school. Both are
critical developmental periods, where lifelong behaviours are formed. The authors found
that those high-school kids who watched more than five hours of television per day had a
lower intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and calcium-rich foods; and higher
intakes of snack foods, fried foods, fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages, and trans fats
five years later. According to Barr-Anderson, "These less than healthy foodstuffs are
commonly advertised on television while healthy foods rarely receive the same publicity.
Although young people may be aware that many foods advertised on television are not
healthy, they may chose to ignore or do not fully realize the consequences, because the
actors they see advertising and eating the foods in the commercials are usually not
overweight". Barr-Anderson and her colleagues have called for action to tackle
television adverts for food and drinks. They say, "The potential negative impacts of
advertising and marketing campaigns on dietary quality and purchasing behavior show that,
as well as devising interventions to reduce television viewing time, we need to promote
healthy food choices, in general and while watching television, to overcome harmful media
influences".
Plums poised to give blueberries
run for the money
There’s an emerging star in the super-food world. Plums are rolling down the food
fashion runway sporting newly discovered high levels of healthy nutrients, say scientists
at Texas AgriLife Research. Plainly, “blueberries have some stiff competition,”
said Dr. Luis Cisneros, AgriLife Research food scientist."Stone fruits are super
fruits with plums as emerging stars."
Lack of sleep is a common complaint but for many, falling asleep involuntarily during the
day poses a very real and dangerous problem. A new study from the Montreal Neurological
Institute (MNI) at McGill University demonstrates interestingly, that sleep-wake states
are regulated by two different types of nerve cells (neurons), melanin-concentrating
hormone (MCH) neurons and orexin (Orx) neurons, which occupy the same region of the brain
but perform opposite functions. The MNI study is the first to discover that MCH neurons
are activated during sleep and could thus be important in regulating the sleep state. The
study, published in this week’s issue of the journal Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provides deeper understanding of the sleep-wake cycle and
vital insight into the basis of sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and possibly also other
diseases such as depression and Parkinson’s.
New study explores the relationship
between preterm birth and autism spectrum disorder
Recent studies have suggested that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be more prevalent
among children born very prematurely. The early symptoms of ASD are also associated with
other conditions related to preterm births, such as cerebral palsy, which can make it
difficult to correctly screen children for ASD. Because of this, researchers have begun to
explore the relationship between preterm birth, cognitive and developmental impairments,
and ASD. Two articles soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics explore this
possible correlation between preterm birth and ASD. Dr. Karl Kuban and colleagues from
Boston University, Wake Forest University, and Harvard University studied 988 children
born between 2002 and 2004 who participated in the ELGAN (Extremely Low Gestational Age
Newborn) study, a large, multi-center study that enrolled more than 1500 infants born at
least three months prematurely. They wanted to explore whether children born preterm are
more likely to screen positive on the Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT),
a survey administered to a caregiver regarding a child's behavior. Pediatricians typically
wait to formally diagnose ASD until after a child's third birthday. In this study,
however, the caregivers of the infants completed the M-CHAT when the children were 24
months of age. The researchers found that 21% of the preterm children screened positive
for ASD. Dr. Kuban and his colleagues were also interested in learning whether a child
born prematurely who had motor, visual, hearing, or cognitive impairments was more likely
to screen positive on the M-CHAT. Of the 988 children, 26% had cognitive impairments, 11%
had cerebral palsy, 3% had visual impairments, and 2% had hearing impairments. They also
observed that nearly half of the children with cerebral palsy and more than two-thirds of
the children with visual or hearing impairments screened positive. According to Dr. Kuban,
"Children who are born more than three months premature appear to be twice as likely
to screen positive on the M-CHAT." He notes, however, that the percentage of children
who screened positive for ASD dropped to 10% when the variables of cognitive, visual,
hearing, and motor impairments were removed.
Tobacco marketing in South Korea has been deliberately aimed at girls and young women.
Research published in the open access journal Globalization and Health has shown that
transnational tobacco companies (TTCs) are using tactics long used with devastating effect
in Western countries to snare new female smokers in Asia. Kelley Lee from the London
School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine led a team of researchers who studied internal
documents from the tobacco industry that reveal the scheme to seduce a generation of
girls. She said, "Since the opening of the South Korean tobacco market in the late
1980s, females have been targeted by TTCs as an important source of future market growth
and profitability. The rise in smoking rates among females within certain age groups since
the late 1980s suggests that these efforts have been successful". The tactics used
recall advertising campaigns carried out in the United States and Europe since the 1920s
that link smoking with feminism and the liberation of women. According to Lee,
"Product design associating smoking with body image and female emancipation,
familiarly deployed elsewhere, have been extensively used in South Korea to appeal to
female smokers. So-called "ultra light", "low tar" and
"superslim" cigarettes have been particularly effective, falsely suggesting
certain brands offer a healthier or safer option, as well as appealing to female concerns
about weight gain. Tighter restrictions on the use of such descriptors, alongside public
education on the fallacy of such claims, are badly needed in South Korea".
