FRIDAY,
MAY 30, 2003
- TV
May Encourage Teen Smoking: Italian Survey
- Menorrhagia:
When Your Time of the Month is Too Much
- Obesity
Drug Cuts Risk Factors for Heart Disease
- Treating
Minor Burns at Home
- Levels
of Carcinogen Higher in Marlboro Cigarettes
- Vinegar
Good Medicine for Some Burns
- Sleep
Disorder Ups Risk of Heart Problem Recurrence
- Staving
off a Second Stroke
- 'Good'
Bacteria May Thwart Allergies in Toddlers
- Herb
May Help Heal Herpes
- Europeans
Nations Failing Obese Patients – Survey
- How
Much Exercise?
- Side
Effect Risk from Drug Higher in Epileptics
- Goodbye,
Flu Shots?
- Protein
Could Slow Degenerative Brain Diseases
- Nursing
Helps Undo Smoking's Damage to Baby
- Mystery
Fatigue Often Not Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2003
- Study
Questions Popular Fertility Surgery for Men
- Cell
Phone Speakers in Front of Driver May Be Safer
- Childhood
Obesity Often Missed
- European
Initiative Launched to Tackle Obesity
- New
Ways to Treat Allergies
- New
Drug Approach to Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Scientists
Grow Insulin-Producing Liver Cells
- Chronic
Headaches May Predict Men's Stroke Risk
- Bacteria
Beats Eczema
- Study:
Laziness Makes for Dangerous Fat
- Does
Adult Diabetes Trace Back to the Womb?
- Obesity
Epidemic Set to Get Worse
- A
Dose of Their Own Medicine
WEDNESDAY,
MAY 28, 2003
- Smoking
Speeds Up Memory Loss in Middle Age
- 'Rapid
Detox' Breaks Drug Habits Quickly
- To
Psychopathic Murderers, Violence Is Not So Bad
- Laziness
Makes for Dangerous Fat - U.S. Study
- Angry
Children Hurt Their Heart Health
- Breast
Feeding May Counter Maternal Smoking Harm
- No
Java Cold Turkey
- Heart
Effects of Impotence Pill Under U.S. Review
- Exercising
for Fun Better for the Heart
- Blood
Doping Rampant Among Top Cross-Country Skiers
- Men
May Need Second Prostate Cancer Test
TUESDAY,
MAY 27, 2003
- Sunburn
by Gender
- Young
Children Served Large Portions May Overeat
- Fish
Oil Prevents Irregular Heartbeats
- Hormone-Taking
Is Linked to Dementia
- Apnea
Tied to Atrial Fibrillation
- Diabetics'
Education Level May Sway Death Risk
- Setting
an Example by Kicking the Habit
- Full-Term
Fetus Knows Mom's Voice: Study
- Many
Prostate Biopsies Unnecessary
- Laser
Eye Surgery Claims Soaring in UK
- Two
Clot Busters Boost Stroke Recovery
- Families
Sought in Hunt for Male Cancer Genes
- Testing
for Stomach Bacteria Doesn't Help With Peptic Ulcers
- Wine
Tasting Takes Brains, Italian Study Finds
- Surgery
Beats Drugs for Fixing Blood Flow to Heart
MONDAY, MAY 26, 2003
- Pamphlet
with Your Pasta?
- Study:
Smallpox May Spur Malaria Defense
- Vitamins
May Cut Risk of Birth Defects in Diabetics
- Trust
Your Instincts, Skin Cancer Survivor Urges
- Youthful
Hostility Linked to Adult Heart Disease
- Skin
Cancer: More than 1 Million New Cases in U.S. This Year
- Coffee
Shop Workers Have High Blood Pressure Risk
- Handling
the Heat When You Have Heart Pain
- Demand
for Endocrinologists Outstrips Supply
- Obesity
Surgery Success Depends on Surgeon
- For
Preservative-Free Flu Shot, Ask in Advance
- Weekend
Exercise Does a Heart Good - German Study
SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2003
- A
Look at Dry Eye
- If
It's Not Colic, It Might be GERD
SATURDAY, MAY 24, 2003
- Unclogging
Your Nose
- Ear
Pain on Airplanes
FRIDAY,
MAY 30, 2003
TV
May Encourage Teen Smoking: Italian Survey
Reuters Health
Friday, May 30, 2003
FLORENCE (Reuters Health) - Italian teenagers
may take up smoking to imitate actors and TV stars, according
to a survey by the National Health Institute presented in
Rome on Friday.
The survey, released at the Fifth Conference
on Tobacco and the National Health Service, involved 498 teenagers
between 13 and 17 years old. The survey found that 12 percent
of the teens were smokers, with 16- and 17-year-olds most
likely to smoke.
Teens smoke an average of seven cigarettes
per day, and 35 percent buy them at vending machines, the
survey found.
At the meeting, public health experts
heard that Italian television stations Rai, Mediaset, La7
and MTV show someone smoking every 32 minutes.
In films, cartoons and videos, 62 percent
of smoking acts are associated with "winning" personalities
and 38 percent with "losers," according to the report. Moreover,
71 percent of smoking took place in "sexy and convivial situations"
while 29 percent was associated with anxiety, said the report.
The survey monitored programs between
11:30 a.m. and 11:30 p.m. during three weeks in October and
December 2002 and January 2003.
In a landmark ruling this month, Italy's
State Council banned indirect cigarette advertising in films
and TV programs.
Also this week, an agency that oversees
government industries, the Autonomous Administration of State
Monopolies, announced that beginning in January 2004 cigarette
vending machines will be shut between 7:00 a.m. and 11:00
p.m. in an effort to make cigarettes less accessible to teenagers.
The measure comes five months after Italy
passed a milestone law that bans smoking almost anywhere indoors
except private homes and specially designated smoking areas.
According to the latest report by the
statistics agency Doxa, more than one quarter of Italy's 58
million citizens are smokers.
Back to the Top
Menorrhagia:
When Your Time of the Month is Too Much
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthScoutNews Reporter
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScout News) -- For
most women, the average loss of blood during a menstrual period
is a little more than one ounce.
But an estimated 10 million American women
lose much more because they suffer from a condition called
menorrhagia. And most don't realize there are treatments that
can help ease the problem.
Traditionally, a hysterectomy -- removal
of the uterus -- has been the only option available to doctors
to treat the condition. But in recent years, researchers have
pioneered alternatives so the heavy bleeding can often be
eliminated or greatly reduced without radical surgery.
Dr. Philip G. Brooks, a Los Angeles gynecologist
and clinical professor at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine,
says menorrhagia is much more than just an annoying period.
The condition can be disabling, causing
women great difficulty working or doing other daily activities
because the flow is so great. "They wear towels, not menstrual
pads," Brooks says.
About 600,000 hysterectomies are performed
each year in the United States, according to the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (news
- web
sites), and about one-fifth
are done to treat menorrhagia, health experts say.
But in recent years, Brooks and other
physicians have turned to less drastic measures. They include
various types of ablation, procedures in which the lining
of the uterus -- called the endometrium -- is destroyed to
control the excessive bleeding.
Even before ablation is recommended, however,
there are other steps that can be considered, says Dr. William
Parker, a gynecologist at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center
in California. He often uses a hysteroscope, a tiny telescope-like
device, to do a visual inspection of the uterine cavity.
"We look to see if there are any fibroids,
polyps and lesions," he says, adding the early stages of pregnancy
can also lead to heavy bleeding.
Many women with menorrhagia are in the
40- to 50-year-old age bracket, and lack of ovulation during
cycles is a main reason for the bleeding.
If a follow-up test -- such as an ultrasound
-- of the uterine lining shows it's normal, Parker might prescribe
low-dose birth control pills or other medication to slow the
excess bleeding.
If medical treatments fail after three
months or so, Parker says he offers the option of ablation.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(news
- web
sites) has approved four methods
of ablation in recent years, says Brooks, who lectured on
the topic at the recent annual meeting of the American College
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Earlier techniques required a doctor to
have specialized training. However, the newer treatments are
easier for doctors to master, Brooks and Parker agree.
One of the newest, called hydrothermablation,
is done on an outpatient basis, and involves the insertion
of an hysteroscope to view the cavity during the procedure.
A hot saline solution is delivered into the uterus through
a tube inserted into the cervix. The water destroys the lining
of the uterus, or most of it, in 10 minutes or so. The type
of local anesthesia and other pain relief used varies, depending
on the woman.
Ablation "destroys the blood vessels and
endometrial glands that build up and shed," Brooks says. Basically,
it destroys the uterine lining enough to solve the bleeding
problem but sometimes not enough to stop periods.
He says about 50 percent of women who
undergo ablation no longer have periods; the other 50 percent
continue to have periods, but they are much lighter.
The results of hydrothermablation are
very effective. "We have a 94 percent success rate -- either
no period or scant periods," says Brooks, who teaches courses
to train other doctors in the technique.
Women who have ablation should have completed
their childbearing because the uterine lining is no longer
capable of sustaining a pregnancy, doctors say. But because
most women affected by menorrhagia are nearing the end of
their reproductive years, motherhood isn't usually a concern.
Yet even with the high success rates of
ablation techniques, says Parker, some women say to him, "I
don't want a 10 percent risk." And they opt instead for a
hysterectomy.
While a traditional hysterectomy requires
about four to six weeks recovery time, ablation is usually
a day or so, Parker says.
More information
For information on menstruation, see the
American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
To learn more about menorrhagia, visit the University
of California, Davis Medical Center.
Back to the Top
Obesity
Drug Cuts Risk Factors for Heart Disease
By Patricia Reaney
Reuters
Friday, May 30, 2003
HELSINKI (Reuters) - An obesity drug is
twice as effective as dieting in reducing weight in obese
patients and cuts their risk of heart disease, according to
new results from a long-running study reported on Friday.
Orlistat (news
- web
sites), produced by Switzerland's
Roche Holding AG under the brand name Xenical, works by hindering
the body's ability to absorb fat.
In the longest clinical trial to assess
the effectiveness and safety of an obesity drug, patients
taking orlistat had fewer symptoms of metabolic syndrome --
a cluster of three or more factors that increase the risk
of heart disease.
Those factors include overweight or obesity,
high blood pressure, early indications of diabetes, abnormal
cholesterol levels and high waist measurement -- or typical
beer belly.
"We know that we are in the middle of
an obesity epidemic. We are definitely in a global epidemic
of type 2 diabetes and as a third consequence we are facing
an epidemic of patients having multiple risk factors known
as the metabolic syndrome," said Dr. Jarl Torgerson, head
of the obesity unit at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in
Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Xendos study, led by Torgerson, mainly
aimed to see if it would be possible to prevent or postpone
type 2 diabetes in obese patients. The biggest risk for type
2 diabetes is excess weight.
"We could show that Xenical plus lifestyle
treatment had a better diabetes prevention effect than lifestyle
alone," Torgerson said in an interview.
Nearly 14 percent of people in the diet
group developed type 2 diabetes but only 9.8 percent taking
the drug suffered from the disease.
"These study results show that Xenical
boosts the beneficial effects of weight loss in people with
metabolic syndrome," said Torgerson, who presented the results
at the 12th European Congress on Obesity.
In the study of 3,304 patients over four
years, people taking the drug lost 14.08 pounds in weight,
compared to 6.38 pounds among those who were just dieting.
The drug group also reduced their waistlines
by 2.44 inches, compared to 1.52 inches for the dieters, and
had a greater reduction in blood pressure.
More than a billion people worldwide are
overweight or obese, according to the World Health Organization
(news
- web
sites). It is a serious risk
factor for heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes,
muscle and respiratory problems and certain types of cancer.
Back to the Top
Treating
Minor Burns at Home
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScoutNews) -- If
you're not certain what you need to do to help extinguish
the pain of minor burns, here's a refresher from the Mayo
Clinic.
Generally, you can provide treatment at
home for first-degree burns -- where the skin is reddened
-- and small second-degree burns -- where a blistered area
is no larger than two inches.
Here's what you need to do:
- For chemical burns, make sure the chemical
and any clothing or jewelry in contact with the chemical
are removed.
- Cool the burn under running water long
enough to reduce the pain. It usually takes about 15 to
20 minutes. If you can't use running water, immerse the
burn in cold water or cover it with cold compresses. Don't
put ice directly on the burn. Ice can cause frostbite and
further damage.
- Once the burn is cooled, apply a lotion
or moisturizer to soothe the area and prevent dryness. Don't
apply butter because it holds the heat in the tissues and
may cause more damage.
- Cover the burn with a loosely-wrapped
sterile gauze bandage. This keeps air off the burn and reduces
the pain.
- Take an over-the-counter pain medication,
unless your doctor has told you not to take these kinds
of medications.
- Don't break blisters on burn areas.
If a blister does break, wash the area with an antibacterial
soap and water, apply an antibiotic ointment and cover it
with a bandage.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about
burns.
Back to the Top
Levels
of Carcinogen Higher in Marlboro Cigarettes
By Paul Simao
Reuters
Friday, May 30, 2003
ATLANTA (Reuters) - Marlboro, the world's
No. 1 selling brand of cigarettes, contains significantly
higher levels of a cancer-causing agent than its rivals when
purchased in many of the largest markets overseas, U.S. scientists
say.
Tests by the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (news
- web
sites) found that the U.S. brand
contained higher amounts of tobacco-specific nitrosamines
(TSNAs) than other locally available cigarettes in 11 of 13
countries.
In 10 countries, including Japan and Germany,
Marlboro cigarettes purchased locally had at least twice the
amount of TSNAs, one of the major classes of carcinogens found
in tobacco products, than competitor brands.
The findings, published in the latest
edition of Nicotine & Tobacco Research, come at a time
when worldwide demand for American-style, blended cigarettes
is outpacing demand for other types of cigarettes.
David Ashley, a CDC tobacco expert and
the lead author of the article, said it was not known whether
higher levels of TSNAs would lead to a greater prevalence
of cancer and other smoking-related diseases.
Ashley did, however, note that reducing
TSNAs in tobacco products would not make cigarette smoking
any safer.
The World Health Organization (news
- web
sites) has estimated that there
are more than 1.2 billion smokers on the planet and that 4
million people die each year from cancer and other smoking-related
diseases.
Philip Morris USA, which markets Marlboro
cigarettes, said the CDC findings were not surprising since
the levels of TSNAs found in American cigarettes were traditionally
higher because of differences in curing and processing.
Philip Morris USA is a unit of Altria
Group Inc.
"We're aware of these higher TSNAs and
have worked to reduce them," Philip Morris USA spokesman Brendan
McCormick said. He added that the company had spent $35 million
to lower the levels of this type of carcinogen in its products.
But anti-tobacco activists said the tobacco
giants had done precious little to strip harmful contaminants
from cigarettes.
"Today's study is just the most recent
example of the tobacco industry's reckless disregard for the
health of smokers and yet another compelling reason why cigarettes
need to be regulated by the federal government," said Matthew
Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
About 440,000 people in the United States
die each year from lung cancer and other diseases caused by
smoking, making it the leading preventable cause of death
in the nation. There are about 46.5 million smokers in the
United States.
Back to the Top
Vinegar
Good Medicine for Some Burns
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScoutNews) -- Vinegar
can minimize alkaline burn injuries caused by household cleaners,
plumbing products and industrial grade solvents.
A study in the May issue of Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgery says vinegar and other weak
acids can neutralize alkaline burns faster than water and
significantly reduce damage to skin and tissue.
That's contrary to the common myth that
neutralization should be avoided when a person suffers an
alkaline burn, study co-author Dr. Stephen Milner says in
a news release.
About 15,000 skin burns are caused by
alkaline agents each year in the United States. Alkaline agents
are found in many common cleaning supplies used in homes.
The first few minutes after the skin comes
into contact with an alkaline substance are the most important
in managing the burn, Milner says. Once alkalis penetrate
the skin, they react with fat in the skin and progressively
kill the tissue.
The study found that vinegar and other
weak acids neutralized alkalis more than 15 minutes faster
than water alone. But Milner says people who suffer alkaline
burns do need to wash the area off with water before they
apply vinegar.
"I've had patients with such severe alkaline
burns that they needed skin grafts to help repair the damage.
Unfortunately, these types of burns happen much more often
than we think. Through this study, we now know we may be able
to reduce the severity, some of the pain and debilitating
effects of alkaline burns," Milner says.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about
different kinds of burns.
Back to the Top
Sleep
Disorder Ups Risk of Heart Problem Recurrence
By Alison McCook
Reuters Health
Friday, May 30, 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who
have a common heart-rhythm disorder may be more likely to
experience a recurrence after treatment if they also have
an untreated sleep disorder known as sleep apnea, new study
findings suggest.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester,
Minnesota, found that, among people treated for a heart rhythm
irregularity known as atrial fibrillation, more than 8 out
of 10 patients who also had untreated sleep apnea experienced
a return of their atrial fibrillation within one year.
In contrast, only around 4 out of 10 people
treated for atrial fibrillation who had sleep apnea but received
treatment for the condition saw their heart rhythm problem
return.
Atrial fibrillation is a relatively common
form of arrhythmia. Although not the most deadly type of irregular
heart rhythm, atrial fibrillation puts patients at risk of
potentially life-threatening blood clots, due to the pool
of blood that slowly gathers in the atria when those chambers
become unable to contract regularly.
According to the report published in the
American Heart Association (news
- web
sites)'s journal Circulation,
approximately 50 percent of people treated for atrial fibrillation
who were sleep apnea-free experienced a recurrence of their
heart problem one year after treatment.
"If you've got sleep apnea and you've
had atrial fibrillation in the past, chances are your risk
of getting it again is higher," study author Dr. Virend K.
Somers told Reuters Health.
Somers noted that both sleep apnea and
atrial fibrillation can pose problems for the cardiovascular
system, and having both conditions may be worse than having
each alone.
Although this question has not yet been
investigated, "it's likely that when you put them both together,
the effects may at least be additive," he said.
Study participants with sleep apnea had
the most common form of the condition, known as obstructive
sleep apnea. This type of sleep apnea is caused by a collapse
of the throat during sleep, leading to an interruption of
breathing.
During the study, Somers and his team
followed a group of patients who had been treated for atrial
fibrillation for one year after treatment to determine if
their arrhythmia recurred. Thirty-nine of the patients had
obstructive sleep apnea, but only 12 were receiving appropriate
treatment for the sleep disorder.
One year after treatment for atrial fibrillation,
the researchers found that the heart arrhythmia had returned
in 82 percent of patients with untreated sleep apnea, 42 percent
of treated sleep apnea patients, and in one-half of a group
of 79 patients without sleep apnea.
In an interview, Somers explained that
there are many reasons why sleep apnea may increase the risk
that atrial fibrillation will occur.
During episodes of sleep apnea, the body
may not get enough oxygen, and this situation can stress the
heart into developing an arrhythmia, Somers said. In addition,
a sleep apnea episode often increases blood pressure and causes
the body to release adrenaline-like substances, both of which
can lead the heart to adopt an abnormal rhythm, he noted.
Many people have atrial fibrillation,
Somers said. While it would be nice to know who among them
has sleep apnea, as well, diagnosing the sleep disorder can
be very expensive.
However, he suggested that doctors faced
with a patient with atrial fibrillation who also has some
common risk factors for sleep apnea -- such as obesity, loud
snoring, and excessive daytime sleepiness -- should consider
the possibility of an additional problem.
"These are signs there's a reasonable
chance of coexisting sleep apnea," Somers said.
Source: Circulation
2003;107:2589-2594.
Back to the Top
Staving
off a Second Stroke
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScoutNews) -- Stroke
is the third leading cause of death in the United States and
the leading cause of debilitation, but there's a big gap between
Americans' understanding of stroke and their efforts to prevent
it.
That's the claim of a recent survey by
the National Council on the Aging.
The survey found that although many Americans
know people who have had a stroke are at increased risk of
suffering another one, stroke survivors don't take all the
possible steps to protect their health.
A third of all strokes are recurrent ones.
Lifestyle changes and medications can help reduce the risk
of recurrent strokes.
The telephone survey of 992 people found
that 88 percent of respondents said they knew that someone
who has had a stroke has an increased risk of having another
one.
However, the survey found that many stroke
survivors were not exercising regularly (32 percent), quitting
smoking (19 percent) or watching their diet (18 percent),
even though these simple steps are known to prevent a future
stroke.
Medications can also reduce the risk of
recurrent stroke. For example, some stroke patients are put
on medications that prevent clotting. That helps reduce the
risk of stroke.
After surviving a stroke, men have a 42
percent chance of having another one within five years. Women
stroke survivors have a 24 percent chance of recurrent stroke
over the same time period.
The survey also found many respondents
incorrectly identified excessive stress (87 percent), overexertion
while exercising (56 percent), dehydration (38 percent), asthma
attacks (24 percent) and wearing constrictive clothing (16
percent) as risk factors for stroke.
Many also mistakenly said shortness of
breath (53 percent) and heart palpitations (50 percent) were
symptoms of stroke. Nearly two-thirds of the survey respondents
couldn't identify the age range (age 65 and older) of those
most affected by stroke.
More than 700,000 Americans suffer a stroke
each year. That's one person every 45 seconds. About 168,000
Americans die from strokes each year.
More information
The National Council on Aging offers a
stroke
tip sheet.
Back to the Top
'Good'
Bacteria May Thwart Allergies in Toddlers
By Keith Mulvihill
Reuters Health
Friday, May 30, 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Giving soon-to-be
mothers and newborns doses of "good" bacteria may help prevent
childhood allergies up to age four, continuing research suggests.
The findings, a follow-up from a study
that initially looked at allergies in newborns up to age two,
may offer evidence that harmless bacteria can train infants'
immune systems to resist allergic reactions, according to
the report in the journal The Lancet.
In the ongoing study, researchers in Finland
used a type of bacteria found naturally in the gut -- called
Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG -- to try to prevent allergy
development in at-risk infants.
Lactobacillus bacteria have long been
used in food fermentation and are commonly found in items
such as yogurt. Some forms of the bacterium dwell normally
in the human intestines. Lactobacillus-laden foods and supplements
-- commonly referred to as "probiotics" -- have grown increasingly
popular because they are believed to promote good gastrointestinal
health.
In the original study, Dr. Marko Kalliomaki
and colleagues at Turku University Hospital gave a group of
pregnant women either probiotic capsules or placebo capsules
every day for a few weeks before their due dates. For 6 months
after delivery, women who breast-fed continued on the probiotics
or placebo, while bottle-fed infants were given probiotics
or placebo directly. All of the babies were considered to
be at high risk of developing allergies because a parent or
sibling was affected.
Kalliomaki's team originally published
results of the study when the children were two years old.
Now, the researchers report that the youngsters in the probiotic
supplement group were less likely at age 4 to have developed
an allergic skin condition called atopic eczema.
"The main finding is that administration
of probiotics (shortly before and after birth) may prevent
the development of atopic eczema during the first 4 years
of life in high-risk children," Kalliomaki told Reuters Health.
Children at high risk, he said, are those whose mother, father
or older sibling has asthma, atopic eczema or allergic rhinitis.
"The new finding is that the preventive
potential of Lactobacillus GG may extend beyond infancy ...
to the age of 4 years," the researcher added.
Probiotics have been shown to have favorable
effects on the gut, according to Kalliomaki. Moreover these
agents have clear effects on the developing immune system,
he explained.
By the age of four years, 25 of 54 children
in the placebo group had developed allergic eczema, a condition
in which the skin becomes irritated, red and itchy. But just
14 of the 53 children who had received probiotics developed
the skin condition -- a 43-percent reduction, according to
report.
The study was funded by the Academy of
Finland and Turku University Hospital.
Source: The Lancet
2003;361:1869-1870.
Back to the Top
Herb
May Help Heal Herpes
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScoutNews) -- A
cream derived from the common herb called self-heal helps
prevents herpes in laboratory animals, says a study by researchers
at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
The researchers extracted a lignin-carbohydrate
compound from the self-heal plant (Prunella vulgaris)
and put it in a cream they tested on mice and guinea pigs
with experimental herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) and herpes
simplex virus-2 (HSV-2).
The guinea pigs receiving the cream had
a significant reduction in the number of skin lesions compared
to guinea pigs that received no treatment. Mice receiving
the cream also had a much better survival rate than mice that
didn't get the cream treatment.
"The anti-HSV compound form P. vulgaris
is a novel lignin-carbohydrate complex with potent activity
against HSV-1 and HSV-2 and has a different anti-herpes mechanism
than acyclovir, the current clinical anti-herpes drug," researcher
Song Lee says in a news release.
"Given the high incidence of herpes infection
and the emergence of acyclovir-resistant strains of herpes
viruses, the Prunella lignin-carbohydrate complex may prove
to be a useful new anti-herpes drug," Lee says.
Self-heal is commonly found in North American,
China, Europe and the British Isles.
The study was presented at the recent
meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in Washington,
D.C.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about
herpes.
Back to the Top
Europeans
Nations Failing Obese Patients – Survey
By Patricia Reaney
Reuters
Friday, May 30, 2003
HELSINKI (Reuters) - No country in Europe
is providing a satisfactory level of care for obese patients,
although an estimated 135 million people may need professional
advice on how to lose weight, doctors said on Friday.
A survey of medical professionals in 24
countries presented at the 12th European Congress on Obesity
revealed a lack of specialists to treat the growing number
of obese patients in Europe and wide variations in the facilities
provided for them.
The number of patients per obesity specialist
ranged from 9,000 to 100,000 patients depending on the country.
"This is a massive problem throughout
Europe," said Professor Vojtech Hainer of the European Association
for the Study of Obesity (EASO).
Although family doctors, or general practitioners,
are the first medical professionals people with weight problems
usually consult, the survey said most of them had poor knowledge
of obesity and some failed to recognize it as a disease.
"The care of obese patients is not very
good in any country. There is a lack of knowledge about obesity
among GPs, dietitians and psychologists and there are only
minor reimbursements by insurance companies," Hainer said
in an interview.
Only five European countries reimburse
patients for weight-reducing drugs, which could cost 70 percent
of a mean monthly salary in poorer countries like Romania
and Bulgaria.
Hainer said that although the survey was
conducted in Europe, he believes the situation is the same
around the globe.
"There are no unique differences," he
said. "We need educational systems in every country and for
the long-term."
More than a billion adults worldwide are
overweight or obese, according to the World Health Organization
(news
- web
sites). About 10-20 percent
of men and 10-25 percent of women in Europe are obese.
Being overweight increases the risk of
illnesses such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood
pressure, stroke and certain types of cancer. In some developed
countries, where the problem is most serious, obesity accounts
for an estimated seven percent of total health care costs.
Back to the Top
How
Much Exercise?
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
(HealthScoutNews) -- Ever wondered what
the bare minimum is for exercising to stay healthy?
The Danish-language journal Ugeskrift
For Laeger includes a report from Kobenhavns Universitet
in Denmark, which recommends 30 minutes of moderate exercise
each day. The researchers note that the exercise can be in
the form of routine activities -- such as walking, cycling
and gardening.
Not only that, but you don't have to exert
yourself all at once. The 30-minutes a day can be divided
into 5- to 10-minute segments, the report says.
Back to the Top
Side
Effect Risk from Drug Higher in Epileptics
By Alison McCook
Reuters Health
Friday, May 30, 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research
suggests that people with epilepsy who receive an anti-seizure
drug may be more likely to experience certain side effects
than patients with anxiety and dementia who are sometimes
treated with the same medication.
The investigators found that, among people
who received the drug levetiracetam (Keppra), feelings of
depression, hostility, anxiety and nervousness appeared more
commonly in people with epilepsy than in people with dementia
or anxiety.
This finding "suggests that people with
epilepsy have a higher rate of side effects than patients
with disorders that you would expect to have these problems,"
study author Joyce A. Cramer of Yale University in Connecticut
told Reuters Health.
Cramer noted that research suggests other
anti-epilepsy drugs besides levetiracetam can also produce
similar side effects in people with epilepsy.
She cautioned, however, that the rate
of anxiety, depression and other similar side effects was
very low, even in epileptics. Furthermore, for anyone who
experiences these side effects, their doctor can often change
the dose or tell them to stop taking the drug, she noted.
She said that any doctor who treats a
patient with epilepsy is likely very careful, and probably
needs to take no extra precautions when prescribing anti-seizure
drugs to a patient with epilepsy than when offering the medications
to other patients.
"What the data showed is that these things
are very rare," Cramer said in an interview.
"I think the vast, vast majority of (epileptics)
have no trouble starting any drug," Cramer said.
To obtain their findings, Cramer and her
colleagues reviewed past studies that compared the effects
of levetiracetam to a placebo in patients with epilepsy, anxiety
and cognitive disorders -- primarily, dementia.
The current report, published in the journal
Epilepsy and Behavior, includes information collected from
2,416 epilepsy patients, 1,510 people with an anxiety disorder
and 719 people with cognitive disorders.
Pooling this data, Cramer and her team
saw that between two and four percent of people with epilepsy
reported feelings of depression, nervousness, hostility and
anxiety, rates that exceeded those found in placebo-treated
patients and patients with anxiety or cognitive disorders
who received levetiracetam.
Cramer said that levetiracetam-treated
epileptic patients also showed a slightly higher risk of psychotic
or suicidal behaviors, but that the rates of these behaviors
were very low.
In terms of why epileptics might experience
more side effects, Cramer suggested that the brains of people
with epilepsy might contain differences that allow medications
to bring out certain side effects more strongly.
Epileptics "seem to be more sensitive
to these drugs," she said.
The study was supported by UCB Pharma,
which makes Keppra.
Source: Epilepsy
and Behavior 2003.
Back to the Top
Goodbye,
Flu Shots?
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthScoutNews Reporter
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScoutNews) -- For
all you needle phobics who hate to get your annual flu vaccine,
how does the prospect of a once-in-a-lifetime shot sound?
A prototype vaccine developed by researchers
at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, delivered not by
injection but by nasal spray, worked well in animal studies.
The researchers suspect it may prove effective for several
flu seasons.
If further research bears fruit, there's
a chance for the same kind of vaccine for humans, the scientists
say.
Their approach was to target a protein
within the flu virus that doesn't mutate as often as others.
"Current vaccines target two proteins
[within the flu virus] that mutate frequently," says Laszlo
Otvos Jr., an associate professor of chemistry at the Wistar
Institute and a co-author of the report, published in the
June 2 issue of Vaccine.
For that reason, public health officials
are always faced with the problem of updating the vaccine
so it will protect against the virus that's expected to be
prevalent in an upcoming flu season.
But the Wistar researchers focused instead
on the M2 protein, which is a more stable protein portion
of influenza viruses that mutates less frequently.
The experimental vaccine includes an engineered
peptide built by Otvos that mimics this M2 protein. The vaccine,
in nasal spray form, was given to the mice twice. After they
received it, a steep rise in antibodies to M2 was found in
blood samples, and the mice resisted replication of the virus
in their respiratory tracts.
Those mice that got the M2 protein had
much less virus in their respiratory tracts than those who
didn't get it, Otvos says.
The mice also had a more powerful antibody
response to the engineered vaccine than to infections by the
flu virus itself, the researchers found.
Every year, about 114,000 people in the
United States are hospitalized with influenza, a viral respiratory
infection, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (news
- web
sites) (CDC). About 20,000 people
die because of it, most of them elderly. While the flu vaccine
is not 100 percent effective, if you get a flu shot you're
likely to be far less sick than without it, the CDC says.
Of the new vaccine, Dr. James C. King,
a professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School
of Medicine, says, "The idea is wonderful." His research focuses
on live, intranasal vaccines.
"People have been talking for years about
using some of the internal proteins [such as the M2] within
the virus that don't mutate as fast" to make a vaccine, he
says.
What makes the Wistar research exciting,
King adds, is the scientists were not only able to make the
mice's immune systems recognize the M2 protein pieces, but
"the mice made antibodies and it also protected them from
symptoms."
As exciting as the research is, King offers
a caveat: "It's a good five to 10 years -- minimum -- before
we'll see this in humans."
Otvos agrees it will take time to answer
some important questions, such as: Are antibodies against
M2 enough to protect you from the flu? Is the response long-term?
Will subsequent flu strains have a mutated M2 structure?
If it all bears out, he says, the flu
vaccine may become a once-in-a-lifetime preventive measure.
More information
For myths and facts on flu shots, see
the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention's National Immunization
Program. For information on
the flu virus vaccine, check the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration.
Back to the Top
Protein
Could Slow Degenerative Brain Diseases
By Stephen Pincock
Reuters Health
Friday, May 30, 2003
LONDON (Reuters Health) - A type of protein
that helps cells respond to heat, cold and other environmental
stresses could one day be used to slow down degenerative brain
diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's, British
researchers said on Friday.
Early research suggests that so-called
heat shock proteins could also help against conditions such
as motor neurone disease and stroke damage, said Professor
Jacqueline de Belleroche from Imperial College London.
"At present, there is no cure for neuro-degenerative
diseases, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, but the discovery
of the beneficial effects of this protein in the brain may
provide us with a way to at least slow down the disease process,"
she said.
In the Journal of Biological Chemistry,
de Belleroche and colleagues report that the naturally occurring
heat shock protein Hsp27 was able to reduce brain cell death
in animal experiments.
Mice engineered to have high levels of
the protein throughout the brain, spinal cord and other tissues
had lower rates of death and brain cell death after they were
injected with a toxic substance that damages cells. The protective
effect was seen in the hippocampus, a part of the brain affected
by neurological diseases.
In earlier studies, the researchers achieved
similar results when they injected Hsp27 directly into the
brain.
"Although this is unlikely to provide
a cure for neuro-degenerative disorders, it could be vital
in slowing their progress," de Belleroche said. "Eventually
it may be possible to use a drug to increase levels of Hsp27
in the brain which could be given to those suffering from
neuro-degenerative diseases."
All cells contain a range of heat shock
proteins and the proteins are produced in response to environmental
stresses like heat, cold and low oxygen levels. Under normal
conditions they act like "chaperones" to make sure a cell's
proteins are in the right place and shape at the right time.
"It's one of the systems we think is a
natural defense system," de Belleroche told Reuters Health.
"We're looking at trying to boost the natural system and hopefully
translate it into treatment."
The heat shock proteins might achieve
their effects by stopping the buildup of solid structures
or aggregates within brain cells, a process that characteristically
triggers cell death in neuro-degenerative diseases, she said.
"What this and other heat shock proteins
do ... is stop those insoluble aggregates (from) forming,
and they help to re-fold the protein so it can arrest the
process."
The next step is to pin-point exactly
when the heat shock protein acts in the chain-reaction of
events leading to cell death, and develop drugs to affect
that process, she said.
"It's a line that we're hoping to pursue,"
de Belleroche said. "We're testing out a few compounds but
we haven't got any results yet."
Source: Journal
of Biological Chemistry 2003;278.
Back to the Top
Nursing
Helps Undo Smoking's Damage to Baby
By K.L. Capozza
HealthScoutNews Reporter
HealthScoutNews
Friday, May 30, 2003
FRIDAY, May 30 (HealthScoutNews) -- Smoking
during pregnancy has been shown to cause learning deficits
in developing babies, but a new study suggests that breast-feeding
may cancel out the negative impact of the mother's cigarette
habit.
By age 9, children of smoking mothers
perform at par with their classmates if they are breast-fed,
according to the study by Dutch researchers at the University
Hospital Groningen. However, babies of cigarette-smoking mothers
tend to score poorly on standardized tests if they are bottle-fed.
"Babies are already being put in a compromised
position when the mother smokes, and then to bottle-feed on
top of that is like a double negative for the child," says
Carol Huotari, manager of the Center for Breast-Feeding Information
at La Leche League International.
Data for the study were culled from the
experiences of 570 children born at one Dutch hospital between
1975 and 1978. Nine years after their birth, the children's
scores on math, spelling and reading tests were collected
by researchers and compared with information on the smoking
and breast-feeding habits of their mothers.
To ensure that the mothers' self-reported
feeding method was accurate, the team interviewed them at
their time of discharge from the hospital, when their children
were 9, and again when their children were 25.
The results support the new recommendations
adopted by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2001, which
advise that smoking mothers should breast-feed because the
benefit of nursing their child far outweighs the potential
negative health effects of nicotine exposure through breast
milk.
Nicotine is easily absorbed through lungs
but is actually poorly transferred through the digestive system
and mouth, causing babies to be only minimally exposed to
the drug through breast milk, says Dr. Beth Lawrence, a professor
of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Rochester
School of Medicine.
The Dutch findings, published in the June
issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,
do not provide any answers on how breast-feeding might protect
infants from the cigarettes' impact.
One theory is that the long-chain polyunsaturated
fatty acids found in breast milk promote brain development,
say the authors.
"It's the fatty acids in human milk that
enhance the brain development," agrees Huotari, which is why
formula companies are now trying to harness the benefits of
these unique fats by putting them in baby formula to make
them more like mother's milk.
Another way that mother's milk might help
an infant's cognitive development is through the nurturing
act of breast-feeding itself, which may offer psychological
benefits to the child, hypothesize the researchers.
But whatever the mechanism, one message
is clear from the findings: Pregnant women who smoke should
be encouraged to breast-feed their infants, says Lawrence.
"This suggests that for mothers who continue
to smoke, it's better to breast-feed than not, and this study
further confirms that," she says.
More information
Visit the American
Academy of Pediatrics or the
La
Leche League International to
get more information on breast-feeding.
Back to the Top
Mystery
Fatigue Often Not Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Reuters Health
Friday, May 30, 2003
LONDON (Reuters Health) - Two out of three
people presenting to British family doctors with unexplained
fatigue do not meet the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome,
but the condition still significantly affects their life,
researchers said on Friday.
Medical researcher Lucy Darbishire and
colleagues from Guy's, King's and St. Thomas's School of Medicine
in London collected data from 22 general practices in and
around London on patients with unexplained fatigue lasting
more than six months.
Applying the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control Prevention criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome,
the researchers found that 69 percent of patients did not
have the condition.
Several symptoms, including fatigue and
distress, were higher in the chronic fatigue syndrome group.
People with the condition were also more likely to be depressed
and more than twice as likely to be unemployed, Darbishire
and colleagues write in the June issue of the British Journal
of General Practice.
Nevertheless, 11 out of 12 symptoms assessed
by the researchers were reported by more than 60 percent of
the patients who did not have chronic fatigue syndrome, although
those symptoms were less severe, the researcher told Reuters
Health.
"I don't think we really found a characteristic
difference. It really looked as if everything was just more
severe in the CFS group. It supports that theory, really,
that it's just another end of the spectrum," she said.
"I think the take home message is to remember
that there are these two-thirds of patients that present with
fatigue that don't meet criteria for CFS because they don't
seem as severe, but they do actually have quite distinct illness."
Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized
by a range of symptoms including fatigue, headache, sleep
problems, muscle pain and difficulty concentrating.
Patients with the condition, which can
strike suddenly, often experience a marked increase in symptoms
after only minor bouts of exertion.
The cause of chronic fatigue syndrome
is uncertain.
Source: British
Journal of General Practice 2003;53:441-445.
Back to the Top
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 2003
Study
Questions Popular Fertility Surgery for Men
By Adam Marcus
HealthScoutNews Reporter
HealthScoutNews
Thursday, May 29, 2003
THURSDAY, May 29 (HealthScoutNews) --
A much performed surgery to relieve tangled blood vessels
in the testes isn't the fertility fix it's intended to be,
new research shows.
The problem can raise the temperature
of the scrotum by a couple of degrees, impairing normal sperm
function. The procedure, called varicocele repair, is designed
to restore healthy blood flow to the organs and bring their
temperature down into the normal range. But the latest findings
suggest that the operation doesn't deliver.
However, some experts say the latest research
focused on versions of the technique -- the most common fertility
operation among men in the United States -- that are now obsolete
and which may in fact lower the odds of conception.
"I would expect many of these operations
to make the patient worse," says Dr. Marc Goldstein, a urologist
in New York City and an expert in varicocele repair.
Goldstein, a professor of reproductive
medicine and urology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University,
helped pioneer a less-invasive form of the surgery in the
1980s that he says has much better outcomes than the conventional
approach.
Varicoceles (pronounced vahr-ih-co-seals)
are the same as varicose veins in the legs. They occur in
about 15 percent of men. Many have no fertility problems as
a result, but the swollen veins are believed to play a role
in as many as 40 percent of cases of impaired fertility (also
known as subfertility). Some men with the problem have slower
sperm with abnormal shapes that may have trouble fertilizing
an egg.
Removing the offending vessels can correct
these problems -- or so the theory goes.
In the new work, appearing in the May
31 issue of The Lancet, researchers in Holland and
Canada analyzed seven earlier studies on varicocele repair
conducted between 1979 and 2002. Compared with untreated men,
those who had the operation were no more likely to conceive.
The researchers say the limited number
of patients might have obscured small effects in various sub-groups
of men. Still, they say, "varicocele repair does not seem
to be an effective treatment for male or unexplained subfertility."
Dr. Joel Marmar, who invented the microsurgery
form of varicocele repair, says the new study has deep flaws.
Some included men whose varicoceles didn't meet more recent
criteria for who is most eligible for the procedure, he says.
And almost none of the previous trials had any information
about the woman's age or the nature of her fertility problems,
if any -- information that's vital when pregnancy is the desired
outcome.
"With pregnancy you're introducing a totally
different variable: the wife," says Marmar, a professor of
urology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden,
N.J.
More information
To find out about varicocele repair, try
the Cornell
Institute for Reproductive Medicine
or LaGrange
Memorial Hospital.
Back to the Top
Cell
Phone Speakers in Front of Driver May Be Safer
By Keith Mulvihill
Reuters Health
Thursday, May 29, 2003
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Although chatting
on a cell phone while driving ups the risk of an accident,
new research suggests that cell phone speakers mounted in
front of drivers may help them stay better focused.
That's because it's easier for people
to look and listen at the same time when all the information
is coming from the same direction, UK researchers say.
Recent concerns about the safety of driving
while dialing and talking into hand-held cell phones have
led some U.S. states to ban their use in moving vehicles.
In response, millions of cellular users have made the switch
to hands-free devices.
But studies also suggest that such hands-free
technology may not reduce the risk of car accidents among
chatty drivers -- suggesting that a driver's attention, rather
than problems with physically handling a cell phone, is the
more important factor in safe driving, according to the new
report, published in the journal Psychological Science.
In the study, Drs. Charles Spence and
Liliana Read had eight people "drive" in a simulator that
mimicked driving on suburban and city roads. While they drove,
they listened to a person's voice broadcast alternately from
one of two loudspeakers placed in different positions -- in
front of them and off to their side.
Participants were asked to repeat the
words spoken to them.
The researchers found that overall, participants
were able to repeat more words correctly when they were listening
to the audio and not driving -- 77 percent versus 56 percent
when driving.
But when the researchers compared the
two different driving conditions, they found that participants
correctly repeated 85 percent of the words when the speaker
was in front of them, compared with 49 percent when the speaker
was placed to the side.
According to the researchers, the brain
might be better able to process visual and auditory information
when both come from the same direction.
"By presenting the speaker from the direction
in which drivers typically look -- straight ahead -- they
will find it easier to combine talking and driving," Spence,
a researcher at Oxford University, told Reuters Health in
an e-mail.
"This could be achieved most simply by
mounting the loudspeaker on top of the dashboard in front
of driver, or else by use of transparent loudspeaker mounted
on the (windshield) of the car," he said.
Still, Spence pointed out that "it is
best not to use a mobile phone while driving."
"However," he added, "if you are going
to use one, you can combine driving with talking on the mobile
phone more safely if the person you are listening to speaks
from directly in front of you --where you tend to look while
driving-- and not from the side."
Source: Psychological
Science 2003;14:251-256.
Back to the Top
Childhood Obesity Often Missed
HealthScoutNews
Thursday, May 29, 2003
THURSDAY, May 29 (HealthScoutNews) --
Despite the increased focus on childhood obesity in the United
States, few doctors or other health-care professionals are
diagnosing obesity and related health problems in young patients.
A Michigan State University study found
that between 1997 and 2000, obesity was identified in fewer
than 1 percent of children visiting a doctor's office or an
urgent care center.
That's despite the fact that about 15
percent of American children aged 6 to 19, and almost 11 percent
of preschool children, are considered obese. A child is defined
as obese when her body mass index (BMI) is at the 95th percentile
or above.
The study also found that only about 7
percent of obese children actually received a diagnosis of
obesity. It also revealed that almost 20 percent of the children
diagnosed as obese were younger than 5.
The findings were presented at the recent
annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies.
For their study, the researchers analyzed
more than 45,000 ambulatory care visits by children aged 17
and under between 1997 and 2000. The data was provided by
the National Center for Health Statistics.
Lack of time was the main reason that
doctors and other health providers failed to diagnosis obesity
in children, the researchers say.
"To address obesity in the office setting
takes a little more time. In addition, we found that if a
child was obese, the visit took longer than if the child was
not," researcher Ihuoma U. Eneli, an assistant professor of
pediatrics and human development, says in a news release.
Childhood obesity can lead to a number
of health problems such as diabetes. And children who are
obese tend to grow into obese adults. That's why it's important
that obesity be diagnosed as early as possible.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about
childhood
obesity.
Back to the Top
European
Initiative Launched to Tackle Obesity
By Patricia Reaney
Reuters
Thursday, May 29, 2003
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Medical experts launched
a new initiative on Thursday to train doctors and nurses in
Europe to cope with obesity, which afflicts at least 20 percent
of adults.
Rates of obesity in Europe have doubled
or tripled in some countries in recent years creating a serious
public health problem because excess weight is a risk factor
for heart disease, stroke, diabetes and certain cancers.
Obesity and related conditions are second
only to smoking as a cause of preventable death.
"Wherever we go in Europe patients and
people are desperate for help and it has become very clear
that they have been missing out because doctors in Europe
do not know how to tackle obesity," said Professor Philip
James, the chairman of the International Obesity TaskForce
(IOTF).
"We have decided to take a radical new
step to try to cope with this problem," he told a medical
conference in Finland.
The IOTF and the European Association
for the Study of Obesity (EASO) are collaborating on a program
called SCOPE which will identify obesity experts in Europe
and provide training programs for doctors, nurses and pharmacists
to improve treatments for obese patients.
"Most doctors are poorly prepared to manage
obesity," said Professor Peter Kopelman of EASO.
SCOPE, or Specialist Certification of
Obesity Professionals in Europe, will also provide guidelines
on obesity management.
Obesity is measured by using body mass
index (BMI), which is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms
by height in meters squared. A BMI of 30 or more is considered
obese.
The first pilot program to train family
doctors in weight management will be held at the 12th European
Congress on Obesity under way in Helsinki. About 1,700 doctors,
nutritionists and researchers are attending the four-day meeting.
Back to the Top
New
Ways to Treat Allergies
HealthScoutNews
Thursday, May 29, 2003
THURSDAY, May 29 (HealthScoutNews) --
Doctors need to educate patients about dangerous side effects
such as sedation and impairment that can be caused by first-generation
antihistamines, say new recommendations from an expert panel.
The panel recommendations conclude that
allergies, including seasonal ones, should be treated with
second-generation, non-impairing antihistamines instead of
over-the-counter, first-generation antihistamines such as
Benadryl.
Those older generation antihistamines
are often dosed and selected inappropriately. That can lead
to dangerous side effects such as sedation and impairment,
which can increase the risk of injury, as well as reduced
quality of life.
The panel's recommendations were developed
at a recent consensus conference and appear in the May issue
of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
Even though these first-generation antihistamines
can cause impairment and sedation, the panel says that 47
percent of people with allergies take them. The panel says
people with allergies need to avoid these first-generation
medications and discuss the use of non-impairing antihistamines
with their doctor.
More than 40 million Americans have allergies,
but only 20 percent see a doctor for diagnosis and treatment
of their symptoms. Allergy symptoms, if left untreated, can
mask more serious chronic conditions such as asthma or sinusitis.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about
allergies.
Back to the Top
New
Drug Approach to Irritable Bowel Syndrome
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
Reuters
Thursday, May 29, 2003
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drug currently
used to treat alcoholics and drug overdoses may also offer
relief in a surprising quarter -- people with irritable bowel
syndrome, corporate researchers said on Thursday.
A small trial of 50 patients with the
painful disorder showed that three-quarters of them got relief
from the drug, known best as naltrexone, the company said.
South San Francisco-based Pain Therapeutics
Inc. said tiny doses of naltrexone, which is available generically,
eased the bloating, pain, constipation and diarrhea that mark
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in both men and women.
"Seventy-six percent of patients on our
drug had a positive response," Remi Barbier, president and
chief executive officer of Pain Therapeutics, said in a telephone
interview.
One in five Americans has IBS, making
it one of the most common disorders diagnosed, according to
the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases. More common in women than in men, it is not a true
disease and does not cause disease, but creates a great deal
of discomfort and distress.
Barbier said judging the effectiveness
of the drug is subjective. "It's like antidepression drugs
or pain drugs -- yes, it is subjective, but believe me, the
symptoms of IBS are so severe that if you are better, you
know it," he said.
Two drugs are approved by the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration (news
- web
sites) (FDA) to treat IBS --
GlaxoSmithKline's Lotronex and Novartis AG's Zelnorm. But
they are only approved for women and for short-term use.
Experts also recommend stress-reduction
and relaxation measures, such as meditation, walking, yoga
and getting enough sleep, as IBS seems to be aggravated by
stress.
Naltrexone, which Pain Therapeutics is
testing under the name PTI-901, takes a new approach to treating
IBS.
"The traditional view of IBS is that the
flusher is broken -- it is either flushing too quickly or
not quickly enough, causing diarrhea or constipation," Barbier
said.
"We disagree with that point of view.
We don't think the flusher is the problem. We think it is
an imbalance of opioids in the gut. We provide the patient
with an external source of opioid antagonists to restore bowel
function."
The current, Phase II study was designed
mostly to assess safety, and the company now plans to start
a larger, Phase III efficacy trial -- the last step before
seeking FDA approval.
"We believe a safe and effective drug
to treat both men and women who suffer from IBS represents
a $1 billion market opportunity in the United States alone,"
Barbier said.
Barbier said scientists working with his
company stumbled on the opioid-IBS connection when they compared
notes on patients who had overdosed on morphine or heroin,
both opiate drugs.
"Patients who overdose on morphine lean
over and hang on to their stomach," Barbier said. "The light
bulb went on. Maybe opioid withdrawal and IBS are one and
the same symptoms, which is an imbalance of opioids in the
gut."
Back to the Top
Scientists
Grow Insulin-Producing Liver Cells
By Amanda Gardner
HealthScoutNews Reporter
HealthScoutNews
Thursday, May 29, 2003
THURSDAY, May 29 (HealthScoutNews) --
Scientists have managed to "grow" insulin-producing cells
from human liver cells, a feat that holds promise for treating
-- or perhaps curing -- type 1 diabetes.
"For me, this is one of the most exciting
things to come across in terms of a cure," says Dr. Henry
Anhalt, director of the division of pediatric endocrinology
at Infants and Children's Hospital of Brooklyn at Maimonides
Medical Center.
"Taking care of kids with diabetes is
all about the cure. No matter how good we do managing them,
ultimately we can't do as good a job as a cell that is capable
of sensing glucose and responding," adds Anhalt, who was not
involved with the new research.
Those with type 1 diabetes -- formerly
called juvenile-onset diabetes -- have an autoimmune disorder
that destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas.
As a result, the body's ability to produce insulin, which
is essential for transporting and storing glucose, or blood
sugar, is shut down. There's no cure for the disease and patients
have to manage their condition by injecting insulin before
they eat.
For a longer-term solution, researchers
are pursuing ways to get the body to start producing insulin
again. One approach would be to transplant healthy beta cells,
a nice idea but one that is hampered by the severe shortage
of donated pancreases. As a substitute, scientists are looking
for ways to actually create their own cells through, for example,
genetic manipulation.
Scientists have already shown that inserting
certain genes into liver cells prompted those cells to produce
insulin. The liver and pancreas are closely related organs
and come from the same type of cell during embryonic development.
In the new study, the researchers used
fetal human progenitor liver cells (FH), a type of stem cell
obtained from fetuses that had been aborted due to medical
necessity. The cells were "precursor" cells, meaning they
were on their way to becoming a specific type of cell -- in
this case liver cells -- but had not fully developed yet.
The researchers first added a gene called
pdx-1, which is essential for beta cell development. Once
the gene was inserted into the liver cells, it caused the
cells to switch on other genes that are normally found in
pancreatic beta cells. The gene then prompted the liver cells
to secrete insulin in response to glucose.
To produce large quantities of the cells,
the researchers "immortalized" them by inserting a gene for
telomerase, which repairs the ends of chromosomes and prevents
chromosomes from shortening and being unable to divide.
When the cells were transplanted into
diabetic mice, the cells brought blood-sugar levels down within
the normal range and kept them there for several months.
"There's been a lot of interest in trying
to use stem cells to make a variety of mature products, one
of which is insulin-producing cells to treat diabetes," says
the study's co-author, Dr. Norman Fleischer, director of endocrinology
and co-director of the Diabetes Research Center at the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.
"Here we are taking cells that are much
further along. They're already differentiated and are on their
way to becoming [liver cells]," he says.
"Other people have shown that you could
get some expression of insulin in [liver cells]... but what's
new here is combining a developing cell line which, because
it has been expressing two genes, made it develop into a functional
cell line," Fleischer adds. "It took on a number of characteristics
of beta cells, including the production of insulin."
Part of the excitement surrounding the
discovery, which appeared in a recent online edition of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (news
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