The Independentreports that new research published in inBiological Psychiatry indicates some antidepressants may help they body fight HIV, cancer and other infections.
Natural killer (NK) cells are white blood cells which home in on infected or cancerous cells, releasing agents that induce apoptosis, or "cell suicide". NK cells are especially active against viruses.
The research emerged from findings that stress and depression impair NK cell function and can accelerate the progress of HIV/ Aids. Scientists recruited depressed and non-depressed HIV-positive women and treated them with three drugs to treat stress and depression. Two, Citalopram and the "substance P antagonist" CP-96345 increased NK cell activity, while RU486 had no effect.
The Independent article also contained the following quote from the leader of the research team, Dr Dwight Evans of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia: "The findings show that natural killer cell function in HIV infection may be enhanced by selective serotonin re-uptake inhibition and substance P antagonism."
It sounds promising. If additional research supports the theory it is possible more people suffering from HIV and/or cancer will also be put on an antidepressant. Many cancer patients already are because it helps with chronic pain management.
A bone marrow transplant technique might be a life-saving treatment for some leukaemia patients reports the BBC. Cells in the newly transplanted bone marrow may help to kill the leukameia cells.
Some leukaemia patients who do not respond to conventional treatments may benefit from bone marrow transplants selected to target the cancer directly.
The technique, pioneered in Italy, uses transplants from family members who are not a perfect match.
"Natural killer" cells in the new bone marrow then attack the leukaemia.
Survival rates rose after the treatment, but UK experts say these need to be reproduced on a bigger scale and in different types of the disease.
Finding a donor is difficult because of rejection. Doctors have to look for a donor within the patient's family and even then they might not be able to find a match. About a third of the population will never be able to use the technique. However, it is an important breakthrough that will need to be vetted with more trials - it could be a livesaver for some lucky enough to find a donor. A spokesperson for the Leukaemia Research Fund said, "If you are in the position of a patient who has not responded to treatment, the choice between a 2% chance of survival and a 30% chance is not a difficult one."
Indonesia has been the hardest hit country in the battle against bird flu. They recently suffered their 100th fatality from the deadly H5N1 virus. Containment is the best method we have to keep bird flu from mutating into a form that spreads easily from human-to-human. The BBC reports that the World Health Organization (WHO) says Indonesia will need more help in its battle against the disease.
The virus is endemic in Java, Sumatra, Bali and southern Sulawesi with sporadic outbreaks reported from other areas, the FAO said.
By June 2008, more than 2,000 surveillance and response teams will be active in more than 300 districts in areas of the country where the disease is endemic, Mr Domenech said.
But that may not be enough.
"Indonesia is facing an uphill battle against a virus that is difficult to contain. Major human and financial resources, stronger political commitment and strengthened co-ordination between the central, provincial and district authorities are required to improve surveillance and control measures," Mr Domenech said.
If bird flu gets out of control in Indonesia it might expose more humans to the disease and give the disease a great chance of mutating.
Update 4-17-08: A WHO human cases update shows that of the 23 bird flu fatalities this year 12 of them have occurred in Indonesia.
WebMD (on CBS) is reporting that a new study on West Nile Virus has found that one out of every 150 people infected suffer from severe nuerological disease. Of those about 40% have serious symptoms such as difficulty walking, memory loss and depression that they may deal with for the rest of their lives.
One in 150 people infected with West Nile virus get severe neurological disease. More than 40% of these patients may have serious symptoms for the rest of their lives, say Kristy Murray, PhD, DVM, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and colleagues.
The finding comes from five years of data on 108 Houston-area residents who came down with severe West Nile disease after infection with the mosquito-borne virus. Murray's team evaluated the patients every six months.
A year after their West Nile virus infection, 60% of these patients still had serious symptoms. Five years later, 42% had not fully recovered - and weren't getting any better.
These lasting symptoms included fatigue, muscle weakness, depression, difficulty walking, memory loss, and personality change.
These findings show that WNV is a very serious disease. People should continue to take precautions and avoid mosquito bites as much as possible during the mosquito season. WNV is still infecting thousands of people in the United States each year. 3,598 people were infected with West Nile Virus in 2007 and 121 were killed.
WebMD reports that a new research study has found that
placing drops of honeybee venom under the tongue can significantly reduce reactions in people allergic to bee stings. This procedure is known as sublingual immunotherapy. Partipants in the study were gradually given larger doses of bee venom over a six week period.
The participants were randomly assigned to receive either sublingual immunotherapy in the form of honeybee venom drops placed under the tongue, or placebo drops.
Patients in the immunotherapy group got escalating doses of honeybee venom for six weeks, followed by a maintenance dose, given three times a week for six months.
"You hold the drop under the tongue for about one or two minutes, then swallow," Passalacqua says.
After being gradually subjected to greater quantities of the bee venom for six weeks it was time for the participants to be stung by a real honeybee. The reactions to the stings were much smaller than they would have been without the sublingual immunotherapy.
Then came the bee sting challenge. "We put insects in a jar and then put the jar on the patient's forearm" and looked to see what happened, he says.
It worked. The median diameter of the sting wheals in patients given sublingual immunotherapy dropped from about 8 to 3 inches. Looked at another way, wheal diameter was reduced by more than 50% in more than half of them.
"This was a very apparent and very significant reduction in the size of the reaction to the sting," Passalacqua says.
In contrast, there was no change in wheal diameter in the placebo group, and one person broke out in hives.
The tongue drop treatments next will go through a round of testing on people who have very severe entire body reactions to bee stings. But there is no reason to wait for treatment if you have a bee allergy because shots are already available. Allergist Clifford Bassett, MD told WMD that venom shots are 95% effective "in reducing the risk of systemic reactions in people with honeybee sting allergies." Shots can be inconvenient but it is much better to play it safe - get your shot and reduce the risk of having a severe reaction to a bee sting.
Exercise helps no matter how old and out-of-shape you are when you start according to a new study. NBC's Chief science correspondent Robert Bazell reports in the video below on a the Physician's Health Study - a study following more than 20,000 male doctors over a 25-year period - that found the benefits are greater than even previously thought. Bazell also notes earlier studies that have found that exercise even helps people add the cellular level. You can also read about the study here.
Jill Bolte Taylor became a brain scientist because she wanted to study her brother's schizophrenia. In this talk at TED she explains how she analyzed her own stroke after a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. She explains how she felt her own brain fuctions slip away. She says she became an "infant in a woman's body."
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
She brings an actual human brain to the TED conference. You can see the video below or here. (via Boing Boing)
An Associated Press probe has found traces of pharmaceuticals in the water supply of 41 million Americans. The amounts of individual medications in the drinking water is tiny but they include a wide range of meds including antibiotics and sex hormones.
A vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.
To be sure, the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are tiny, measured in quantities of parts per billion or trillion, far below the levels of a medical dose. Also, utilities insist their water is safe.
But the presence of so many prescription drugs - and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen - in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.
Here's how the drugs get into the drinking water.
People take pills. Their bodies absorb some of the medication, but the rest of it passes through and is flushed down the toilet. The wastewater is treated before it is discharged into reservoirs, rivers or lakes. Then, some of the water is cleansed again at drinking water treatment plants and piped to consumers. But most treatments do not remove all drug residue.
It's very disturbing. No one wants to imagine drinking traces of all sorts of drugs when they are taking a drink. This is going to drive up the demand for bottled water - except that water contains drug traces too.
Even users of bottled water and home filtration systems don't necessarily avoid exposure. Bottlers, some of which simply repackage tap water, do not typically treat or test for pharmaceuticals, according to the industry's main trade group. The same goes for the makers of home filtration systems.
Concerned citizens need to pressure lawmakers to require stricter filtering of our drinking water.
Environmental News Service says the AP probe confirms a 2002 report by the U.S. Geological Survey that was the "first nationwide study of pharmaceutical pollution in the nation's rivers and streams."
The BBC reports that German researchers have found that tattooing may be a better delivery mechanism for vaccines than injections. Studies with mice found that mice had a bigger immune response with tattoos than with needle-based injections.
Now researchers in Germany say that the rapidly vibrating tattoo needle could be a useful way of delivering vaccines under the skin instead of insoluble ink.
In studies with mice, tattooing a vaccine produced 16 times more antibodies than a simple injection into muscle tissue.
The level of antibodies indicates the strength of the immune system's response.
Dr Martin Mueller, one of the researchers behind this work, says that the greater damage to the body caused by the tattoo needle may explain the better immune response.
The researchers also said the method would have many limitations. One of them is that it would be impossible to give children a measles tattoo because it would be too painful. It also sounds like a very timely procedure - a simple injection is much faster.
Olympic figure skating champion Peggy Fleming has teamed up with a company called Health Saver. Below Peggy Fleming and Health Saver offer some practical tips for getting a grip on stress and for getting back on a healty lifestyle track if you have veered off a little.
Peggy Fleming says, "Plan a 'self make-over' for better health, improved fitness, less stress and more time for yourself to reach your goal and achieve significant success in 2008. To lose weight, incorporate physical activity into your daily routine and establish a smart diet. A balance between calories consumed and calories burned will leave you looking and feeling your best."
Get a Grip on Stress
Nearly half of all Americans say stress has a negative impact on
their lives, according to the American Psychological Association.
Vow today to conquer stressful situations with a renewed ability to
cope.
Change the way you deal with situations that trigger stress. For
example, if your five o'clock errands leave you feeling overwhelmed,
avoid the late afternoon bustle by tackling errands during your lunch
break.
There's no use in being bothered by problems you can't change.
Instead, spend your energy on changes you can make.
Accept that adjustments often mean a change in standards. If your
money woes mean no annual beach vacation, embrace vacation as a time
to spend with your family rather than a time to get away.
Two-thirds of physician visits are due to stress-related symptoms.
Take hold of your health by adopting effective stress prevention
practices. Listen to music, read an article or take a quick walk --
physically active people tend to have less anxiety.
An optimistic mindset will help you better handle stress. When you
carve out time to do something for yourself, you'll have a better
attitude about meeting your daily responsibilities. Time for
yourself is necessary, even if the things you do during this time are
seen as "less pressing" than other duties.
Be Efficient
If "there are not enough hours in the day" is a phrase you're all too
familiar with, learn to be more efficient with your time. A To Do
list is an easy way to simplify your life. Equipped with a plan,
you'll feel more in control.
Put your To Do list in order of priority. Tackle the more demanding
tasks when your energy is at its peak. If you keep delaying the
dreaded garage clean-up, force yourself to organize the garage for 10
minutes. You may find that once you've started, you're on a roll.
Divide time-consuming projects into smaller tasks. Reading "Fix
attic leak" on your To Do list can be a bit intimidating. Instead,
write "(1) Call plumber, (2) allocate money within budget" and so on.
Delegate responsibilities. You don't have to do it all on your own.
Learn to say no. Before you agree to take on additional
responsibilities, consider what you will or will not gain from the
extra task. If you want to spend more time with your family in 2008,
politely decline invitations that keep you from reaching that goal.
Get Back on Track
It's never too late to jump back into the active lifestyle that may
have gotten away from you last year. Keep muscles strong now and
you're more likely to live longer and stay sharp in your later years.
Stay active and you not only reduce your risk of heart disease, but
also increase your ability to fight depression.
According to the U.S. Department of Health, 60 percent of Americans
do not participate in the recommended 30 minutes of physical activity
five or more days a week, putting them at greater risk for cancer,
diabetes and stroke. Squeeze in your 30 minutes of exercise in three
10-minute intervals throughout the day.
Fresh Fare
Three out of five Americans are overweight, and face an increased
risk for high blood pressure. Vow to adopt a well-balanced diet with
maximum nutrients for your calorie intake.
Healthier eating could reduce cancer deaths in the United States by
35 percent. Fill your plate with more vegetables than meats and
carbohydrates. Then, each week, make a small change, such as
switching from soda to water or trading cookies for fruit as an
afternoon snack.
Portion sizes can be deceptive. Aim for food portions no larger than
your fist.
Quit eating on the go. Your brain needs 20 minutes to register that
your stomach is full. To avoid binge eating, eat before you get too
hungry.
At the grocery, pay attention to nutrition labels. Stay clear of any
foods that contain more than 20 percent of your daily fat intake.
Also use a grocery list -- and stick to it -- to avoid the impulse
buys that may add empty calories to your diet.
You probably learned at an early age, but may have lost sight of diet
rule No. 1: Eat your fruits and vegetables. The more fruits and
vegetables you eat per day, the less likely you are to develop
cardiovascular disease.
Someday - maybe not too far in the future - a machine may grow the new body part you need. That would be a miracle as some "98,000 people are on a waiting list for transplants right now" according to CBS News. CBS says a research team at Wake Forest University believes any body part replacement you need can be grown.
From blood vessels to muscle tissue, Atala and his team at Wake Forest University believe that in theory anything inside the body can be grown outside the body, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports. And it's real: They've made 18 different types of tissue so far.
"That's a heart valve?" Andrews asked.
Atala said: "This is an engineered heart valve."
What he pointed to was a pulsing heart valve to be transplanted into a sheep.
"When people ask me 'what do you do,' we grow tissues and organs," he said. "We are making body parts that we can implant right back into patients."
Once considered a Frankenstein fantasy, the field of regenerative medicine is on the verge of unimagined breakthroughs. Scientists believe every part of the body has cells capable of regeneration - all researchers need to do is isolate those cells and coax them to grow.
Growing your own might body part or organ might also help the body overcome the reject factor that happens so often with transplants. With this kind of technology if you had a body part that was failing your doctor could order you a replacement which would be grown using your own cells. Here's a video from CBS News about the amazing future of body part replacement. The video shows the oven-like incubators that grow the body tissue, blood vessels and organs.
University of New South Wales Professor Bernard Stewart recently conducted a study on cancer risk factors. According to MSNBC Stewart found that smoking and alcohol are both high risk factors. On the plus side Stewart study downplays the cancer risk from coffee, deodorants, fluoridated water and having breast implants or dental fillings. Stewart also downplays cell phone risks.
He found active smokers and ex-smokers to be the most at risk, although the risk is reduced for people who quit smoking.
Drinking alcohol was also a high risk factor, particularly for people who also smoke, although Stewart said no specific type of alcoholic drink was most strongly to blame.
Drinking chlorinated water and using a mobile phone was far less likely to cause cancer, Stewart said, although the risks associated with the long-term use of mobile phones had not been fully established.
He said there little risk from drinking coffee, using deodorants, drinking fluoridated water and having breast implants or dental fillings.
Stewart says his tool helps "establish if the level of risk is high, say on a par with smoking, or unlikely such as using deodorants, artificial sweeteners, drinking coffee." His research was published in the Mutation Research Reviews journal. You can read a little more about his research here on ScienceAlert.com.au.
The video from the Wall Street Journal discusses the issue of hidden tramatic brain injuries. Many researchers believe that hidden traumatic brain injuries may be the cause of social or educational failure for many people. Mt. Sinai School of Medicine is behind some important research in this area.
A helmet that looks like it came from a sci-fi flick may offer real help to Alzheimer's sufferers. The Daily Mailreports that the helmet bathes the wearer with infra-red light. The helmet only needs to be worn for ten minutes each day.
Dr Dougal claims that only ten minutes under the hat a day is enough to have an effect.
"Currently all you can do with dementia is to slow down the rate of decay - this new process will not only stop that rate of decay but partially reverse it," he said.
Low level infra-red red is thought to stimulate the growth of cells of all types of tissue and encourage their repair. It is able to penetrate the skin and even get through the skull.
"The implications of this research at Sunderland are enormous - so much so that in the future we could be able to affect and change the rate at which our bodies age," he said.
"We age because our cells lose the desire to regenerate and repair themselves. This ultimately results in cell death and decline of the organ functions - for the brain resulting in memory decay and deterioration in general intellectual performance.
The reason the scientists believe the infra-red helmet may work is because there was study conducted on mice that showed infra-red treatments can reduce memory loss. It worked for mice so it might work for humans.
This is Londonreports that U.S. researchers have had surprisingly positive results using an arthritis drug called Enbrel on alzheimer's patients. The drug is injected into the patients spine. One patient showed improvements within in minutes. Some patients have been able to drive again after receiving the treatements.
The drug, called Enbrel, is injected into the spine where it blocks a chemical responsible for damaging the brain and other organs.
A pilot study carried out by U.S. researchers found one patient had his symptoms reversed "in minutes".
Other patients have shown some improvements in symptoms such as forgetfulness and confusion after weekly injections over six months.
The study of 15 patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation by online publishers Biomed Central.
The experiment showed that Enbrel can deactivate TNF (tumour necrosis factor) - a chemical in the fluid surrounding the brain that is found in Alzheimer's sufferers.
It is likely that there are many different forms of Alzheimer's and one treatment probably won't be a cure for all Alzheimer's sufferers. But hopefully this is a step in the right direction toward a treatment that will help many people.
The FDA says clones are ok to eat. The FDA's food safety chief Dr. Stephen Sundlof said that they "found nothing in the food that could potentially be hazardous. The food in every respect is indistinguishable from food from any other animal." The Associated Press reports that two companies have alread produced over 600 cloned animals for U.S. breeders.
The two main U.S. cloning companies, Viagen Inc. and Trans Ova Genetics, already have produced more than 600 cloned animals for U.S. breeders, including copies of prize-winning cows and rodeo bulls. They agreed to USDA's call for a continued moratorium Tuesday, but stressed that it applied only to clones themselves, not those animals' conventionally produced offspring, which can begin selling immediately.
The FDA spent six years tracking the safety of cloning, and its decision was long expected, but it came after an emotional fight by opponents. Congress passed legislation last month urging further study of the issue, a call echoed by consumer advocates who also asked that foods from cloned animals be labeled as such.
Their objections aren't just about food safety but also include animal welfare since many attempts at livestock cloning still end in fatal birth defects.
"If you have moral objections to a particular food, or ethical objections to them, FDA's saying, 'Tough, you've got to eat it,'" said Carol Tucker-Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America, who pledged to push for more food producers to shun clone-derived ingredients.
"The FDA did not give adequate consideration to the welfare of these animals or their surrogate mothers," said Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States.
The FDA also said, "It is beyond our imagination to even find a theory that would cause the food to be unsafe." There are many that disagree with the FDA and would argue that the FDA is not being nearly imaginative enough. Six years does not seem like enough time to make a decision. This is something new that we are very unfamiliar with. It may very well turn out that cloned animals are no less nutritious and healthy for humans to eat than non-cloned animals but could a few more years of tests really hurt?
Norovirus is raging through England. Times Onlinereports that 2.8 million people have been sick with the norovirus in England and another 200,000 are falling ill each week.
The rate of new cases being confirmed has reached the levels of reports during the massive outbreak five years ago, when officials announced an epidemic.
Norovirus can prove deadly for vulnerable people, such as children and the elderly. The impact of the bug has been exacerbated by a new outbreak of flu with those most at risk now being given antiviral drugs by their doctors.
NHS Direct, which patients can telephone for health advice, has been inundated with people calling with symptoms of the norovirus.
Helen Young, the clinical director, said: "We are seeing an increasing number of calls about diarrhoea and vomiting. Norovirus is a major issue for the whole NHS right now and we urge anyone who has symptoms to engage in good hygiene to prevent it spreading further and to drink plenty of fluids."
The number of reports of norovirus is expected to rise over the next six weeks, as children return to school and employees head back to work after the Christmas break.
There was a particularly severe strain of norovirus that hit the United States last year. This virus will really hit you hard for a couple of days before you start feeling better. It really does as the Times reports lead to symptoms of "projectile vomiting, diarrhoea, mild fevers and headaches." The virus can continue to spread via stools for two to three weeks after a person is infected which makes it very difficult to curtail the spread of the dreaded virus.
The BBC reports on a new flexible surgical robot cakked the i-Snake. The article says experts believe the i-Snake could revolutionize keyhole surgery.
Minimally invasive surgery has obvious advantages - it can mean smaller scars, reduced hospital stays and shorter recovery times.
Surgeons are also looking at ways to avoid skin incisions altogether.
One approach is Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery or Notes. This means operating in the peritoneal space through natural orifices or cavities, such as the bowel.
Lord Darzi said: "The unrivalled imaging and sensing capabilities coupled with the accessibility and sensitivity of i-Snake will enable more complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures than are currently possible.
Robots and lasers are going to make life easier. New technologies like the i-Snake are going to make a lot of invasive surgeries unnecessary. The Daily Mail also has an article on the i-Snake.
Wired reports that scientists have discovered a brain hormone called orexin A that people could snort to reverse the effects of sleep deprivation. It has worked in monkeys. Sleep-deprived monkeys became alert with no ill effects - as if they had received plenty of sleep - after receiving a nasal spray containing the hormone.
A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.
The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."
Orexin A is a promising candidate to become a "sleep replacement" drug. For decades, stimulants have been used to combat sleepiness, but they can be addictive and often have side effects, including raising blood pressure or causing mood swings. The military, for example, administers amphetamines to pilots flying long distances, and has funded research into new drugs like the stimulant modafinil (.pdf) and orexin A in an effort to help troops stay awake with the fewest side effects.
It sounds promising. If it delivers as promised there were be many people interested in using it. You have to wonder though if someone were to use this frequently whether it would have an impact on memory or learning. Sleeping is thought to help the brain process information so would using a drug like this impact learning is the tiredness purely a chemical problem? Wired's story says it will be at least a decade before the drug described above would be available to humans here in the U.S.
There is a serious outbreak of Ebola fever underway in Uganda. Reuters reports there are 101 suspected cases of Ebola with hundreds more being monitored. 22 people have died so far. 11 health workers are part of the group of people infected with the Ebola virus.
Uganda has 101 suspected cases of Ebola fever and hundreds more people being closely monitored, officials said on Friday, as fear grew in Uganda and neighbouring countries that the deadly virus might spread.
Twenty two people have so far died of the fever and Minister of State for primary health-care Dr. Emmanuel Otaala told journalists 11 health workers have fallen sick.
"Cumulatively, we have 101 cases," he said.
Another 338 people are being monitored because they came into contact with those infected by the virulent haemorrhagic fever, which often causes victims to bleed to death through the ears, eyes and other orifices.
All were in western Uganda's Bundibugyo district, except for two in Kampala, including a doctor who died. Otaala said the cabinet had approved a pay increase to compensate health workers taking on the risk of dealing with Ebola.
Reuters says the last outbreak of the Ebola virus in Uganda was in 2000. During that outbreak 425 people were infected and half of them died. Here is a map of Uganda.
A new 256-slice CT machine from Philips creates some stunning images that medical professionals can use to find abnormalities and disease. The BBC reports that the new machine produces "3D body images of unprecedented clarity" while also reducing X-ray exposure by as much as 80%.
The new 256-slice CT machine takes large numbers of X-ray pictures, and combines them using computer technology to produce the final detailed images.
It also generates images in a fraction of the time of other scanners: a full body scan takes less than a minute.
The Philips machine was unveiled at the Radiological Society of North America.
Because the images are 3D they can be rotated and viewed from different directions - giving doctors the greatest possible help in looking for signs of abnormalities or disease.
All images also can be accessed on any computer in a hospital or by colleagues and researchers remotely, to make it easier for the whole team to share information.
Getting greating increase resolution combined with a reduction in radiation exposure is definitely a plus plus. The downside is it make a take a while for the new technology to make its way to local hospitals and clinic. The BBC story also includes a video that contains some of the scans. Looking at the scans it is obvious that this is a big step up in clarity.