PARKINSON’S: OVER-THE-COUNTER PAIN MEDS CAN REDUCE RISK
Over-the-counter pain medications known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, may reduce a person’s risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in the journal Neurology. Researchers at UCLA found regular users of non-aspirin NSAIDs reduced their risk of Parkinson’s disease by as much as 60 percent compared to non-regular users and non-users. Women who were regular users of aspirin reduced their risk of Parkinson’s disease by 40 percent, especially among those who regularly used aspirin for more than two years. The researchers said it’s possible the anti-inflammatory agent in NSAIDs may contribute to the observed protective effect of the drugs, but the exact mechanism isn’t clear and further research is needed.

 

Most women, and large numbers of men, are interested in having cosmetic surgery, UCLA scientists report in the Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Forty-eight percent of women surveyed said they would be interested in cosmetic surgery, liposuction, or both, and another 23 percent said they would possibly be interested. Among men, 23 percent said they would be interested in surgery, with 17 percent expressing possible interest. The study, led by a graduate student in psychology, also found that 21 percent of women and 11 percent of men described themselves as unattractive, and 31 percent of women and 16 percent of men reported feeling so uncomfortable in a swimsuit that they avoid wearing one in public. UCLA researchers analyzed the responses of more than 52,000 people—ranging in age from 18 to 65, with an average age in the mid-30s—to an online survey conducted by MSNBC.com and Elle.com in 2003. But the interest in surgery is not tied to poor body image, the researchers said, as the people who were interested in cosmetic surgery were not the ones who reported lower body satisfaction. According to the American Association of Plastic Surgeons, nearly 11 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in 2006—a 48 percent increase from 2000. Roughly 90 percent of cosmetic surgeries in 2004 were performed on women.

 

One in seven Americans over the age of 70 suffers from dementia, according to the first known nationally representative, population-based study to include men and women from all regions of the country. About 3.4 million people, or 13.9 percent of the population age 71 and older, have some form of dementia, the study found. As expected, the prevalence of dementia increased dramatically with age, from 5 percent of those aged 71 to 79 to 37.4 percent of those age 90 and older. About 2.4 million of those with dementia, or 9.7 percent of the population age 71 and older, were found to have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia, according to the study, which was published in the journal Neuroepidemiology. The study was based on data from 856 men and women who participated in the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study conducted in 2002 by researchers at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and Duke University Medical Center and funded by the National Institute on Aging.

 

The next cancer drug might come straight from the grocery store, according to new research published in The FASEB Journal. In the study, French scientists describe how high and low doses of polyphenols have different effects. Most notably, they found that very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols shut down and prevent cancerous tumors by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for tumor growth. Polyphenols are commonly found in red wine, fruits, vegetables, and green tea. At relatively low doses, the French researchers found that the same polyphenols play a beneficial role for those with diseased hearts and circulatory systems by facilitating blood vessel growth. The amount of polyphenols necessary for this effect was found to be the equivalent of only one glass of red wine per day or simply sticking to a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables containing polyphenols. This diet is known as the “Mediterranean Diet.” According to the authors, the amount of polyphenols necessary to obtain an anti-cancer effect is the equivalent of drinking about a bottle of red wine each day. They said that although such alcohol consumption is unhealthy, the research suggests that polyphenols extracted from plants or red wine could be converted into a pill that is highly likely to be safe.

 

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have shown for the first time that cancers can be successfully treated by targeting the viruses that cause them. Nearly 20 percent of human cancers worldwide are caused by preexisting virus infections. The findings, published in PloS One, also raise the possibility of preventing cancer by destroying virus-infected cells before they turn cancerous. The Yeshiva researchers used a technique called radioimmunotherapy, in which radioisotopes are piggybacked onto antibodies. Once these precision-made molecules are injected into the body, the antibodies home in on a specific protein target, and the radioisotope destroys the cell to which the protein is attached. In this research the targets were viral antigens: proteins expressed by virus-infected cells that can cause those cells to multiply out of control and become cancerous.

 

Children with Down syndrome are more likely than their unaffected siblings to have higher levels of a hormone associated with obesity, according to pediatric researchers. The hormone, leptin, may contribute to the known higher risk of obesity among children and adults with Down syndrome. Researchers from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine published their study online in the Journal of Pediatrics. The children with Down syndrome had significantly higher body mass index, a higher percentage of body fat, and higher levels of leptin compared to their siblings. The normal role of leptin is to suppress appetite and regulate body weight. The researchers believe that obese people may have some resistance to leptin and that children with Down syndrome may have a genetic predisposition to more severe leptin resistance.

Alzheimer’s disease may progress more rapidly in people with high blood pressure or a form of irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation, according to the results of a Johns Hopkins University study published in the journal Neurology. The findings suggest that treating these conditions may also slow memory loss in people with AD. While current medications are effective for some patients in slowing the rate of AD progression, many patients do not benefit from the treatments or cannot tolerate them. The researchers said their findings provide new opportunities for slowing the rate of AD progression. Treatments for atrial fibrillation and high blood pressure are relatively inexpensive and safe and may reduce memory decline in AD patients with these conditions. 

 

Two tiny genetic variations may provide the best clues yet for finding more precise ways to estimate prostate cancer risk and improve screening and early detection in men of African descent, according to researchers from the University of Chicago and the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. In a study published in an online edition of Genome Research, the scientists report that they set out to determine whether results from four previous studies that linked genetic variations on one region of chromosome 8 to increased prostate cancer risk among Caucasians were also valid for men of African heritage. However, they found an additional genetic variation among African-American men that was an even stronger marker for cancer risk for these men. That variation is located within a gene that plays a role in DNA repair. A malfunction in DNA repair could contribute to cancer development.

 

An abnormality of chromosomes long associated with diseases of aging has, for the first time, been linked to colon cancer in people 50 and younger, an age group usually considered young for this disease. The finding may provide an early alert for younger patients with colon cancer and could prompt new research into colon cancer prevention and treatment strategies, according to researchers at the Mayo Clinic. The study results, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics in San Diego, investigated the structures inside of cells known as telomeres, which are the caps on the ends of chromosomes that keep chromosomes from unraveling. Telomeres naturally shorten with aging and are associated with many diseases of aging, including cancer. Shortened telomeres have been found in colon cancer tumor cells, but this study links these telomeres to colon cancer. The researchers found colon cancer patients 50 and under had abnormal telomeres that were unusually short. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, affecting nearly 145,000 people each year.

Exercise may reduce, and even reverse, bone loss caused by hormone and radiation therapies used in the treatment of localized prostate cancer, decreasing the potential risk of bone fractures and improving quality of life for these men, according to a study presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. Prostate cancer patients are not routinely advised to exercise, but the researchers from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore said walking is one tool that prostate cancer patients can use to improve their health and minimize the side effects of cancer and cancer treatments. Men with prostate cancer who undergo hormone therapy lose between 4 to 13 percent of their bone density on an annual basis, compared to healthy men who lose between 0.5 to 1 percent per year, beginning in middle age. The study shows that prostate cancer patients undergoing hormone therapy who walked about five times a week for 30 minutes at a moderate pace maintained or gained bone density, while those who didn’t exercise lost more than two percent of their bone density in eight to nine weeks.

 

The interaction between nicotine and alcohol, two of the most abused and co-abused drugs, can impact a person’s ability to learn and could have implications for treating addiction, according to researchers at Temple University. The researchers will present their findings November 6 at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. The study has also been accepted for publication in the journal Psychopharmacology. Using an animal model, the researchers examined the effects of alcohol and nicotine on learning to determine what happens as the drugs are combined at different doses and different stages of administration. Their study showed that initially nicotine in a dose-dependent manner reverses alcohol-induced deficits in learning, but tolerance develops for this effect of nicotine with continued administration. In addition, they found that a low dose of alcohol reverses nicotine withdrawal-associated deficits in learning and that chronic nicotine use produces cross-tolerance to the effects of a low dose of alcohol on learning. The researchers said the cross-tolerance could feed into a spiral in which initially nicotine and alcohol each block the adverse effects of the other. But as that happens, smokers and drinkers develop tolerance and consume greater amounts of each drug, and then when they try quitting one or the other, they then have this cognitive deficit and may reach for either alcohol or nicotine or both to try and reverse it, but they just spiral into the addiction again.

 

The genetic ties that bind brothers and sisters also link their risk for developing clogged arteries and having potentially fatal heart attacks, scientists at Johns Hopkins University report. And according to researchers, brothers bear the brunt of the burden. In a study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the researchers found that, regardless of age or lifestyle factors, if any sibling, brother or sister, suffers a heart attack or chest pain from blocked arteries, the chances of any healthy brothers developing similar problems rises within 10 years by 20 percent. For sisters, the risk was less but still evident, at 7 percent. And, researchers say, the younger the age of the sibling who first develops heart disease, the greater the risk that other brothers’ and sisters’ arteries will also narrow, harden, and clog.

RENAL DISEASE: DISTANCE FROM TRANSPLANT CENTER DOESN’T EXPLAIN RACIAL GAP

African-American patients with end-stage renal disease are less likely to be placed on waiting lists for kidney transplantation, but a study to be presented November 4 at the American Society of Nephrology’s 40^th Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Francisco finds it’s not because they live farther away from transplant centers. However, economic status might play a role, according to researchers from Emory University, who found that black patients living in poorer neighborhoods are less likely to be placed on transplant waiting lists than white patients living in poorer neighborhoods. The researchers hypothesized that patients living farther from transplant centers would be less likely to be placed on the transplantation waiting list. However, distance to the transplant center did not significantly affect the chances of being waitlisted. The patients lived an average of 49 miles from the nearest transplant facility. In contrast, black patients living in poorer neighborhoods—based on U.S. Census data—were less likely to be placed on the waiting list than whites patients. There appeared to be no significant racial difference in waitlisting in higher-income neighborhoods. Black patients were 56 percent less likely than white patients to be waitlisted for transplantation in the most impoverished neighborhoods.

 

Another disease can be added to the list of smoking-related disorders—psoriasis, an inflammation of skin characterized by red, itchy patches. Researchers have found that smoking increases the risk of developing psoriasis, heavier smoking increases the risk further, and the risk decreases only slowly after quitting. Investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Harvard School of Public Health, and Vancouver General Hospital have published the results in The American Journal of Medicine. The study used data from the Nurses Health Study II, an ongoing longitudinal study of 116,608 female registered nurses. The researchers found that, compared with women who never smoked, the risk of psoriasis was 37 percent higher among past smokers and 78 percent higher among current smokers. Pack-years (with one pack-year being equivalent to 20 cigarettes a day for one year) were associated with a graded increase in the risk for psoriasis. Compared with people who never smoked, the risk was 20 percent higher for one to10 pack-years, 60 percent higher for 11 to 20 pack-years, and more than two times higher for more than 21 pack-years.

 

African-American women with early-stage breast cancer who have surgery to remove the cancer followed by radiation therapy have a higher chance than Caucasians of having their cancer come back in the breast and lymph nodes 10 years after diagnosis, according to researchers at Yale University School of Medicine. The findings, from the largest study of its kind, were presented at a scientific session at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s 49th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. The study also shows that breast cancer patients who are African-American women and who are diagnosed with the disease at a younger age have a higher disease stage at diagnosis and more aggressive tumors than Caucasian women who undergo similar treatment.

 

The largely unnoticed collision of two global epidemics—HIV and tuberculosis—has exploded to create a deadly co-epidemic that is rapidly spreading in sub-Saharan Africa. However, health systems cannot adequately diagnose, treat, or contain the co-epidemic due to unanswered scientific and medical questions, according to a report issued by The Forum for Collaborative HIV Research and amplified by experts from leading global health organizations. Approximately one-third of the world’s 40 million people with HIV/AIDS are co-infected with TB, and the mortality rate for HIV-TB co-infection is five-fold higher than that for tuberculosis alone. This situation is made yet more urgent by the surging rates of multi-drug resistant TB in some areas with high HIV prevalence, according to the report. First detected 23 years ago, HIV-TB now affects nearly one-third of the 40 million people infected with HIV. Without proper treatment, 90 percent of people living with HIV die within months of contracting TB. The rapid spread of HIV-TB is due to the geography and biology of co-infection. One-third of the global population—approximately two billion people—are infected with TB. But in the vast majority of those infected, the disease is latent, walled off by the body’s immune system. Only one in ten people infected with TB develop active disease in their lifetime. HIV changes this equation. Of those whose immune systems have been weakened by HIV, 10 percent will develop active TB each year.

 

Most people in Africa and Asia are born and die without leaving a trace in any official records, giving policymakers and researchers little information on which to base public health decisions, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In an article in the journal The Lancet, the researchers said affordable methods of collecting vital statistics need to be implemented to end what they called a “scandal of invisibility.” Without these statistics, the researchers said officials must make “educated guesses” based on models about the numbers of deaths due to various causes in their populations. They said that over the past 30 years there has been a persistent failure to establish, support, and sustain civil registries and to ensure that causes of death are accurately known in the world’s poorest countries. International donors, including the United States, spent more than $80 billion in 2004 on overseas medical aid, yet there is no conclusive evidence that this money is making a difference in preventing deaths, including those from AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

 

PATENTS: COURT ISSUES TEMPORARY INJUNCTION ON NEW RULES
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC won a temporary injunction October 31 from a federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia that halted the implementation of new patent rules, the Associated Press reported. The company said the new rules would harm about 100 of its pending applications. The court issued the injunction in response to a request contained in a lawsuit filed by GSK earlier this month. In August, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued new rules that were set to take effect November 1. The office has said the new rules are intended to improve the quality and efficiency of the patent process, but the pharmaceutical and biotech industries have expressed concern that the new rules will limit their ability to win patent protection for their inventions and harm innovation.