font size

Obese patients who suffer complications after gastric bypass surgery may face further health risks because their weight exceeds the limits of diagnostic imaging equipment, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that approximately 27 percent of patients weighing more than 450 pounds needed imaging to diagnose a problem after surgery but could not be accommodated because of their size. Like any surgical procedure, gastric bypass is not without risks. Most common complications include suture tears and leaks, pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, and infection. Serious complications tend to be more prevalent among the severely overweight. The researchers said when an obese person is contemplating gastric bypass surgery, he or she should consider that they will need follow-up imaging but may not be able to get the appropriate tests.

 

A study in the journal Clinical Transplantation reports that obtaining islet cells (clusters of pancreatic cells that create insulin) from living donors may be a solution to the shortage of islets available for transplantation. In samples taken from living donors, 94 percent of the cells were viable for transplant, compared to only 42 percent of cells taken from deceased donors. Islet cell transplantation is the only known cure for insulin-dependent diabetes, but there are simply not enough deceased donors available to meet the demand for islet cells, researchers said. They added that living donors would be able to provide many more healthy cells, since islet cells begin to deteriorate immediately after brain death. Living donors, however, face a risk of developing diabetes themselves. The researchers said more research is needed, but if a low-risk donation strategy could be established, living donors could significantly improve the supply of islet cells for transplant.

 

A report by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals in the journal Nature demonstrates that novel drug candidates offer a promising, new approach to treating diseases of aging, including Type 2 Diabetes, by targeting SIRT1, a gene that controls the aging process. In November 2006, Sirtris scientists and Sirtris’ co-founder, Prof. David Sinclair from Harvard Medical School, published consecutive papers in the journals Cell and Nature showing that resveratrol, a SIRT1 activator found in red wine, could reduce the impact of a high-fat diet, increase stamina two-fold, and significantly extend lifespan of mice. Unfortunately, it was estimated that a person would need to drink 1,000 bottles of red wine to obtain an equivalent dose of resveratrol. Now, scientists at Sirtris have developed SIRT1-activating molecules that are chemically distinct from resveratrol and are 1,000 times more potent. The new drug candidates represent a significant milestone because they are the first molecules that have been designed to act on genes that control the aging process, the Cambridge, Massachusetts company said.

 

CANCER: RESEARCHERS DEVELOP A CANCER-RESISTANT MOUSE

A mouse resistant to cancer, even highly-aggressive types, has been created by researchers at the University of Kentucky. The breakthrough stems from a discovery by researchers who found a tumor-suppressor gene called “Par-4” in the prostate. The researchers discovered that the Par-4 gene kills cancer cells, but not normal cells. There are very few molecules that specifically fight against cancer cells, giving it a potentially therapeutic application. The mice grow normally and have no defects. In fact, the mice possessing Par-4 actually live a few months longer than the control animals, indicating that they have no toxic side effects. The researchers said the implications for humans could be that through bone marrow transplantation, the Par-4 molecule could potentially be used to fight cancer cells in patients without the toxic and damaging side effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE: STEM CELL THERAPIES FOR BRAIN MORE COMPLICATED THAN FIRST THOUGHT

Researchers at MIT said that stem cell therapies for the brain could be much more complicated than previously thought. In a study published in the Public Library of Science Biology, the scientists report that adult stem cells produced in the brain are pre-programmed to make only certain kinds of connections—making it impossible for a neural stem cell originating in the brain to be transplanted to the spinal cord, for instance, to take over functions for damaged cells. Some researchers hope to use adult stem cells produced in the brain to replace neurons lost to damage and diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The new study calls this into question. The idea behind stem-cell therapy is to use these cells to repair tissue or organs ravaged by disease. The adult brain harbors its own population of stem cells that spawn new neurons for life. The MIT study shows that a neural stem cell is irreversibly committed to producing only one type of neuron with a pre-set pattern of connections. This means that a given neuronal stem cell can have only limited use in replacement therapy.

BREAST CANCER: RADAR TECHNOLOGY INCREASES EFFECTIVENESS OF CHEMOTHERAPY

Treating breast cancer with a type of heat therapy derived from MIT radar research can significantly increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy, according to results from a study published in the journal Cancer Therapy. In this study, large tumors treated with a combination of chemotherapy and a focused microwave heat treatment shrunk nearly 50 percent more than tumors treated with chemotherapy alone. The microwave treatment is based on technology originally developed at MIT in the late 1980s as a tool for missile detection. The microwaves, delivered by two applicators placed near the breast, kill the cancerous tissue while preserving normal breast tissue by targeting tumor cells that contain high amounts of both water and ions, the researchers said. When the microwave energy passes through the tumor, the water molecules begin to vibrate and generate heat through friction. This process eventually elevates the cancer cells to a “high fever” of at least 108 degrees Fahrenheit in most cases, killing them. The research team has applied for approval for a large-scale clinical trial from Health Canada and will be applying for the same approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

 

DEPRESSION: NONINVASIVE TECHNIQUE OFFERS NON-DRUG TREATMENT
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and other study sites have found that a noninvasive treatment that uses magnetic pulses to excite neurons is a safe and effective treatment for major depression for patients who have tried other therapies without benefit. The technique known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, is a non-drug treatment with minimal side effects. The study—the largest to-date studying TMS as a standalone treatment for major depression—appears in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

 

Omega-3 fatty acids protect the brain against Parkinson’s disease, according to a study by researchers at the Université Laval in Quebec, Canada published in the online edition of the FASEB Journal, the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The study is the first to demonstrate the protective effect of a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids against Parkinson’s. Parkinson’s disease is caused by the progressive death of the neurons responsible for producing dopamine, a neurotransmitter closely linked with movement control. The disease is usually diagnosed when 50 to 80 percent of these neurons are already dead, and there is currently no medication to stop that process. The researchers found that when mice were fed an omega-3 rich diet, they seemed immune to the effect of MPTP, a toxic compound that causes the same damage to the brain as Parkinson’s. By contrast, another group of mice that were fed an ordinary diet developed the characteristic symptoms of the disease when injected with MPTP, including a 31 percent drop in dopamine-producing neurons and a 50 percent decrease in dopamine levels.

 

BREAST CANCER: NEW MODEL PREDICTS RISK FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN
Researchers have developed a new risk prediction model that more accurately estimates the breast cancer risk of African-American women, according to a study published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool, also known as the Gail model, is widely used for estimating breast cancer risk and for determining which women are eligible for breast cancer prevention trials. However, much of the model was based on breast cancer data from white women. The Women’s Contraceptive and Reproductive Experiences, or CARE study, was conducted researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland to obtain data on African-American women with and without breast cancer to build a new model for estimating their breast cancer risk. The researchers said their CARE model accurately predicted the number of cancers observed in African-American women in the study overall and in most subgroups. The model’s risk predictions usually were higher than those from the Gail model in women aged 45 and older. The researchers estimated that 30 percent of African-American women would have a five-year breast cancer risk of at least 1.66 percent, compared with the estimate of 14.5 percent using the Gail model. The CARE model is not recommended for women with a previous history of breast cancer, and it may underestimate breast cancer risks in certain other women, such as those who carry a BRCA gene mutation.

 

CANCER: FREEZING BONE TUMORS REDUCES PAIN
Cryoablation, a procedure most commonly associated with destroying kidney and prostate tumors by freezing them, has been shown to offer durable pain relief of cancer that has spread to bone, researchers at the Mayo Clinic report. The procedure freezes and shrinks or destroys cancerous tumors in or near bone. The researchers presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Each year in the United States approximately 100,000 people develop cancer that spreads to the bone. This type of cancer causes extreme pain and often cannot be managed by narcotics or other standard treatments. New approaches in pain management are needed to help patients living longer with cancer to achieve a higher quality of life. The study found cryoablation worked after other treatments failed to provide adequate pain relief and that it provided long-term pain relief.

 

Live kidney donors suffer minimal health problems, and 90 percent would strongly encourage other people to a become a donor if a partner or family member needed a transplant, according to a study of more than 300 donors published in the urology journal BJU International. Researchers from Egypt, where live donations are currently the only legal option, carried out detailed evaluations of 339 patients who attended follow-up clinics between January 2002 and January 2007. Based at a center which performs about 100 live donor transplants a year, they included patients who had donated kidneys between 1976 and the end of 2001 in their research. Living donors remain the main option in developing countries because donations from dead donors have yet to establish roots due to the lack of infrastructure or the implementation of legal criteria for brain death, according to researchers from the Urology and Nephrology Center at Mansoura University, which conducted the study. The researchers found that the live donors studied had good kidney function and tended to suffer a lower incidence of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart-related deaths than the general Egyptian population. However, the authors point out that donors have to have good general health, at the time of the transplant, including normal blood pressure, to even be considered for the procedure; and this could account for some of the results.

 

Women living in the inner city have difficulty meeting dietary goals that could help prevent cancer, according to a report from Johns Hopkins University researchers. In a study of African-American women living in public housing within Washington, D.C., the researchers found that the majority met one —or none—of five dietary goals suggested to reduce the risk of developing cancer. In particular, these women were unlikely to eat a healthy diet that included the recommended amount of fresh fruits and vegetables. Their analysis also linked high risk dietary behaviors with younger age, depression, smoking, and being born within the District of Columbia. The researchers presented their findings in Atlanta at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved. The researchers said African-American women, in general, face a worse cancer incidence and mortality rate than most other ethnic groups, and poor African-American women are at an even greater disadvantage. Improving their diet is one way these women can reduce their risk of developing cancer.

 

SMOKING: FAMILY DOCTOR MAY BE KEY TO QUITTING
Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto report in an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal that doctors play a significant role in helping people quit smoking. Many people's attempts to quit are unsuccessful, so effective interventions are critical. The researchers report that advising patients to quit, even just once, helps to double quitting rates. Research shows that since an estimated 70 percent of smokers visit a physician each year, family doctors have a substantial opportunity to influence smoking behavior.

 

More than a third of men with early prostate cancer who participated in a study analyzing treatment choice received therapies that might not be appropriate, based on pre-existing problems with urinary, bowel, or sexual function. The prevalence of these treatment “mismatches” could reflect patients’ unwillingness to discuss such problems with their physicians, according to the study published online in the journal Cancer. Researchers at the Center for Outcomes Research at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, who led the study, said that because prostate cancer treatment directly affects urinary, bowel, and sexual functions, it is important to know if patients already have problems in these areas to help guide treatment decisions since the three major treatments available to patients have different patterns of potential side effects. External radiation can lead to bowel dysfunction, brachytherapy may cause urinary problems, and surgery can damage nerves involved in sexual function.

EXERCISE: WORK-OUTS MAY PLAY ROLE IN REDUCING INFLAMMATION IN DAMAGED SKIN TISSUE

Researchers at the University of Illinois have found a link between moderate exercise and decreased inflammation of damaged skin tissue. They said that moderate exercise sped up how fast wounds heal in old mice. That may be the result of an exercise-induced anti-inflammatory response in the wound. The study appears in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology. While previous research conducted at Ohio State University demonstrated a correlation between wound healing response time and moderate exercise, that research did not reveal a physiological cause for the reaction. The new study shows that the acceleration of healing was associated with decreased levels of inflammation.

 

Women who live in urban areas have denser breast tissue, making them more likely to develop breast cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Researchers at The London Breast Institute at The Princess Grace Hospital in London said the study highlights the need for women in urban areas to have regular breast screenings. Breast tissue in women may be fatty or glandular or a mixture of both. Women with more glandular breasts show denser tissue on a mammogram and are known to have nearly four times the risk of developing breast cancer than women with fatty breast tissue. The researchers found that women who lived in London had significantly denser breasts than those living outside the city. The rate of increased density was twice as high in the 45- to 54-year-old group. Age-specific analyses suggested that overall differences by geographic area were more pronounced in women under age 50.

A University of Georgia study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition finds that obesity may be bad for bone health. Researchers conducted advanced three-dimensional bone scans on 115 women ages 18 and 19 with normal (less than 32 percent) and high (greater than 32 percent) body fat. After adjusting for differences in muscle mass surrounding the bone, the researchers found that the bones of participants with high body fat were 8 to 9 percent weaker than those of normal body fat participants. The researchers said the study highlights another potential negative health effect of obesity that people haven’t considered. The researchers said the exact mechanisms by which excess fat hinders bone strength are unclear, but studies of obese rats show that they produce more fat cells in the bone marrow and fewer bone cells. Since fat and bone cells originate from the same precursor, it may be that fat cell production is favored over bone cell production in obese people.

 

MSRA: A POSSIBLE THREAT TO THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN
Although hospital superbugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are recognized as a widespread problem, new MRSA strains that have emerged and are spreading among the wider public in the United States may pose a bigger threat, according to researchers from Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation NHS Trust speaking at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference 2007 at the University of Cardiff, U.K. The researchers said that although more antibiotics are still effective against community MRSA than against the hospital MRSA, the community associated infections are often more virulent. Most can also produce a toxin called Panton-Valentine leucocidin, or PVL, that kills white blood cells—the body’s key defense against invasive bacteria. The excessive production of white cells to compensate for those killed by the PVL toxin leads to recurrent severe boils and abscesses. The MRSA is easily spread by close contact, such as in families, nurseries, and athletic teams, the researchers said. They note these new strains of bacteria appear to be able to stick to damaged skin and airways better than hospital MRSA strains, and they also multiply at a faster rate.