New Way to Stimulate Brain to Release Antioxidants
Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 12, @12:17AM from the wired-reflexes-2 dept. Neopallium writes "A joint research effort between researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, CA, and a team from Japan (Iwate University, Osaka City University, Gifu University, Iwate Medical University) has discovered a novel way to treat stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. This approach works by inducing nerve cells in the brain and the spine to release natural antioxidants that protect nerve cells from stress and free radicals that lead to neurodegenerative diseases."
Researchers Discover New Way to Stimulate Brain to Release Antioxidants; Potential Drug Approach for Stroke, Alzheimer's and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders; Research Published as Cover Story in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences Jan 9, 2006 5:05:00 PM Copyright Business Wire 2006 LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2006-- A joint research effort between researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research in La Jolla, CA, and a team from Japan (Iwate University, Osaka City University, Gifu University, Iwate Medical University) has discovered a novel way to treat stroke and neurodegenerative disorders. This approach works by inducing nerve cells in the brain and the spine to release natural antioxidants that protect nerve cells from stress and free radicals that lead to neurodegenerative diseases. Until this discovery, researchers were unable to induce release of these specific antioxidants directly in nerve cells, at the site where damage and degeneration occurs.
http://tinyurl.com/dxdm3
St. Jude projects 90 percent cure rate for ALL
The cure rate for the once almost universally fatal childhood cancer acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) could reach 90 percent in the near future, thanks to improvements in diagnosis and treatment over the past four decades, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Almost 4,000 cases of ALL are diagnosed in the United States each year, about two-thirds of which are in children and adolescents, making this disease the most common cancer in this age group.
A report on the progress in the treatment of ALL authored by two St. Jude investigators appears in the January 12 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The progressive improvement in the cure rate since 1962, when only 4 percent of children with ALL survived, reflects in large part the more effective use of existing drugs and the incorporation of sophisticated genetic technologies to personalize treatments, the authors said. Research findings at St. Jude have enabled clinicians to identify patients for whom standard treatment is most likely to fail, and who should therefore be treated more aggressively; these findings have also allowed clinicians to choose the optimal drugs and drug dosages for individual patients.
The improvements in ALL treatment are also helping to reduce the long-term toxic side effects of therapy by enabling clinicians to reduce or avoid the use of certain drugs or radiation that can damage major organs or cause secondary cancers.
"Our success reflects many years of dedication and research by an experienced team that have paid off substantially," said Ching-Hon Pui, M.D., director of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Division at St. Jude and American Cancer Society F.M. Kirby Clinical Research Professor. "A 90 percent cure rate for ALL is quite possible in the near future if we continue to incorporate the breakthroughs of past decades and successfully overcome the remaining challenges."
The dramatic increase in cure rates for children is especially significant in the case of African-American children, Pui noted. They still have poor outcomes in national studies, but studies at St. Jude have shown African-American children have the same high cure rates as white children when given access to the same effective treatments.
http://tinyurl.com/93ebe
One in five patients on commonly prescribed diuretics have abnormal sodium and potassium levels
One in five patients taking diuretics commonly prescribed for high blood pressure or heart conditions end up with reduced sodium and potassium levels, according to a study published in the January issue of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
Yet recent evidence suggests that perhaps as few as a third of patients on the drugs – used by one in eight adults – have their electrolyte levels tested, despite the fact that reduced levels can lead to a wide range of health problems.
A team from Queen's Medical Centre and the University of Nottingham in the UK reviewed the records of more than 32,000 adults from six general practices in the East Midlands.
They found that just under 12 per cent had received at least one prescription for thiazide diuretics between 1990 and 2002, but only 32 per cent had had their sodium and potassium levels recorded electronically. The drug most commonly prescribed was bendroflumethiazide (bendrofluazide).
21 per cent of those who had been tested had levels that fell below the normal range.
"In a small number of patients reduced sodium and potassium levels – often referred to as electrolyte levels - can be severe enough to require hospital admission, especially if they are elderly" says lead author Dr Jennifer Clayton.
"In milder cases they can make people feel below par, cause general weakness and tiredness and sometimes interfere with the normal rhythm of the heart.
"Severe loss of sodium can make it difficult for people to maintain their blood pressure at a normal level, causing dizziness, confusion and an increased risk of falls in older people.
"And loss of potassium can make people more susceptible to the side effects of other drugs they are taking for heart conditions."
Other findings included:
- Low sodium levels were much more common than low potassium levels. Of the 196 patients who had low electrolyte levels, 66 per cent had low sodium levels and 40 per cent had low potassium levels. A small number of patients had both.
- Nine per cent of the 196 patients who showed low levels had severe electrolyte disturbances – with ages ranging from 47 to 93. Ten of these were taken off the medication, but seven – including a 90 year-old male – were not.
- Patients who had severe electrolyte disturbances had taken the medication for three to 90 months before their levels were checked.
- 72 per cent of the 130 patients with low sodium levels were mild cases, 21 per cent were moderate and seven per cent were severe. Just over 80 per cent continued taking the drug, including a third of the severe cases.
- Patients taking thiazide diuretics ranged from 19 to 99 years-old and nearly half were between 60 and 79.
- 90 per cent were receiving the currently recommended dose of 2.5mg a day, but 10 per cent were receiving a higher dose.
- The average age of patients tested for electrolyte levels was 69, while the average age of untested patients was slightly lower at 67.
- Only 30 per cent of females had their electrolytes tested, compared with 36 per cent of males.
"Patients taking higher doses of thiazide diuretics are at particular risk of low potassium levels and elderly patients are at a particular risk of low sodium levels" concludes co-author Professor Ian Hall.
"This points to the need for prescribing low doses of thiazide diuretics and monitoring sodium and potassium levels to reduce the risk and increase the detection and treatment of these electrolyte abnormalities.
"Despite the fact that more than a fifth of the patients we looked at suffered from reduced electrolyte levels, less than a third of the people given this commonly used type of drug appear to have had tests to check their levels."
The authors stress that people should never stop taking prescribed medicine without first seeking advice from their GP.
"In our view, if people are on thiazide diuretics, it would be sensible for them to ask their doctor about routine testing for sodium and potassium levels next time they have an appointment or go to the surgery for a medication review" adds Professor Hall.
"This is particularly important if people have been feeling unwell, are elderly, taking other heart medication or are on higher doses of the drug."
http://tinyurl.com/878fd
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