Health News - Thursday, March 29, 2007
Japanese scientists have developed an oral vaccine for Alzheimer's disease that has proven effective and safe in mice, the director of a research institute behind the project said on Thursday. The team is preparing to move to small-scale clinical trials in humans, possibly this year, said Takeshi Tabira, director of the National Institute for Longevity Sciences in Aichi, central Japan.
"We hope the Phase I trials go well," Tabira said. "Animals are able to recover their functions after developing symptoms, but humans are less able to do so. It may be that this only works in the early stages of the disease, when symptoms are light." When administered to mice suffering from the disease, which causes dementia and is currently incurable, the vaccine reduced the amount of amyloid plaques in the brain and improved mental function. Continue reading
Being physically active outside of work may protect against work-related repetitive strain injury, researchers from Canada report. Lead researcher Charles R. Ratzlaff told Reuters Health: Leisure-time physical activity may "facilitate better balance and nutrition to the musculoskeletal system," which may counter the repetitive or sedentary effects of many jobs.
Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) are caused by repeating the same motions over and over at work, such as typing on a keyboard or assembling products in a factory line. Ratzlaff, from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver and colleagues analyzed the prevalence and correlates of work-related RSI by analyzing data from the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey for 58,622 full-time workers between the ages of 15 and 74 years. Continue reading
A study led by two Canadian doctors reveals patients treated with bronchial thermoplasty, the first non-drug treatement for asthma, showed an overall improvement in asthma control.
Co-Principal Investigators, Dr. Gerard Cox, respirologist at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton's Firestone Institute for Respiratory Health, and Professor at McMaster University, and Dr. John Miller, Division Head of Thoracic Surgery at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton and McMaster University authored the study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Continue reading
The Parkinson's disease drug pergolide has been removed from the market, because it has been linked to heart valve damage in patients. The drug, which goes by the brand name Permax, has had a troubled history. It was voluntarily withdrawn Thursday by its maker, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Two generic versions are manufactured by Par Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. "The reason for the withdrawal is because of the high rate of damage to the heart valves in users of pergolide," Dr. Robert Temple, director of the Office of Medical Policy at the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said during a teleconference Thursday afternoon. "The damage causes the valve to become leaky. The drug is called a dopamine agonist and is used as starting therapy for Parkinson's patients." Continue reading
Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk for alcohol problems, and parental alcoholism and stressful family experiences are important factors in that risk, two new studies suggest.
"Children with ADHD are believed to be at risk for alcoholism because of their impulsivity and distractibility, as well as other problems that often accompany ADHD, such as school failure and behavior problems," Brooke Molina, an associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, said in a prepared statement. Molina is corresponding author for both studies, which are published in the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Continue reading
A US and UK joint study suggests that drinking green tea may help to prevent HIV infection. The preliminary study is published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and was a joint project between the University of Sheffield, UK, and Baylor College of Medicine, in Texas, USA.
The research team did test tube experiments on a green tea flavonoid called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and showed that it binds with CD4 immune system T-cell receptors and stops HIV from doing the same. One of the researchers, Professor Mike Williamson of the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology at the University of Sheffield said, ""Our research shows that drinking green tea could reduce the risk of becoming infected by HIV, and could also slow down the spread of HIV." Continue reading