Posted on November 22nd, 2007
Ozone may prove the key to the link between high temperature and the increased risk of death from heart disease. Scientists base their findings on a population of almost 100 million people in 95 different geographical areas during the summer months.
During this period, 4 million heart attacks occurred. When the scientist plotted daily deaths against fluctuations in temperature during one day, they found that ozone was a common link, that show that the higher the ozone level, the higher was the risk of cardiovascular death attributable to high temperatures.
Ozone levels ranged from a daily average of 36.74 parts per billion to 142.85 ppb and temperatures ranged from 20 to 42 degrees Centigrade.
A 10 degree temperature increase on the same day was associated with a rise in heart disease of just over 1 percent at the lowest ozone level and by more than 8 percent for the highest ozone levels.
Ozone is chemical pollutant that is strongly tied to weather conditions. It is generated by a reaction between nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and oxygen in sunlight. A link between temperature and ozone in driving up cardiovascular mortality is plausible.
Exposure to ozone may make people more susceptible to the effects of fluctuations in temperature.
Rising temperatures and the impact of ozone are likely to become increasingly important as the world heats up as a result of global warming.
Posted on November 22nd, 2007
South Africa’s Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) Programme has severe shortcomings. HIV patients are missing out on opportunities to receive a key intervention namely the nevirapine tablet.
The study’s qualitative research with women who had participated in the public sector PMTCT programme revealed critical failures, in testing expectant mothers for HIV and giving them the results of the test, and in a lack of intervention, the main goal to help protect the unborn child from infection. A 50% reduction in transmission of HIV from mother to child is possible with the use of the nevirapine.
58 HIV-positive women was interviewed, whether or not there were missed opportunities for participation in prevention of mother-to-child transmission programs.
Fifteen of the interviewees missed out on nevirapine, because of health systems failures. Of the 15 women, six women were not tested for HIV during antenatal care. Two who were tested received no results and seven were tested and received results but did not receive Nevirapine.
HIV testing should be strengthened to enable access to preventative interventions. A combination of two or three antiretroviral drugs starting during pregnancy and continuing for one week after delivery should replace the single dose regimen to improve uptake as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Posted on November 22nd, 2007
A team of scientists has found that a drug used to treat depression can extend the lifespan of adult roundworms. Antidepressant drug mianserin can extend the lifespan of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans by about 30 %.
The drug may act by mimicking the effects of caloric restriction. Studies indicate that lifespan extension by mianserin involves mechanisms associated with lifespan extension by dietary restriction.
The drug appears to act the same way in C. elegans andin humans: by blocking certain receptors for the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is a chemical that cells use to communicate, helping them regulate many functions.
It was a surprise to find that a drug used to treat depression in humans could extend lifespan in worms. The researchers found that in addition to inhibiting certain serotonin receptors in the worm, it also blocked receptors for another neurotransmitter, octopamine.
Serotonin and octopamine may complement one another in a physiological context. Mianserin had a much greater inhibitory effect on the serotonin receptor than the octopamine receptor. One possibility is that there is a dynamic equilibrium between serotonin and octopamine signaling and the drug tips the balance in the direction of octopamine signaling, producing a perceived, though not real, state of starvation that activates aging mechanisms downstream of dietary restriction.
Scientist focus on the effects of mianserin based on the results of a search through 88,000 chemicals for agents that extended the lifespan of nematodes and they found 115 chemicals. In follow-up studies of one chemical, they found four additional compounds that inhibit certain types of serotonin receptors in humans.
By identifying drugs that influence lifespan, it may be possible to home in on how those drugs act and contribute to a growing body of knowledge about the genetic mechanisms of aging. Other researchers work using molecular genetic approaches to identify genes involved in aging.
Other researchers work using molecular genetic approaches to identify genes involved in aging. They decided to take a chemical approach. By finding chemicals that enhance longevity, and then finding the targets of those chemicals, it may be possible to identify additional genes important in aging.
Posted on November 22nd, 2007
Tobacco smoke-filled air is bad for cardiovascular health, and drinking alcohol at the same time only makes it worse.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham team study the effects of smoking and breathing second-hand smoke along with drinking, and test the theory that moderate alcohol consumption provides some heart-protection benefits.
The conclusion was that mice exposed to smoky air in a laboratory enclosure and fed a liquid diet containing ethanol, had a 4.7-fold increase in artery lesions. That compares to mice who breathed filtered air and ate a normal solid diet.
Artery lesions are a common problem in heavy smokers andat the same time are a key sign of advancing cardiovascular disease.
The studies reported mice solely exposed to the smoky air had a 2.3-fold increase in artery lesions and mice solely fed a liquid diet containing ethanol had a 3.5-fold increase in artery lesions when compared to mice who breathed filtered air and mice fed a normal diet.
This study shows that exposure to cigarette (tobacco) smoke when combined with alcohol caused the greatest degree of cardiovascular disease development compared to either action or exposure alone.
Moderate alcohol consumption is commonly thought to be cardioprotective. These findings are important for smokers and non-smokers alike in terms of what you should and should not do to protect their good health.
This experiments were performed over a 5 week period. Blood-alcohol concentrations reached the equivalent of a 150-pound adult consuming 2 drinks per hour. Cigarette smoke exposure was similar to being in an automobile with a chain smoker with the windows closed.
To measuring artery lesions in the study mice, the University of Alabama at Birmingham team looked at other signs of advancing cardiovascular disease.
These measurements showed that taking in both smoky air and ethanol had the effect of basically nullifying any potential heart benefit from drinking alcohol by itself.
Posted on November 21st, 2007
Researchers from two large, international clinical trials show “unprecedented†survival for patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that occurs in the blood-making cells of bone marrow.
The studies demonstrate thatwith Revlimid® (an oral cancer drug), all measures of myeloma showed significant improvement in patients. This new class of drugs is a critical advance toward helping address the increase in the number of diagnoses for myeloma. U.S. cancer diagnoses are decreasing, statistics show that the number of myeloma diagnoses is increasing in younger patients(the disease is detected in patients under the age of 40). These trends give us some urgency in having potent treatments to fight this disease.
Revlimid is a drug that can modify the functioning of the immune system. It is the newest therapies. It is an oral drug so it can be taken at home, and because it targets the cancer cells directly along with factors that support their growth, it does not have the difficult side effects.
Patients treated with Revlimid had a median survival of nearly three years (35 months), the longest median survival in this difficult to treat patient group.
Myeloma, is a cancer of the bone marrow that attacks and destroys bone.
An important part of the immune system are normal plasma cells. When plasma cells grow out of control, they can produce a tumor which generally develop in the bone marrow. If there is only one tumor, it is called a plasmacytoma.If myeloma cells can occur in multiple bone marrow sites in your body the disease is called multiple myeloma. several factors which increase the risk of developing multiple myeloma: extensive exposure to radiation, chemical resins, organic solvents, pesticides, and herbicides.
Although once considered a rare disease of the elderly, it is of growing interest and concern.
Multiple myeloma has been a difficult disease to cure. Present day, with the novel therapies sciences are developing treatments by using multiple drugs in sequence and in various combinations.
In Europe and the US, REVLIMID® is being used to threat myeloma. In the US it is also approved for a pre-leukemia condition called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). It is also being tested in other leukemias, lymphomas, and solid tumors.
In Europe and the U.S., Revlimid has been used to threat myeloma, and in the U.S. it is also approved for a pre-leukemia condition called MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome).
