Casting for the Cure

Could that morning pot of gold prevent Multiple Sclerosis (MS)? While many experts recommend limiting caffeine because of possible negative effects on diabetes and some other medical conditions, a recent study has shown coffee to have warded off the animal form of MS.

The new study involved mice that were given a shot to force the mice to develop a condition like MS in humans. However, those that were given the equivalent to 6 to 8 cups of coffee a day avoided developing the animal form of MS, called EAE or experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, stated Dr. Linda Thompson, a member of the team reporting the findings in the National Academy of Sciences.

During the study, researchers monitored the progress of mice that would normally have developed EAE. Thompson explained that the caffeine prevented one of the four building blocks of DNA, known as adenosine, from binding to the adenosine receptor in the mice. Because adenosine wasn’t able to bind to the receptor, it prevented the white blood cells known as T cells, from reaching the central nervous system and starting the domino effect that leads to EAE.

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Cholesterol has long been cited as bad for our health, known to increase risk for heart disease. New evidence suggests that one of the components of cholesterol HDL (the good cholesterol) may also play a role in how well older individuals retain their mental acuity.

A study of 3,673 civil servants found that participants with low levels of HDL were likely to suffer a decline in memory by the age of 60. The long-term investigation began in London in 1985. Blood samples were taken from the participants on two occasions, five years apart, and their short term verbal memory was assessed. Doctors recited a list of 20 words and the subjects were asked to write down as many as they remembered. The test was conducted at age 55 and again at age 60. Those with low HDL levels performed 27 percent worse at age 55, and at age 60 the gap was 63 percent worse compared to individuals with high levels of HDL.

The definition of low HDL was less than 40 milligrams per deciliter of blood, and high HDL was 60 mg or more. According to Archana Singh-Manoux, the lead author and a senior research fellow at University College London, and the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, “A low level of HDL may be a risk factor for memory loss in late midlife, low HDL cholesterol might also be a risk factor for dementia.”

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Did you know that it is very possible to have a stroke and not immediately notice it? Not a myth, this can and does actually happen, making it very important for you to know the signs of a stroke, so that you can stay safe. A stroke is brain damage that is cause by a blood vessel that is being blocked or bleeding that is in the brain, and while these “silent strokes” may not catch your attention, they can cause damage.

A new study conducted found that 11 percent of people who thought they were healthy and in good condition actually had some brain damage from a silent stroke. This kind of stroke is a true stroke, but they don’t result in any symptoms that are noticeable. People that have had a silent stroke are at higher risk for subsequent strokes and for a loss of mental skills that is accelerated.

A research team led by Rohit Das, an M.D. from Boston University’s School of Medicine, reviewed MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans of 2,040 patients that are participating in the Framingham Study, an ongoing study examining the relationship between the risk factors and subsequent cardiovascular events. The MRI scans were reviewed to find evidence of stroke. The average age of the participants was 62 and most were of European ancestry. None of the participants had a history of stroke or had any symptoms of a stroke.

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A new study from the UK suggests that low levels of the “good” HDL cholesterol is linked to poor memory, and decline in memory, in middle aged adults.

The study is the work of researchers at University College, London, and is published in the 30th June issue of the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology journal of the American Heart Association.

The authors examined the relationship between fasting levels of blood fats and short term verbal memory in 3,673 male and female middle aged adults who were taking part in the Whitehall II longitudinal study.

Blood samples were taken at two measuring points: at mean age 55 and mean age 61, and tested for lipid or blood fat levels, including total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and triglycerides. The participants also completed short term memory tests at the two measuring points.

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A study by an international team of researchers found that an experimental drug that stops blood vessels that feed tumors from forming was able, in a small number of patients, to slow down the progression of advanced thyroid cancer that has spread to other sites.

The study was the work of researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and colleagues in 10 other countries, and is published in today’s online issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

There are few treatment options for patients who have advanced metastatic thyroid cancer (where it has started to spread to other parts of the body) and the prognosis is generally poor. However, thyroid cancer is supported by a protein called VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) which helps blood vessels that feed the cancer tumour to grow, so the researchers were keen to find out if a new drug that blocks VEGF might help to slow tumors in thyroid cancer.

Lead author Dr Steven I Sherman, chair and professor of MD Anderson’s Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders, explained the need to find effective treatments for advanced thyroid cancer:

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A Texas couple has given birth to quintuplets at a Phoenix hospital nationally known for its successful multiple-birth deliveries. Three girls and two boys, who are expected to debut in Houston in August, were delivered last Thursday to 33-year-old mother Ellen Howell.

Doctors at the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center delivered the five babies via elective caesarean section within three minutes of each other. Though they arrived nine weeks early, each weighed about two pounds and appear healthy.

However, the babies were immediately placed in the neonatal intensive care unit, where they are expected to remain for the next few months before heading home to Houston. They are the couple’s only children.

The boys’ names are Mitchell Thomas and Luke Harrison. The girls’ names are Sidney Alun, Ivy Elizabeth and Briellen Jeanette. Ellen Howell’s husband, Stephen is a technical sales representative and will return to work in Houston on Monday. The couple rented in suburban Phoenix until the babies are released.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, quintuplet births are rare. There were just 68 births in 2005 that involved five or more babies. It is the tenth set of quintuplets been born at the Phoenix hospital.

Last October, a technician at the children’s hospital at Stanford University improperly connected a ventilator hose, accidentally pumping too little oxygen into a 9-day-old infant’s lungs.

A month later, technicians at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz unintentionally placed a CT scan of one patient into the electronic file of another, leading physicians to remove the wrong person’s appendix.

Last March, Virginia Fahres, 76, died at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in Pomona after a nurse gave her two drugs, neither of which her doctor had prescribed.

Those incidents were among 1,002 cases of serious medical harm disclosed by California hospitals between July 2007 and May of this year. The disclosures are the first under a state law that requires hospitals to inform health regulators of all substantial injuries to their patients.

Officially called “adverse events,” those accidents are also known as “never events” because they are considered preventable, and many safety experts say they should never happen. California patients are being injured at a rate of about 100 a month, according to data compiled by the state Department of Public Health.

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Amid intense political pressure from the nation’s doctors, the Bush administration said Monday it would hold off on a 10 percent fee cut in Medicare payments to doctors that was slated to kick in Tuesday.

The Bush administration is giving members of Congress time to prevent the reduction in payments from the federal health insurance program for the elderly when lawmakers return from a July 4 recess. The administration said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would not process Medicare claims for the first 10 days of the month, which in effect would allow Congress time to reconsider a vote to stave off the cut.

Should the cut take effect, it could have big ramifications in the health-care industry since some doctors say they could not afford to see Medicare patients if a 10 percent payment reduction occurred.

About 60 percent of physicians who responded to a poll by the American Medical Association this year said they would limit the number of new Medicare patients they would see if a cut took effect.

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A new report suggests that many — if not most — sunscreens do not do an adequate job of protecting users from the sun’s harmful rays.

But medical experts are quick to caution that consumers would not be wise to eliminate the use of sunscreen from their summertime ritual, because that could expose them to an increased risk of skin cancer.

In its new report, the non-profit Environmental Working Group (EWG) says that 85 percent of sunscreens either inadequately protect from the sun’s rays or contain ingredients that may be unsafe.

They say that the problem is worsened by the fact that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not passed standards for testing and labeling sunscreens — meaning that makers often have carte blanche when it comes to making claims about their products.

“There are all these things on the label that don’t indicate quality, protection and safety,” says Sonya Lunder, senior analyst at EWG and manager of the project.

A new test that can detect multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis in two days instead of the standard two to three months promises to help significantly improve treatment and prevent the spread of the airborne infection, the World Health Organization said on Monday.

Experts discussed multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis at a news conference Monday in Geneva. Dr. Mario C. Raviglione, second from right, of the W.H.O., said a new test was “revolutionary.”
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Multiple-drug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB, is a growing public health problem in the world. Five percent of new TB cases are resistant to first-line drugs. That is 450,000 of the nine million new TB cases that are detected each year, the W.H.O. says.

In the United States, the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis among foreign-born TB patients has been about 1.5 percent, roughly three times the percentage among American-born patients with TB.

“The new test is revolutionary,” said Dr. Mario C. Raviglione, W.H.O.’s director of tuberculosis control, because “it changes completely the way we will be dealing with MDR-TB.”

The difficulty in detecting cases rapidly and accurately is a major obstacle in tuberculosis control. In most developing countries, cases cannot be detected easily or at all, leading to lags in starting proper treatment that can lead to a patient’s death and the further spread of resistant strains.

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