Drawing-induced epilepsy reported
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Artists beware. In the journal Neurology this month, doctors report a case of reflex epilepsy triggered by the experience of drawing.
At presentation, the 19-year-old student had experienced short-lasting twitches in both arms shortly before losing consciousness and exhibiting seizure-type activity for two minutes. He was working on a drawing assignment at the time symptoms began.
The patient reported previous episodes of twitching of the arms and “special sensations” while drawing but not while engaged in any other activities.
Scotland to go smoke-free to shake “sick man” tag
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Scotland on Sunday becomes the first part of Britain to ban smoking in pubs, restaurants and workplaces, aiming to tackle the poor public health record that has earned it the nickname “sick man of Europe”.
Officials say the blanket ban on lighting up in enclosed public spaces, inspired by similar measures in Ireland and other countries in the past few years, will eventually stop some 1,000 deaths a year from passive smoking.
Atopy Can Cause Adult-onset Asthma
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New research shows that hereditary predisposition to develop asthma (atopy) is a determining factor in new cases on adult-onset asthma and that avoiding allergens may help prevent adults from developing asthma.
“Are atopy and specific IgE to mites and molds important for adult asthma?” is available in the March 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI), and online at http://www.jacionline.org. The JACI is the peer-reviewed journal of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI).
Mexico ministry denies bird flu found at US border
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Mexico’s agriculture ministry denied rumors in U.S. commodities markets on Thursday that a case of H5N1 bird flu had been found near the U.S. border.
“We are free of highly-pathogenic bird flu,” Jose Angel del Valle, the ministry’s animal health director, told Reuters.
Children who are open to experimenting with herbal products may be more open to trying illicit drugs
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Adolescents who have ever used herbal products are six times more likely to have tried cocaine and almost 15 times more likely to have used anabolic steroids than teens who have never used herbal products, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study to be published March 23 in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
More than a quarter of the Monroe County high school students in the sample reported having ever used herbal remedies and of those, the heaviest herbal users were more likely to use illicit drugs. Teen responders decided for themselves what would be considered “herbal or other natural products, either to make you feel better, or to help you perform better at sports or school,” as asked in the survey. Herbal remedies could include products from dietary supplements such as vitamins or St. John’s wort to natural performance enhancers, such as creatine.
Fish enzymes and gelatine may be the new treatment for psoriasis and eczema
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A new skin cream has shown promising results in the treatment of psoriasis and eczema. The cream contains fish enzymes and gelatine and is under development by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and the University of Bergen, Norway.
An important ingredient in the product is the enzyme zonase, which is found in fish eggs. The enzyme can break down dead skin cells without harming living cells. Used in the treatment of psoriasis, this cream helps to dead skin to flake off, while stimulating the growth of new cells.
But enzymes need water to function as they should. With typical creams, the moisture evapourates a short time after application to the skin. The challenge for manufacturers is to find a new and better method to bind water to the cream. Dr. Ingvild Haug is a specialist in fish collagen (gelatine)
Younger breast cancer patients at increase risk
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Women under 45 years old diagnosed with early breast cancer have a higher risk of dying from the disease than older patients, scientists said on Thursday.
“The younger the woman, the poorer the chance of survival,” said Dr. Vincent Vinh-Hung, of University Hospital in Brussels.
Breast is the most common cancer in women, with more than one million new cases detected worldwide each year. Most are in women over 50—the disease is much less common in young women.
Thailand battles major botulism outbreak
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Thailand flew 17 people with severe botulism to Bangkok on Thursday, while dozens more were being treated in rural hospitals after one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the muscle-paralyzing disease.
The 17, including 12 women and a young girl, were among 160 villagers who fell ill after eating contaminated bamboo shoots during a festival in the northern province of Nan.
Treatment for Deadly Brain Tumors and Infections Discovered by Researchers
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In a study published in the March 15 issue of The Journal of Immunology, researchers at Board of Governors’ Gene Therapeutics Research Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have developed a way to overcome immune privilege in the brain to eradicate potentially deadly brain tumors such as glioblastoma multiforme and other types of brain infections.
Brain tumors account for 85 to 90 percent of all primary central nervous system tumors. Of those tumors, almost 40 percent are either the deadly glioblastoma multiforme or anaplastic astrocytomas. Each year about 19,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with primary brain cancers, and close to 70 percent of those diagnosed will not survive more than five years. In addition, approximately 150,000 Americans a year are diagnosed with metastatic brain tumors, cancer that has spread into the brain from another part of the body.
New discovery explains how a common gene variant may increase cancer risks
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Roughly 15 percent of the population carries a gene variant that may increase the risk of developing cancer. The cause of this increased risk has been unknown until now. But now a research team at Stockholm University in Sweden can explain why.
“The variant makes the cell motor sputter and mutate, so cancer can arise,” says Associate Professor Thomas Helleday, who leads the research team at the Department of Genetics, Microbiology, and Toxicology, Stockholm University.
Even though it is easy to identify the some 15 percent of the population who have the harmful gene, which is called XRCC3 T241M, it is not meaningful to examine them since there are also other unknown factors that influence if this variant increases risk of cancer.
Environmental chemicals implicated in cancer
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New research at the University of Liverpool suggests that environmental contaminants, such as pesticides, are more influential in causing cancer than previously thought.
Previous studies in cancer causation have often concluded that exposure to carcinogenic or endocrine-disrupting chemicals, for example, organochlorines (OC) - found in pesticides and plastics - occurs at concentrations that are too low to be considered a major factor in cancerous disease. Now new research at the University of Liverpool, published in the Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, has found that exposure even to small amounts of these chemicals may result in an increased risk of developing cancer - particularly for infants and young adults.
The research consisted of systematic reviewing of recent studies and literature concerning the environment and cancer, and was supported by the Cancer Prevention and Education Society.
Americans are eating safer!
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The number of people who reported eating one or more foods associated with an increased risk of foodborne disease declined by a third from 1998 to 2002, according to survey results released at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
“Overall we are seeing a decline in risky food consumption and that may be attributable to published media reports of foodborne outbreaks and outreach efforts by the public health community,” says Erica Weis of the California Department of Health Services, the lead author on the study.
Swedish scientists move closer to a cancer vaccine
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Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have helped to identify a molecule that can be used as a vaccination agent against growing cancer tumours. Although the results are so far based on animal experiments, they point to new methods of treating metastases.
The results are presented in the online edition of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Medicine, and represent the collaborative efforts of researchers at KI and Leiden University Medical Centre in Holland.
The study analysed an immunological cell, a T cell, which recognises other cells with defects common to metastasing ones. These defects (which are found in MHC class 1 molecules) allow the tumour cell to evade the “conventional” T cell-mediated immune defence.
Tip Sheet: Stroke Awareness Month
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Stroke experts are studying deadly snake venom and vampire bat saliva to dissolve blood clots in stroke victims. One of the trials involves Desmoteplase, a genetically engineered version of a clot-busting agent found in the saliva of a vampire bat that can be given to stroke patients up to nine hours after symptoms appear. The other trial involves Viprinex, an investigational drug derived from a compound found in Malaysian Pit Viper snake venom, called ancrod, which acts as an anti-coagulant in blood. This study may help determine if acute ischemic stroke patients treated with a one-time dose within six hours of the onset of stroke symptoms will have improved neurological function.
“The goal of both experimental drugs is to reduce a naturally occurring substance in the blood that is involved in blood clotting,” said Dr. David Chiu, medical director of the Eddy Scurlock Stroke Center at the Methodist Neurological Institute (NI).
Crucial breakthrough in pectin biosynthesis
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Most people know pectin as a common household gelling agent in making jams and jellies, but its uses are vast. It has anticancer properties, for instance, and may have a role in important biological functions including plant growth and development and defense against disease.
Despite the importance of pectin as a major component in the primary walls of plants, scientists have known relatively little about how this family of complex polysaccharides is made. Especially perplexing has been how the synthesis of the three different classes of pectic polysaccharides is coordinated to produce the pectin matrix in cell walls.
