UI Researchers Studying Novel Therapy For Prostate Cancer
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A team of University of Iowa Health Care researchers has launched an important clinical trial of a novel therapeutic that may eventually lead to new treatments for men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The Ad5-TRAIL gene therapy for prostate cancer research trial is a Phase I study designed to test the optimal dosage at which the therapeutic agent can safely be given to patients.
The clinical study is being co-led by Thomas Griffith, Ph.D., (photo, left) an associate professor in the Department of Urology, and Richard Williams, M.D., the Rubin H. Flocks Chair in Urology and professor and head of the UI Department of Urology.
Arthritis Self-Management Does Not Reduce Pain Levels Or GP Visits
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Self-management programmes for people with osteoarthritis do not reduce pain, or the number of visits patients make to their GP, a new study reveals today.
Osteoarthritis affects around five million people in the UK (8% of the population). Patient-centred arthritis self-management programmes tested on volunteers in the USA indicated a beneficial effect on pain, depression, exercise taken, communication with doctors and participants’ self-perception about their capacity to manage their condition
Researchers from London undertook one of the largest trials to measure the effects of arthritis self-management programmes on patients. The findings showed that whilst these programmes helped to reduce levels of anxiety for arthritis patients, they did little to reduce physical pain. The authors say their findings suggest that more research needs to be done to support the roll-out of the government’s Expert Patient Programme – a generic self-management programme for arthritis and other chronic diseases.
Public has preconceived ideas on psychiatric therapy
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Most people believe depression and schizophrenia warrant treatment with drugs and other “biological” approaches, but such care is less widely accepted for people with substance abuse problems, a new study shows.
The more likely people were to think that a mental health or substance abuse problem had biological roots—for example, genetic susceptibility or chemical imbalance—the more likely they were to support biological treatment for it, the researchers found.
“Further research is needed regarding why the US public does not endorse, overall, more formal, biologically oriented treatment options, and, specifically, medication,” Drs. Sara Kuppin of Columbia University in New York and Richard M. Carpiano of the University of Wisconsin at Madison conclude.
Whole grains cut diabetes risk for black women
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Black women who eat plenty of magnesium-rich foods, especially whole grains, may lower their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research shows.
African Americans are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than whites, Dr. Rob M. van Dam of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and colleagues note in their report in Diabetes Care. Some studies suggest, they add, that calcium and magnesium may help lower type 2 diabetes risk, but this research has been done in predominantly white populations.
To investigate whether intake of these minerals might be tied to diabetes risk among black individuals as well, the researchers looked at 41,186 women participating in the Black Women’s Health Study. None of them had diabetes at the study’s outset, but 1,964 developed type 2 diabetes during eight years of follow-up.
Mental ills impede smoking cessation in pregnancy
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Depression and other psychiatric problems may make it tougher for women to quit smoking during pregnancy, according to a new study.
About one in four women stop smoking on their own when they find they’re pregnant. For the rest, some respond to help with quitting, but most do not, Dr. Louise H. Flick of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and colleagues note in the American Journal of Public Health.
People with mental health problems are known to be more likely to smoke, they add, and recent research suggests that cigarette smoking may be a form of self-medication.
U.S. OKs use of Genentech’s Avastin in lung cancer
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U.S. regulators agreed to expand the use of Genentech Inc.‘s drug Avastin, now used against colon cancer, to include treatment of the most common type of lung cancer, the company said on Wednesday.
Avastin, the first drug designed to starve tumors of blood and nutrients, was approved as an initial treatment, in combination with chemotherapy, for patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
The FDA nod, while expected, “is a billion-dollar-plus opportunity for Genentech,” said Mike King, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw.
U.S. weighs emergency research without consent
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Emergency medical research without patient consent should be allowed in some cases where quick treatment is critical and getting permission is difficult or impossible, researchers on Wednesday told U.S. officials who are reconsidering the rules for such studies.
The issue gained new attention this year when the Food and Drug Administration was criticized for letting Northfield Laboratories Inc. study an experimental blood substitute, PolyHeme, in trauma patients without getting their permission first.
Several emergency medicine and trauma specialists, who dominated the speakers at an FDA public meeting on the issue, said waiving the consent requirement was needed in some cases.
Aggression drugs little help in Alzheimer’s: study
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Antipsychotic drugs commonly used to treat Alzheimer’s patients with delusions, aggression and other symptoms may help some patients but cause too many side effects to be truly useful, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.
The drugs are given to quiet agitated and hard-to-handle Alzheimer’s patients and include olanzapine, made by Eli Lilly and Co. under the brand name Zyprexa, quetiapine, made by AstraZeneca under the brand name Seroquel, and Johnson & Johnson’s risperidone, sold as Risperdal.
“The antipsychotic medications may be effective against some symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients compared to placebo, but their tendency to cause intolerable adverse side effects in this vulnerable population offsets their benefits,” said Dr. Lon Schneider of the University of Southern California, who led the study.
Early lead exposure linked to teens’ injury risk
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Teenagers whose blood levels of lead were relatively high as children may be more prone to falls and injuries, a preliminary study suggests.
The findings, reported in the Journal of Adolescent Health, may add to the list of health consequences of childhood lead exposure. The toxic metal is already known to be particularly dangerous for young children and fetuses, as even low-level exposure can damage the developing brain and cause learning and behavioral problems.
Based on what’s known about the metal’s effects on the nervous system, it’s possible that lead exposure could affect children’s long-term injury risk by harming their balance, coordination and other neuromuscular skills, according to the authors of the new study.
For some men, sports pre-empts emergency room stop
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Not even a medical emergency can pull some men away from a television showing their favorite sports teams, a U.S. study has determined.
University of Maryland emergency physician David Jerrard tracked nearly 800 regular season college and professional football, baseball and basketball games in the state over three years and found there always was an increase in the number of men who checked into emergency rooms after these events.
Jerrard’s study, to be presented on Sunday at the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians Research Forum in New Orleans, showed about 50 percent more men registered in emergency rooms after a football game than during the event itself. Thirty to 40 percent more men sought care following a baseball game.
Drug therapy for heroin addicts helps women quit smoking
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New research is suggesting that women trying to quit smoking can be helped by taking medication approved for the treatment of alcohol and heroin dependence.
The medication naltrexone, when used in conjunction with nicotine patches and behavioral support, over a a two-month period, improved by almost 50 percent women’s ability to abstain from smoking for the duration of the program, compared to the same program minus naltrexone.
The researchers say that women having trouble quitting smoking may be helped in the short-term by taking the opiate blocker along with standard treatments and counseling.
High rates of pertussis found in States with easy immunization exemptions
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States that easily permit parents to opt out of vaccinating their children for nonmedical reasons are at increased risk of pertussis (whooping cough), according to a new study from researchers with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the University of Florida and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
States that easily grant exemptions or offer personal belief exemptions have higher nonmedical exemption rates than states that offered only religious exemptions. The study is published in the October 11, 2006, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Pertussis is caused by a bacterial toxin that is spread easily through person-to-person contact, coughing and sneezing. It is more severe in infants and young children, who consequently have a greater risk of pneumonia, seizures, encephalopathy (a brain disorder) and other potentially deadly complications. Pertussis, which is characterized by severe coughing, is endemic in the United States. The incidence of the disease has increased nationwide in the last 20 years, with 25,827 cases reported in 2004, according to the CDC.
High BMI Tied to Poor Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged Adults
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Middle-aged adults with a high body mass index (BMI) received lower scores on cognitive tests than middle-aged adults with low BMI, according to a study published in the October 10, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study investigated the relationships between BMI and cognitive function in 2,223 healthy men and women in France through the use of four cognitive tests. The participants, who were between the ages of 32 and 62, were initially tested in 1996 and again five years later.
The study found a higher BMI was associated with lower cognitive test scores. Results from a test involving word memory recall show people with a BMI of 20 remembered an average of nine out of 16 words, while people with a BMI of 30 remembered an average of seven out of 16 words.
Fertile women dress to impress, U.S. study finds
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Women dress to impress when they are at their most fertile, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday in a study they say shows that signs of human ovulation may not be as mysterious as some scientists believe.
A study of young college women showed they frequently wore more fashionable or flashier clothing and jewelry when they were ovulating, as assessed by a panel of men and women looking at their photographs.
“They tend to put on skirts instead of pants, show more skin and generally dress more fashionably,” said Martie Haselton, a communication studies and psychology expert at the University of California Los Angeles who led the study.
Pre-op chemotherapy benefits young cancer patients
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Children with advanced kidney cancer may suffer fewer long-term side effects and need less treatment if they are given chemotherapy to shrink their tumour before surgery, researchers said on Tuesday.
Wilms’ tumour is the most common type of kidney cancer that affects children. In most cases it is curable.
Chemotherapy is normally given after surgery to kill any remaining cancer cells in the body. But British scientists said some children would benefit from delaying surgery to receive chemotherapy treatment.
