Risks seen in opposite-sex heart transplants
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Men and women who get heart transplants are more likely to die when the donor was of the opposite sex, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.
The cause is not clear but could be due to size differences in the heart—men’s tend to be larger—or certain hormonal and immunological factors, according to researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Patients who got a heart transplant from a donor of the opposite sex had a 15 percent higher risk of death compared to those whose donor was the same sex, they told an American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans.
Scientists unravel breast cancer drug resistance
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British scientists have figured out why some women develop resistance to the most commonly used breast cancer drug, something that raises the risk their tumours will return, according to a study published on Wednesday.
The findings could lead to new tests to determine which women are not likely to benefit from tamoxifen and who should be given other drugs, said Jason Carroll of Cancer Research UK in Cambridge, who led the study published in the journal Nature.
“We can use this information to predict which patients will respond to tamoxifen and more importantly which ones won’t,” Carroll told reporters in a telephone briefing.
“More importantly it gives us an idea of what we should be making drugs against.”
Indonesian teenager dies of bird flu
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A 15-year-old Indonesian girl has died of bird flu in central Java, a health official said on Wednesday, bringing the country’s death toll from the disease to 113.
The girl died last week after being treated at the Doctor Karyadi hospital in Semarang.
“It has been confirmed by health ministry labs,” said Agus Suryanto, the head of the medical team treating the girl.
Hardest-to-treat form of TB rare in U.S. -study
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The hardest-to-treat form of drug-resistant tuberculosis is a growing threat in many parts of the world, but remains quite rare in the United States, U.S. government health researchers said on Tuesday.
From 1993 through 2007, there were 83 cases of extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, reported in the United States, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
XDR-TB defies nearly all drugs used to treat tuberculosis, the top cause of infectious disease death among adults worldwide. It is more difficult to treat than the more common multidrug resistant TB, or MDR-TB, which does not respond to the treatment by two or more of the primary drugs used for TB.
The Relative Risk of Brain Cancer
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Doctors know that you’re at a higher risk for breast, colon and prostate cancers if they’ve been found in your family. Brain cancer can now be placed on that same list, says a new study by Tel Aviv University and the University of Utah.
Dr. Deborah Blumenthal, co-director of Tel Aviv University’s Neuro-oncology Service at the Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, says that a family history of brain cancer, like those of other cancers, should be reported to the family doctor during a routine medical checkup.
The new study, using data from the Utah Population Data Base (UPDB) at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, was unique in the large number of cases examined, which tracked back at least three generations and as far as ten generations in some families. The brain tumors studied by the researchers include glioblastoma, the same tumor afflicting Sen. Edward Kennedy, who has been undergoing treatment since June.
Exercise improves quality of life for heart failure patients
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Heart failure patients who regularly exercise fare better and feel better about their lives than do similar patients who do not work out on a regular basis, say researchers at Duke University Medical Center.
The findings, reported today at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008, go a long way toward addressing concerns about the value of exercise for the nation’s five million patients with heart failure. They also raise important policy questions for the country’s Medicare program and other insurers.
“Past studies have sent mixed signals about the merit of exercise for patients with heart failure. The HF-ACTION study (A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes Exercise TraiNing) shows that exercise is not only safe for patients, but also helps to improve the quality of their lives, overall,” says Kathryn Flynn, PhD, a health services researcher at Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) and lead author of the study.
HF-ACTION is the largest clinical trial to date examining the value of exercise in the treatment of heart failure. Investigators enrolled 2331 patients with moderate to severe heart failure at 82 sites throughout the U.S., Canada and France from 2003 to 2008.
Researchers present new theory that may lead to effective heart failure treatments
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Do the biological underpinnings of heart failure share more in common with cancerous tumors than other cardiovascular diseases?
Research presented at American Heart Association meeting may show why heart failure treatments fail
A team of Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) researchers and cardiologists are presenting a number of studies at the American Heart Association conference that point toward new treatments for heart failure patients.
According to the American Heart Association, more than 5 million Americans are living with heart failure, and 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. It is a chronic disease that has no cure and typically worsens rapidly.
Obese kids’ artery plaque similar to middle-aged adults
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The neck arteries of obese children and teens look more like those of 45-year-olds, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008.
“There’s a saying that ‘you’re as old as your arteries,’ meaning that the state of your arteries is more important than your actual age in the evolution of heart disease and stroke,” said Geetha Raghuveer, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine and cardiologist at Children’s Mercy Hospital. “We found that the state of the arteries in these children is more typical of a 45-year-old than of someone their own age.”
Researchers used ultrasound to measure the thickness of the inner walls of the neck (carotid) arteries that supply blood to the brain. Increasing carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT) indicates the fatty buildup of plaque within arteries feeding the heart muscle and the brain, which can lead to heart attack or stroke.
Staying active may lower health risks for large, retired athletes
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Study highlights:
• Retired NFL players have fewer heart disease risk factors overall, but higher cholesterol and glucose levels.
• Physical activity may have prevented the development of higher rates of diabetes or greater amounts of atherosclerosis.
• Since today’s players are 50 percent larger than 25 years ago, further study is needed on whether current players are at greater risk for cardiovascular events or death, researchers said.
NEW ORLEANS, La., Nov. 11, 2008 — The larger body size of professional football players doesn’t increase risk of cardiovascular disease or atherosclerosis after they retire, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008.
Study Sheds Light on Participants in National SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study
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University of South Carolina public health researchers have examined the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study to characterize its participants. The findings could help other scientists understand how to recruit children and teens into future studies.
The results, published in the November issue of Contemporary Clinical Trials, found that children up to age 14 were more likely to participate in SEARCH than youths 15 - 19. White and Hispanic youths had the highest participation rates. African-American youths had the lowest participation rates.
Dr. Angela Liese, an associate professor at the university’s Arnold School of Public Health, said SEARCH participants are helping researchers understand the prevalence and incidence of diabetes in the United States and what factors lead to complications.
Exercise is safe, improves outcomes for patients with heart failure
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Working out on a stationary bicycle or walking on a treadmill just 25 to 30 minutes most days of the week is enough to modestly lower risk of hospitalization or death for patients with heart failure, say researchers from Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).
The findings stem from the HF-ACTION trial (A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes Exercise TraiNing), the most comprehensive study to date examining the effects of exercise upon patients with heart failure. The study was reported today as a late-breaking clinical trial at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2008 by Christopher O’Connor M.D., director of the Duke Heart Center and principal investigator of the trial, and David Whellan, M.D., of Thomas Jefferson University, co-principal investigator.
HF-ACTION enrolled 2331 patients at 82 study sites throughout the U.S., Canada and France. Patients were randomized into a group that received usual care or to a group that received usual care plus an exercise training program that began under supervision but then transitioned to home-based, self-monitored workouts.
Research Findings in Allergen Immunotherapy Unveiled
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Researchers are presenting more than 450 abstracts on investigational findings in the diagnosis and treatment of allergic diseases at the ACAAI Annual Meeting in Seattle, Nov. 6-11. Following are highlights of some key studies on allergen immunotherapy.
“Subcutaneous Immunotherapy Reduces Future Sensitization in Allergic Children under Six Years of Age.” (Abstract #18: Nov. 9 at 1:15 p.m.) – Zachary D. Jacobs, M.D., Columbia, Mo., et al – Although controversy exists over the use of allergen-specific subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) among children under six, studies show it is safe and effective in this group and may prevent the development of asthma in sensitized patients. In this retrospective chart review of one Midwest allergy clinic from 1992-1997, investigators identified 59 patients on SCIT aged 18 months to 5 years for analysis. In patients receiving SCIT, sensitivities decreased 10 percent. In contrast, the control group had a highly significant increase of 62 percent in sensitivities. Authors recommend SCIT should be considered in pediatric patients with allergic rhinitis as young as 18 months to reduce future sensitizations.
“CYT003-QbG10, A Novel Allergen-independent Immunotherapy, Shown to be Safe and Efficacious in Placebo-controlled Phase II Study.” (Abstract #19: Nov. 9 at 1:30 p.m.) – Audra Blaziene, M.D., Ph.D., Vilnius, Lithuania, et al – New disease-modifying drug candidate QbG10 significantly reduces allergy symptoms in Phase II clinical trial. Current immunotherapy is based on the repeated application of allergen components, and, with up to 80 injections, it is inconvenient and may cause frequent adverse events due to allergen exposure. Here, the investigators present a completely novel allergen-independent immunotherapy that does not contain any allergen components. QbG10 consists of short stretches of synthetic DNA that are packaged into virus-like particles. In a placebo-controlled phase II study with 80 patients, six weekly injections of QbG10 have been shown to be safe, very well tolerated and efficacious in lowering allergy symptoms in daily life compared to placebo (reduction of total symptom score by -61% for QbG10 versus -32% for placebo, p=0.008). The authors conclude that this new drug candidate has potential as a convenient, well tolerated and disease-modifying therapy able to address a broad range of allergies.
Holidays Don’t Have to be Difficult for People with an Eating Disorder
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Many people equate the holidays with food – big meals equals big times. Americans, especially, attach a lot of social and personal value to what, and how, we eat, often through family rituals or attitudes. For many, family gatherings are positive events, but for the 9 million men, women or young people who have an eating disorder, the holidays, without proper planning, can feel like nightmares.
Three out of four American women have “disordered eating” behavior, and 10 percent have an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder, says Cynthia Bulik, Ph.D., the William and Jeanne Jordan Distinguished Professor of Eating Disorders in the UNC School of Medicine’s department of psychiatry and director of the UNC Eating Disorders Program. Her latest book, “Crave: Why you binge eat and how to stop,” is due out in early 2009.
If you have an eating disorder, plan ahead. Bulik and the UNC Eating Disorders team offer the following suggestions to navigate the food minefields of the holidays:
Protein identified that turns off HIV-fighting T cells
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In HIV-infected patients the body’s immune system is unable to fight off the virus. A new study to be published online on November 10th in the Journal of Experimental Medicine shows that T cells in HIV-infected individuals express a protein called TIM-3, which inactivates their virus killing capacity. Blocking this protein, the study suggests, might one day help patients to eliminate HIV as well as other chronic infections.
Large numbers of virus-fighting T cells can be found in the blood of most chronically infected HIV patients. However these cells eventually become exhausted and cannot function. To identify the cause of this exhaustion, a team of researchers at the University of Toronto, lead by Mario Ostrowski, compared blood from healthy individuals and HIV patients. In the patients, TIM-3 was found on a large number of HIV-specific T cells, and the number of TIM-3-positive cells increased with the severity of infection.
Under normal circumstances, exposing T cells to bits of virus causes the cells to replicate and produce virus-killing chemicals. Cells expressing TIM-3, however, were unreactive and TIM-3 was to blame; disrupting its signals restored the cells’ virus-fighting functions.
Pregnancy diabetes doubles the risk of language delay in children
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Children born to mothers with pregnancy-related diabetes run twice the risk of language development problems, according to a research team directed by Professor Ginette Dionne of Université Laval’s School of Psychology. Details of this discovery are published in the most recent issue of the scientific journal Pediatrics.
Researchers compared the vocabulary and grammar skills of 221 children whose mothers were diagnosed with gestational diabetes to those of 2,612 children from a control group. These tests were conducted at different intervals between ages 18 months and 7 years.
Results showed that children born to mothers with gestational diabetes achieve poorer scores on tests of spoken vocabulary and grammar than children of healthy mothers. The differences between the two groups are probably due to the effects of gestational diabetes on the brain development of babies. The study shows that these effects persist even after the children start school.
