Bahamas malaria outbreak causes concern
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A case of malaria which has cropped up in the Bahamas has caused concern and raised many questions for health officials and has worried local residents.
Health officials are currently screening illegal immigrants for malaria after the outbreak of the potentially fatal disease was confirmed on the Exuma islands, a sandy chain of islands southeast of Nassau.
Malaria has not been endemic in the Bahamas and apart from what are termed “sporadic” cases by the health ministry, almost all cases have been imported into the country.
New technique will screen embryos for almost 6,000 inherited diseases
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A powerful new method of testing embryos for inherited diseases, has been developed by fertility specialists in Britain.
The test will allow doctors to test for the first time a vast range of inherited diseases for which the specific genetic mutation is not known, such as Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy (DMD) and some forms of cystic fibrosis.
The technique which is more accurate and efficient than current methods, will offer help to hundreds of couples who have a realistic chance of having healthy children and will enhance the number of diseases clinics can test for from about 200 to almost 6,000.
New hope for Huntington disease cure
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Researchers at the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics (CMMT) have provided ground-breaking evidence for a cure for Huntington disease in a mouse offering hope that this disease can be relieved in humans.
Published in Cell journal, Dr. Michael Hayden and colleagues discovered that by preventing the cleavage of the mutant huntingtin protein responsible for Huntington disease (HD) in a mouse model, the degenerative symptoms underlying the illness do not appear and the mouse displays normal brain function. This is the first time that a cure for HD in mice has been successfully achieved.
“Ten years ago, we discovered that huntingtin is cleaved by ‘molecular scissors’ which led to the hypothesis that cleavage of huntingtin may play a key role in causing Huntington disease”, said Dr. Michael Hayden, Director and Senior Scientist at the Child and Family Research Institute’s Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics. Dr. Hayden is also a Canada Research Chair in Human Genetics and Molecular Medicine.
Altered Activity in Brain Receptors Points to Schizophrenia Complexity
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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, in collaboration with scientists at the City University of New York, have identified a striking dysregulation in neuronal receptor activity in the postmortem brain tissue from patients with schizophrenia. By stimulating receptors in the prefrontal cortex, the research team tracked heightened levels of erbB4 receptor activity, as well as decreased NMDA receptor activity in the tissue from patients with schizophrenia. Additionally, they were able to identify a relationship between these two receptor groups, suggesting a mechanism for decreased NMDA receptor function that has long been suspected in schizophrenia. The researchers report their findings in this week’s advanced online issue of Nature Medicine.
Schizophrenia, a mental disorder afflicting approximately one percent of the world population, is characterized by a variety of symptoms such as: hallucinations, paranoia, disorganized behavior, and the inability to experience pleasure. Previous studies of the brains of patients with schizophrenia suggest altered function in the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s organizational center for cognitive function, personality expression, and behavioral control. International, large-scale genetic studies of patients with schizophrenia have pointed researchers to a gene called neuregulin 1 (NRG1), which appears to play a role in determining one’s susceptibility to the disease.
Chang-Gyu Hahn, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Steven Arnold, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, and Raquel Gur, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, and colleagues at Penn, in collaboration with Hoau-Yan Wang, PhD, at The City University of New York, took an approach to use NRG1 protein to activate its neuronal receptor, erbB4, to measure the molecular response in postmortem brain tissue.
Vegetables may help arteries stay clear
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A healthy dose of vegetables every day may help keep the heart arteries clear, a study in mice suggests. Researchers found that lab mice given a diet full of broccoli, carrots, green beans, corn and peas developed far less artery narrowing than those reared on a veggie-free diet.
For humans, the findings offer more support for the advice health experts and mothers have long given: eat your vegetables.
Discounting French fries, most Americans aren’t adequately heeding that advice, noted the study’s lead author, Dr. Michael R. Adams of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Fertility treatments could aid Europe demographic crisis
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Providing fertility treatment to more women could help offset Europe’s demographic crisis, a leading think tank said on Monday.
Increasing longevity, improvements in health care and falling birth rates mean that by 2050 the number of Europeans over the age of 65 will double from around 15 percent to about 30 percent.
Governments are concerned about the financial consequences because the graying population will increase healthcare and pension costs and there will be fewer younger people in the work force.
Acupuncture shows promise for fibromyalgia
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Acupuncture may help relieve the symptoms of fibromyalgia, especially the fatigue and anxiety that often comes with the condition, a new study suggests.
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome marked by chronic widespread aches and pains, fatigue and sleep problems, among other symptoms; the cause is unknown, and there are no medications specifically approved for the condition. Instead, treatment usually involves a combination of approaches, such as painkillers, antidepressants and exercise therapy.
Only two well-designed clinical trials have tested acupuncture’s effects on fibromyalgia, and these studies yielded conflicting results.
Children may need two doses of chickenpox vaccine
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One dose of chickenpox vaccine may be insufficient to prevent school outbreaks of chickenpox, according to a report in the medical journal Pediatrics.
Outbreaks of chickenpox continue to be reported, even in highly vaccinated populations, the authors explain.
In Arkansas, a chickenpox vaccination requirement for entry into kindergarten was introduced in 2000, so by September 2003 children in kindergarten through third grade were protected. Nonetheless, a large number of cases of chickenpox still occurred in an elementary school in 2003.
Average American has very high risk of diabetes
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Body mass index (BMI), the ratio of body weight to height, is tightly linked to lifetime risk of diabetes mellitus, researchers reported at the Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association. “On average, every American has a very high risk of diabetes,” CDC investigators told conference participants.
Using the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data, Dr. K. M. Venkat Narayan and associates at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, calculated the lifetime risk of diabetes according to BMI for subjects between 18 and 84 years old.
A BMI between 20 and 25 is considered normal, whereas values above or below this range represent being under- and overweight, respectively. Obesity is typically defined as a BMI of 30 or greater.
Restricting carbohydrates may prevent Alzheimer’s disease
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A recent study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that experimental dietary regimens might calm or even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).
The study, which appears in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, is the first to show that restricting caloric intake, specifically carbohydrates, may prevent AD by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity.
“Both clinical and epidemiological evidence suggests that modification of lifestyle factors such as nutrition may prove crucial to Alzheimer’s Disease management,” says Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “This research, however, is the first to show a connection between nutrition and Alzheimer’s Disease neuropathy by defining mechanistic pathways in the brain and scrutinizing biochemical functions. We hope these findings further unlock the mystery of Alzheimer’s and bring hope to the millions of Americans suffering from this disease.”
Migraine associated with high-normal sex drive
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For some individuals prone to migraine, this susceptibility may not necessarily interfere with their sex life and may in fact improve their libido, according to research published in the journal Headache.
“The goal of this research was to understand migraine better,” lead author Dr. Timothy T. Houle told Reuters Health. “By better understanding how the brain is altered with this syndrome, we can develop better drugs in the future.”
“Migraineurs have other commonly associated symptoms, such as sleep abnormalities and a higher risk of depression. Altered sex drive may be another quirk of being a migraineur,” he added.
Early insecurity risk factor for eating disorders
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Insecure attachment plays a key role in promoting the development of a negative body image in women with eating disorders, a new study shows. This suggests that the prevention and treatment of eating disorders might be strengthened by a greater concentration on early separation anxiety and insecure attachment to caregivers.
The theory of attachment, Dr. Alfonso Troisi and colleagues explain in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, holds that early experiences shape adult personality. Infants who are emotionally cared for “develop a model of the self as loved and valued and a model of the other as loving.”
Infants, on the other hand, who experience neglect and/or rejection at the hands of a caregiver, and come to believe that they cannot depend on their caregiver, may begin to feel that they are unworthy of love.
T-shirt mask could help in flu pandemic
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The world may be unprepared for a bird flu pandemic, but U.S. researchers said on Wednesday they had come up with one low-tech answer to widespread shortages of medical equipment—a mask made out of a T-shirt.
Their mask fit comfortably over the face and appeared to filter out potentially infectious particles, the team at the University of Pittsburgh said.
“A simple, locally made, washable mask may be a solution if commercial masks are not available,” Virginia Dato, David Hostler and Michael Hahn wrote in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Scientists reveal two paths of neurodegeneration
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Wiring the developing brain is like creating a topiary garden. Shrubs don’t automatically assume the shape of ornamental elephants, and neither do immature nerve cells immediately recognize the “right” target cell.
Abundant foliage, either vegetal or neuronal, must first sprout and then be sculpted into an ordered structure.
Neurons extend fibers called axons to target cells in an exuberant manner—some branch to the “wrong” cells while others shoot past their target cells. Axon pieces that went astray degenerate, effectively being “pruned” back. Similarly, when axons are forcibly severed or seriously injured by disease in adults, they die and are removed by degeneration.
Helping a Friend - and Her Children - Through an Illness
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Your friend or your sister has just learned that she has cancer. She’s more worried about her children getting through this, than about herself. How should she tell them what’s going on? How can she keep life normal for them during her treatment?
You can offer practical help, suggests Raising an Emotionally Healthy Child When a Parent is Sick (McGraw Hill, 2006). Co-authored by two Harvard psychiatrists, the book describes a decade of experience from Massachusetts General Hospital’s Parenting at a Challenging Time (PACT) program, which helps seriously ill parents of young children.
