Parkinson’s drug link to gambling probed-newspaper
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Medical researchers are investigating suspicions that drugs prescribed to treat Parkinson’s disease could turn patients into compulsive gamblers, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration have found a strong association between pathological gambling and the drugs, which boost the level of dopamine in the brain, according to the newspaper.
Antibody may reduce or eliminate tumors
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San Diego State University researcher Roger Sabbadini has brought scientists one step closer to finding a cure for cancer with the creation of an antibody that hinders the growth of tumors by preventing blood vessel formation.
As published in the March 14 issue of Cancer Cell, a leading oncology journal, Sabbadini and his research team have created an antibody, Sphingomab, that can be used as a drug to reduce the size of tumors in experimental animal models of human cancer. The antibody works as a molecular sponge by soaking up sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a molecule that has been proven to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels. S1P has been identified as a mediator of tumor cell proliferation and protector of tumor cells from chemotherapy drugs. By neutralizing S1P, the Sphingomab antibody inhibits the new blood vessel formation that tumors require to thrive, a process called ‘tumor angiogenesis.’
Parents win high court battle to keep their baby alive
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The parents of an 18-month-old boy with a terminal muscle-wasting disease, won a High Court legal battle to stop doctors turning off the ventilator keeping him alive.
The ruling comes despite the belief of doctors that his life is so intolerable that he should be allowed to die.
The boy was born with spinal muscular atrophy, an incurable and degenerative muscle wasting disease that eventually causes total paralysis.
Tobacco giants gain $4.1 billion from Hollywood films with smoking
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The 390,000 new teen smokers recruited each year by U.S. movies are worth $4.1 billion in lifetime sales revenue to the tobacco industry, UCSF researchers report in the April 2006 issue of Pediatrics.
Combining health data with business figures from Philip Morris USA and RJ Reynolds, UCSF’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education, supported by the National Cancer Institute, also calculates that Hollywood movies with smoking generate $894 million per year in lifetime tobacco profits. (Sales revenue and profits are net present value).
Regular exercise closes the fitness gap between young and old
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According to new research the older we get the harder we have to work to keep fit.
Seniors it seems may have to work harder than young people to perform the same physical activity, but regular exercise may close that age gap.
Researchers found in a study comparing sedentary adults in their 60s and 70s with those in their 20s and 30s, that older men and women had to use much more oxygen to walk at the same speed as their younger counterparts.
US reports two more deaths after abortion pill
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Two additional deaths have been reported after women took the abortion pill known as RU-486 or Mifeprex, U.S. regulators said on Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration said it has not been able to determine the cause of the newly reported deaths. Four previously reported fatalities were linked to a bacterial infection that developed after the women took the abortion pill, which is sold by privately held Danco Laboratories.
Serb kids from bird flu area hospitalized for checks
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Three Serb children from a bird flu-affected area were taken to hospital after developing fever and flu-like symptoms, Serbia’s chief epidemiologist said on Friday.
A teenager put into isolation on Thursday after developing fever was also moved to hospital. All four come from a southwestern area close to the Bosnian border, where there was a suspected case of the deadly H5N1 strain in a cockerel.
“Three children were admitted to hospital today displaying symptoms of respiratory infection,” Predrag Kon told Reuters.
Parents susceptible to suicide after child’s death
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Parents of a sick child who dies at home are at increased risk of committing suicide, according to a report in the British Medical Journal. Access to the child’s potent pain medication after the death may provide an easy avenue for self-harm.
Dr. Dawn E. Davies, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, describes two cases that illustrate the potential risks for parents.
The first case was an infant born with a tumor of the face who was treated at home with morphine to control pain and with a sedative for symptoms of respiratory distress. He died the day before his first birthday.
Chinese AIDS activists call for release of colleague
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Chinese AIDS activists on Friday called for the release of fellow rights worker Hu Jia, who vanished a month ago, while his wife said she still had no idea where he was and was becoming increasingly worried.
The 32-year-old Hu went missing after going on hunger strike with several others to protest what they said was the government’s hiring of thugs to beat up a civil rights campaigner.
His wife, Zeng Jinyan, told Reuters that she had been to the prosecutor’s office to try and lodge a complaint that the police were holding her husband illegally.
Strange behaviour blamed on sleeping pills
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Reports of some very strange behavior by insomniacs taking a prescribed sleeping pill have been of concern and have raised safety questions about insomnia medications.
Much of the concern is centered around a class of drugs called sedative/hypnotics or sleep medications.
Zolpidem (Ambien) is one such medication and it affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced; it is called a called central nervous system (CNS) depressant because it slows down the nervous system.
Phone counseling helps smokers quit
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The more help that smokers get, the easier it is for them to quit, a new study shows.
“It’s all about trying to make the whole process more convenient for people,” Dr. Lawrence C. An of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, told Reuters Health. The current study, involving a group of veterans, demonstrates that standard medical care for smoking cessation is generally not enough, he added.
“Nobody expects a doctor to cure a patient with diabetes and hypertension in one visit,” An said. “That tends to be the way the health care system has dealt with smoking, and we’re really trying to change that.”
Two men still critically ill after UK drug trial
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Two men in intensive care after taking part in a clinical trial remain critically ill and are unlikely to make any early improvement, their doctor said on Thursday.
Six men were taken ill during the trial in London to test a drug designed to treat chronic inflammatory conditions and leukemia.
Four are in serious condition but have shown signs of improvement.
Protein complex in brain may be key to Alzheimer’s
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Scientists in the U.S. say they have discovered a substance in the brain of mice that causes memory loss; they believe the discovery gives drug developers a target for creating drugs to treat memory loss in people with dementia.
Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis and the VA Medical Center, by using genetically engineered mice that showed early signs of memory loss and had no plaques or nerve cell loss in the brain, discovered a form of the amyloid-beta protein that is distinct from plaques.
Once extracted and purified, the newly found protein complex was injected into healthy rats and it triggered cognitive impairment in the tested animals, confirming the detrimental effect of this protein on memory.
Russia says bird flu may hit U.S. in autumn, mutate
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The deadly bird flu virus, which has hit Asia, Europe and Africa, may spread to the United States late this year and risks mutating dangerously there, Russia’s top animal and plant health inspector said on Thursday.
“We think that H5N1 (strain of bird flu virus) will reach the United States in autumn,” Sergei Dankvert told Reuters.
“This is very realistic. We may be almost certain this will happen after this strain is found in Great Britain, before autumn, as migrating birds will carry it to the United States from there.”
Bush picks von Eschenbach as FDA chief
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President George W. Bush on Wednesday picked physician and cancer survivor Andrew von Eschenbach as head of the Food and Drug Administration.
But the nomination of the current acting FDA chief quickly became embroiled in a debate over the long delays in the FDA’s decision-making on access to emergency contraception without a prescription.
Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington announced they plan to put a hold on von Eschenbach’s nomination until the FDA makes a decision on a pending request for approval of the Plan B emergency contraceptive.
