Hot pepper kills prostate cancer cells in study
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Capsaicin, which makes peppers hot, can cause prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, U.S. and Japanese researchers said on Wednesday.
Capsaicin led 80 percent of human prostate cancer cells growing in mice to commit suicide in a process known as apoptosis, the researchers said.
Prostate cancer tumors in mice fed capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in untreated mice, they reported in the journal Cancer Research.
Study Finds Pathological Gambling Runs In Families
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Problem gambling runs in families according to a University of Iowa study published online Feb. 24 in the journal Psychiatry Research. The study also found an excess of alcoholism, drug disorders and antisocial personality disorder in families with pathological gamblers.
This is the first study of its kind to include detailed family interviews of relatives of persons with pathological gambling, said Donald W. Black, M.D., professor of psychiatry in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine.
“Something is being passed along in these families that increases the persons’ likelihood of engaging in impulsive and ultimately self-destructive behavior. In some persons, it manifests as substance abuse, in others as antisocial behavior, and in others gambling, and often the three are combined,” said Black, who has studied pathological gambling for the past eight years.
Asthma risk increased by early use of antibiotics
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Researchers suggest that when children are exposed to antibiotics in the first year of life it may increase the risk of them developing asthma later in childhood.
They suspect too that there may be an even higher risk with each additional course of antibiotics.
They do however say they cannot exclude the possibility of “reverse causation” in which the presence of asthma leads to more frequent respiratory tract infections, which in turn increases the rate of antibiotic use.
FDA chief says unique generics get priority
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking steps to eliminate a backlog of more than 800 pending generic drug applications by focusing on those offering the first cheaper alternative therapy, the agency’s acting chief told Congress on Tuesday.
Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach defended efforts to bring cheaper drugs on the market by telling lawmakers the agency aimed to ensure “that there’s at least one generic available” for most conditions, giving preference to the first one submitted.
‘Glycemic index’ questioned as diet tool
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Weight- and health-conscious eaters may not find much help in following the so-called low-GI diet, a new study suggests.
In recent years, researchers have taken to classifying carbohydrates based on their GI, or glycemic index—a measure of the effects of a given food on blood sugar levels. High-GI foods, like white bread and potatoes, tend to produce a quick surge in blood sugar, and some studies have suggested that diets heavy in such foods can contribute to weight gain, diabetes and heart disease.
Books and Web sites espousing “low-GI” diets have followed suit.
Drug trial goes wrong and six end up intensive care
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After taking part in a clinical trial of a new drug six men are now seriously ill in a north London hospital in the UK.
Health officials say the volunteers became ill after taking a drug being developed to treat chronic inflammatory conditions and leukaemia.
Relatives are apparently at the bedside of the patients who apparently suffered multiple organ failure. Some lives are said to be in danger.
Asthma risk increased in women with high levels of fat tissue inflammatory protein
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Women with high levels of an inflammatory protein produced by fat tissue are at significantly increased risk of asthma, finds research in published ahead of print in Thorax.
The findings are based on almost 6,000 adults taking part in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Study, which assessed the health and nutrition of US citizens.
Cells in Mucus from Lungs of Patients Can Predict Tumor Development
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In a group of high-risk patients, a test that examined DNA from cells expelled in sputum for evidence of “silenced” genes correctly identified the majority of patients who were later diagnosed with lung cancer, say researchers in a study published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research. As such, the sputum test potentially represents a unique, non-invasive, and cost-effective screening method that could lead to earlier treatment of lung cancer.
“Short of repeatedly X-raying a person’s lungs to look for emerging tumors, there is no way now to screen people at high risk for lung cancer, much less predict who will be diagnosed with the cancer at a later date,” said the study’s senior author, Steven Belinsky, Ph.D., director of the Lung Cancer Program at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.
Pepper Component Hot Enough to Trigger Suicide in Prostate Cancer Cells
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Capsaicin, the stuff that turns up the heat in jalapen~os, not only causes the tongue to burn, it also drives prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, according to studies published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.
According to a team of researchers from the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in collaboration with colleagues from UCLA, the pepper component caused human prostate cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis.
Growth of Hypertension Poses Challenges In Training And Research
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A looming shortage of specialists, and the need for research focusing on prevention as well as treatment, are two of the most important challenges in managing an inexorable growth in the incidence of hypertension, according to two dozen experts who attended the Seventh Annual Winter Conference of the American Society of Hypertension (ASH).
The day-long January 13th meeting in Coconut Grove, Florida was convened by ASH president Thomas D. Giles, MD, professor of medicine at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, as a forum to address “The Future of Hypertension Training and Research in Academic Medicine.” It was attended by twenty four of the nation’s foremost experts in hypertension, representing eighteen schools of medicine and academic medical centers, two government institutions devoted to healthcare research, and two of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies.
Creative new therapies for atherosclerotic disease
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Patients with a build-up of plaque in arteries in the heart, brain and leg face a high risk of major cardiovascular complications.
Researchers worldwide are responding to that threat by gathering comprehensive data and developing innovative new therapies, according to studies presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 55th Annual Scientific Session in Atlanta, Ga. ACC.06 is the premier cardiovascular medical meeting, bringing together more than 30,000 cardiologists to further breakthroughs in cardiovascular medicine.
“These new studies help us not only to understand the scope of the problem, but also to evaluate the effectiveness of new therapies for atherosclerotic disease, wherever it occurs in the body,” said George A. Beller, M.D., F.A.C.C., University of Virginia Health Center.
Anti-clotting drugs beat heparin for heart attack
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Heart attack patients treated with anti-thrombosis drugs instead of the blood-thinner heparin are less likely to die or have another heart attack, researchers told a meeting of cardiologists on Tuesday.
“This is a better blood-thinning strategy for patients who have a heart attack,” said Harvard Medical School professor Dr. Elliott Antman, lead investigator of the trial comparing the drug Lovenox to heparin.
Lovenox, sold by France’s Sanofi Aventis , is designed to block thrombin, a blood protein that plays a key role in the formation of new blood clots. It is given by injection.
New device for fixing holes in hearts of young stroke patients
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As many as one in four adults is walking around with a “hole” between the upper chambers of the heart. Most of them will never know it.
The person who learns about the “hole” in his or her heart does so when he or she suffers symptoms of a mini-stroke (TIA) or a more-debilitating stroke. And it is usually only then that the person learns the term Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), a persistent opening in the upper wall of the heart which did not close completely after birth.
B vitamins and folic acid don’t cut the risk of further heart attacks
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Scientists have found that levels of the amino acid homocysteine may be high in people destined for a heart attack or stroke, and some studies in the past have linked homocysteine to an increased risk of heart disease.
But according to two new studies, it seems lowering homocysteine levels with B vitamins and folic acid does not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular disease after a heart attack.
They both also found a harmful effect from the combined B vitamin treatment was suggested and say such treatment should not be recommended.
Study finds aspirin still the best for heart risk
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Adding the blood-thinning drug Plavix to a daily dose of aspirin does not lower the risk of death, heart attack or stroke in high-risk patients, researchers said on Sunday.
“The overall findings were negative, but a benefit was seen in patients with established cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Deepak Bhatt, associate director of the Cleveland Clinic Cardiovascular Coordinating Center and the study’s lead investigator.
