Alzheimer's Disease Against A Cancer

Alzheimer's Disease Against A Cancer.
Although a chew over in 2012 suggested a cancer deaden could reverse the thinking and memory problems associated with Alzheimer's disease, three groups of researchers now conjecture they have been unable to duplicate those findings. The teams said their experimentation could have serious implications for patient safety since the drug involved in the study, bexarotene (Targretin), has unsmiling side effects, such as major blood-lipid abnormalities, pancreatitis, headaches, fatigue, weight gain, depression, nausea, vomiting, constipation and rash. "Anecdotally, we have all heard that physicians are treating their Alzheimer's patients with bexarotene, a cancer pharmaceutical with punitive side effects," said study co-author Robert Vassar, a professor of chamber and molecular biology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago.

This way should be ended immediately, given the failure of three independent research groups to replicate the plaque-lowering clobber of bexarotene. The US Food and Drug Administration approved bexarotene in 1999 to manage refractory cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Once approved, however, the narcotize also was available by prescription for "off-label" uses.

The 2012 study suggested that bexarotene was able to speedily reverse the build-up of beta amyloid plaques in the brains of mice. The authors of the beginning study concluded that treatment with the drug might reverse the cognitive and memory problems associated with the maturing of Alzheimer's. Sangram Sisodia, a professor of neurosciences at the University of Chicago and a study co-author of the modern development research, admitted being skeptical about the initial findings.

New Research In The Treatment Of Cancer Of Immune System

New Research In The Treatment Of Cancer Of Immune System.
New explore provides more display that treating certain lymphoma patients with an valuable drug over the long term helps them go longer without symptoms. But the drug, called rituximab (Rituxan), does not seem to significantly development life span, raising questions about whether it's worth taking. People with lymphoma who are in maintenance treatment "really need a discussion with their oncologist," said Dr Steven T Rosen, cicerone of the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University in Chicago. The contemplation involved people with follicular lymphoma, one of the milder forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a locution that refers to cancers of the immune system.

Though it can be fatal, most individuals live for at least 10 years after diagnosis. There has been debate over whether people with the disease should kill Rituxan as maintenance therapy after their initial chemotherapy. In the study, which was funded in part by F Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceutical throng that sells Rituxan, roughly half of the 1,019 participants took Rituxan, and the others did not. All at one time had taken the drug right after receiving chemotherapy.

In the next three years, the scan found, people taking the drug took longer, on average, to expand symptoms. Three-quarters of them made it to the three-year mark without progression of their illness, compared with about 58 percent of those who didn't snitch the drug. But the death rate over three years remained about the same, according to the report, published online Dec 21 2010 in The Lancet.

Doctors Recommend A New Type Of Flu Vaccine

Doctors Recommend A New Type Of Flu Vaccine.
A vaccine that protects children against four strains of flu may be more able than the usual three-strain vaccine, a original scan suggests. The four-strain (or so-called "quadrivalent") vaccine is available as a nasal sprinkle or an injection for the first time this flu season. The injected version, however, may be in dwarfish supply, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study of about 200 children did not refer the four-strain vaccine to the traditional three-strain vaccine.

Rather, it looked at how kids responded either to the four-strain vaccine or a hepatitis A vaccine, and then compared effect rates for the four-strain flu vaccine to rejoinder rates for the three-strain vaccine from last year's flu season. "This is the in the first place large, randomized, controlled trial to demonstrate the efficacy of a quadrivalent flu vaccine against influenza in children," said cramming co-author Dr Ghassan Dbaibo.

"The results showed that, by preventing unexcessive to severe influenza, vaccination achieved reductions of 61 percent to 77 percent in doctors' visits, hospitalizations, absences from opinion and parental absences from work," said Dbaibo, at the bureau of pediatrics and adolescent medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center, in Lebanon. The results seal the effectiveness of the vaccine against influenza, and particularly against moderate to autocratic influenza.

"They also showed an 80 percent reduction in lower respiratory tract infections, which is the most common poker-faced outcome of influenza. Therefore, vaccination of children in this age group can help to reduce the significant saddle with placed on parents, doctors and hospitals every flu season. The report was published online Dec 11, 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The studio was funded by GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the four-strain vaccine cast-off in the study. Dr Lisa Grohskopf, a medical peace officer in CDC's influenza division, said there are several flu vaccine options for children. For children ancient 2 and up, a nasal spray is an option, and for children under 2, the usual injection is available. "The nasal sprig vaccine is a quadrivalent vaccine, which has four different flu viruses in it.

The Impact Of Rituxan For The Treatment Of Follicular Lymphoma

The Impact Of Rituxan For The Treatment Of Follicular Lymphoma.
New scrutinization provides more affirmation that treating certain lymphoma patients with an high-priced drug over the long term helps them go longer without symptoms. But the drug, called rituximab (Rituxan), does not seem to significantly addition life span, raising questions about whether it's worth taking. People with lymphoma who are all things maintenance treatment "really need a discussion with their oncologist," said Dr Steven T Rosen, gaffer of the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University in Chicago. The mug up involved people with follicular lymphoma, one of the milder forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a period that refers to cancers of the immune system.

Though it can be fatal, most woman in the street live for at least 10 years after diagnosis. There has been debate over whether people with the disease should adopt Rituxan as maintenance therapy after their initial chemotherapy. In the study, which was funded in part by F Hoffmann-La Roche, a pharmaceutical assembly that sells Rituxan, roughly half of the 1019 participants took Rituxan, and the others did not. All once upon a time had taken the drug right after receiving chemotherapy.

In the next three years, the look found, people taking the drug took longer, on average, to originate symptoms. Three-quarters of them made it to the three-year mark without progression of their illness, compared with about 58 percent of those who didn't use the drug. But the death rate over three years remained about the same, according to the report, published online Dec 21 2010 in The Lancet.

Some Elderly Men Really Suffer From Andropause, But Much Less Frequently Than Previously Thought

Some Elderly Men Really Suffer From Andropause, But Much Less Frequently Than Previously Thought.
In describing a set of reliable symptoms for "male menopause" for the foremost time, British researchers have also ascertained that only about 2 percent of men age-old 40 to 80 suffer from the condition, far less than previously thought. Male menopause, also called "andropause" or late-onset hypogonadism, allegedly results from declines in testosterone production that occur later in life, but there has been some think on how real the phenomenon is, the study authors noted. "Some aging men undeniably suffer from male menopause.

It is a genuine syndrome, but much less common than previously assumed," concluded Dr Ilpo Huhtaniemi, chief author of a study published online June 16 in the New England Journal of Medicine. "This is outstanding because it demonstrates that genuine symptomatic androgen deficiencies androgens are virile hormones is less common than believed, and that only the right patients should get androgen treatment," added Huhtaniemi, a professor of reproductive endocrinology in the control of surgery and cancer at Imperial College London.

Many men have been taking testosterone supplements to grapple the perceived effects of aging, even though it's not acquit if taking these supplements help or if they're even safe. The result has been mass confusion, not only as to whether male menopause exists but also how to boon it. "A lot of people abuse testosterone who shouldn't and a lot of men who should get it aren't," said Dr Michael Hermans, an confederate professor of surgery in the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine and boss of the section of andrology, male sexual dysfunction and man's infertility at Scott & White in Temple, Texas.

Dialysis Six Times A Week For Some Patients Better Than Three

Dialysis Six Times A Week For Some Patients Better Than Three.
Kidney collapse patients who treacherous the number of weekly dialysis treatments typically prescribed had significantly better determination function, overall health and general quality of life, new examination indicates. The finding stems from an analysis that compared the impact of the 40-year-old standard of punctiliousness - three dialysis treatments per week, for three to four hours per sitting - with a six-day a week treatment regimen involving sessions of 2,5 to three hours per session. Launched in 2006, the contrasting involved 245 dialysis patients assigned to either a pier dialysis schedule or the high-frequency option. All participants underwent MRIs to assess fundamentals muscle structure, and all completed quality-of-life surveys.

In addition to improved cardiovascular trim and overall health, the analysis further revealed that two concerns faced by most kidney failure patients - blood constraint and phosphate level control - also fared better under the more frequent healing program. Dr Glenn Chertow, chief of the nephrology division at Stanford University School of Medicine, reports his team's observations in the Nov 20, 2010 online print run of the New England Journal of Medicine, to equal with a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology in Denver.

And "Kidneys handiwork seven days a week, 24 hours a day," Chertow famous in a Stanford University news release. "You could imagine why people might feel better if dialysis were to more closely feigned kidney function. But you have to factor in the burden of additional sessions, the associate and the cost".

Excess Weight Is Not The Verdict

Excess Weight Is Not The Verdict.
For the basic time, researchers have shown that implanting electrodes in the brain's "feeding center" can be safely done - in a tell to unfold a new treatment option for severely obese people who fail to shed pounds even after weight-loss surgery. In a initial study with three patients, researchers in June 2013 found that they could safely use the therapy, known as designing brain stimulation (DBS). Over almost three years, none of the patients had any straightforward side effects, and two even lost some weight - but it was temporary. "The in the first place thing we needed to do was to see if this is safe," said lead researcher Dr Donald Whiting, villainy chairman of neurosurgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.

And "We're at the point now where it looks get off on it is". The study, reported in the Journal of Neurosurgery and at a meeting this week of the International Neuromodulation Society in Berlin, Germany, was not meant to exam effectiveness. So the big remaining difficulty is, can deep brain stimulation actually promote lasting weight loss?

"Nobody should get the image that this has been shown to be effective. This is not something you can go ask your doctor about". Right now, deep capacity stimulation is sometimes used for tough-to-treat cases of Parkinson's disease, a movement disorder that causes tremors, laborious muscles, and balance and coordination problems. A surgeon implants electrodes into unambiguous movement-related areas of the brain, then attaches those electrodes to a neurostimulator placed under the skin near the collarbone.

The neurostimulator continually sends elfin electrical pulses to the brain, which in turn interferes with the unusual activity that causes tremors and other symptoms. What does that have to do with obesity? In theory deep perception stimulation might be able to "override" brain signaling involved in eating, metabolism or feelings of fullness.

Research in animals has shown that electrical stimulation of a picky area of the brain - the lateral hypothalamic area - can excite weight loss even if calorie intake stays the same. The new writing-room marks the first time that deep brain stimulation has been tried in that brain region. And it's an grave first step to show that not only could these three severely obese people get through the surgery, but they also seemed to have no vital effects from the brain stimulation, said Dr Casey Halpern, a neurosurgeon at the University of Pennsylvania who was not labyrinthine in the research.