Popular Health

Loneliness Is Bad for Your Health

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 05:24:00 -0800

Loneliness Is Bad for Your Health, Study Suggests — Feeling lonely? New research suggests you might want to reach out. Not only is loneliness an unpleasant condition, it can harm the body's immune system.

The new study, presented Saturday (Jan. 19) here at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, reveals that people who are lonely experience more reactivation of latent viruses in their systems than the well-connected. Lonely people also are more likely than others to produce inflammatory compounds in response to stress, a factor implicated in heart disease and other chronic disorders.

"Both, in different ways, indicate that the immune system is a little out of whack," said study researcher Lisa Jaremka, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University College of Medicine.

The lonely body

Jaremka and her colleagues were interested in immune links to loneliness because feeling socially disconnected is associated with poor health and chronic disease. They recruited 200 female breast cancer survivors, average age 51, and 134 overweight, middle-age adults with no major health problems.

In the first study, the researchers analyzed the blood of the breast cancer survivors for antibodies against cytomegalovirus, a herpes virus. These common viruses can remain dormant and symptomless inside the body. Even when active, they may not cause symptoms, but they do trigger the immune system to produce antibodies, or protective proteins that help the immune system hunt down the rogue viruses. Higher antibody levels indicate higher levels of activated virus. The participants also filled out questionnaires about their loneliness and social connectedness.

The results revealed that the lonelier the participant, the higher the levels of cytomegalovirus antibodies in the blood.

"It's definitely indicating that the immune system is compromised in some way," Jaremka told LiveScience. "It's unable at that time, for whatever reason, in this case loneliness perhaps, to keep that virus under control."

In a second study, the researchers measured inflammatory proteins called cytokines in 144 of the breast cancer survivors as well as the healthy though overweight middle-age adults. The participants gave a blood sample and then were subjected to the stress of having to give an impromptu speech and do mental math in front of a panel of people in white lab coats. To up the anxiety, the panel gave the participants no encouragement.

"No matter what they say and no matter what jokes they crack, no matter how much they smile, the panel just stares at them, basically," Jaremka said.

The researchers also triggered the participants' immune systems with a harmless compound from bacterial cells before taking a second blood sample.

The lonelier the person, the higher the levels of cytokine interleukin-6 after the stressful speech. This cytokine is important for healing in the short term, because it promotes inflammation — think of the redness and swelling that accompanies a healing cut. However, when cytokines react too readily, inflammation can be harmful. Chronic inflammation has been linked to coronary heart disease, arthritis, Type 2 diabetes and even suicide attempts.

Loneliness and stress

Researchers have long known that chronic stress has a similar inflammation-producing, immune-disrupting effect on the body. Loneliness, in fact, may act as its own source of chronic stress, Jaremka said. Earlier research shows that close and connected relationships are necessary to help people thrive; without them, people are under a constant stressful cloud of missing this crucial social connection.

People who are lonely also tend to react more strongly to negative events in their lives, Jaremka said. If lonely people experience daily life as more stressful, it may cause chronic stress, which in turn disrupts the immune system.

Solving the problem is harder than telling lonely hearts to go out and seek more close friends, Jaremka said — it's easier said than done. But if researchers can figure out how loneliness results in poor health, they may be able to come up with treatments that disrupt the links, in essence making loneliness less of a burden, at least physically.

The study shouldn't be seen as all doom and gloom, Jaremka said. The flip side is that those who feel close to friends and family can know that their health is likely getting a boost from those relationships. ( LiveScience.com )

Dental Assistant Fired For Being 'Irresistible' Is 'Devastated'

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:52:00 -0800

Dental Assistant Fired For Being 'Irresistible' Is 'Devastated' - After working as a dental assistant for ten years, Melissa Nelson was fired for being too "irresistible" and a "threat" to her employer's marriage.

"I think it is completely wrong," Nelson said. "I think it is sending a message that men can do whatever they want in the work force."

On Friday, the all-male Iowa State Supreme Court ruled that James Knight, Nelson's boss, was within his legal rights when he fired her, affirming the decision of a lower court.

"We do think the Iowa Supreme Court got it completely right," said Stuart Cochrane, an attorney for James Knight. "Our position has always been Mrs. Nelson was never terminated because of her gender, she was terminated because of concerns her behavior was not appropriate in the workplace. She's an attractive lady. Dr. Knight found her behavior and dress to be inappropriate."

For Nelson, a 32-year-old married mother of two, the news of her firing and the rationale behind it came as a shock.

"I was very surprised after working so many years side by side I didn't have any idea that that would have crossed his mind," she said.

The two never had a sexual relationship or sought one, according to court documents, however in the final year and a half of Nelson's employment, Knight began to make comments about her clothing being too tight or distracting.

"Dr. Knight acknowledges he once told Nelson that if she saw his pants bulging, she would know her clothing was too revealing," the justices wrote.

Six months before Nelson was fired, she and her boss began exchanging text messages about work and personal matters, such as updates about each of their children's activities, the justices wrote.

The messages were mostly mundane, but Nelson recalled one text she received from her boss asking "how often she experienced an orgasm."

Nelson did not respond to the text and never indicated that she was uncomfortable with Knight's question, according to court documents.

Soon after, Knight's wife, Jeanne, who also works at the practice, found out about the text messaging and ordered her husband to fire Nelson.

The couple consulted with a senior pastor at their church and he agreed that Nelson should be terminated in order to protect their marriage, Cochrane said.

On Jan. 4, 2010, Nelson was summoned to a meeting with Knight while a pastor was present. Knight then read from a prepared statement telling Nelson she was fired.

"Dr. Knight felt like for the best interest of his marriage and the best interest of hers to end their employment relationship," Cochrane said.

Knight acknowledged in court documents that Nelson was good at her job and she, in turn, said she was generally treated with respect.

"I'm devastated. I really am," Nelson said.

When Nelson's husband tried to reason with Knight, the dentist told him he "feared he would have an affair with her down the road if he did not fire her."

Paige Fiedler, Nelson's attorney, said in a statement to ABC News affiliate KCRG that she was "appalled" by the ruling.

"We are appalled by the Court's ruling and its failure to understand the nature of gender bias.," she wrote.

"Although people act for a variety of reasons, it is very common for women to be targeted for discrimination because of their sexual attractiveness or supposed lack of sexual attractiveness. That is discrimination based on sex," Fiedler wrote. "Nearly every woman in Iowa understands this because we have experienced it for ourselves." ( abc news )

Autism Risk May Be Revealed By Pitch Of Babies' Cries

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 3 Dec 2012 02:48:00 -0800

Autism Risk May Be Revealed By Pitch Of Babies' Cries - The pitch of babies' cries may provide clues as to whether they are at risk for autism as early as 6 months old, a new study suggests.

The researchers recorded cries from 39 6-month old infants, 21 of whom were at risk for autism because they had an older sibling with the condition. The others were healthy babies with no family history of autism.

A computer-aided analysis showed the cries of babies at heightened risk for autism were higher and more variable in pitch than those of babies not at heightened risk for autism, the researchers said.

This result was only true when the cries were caused by pain, such as when a baby fell and bumped his or her head, said study researcher Stephen Sheinkopf, a researcher at researcher at Brown Alpert Medical School's Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, R.I.

But the differences in the autistic babies' cries could probably not be detected by most people using their ears alone, so this is not something parents should listen for, Sheinkopf said. "We don’t want parents to be anxiously listening to their babies' cries," he said.

By the time the children in the study were 3 years old, three of them were diagnosed as having autism. As babies, these three children had cries that were among the highest in pitch, the researchers said. They also had cries that sounded more tense, with more "background noise" picked up by the computer analysis.

The findings suggest babies' cries at 6 months might be used, along with other factors, to determine a baby's risk for autism early on, the researchers said.

If confirmed in future studies, this finding could allow researchers to identify children at risk for autism long before the typical behavior problems become apparent, Sheinkopf said. Previous studies had suggested that 1-year old children with autism make sounds and cries that are not typical, but no one had looked at children as young as six months.

"The earlier we can intervene, the more long-term changes we can make to the benefit of the child," Sheinkopf said.

However, because the study was small, further studies are needed to confirm the results.

The new findings, published in the October issue of the journal Autism Research, agree with those of earlier research suggesting babies' cries are related to brain development. A 2010 study found fussy, 1-month old babies are at increased risk for mental health problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Pass it on: Babies with autism may have differences in their cries that can be detected as early as 6 months of age. ( huffingtonpost.com )

Inside the Lives of Kids With Progeria

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 01:28:00 -0800

Inside the Lives of Kids With Progeria - At times, Lindsay Ratcliffe is just like any other first grader, who loves ponies, Legos and running the bases at the T-Ball game in her hometown of Flat Rock, Mich.

But at 20 pounds and 36 inches, she is not an ordinary six-year-old. Lindsay has a rare and fatal disease called progeria -- comes from the Greek word for "prematurely old" -- which makes her body age eight to 10 times faster than normal children.

Only 68 children in the world currently have the condition, according to the Progeria Research Foundation. Children are born seemingly healthy, but start aging dramatically by the age of 2. On average, they die at 13.

"You see this vibrant 5-year-old and then you put her X-Rays up and it looks like someone of a senior age," said Dr. Heidi Labo, who is Lindsay's chiropractor and aunt.

At birth, Lindsay showed no signs of progeria. "The first thing I did, I counted her fingers. I counted her toes. I'm like, 'Ten fingers, ten toes, we're good,'" recalled her father, Joe Ratcliffe, who had just returned from serving in Iraq as a U.S. army cook.

After four months, Lindsay had gained little weight and her parents knew something was seriously wrong. Specialists ran tests for weeks for nearly every disease and syndrome before reaching the terrifying diagnosis of progeria. It was a disease the family had never heard of.

"What scared me the most was they told us, 'We don't know [much about progeria],'" said Joe Ratcliffe. "'You can go to a website and that is best source of information. You're going to have to teach the doctors what to do.'"

The Ratcliffes soon learned that progeria was the rarest of rare diseases, affecting only one in every 4-to-8 million births. It is caused by a mutation in a gene called LMNA, but is not hereditary.

"Kids with progeria occur out of blue. There's no family history, no warning, no reason to think that this might be getting ready to happen," said Dr. Francis Collins, the scientist who first discovered the gene and is now the director of the National Institutes of Health.

At the time of Lindsay's diagnosis, there was no known treatment for progeria and no cure, leaving the Ratcliffes to care for their beloved baby, whom they knew they would lose too soon.

"In the beginning it was a lot harder because Lindsay couldn't talk, she couldn't walk and she couldn't do everything for herself," Kristy told ABC's Barbara Walters. "Now, it's so easy because you see her and you smile. You can't help it."

They are determined to make every moment count. "Whether it's a birthday or going to the park, whatever you do, you look at it as unfortunately it could be the last time," her father said.

Six-Year-Old Lives in Body Older Than Her Grandmother's

Being a six-year-old in a body that is biologically older than that of her grandmother takes a toll. Lindsay's leg muscles hurt at school during recess, so every week she goes to the chiropractor for a checkup and adjustment.

"She's six years old and she runs and jumps but has the spine of 70 year-old," said Labo. "She feels aches and pains and isn't aware of what it is, but there is arthritis forming slowly throughout the spine."

For most of her life, Lindsay has been protected within a cocoon of love and empathy. But sometimes, the strangeness of her symptoms -- especially her tiny size -- strikes a brutal blow to her self-esteem. When the spunky little girl is mistaken for a two-year old, she instantly deflates and responds: "I'm not a baby."

"That'll of change the whole mood of her," Joe said. "You see her face and you see that for a brief moment the glow has gone out her eye."

Her mother tries to shield Lindsay from the constant stares. "I try to position myself so that she doesn't see it because I don't want it to hurt her as much as it hurts me," Kristy Ratcliffe said.

Three-Feet Tall and Fearless

As one of only eight girls in the U.S. who has progeria, it can be isolating for Lindsay. Amazingly, Kaylee Halko, 7, who has the same rare condition, lives an hour away in Monclova, Ohio. The two girls have become friends and because of progeria look strikingly similar. Kaylee is a confident, boisterous and fearless seven-year-old.

"[Kaylee] likes to say she's a star," her mother Marla Halko said.

The youngest of four children in the Halko brood, Kaylee -- at only three feet tall and weighing 24 pounds -- is noticeably different from her older brothers, but they have a close, loving relationship.

"We don't really think about her having a disease. We just think of her as a normal person," her eldest brother T.J., 12, said.

Kaylee loves to dance and is enrolled in a cheer dance class with regular kids. Despite worries about osteoporosis, a common symptom of progeria which makes her bones unusually brittle, Kaylee insists on riding the big yellow bus to school just like her brothers and millions of other kids across the country.

The pint-sized chatterbox told Walters that the main difference between them was their hair. "I have a bald head and you have hair," said Kaylee, who longs to grow curly hair and sometimes wears wigs.

"She's so happy and she has this condition and she just lives!" said her mother.

Finding a Cure for Progeria

All this optimism may seem oddly out of place, when Kaylee is unlikely to live to be a teenager. The life expectancy of most children with progeria is only 13. She is participating in one of two clinical drug trials aimed at developing a cure for progeria and takes several different medicines with the hope of slowing down the aging process.

"It is too early to tell if it working or not," said Marla Halko.

Lindsay is also enrolled in the drug trial along with 27 other children. She completed a part of this experimental program in 2009. Now, she and Kaylee have joined a second larger trial which includes 45 progeria patients from 24 different countries.

Another one of the participants is Hayley Okines of Great Britain; at 13-years-old she is one of the oldest surviving children with progeria in the world. Like Lindsay and Kaylee, she has the hallmark bald head, tiny stature and lives her life in the shadow of an ever-present threat.

"The first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning is whether today is going to be the day I lose her," said her mother Kerry Okines. "The only way I cope is by saying to myself that Hayley's going to be the one to prove the doctors all wrong."

Hayley and her parents have been hopeful ever since she joined the progeria drug trial, which is testing a pill originally developed for cancer, which could reverse the dramatic instability in her cells. She believes she sees small signs the pill is working.

"I've got eyebrows and I've got eyelashes and I've got hair on my arms," she said.

Despite progeria, Hayley sees herself as a person not a disease and has all the interests of an average pre-teen, including fashion, photography and a crush on pop-star Justin Bieber.

Parents Hope Not to Outlive Children

The Okines, the Ratcliffes and the Halkos hope that the ongoing clinic trials and research will unlock the secrets to their daughters' medical mystery and the process of normal aging.

"The evidence is growing, that the same glitch these kids have that causes them to produce a protein that makes their cells unable to keep dividing, that same protein is being produced by all of us," said Collins. "It looks as if this maybe part of a program that prevents humans from being immortal."

Every year, the three families raise money for the progeria research, typically through walk-a-thons.

Kaylee is very aware of the high cost of research and participating in clinic trials. She told Walters that she hopes "that I have thousands of dollars to buy my medicines."

The families all say there is no preparing yourself for the probability that you will outlive your child.

"It scares me. Not much scares me, but that does. Even thinking about it [scares me], so I generally don't allow myself to go there," said Joe Ratcliffe, who tattooed the Progeria Research Foundation's logo of a child's handprint and dove on his arm as a symbol of hope. "That's what we fight for. Without awareness we have nothing." ( abcnews.go.com )

Flu Has Little to Do With Cold Weather

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:57:00 -0800

Flu Has Little to Do With Cold Weather - Although most children grow up hearing that they'll catch the flu if they play in the snow without a scarf, weather has very little to do with which regions get more flu, doctors say.

"It's actually not that predicable," said Dr. Jon Abramson, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina.

Mississippi has had the most reported cases of influenza-like illness in the United States so far this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even though Mississippi had an average temperature of 53.3 degrees this month, it is the only state in the country with a flu-like activity level of "high." Louisiana and Alabama are right behind it with moderate activity levels. Most other states -- with colder climates -- have had lower levels.

Abramson said the flu season tends to start in October and last through April, mostly coinciding with the school year rather than the temperature. He said studies have shown that the flu spreads mostly from school-age children, who often have poorer hygiene and catch the virus because they are in close contact with one another. Then, they pass it along to adults.

Weather becomes a contributing factor mostly because it forces children indoors, where they mix together and spread germs, said Allison Aiello, a professor and epidemiologist at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health.

Scarves, hats and gloves are useless if you come in contact with someone with the flu and either breath in their virus or touch a surface with the virus and touch your mouth, Aiello said.

"You can tell you mom it's OK for you to go outside with no hat on," she laughed, adding that even her own relatives remind her to put on a hat to avoid getting the flu. She said weather can perhaps make people more susceptible, but it can't give them the virus.

Since Sept. 30, about 2,400 influenza cases have been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including 28 cases of H1N1. Despite its tropical temperatures, even Hawaii has reported flu cases this season.

Abramson said his North Carolina hospital has already had 25 influenza cases this season. In contrast, by the same time last year, the same hospital didn't have a single case.

"This is the South. It's fairly warm, so you wouldn't expect it this early," he said. "It doesn't seem to behave exactly by the coldness."

The flu can spread any time of year, Abramson said, citing this summer's swine flu outbreak. The H3N2V strain jumped from 29 to 145 cases in less than a week in August of this year, with most of them in Indiana and Ohio.

The best way for families to protect themselves is to encourage hand-washing and get vaccinated. ( ABC News )

Hydrocephalus Linked to Cell Flaws in Brain Development

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:38:00 -0800

Hydrocephalus Linked to Cell Flaws in Brain Development - For decades, the causes of a serious neurological condition have remained murky. However, University of Iowa researchers have now linked hydrocephalus to a flaw in certain cells crucial to brain development.

Studying mice, they found a cell signaling defect that interrupts the functioning of immature cells necessary for normal brain development. According to ScienceDaily, they were able to treat the defect with a drug, making the hydrocephalus less severe.

Hydrocephalus is marked by excessive accumulation of brain. The "water" on the brain is actually cerebrospinal fluid. Accumulation causes an abnormal widening of the ventricles and abnormal pressure on the brain, says the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

As many as 3 of every 1,000 babies have one of several types of hydrocephalus. Researchers have previously leaned toward inherited genetic abnormalities or development disorders associated with neural tube defects, such as spina bifida, as possible causes.

If the excessive fluid isn't removed from the brain's ventricles, they expand. This can cause serious brain damage or even death. While the disorder is one of the most frequent types of brain abnormalities in newborns, treatment for 50 years has remained brain surgery to remove excess fluid. Complications and repeat surgeries aren't uncommon.

The Iowa researchers identified a new mechanism underpinning the development of neonatal hydrocephalus. They studied a group of immature mouse cells known as neural precursor cells (NPCs). These cells have an important role in the development of most kinds of brain cells.

The team sought to reduce the size of mice ventricles, since such a reduction in humans has produced better patient results. In a subgroup of NPCs important in the development of normal ventricles, they discovered an imbalance in the orderly process of immature cells flourishing, then dying off. This caused a cell signaling flaw and eventual hydrocephalus in their mouse model.

After treating the mice with lithium, the scientists noted a return to the normal cell proliferation and dying process. A reduction in hydrocephalus in the mice followed.

They hope that their identification of cell signaling defects and successful drug therapy will lead to non-invasive treatments for hydrocephalus and other neurological disorders. Their results also suggest that successful treatment will require individualized therapies based on the specific type of hydrocephalus a patient has.

Prior to diagnosis and surgery in his 30s to install a Denver shunt, my husband cannot recall a time when he didn't have symptoms the Mayo Clinic notes as typical of hydrocephalus: a large head, sleepiness, vision problems, short-term memory loss, and poor coordination. Life since surgery has been a struggle of measuring medication levels and worrying about possible shunt malfunction. Some symptoms remain. The development of a non-invasive treatment to correct cellular flaws that cause the signaling malfunction leading to hydrocephalus could someday spare many youngsters a similar ordeal. ( yahoo.com )

Teen with ‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’ wakes up after two months

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 08:31:00 -0800

Teen with ‘Sleeping Beauty Syndrome’ wakes up after two months - A British teen suffering from a rare neurological disorder that induces long periods of sleep recently awoke after sleeping for two months.

"I've missed nine exams and my birthday in November," 15-year-old Stacey Comerford tells the Sun. "It's easier now people know what it is. It's easier to explain to them. Before, people didn't believe me. That was the hardest thing."

Comerford suffers from Kleine Levin Syndrome (KLS), also known as Sleeping Beauty Syndrome, a condition affecting only about 1,000 people around the world.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) says Kleine Levin Syndrome affects primarily adolescent males (70 percent) and can often result in an individual sleeping for up to 20 hours at a time. While there is no treatment or cure for the condition, many individuals living with the condition simply outgrow it as they age, usually over the course of 8 to 12 years.

The NINDS describes the symptoms as, "Episode onset is often abrupt, and may be associated with flu-like symptoms. Excessive food intake, irritability, childishness, disorientation, hallucinations, and an abnormally uninhibited sex drive may be observed during episodes."

"There's never any warning. I've even found her fast asleep on the kitchen floor," Comerford's mother, Bernie Richards, tells the Sun. "When she's in an episode, she might get up to go to the toilet or get a drink but she's not awake. I call it sleep mode."

Richards says doctors initially waved off her daughter's symptoms as a result of "moody" behavior.

"I was even investigated by the local education authority because Stacey's school thought I was deliberately keeping her out of school," Richards said. "They've stopped now we've got a diagnosis."

In February, ABC News profiled 21-year-old Eric Haller, who is reduced to a childlike state when his KLS kicks in. Despite experiencing about 8 to 10 episodes per year, Haller still maintains an impressive 3.5 grade point average in college.

"When I go through it, it's complete hell for me," Haller told ABC. "It doesn't feel real and it's hard to understand what people are saying. It's so frustrating, because I want to understand." ( The Sideshow )

Stem Cell Shots Reverse Aging in Mice

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 01:21:00 -0800

Stem Cell Shots Reverse Aging in Mice - Injecting younger cells into aging bodies could help people live longer -- and stronger -- at least according to new research performed on mice.

Scientists said the research, published today in the journal Nature Communications, offered provocative new clues about the potential to treat aging and ailing cells, but it doesn't mean they've uncovered a new fountain of youth.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center genetically altered mice to make them age faster, making them old and weak in a span of 17 days. The scientists then injected the mice with stem cell-like cells taken from the muscle of young, healthy mice.

The result was they reversed the aging process. The rapidly aging mice lived up to three times longer, dying after 66 days, rather than 28 days. The cell injection also appeared to make the animals healthier, improving their muscle strength and brain blood flow.

In recent years, scientists have agreed that aging in both animals and humans begins when stem cells lose their ability to rejuvenate the body's tissues. While aging is universal, some researchers believe it may also be reversible.

Dr. Laura Niedernhofer, one of the study's authors, said even though the injection of young cells didn't necessarily rebuild the bodies of the mice, it did seem to improve their body health.

"The young stem cells seem to secrete something that is quite beneficial," Niedernhofer said. "Just what that is, we're not entirely sure."

Discovering what that something is will be crucial in determining if the technique can be used to extend the lives and cure the ills of normally aging mice and, eventually, people. Scientists are already studying how to treat humans with their own muscle cells.

"The beauty of them is we can take them out of muscle and expand them so we have a useful therapeutic population of cells," Niedernhofer said. "If all of us could be treated with our own cells, we could eliminate problems with rejection and immunity."

But laboratory success with mice is a far cry from success with humans.

"One must be very cautious in extending findings in mouse progeroid models to normal human aging," said Dr. Amy Wagers, associate professor of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard University. "These models are very different from physiological aging, and so it remains an open question whether such phenomenon may be relevant to natural aging symptoms as well."

The mice in the study had a condition of rapid aging called progeria, meaning they did not age normally, even by mouse standards. Normal mice live for about 800 days. Though the mice in the study lived nearly three times as long as they would have, they lived for only 66 days.

Dr. Curt Freed, a professor and head of clinical pharmacology at the University of Colorado at Denver, said he was unimpressed by the brief extension of life for the rapidly aging mice.

"Because the transplants have added only 30 days to these animals' short lives, the results are interesting but are hardly a turnaround in this devastating disease model. The transplants are not curing the disease," Freed said. "I cannot imagine that this strategy will be useful for modifying the aging process in humans."

Studying how to alter aging in humans is of significant interest in the face of an aging population and the costs of age-related health care. The current study doesn't provide a cure for aging, but Niedernhofer said it gave scientists some valuable clues they could explore in future research.

"It's not going to be the fountain of youth, but it's teaching us a lot of biology that will help us conceptualize how to stay healthy and functional," Niedernhofer said. ( abcnews.go.com )

The Boy Who Looks Like He's 80

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 01:18:00 -0800

The Boy Who Looks Like He's 80 - Twelve-year-old Seth Cook loves playing with his Xbox and his dog, Bullit. But based on his appearance, it seems more appropriate for him to spend his days reminiscing with retirees at the senior center.

Seth suffers from progeria, a rare, fatal genetic condition characterized by accelerated aging in children.

Seth looks 80 years old. He has no hair, his arteries have hardened, and he suffers from arthritis. He's only 3 feet tall and weighs 25 pounds.

Seth was 18 months old when he was diagnosed with progeria. He is one of 14 known sufferers of the disease in the United States and 42 worldwide, according to the Progeria Research Foundation.

"First it was -- you know -- denial," said Seth's father, Kyle Cook, 34.

"We thought: 'Oh my gosh, why him? Why us?'" said Seth's mother, Patti Cook, 33.

There is no known cause for progeria. In 2003, Leslie Gordon, medical director of the Progeria Research Foundation whose son also suffers from the disease, made headlines when she and a team of researchers discovered the gene responsible for the condition.

A cure or treatment, however, is still years away. Most victims die from a stroke or heart attack when they are teenagers.

"He [Seth] knows that his life is not going to be as long as everybody else's life," said Eileen Porch, Seth's teacher. "Being 13 years old is a very big wish and dream for him. He wants to be a teenager."

Seth takes an aspirin and blood thinner every day. His mother said that he was not really in pain, but that he felt uncomfortable at times. She said warm baths helped.

"Seth and I have always talked about heaven, and we've made sure that he knows what a wonderful place that is and that there will be people there waiting for him," Patti Cook said.

Seth dreams of building a house in heaven with rooms for his parents, his friends and his dog.

"It's got lots of rooms," Seth said. "It's going to be really neat." ( abcnews.co.com )

Progeria Patients May Get Hope With New Research

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 04:11:00 -0800

Progeria Patients May Get Hope With New Research - When Zoey Penny was only 4 weeks old, her parents noticed that the skin on her belly was hard to the touch.

What they thought was a rash began to spread to her thighs and back. Months passed without an answer, as doctors and specialists ran batteries of tests on her little body. In March 2010, she was finally diagnosed with Hutchinson–Gilford Progeria Syndrome, an extremely rare and fatal genetic disorder which causes children to age eight to 10 times the normal rate.

The word progeria comes from the Greek word meaning "prematurely old."

"Zoey is 20 months old and only weighs 14 pounds," said her grandfather, John Marozzi, of Boonton Township, N.J. "She takes a human growth hormone shot every day to keep her body and bones strong. She's lost most of her hair. We worry about osteoporosis."

"But she's one happy and feisty child," Marozzi continued. "She's tough as nails and full of personality."

Zoey is only one of 78 children around the world known to have Progeria disease. Out of every 4-to-8 million births worldwide, one child will be diagnosed with the condition.

Progeria patients appear healthy at birth, but soon after, parents and doctors begin to see signs of the condition. Children with the disease are well below the average height and weight for their age. Their head is disproportionately large for the face, they have a beaked nose, hair loss, a hardening of the skin and stiff joints.

The disease is caused by a protein called progerin which accumulates in cells much faster than the average rate. But a new study, published in Science Translational Medicine, may give experts clues toward a cure for Progeria patients. Researchers found that a drug known as rapamycin slowed and even stopped the disease progression within the cells.

While the drug has only been tested in Petri dishes, scientists are excited about rapamycin's potential to treat the condition.

"Part of the problem with aging starts when debris is accumulating in the cells and it's not getting removed, and this particular drug is able to enhance the removal process," said Dr. Dimitri Krainc, lead author of the study. "It would be too optimistic to say this could completely cure Progeria patients, but we're hoping that this drug could make these kids live longer with fewer complications."

Right now, the average lifespan of a Progeria patient is 13 years old.

"Lifespan can really range from 5 or 6 years to 22 years old," said Dr. Ted Brown, a pediatrician who has spent 30 years researching Progeria. "In a typical course, by the time a patient gets to be 9 or 10, there is a hardening of the arteries, and they die of heart disease—heart attack and stroke most typically."

The drug is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration as an antibiotic to fight rejection in organ transplant recipients. Because it is already used for certain conditions, Krainc said this may allow for physicians to jumpstart clinical trials to test as a treatment in Progeria patients.

"Parents and patients have reason to be hopeful and excited," said Krainc. "It's a devastating illness, and these effects are pretty dramatic. We really hope that this will help translate into clinical treatment."

Krainc said the Progeria Research Foundation is "doing everything possible" to create a clinical trial with the drug to use in Progeria patients as soon as possible.

"We're looking for something that can slow this down," said Marozzi, who has helped raised nearly $600,000 for the Progeria Research Foundation. "I go to bed thinking, 'tomorrow may be the day,' so we take every little success and just hope that something big happens." ( abcnews.go.com )

Progeria Book: 'Old Before My Time'

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 03:58:00 -0800

Progeria Book: 'Old Before My Time' - When she celebrated her 14th birthday Dec. 3, 2011, Hayley Okines had surpassed the average lifespan for someone born with progeria, the rare disorder that turns children old before they reach adolescence.

Because progeria ages the body at eight times the normal rate, Hayley's skin is thin and papery; her bones fragile and her organs threatened by diseases typically associated with the elderly. Progeria patients die from heart attacks or strokes at an average age of 13, a number that carried extra weight for Hayley because doctors had told her parents she'd "only live to thirteen," the British teen recalls in a new book, "Old Before My Time: Hayley Okines' Life With Progeria."

The disease, which takes its name from the Greek word "progeros," meaning prematurely old, involves a mutant protein called progerin that accelerates physical aging, but leaves intellect intact. In the book, Hayley's fantasy of meeting pop idol Justin Bieber (realized in a 13th birthday surprise fostered by her Twitter followers) and her attitude about school ("I hate school. The work is pointless.") make clear she's a pretty regular teen in most respects.

Yet, she cannot help feeling different. She's smaller than her younger siblings, wears bandannas to cover a bare scalp and can't find school uniforms to fit her tiny frame. "Mum says I am one in eight million because my condition is so rare," she says.

Hayley, of Bexhill, England, is among 89 children in 32 countries living with progeria, according to the "Find the Other 150" campaign, which is trying to identify all of the estimated 150 children with the disease. Unlike most of them, Hayley has grown up in the spotlight, the subject of British television documentaries with titles such as "The Girl Who Is Older than Her Mother," and news stories tracking her participation in clinical trials at Children's Hospital Boston and the nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She has numerous followers of her Facebook page, Web page and Twitter posts. She's swum with dolphins in the south of France, toured the Egyptian pyramids and met with such notables as Prince Charles.

She's among three progeria patients featured in an ABC special with Barbara Walters, "7 Going on 70," which will have an encore showing Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. Two U.S. girls interviewed for that program, Lindsay Ratcliffe, now 8, of Flat Rock, Mich., and Kaylee Halko, also 8, of Monclova, Ohio, are thriving and looking forward to participating in the next planned clinical trial in Boston, their mothers told ABC News.

Hayley's book, co-written by her mother, with each contributing separate chapters, demonstrates that by any measure, Hayley leads an extraordinary life. The blue-eyed baby who wasn't growing or gaining weight as quickly as other infants still took her first steps at 10 months and was having conversations by 18 months. "She definitely seemed much wiser and more inquisitive than other 20-month-old toddlers," her mother writes.

Her parents were crushed when Hayley was diagnosed with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome. But Hayley has had the good fortune to grow up at a time when science might provide her with a better, longer life than patients diagnosed in previous decades.

Before 1999, Doctors Had Nothing to Offer Patients

"Before 1999, doctors would say there's nothing out there, and nothing you can do," said Audrey Gordon, executive director of the Progeria Research Foundation in Peabody, Mass., created to help patients and their families and to fund research into treatments and an eventual cure. "That answer wasn't acceptable to us as a family."

Gordon's sister and brother-in-law, Drs. Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns, established the foundation after their son, Sam, was diagnosed with progeria in 1999. Leslie Gordon serves as the foundation's medical director; Berns, its board chairman.

The foundation supported research that led to the discovery in 2003 of the mutant gene responsible for progerin, the protein in progeria that makes cells stop growing and die. It has funded the human trials of drugs targeting that protein.

"We're not just doing work in the lab that may or may not help kids in decades," Audrey Gordon said Wednesday.

Beginning with forming a foundation in 1999, discovering the gene in 2003 and launching treatment trials in 2007 "we are moving at a pace that's virtually unheard of in the scientific community," Gordon said.

When Hayley came to Boston for that first clinical trial in 2007, she dreamed of "long hair that I could tie back in a pink hair band." At first, the experimental drug called lonafarnib made her terribly sick, and her parents wondered "had we made the biggest mistake of our lives?" her mother recalls.

Hayley didn't get the hoped-for lush tresses, but some of her eyebrow hairs grew back.

Since participating in a three-drug trial of lonafarnib, cholesterol-fighting pravastatin and the osteoporosis drug zoledronate, Hayley's cheeks look fuller, her skin healthier and a CT scan of her heart showed no deterioration of her arteries, her mother reported.

Hayley's on board for a four-drug trial that adds everolimus, which in preliminary resarch enhanced cells' ability to get rid of progerin. "This is a new avenue for attacking progerin and we are encouraged by its potential," Dr. Leslie Gordon said in an email.

Hayley says that because of the drugs, "I feel like I have a future to plan. I think that maybe when I grow up, I will get married. Mum says it will have to be someone very special to see beyond my progeria."

Toward the book's end, Kerry Okines reiterates her conviction that Hayley "will be the one child to prove the experts wrong, and so far I seem to be right." ( abdnews.com )

British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:50:00 -0800

British medical journal slams Roche on Tamiflu — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.

The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.

On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche.

"I suggest we boycott Roche's products until they publish missing Tamiflu data," wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was "needlessly" spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.

FILE - In this April 28, 2009 file photo packages of the medicine Tamiflu by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche are seen in Stuttgart, southern Germany. A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu. The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic. On Monday Nov. 12, 2012, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ called for European governments to sue Roche. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

Last year, Tamiflu was included in a list of "essential medicines" by the World Health Organization, a list that often prompts governments or donor agencies to buy the drug.

Tamiflu is used to treat both seasonal flu and new flu viruses like bird flu or swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the agency had enough proof to warrant its use for unusual influenza viruses, like bird flu.

"We do have substantive evidence it can stop or hinder progression to severe disease like pneumonia," he said.

In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Tamiflu as one of two medications for treating regular flu. The other is GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza. The CDC says such antivirals can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the risk of complications and hospitalization.

In 2009, the BMJ and researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre asked Roche to make all its Tamiflu data available. At the time, Cochrane Centre scientists were commissioned by Britain to evaluate flu drugs. They found no proof that Tamiflu reduced the number of complications in people with influenza.

"Despite a public promise to release (internal company reports) for each (Tamiflu) trial...Roche has stonewalled," BMJ editor Fiona Godlee wrote in an editorial last month.

In a statement, Roche said it had complied with all legal requirements on publishing data and provided Gotzsche and his colleagues with 3,200 pages of information to answer their questions.

"Roche has made full clinical study data ... available to national health authorities according to their various requirements, so they can conduct their own analyses," the company said.

Roche says it doesn't usually release patient-level data available due to legal or confidentiality constraints. It said it did not provide the requested data to the scientists because they refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Roche is also being investigated by the European Medicines Agency for not properly reporting side effects, including possible deaths, for 19 drugs including Tamiflu that were used in about 80,000 patients in the U.S. ( Associated Press )

Breast-Feeding and Co-Sleeping with Baby Affects Mom's Welfare

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Tue, 6 Nov 2012 02:09:00 -0800

Breast-Feeding and Co-Sleeping with Baby Affects Mom's Welfare - The decisions whether to breast-feed and share a bed with the baby not only affect the welfare of the infant, but also the mother, a new study finds.

The women in the study with the best stress hormone patterns were the ones who breast-fed but refrained from sharing a bed with their baby, researchers found. The women who fared the worst were those who co-slept and didn't breast-feed.

The researchers were looking for the optimal daily rhythm in the women's stress hormone levels. An optimal rhythm is one in which levels of the stress hormone cortisol are high in the morning, to prepare a person for the day's events and stressors, and low in the evening, to allow for sleep.

Women who didn't breast-feed, or who shared a bed with their infant, had less-than-optimal daily rhythms.

The findings suggest that recommendations made by public health experts because they are good for infants — that they be breast-fed and that they sleep in their own bed — are good for mothers, too.

"The combination of those two things is also physiologically beneficial for mothers," said study researcher Clarissa Simon, of the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University.

The study was presented this week at the American Public Health Association's annual meeting.

Previous studies have showed cortisol levels increase during pregnancy and drop immediately after childbirth, but few studies have looked at what happens in the later postpartum period.

In the new study, Simon and colleagues analyzed saliva samples from 195 women in a Chicago suburb six months after giving birth. Samples were collected when participants woke up, 30 minutes after waking, and at bedtime.

Mothers who breast-fed but did not co-sleep had the steepest declines in their cortisol levels from morning to evening — a pattern previously linked with good health. For example, studies have shown that people with this pattern are more likely to be in good cardiovascular health or to survive breast cancer, Simon said.

Mothers who did not breast-feed and did share a bed with their babies had less of a decline over the course of a day, Simon said.

Breast-feeding is a known stress reducer, Simon said. As for sharing a bed with an infant, it may lead to sleeping problems for the mother, which would be reflected in her stress hormone levels, she said.

Because the study was conducted in one suburb of Chicago, it's not clear whether the results apply to the general population, Simon said.

Pass it on: Mothers who breast-feed but do not share a bed with their baby have optimal stress hormone rhythms. ( LiveScience.com )

Facility Offers One-Stop Shopping for Families of Kids with Autism

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:46:00 -0700

In the three years since Ramona Marshall's son was diagnosed with autism, the Southern California woman has seen the inside of a lot of school conference rooms, doctors' offices and therapists' rooms. But she thinks she may have found a single place where her son, now age five, can receive much of the care and attention he needs.

At the Kids Institute for Development & Advancement in Irvine, Calif., Marshall can relax and chat with other parents of kids with autism while her son receives a range of services to help him overcome speech and social deficits. Or she can work out in a gym in the facility designed to give parents a healthy way to alleviate some stress. Or she can consult with one of the therapists on staff.

The facility, one of the first in the country attempting to combine a wide range of autism services in one location, has made life a little easier for the Marshall family.

"I think we need places like this all over," Marshall says one afternoon while waiting for her son to finish a session with a therapist. "Families of kids with autism do enough driving as it is. This center is exciting for the kids; it's play-based, safe and clean. And for parents, it's like a support system."

Convenience for families and advancement for kids are the objectives at KiDA. Today one in every 88 kids has autism, and autism diagnosis rates gave risen more tahn 78 percent over the last decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The need for convenient, efficient and effective autism services has never been greater. But often that care is fragmented.

Earlier this year, KiDA opened a new 50,000-square-foot facility that offers multidisciplinary, comprehensive autism services under one roof. Kids can go to school, receive a range of one-on-one services, play in a gym, socialize and even see a neurologist -- sometimes all in one day. About 100 families are currently involved with the center.

"For a lot of families with kids on the autism spectrum, they have to drive around for medical appointments, therapies, education, family support," Kristen Coates, manager of administration at KiDA, told TakePart. "It's a lot of stress on the child and the family. It takes a toll. The founders wanted to see a place where everything came together under one roof now. They wanted to see a more integrated system that would really provide comprehensive services."

KiDA didn't begin with such a grand scheme, however. It was started in 2008 by a family with a child with autism who wanted a place for kids with the disorder to gather. In a 5,000-square-foot facility, a few families met to socialize and allow children with autism to play in a specially designed gym. Soon after, the group arranged to offer speech therapy on site.

"It was organically started and organically grown. It wasn't like we started it and said we're going to build this school and this center with all of these services," Coates says.

But the concept of having everything in one place developed, eventually leading the organization to its new facility. KiDA now offers schooling for children in grades Kindergarten through grade three, with plans to add more classes as the kids progress. Families can also book appointments with a variety of therapists -- speech, physical, occupational and music -- on-site in specially designed appointment rooms. A neurologist sees patients there on a part-time basis. The result is a cohesive, team approach to care.

"The professionals can all get together and say, what are you seeing? How can we more effectively treat the child?" Coates explains. "If a child is having a problem in the classroom, a neurologist can be summoned. The neurologist can come over and check out what is happening. The feedback loop is shorter."

The approach is not only convenient for families, it helps kids develop, she adds.

"They progress faster when collaboration by all of these professionals is possible -- the speech therapist, occupational therapist, neurologist," Coates says. "It's typically hard for all of these professionals to collaborate and brainstorm and provide that continuity of care."

Ramona Marshall says the emphasis on looking at the entire child -- not just his or her speech problems or behavior or medical issues -- produces big benefits.

"These kids get bombarded with services, but it's not always getting through," she says of the traditional, disjointed approach to autism care. "They are willing to look at different options for parents. Everything is here."

In addition to classrooms and therapy rooms, KiDA has an atrium for outdoor play and a 2,000-square-foot occupational therapy gym with a trapeze, obstacle course, climbing wall and other enticements to get kids moving. The hands-on kitchen has become a place for older children and teens to gather and socialize. Some of the teens cook meals together to practice independent living skills.

Another gym in the facility is devoted to workouts for older children and their parents, Coates says.

"The gym has a dual purpose," she says. "The parents are so busy taking care of their kids it's hard for them to find time to hit the gym or go out for a jog. We thought, let's give the parents an outlet to squeeze in a jog or lift some weights. That is a great stress reliever."

Everything inside the building is geared to the unique needs of children with autism and their families, she adds. In a couple of weeks, KiDA will have its fourth annual Halloween party. Halloween is normally a nightmare for parents with autism. Their kids, who often struggle with large crowds, noise and even uncomfortable clothing, simply can't tolerate typical Halloween activities. But at the KiDA Halloween party, people get it.

"The parents don't have to worry if their kids need a break or need help," Coates says. "We have therapists available. The kids don't have to wear costumes if they don't want to. Everyone understands. The families can feel comfortable and okay and welcome. They fit in. It works for them."

Paying for such conveniences can be an issue for some families. But KiDA administrators say they try to keep the prices for services competitive with other agencies. Many of the children who are schooled at KiDA receive outside funding set aside by the school district to pay for educational services. Some families' medical insurance policies cover other fees, such as medical care and therapeutic services.

The model has attracted attention, Coates says. But, so far, only a few other comprehensive autism service organizations have sprouted up around the country.

"Right now, this is unique," she says. "But we hope it can be a model for other companies to follow. It's for the benefit of the family and the child. There have been studies that confirm that this is a helpful approach for families to have integrated services."

What do you think should be done to improve the way autism services are delivered to children and their families? Let us know in the comments. ( Takepart.com )

Nestle to cut sugar and salt in breakfast cereals

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:43:00 -0700

Nestle to cut sugar and salt in breakfast cereals - Nestle SA and General Mills Inc will cut sugar and salt in the children's breakfast cereals they jointly market outside North America, the latest attempt by major food companies to respond to health concerns.

The two have been in a joint venture since 1990 to sell Nestle-brand cereals such as Cheerios in more than 140 countries outside the United States and Canada, markets which account for about half total global cereal sales of some $25 billion.

They say they will reformulate 20 cereal brands popular with children and teenagers by 2015, boosting wholegrains and calcium and aiming for average reductions of 24 percent in sugar and 12 percent in sodium.

Reuters/Reuters - Packets of Nestle cereals are pictured at the Innovation Center of Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW), a General Mills' joint venture with Nestle, in Orbe October 11, 2012. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

The reformulation will affect about 5.3 billion portions of cereals sold each year.

The 50/50 joint venture called Cereal Partners Worldwide (CPW) is the second-biggest breakfast cereal producer after Kellogg Co but is Europe's leading manufacturer of children's cereal. It had sales of 1.9 billion Swiss francs ($2 billion) in 2011.

CPW Chief Executive Jeffrey Harmening said the plan builds on efforts started in 2003 to improve the nutritional profile of cereals. The group has cut almost 900 metric tons of salt and more than 9,000 metric tons of sugar from its recipes since then.

"A certain number of moms don't want their kids to have as much sugar as they do right now, so that is a barrier for some to purchasing breakfast cereal," Harmening told Reuters at CPW's new global innovation centre in the Swiss town of Orbe.

The move comes as food and beverage companies seek to preempt tougher regulation due to the global obesity epidemic by offering healthier products or smaller portions.

The World Health Organisation estimated there were over 42 million overweight children under the age of five in 2010. It says obesity in Europe is already responsible for up to 8 percent of health costs and up to 13 percent of deaths.

HIGH IN SUGAR

A study this year by British consumer magazine Which? found that 32 of the 50 top-selling cereals were high in sugar, with almost all those aimed at children - including Cheerios - recording levels of sugar similar to chocolate biscuits.

However it did say that most cereals had significantly lower levels of salt than a few years ago and judged Nestle's Shredded Wheat the healthiest, with low levels of sugar, fat and salt.

Malcolm Clark, coordinator of the Children's Food Campaign of Britain's Sustain charity, which seeks to protect children from junk food marketing, was skeptical about the Nestle move.

"Reformulating is great, but the question is how they then talk about their products. They can't talk about them being healthy. They will be mildly less unhealthy than they were before," he said.

Harmening defended breakfast cereals as a low-calorie, high-nutrition option and said children who eat them tend to have a lower body mass index than those who do not.

Kellogg - which makes some of the sweetest cereals according to several surveys - has also reformulated some brands in recent years to cut sugar, as has General Mills for the cereals it produces for the North American market.

McDonald's Corp is including apples and cutting calories in its Happy Meals for kids, while Kraft Foods Group Inc has stopped advertising Kool-Aid and Oreos to children. It has also cut sugar and salt in some products.

In a report earlier this year, Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity said U.S. cereal producers are offsetting the benefits of cutting sugar and adding wholegrains by targeting kids with more ads for their unhealthiest products.

LESS MARKETING

"There is a fundamental difference between what the food industry thinks is improvement and what the public health community thinks is improvement," said Dr Jennifer Harris, director of marketing initiatives at the Rudd Center.

"The food industry is really focusing on reformulating products that they've always marketed to children, which are some of their highest-sugar products, whereas what we want to see is less marketing overall for unhealthy products."

Harmening said CPW's move was driven by consumers rather than a threat of tougher regulation, which he said could backfire as people might switch to less healthy alternatives.

"If we're not delivering what they want, somebody else will deliver what they are looking for. The consumers are the judge."

He said the biggest challenge was to improve the nutritional profile of cereals without compromising on taste.

At CPW's research centre in Orbe, food scientists are already testing recipes that comply with the new targets, experimenting with cooking and drying techniques to maintain flavor even with less sugar and salt and more wholegrain.

Trained teams of sensory experts sample the new products in laboratories where different colored lights force them to focus on taste rather than appearance of the cereals.

"We spend an enormous amount of time and money so that consumers don't perceive the changes," said Harmening. "That is a competitive advantage for us because - to the extent we can crack that - we will receive a benefit from consumers." ($1 = 0.9349 Swiss francs) ( Reuters )

Indonesia acts to over-ride patents on HIV drugs

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 03:29:00 -0700

Indonesia acts to over-ride patents on HIV drugs - Indonesia's government has taken steps to over-ride patents on a range of HIV drugs, highlighting a growing trend by Asian states to allow local production of cheap generic drugs that cut into sales of global pharmaceutical companies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quietly issued a decree last month authorizing government use of patents for seven HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B medicines held by the likes of Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott and Gilead.

The international trade body representing major drugmakers said the move set "a negative precedent". Individual companies affected did not provide immediate comment.

The decree states Indonesia implemented the measures to "meet the urgent need for antiviral and antiretroviral treatments".

An estimated 310,000 people are living with HIV in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy. The prevalence rate among the 15 to 49-year-old population is 0.2 percent, according to 2009 statistics from the U.N. Aids website.

Unreported cases mean that the true figure could be higher.

Under World Trade Organisation rules member countries are permitted to take measures to over-ride patents when it is deemed necessary to protect public health.

Yudhoyono signed the decree without fanfare on September 3 and it was only recently highlighted by Western groups campaigning for increased access to drugs in the developing world.

The issuing of the decree follows a decision by India in March to strip German drugmaker Bayer of its exclusive rights to a cancer drug.

India's highest court also heard final arguments last month in a landmark case over drug patents involving Novartis's leukaemia drug Glivec that could change the rules for the country's healthcare sector and potentially curb its global role as a supplier of cut-price generic medicines.

At the same time, China in June overhauled parts of its intellectual property laws to allow local production of patented medicines in another initiative likely to unnerve foreign pharmaceutical companies.

The amended patent law allows Beijing to issue compulsory licenses to eligible companies to produce generic versions of patented drugs during state emergencies, or unusual circumstances, or in the interests of the public.

BIG COST SAVINGS

If implemented to the full, the measure taken by Indonesia would introduce widespread generic competition and generate big cost savings in the world's fourth most populous country.

It is not the first time that Indonesia has made an order giving government control over HIV drugs but the latest decree goes further than earlier ones in 2004 and 2007 by covering more modern medicines.

"Indonesia has set an important precedent, not just for the people living with HIV within its country, who have been campaigning for this, but also for other developing countries," said Michelle Childs of Medecins Sans Frontieres.

"This is one of the widest licences issued by a government and rightly reflects the reality that a range of treatment options are needed," Childs said.

The U.S.-based group Public Citizen, which also campaigns for greater access to medicines in poorer countries, said the move would greatly expand access to newer and more appropriate antiviral medicines against both HIV and hepatitis B.

However, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, representing global drugmakers, expressed concern at the wide-ranging decree.

Andrew Jenner, its director of innovation, intellectual property and trade, said developing countries had a right to over-ride patents by issuing so-called compulsory licences in certain limited circumstances but this should be a last resort.

"Systematic issuance of compulsory licenses by Indonesia sets a negative precedent and can reduce the incentive to invest in the research and development of new medicines, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis therapies," he said.

"We believe that negotiated approaches, such as tiered pricing or voluntary licensing, are generally more effective and sustainable, both medically and economically." ( Reuters )

Meningitis-linked firm sold drugs without prescriptions

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 02:22:00 -0700

Meningitis-linked firm sold drugs without prescriptions - The drug-mixing company at the heart of a deadly U.S. meningitis outbreak solicited bulk orders from physicians and failed to require proof of individual patient prescriptions as required under state regulations, emails to a customer show.

Reuters reviewed more than a dozen emails that show the New England Compounding Center, contrary to state rules, sold drugs without requiring physicians to supply individual patient prescriptions.

The customer confirmed that NECC supplied the clinic with drugs without patient names or prescriptions.

NECC, based in Framingham, Massachusetts, distributed thousands of vials of a contaminated steroid that has put 14,000 people at risk of contracting meningitis and killed 15 people.

The emails support assertions made this week by state pharmacy regulators that the compounding firm, which was authorized to deliver products only in response to patient-specific prescriptions, had violated its license in Massachusetts.

The emails also indicate that NECC referred business to a sister company, Ameridose LLC, despite a statement by Ameridose earlier this week that the two operated separately.

Both companies mix, dilute or repackage drugs that may not be easily available through a pharmaceutical manufacturer. They are owned by Gregory Conigliaro, an engineer, and his brother-in-law, Barry Cadden, a pharmacist who was in charge of pharmacy operations at NECC until it surrendered its license in the wake of the meningitis outbreak.

"NECC's intent has always been to operate in compliance with our licenses in the states where we do business, and we have made our best efforts to be in compliance with all governing laws and regulations during 15 years of providing hundreds of thousands of patients with vital medications," NECC said in a statement. "We are cooperating with agencies that have a policy of not commenting on pending investigations, and as part of that cooperation we are honoring that policy and not commenting on specific facts."

Ameridose has closed for 12 days pending state and federal inspections. Regulators say they have not found Ameridose's products to be compromised and they have not requested a recall. Ameridose maintains it is a separate entity from NECC with "distinct operational management."

"Although there is common ownership, the two companies operate under separate registrations and different licensure," Ameridose said on Wednesday through its public relations firm, O'Neill and Associates.

Another company, Alaunus Pharmaceutical LLC, which distributes drugs for Ameridose and also is owned by Conigliaro and Cadden, suspended its operations this week. Regulators said that among other things they would be looking at any "corporate governance" issues related to the outbreak.

"SISTER COMPANY"

In an email dated July 12, NECC regional sales manager David London Barron told NewSouth NeuroSpine, a neurosurgery and pain management clinic in Mississippi, that he had reached out to "our sister company, Ameridose" in connection with a request by the clinic for an anesthetic.

"Richard DeLibertis will be your contact - I have asked him to reach out to you as soon as possible to discuss your options," Barron wrote in the email.

On October 1, DeLibertis, identifying himself in an email as a regional sales manager for Ameridose, told NewSouth NeuroSpine that Ameridose did not currently have the anesthetic in stock but that it would add the clinic "to the list of those seeking the medication."

According to regulations for compounding pharmacies posted on the web site of the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy, a state in which NECC is also licensed, compounding pharmacies must match orders with individual patient prescriptions.

"Pharmacists may compound drugs prior to receiving a valid prescription based on a history of receiving valid prescriptions that have been generated solely within an established pharmacist/patient/practioner relationship, and provided that they maintain the prescriptions on file for all such products compounded at the pharmacy as required by the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy."

Moreover, the regulations read, pharmacists "shall not solicit business by promoting to compound specific drug products (e.g., like a manufacturer.)"

Barron did not respond to telephone or email requests for comment. DeLibertis did not respond to an emailed request for comment. O'Neill and Associates, which represents NECC and Ameridose, declined to comment on behalf of its clients about the emails.

PROMISE OF LOWER COSTS

Michigan, with the second-largest number of cases, has accused NECC of violating licensing rules.

Its "pharmacy license did not allow it to ship large quantities for general use," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said on Friday as the state suspended the company's license and opened an investigation. If found guilty of violating the Michigan public health code, officials of NECC, which produced the tainted steroid linked to the scandal, could face a prison sentence, the attorney general's complaint said.

Several other states including Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio are investigating the company. Still others, including New Hampshire and the hardest hit state of Tennessee, have scheduled administrative hearings on possible violations.

Massachusetts prohibits pharmacies such as NECC, which create drugs that are unavailable from pharmaceutical companies, from selling medications without being in receipt of a prescription. It is not illegal, however, for healthcare providers to buy in bulk from licensed pharmacies, of which NECC was one.

Emails between NewSouth NeuroSpine and NECC show NECC solicited bulk orders with the promise of lower costs in return for higher ordering volume - sometimes offering competitive price quotes for drugs that had not been ordered by the physician.

In July, Barron offered in an email to supply NewSouth NeuroSpine with 50 vials per month of a steroid at a cost of $20 per vial.

"If you are using approximately 50 per month your total yearly savings, if sourced through NECC, would be $4,500," Barron said in an email.

Frank York, the chief executive of NewSouth, told Reuters the center did not order or purchase the steroid from NECC. The products it ordered, he said, included items such as a contrast agent used in X-rays that the center could not get elsewhere in the dosages it needed and were provided without prescriptions.

And while the physicians were asked by NECC to fill out a "Prescription Order Form," the form acted more as a bulk ordering form than a standard physician's prescription, York said.

In one email, Barron asked the clinic to provide NECC with a list of patients scheduled for upcoming procedures "to correspond with the medication."

"If you are ordering 75 units we will need a representation of patients that you plan to use the medication on," Barron said in the email. "If one day's schedule has close to 75 patients that will be acceptable to fulfill the order. If it is easier for you to provide a simple list of names that would be OK too."

The clinic did not provide its schedule to NECC for patient privacy reasons, according to York, who added that the clinic did not receive any of the tainted steroid implicated in the meningitis outbreak.

Even without the names or individual prescriptions, however, NECC continued to supply NewSouth, York said.

Massachusetts health officials said at a press briefing on Thursday that NECC appears to have been operating in violation of the state's compounding pharmacy licensing requirements, though they did not go into detail.

"This organization chose to apparently violate the licensing requirements under which they were allowed to operate," Madeleine Biondolillo, director of the Bureau of Health Care and Safety at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said on a call with reporters on Thursday.

State and federal regulators in the briefing declined to say whether they previously knew about NECC's bulk sales to entities including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. They said investigations were ongoing.

Regulators were not immediately available to comment on NECC's interactions with Ameridose.

While Massachusetts conducts periodic inspections of compounding pharmacies, the state does not track the volume of medications prepared and distributed at its licensed pharmacies, Biondolillo said. ( Reuters )

Pregnancy Complications in Later Age Pregnancies

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 22:10:00 -0700

Pregnancy Complications in Later Age Pregnancies - It's estimated that 20% of U.S. women are having their first baby after the age of 35. With the wait comes increased risk that they will not have a healthy pregnancy. You may know many women who become mothers in their late 30s. You may be one yourself. We checked in with Dr. Suzanne Hall, an Ob-Gyn, to talk about the dreaded term "advanced maternal age."

Dr. Hall not only counsels women in her practice every day about the risks associated with later age pregnancies, she experienced one herself as a first-time mother at age 39.

"Advancing age is associated with subfertility, suboptimal ovulation, fewer fertilizable eggs remaining in our ovaries and a higher risk of miscarriage," explains Hall.

In terms of preparation, experts recommend that women educate themselves prior to conception suggest that we:

Understand the increased risk of genetic disorders (such as chromosomal abnormalities) and tests you may consider having during pregnancy to detect them. Meeting with a genetic counselor (if you suspect or have a genetic predisposition) should help figure out which tests should be administered.

Be diligent about any existing medical condition (like high blood pressure, diabetes, thyroid disease, obesity) and make sure that it is in a stable, controlled state before considering pregnancy. Discuss pregnancy with your doctor and how it might affect your current medical condition.

Do take prenatal vitamins with folic acid before you get pregnant to help prevent neural tube defects, particularly Spina Bifida.

Hall says she also knew that in her own case (as well as women in general over the age of 35) the risk of a chromosomal abnormalities (resulting in birth defects such as Down syndrome) in pregnancy are higher.

Women can be screened (to determine their individual risk(s)) during their pregnancy using blood tests and diagnostic tests, like amniocentesis.

For Dr. Hall, her role(s) as both doctor and mother have given her a new perspective on later age pregnancies.

"As an Ob-Gyn physician I do have an obligation to share and inform patients on their risks. For older-age women contemplating pregnancy, the information is not only real, but potentially life-changing (emotional stress from miscarriage, the medical risks due to hypertension and diabetes, the decision-making involved with carrying a chromosomally abnormal fetus.) Though the information on medical risks in pregnancy for women of advancing age is valuable…It is still, nevertheless, difficult to balance the 'decision to have a baby'… against a game of statistical odds," she says. ( Parenting )

Males of the Mideast Rejoice: Circumcision Reduces Prostate Cancer

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:31:00 -0700

Males of the Mideast Rejoice: Circumcision Reduces Prostate Cancer - Circumcision before a male's first sexual intercourse may help protect against prostate cancer, a new study has found.

The study, conducted by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, suggests that circumcision can hinder infection and inflammation that may lead to this malignancy.

Infections are known to cause cancer, and research suggests that sexually transmitted infections may contribute to the development of prostate cancer.

With a reduced rate of infection, circumcised men are less likely to get prostate cancer.

Additionally, certain sexually transmitted infections can be prevented by circumcision.

Therefore, it stands to reason that circumcision should protect against the development of some cases of prostate cancer.

This is what lead author Jonathan L. Wright, MD, an affiliate investigator in the Hutchinson Center's Public Health Sciences Division, and his colleagues set out to test.

For their study, the investigators analysed information from 3,399 men (1,754 with prostate cancer and 1,645 without). Men who had been circumcised before their first sexual intercourse were 15 percent less likely to develop prostate cancer than uncircumcised men.

This reduced risk applied for both less aggressive and more aggressive cancers. (Specifically, men circumcised before their first sexual intercourse had a 12 percent reduced risk for developing less aggressive prostate cancer and an 18 percent reduced risk for developing more aggressive prostate cancer.)

Sexually transmitted infections may lead to prostate cancer by causing chronic inflammation that creates a hospitable environment for cancer cells.

Other mechanisms may also be involved. Circumcision may protect against sexually transmitted infections, and therefore prostate cancer, by toughening the inner foreskin and by getting rid of the moist space under the foreskin that may help pathogens survive.

"These data are in line with an infectious/inflammatory pathway which may be involved in the risk of prostate cancer in some men," Wright said.

"Although observational only, these data suggest a biologically plausible mechanism through which circumcision may decrease the risk of prostate cancer. Future research of this relationship is warranted," he added.

The study has been published online in Cancer. ( albawaba.com )

Breast cancer in the Middle East: Think pink for Saudi

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 06:25:00 -0700

Breast cancer in the Middle East: Think pink for Saudi - International breast cancer awareness month represents an issue of special concern to Saudi Arabia, a country which sees more than 8,000 women diagnosed with the disease each year and in which breast cancer accounts for 24 percent of all cancer cases, according to the Saudi cancer registry at King Faisal specialist hospital and research center.

The cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the health of body cells, according to specialists.

More than 8,000 Saudi women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year

“The normal behavior of cells is to stay where they belong and only divide if and when they need to,” however if the genes become faulty, cells can reproduce unchecked and form a tumor, when this occurs in the breast tissue it leads to breast cancer, explains Dr. Wafa Nichols, a breast cancer research specialist at Jeddah’s center of excellence in genomic medicine research at King Abdul Aziz university.

Nichols said women should regularly look for warning signs which include changes to “skin texture and shape, lumps and redness,” and that such indicators should be reported to a doctor.

The main problem in Saudi Arabia is that the disease is not caught in time. About 50 to 60 percent of cases are detected at an advanced stage which limits the effectiveness of all known treatments, according to a report in Arab News newspaper.

Dr. Taher Twegieri, breast cancer expert at King Faisal hospital and research center, said the treatment of breast cancer depends on the specific patient and the stage at which their cancer is diagnosed.

Treatment options include the surgical route if the tumor is localized, as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy for select patients.

Twegieri added that “hormonal therapy is for those who have a hormonal responsive tumor” and that these distinct tumors grow as a result of the estrogen hormone present in women. The tumor is therefore targeted by reducing the patient’s levels of estrogen, according to this particular remedy.

Palliative care, which aims to relieve the suffering of patients, is administered throughout the patient’s experience with cancer.

Diagnostic laboratories are now able to conduct tests that help doctors decide which treatment will work better with which patient, added Dr. Nichols of King Abdul Aziz University.

The Kingdom is well-endowed with the medical resources needed for such treatments, with the necessary equipment and doctors at hand.

TABOO

However, the subject of breast cancer remains a taboo, leading many women to suffer in silence.

The desire to sweep the issue under the rug has dissuaded many women in Saudi Arabia from seeking early detection.

“This is why we have late stage presentation and poor outcomes,” said Dr. Twegieri of Saudi’s King Faisal hospital.

Yahya Hamidaddin, managing director of the Adalid public relations company which handles media campaigns for Saudi’s Zahra breast cancer association, told Al Arabiya English that women are slowly but surely breaking the silence: there are “pioneer women who have suffered from this disease and were brave enough to discuss it in public and spread awareness.”

The association staged a major campaign in May of this year, entitled “A Woman's Journey: Destination Mount Everest.” The event saw 10 Saudi women climb to the mountain’s base camp to raise the profile of this disease.

“We had a mix of positive and negative responses from both genders, (however) our campaign created a public debate” Hamidaddin said.

Through such events local organizations wish to alert Saudi society to the dangers of ignoring breast cancer.

This is especially important amongst Saudi’s youth as 30 percent of breast cancer cases in the Kingdom occur in women under the age of 40, compared with five percent in the United States, according to Ms. Magazine online.

Twegieri noted the strange phenomena; “we have younger patients than the West has.” The reasons are unclear, he added.

Men’s breast cancer

A small percentage of men have also been known to suffer from breast cancer, “this wasn't known for the general public,” said Hamidaddin. He said part of the campaign was to raise awareness of breast cancer in men.

This year’s breast cancer awareness month is a chance for women, and men, in Saudi Arabia to understand the disease and raise its profile, a measure which could save lives, he said. ( albawaba.com )

Meningitis-linked steroid may have affected 13,000 people in U.S

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 8 Oct 2012 22:08:00 -0700

Meningitis-linked steroid may have affected 13,000 people in U.S - Some 13,000 people in 23 U.S. states may have received steroid injections linked to a rare fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed eight people, but far fewer are likely to contract the disease, the Centers for Disease Control said on Monday.

The CDC for the first time estimated the number of patients potentially affected, after previously saying only that it could be in the thousands.

So far, 105 cases of the rare form of meningitis have been confirmed in nine states. In hardest hit Tennessee another person has died, bringing the national death toll to eight, the CDC and Tennessee state authorities said on Monday.

Nearly 1,000 people in Tennessee may have received injections from the three recalled lots containing 17,676 vials of potentially tainted steroid, Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. John Dreyzehner said on Monday. Saint Thomas Outpatient Neurosurgery Center in Nashville received some 2,000 vials, more than any other facility in the country, he said.

The widening outbreak has alarmed federal and state health officials and focused attention on regulation of pharmaceutical compounding companies such as the one that produced the drugs - the New England Compounding Center Inc in Framingham, Massachusetts.

"We anticipate finding some additional infections," said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen. He could not say if all 13,000 people had been contacted, but said efforts had been made to find them in the last few days and the recall should limit the outbreak.

In Ohio, health officials said on Monday they were mobilizing community resources, including sheriff's offices, to check on patients who have received the injections.

"If that means knocking on doors, then that's what they will do," Beth Bickford, executive director at the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners, said in a statement. The state has so far reported one case of fungal meningitis likely caused by a tainted epidural steroid injection.

The steroid is used as a painkiller, usually for the back. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, and patients started showing a variety of symptoms from one to four weeks after their injections.

The potentially tainted drugs were produced as early as May and shipped to 76 facilities in 23 states through September, the CDC and Massachusetts Health Department said.

The company, which was previously the subject of complaints, has suspended its operations while an investigation proceeds. It initially recalled the three lots of the drug, and expanded its recall on Saturday to all products compounded and distributed at its Framingham facility.

A compounding pharmacy takes medications from pharmaceutical manufacturers and makes them into specific dosages and strengths for use by doctors.

Complaints against the company in 2002 and 2003 about the processing of medication resulted in an agreement with government agencies in 2006 to correct deficiencies, the Massachusetts Health Department said.

LIMITED FDA AUTHORITY

In 2011, there was another inspection of the facility and no deficiencies were found. In March 2012, another complaint was made about the potency of a product used in eye surgery procedures. That investigation is continuing, the state health department said.

The U.S. Food and Drug administration has limited authority over the day-to-day operations of compounding pharmacies, which are regulated primarily by state boards that oversee the practices, licensing and certification of pharmacies and pharmacists.

Compounded products do not have to win FDA approval before they are sold, and the agency has no jurisdiction over how the products are manufactured or labeled for use. Instead, the FDA investigates cases of adulterated drugs in cooperation with state regulators.

The FDA has tried to exert greater authority over compounded drug products under a section of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act that covers new drugs. But those efforts led to federal court challenges that resulted in two separate and conflicting rulings at the appellate level.

The nine states where fungal meningitis cases have been reported are Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

Tennessee, where the outbreak was first detected, accounted for most of the cases, with 35, including four deaths. Many patients there remain hospitalized, some in critical condition.

Virginia has 23 cases and one death, Michigan 21 cases and two deaths and one person has died in Maryland.

Fungal meningitis is not contagious, the CDC said. Symptoms include fever, headache, nausea and neurological problems that would be consistent with deep brain stroke.

The steroid was sent to California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, the CDC said. ( Reuters )

Running away common with autism

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Mon, 8 Oct 2012 03:51:00 -0700

Running away common with autism - Almost half of children with autism in a new study had run away at least once - and many of them were missing long enough to cause concern.

Researchers found that kids most often wandered off from their home, school or a store, and some tried to run away multiple times a day.

But rather than being confused about where they were, kids typically left to find a place they enjoyed, to explore or to avoid an anxious or uncomfortable situation, based on their parents' reports.

An autistic child looks out from behind a chair at the Consulting Centre for Autism in Amman, March 30, 2010, one of the few places in the country that helps children with the condition. REUTERS/Ali Jarekji

"It's rooted in the very nature of autism itself," said Dr. Paul Law, who worked on the study.

"Kids don't have the social skills to check in with their parents, and to have that communication and social bond that most children have when they're approaching a road or at a park."

Law is the director of the Interactive Autism Network Project at the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore. With funding from a number of autism research and advocacy groups, he and his colleagues used their registry to survey the parents of 1,218 kids with an autism spectrum disorder.

Of those kids, 598 - or 49 percent - had tried to run away at least once, their parents reported. And 316 were missing long enough to cause concern - an average of more than 40 minutes.

In comparison, the same parents reported 13 percent of their non-autistic children had ever wandered off after age four.

Most of the kids with autism who went missing were in danger of getting hit by cars, and others could have drowned. Police had to be called for one-third of missing children.

"Amongst the families we did interview, there were many reports of injuries, close calls with drowning (and) close calls with traffic accidents," Law told Reuters Health.

"There's an enormous burden that all families are undergoing to keep their families safe. The amount of diligence, and not going out in public, and staying up late at night… just the general anxiety that families live under because of concerns with this is just torturous."

Children with more severe autism were more likely to have bolted, according to findings published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Autism researcher Russell Lang from Texas State University-San Marcos said the prevalence of running away or "eloping" in children with autism "absolutely surprised" him.

"It's a very dangerous behavior, and it's a little bit deceptive because it can seem somewhat benign compared to other challenging behaviors," Lang, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health.

Those other "challenging behaviors" common in kids with autism include self-injury and property destruction, he said. They often get lumped together with running away, which is why researchers haven't had a good estimate of the prevalence of elopement, itself, until now.

The number of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, which includes autism and Asperger's syndrome, has increased in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimate that one in 88 children has a diagnosis of one of the conditions.

The new study couldn't estimate how many children with autism die every year due to running away and getting into danger, the researchers said.

"This is not simply a case of parents being remiss in some way regarding their supervision of their children," Lang said. "The child with autism doesn't realize what danger they're putting themselves in. They have a propensity to elope, it seems, regardless of parental care."

He said therapy that rewards kids for not wandering off may help prevent them from disappearing in the future.

Law said parents can reach out to advocacy groups to learn about safe locks for their doors and tracking devices for kids. And emergency responders can be better prepared for getting the call when a child with autism goes missing.

Still, he added, "we haven't totally come to consensus on what some of the best practices are" to prevent running away. ( Reuters Health )

Coffee May Increase My Risk for Glaucoma, But I'm Still Drinking It

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Sat, 6 Oct 2012 09:37:00 -0700

Coffee May Increase My Risk for Glaucoma, But I'm Still Drinking It - Dedicated coffee shop patrons, beware! New research from Harvard University finds drinking caffeinated coffee may increase your risk for developing glaucoma. The study, published in the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science on October 3, found drinking three or more cups of caffeinated coffee daily is associated with a 66-percent increased risk for developing a condition called exfoliation glaucoma.

So as I sit here writing this article while drinking a 9-ounce Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino, should I be concerned? Not really.

I have three specific issues with this study:

The risk for developing exfoliation glaucoma jumped when the person drank three or more cups of coffee a day. A cup is defined as 8 ounces. I would have to drink at least two and a half 9-ounce Frappuccinos daily to truly increase my risk for glaucoma. This simply does not happen. I can't handle more than 16 ounces of any coffee drink in a day. And most of the time, if given the option, I drink decaffeinated coffee.

Other caffeinated foods like tea and chocolate did not show the same link to this rarer form of glaucoma. So who's the bad guy in this study? The caffeine? The coffee bean? Can I still eat my chocolate bars and just keep my coffee decaf? Clearly, more research needs to be done to determine the exact link between caffeinated coffee and exfoliation glaucoma.

According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, exfoliation glaucoma is more common in people of Scandinavian descent. I'm of Italian-Irish descent with no traces of Scandinavian blood in me.

However, I do have one concern. The increased risk for glaucoma was especially true for people (women in particular) who have a family history of glaucoma. Well, that's where I do raise an eyebrow. My father and his mother both have glaucoma. In general, I come from a family with poor eyesight, so I go for eye exams regularly, which include a glaucoma test. As of now, my eyes are OK, but I suppose keeping my coffee caffeine to a minimum can't hurt.

I can't say this new study will change my coffee habits. At least not without further research. But I guess I'll stick to my decaf iced cafe mochas just to be on the safe side. ( yahoo.com )

5 Foods that Burn Away Fat

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Thu, 4 Oct 2012 05:27:00 -0700

5 Foods that Burn Away Fat - If there’s one mistake that’s sabotaging diets all over America, it’s this: Thinking that food is your enemy in the battle against fat. In reality, nutritionists say, some foods actually turn up the heat on your metabolism, boosting the body’s ability to burn fat.

Pack your diet with these 5 foods, and the pounds will peel off faster — and with a lot less misery.

1. Apples

To keep the pounds at bay, eat an apple–or two–a day. Apples are high in pectin, which binds with water and limits the amount of fat your cells can absorb. Apples are also high in fiber, which makes you feel full; numerous studies have found that eating an apple a half hour to an hour before a meal has the result of cutting the calories of the meal. Recent research suggests eating apples has other benefits, too; the antioxidants in apples appear to prevent metabolic syndrome, the combination of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and prediabetes that tends to accompany thickening around the waist.

2. Oats

Wrongly tarred with the “carb” brush, oats are a whole grain, and are high in soluble fiber, so they cut cholesterol and blood fat. They’re also high on what nutritionists call the “satiety index,” meaning oats have tremendous power to make you feel full. Oats digest slowly, so they don’t raise your blood sugar, and they keep you feeling filled up well into the late morning. Oatmeal is, oddly enough, one of the best foods to help you sleep, as well. Old-fashioned steel-cut and rolled oats, with up to 5 grams of fiber per serving, are best, but even instant oatmeal has 3 to 4 grams of fiber per serving.

3. Cinnamon

Okay, so it’s not exactly a food, it’s a spice, but so much the better; it doesn’t add calories, while helping you burn fat. According to a recent study of diabetics, cinnamon appears to have the power to help your body metabolize sugar. Eating as little as 1/4 to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon a day was found to reduce blood sugar levels and cut cholesterol from 10 to 25 percent. So add cinnamon to smoothies, sprinkle it on your cereal, or flavor your coffee with it.

4. Pine Nuts

Rich in heart-healthy fatty acids, particularly the aptly named pinolenic acid, pine nuts have been found to boost levels of the so-called “satiety hormone,” ghrelin, which signals your brain that you’re full. When ghrelin levels are high, not only do you not feel hungry, you’re more able to resist cravings. According to studies done in Korea, a big producer of pine nuts, these same fatty acids have been shown to prevent the formation of belly fat, considered the most dangerous kind. In another report on foods that help you lose weight, I discuss almonds, which have many of the same benefits as pine nuts.

5. Eggs

In case you hadn’t heard, eggs have been rehabilitated. In fact, nutritionists wish those warnings about the dangers of eggs had never been issued. Because they’re a concentrated form of animal protein without the added fat that comes with meat, eggs are a nutritional powerhouse and the perfect way to start your day with a “bang” of energy. (And they’re fine, at least in moderation, for those restricting cholesterol, too.) Dietary studies have repeatedly found that when people eat an egg every morning in addition to (or instead of) toast or cereal, they lose twice as much weight as those who eat a breakfast that’s dominated by carbs.

Food has much more power than we give it credit for; some foods sabotage sleep, other foods help our bodies fight cancer. Do you have any nutrition secrets to share? Do tell. Comment below and credit will be given in future posts. ( Forbes )

How Stress And Sleep Loss Are Shortening Your Life

noreply@blogger.com (Buya Khatib) — Thu, 4 Oct 2012 05:20:00 -0700

How Stress And Sleep Loss Are Shortening Your Life - Would you prioritize sleep if you knew it kept your immune system strong? That’s the question the American Academy of Sleep Medicine wants you to ponder this week. Lost in the hoopla surrounding Independence day was the publication of some eye-opening (or eye-shutting) research by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine showing that the immune system responds sharply to sleep loss.

In the study, intimidatingly named “Diurnal Rhythms in Blood Cell Populations and the Effect of Acute Sleep Deprivation in Healthy Young Men,” Researchers at the Erasmus MC University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the University of Surrey in the UK measured white blood cell counts in young men who sleep eight hours and men whose sleep was restricted, and found a spike in white blood cells, particularly those called granulocytes, released in response to immune system threat.

The researchers’ conclusion: Severe sleep loss jolts the immune system just as stress does.

Sleep Loss Quadruples Stroke Risk

In addition to shocking your immune system, lack of sleep also raises your stroke risk – even if you’re relatively young and healthy. New research, presented last month at SLEEP 2012, found that those who cut back their sleep to less than six hours of sleep a night are at 4.5 percent greater risk of having a stroke compared with those who slept 7 to 8 hours a night. Though researchers don’t know the exact mechanism, it seems that chronic lack of sleep causes inflammation, elevates blood pressure and heart rate, and affects glucose levels, leading to a much higher stroke risk in the sleep-deprived.

Most concerning, though, is that the 5,000+ peoplestudied were healthy, middle-aged adults with a body mass index in the normal range — not those typically considered at high stroke risk. And their sleep loss wasn’t as extreme as in the immune study; these folks reported getting less than six hours of sleep a night – the amount that 30 percent of the American population reports getting.

For some tips on getting to sleep more easily, see 5 Foods to Help You Sleep

Stress Sabotages Your Immune System, Too

This isn’t news; study after study has shown that stress raises our risk of cancer, heart disease, allergies, and susceptibility to colds and flu. What’s new is that researchers at Carnegie Mellon think they now know how this works. The key, they say, is cortisol, the stress hormone released whenever we feel fear, worry, or anxiety. Cortisol is supposed to give us a jolt of energy, enabling us to react to and run away from the lion as it were. But it appears that when our systems are constantly bathed in cortisol, the body loses its ability to regulate inflammation.

Here’s how it works. Cortisol has a secondary function of controlling the body’s inflammatory response to immune system triggers. But over time, with constant exposure to stress and therefore cortisol, tissues become less sensitive to cortisol, releasing less of their anti-inflammatory substances. (A similar process occurs with diabetes, as chronically elevated insulin leads to insulin resistance.)

The Carnegie Mellon team, headed by Sheldon Cohen, ran two tests of this theory. First they exposed healthy adults to cold viruses, isolating and monitoring for five days afterwards. People who’d recently been under stress showed increased resistance to cortisol. In a second test, the researchers found that participants had higher numbers of cytokines, which trigger inflammation.

So what does it all mean? That when you get stressed out and stop sleeping, or stop sleeping well, you get sick. (Think back to college, when you’d get a horrible flu or even pneumonia or mono, right after finals were over.) That probably doesn’t seem that concerning; we’ve dealt with the post-all-nighter flu all our lives. But this year has also seen convincing research that the body’s immune response is key to protecting us from serious disease, such as cancer, and that inflammation is a key precursor to heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases. In fact, ongoing research is underway to document the effects of stress and sleep loss on shortening lifespan.

So take your stress reduction strategies seriously and get to sleep, darn it! ( Forbes )