Trans Fat: When Zero Isn’t Really Zero
March 29, 2009
· Here’s a question to challenge your nutrition literacy: How much trans fat is likely in a package of cookies that are labeled as having zero grams per serving?
“I would say zero!” said Joanna Robinson, of Washington, D.C., who was grocery shopping this week during her lunch break. “I’d trust the label.”
But other shoppers were more skeptical. “More than zero,” said Guy Powell.
CLICK HERE to listen to the NPR audio clip on how Trans Fat sneak into our foods
New Migraine Drug May Stop Pain with Fewer Side Effects
March 27, 2009
The disabling headaches experienced by 30 million Americans, most of them women, are commonly treated with drugs when nonprescription analgesics don’t help.
But migraine patients often must weigh the benefits of drug treatment against uncomfortable side effects such as dizziness, chest and throat tightness, tingling sensations and flushing.
Patients with a history of cardiovascular disease can’t use the effective migraine drugs, triptans, because they constrict blood vessels.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic and other medical centers have been looking into a new migraine-specific drug called telcagepant as a promising alternative that would produce fewer side effects than the established treatments.
Licorice Compound Offers New Colon Cancer Prevention Strategy
March 25, 2009
A chemical component of licorice may offer a new approach to preventing colorectal cancer without the adverse side effects of other preventive therapies, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers report.
In the study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Raymond Harris, M.D., Ming-Zhi Zhang, M.D., and colleagues show that inhibiting the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 (11βHSD2) – either by treatment with a natural compound found in licorice or by silencing the 11βHSD2 gene – prevents colorectal cancer progression in mice predisposed to the disease.
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. While prevention is the best approach for reducing colorectal cancer deaths, few medical strategies exist to prevent the disease.
Pitt Vaccine to Prevent Colon Cancer Being Tested in Patients
March 25, 2009
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have begun testing a vaccine that might be able to prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for developing the disease. If shown to be effective, it might spare patients the risk and inconvenience of repeated invasive surveillance tests, such as colonoscopy, that are now necessary to spot and remove precancerous polyps.
Colon cancer takes years to develop and typically starts with a polyp, which is a benign but abnormal growth in the intestinal lining, explained principal investigator Robert E. Schoen, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh. Polyps that could become cancerous are called adenomas.
In a novel approach for cancer prevention, the Pitt vaccine is directed against an abnormal variant of a self-made cell protein called MUC1, which is altered and produced in excess in advanced adenomas and cancer. Vaccines currently in use to prevent cancer work via a different mechanism, specifically by blocking infection with viruses that are linked with cancer. For example, Gardasil protects against human papilloma virus associated with cervical cancer and hepatitis B vaccine protects against liver cancer.
Herpes: Scientists Find Cellular Process That Fights Virus
March 25, 2009
Cold sores might one day be a thing of the past
Scientists have discovered a new way for our immune system to combat the elusive virus responsible for cold sores: Type 1 herpes simplex (HSV-1). As reported in the advance online edition of Nature Immunology, a group of virus hunters from the Université de Montréal, in collaboration with American colleagues, have identified a cellular process that seeks out and fights herpes.
The five-year study, partially supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, was a joint project with Washington University and Pennsylvania State University.
“Once human cells are infected with Type 1 herpes simplex, the virus comes back because it hides and blocks protection from our immune system,” says Luc English, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student at the Université de Montréal’s Department of Pathology and Cell Biology.
Einstein And Pitt Research Develop New TB Test That Will Dramatically Cut Diagnosis Time
March 25, 2009
Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and The University of Pittsburgh have developed an onsite method to quickly diagnose tuberculosis (TB) and expose the deadly drug-resistant strains that can mingle undetected with treatable TB strains. This study will be published in PLoS ONE, a peer-reviewed online journal from the Public Library of Science.
William Jacobs, Ph.D.The researchers engineered bacteriophages, tiny viruses that attack bacteria, with a green fluorescence protein (GFP) implanted in their genome. Bacteriophages spread by injecting their DNA into bacterial cells. In this case, the GFP gene accompanies the DNA of the phage into the Mycobacterium tuberculosis cell, the bacterium that causes TB, causing the cell to glow. A clinician could detect the glow with equipment available at many clinics.
“The development of these reporter flurophages allows us to bypass the existing method of diagnosing TB, which requires cultivating slow-growing bacteria in a biosafety level 3 environment, a time-consuming and costly process,” says William R. Jacobs, Jr., Ph.D., one of the authors of the study. “By infecting live M. tuberculosis cells with a flurophage, a quick and highly sensitive visual reading can be done. We are optimistic that we can move the diagnostic process from several weeks to several days or even hours, which could have a significant impact on treatment.”
6.5 Million More Patients Might Benefit From Statins To Prevent Heart Attacks, Strokes
March 25, 2009
Millions more patients could benefit from taking statins, drugs typically used to prevent heart attacks and strokes, than current prescribing guidelines suggest, Johns Hopkins doctors report in a new study.
Doctors have long known that statins can help prevent subsequent heart attacks and strokes in patients who have already had one of these cardiovascular events. Additionally, statins have been shown to have a protective effect for patients who haven’t yet had a heart attack or stroke but are at high risk for developing cardiovascular disease. Consequently, doctors currently prescribe these drugs both to patients with established cardiovascular disease, as well as those with high cholesterol and other risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease such as diabetes. About 33 million older adults — men age 50 or older and women age 60 or older — are currently eligible to take statins based on these criteria.
However, notes Erin D. Michos, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute, about half of all cardiovascular events occur in patients who don’t have high cholesterol, and about 20 percent of these events occur in people who have no identifiable cardiovascular disease risk factor. Until recently, doctors haven’t been sure if any of these patients might also benefit from statin therapy.
Proteins From Garden Pea May Help Fight High Blood Pressure, Kidney Disease
March 25, 2009
Researchers in Canada are reporting that proteins found in a common garden pea show promise as a natural food additive or new dietary supplement for fighting high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Those potentially life-threatening conditions affect millions of people worldwide.
The study, which will be presented here today at the American Chemical Society’s 237th National Meeting, is the first reporting that a natural food product can relieve symptoms of CKD, the scientists say.
Peas long have been recognized as nutritional superstars, with healthful amounts of protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins wrapped in a low-fat, cholesterol-free package. The new research focuses on the yellow garden pea, a mainstay pea variety enjoyed as a veggie side-dish and used as an ingredient in dozens of recipes around the world.
“In people with high blood pressure, our protein could potentially delay or prevent the onset of kidney damage,” says study presenter Rotimi Aluko, Ph.D., a food chemist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. “In people who already have kidney disease, our protein may help them maintain normal blood pressure levels so they can live longer.”
Narcolepsy Drug Being Used to Improve Cognitive Performance Affects Brain Dopamine Activity Suggesting Potential For Abuse and Dependence
March 20, 2009
Preliminary research in healthy men suggests that the narcolepsy drug modafinil, increasingly being used to enhance cognitive abilities, affects the activity of dopamine in the brain in a way that may create the potential for abuse and dependence, according to a study in the March 18 issue of JAMA.
“Like cocaine and methylphenidate, Modafinil blocks dopamine transporters thereby increasing dopamine levels in the brain. This study raises awareness about Modafinil’s potential for abuse and addiction in vulnerable populations and signals the need to monitor its use.”
Modafinil, a wake-promoting drug used in the treatment of sleep disorders, may enhance cognition and is used off-label for the treatment of cognitive dysfunction in some psychiatric disorders (i.e., schizophrenia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]). The Physicians’ Desk Reference cautions that it can produce psychoactive and euphoric effects typical of central nervous system stimulant drugs, and there is debate surrounding its potential for abuse, according to background information in the article. The mechanisms of action of modafinil are not well understood but are believed to differ from those of stimulant medications (such as methylphenidate and amphetamine), which increase dopamine (a neurotransmitter in the brain essential for the normal functioning of the central nervous system) in the brain by targeting the dopamine transporters, a mechanism that underlies the abuse potential of these drugs. However, there is growing evidence that dopamine may also play a role in the mode of action of modafinil.
A Natural Approach For HIV Vaccine
March 19, 2009
For 25 years, researchers have tried and failed to develop an HIV vaccine that will generate antibodies to kill the virus before it takes hold. Only four “super antibodies” have been discovered that might do the job, but they have proved impossible to induce in people so far. Now, in research published online March 15 by Nature, scientists at The Rockefeller University have laid out a new approach. They have identified a diverse team of antibodies in “slow-progressing” HIV patients whose coordinated pack hunting knocks down the virus just as well as their super-antibody cousins fighting solo.
By showcasing the dynamic, natural immune response in these exceptional patients, the research, led by Michel C. Nussenzweig, Sherman Fairchild Professor and head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology, suggests that an effective
HIV vaccine may come from a shotgun approach targeting several parts of the virus rather than a magic bullet targeting only one.
“We wanted to try something different, so we tried to reproduce what’s in the patient. And what’s in the patient is many different antibodies that individually have limited neutralizing abilities but together are quite powerful,” says Nussenzweig, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. “This should make people think about what an effective vaccine should look like.”