Breakthrough in delivering drugs to the brain
By James Gallagher
Health reporter, BBC News
A new way of delivering drugs to the brain has been developed by scientists at the University of Oxford.
They used the body’s own transporters – exosomes – to deliver drugs in an experiment on mice.
The authors say the study, in Nature Biotechnology, could be vital for treating diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Muscular Dystrophy.
The Alzheimer’s Society said the study was “exciting” and could lead to more effective treatments.
Research barrier
One of the medical challenges with diseases of the brain is getting any treatment to cross the blood-brain barrier.
The barrier exists to protect the brain, preventing bacteria from crossing over from the blood, while letting oxygen through.
However, this has also produced problems for medicine, as drugs can also be blocked.
In this study the researchers used exosomes to cross that barrier.
Exosomes are like the body’s own fleet of incredibly small vans, transporting materials between cells.
They then fused the exosomes with targeting proteins from the rabies virus, which binds to acetylcholine receptors in brain cells, so the exosome would target the brain.
They filled the exosomes with a piece of genetic code, siRNA, and injected them back into the mice.
The siRNA was delivered to the brain cells and turned off a gene, BACE1, which is involved in Alzheimer’s disease.
The authors reported a 60% reduction in the gene’s activity.
“These are dramatic and exciting results” said the lead researcher Dr Matthew Wood.
“This is the first time this natural system has been exploited for drug delivery.”
Customised
The research group believes that the method could modified to treat other conditions and other parts of the body.
Dr Wood said: “We are working on sending exosomes to muscle, but you can envisage targeting any tissue.
“It can also be made specific by changing the drug used.”
The researchers are now going to test the treatment on mice with Alzheimer’s disease to see if their condition changes.
The team expect to begin trials in human patients within five years.
Dr Susanne Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “In this exciting study, researchers may have overcome a major barrier to the delivery of potential new drugs for many neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s.
She said the blood-brain barrier had been an “enormous issue as many potential drugs have not been properly tested because you couldn’t get enough of them into the brain.”
She added: “If this delivery method proves safe in humans, then we may see more effective drugs being made available for people with Alzheimer’s in the future.”
Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “This is innovative research, but at such an early stage it’s still a long way from becoming a treatment for patients.
“Designing drugs that cross the blood brain barrier is a key goal of research that holds the promise of improving the effectiveness of Alzheimer’s treatments in the future.”
Exosomes may have other medical applications.
Alexander Seifalian, a professor of nanotechnology and regenerative medicine at University College London, told the BBC: “Experimental evidence indicates that exosomes can prime the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells, making them a potential tool as cancer vaccines.”
He also said exosomes “could well form the cornerstone of nanoscale drug delivery systems of the future.”
He added: “The apparent versatility and established biosafety of exosomes underscores the potential of these biological membrane vesicles to be of tremendous potential in the realm of nanotechnology and regenerative medicine.”
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12776222
Courtesy : BBC News
Crowd-sourcing aids Japan crisis
People living close to the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan are collaborating to plot local radiation levels.
The RDTN.org website allows people to submit their own radiation readings and maps them alongside official data.
Users wishing to contribute to the site will need to buy radiation detection equipment
It is one of several so-called crowd-sourcing initiatives set up in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami.
Another website, JapanStatus.org, also offers similar information.
To contribute to the RDTN site people will have to purchase a radiation detection device and the site directs people to four sources of such equipment.
Readings submitted to the site suggest that radiation levels of between 0.178 – 0.678 microsieverts per hour can be detected in and around Onuma Hitachi City that lies south of Fukushima.
Progress appears to be being made to restore power to the Fukushima Daiichi plant although, according to official sources, the situation remains very serious.
Villagers living nearby have been told not to drink tap water due to higher levels of radioactive iodine.
Other efforts to pool advice on how to cope with the disaster include new pages on The Global Innovations Commons, a site which compiles out-of-date patents.
It includes dozens of patents related to cooling down reactors from companies such as Hitachi and Siemens.
There is also information which could help with the rebuilding efforts, including water filtration technologies, shelter and building techniques and tsunami warning systems.
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12803643
Courtesy : BBC News
Healthy diet 'boosts childhood IQ'
Can diet affect intelligence?
Eating chips, chocolate and cake may be damaging to a child’s intelligence, according to researchers at Bristol University.
Their study suggests a link between a diet high in processed foods and a slightly lower IQ.
Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, they suggest poor nutrition may affect brain development.
The British Dietetic Association said more young parents needed to be educated about healthy eating.
The eating habits of 3,966 children taking part in the The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children were recorded at the ages of three, four, seven and eight and a half.
The researchers said three types of diet emerged: Processed diets which were high in fat, sugar and convenience foods, traditional diets of meat, potato and vegetables, and health conscious diets of salads, fruit and fish.
The children all took IQ tests when they were eight and half.
Brain development
The researchers found a link between IQ and diet, even after taking into account other factors such as the mother’s level of education, social class and duration of breast feeding.
A diet high in processed food at the age of three was linked to a slightly lower IQ at the age of eight and a half, suggesting early eating habits have a long term impact.
Dr Pauline Emmett, who carried out the study at Bristol University, said: “Brain development is much faster in early life, it’s when it does most of its growing. It seems that what happens afterwards is less important.”
Although the relationship between diet and IQ was very strong, the impact was quite small. Processed foods were linked with IQs only a few points lower.
Experts in the field said the results had confirmed common sense.
Fiona Ford, spokesperson for the British Dietetic Association, said: “It’s well worth looking at the long term impact of diets, everyone’s familiar with the short term.
“The research confirms the type of advice we already know, but that’s not always enough. Sometimes a society has to help a person change, we need to be educating more young parents about healthy eating.”
Kristian Bravin, dietician at Leicester Royal Infirmary, said: “Most people know what they should do, some people don’t have the inclination to cook good meals.
“I’m all in favour of a little bit of what you fancy, but when you’re doing it every week it’s a problem.
“People should seek advice from a registered dietician, but simply it’s a message of moderating fat intake, five fruit and veg a day and whole grain starchy foods.”
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12381041
Courtesy : BBC News
Mixing toilets with profit in Cambodia
By Guy De Launey, BBC News, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The man in the white T-shirt has just won the prize. It is not one to cherish.
He has been declared the person who produces the most excrement in Sleng, a rural village in Kandal province, central Cambodia.
Amid much laughter, all eyes turn to the middle-aged farmer sitting cross-legged in front of the village hall.
Not cracking a smile, he does a little victory dance without getting to his feet.
“I’m not ashamed,” he says. But his face suggests otherwise.
Poor sanitation
This is precisely the impact that the yellow-shirted sanitation marketing team from International Development Enterprises (IDE) were hoping they would have.
Cambodians’ toilet habits are causing serious problems – and gently suggesting changes has not worked.
Most of this small south-east Asian country’s people live in rural areas – and only one in five of them have access to a toilet.
In fact, people are twice as likely to have a mobile phone.
The consequences are predictable. Poor sanitation causes illnesses that kill more than ten thousand Cambodians every year – most of them young children.
The economic costs are high as well.
‘Lack of appreciation’
Days off sick and time searching for somewhere to go to the toilet reduce earnings and productivity – and families spend hard-earned income on healthcare which is frequently of dubious quality.
The Asian Development Bank says that 7% of Cambodia’s GDP is lost due to its lack of sanitation.
Well-meaning development organizations have tried giving toilets away.
They frequently come back a few months later to find them being used as storage rooms or animal shelters, with the family defecating in the open as before.
“When you give something to someone, there’s a lack of appreciation,” says IDE’s sanitation programme manager, Cordell Jacks.
“If you haven’t mentally bought in to the concept of sanitation it’s not likely that you’re going to use it properly or maintain it properly. So the whole health benefit is moot.”
IDE – which is itself funded by donors including the World Bank – developed a fresh approach, using disgust and shame to make people want a toilet enough to buy one at full price.
Rush to buy
The young facilitator at the presentation in Sleng is half stand-up comedian, half sanitation ideologue.
Chhun Dina tells villagers they are surrounded by their own excrementAs she moves between her audience and the whiteboard, Chhun Dina manages to elicit hearty laughter and rueful smiles even as she tells the villagers in no uncertain terms that they are living among their own filth.
She scribbles down the numbers volunteered by the audience and adds them up.
“That’s more than a hundred tonnes a year,” she says.
“It’s like a mountain. Imagine if it rained and that mountain fell into the river. You’d be washing and bathing in your own excrement.”
Before the presentation, only two of more than 40 houses in Sleng had a toilet.
But when Chhun Dina finished, there was a rush to sign up to buy one.
‘Private enterprise’
This is where the second part of IDE’s plan comes in.
It commissioned a design for a low-cost “easy latrine” which, with a little training, local businesses could make and sell.
The price to the newly-enlightened villagers is around $30 – and the easy latrine can be installed and ready to use on the same day that someone decides they no longer want to live without a toilet.
The overall idea is to move away from the traditional model of aid – and towards a solution which brings both economic and health benefits.
“People aren’t going to want to purchase a latrine if they think an NGO is going to come along a week later and give one to them.
In which case you don’t supply a sustainable demand for private enterprise to flourish,” said Mr Jacks.
IDE were hoping that ten thousand easy latrines would be sold within 18 months.
They passed that target with several months to spare – suggesting that it may indeed be possible to reposition the toilet as a status symbol to match the mobile phone and motorbike.
Shame marketing
And success breeds success.
Observing the burgeoning rural demand for toilets, copycat businesses have set up.
Some of them have even reverse-engineered the easy latrine so they can sell something similar.
Far from being affronted, IDE is delighted.
As well as the benefits to entrepreneurs, it reasons that if people can see a business opportunity in selling low-cost toilets, they should be able to spread sanitation far more efficiently than aid organisations ever could.
With this approach showing such promise in Cambodia, other countries are already showing an interest.
Shame marketing may soon become a global phenomenon.
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12366108
Courtesy : BBC News
Moderate exercise such as walking 'boosts memory power'
Walking for 40 minutes a few times a week is enough to preserve memory and keep ageing brains on top form, research shows.
Moderate exercise increased the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain that makes memories, in 120 volunteers.
The year-long trial, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed performance on memory tests also improved.
Going for walks can make all the difference, the study suggestsExercise may buffer against dementia as well as age-related memory loss.
The latest work looked at healthy people in their 60s rather than people with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
But the findings have important implications for ageing societies faced with a dementia time bomb.
In the UK, 820,000 people have dementia, and this figure is set to double by 2030.
Until a cure is discovered, finding cheap and simple ways to reverse this trend is imperative, say experts.
Little and often
Professor Kirk Erickson and colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh in the US set out to investigate the impact that even moderate exercise might have on preserving memory.
They split their 120 volunteers into two groups. One group was asked to begin an exercise regimen of walking around a track for 40 minutes a day, three days a week, while the others were limited to doing simple stretching and toning exercises.
Brain scans and memory tests were performed at the start of the study, halfway through the study and again at the end.
Scans revealed hippocampus volume increased by around 2% in people who did regular aerobic exercise. The same region of the brain decreased in volume by 1.4% in those who did stretching exercises, consistent with the decrease seen in normal ageing.
Both groups showed some improvement over time on memory tests. In the walking group, the improvement appeared to be linked with increased size of the hippocampus.
Professor Erickson said: “We think of the atrophy of the hippocampus in later life as almost inevitable. But we’ve shown that even moderate exercise for one year can increase the size of that structure.
“The brain at that stage remains modifiable.”
Dr Simon Ridley of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust said that although the study does not look at memory loss in Alzheimer’s or dementia, it suggests “it’s never too late to start exercising to help keep our brains healthy”.
“Even modest exercise may improve memory and help protect the brain from normal decline caused by ageing.
“Increasing evidence suggests regular exercise and a healthy diet may help reduce our risk of developing dementia as well as reaping numerous other benefits from living a healthy lifestyle.”
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12325285
Courtesy : BBC News
Early bowel cancer detected by dogs in Japan
By James Gallagher
Health reporter, BBC news .
A Labrador retriever has sniffed out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples during a study in Japan.
The research, in the journal Gut, showed the dog was able to identify early stages of the disease.
Dogs sniffed out bowel cancer in more than nine out of 10 cases. It has already been suggested that dogs can use their noses to detect skin, bladder, lung, ovarian and breast cancers.
Cancer Research UK said it would be extremely difficult to use dogs for routine cancer testing.
The biology of a tumour is thought to include a distinct smell and a series of studies have used dogs to try to detect it.
Notoriously difficult
The researchers at Kyushu University used Marine, an eight-year-old black Labrador.
She was asked to pick from five samples, one of which was from a cancer patient and four from healthy people.
In the breath tests she picked out the cancer sample 33 out of 36 times.
She was even more successful with the stool samples, finding 37 out of 38 cancers.
Even early bowel cancers were detected, which is notoriously difficult.
The NHS screening programme tests for small amounts of blood in faeces, but the researchers believe it picks up only one in 10 early cases.
One in 20 people in the UK develop bowel cancer during their lifetime and more than 16,000 die each year.
Dr Hideto Sonoda, from Kyushu University, said: “It may be difficult to introduce canine scent judgement into clinical practice owing to the expense and time required for the dog trainer and dog education.
“Scent ability and concentration vary between dogs and also within the same dog on different days.
Electronic nose
Some early research on developing an “electronic dog’s nose” has taken place, which shows the potential for a cancer breath test.
Dr Sonoda told the BBC: “The specific cancer scent indeed exists, but the chemical compounds are not clear. Only the dog knows the true answer.”
“It is therefore necessary to identify the cancer specific volatile organic compounds [smells] detected by dogs and to develop an early cancer detection sensor that can be substituted for canine scent judgement.
“To complete the sensor useful in clinical practice as a new diagnostic method is still expected to take some time.”
Nell Barrie, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “Although some dogs seem to be able to smell cancer in certain situations, we’re still a long way from understanding exactly what they are detecting and this small study in one dog doesn’t give us any new clues.
“It would be extremely difficult to use dogs as part of routine testing for cancer, and that’s why further research in this area is concentrating on finding out more about the molecules given out by tumours, to see if they could be detected in other ways.”
Mark Flannagan, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer, said: “This study looks interesting but it is for the scientists to verify whether these findings could lead to future developments for screening.
“The clear message is that screening saves lives and we encourage everyone eligible to take part in the existing NHS bowel cancer screening programme.”
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12322790
Courtesy : BBC News
Heart failure research to find cure using zebrafish
The British Heart Foundation is to begin a major new research programme to find a cure for heart failure, a condition affecting 750,000 UK people.
This disease of the heart muscle, often caused by a heart attack, is one of the UK’s leading causes of disability.
The charity hopes to harness the miraculous healing abilities of zebrafish, a species that is able to mend its own heart muscle.
Ultimately, the research may make this possible for people to do so too.
Zebrafish have the ability to mend their own hearts Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the BHF, said: “Since the BHF’s inception 50 years ago, we’ve made great strides in medical research to better diagnose and treat people with all kinds of heart problems.
“But the biggest issue that still eludes us is how to help people once their heart has been damaged by a heart attack.
“Scientifically, mending human hearts is an achievable goal and we really could make recovering from a heart attack as simple as getting over a broken leg.”
But he said the research will require £50m in investment to make this a reality over the next 10 years. The charity hopes to raise the funds though donations.
The Mending Broken Hearts project will involve stem cell research and developmental biology to work out how to repair or replace damaged heart muscle.
Zebrafish are useful to scientists because they have a fully functioning simple heart and circulatory system. If part of their heart is removed, they can grow it back in a matter of weeks.
Reference Link : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12322819
Courtesy : BBC News
Reversing diabetes is possible
“I had always been pretty active,” said Legg. “But it was a big wake-up call, that what I was doing and my current weight were not OK.”
That was two years ago. Since that time, the Morgan Stanley executive decided to make some changes and reverse his diabetes. Although his doctor recommended he go on medication to control his illness, Legg took a different approach. Instead of meds, he began to exercise every day and changed his diet, cutting out alcohol, fatty foods and watching his carbs.
Do you have diabetes? How well are you managing it?
“I wanted to be able to know the changes I was making were making a difference, and it wasn’t the drug,” said Legg.
According to new statistics just out from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 25.8 million people, or 8.3% of the U.S. population, are affected by either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Most, like Legg, have type 2 diabetes, which in many people develops later in life. Caused primarily by genetic makeup, a sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits, type 2 diabetes can be reversed in some cases. By making changes to their lives such as adding exercise and improving their diets, many type 2 diabetics can drop their glucose or sugar numbers back to the normal range, reversing their condition.
So why do exercise and diet help reverse diabetes? To answer that question, we first need to know why people get diabetes in the first place.
Diabetes is caused when there is too much glucose or sugar in the body. We get sugar from the things we eat. The body is designed to process sugar so it can enter our cells and provide energy. But glucose can’t enter our cells without insulin, which is a hormone produced by the pancreas.
If you have diabetes, your body isn’t making any or is not making enough insulin — or it can’t properly use the insulin it is producing. As a result, too much sugar stays in the blood. If this occurs for a long time, it can lead to serious problems.
Tips for dealing with diabetes
Type 1 diabetes was once known as juvenile diabetes because it’s usually diagnosed in children and young adults. About 5% to 10% of all people with diabetes have this type, which is not reversible because the person’s pancreas is not producing insulin at all.
The remainder have type 2 diabetes. For these people, their body can no longer process insulin correctly. Although genetics plays a part, obesity is a major reason people develop type 2 diabetes.
“We know that excess body weight adversely affects every organ system in the body,” says Dr. Gary Foster, director of Temple University’s Center for Obesity Research and Education in Philadelphia. “So it shouldn’t be surprising that as obesity increases, as it has over the past 30 years, that medical conditions, especially conditions like type 2 diabetes, will also increase.”
People who carry excess weight, especially in their midsection, are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes because the fat in their tissues causes an imbalance of insulin in the body. The condition is called insulin resistance. If they can eliminate that fat by exercising and limiting carbohydrates and alcohol, then many can drop their glucose levels. And for some, they can drop them back into the normal range.
This is also true for people who are prediabetic. According to the CDC, 79 million Americans are prediabetic, which means their glucose readings fall between 100 and 125 while fasting. According to the American Diabetes Association, normal glucose readings are 100 and below when a person has not eaten anything. Numbers above 125 while fasting are considered to be in the diabetic range. So when you’re prediabetic, it’s easier to turn those numbers around. And that’s important, because once you become a diabetic, even if you drop your numbers, you will always be classified as a diabetic, making it difficult to acquire good insurance.
“Once you fall into that glucose range, you are considered at high risk for developing the condition again,” says Magee.
“That’s why we are working on a program right now that goes into the community and reaches those who are at risk of being prediabetic or diabetic,” Magee said. “The results have been so positive, the CDC is looking at the program as a possible protocol for other hospitals to follow.”
As for Jonathan Legg, his numbers are no longer in the diabetic range. He’s lost 40 pounds and watches everything he eats.
“I educated myself, I read the labels,” said Legg. “I enjoy what I eat. I met with nutritionists, and they helped me build a game plan.”
His physician, Dr. Lucy McBride says it’s more than just diet; it’s also the types of foods that Legg eats.
“He cut out significant amounts of sugar and carbs in his diet, really changed how he ate,” says McBride. “He’s increased fiber, increased protein, cut back on alcohol, which is really sugar.”
But McBride notes Legg needs to be tenacious.
“I told him, encouraged as I was, and proud and pleased [but] he’s got to keep up those lifestyle habits for things to stay in the right direction,” McBride said. “Without exercise, without diet and without weight control, the diabetes will come back. It’s something he will need to manage his whole life.”
That’s something Legg says he would rather do than live as a diabetic.
Courtesy : CNN
Blood drug could save many lives in combat and trauma
By Kate Kelland
LONDON | Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:34am EST
LONDON (Reuters) – A cheap generic drug used to stem bleeding from heavy menstrual periods could save the lives of tens of thousands of accident victims each year and help reduce the number of deaths in combat, scientists said Wednesday.
In a systematic review of studies on the effectiveness of tranexamic acid, or TXA, British researchers found that it reduces the risk of death in injured patients with severe bleeding by about 10 percent compared to giving no treatment.
This would equate to saving more than 70,000 lives a year if the blood clotting drug was used worldwide, they said in their study published in The Cochrane Library journal.
More than 90 percent of trauma deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries, where access to medicines is often restricted by poorer infrastructure and fewer resources.
“TXA reduces the risk of a patient bleeding to death following an injury and appears to have few side effects,” lead researcher Ian Roberts, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in a statement. “It could save lives in both civilian and military settings.”
The findings were based on one large trial involving 20,211 patients and one small trial involving 240 patients.
Injuries are a major cause of death across the world. Every year, more than a million people die from road injuries, making traffic accidents the ninth leading cause of death worldwide.
On top of that, stabbings, shootings, land mines and other injuries kill thousands more, many of them young men.
Haemorrhage, or excessive bleeding, is responsible for about a third of trauma deaths in hospitals and can also contribute to deaths from multi-organ failure. Experts estimate that about 600,000 injured patients bleed to death worldwide every year.
A study published last year of 20,000 patients in 40 countries also found that TXA significantly cut death rates in bleeding patients. Based on those findings, researchers said TXA could save up to 100,000 lives a year, including around 13,000 in India, 12,000 in China, 2,000 in the U.S. and more in Europe.
They also said TXA, an off-patent generic medicine made by several companies and costing around $4.50 per gram, should be listed as “essential” by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Reference Link : http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70I00E20110119
Courtesy : Reuters
Goodness Apple 
leave a comment