TV raises blood pressure in obese kids

CHICAGO - Watching too much television may not only help make children fat, it may also raise their blood pressure, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

They found obese children who watched four or more hours of TV a day were three times more likely to have high blood pressure than children who watched less than two hours a day.

"There is a significant association between hours of television watched and both the severity of obesity and the presence of hypertension in obese children," Dr. Jeffrey Schwimmer of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues wrote in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Many studies have found a strong link between watching TV and obesity, but this is the first study to show a link between TV and blood pressure in obese children and teens, the researchers wrote.

Obesity in children is on the rise, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. And high blood pressure in children has been rising in right along with obesity rates.

The problem is often undiagnosed in children, and if undetected, high blood pressure can quietly damage the organs, especially the kidneys.

Schwimmer worked with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of South Alabama. They studied 546 children and teens aged 4 to 17 seen at weight management clinics from 2003 to 2005.

Height and weight were measured to determine a body mass index, or BMI, and blood pressure was recorded.


Via Reuters

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Vitamin D does not prevent death from cancer

NEW YORK - Contrary to what many people believe, vitamin D may not be a strong anti-cancer agent, the results of a new study suggest.

The one possible exception is colon cancer: high blood levels of vitamin D do seem to correlate with a reduced risk of death from this cancer.

"This study was the first, to our knowledge, to look at the relationship between measured vitamin D in blood and subsequent total cancer (deaths) in a population," lead author Dr. D. Michal Freedman, from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, told Reuters Health.

"The key finding was the lack of an association between vitamin D levels in the blood and subsequent total cancer risk. We were uncertain what association we would find, partly because there were no previous studies that had looked at overall cancer mortality after vitamin D blood measurements," he added.

The findings, which appear in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, are based on an analysis of data for 16,818 subjects who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The subjects were at least 17 years of age when the survey was undertaken between 1988 and 1994 and they were followed through 2000. Vitamin D levels were measured with a standard test when the study began.

During the study period, 536 cancer deaths occurred, the report indicates. As noted, no association between vitamin D levels and total cancer deaths was apparent. This held true in the overall analysis as well as in analyses confined to various ethnic and age groups.

By contrast, there was some evidence that vitamin D may help prevent colon cancer. In the study, people with the highest vitamin D levels were 72 percent less likely to die from this cancer than were people with the lowest levels.

"Among the questions to be addressed in future studies is the relationship between vitamin D levels and future cancer risk both for individual cancer sites and for total cancer risk." The NCI and other institutes currently have a number of these studies underway, Freedman said.

In a related editorial, Dr. Cindy D. Davis, from the NCI, and Dr. Johanna T. Dwyer, from Tufts University in Boston, comment that "while vitamin D may well have multiple benefits beyond bone, health professionals and the public should not in a rush to judgment assume that vitamin D is a magic bullet and consume high amounts of vitamin D."

SOURCE: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, November 7, 2007.


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Prenatal Smoking Increases ADHD Risk In Some Children

Past research has suggested that both genes and prenatal insults — such as exposure to alcohol and nicotine — can increase the risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). But the identified increases in risk have been very modest. Now, a team of Washington University scientists has found that when those factors are studied together, risk of a severe type of ADHD greatly increases.

The investigators looked at two genes related to ADHD risk and considered whether mothers smoked during pregnancy. In past studies, maternal smoking had been linked to a 1.2- to 1.3-fold increase in risk of ADHD. Genes associated with ADHD elevated risk between 1.2- and 1.4-fold.

"But when we looked at the effect of maternal smoking in children with one of our candidate genes, we saw a three-fold increase in risk, and in children with both genes whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, we saw a nine-fold increase," says senior investigator Richard D. Todd, M.D., Ph.D., the Blanche F. Ittleson Professor and director of the Division of Child Psychiatry at Washington University. "Our findings begin to offer an explanation for the modest effects we've seen when looking at genes or environmental variables one at a time. It appears it's really the interaction of genes and environmental factors that predisposes a child to problems with ADHD."

The researchers studied children from 782 Missouri families, gathering information on 1,540 twins between 7 and 18 years of age. A parent from each family, usually the mother, completed diagnostic interviews about both twins to determine whether either had ADHD symptoms or other behavioral problems. The researchers also studied DNA from twins in 557 of those families. The mothers were asked about smoking and complications during their pregnancy.

"Almost 25 percent of the mothers said they had smoked when they were pregnant," says lead author Rosalind J. Neuman, Ph.D., research professor of mathematics in psychiatry. "We classified mothers as smokers if they reported smoking at all while pregnant, and we think that's fairly representative because of those who reported smoking at all during pregnancy, 75 percent continued to smoke during all three trimesters, and another 10 percent smoked in two of the three trimesters."

In this study, Neuman, Todd and their colleagues concentrated on two of the candidate genes linked to ADHD risk in past research. One was the DRD4 gene on chromosome 11 and the second was the DAT1 gene on chromosome 5. Both genes are part of the brain's dopamine system, and animal studies have shown that dopamine activity is related to attention. Common variants in both genes have been linked to small increases in ADHD risk.

"We looked at these particular genes because stimulant medications used to treat ADHD are known to increase dopamine at synapses between brain cells, and that's where the protein products of these genes are located," Todd explains. "These same cells also possess the nicotinic receptors that smoking activates, which also increases dopamine."

There are 18 diagnostic symptoms that can go into an ADHD diagnosis, nine involving attention and nine involving hyperactivity and impulsivity. Under the current criteria in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), a child must have six or more symptoms to have a diagnosis of ADHD.

A child with at least six inattentive symptoms is classified as inattentive. Six or more of the hyperactive symptoms classifies a child as hyperactive. Six or more from both categories is known as the combined subtype of ADHD. Children with the DRD4 and DAT1 genes whose mothers smoked during pregnancy tended to be at risk for that severe, combined subtype.

Interestingly, even children who didn't officially have ADHD did have more symptoms of the disorder if they had been exposed to cigarette use in utero or had the genetic variations related to risk.

"There were statistically significant differences just comparing the number of ADHD symptoms a child had when the mother smoked versus the number of symptoms in kids whose mothers didn't smoke during pregnancy," Neuman says. "We also found that whether or not they actually met diagnostic criteria for ADHD, kids prenatally exposed to cigarette smoke who had a risk variant in either their DRD4 or DAT1 gene also had more symptoms."

Neuman and Todd say those children might be thought of as having sub-syndromal forms of ADHD, too mild to be diagnosed officially but probably related to both their genetic makeup and to prenatal exposure to cigarettes. In future studies, they hope to gather more data, such as whether either the mother or father have ADHD symptoms themselves or whether children are growing up in houses where both mother and father smoke, potentially affecting brain development. And as the studies continue, the investigators plan to focus on the interplay of genetic and environmental factors rather than considering them separately.

"The important thing we've learned is that the risks were not just cumulative, but they were interactive," Todd says. "It's the interplay of genetic and environmental effects that seems to determine which children develop ADHD, so in future studies we want to focus on that interaction."

Todd's team reports its findings online in the journal Biological Psychiatry. The study also will appear in an upcoming print issue of the journal.

Adapted from materials provided by Washington University.


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Dogs Help Humans In Research To Fight A Terminal Disease

ScienceDaily — Dogs are more than just human's best friend; at the University of Missouri-Columbia, dogs are helping with life-saving research. Tibetan Terriers are contributing to an extensive canine DNA bank in an on-going research program studying the genetic bases of diseases that affect both dogs and humans. The Tibetan Terriers can be stricken with a neurological disease, known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL), which has a human equivalent called Battens disease.

NCL diseases are inherited neurological disorders that have no cure. Though rare, children of parents who are carriers each have a one in four chance of inheriting the terminal disease. In order to better understand the pathology of the disease and develop therapies, Martin Katz, professor of ophthalmology with dual appointments in the School of Medicine and the College of Veterinary Medicine, is looking to the Tibetan Terriers for help.

"The purebred dog population provides an ideal model for genetic research," said Wayne Ferguson, president of the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation. "The dogs' pedigrees provide detailed multigenerational relationship information. The shorter lifespan of a dog allows researchers to compress studies that would take much longer with people."

Katz is searching for the genetic bases of the disease by studying the large pool of DNA provided by the dogs' owners. The normal canine genome, which has been sequenced, is compared to the DNA of the affected and unaffected Tibetan Terriers to pinpoint the NCL mutation in this breed. Katz said in order for genetic mapping to be successful, information about the disease status of the dogs and their pedigrees must be accurate. Because of the excellent record-keeping by breed registries and close observations of their dogs by owners, registered purebred dogs are ideal subjects for genetic studies.

Using the "candidate gene" approach, Katz sequenced, or identified, the genes of affected Tibetan Terriers in specific areas thought to be comparable to those where human markers associated with the condition have been identified. Using this approach, he was able to eliminate mutations in known NCL genes as the cause of the Tibetan Terrier disease.

The next step is the identification of the NCL mutation in Tibetan Terriers. This now requires that the mutant gene be located through a process called mapping or linkage analysis. This analysis involves detailed comparison of the DNA from a large number of affected dogs with the DNA of their parents and affected littermates.

"The organization of genes in a genome is like the organization of books in a library," Katz said. "Genes are arranged in a specific order on a number of different chromosomes, much like books are placed in specific orders on specific shelves in a library. Determining the precise location of a disease-causing mutation within the genome will identify the disease gene, just as going to a specific location on a specific shelf in a library will result in a particular book being located."

Once the NCL mutation in Tibetan Terriers has been identified, a simple test for the mutation can be performed on any dog using DNA extracted from a blood sample. This will enable breeders to screen dogs prior to breeding to prevent generating affected dogs in the future. Identification of the Tibetan Terrier NCL mutation also will make it possible to determine whether any humans with NCL have the mutations in the corresponding human gene.

According to Katz, human NCL often goes misdiagnosed because the disease is rare and early symptoms overlap those of other disorders. Eventually, affected children develop an array of symptoms that include blindness, seizures, cognitive decline and loss of motor function. Often, it is not until these symptoms are well advanced that a correct diagnosis is made. Research currently is underway to develop gene and stem cell therapies for the NCL diseases, but to be effective any therapy will have to begin early in the course of the disease. Identifying the NCL mutations will enable definitive diagnoses of these diseases to be made on the basis of DNA tests early enough to make therapeutic interventions effective.

"Dr. Katz's work with Tibetan Terriers has the potential to fast forward the entire research process." said Lance Johnson, executive director of the Batten Disease Research and Support Association. "As we are increasingly able to correlate canine research efforts with human studies, we expect the crossover opportunities to be phenomenal."

The Tibetan Terrier DNA bank was originally conceived and developed by Stuart Eckmann and Linda Bell, who oversee the Tibetan Terrier Club of America's health programs. In a collaborative effort with MU, Eckmann refers owners of affected dogs to Katz for examination of retinal and neural tissue. The result of this effort has been a more complete description of the condition than exists in any current textbook. Using Eckmann's model, MU has expanded canine DNA banking for genetic studies to many other dog breeds and diseases including epilepsy, cancer and Parkinson's disease.

Support for Katz's work has been provided by the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, the Batten Disease Support and Research Association, and Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc.

Adapted from materials provided by University Of Missouri-Columbia.


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Pre-cancer lesions 'remain risk'

Women who have been treated for early signs of cervical cancer have a high risk of the disease decades later, say Swedish researchers.

Regular smear tests should be offered to those with pre-cancerous lesions for at least 25 years, they said.

Current guidelines for UK women who have been treated for the condition called carcinoma-in-situ recommend annual screening for 10 years.

The study of 133,000 women is published in the British Medical Journal.

Cervical screening is offered to women in the UK at three-year intervals between the ages of 25 and 49 and then every five years until the age of 64 years.

It is done to pick up changes to cells in the surface layer of the cervix which may later develop into cancer.

If abnormal cells are detected they can be monitored, destroyed or removed.

Analysis

Swedish researchers looked at data on women who had been diagnosed with the most severe pre-cancerous lesions - commonly known as carcinoma-in-situ - between 1958 and 2002.

They found the women were more than twice as likely to develop cervical cancer as the general female population and seven times more likely to develop vaginal cancer.

The risk remains for 20 years or more, the results suggest.

They also found that there was an increasing risk of cervical cancer if the woman was older at the time of diagnosis, with a much higher risk for women aged over 50.

Study leader, Dr Bjorn Strander, senior consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said: "It must be considered a failure of the medical service when women participate in screening, their pre-cancerous lesions are found and they subject themselves to treatment of those lesions, presumably participate in follow-up programmes, and still develop invasive cancer."

He added that follow-up care had to date been insufficient and women should be offered screening at regular intervals for at least 25 years after treatment.

Dr Anne Szarewski, honorary senior lecturer at the Cancer Research UK Centre for Epidemiology, Mathematics and Statistics in London, said less aggressive treatments for cervical abnormalities had been used in the past 20 years, which may have left women more at risk of developing cancer in the long-term.

But she said that the risk had to be balanced against the huge advantages for most women of avoiding hysterectomy and other treatments which would impair their fertility.

"It should be remembered that the majority of women who are found to have high grade cervical abnormalities are in their 30s and early 40s, a time when they may have not completed - or even started - their family.

She said the issue of longer-term follow-up of these women should certainly be considered.

"We need to think about whether women will find this reassuring but also up to what age they would be willing to undergo screening."


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Increased Risk Of Testicular Cancer Among Infertile Men

UroToday.com- From the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine - October 13-17, 2007

The objective of the study was to assess testicular cancer in infertile men utilizing a cohort study methodology. Couples evaluated for infertility from 1965 to 1995 from 15 California infertility centers comprise a database of over 51,000 couples. Medical records of male partners were reviewed and linked to the California Cancer Registry, the cumulative Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry for the State of California. Cancers preceding infertility were excluded from analysis. The incidence of testicular cancer in this cohort was compared to age-matched men from the general population

Men from infertile couples were 60% more likely to develop cancer than other men (standardized incidence ratio I .6 95% confidence interval I .2 to 2.2). This risk was relatively constant across all age strata.

The authors conclude that men with a history of infertility have a markedly increased risk of subsequently developing testicular cancer.

Authors:

Walsh, M. Schembri, P. J. Turek. Ni, S. Croughan. Department of Urology, University of California. San Francisco, (Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science, University of California. San Francisco, CA.

Editorial Comment:

This is another study demonstrating the association between infertility and testicular cancer. The most common histology was seminoma. However, this study indentified men of infertile couples not necessarily men with male factor infertility. Since it was a secondary data analysis study there was an opportunity of classification error. That being said its findings are consistent with previous reports linking male factor infertility and testicular cancer



Via Medicalnewstoday

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Clue To Preventing Infertility In Women

Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College, London, have made a significant breakthrough in their understanding of how infection of the uterus damages fertility in cows. Their findings, which show that common uterine infections can damage the ovaries, may provide insights into how to treat infections such as Chlamydia in humans.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, researchers led by Professor Martin Sheldon studied the effect that uterine disease has on the reproductive system in cows. Their findings, published n the journal Reproduction, suggest that the cow's innate immune system may affect key stages in the reproductive cycle, including suppressing the release of the female sex hormone oestrogen and causing failure to ovulate.

Approximately a million dairy cows get uterine disease each year in the UK, affecting not only milk production but also the cow's ability to reproduce. Cows already have an unusually low chance of conceiving -- a 30% chance compared to over 60% in sheep -- so if their fertility falls further and they are unable to conceive, they become uneconomical to keep and may be culled.

In cows, uterine disease is usually caused by bacteria entering the uterus after the cow has given birth. The same route of infection can also occur in women; however, humans may also be affected by sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia. Although the infections are usually successfully treated with antibiotics, the infertility often persists.

Using the bacterium E. coli, Professor Sheldon and colleagues examined the effect that bacteria have on the granulosa cells that line each egg-containing follicle in the ovary. These granulosa cells nurture the egg until the follicle bursts to release the egg, and they make oestradiol (a form of the sex hormone oestrogen), which encourages the female to copulate. The researchers found that even after treatment of uterine disease, the follicle still contains toxin left over from the breakdown of the pathogen.

The researchers also found that granulosa cells, which protect the egg inside the follicle, play a part in the immune response to infection by recognising that the toxin has entered the follicle and inhibiting production of oestradiol.

"We believe that granulosa cells may play a role in 'quality control' relating to ovulation," says Professor Sheldon. "Infection can potentially damage the genetic make-up of an egg, and these 'errors' would be passed down from generation to generation. By suppressing the release of oestrogen -- in effect, reducing sexual behaviour -- the granulosa are preventing those defects being passed on."

Professor Sheldon believes that these findings open up a new, previously overlooked, avenue for treating uterine disease in cows.

"The emphasis on treating uterine disease has so far always been on clearing infection in the uterus," he says. "We need to remember that the infection also affects the ovaries and may cause lasting damage. We may need to treat the disease with anti-inflammatory drugs or develop new anti-toxins."

The findings mirror those from research previously carried out in mice, suggesting that granulosa may be a part of the innate immune system in other mammals, possibly including humans.

"It appears that bacteria have a lasting effect on fertility in cattle and possibly humans," says Professor Sheldon. "Our research suggests a mechanism for how this may occur and offers hope for developing new treatments to prevent this from happening."


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Schoolgirls to get 'cancer jab'

Schoolgirls in Britain will be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer from September 2008, ministers have announced

This goes further than recommended by experts, with all aged 12-13 eligible, and a catch-up campaign up to 18.

It is thought that vaccinating against human papilloma virus (HPV) could save hundreds of lives in the UK each year.

The vaccine is given in three injections over six months at a cost of around £300 a course.

Earlier this year the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended routine vaccination for 11 to 12-year olds, including the possibility of a catch-up campaign - but only up to the age of 16.

But the government wanted further evidence on the cost benefits of a programme before making a final decision.

In England the programme will start initially in 12 to 13-year olds, with plans to vaccinate those up to the age of 18 from autumn 2009.

Wales and Scotland have announced similar plans, and Northern Ireland will also be carrying out vaccination in 12-year olds but has yet to finalise the details.

It will most likely be done in schools but individual primary care trusts will be responsible for working out how to implement vaccination.

Two vaccines have been developed - Gardasil, made by Merck and Sanofi Pasteur, which has been approved in 76 countries, and Cervarix, made by GSK and launched in the UK recently.

The committee had not made a recommendation as to which of the vaccines should be used.

Killer disease

Some have expressed concerns that providing a jab to protect against a sexually transmitted infection to children at a young age might encourage promiscuity.

But parents would have the final say as to whether their child received the injection.

Sarah Lotzof is a GP at Dedicated Doctors, a private clinic that has been offering the vaccine. She told BBC Radio 5 Live the vaccines were needed.

"It is a huge breakthrough for our younger generation," she said.

"We can stop possibly 85% of people who would have died of cancer dying - and at the moment over 1,000 women are dying of this disease in this country now."

About 80% of sexually active women can expect to have an HPV infection at some point in their lives.

It is held responsible for some 70% of cervical cancer cases, a disease which kills 274,000 women worldwide every year, including 1,120 in the UK.

European approval

In an editorial published last year, the Lancet called for mandatory vaccination against HPV for girls in all EU member states once they are 11 or 12.

Other European countries including Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Norway, Luxembourg and Belgium have approved a vaccination programme.

Experts said the programme would be more expensive than all other childhood immunisations and the benefits would not be seen for decades, but eventually it would be worth the cost.

Health secretary Alan Johnson said: "As a society we need to do more to prevent disease and not just treat it.

"Now, more than ever before, we need to make the NHS a service that prevents ill health and prioritises keeping people well."

He added that 400 lives could potentially be saved each year, with many women prevented from getting HPV in the first place.

Pamela Morton, director of cervical cancer charity Jo's Trust, said she was absolutely delighted at the news.

"It's exactly what we wanted and it goes beyond our expectations. I'm delighted for young women and their parents."

Dr Loretta Brabin, Reader in Women's Health, University of Manchester, said they were working with two primary care trusts to pilot the vaccination programme ahead of national roll-out.

"So far we have not encountered any major obstacles to parental acceptance of vaccination.

"Parent's main concern is long term safety, and while many do not think their daughters will be at risk of HPV just yet, most understand the need for vaccinating at an early age," she said.


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Diabetics To Benefit From New Source Of Islet Cells

The shortage of islet cells limits the development of islet transplantation. One new approach was reported in the World Journal of Gastroenterology because of its great significance in enhancing the output of islet cells. This article will undoubtedly bring benefit to diabetic patients.

The article describes the differentiation of rat pancreatic ductal epithelial cells into insulin-producing cells by the transfection of PDX-1. In recent years, though great efforts have been made to differentiate embryonic stem cells, pancreatic ductal epithelial multipotent progenitor cells and bone marrow stem cells into islet cells, the process of cell differentiation and growth is long. Moreover, the amount of islet cells of differentiation, and the insulin released by islets, is not enough to meet the clinical needs.

To shorten the process of differentiation and enhance the output of insulin-producing cells and increase the amount of insulin-releasing, Dr Liu et al. transfected PDX-1 into primary pancreatic ductal epithelial cells and then differentiated the transfected cells into insulin-producing cells. In contrast, the expression of PDX-1 and insulin mRNA and protein were detectable in the transfected cells. Endogenous PDX-1 might play an important role during differentiation and the transfected cells can produce more insulin-releasing cells and release more insulin after induction.

The results of this study suggest a promising future for many diabetic patients who need islets transplantation. Due to the high percentage of diabetes mellitus and severe complications around the world, this case reported by Dr. Liu et al. is surely worth the attention of the researchers of diabetes.

----------------------------
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
----------------------------

Reference: Liu T, Wang CY, Yu F, Gou SM, Wu HS, Xiong JX, Zhou F. In vitro pancreas duodenal homeobox-1 enhances the differentiation of pancreatic ductal epithelial cells into insulin-producing cells.
World J Gastroenterol 2007; 13(39): 5232-5237

Correspondence to: Chun-You Wang, MD, Department of Pancreatic Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China.


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AIDS vaccine may raise infection risk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 3,000 people who volunteered to receive an experimental Merck and Co. AIDS vaccine are being told to come back and get extra tests because the jab may itself raise the risk of infection.

Researchers stress that they do not yet have enough information to say whether those who got the shot indeed are more susceptible to infection with HIV. But they said initial information from the trial, which was stopped suddenly last month, is worrisome.

"At present, there is a tremendous amount of data being analyzed from the ... trial to see if there is, in fact, any greater risk of infection in those volunteers who received the vaccine," Dr. Mark Feinberg, vice president of medical affairs and public health for Merck, said in an e-mail letter.

Two studies were stopped in September after the independent board monitoring one of the trials noticed some troubling data.

"Specifically, 24 cases of HIV infection were seen among the 741 volunteers who received at least one dose of the investigational vaccine, while 21 cases of HIV infection were seen in the 762 participants who received at least one dose of the placebo," the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which was co-sponsoring the trial with Merck, said in a statement.

This trial, which began in 2004, had enrolled volunteers around the world in the United States, Peru, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Australia.

The second trial had begun in South Africa earlier this year, and had enrolled 800 volunteers...


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Using Stem Cells To Treat Damaged Eyes And A Rare Skin Disorder

Doctors and scientists in Italy have shown how stem cells can be used to treat damaged eyes and, in combination with gene therapy, a rare and debilitating skin disease.

Professor Michele De Luca of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia described the work to an international meeting of stem cell scientists in Milan ("Challenges in Stem Cell Differentiation and Transplantation") organised by the European Science Foundation's EuroSTELLS stem cell programme in conjunction with the National Research Council of Italy.

Stem cell therapy involves the use of stem cells -- 'blank' cells ('toti- or 'pluripotent') that have not differentiated into specialised cells -- to generate new tissues or organs. While widespread stem cell therapy lies some way in the future, Professor De Luca pointed out that it has been used already for many years in the treatment of burns. Many tissues of the body are continuously regenerated by their own population of stem cells. In the skin, such cells are called holoclones and for decades doctors have taken small samples of these cells from burns patients and cultured the cells into new skin that can be grafted onto the wound.

Professor De Luca's team showed that cells of the transparent outer covering of the eye, the cornea, are constantly being replaced by new cells deriving from an area surrounding the cornea called the limbus. The cells differentiate into corneal epithelium and migrate to the cornea.

"If the cornea is damaged severely by a chemical burn or infection, for example, it can become opaque and necessitates a transplant," Professor De Luca told the meeting. "However, a transplant will only be successful if the patient's limbus has remained intact so that it can continue to replenish the new cornea."

For many years doctors did not understand why some transplants failed -- because they did not appreciate the requirement for the limbus.

In cases where the limbus is destroyed there has been little hope to restore the patient's sight. Professor De Luca's team decided to take a leaf from the way that burns are treated and grow a new cornea from limbar stem cells taken from the healthy eye.

By removing a small sample of these cells it was possible to culture a new cornea and graft it on to the damaged eye. The team showed that of 240 patients who were operated on in this way, the cornea regenerated successfully in 70% of cases.

The researchers then turned their attention to a rare but debilitating genetic disease of the skin resulting in a syndrome known as Epidermolysis Bullosa, in which the skin is highly fragile and prone to blistering due to faulty proteins that effectively anchor the surface layers of skin to the body.

In one form of the disease there is a mutation in one of these anchoring proteins called laminin 5. The Italian researchers obtained consent to carry out a small-scale trial of a novel gene therapy using skin holoclones on one patient, a 37-year-old male, on small part of his body .

"Because the patient's body was so badly affected it was difficult to isolate any stem cells from his skin," Professor De Luca told the conference. "Most people have between seven and ten per cent of holoclones. Our man had none. Eventually we found a few in the palms of his hand and cultured them from a biopsy."

The team then used gene therapy to insert the correct laminin gene into the growing cells and grafted the new tissue onto the patient's body. The graft was successful and after several months the skin remained to all intents normal, without the blistering and flaking.

"This demonstrates that it is possible to use stem cells in gene therapy for genetic skin disorders," Professor De Luca said.




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Smoking, family alcohol history alter taste buds

Cigarette smoking and a family history of alcoholism both alter how women perceive sweet foods and what foods they crave, according to studies conducted by two researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

Marta Yanina Pepino and Julie A. Mennella found that women who smoked were less sensitive to sweet taste than women who never smoked. Women who smoked needed higher concentrations of sugar to detect a sweet taste, and the more years a woman smoked, the less she was able to perceive a sweet taste.

"Smoking dulls sweet taste sensitivity," Pepino and Mennella noted in a joint email to Reuters Health. "Whether this reduced sensitivity for sweets helps smokers control their weight is an important question that is not addressed in the current study."

The researchers also found that cigarette smoking leads to increased food cravings, particularly for starchy carbohydrates and high-fat foods. "We found that food cravings were associated with nicotine dependence ... the more intense the cravings for cigarettes, the more frequent the cravings for foods high in fat and carbohydrates," Pepino explained.

The observations stem from tests performed with two groups of women: 27 current smokers (18 with a family history of alcoholism) and 22 never-smokers (9 with a family history of alcoholism. The researchers measured cravings for sweets and other specific foods and, for smokers, cravings for cigarettes.

The bottom line, Pepino and Mennella say, is that "smoking alters your sensory world. Our study adds to the growing evidence that sensitivity to odors as well as bitter and sweet tastes declines as a consequence of smoking."

The researchers also found evidence that, regardless of smoking status, women with a family history of alcoholism showed a preference for sweeter foods and craved sweets more often than women without a family history of alcoholism.

Dependence on alcohol and nicotine, and the associations of these two drugs of abuse with a greater affinity and sensitivity to sweets may originate from a common neurobiological base of reward or genetic factors, the researchers say.

"More knowledge of how genetic factors interact with smoking and alcohol addictions on the perception of food-related cues may assist in designing programs to help women, a population especially concerned with weight gain, to stop smoking," they conclude.


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Children's sleep needs vary widely

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK - Children tend to vary widely in their sleep habits, with some being naturally "short sleepers" and others needing more time in bed, a study suggests.

Swiss researchers found that among 305 children they followed from ages 1 to 10, there was significant variability in how much sleep they typically got each night. However, most children -- 90 percent -- remained fairly steady in their sleep habits throughout childhood.

That is, children who were "short sleepers" or "long sleepers" as toddlers tended to be so later in childhood as well.

This suggests that biological makeup plays a large role in the amount of sleep any one child needs, the study authors report in the journal Pediatrics.

"We conclude from these findings that there is no optimal amount of sleep for the entire population of children," lead study author Dr. Oskar G. Jenni told Reuters Health.

Instead, "there is a wide range of 'normal' sleep duration among children," added Jenni, the director of the Child Development Center at University Children's Hospital Zurich.

Individual children in the study did show short-term fluctuations in the amount of the time they slept each night, according to parents' reports. And the average amount of sleep time naturally declined over the long term -- from more than 14 hours per day at age 1 to 10 hours at age 10...


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Diet choices 'written in genes'

Our genes and not just our upbringing may play a key role in our food likes and dislikes, UK researchers believe.

Experts from Kings College London compared the eating habits of thousands of pairs of twins.

Identical twins were far more likely to share the same dietary patterns - like a penchant for coffee and garlic - suggesting tastes may be inherited.

A health psychologist said this meant childhood food foibles might be harder to put right than previously thought.

Identical twins have exactly the same genetic make-up as each other, so scientists, by comparing them to non-identical twins, can work out the likelihood that their characteristics are due to "nature" or "nurture".

The Kings College researchers looked at a total of more than 3,000 female twins aged between 18 and 79, working out their broad preferences using five different dietary "groups".

These included diets heavy in fruit and vegetables, alcohol, fried meat and potatoes, and low-fat products or low in meat, fish and poultry.

Coffee inheritance

Their results, published in the journal Twin Research and Human Genetics, suggested that between 41% and 48% of a person's leaning towards one of the food groups was influenced by genetics.

The strongest link between individual liking and genes involved a taste for garlic and coffee.

Professor Tim Spector, who led the research, said: "For so long we have assumed that our upbringing and social environment determine what we like to eat.

"This has blown that theory out of the water - more often than not, our genetic make-up influences our dietary patterns."

The researchers suggested that healthy eating campaigns, such as the government's "five-a-day" fruit and vegetable initiative, might have to be re-thought in light of the findings, as people genetically "programmed" to eat less fruit and vegetables would be more resistant to health messages than thought.

Brain 'rewards'

Professor Jane Wardle, from University College, said that the findings, and other similar research, pointed to genetics playing a "moderate" part in the development of preferred foods.

She said that it was possible that genes involved with taste, or the "reward" chemicals released by the body in response to certain foods, might play a role.

"People have always made the assumption that food choices are all due to environmental factors during life, but it now seems this isn't the case.

"It also suggests that what parents do to influence eating habits in childhood are not necessarily as important as we thought - and that a lot of effort may need to be made with young people as they become independent in adolescence to steer them onto the right course."


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US woman guilty of 'womb theft'

Jurors in the US state of Missouri have convicted a woman who strangled an expectant mother and cut the baby from her womb with a kitchen knife in 2004.

After four hours of deliberation, they rejected Lisa Montgomery's plea that she had been delusional when she killed Bobbie Jo Stinnett and stole the baby.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Montgomery, convicted of kidnapping resulting in death.

The baby, a girl, survived and was later returned to her father.

'Voodoo science'

Montgomery met the Stinnetts at a rat terrier dog show in Kansas in April 2004.

Having learnt of Bobbie Jo's pregnancy, in December 2004 she used a fake online profile to set up a meeting at the Stinnett family home saying that she wanted to buy a terrier puppy.

Once in the house she used a rope to strangle the young mother, before hacking the baby from her womb with a kitchen knife.

A doctor testifying in the trial said that Bobbi Jo was probably still alive when Montgomery started removing her child.

Montgomery's lawyers had sought to portray their client as a victim of severe mental illness whose delusion of being pregnant - pseudocyesis - was being threatened, causing her to enter a dreamlike state when the killing took place.

They also argued that she had post-traumatic stress disorder brought on by mental, physical and sexual abuse in her childhood.

Federal prosecutor Roseann Ketchmark called the claim of pseudocyesis "voodoo science".

Healthy child

Instead, the prosecutor argued that Montgomery had feared her ex-husband, Carl Boman, would expose that she was lying about being pregnant and use it against her as he sought custody of two of the couple's four children.

"It's not pseudocyesis or post-traumatic stress disorder," Ms Ketchmark said in closing arguments.

"And even if you wrap them up and put delusions around them, it's not insanity."

Mrs Stinnett, 23 and eight months pregnant when she was killed, fought for her life and that of her child, the trial heard.

Nodaway County Sheriff Ben Espey, who was the first law enforcement officer to arrive at the Stinnetts' home in Skidmore, Missouri, said in his testimony:

"You could see swirls in the floor in the blood, showing there was a struggle."

Her killer was arrested the day after the crime having spent the morning showing off the infant as her own in her hometown of Melvern, Kansas.

"The only good thing that comes from this tragedy is that little Victoria is a healthy baby and is reunited with her family," US Attorney John F Wood said.


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Obesity 'epidemic' turns global

People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of south and east Asia, a one-day global snapshot shows.

Between half and two-thirds of men and women in 63 countries across five continents - not including the US - were overweight or obese in 2006.

The Circulation journal study included over 168,000 people evaluated by a primary care doctor.

Experts said the findings were deeply worrying.

People who are overweight have a higher risk of heart disease, Type II diabetes and other diseases including some cancers.

The International Day for the Evaluation of Obesity (IDEA) study looked at two measures of fatness - waist circumference and a calculation called body mass index or BMI.

A BMI (weight in kg divided by square of height in meters) of 18.5 to 25 is considered healthy.

A BMI over 25 is deemed overweight and greater than 30 is obese.

Pandemic

Just 7% of people in eastern Asia were obese, compared to 36% of people seeing their doctors in Canada, 38% of women in Middle Eastern countries and 40% in South Africa.

Canada and South Africa led in the percentage of overweight people, with an average BMI of 29 among both men and women in Canada and 29 among South African women.

Graph: global obesity, men
168,000 people were evaluated by a doctor on a single day. The US was not included in the report.
A BMI over 25 is deemed overweight and greater than 30 is obese.

In Northern Europe men had an average BMI of 27 and women 26 - just into the overweight category. In southern Europe, the average BMI was 28. In Australia BMI was 28 for men and 27.5 for women while in Latin America the average BMI was just under 28.

Waist circumference was also high - 56% of men and 71% of women carried too much weight around their middle.

"The study results show that excess body weight is pandemic, with one-half to two-thirds of the overall study population being overweight or obese," said Beverley Balkau, director of research at the French National health research institute INSERM in Villejuif, who led the study.

That puts the rest of the world close to par with the US, long considered the country with the worst weight problem.

Graph: global obesity, women
168,000 people were evaluated by a doctor on a single day. The US was not included in the report.
A BMI over 25 is deemed overweight and greater than 30 is obese.

An estimated two-thirds of Americans are overweight and a third of these are obese. In the US, the lifetime risk of developing diabetes, is also high - 33% for men and 38% for women.

In the study, the overall frequency of heart disease was 16% in men and 13% in women. There was a high frequency of heart disease in Eastern European men, 27%, and women, 24%, in contrast to Canada where the frequency in women was 8%, and in men 16%.

The frequency of diabetes varied across regions. Overall, 13% of men and 11% of women were diagnosed with diabetes.

Ellen Mason of the British Heart Foundation said: "It is tragic irony that whilst much of the world is starving, many developed countries across the world are in the grips of an obesity crisis.

"Whilst it is vital not to stigmatise people in our society for being overweight, it is important we all know the health risks from being obese. The worrying increase of diabetes in the UK is clearly linked to rising obesity levels and plummeting physical activity levels. Being obese or diabetic, or worse, both, increases your chance of getting heart disease.

"Whilst the UK may not be the worst offender in this global study, we are aware that it's a major health issue in our country. After seeing the heart attack death rate reduce in the UK in the last few years, there is a real risk that this figure could go back up if diabetes and obesity continue to rise as they currently are."

# A BMI over 25 is deemed overweight and greater than 30 is obese.


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Tonsillectomy can improve kids' sleep, behavior

NEW YORK - Children with sleep disordered breathing who undergo adenotonsillectomy - surgical removal of the tonsils and adenoids -- may not only start sleeping better, but may also show improvements in behavior, the results of a new study suggests.

Sleep disordered breathing refers to a spectrum of breathing disorders, ranging from snoring to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, a condition in which the patient stops and starts breathing many times over the course of the night. One side effect of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is chronic fatigue during the day.

Often, the problem stems from enlarged tonsils and adenoids, masses of tissue that help catch incoming germs; the tonsils are located in the back of the throat, while the adenoids dwell behind the nose.

Studies have found that children with sleep disordered breathing also have an elevated rate of behavioral problems, including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and poor school performance. It's thought that poor sleep quality contributes to these problems.

Adenotonsillectomy can cure children's sleep disordered breathing, and the results of the new study suggest that accompanying behavioral issues may also improve, researchers say.

"For children with behavior problems, chronic snoring may contribute to such behaviors, and if the snoring is addressed, there can be significant improvement in their quality of life," lead study author Dr. Julie L. Wei, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, told Reuters Health.

The study, published in the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery, included 117 children with sleep disordered breathing who underwent adenotonsillectomy. Before the surgery and six months after the procedure, parents completed questionnaires on their children's sleep disordered breathing symptoms and behavioral problems, including inattention, hyperactivity and defiance...


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Chronic cough? Iron deficiency could be to blame

CHICAGO - Instead of cough drops, some women may need to reach for an iron supplement to treat that pesky cough, Italian researchers said on Tuesday.

The study, presented at the scientific meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians in Chicago, suggests iron deficiency may help explain why some otherwise healthy, non-smoking women had persistent coughs.

Tests on women with chronic coughs and iron deficiency showed that a simple iron supplement often cleared up the cough, said Dr. Caterina Bucca of the University of Turin and colleagues.

Bucca said women also are more likely than men to suffer from otherwise unexplained chronic coughs.

"We put the two together," Bucca said in a telephone interview. "Cough is much more frequent in women and iron deficiency is very frequent in women due to pregnancy and menses."

In addition, immune function can be affected by iron deficiency, which is defined as having low iron levels, sometimes to the point of anemia.

Bucca and colleagues studied 16 women with chronic cough who were found to have normal lung function, with no signs of asthma or other respiratory disease and no evidence of acid stomach reflux that could explain their coughing...


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Some breast cancers don't respond to chemotherapy

NEW YORK - An analysis of the results of several studies confirm previous reports suggesting that chemotherapy offers little or no survival benefits for young women with estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancers and, if given, it should not be the sole second-phase, or "adjuvant" therapy.

"Developing breast cancer at a young age is very worrying in terms of survival," lead researcher Dr. Jos J. A. van der Hage, from Leiden University in the Netherlands, said in a statement. "But some young women may be undergoing not only unpleasant but also unnecessary chemotherapy."

In the current analysis, the researchers examined data from 480 women with early-stage breast cancer enrolled in one of four EORTC (European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer) trials. All of the subjects were premenopausal -- younger than 40 years of age -- and the average follow-up period was 7.6 years.

During follow-up, 155 patients died or experienced a distant recurrence, according to the report appearing in the current online issue of Breast Cancer Research.

Patients with ER-positive cancers were significantly more likely to have a longer overall survival than those with ER-negative cancers, the team reports.

Among the patients who received prolonged adjuvant chemotherapy, however, the difference in survival rates was minimal (70 percent versus 75 percent, favoring the ER-negative group, and rates of metastasis-free survival were 59 percent versus 70 percent, respectively.

These results suggest that chemotherapy had a beneficial effect for women with ER-negative tumors, but had minimal or no effect on ER-positive cancers.

Similar survival differences were noted for women with or without progesterone receptor-positive tumors, the report indicates.

"Adjuvant chemotherapy is a well established, but ineffective treatment in ER-positive breast cancer patients aged 40 years or less," van der Hage emphasized. "Hormone responsiveness is the key to tailoring therapy in the future fight against this disease for young women."


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Poor indoor air quality may worsen lung disease

NEW YORK - A smog-filled sky can make it hard to breathe, but air pollution in the home may also be hard on people with lung disease, researchers have found.

In a study of 148 adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), investigators found that those who lived in homes with poor air quality tended to have worse symptoms. Cigarette smoke was the major air-polluting culprit.

"The importance of knowing this for people with COPD and their families is that indoor smoking is under our control," lead study author Dr. Liesl M. Osman told Reuters Health.

"We can immediately very much improve air quality by stopping smoking in the home," said Osman, a senior research fellow at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

COPD includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, two serious lung diseases frequently caused by smoking. Breathing in other irritants, such as polluted outdoor air, can contribute to or exacerbate COPD, but less is known about the importance of household air pollution.

To investigate, Osman's team measured air quality in the homes of 148 Scottish adults with severe COPD. They also questioned them about their respiratory symptoms and smoking habits.

Thirty-nine percent of the subjects were smokers and 49 percent lived in a household where someone smoked...


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Routine use of enema during labor discouraged

NEW YORK - The use of an enema during labor does not reduce the rate of wound infections in the mother or infections in the infant, and also does not appear to result in a better labor experience for the mother, the findings from a new study review indicate.

In the mother, the area most likely to be damaged is the perineum, the space between the opening of the vagina and the anus. During labor it may be torn or the physician can perform an episiotomy, a surgical cut to widen the outlet of the birth canal to avoid tearing as the baby is delivered.

Despite being a common medical practice, the actual benefits of using an enema during labor are unclear and it may increase the mother's discomfort as well as medical costs, according to a report published online in The Cochrane Library.

Dr. Ludovic Reveiz, from the Research Institute of the Fundacion Universitaria Sanitas in Bogota, Columbia, and colleagues searched various databases, including the Cochrane childbirth registry, PubMed, and other sources to identify studies that evaluated the benefits of enema use during the first stage of labor. Three studies that used control measures and randomized methods, involving a total of 1,765 women, were included in the meta-analysis.

As noted, no significant differences in the rates of perineal wound infections and infant infections were seen between women who were given enemas and those who were not, the report indicates. Likewise, enema use had no impact on the rate of respiratory tract infections in the infant.

The data from one trial suggested that enema use may shorten the duration of labor, but another study, which considered whether it was the woman's first delivery or if she had given birth before, refuted that finding.

One of the studies evaluated the impact of an enema on a woman's satisfaction with the labor process; no apparent benefit was seen.

"This evidence does not support the routine use of enemas during labor, and consequently the practice of routinely giving them should be discouraged," Reveiz concluded in statement.


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Key to mental 'resilience' found

US scientists have pinpointed a difference in brain chemistry which may explain why some people cope better than others in the face of adversity.

They found a key pathway in mice differs in those who cope well with stress, and those who do not.

The findings, published in Cell, could lead to new treatments for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

Experts said evidence increasingly showed responses to stress were linked to chemical mechanisms in the brain.

People differ widely in their responses to stressful situations - some people seem highly resilient to stress while others struggle to cope.

For example around a third of people may suffer post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after an exceptionally traumatic event, such as a terrorist attack or a natural disaster.

The researchers, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, looked at differences in mice facing a stressful situation in the form of a larger more aggressive mouse.

Some of the mice coped with the stress well and others became timid and withdrew from social interaction.

In the mice who did not cope well with stress, nerve cells fired signals at a faster rate in two areas of the brain associated with pleasure and reward, releasing a substance called BDNF, which has previously been linked to poor coping.

The resilient mice had no increase in BDNF, probably because the neurons were firing less rapidly.

Blocking BDNF in the timid mice caused them to become more resistant to stress.

Active process

In mice who coped better with stress, there were also greater regulation of genes in the key brain regions, suggesting resilience to such conditions is an active process rather than a lack of a response.

Analysis of brain samples from depressed and non-depressed humans, showed that depressed people have a 40% increased level of BDNF.

Preventing BDNF release in certain brain regions may be a way to increase coping ability to stress or depression, the researchers concluded.

"Chronic stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and similar disorders might be treated by promoting the mechanisms that underlie resilience," Dr Eric Nestler, professor of psychiatry and study leader

However, he added that simply blocking BDNF might also affect other systems, so researchers would have to find a way to target the specific pathway involved in stress.

Dr Jonathan Bisson, senior lecturer in psychiatry at the University of Cardiff said one of the theories of why some people developed PTSD and others did not was that certain areas of the brain failed to dampen down the fearful response to a traumatic situation.

"If we can identify parts of the brain acting differently and look at the chemical changes in theory we can develop treatments."

Dr Martin Deahl, consultant psychiatrist in Shropshire said there was no doubt that chemicals in the brain were terribly important.

But he added: "It doesn't mean you're born with it, life experiences affects the make up of chemicals in the brain and why some people are vulnerable is not known exactly."


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Why Should Kids Have All the Acne

By NATASHA SINGER
Published: October 18, 2007

AT meetings of 12-step recovery programs, people offer gripping testimonials about their struggles, and rarely fail to mention how long they've been clean. In commercials for Proactiv Solution, the popular acne treatment, celebrities and average joes on the three-step skin-care program tell their tales of woe and often gush about how long their skin has been clear.

Jessica Simpson is one of the stars who promotes the system.

The Proactiv sob sell has galvanized even people who rarely have blemishes to become, well, proactive about their skin.

Rebecca Powell, a graduate student in microbiology at New York University, ordered Proactiv three years ago after seeing an infomercial, although she only occasionally gets a pimple.

Ms. Powell said the products dried out her skin, and she stopped using them. But earlier this month, Ms. Powell, 24, purchased a Proactiv sulfur face mask designed to reduce inflamed pimples. "You see the infomercials and you become more aware of body image stuff and it makes you care more, so you buy it," she said.

Founded in 1995 by two dermatologists, Proactiv has become a phenomenon by transforming the way consumers think about pimples. The brand captured public attention by hiring stars for its infomercials like Vanessa Williams, Jessica Simpson and Sean Combs to lay bare their valiant struggles to attain flawless skin, effectively turning acne into a celebrity malady. But the company's real innovation was repositioning mild breakouts from a routine annoyance that a dab of Clearasil might fix to a preventable condition, like cavities, requiring vigilant daily upkeep.

"Ten years ago, we covered it up, but their message is 'you don't have to have bad skin,'" said Karen Young, the chief executive of the Young Group, a consulting firm to beauty companies. "They have shifted the consumer psyche."

Proactiv has become a blockbuster by motivating consumers to trade up from a $4.99 drugstore product like Clearasil, made with the antibacterial agent benzoyl peroxide, to a 60-day, three-part regimen, also made with benzoyl peroxide, that costs $39.95 for ongoing subscribers.

The brand now has more than five million active customers and annual worldwide sales of about $850 million, 70 percent of which are in the United States. By contrast, sales of acne products in American drugstores were about $155 million for the year that ended July 15, according to Information Resources Inc., a market research firm.

"Right now, we own acne," said Greg Renker, a chief executive of Guthy-Renker, the direct-response television company that sells Proactiv. The company spends about $125 million a year buying time for its infomercials on channels like VH1 and MTV as well as Web sites like Facebook, he said. "We are the fastest-growing acne brand in the world."

The Proactiv story may be just as much about the promotion of acne as a serious disease as it is about the marketing of products to fight it.

"You can get the same amount of benzoyl peroxide at a drug store at a fraction of the cost and it will work as well, provided that you use it," said Dr. Hilary E. Baldwin, the vice chairwoman of the dermatology department at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. Patients with serious acne who tried Proactiv, in her experience, were unhappy with the results and sought prescription treatments, she said.

People typically get acne after hormones cause oil to build up in the hair follicles, trapping bacteria and triggering superficial pimples as well as deep, painful lumps. The most severe forms of acne can be disfiguring and emotionally devastating and are often treated with prescription drugs. But until recently, adults with less serious facial blemishes did not necessarily view themselves as having acne, which they considered a teenage problem.

The founders of Proactiv, Dr. Katie P. Rodan and Dr. Kathy A. Fields, dermatologists in the Bay Area of California, developed the brand for this adult market, especially for women who get flare-ups every month before their periods. And in the process they rebranded the word "acne," making it acceptable to grown-ups.

"Women did not identify with acne; they were using euphemisms like 'stress bumps' or 'monthly breakouts' to describe their problems because they thought acne was an ugly four-letter word or they thought acne was just for teenagers," Dr. Rodan said. She and Dr. Fields receive royalties on Proactiv sales. "What the infomercial did was give us half an hour to explain that those breakouts you are suffering on a monthly basis are really acne and it is not a curable problem, but it is treatable and manageable," Dr. Rodan said.

There are no definitive statistics on the prevalence of acne. Nearly 17 million Americans have acne, according to the Web site of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, www.niams.gov, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Meanwhile, the American Academy of Dermatology, which received several million dollars last year from pharmaceutical companies, said 40 million to 50 million Americans have acne; a spokeswoman said that figure is based on a paper, published in the academy's medical journal, that applied estimates of acne incidence to census data.

But pimples are such a lucrative business that the skin industry is starting to promote acne as if it were a menace on par with heart disease.


Via Nytimes

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Impotence drugs may cause hearing loss

WASHINGTON (AP) — Viagra and other impotence drugs are about to bear new warnings that users may experience sudden hearing loss.

It's not clear that the drugs truly trigger hearing loss, but the Food and Drug Administration decided Thursday to add a warning about the possible risk after counting 29 reports of the problem since 1996 among users of this family of medicines.

The impotence drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra will bear the warnings. So will Revatio, a drug for pulmonary hypertension, which contains the same ingredient as Viagra.

Viagra's label already mentioned hearing loss as a possibility, because a few cases were reported during initial testing of that drug. But given that hearing loss is a risk of advancing age and certain conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, that can lead to impotence, it wasn't clear if the link was real.

That still isn't clear, said FDA ear nose and throat specialist Dr. Robert Boucher.

But in poring over FDA's database of possible drug reactions, what struck him was these 29 reports said the hearing loss occurred without hours to two days of taking one of the drugs.

"We don't know enough to say that it's ironclad caused by the drugs, but we see enough to say we can't ignore it either," he said.

The reports involve hearing loss in one ear, which in a third of cases was temporary.

FDA urged patients who experience any hearing problems — loss or ringing in the ears — to promptly call their doctors and stop taking the impotence drugs.


Via Usatoday

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Evidence Of Same-Sex Mating In Nature: The Story Of Cryptococcus Neoformans

Cryptococcus neoformans is a major cause of fungal meningitis in predominantly immunocomprised individuals. This fungus has two mating-types/sexes, and mating typically requires two individuals with opposite mating types. It had been a mystery why one mating type is overwhelmingly predominant in nature and how the capacity for sexual reproduction is maintained in a largely unisex population.

In an article published in PLoS Genetics, Xiaorong Lin and colleagues from Duke University Medical Center analyzed natural Cryptococcus diploid hybrid isolates containing two α alleles of different serotypic origins. Natural αADα hybrids that arose by fusion between two α cells of different serotypes (A and D) were identified and characterized, demonstrating that same-sex mating transpires in nature. Same-sex mating had been observed under laboratory conditions, but direct evidence for naturally occurring same-sex mating was lacking. This study provides the first evidence of this and sheds light on the genetic and environmental factors that play important roles in the evolution of the current population structure of this pathogenic fungus.

Citation: Lin X, Litvintseva AP, Nielsen K, Patel S, Floyd A, et al. (2007) αADα hybrids of Cryptococcus neoformans: Evidence of same-sex mating in nature and hybrid fitness. PLoS Genet 3(10): e186. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.0030186
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Disclaimer

This press release refers to two articles in PLoS Genetics and is provided by journal staff. Any opinions expressed in this release or article are the personal views of the journal staff and/or article contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the releases and articles and your use of such information.

About PLoS Genetics

PLoS Genetics is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published weekly by the Public Library of Science (PLoS; http://www.plos.org/). PLoS Genetics (http://www.plosgenetics.org/) reflects the full breadth and interdisciplinary nature of genetics and genomics research by publishing outstanding original contributions in all areas of biology. All articles published in PLoS Genetics are open access, meaning everything is immediately and freely available online throughout the world, subject only to the condition that the original authorship and source are properly attributed. The Public Library of Science uses the Creative Commons Attribution License.

About the Public Library of Science

The Public Library of Science (PLoS) is a non-profit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource.


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Doctors warn of harm from kids' cough, cold drugs

SILVER SPRING, Maryland - U.S. health advisers considered on Thursday if over-the-counter cough and cold medicines should still be sold for young children, as pediatricians argued the drugs are dangerous and do not work.

Manufacturers said the medicines used by millions of parents were safe and effective for kids when given as directed.

A committee of experts that advise the Food and Drug Administration is expected to make recommendations on Friday.

A week ago, Johnson & Johnson, Wyeth and other major manufacturers voluntarily pulled cough and cold drugs for children up to age 2. But physicians are pushing the government to restrict marketing for use up to age 6.

"Cough and cold products pose genuine risks when given to children under the age of 6 with no associated benefit," Dr. Michael Shannon, professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, told the FDA panel.

Experts have grown alarmed by reports of deaths, seizures, hallucinations and other problems in some children who took the widely sold medicines.

Although the medicines have been widely sold for years, the FDA generally has not required companies to prove they work in children. Instead, data was extrapolated from adults...


Via Reuters

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Cool under fire? It's all in your head

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO - A mechanism in the brain may explain why some people keep their cool and others crumble under stress, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

"We have identified the ways in which the brain naturally copes with chronic stressful experiences," said Dr. Vaishnav Krishnan of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, whose study appears in the journal, Cell.

Psychologists have long understood that some people are more vulnerable than others to stress, which can lead to depression and even post-traumatic stress disorder.

But little is known about mechanisms in the brain that explain this vulnerability.

Krishnan and colleagues set out to study this problem in mice that were exposed to stress.

What they found was mice that were most vulnerable to stress had too much of a chemical in a region of the brain that processes reward signals.

And they found a significant increase in this same chemical in humans with depression...


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Coughing, Snoring Among GERD Symptoms

Oct. 16, 2007 (Philadelphia) -- Nearly three-fourths of people with chronic acid reflux -- technically known as gastroesophageal reflux disease or GERD -- suffer nighttime symptoms not typically associated with the disease such as coughing, snoring, and chest pain, researchers report.

The study of 701 people with GERD also showed that those who suffered uncommon symptoms two or more nights a week were much more likely to have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep than those who suffered the typical symptoms of heartburn and acid regurgitation.

Ronnie Fass, MD, a gastroenterologist at Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in Tucson, says it's a vicious cycle. "GERD leads to poor sleep. But poor sleep also affects GERD as it has been shown to lead people to eat more," he tells WebMD.

Fass presented the study here at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.
Sleep Woes More Common

The study involved people with GERD who filled out an Internet survey asking about their symptoms and sleep patterns.

Of those surveyed, 74% reported at least one unusual nighttime symptom:

* 44% said they snored
* 42% had to keep clearing their throat
* 41% had sinusitis, a swelling of the tissue lining the sinuses that can cause cold-like symptoms
* 34% cited coughing
* 23% cited chest pain not related to heart disease
* 22% reported sore throats
* 21% cited wheezing

Further analysis showed that for every symptom other than snoring, the 20% of participants who had atypical symptoms twice a week or more had higher rates of sleep woes than those who had no or less frequent unusual symptoms.

The difference was quite striking at times, Fass tells WebMD. For example, 62% of those with frequent nighttime chest pain had trouble falling or staying asleep vs. 36% of those with less frequent or no nighttime chest pain.

Also, 63% of those who frequently reported nighttime choking had sleep disturbances vs. 40% of those with who reported choking less frequently or not at all.

Donald Castell, MD, a gastroenterologist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, tells WebMD that he believes late dinners may explain many of the atypical nighttime symptoms.

"If you have a late meal, your acid levels will be higher when you go to sleep. That itself could be a source of the symptoms," Castell says.

The experts' advice to GERD sufferers: Eat smaller meals, earlier -- at least two to three hours before turning in.
GERD Frequent Source of Chest Pain

In a second study presented at the meeting, researchers found that GERD was responsible for more than half of emergency room cases of chest pain that was not related to the heart.

The study of 31 people also showed that more women than men were being rushed to the emergency room with noncardiac chest pains.

Researcher Julia J. Liu, MD, of the department of gastroenterology at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, cautions that people should never assume their chest pain is caused by GERD.

Anyone who experiences persistent chest pain should seek emergency medical care, she tells WebMD.


Via Webmd

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How to Raise a Smart Baby

Academic achievement. College scholarship. Presidential aspirations.

These used to be phrases parents tossed around at their kid's high school graduation.

Today, it's a new form of "baby talk." From maternity wards to toddler play groups to mommy chat rooms, how to raise a smart baby is a key focus of conversation and concern.

"Parents have always wanted the best for their babies, but now it seems there really is a much more focused attempt, and more worry and concern about doing the right thing to encourage baby's growth and development, particularly brain development," says Nina Sazer O'Donnell, director of National Strategies for Success By 6, a United Way of America learning initiative.

The concerns are not without merit. While a portion of a baby's 100 billion brain cells are prewired at birth -- mostly the ones connected to breathing, heartbeat, and other physiological survival functions -- it is during the first five years of life that much of the essential wiring linked to learning is laid down.

"What occurs during the first five years of life can have an enormous impact on not only how well the baby's brain develops at the moment, but how well that baby learns and grows throughout their lifetime," says Christopher P. Lucas, MD, director of the Early Childhood Service at the NYU Child Study Center and associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine.

While experts say baby brain development is still largely a mystery, what we do know is just how great a role natural parenting instincts can play in putting your baby on the fast track to success.


Via Webmd

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Why garlic is good for the heart

Researchers have cracked the mystery of why eating garlic can help keep the heart healthy.

The key is allicin, which is broken down into the foul-smelling sulphur compounds which taint breath.

These compounds react with red blood cells and produce hydrogen sulphide which relaxes the blood vessels, and keeps blood flowing easily.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham research appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

However, UK experts warned taking garlic supplements could lead to side effects.

Hydrogen sulphide generates a smell of rotten eggs and is used to make stink bombs.

But at low concentrations it plays a vital role in helping cells to communicate with each other.

And within the blood vessels it stimulates the cells that form the lining to relax, causing the vessels to dilate.

This, in turn, reduces blood pressure, allowing the blood to carry more oxygen to essential organs, and reducing pressure on the heart.

The Alabama team bathed rat blood vessels in a bath containing juice from crushed garlic.

Striking results

This produced striking results - with tension within the vessels reduced by 72%.

The researchers also found that red blood cells exposed to minute amounts of juice extracted from supermarket garlic immediately began emitting hydrogen sulphide.

Further experiments showed that the chemical reaction took place mainly on the surface of the blood cells.

The researchers suggest that hydrogen sulphide production in red blood cells could be used to standardise dietary garlic supplements.

Lead researcher Dr David Kraus said: "Our results suggest garlic in the diet is a very good thing.

"Certainly in areas where garlic consumption is high, such as the Mediterranean and the Far East, there is a low incidence of cardiovascular disease."

Judy O'Sullivan, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: "This interesting study suggests that garlic may provide some heart health benefits.

"However, there remains insufficient evidence to support the notion of eating garlic as medicine in order to reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease.

"Having garlic as part of a varied diet is a matter of personal choice.

"It is important to note that large amounts in supplement form may interact with blood thinning drugs and could increase the risk of bleeding."


Via News

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Obesity 'not individuals' fault'

Individuals can no longer be held responsible for obesity and government must act to stop Britain "sleepwalking" into a crisis, a report has concluded.

The largest ever UK study into obesity, backed by government and compiled by 250 experts, said excess weight was now the norm in our "obesogenic" society.

Dramatic and comprehensive action was required to stop the majority of us becoming obese by 2050, they said.

The government pledged to draw up a strategy to address the issue.

But the report authors admitted proof that any anti-obesity policy worked "was scant".


TOP RECOMMENDATIONS
Early life interventions
Targeting those at increased risk
Controlling high calorie foods
Making towns more physically demanding
Increasing employer responsibility

Not that naughty but still nice

Nonetheless, they said every level of society, from individuals to the upper echelons of government, had to become involved in the campaign against a condition which carried such great social and economic consequences.

In 2002, those who were overweight or obese cost nearly £7bn in treatment, state benefits and indirect costs such as loss of earnings and reduced productivity.


HAVE YOUR SAY
The no blame culture is reaching into our stomachs - it does us no good to expect the government to help
Iain, Dundee

Send us your comments

In 40 years' time, that figure could reach nearly £46bn, as health services struggle to cope with the ill-health such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and stroke which can be associated with excess weight.

An obese person dies on average nine years earlier than somebody of normal weight, while a very obese person's life is cut short by an average of 13 years.

"There is a danger that the moment to act radically and dramatically will be missed," said Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser and head of the Foresight Programme which drew up the report.

"It is a problem that is getting worse every year."

So hard

Obesity, the authors concluded, was an inevitable consequence of a society in which energy-dense and cheap foods, labour-saving devices, motorised transport and sedentary work were rife.


PREDICTIONS FOR 2050
The report predicts that if current trends continue:
60% of men, 50% of women, and 26% of children and young people will be obese
Cases of type 2 diabetes will rise by 70%
Cases of stroke will rise by 30%
Cases of coronary heart disease will rise by 20%


Dr Susan Jebb of the Medical Research Council said that in this environment, it was surprising that anyone was able to remain thin, and so the notion of obesity simply being a product of personal over-indulgence had to be abandoned for good.

"The stress has been on the individual choosing a healthier lifestyle, but that simply isn't enough," she said.

From planning our towns to encourage more physical activity to placing more pressure on mothers to breast feed - believed to slow down infant weight gain - the report highlighted a range of policy options without making any concrete recommendations.

Industry was already working make healthier products available, the report noted, while work was advanced in transforming the very make-up of food so it was digested more slowly and proved satisfying for longer.

But Sir David said it was clear that government needed to involve itself, as on this occasion, the market was failing to do the job.

Shock tactics?

Health Secretary Alan Johnson described the report as "nothing, if not challenging" and said a national debate was needed about the best way forward.

He said a cross-government strategy would be developed to respond to the challenge of obesity.


BMI SCALE
Underweight: Less than 18.5
Normal: 18.5 to 24.9
Overweight: 25 to 29.9
Obese: 30 or more
BMI is calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared


He said: "As this report starkly demonstrates, people in the UK are not more gluttonous than previous generations and individual action alone will not be sufficient.

"Solutions will not be found in exhortations to greater individual responsibility or in the futility of isolated initiatives."

Public Health Minister Dawn Primarolo said it was too early to say whether the same "shock" approach seen in public health warnings against smoking would be adopted with obesity, or whether a tax on fatty foods, highlighted in the report but widely dismissed as unworkable, would be considered.

"The most important thing is there has to be public consent and understanding of the issues you're trying to challenge," she said.

"A mandate for change will be difficult because it has to be preceded by an understanding of the dangers of obesity."

She said the main aim now was to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels by 2020.

But the British Heart Foundation (BHF) accused the government of backtracking on promises, saying this was a "softer, more distant" target than one originally proposed - to halt childhood obesity rates by 2010.

But the Royal College of Physicians said it thought the report was "encouraging".

Graphic

"The emphasis on cross-governmental initiatives is particularly welcome, as is the importance of addressing issues across society whilst avoiding blame," said its president, Professor Ian Gilmore.

The Food and Drink Federation said it understood its role in tackling the problem.

"Our industry is now widely recognised as leading the world when it comes to reformulating products; extending consumer choice; and introducing improved nutrition labelling," a spokesperson said.

Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: "The government has been asleep for the last decade while the alarm bells have been ringing."


Via News

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