Tag: health

Wait for Prostate Treatment May Be Over

April 18, 2010

By: Shelly Hwang

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in men, with men having a one in six chance that they will get prostate cancer in their lifetime. While prostate cancer can be treated with surgery, a new treatment similar to radiation is being tested that may be able to more effectively target proteins on the surface of prostate tumors, providing hope even for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Human prostate cancer cells can be recognized by overexpression of some proteins on their surface. The abundance of certain proteins provides a way to target these cancer cells by using antibodies. The antibodies will be binded to the isotope 212-lead, which is an altered form of the common element lead. When this antibody is injected into a patient’s veins, it will bind to a tumor’s surface and release particles and radiation that will destroy only the tumor cells.

Researchers in Zhongyun Dong’s laboratory at the University of Cincinnati are getting ready to test this new agent over the course of this year. They will measure how toxic and effective the treatment is in slowing down or blocking cancer cell growth. Then, the treatment will be used in clinical trials with patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Original Press Release

UC Academic Health Center

Could we re-grow lost limbs?

Researchers discover gene deletion that allows tissue regeneration in mammals.

By: Nicole M. Myers 

     Mar. 2010- Researchers at the Wistar Institute, a international leader in biomedical research, have discovered a gene that could regulate regeneration in mammals, bringing the possibility of re-growing amputated extremities one step closer to reality. The lab identified a gene called p21, that when turned off confers to mice the ability to regenerate lost tissue.

          The ability to regenerate lost appendages is common but sporadically observed in nature, as in animals such as flatworms, sponges, and salamanders, but the phenomenon was previously unknown in mammals. Mammals are capable of replacing some types of tissue, such as liver lobes, damaged skeletal muscle cells, epithelium, the gut lining, and even brain cells to some extent. Typically though, the mammalian healing process involves the formation of scar tissue, rather than new cells. Animals like salamanders begin healing with the formation of a blastema, a structure that allows cells to rapidly proliferate and differentiate as embryonic stem cells do, until the appendage is replaced without scarring.

          This research began with a chance observation in a particular strain of laboratory mice, known as MRL mice. Researchers used the standard technique of piercing holes in the mice’s ears for identification. However, within a couple weeks, the holes had unexpectedly closed without a trace. The researchers then began to investigate the genetics of the MRL mice to see what might be behind their unique healing ability, and they found that the p21 gene was inactivated. Further research indicated that mice lacking the p21 gene were able to completely regenerate lost or damaged tissue without forming a scar, re-grow cartilage, and partially regenerate amputated digits.

          The p21 gene is a cell cycle regulator that blocks the cell cycle progression when there is damage to the DNA, preventing the cells from dividing and potentially becoming cancerous. Similar to naturally regenerative creatures, mice that lack p21 show an increase in DNA damage, but also an increase in apoptosis, or the programmed death of impaired cells. Researchers suggest that “The combined effects of an increase in highly regenerative cells and apoptosis may allow the cells of these organisms to divide rapidly without getting out of control and becoming cancerous.”

         Amputation injuries are some of the most devastating and debilitating wounds soldiers sustain in combat. According to the Army Office of the Surgeon General, between September 2001 and January 2009, 1,286 soldiers suffered amputation injuries in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. This is the first research to succeed in this degree of tissue regeneration in mammals, giving hope that someday, we may have the ability to restore these lost limbs.

To read the original research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, click: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/13/5845.full

Time to Get Paranoid about your Thyroid

By: Shelly Hwang

April 3, 2010

Most young adults from the ages of 18 to 44 don’t give much thought to their thyroid, but a study published earlier this month in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association reveals increased risk of stroke in young adults with an overactive thyroid.

So what exactly is an overactive thyroid? Hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid, is a condition that causes overproduction of thyroid hormone, which increases metabolism and causes sweating, diarrhea, weight loss, and nervousness. Hyperthyroidism is common, affecting about 0.5-2% of the worldwide population, particularly young adults. The study shows an association between hyperthyroidism and ischemic stroke, which is the most common type of stroke caused by blocked arteries in or leading to the brain.

The study compared data on 3,176 young adults diagnosed with hyperthyroidism between January 1998 and December 2001 and 25,408 patients without thyroid disease, with the average age being 32 years. After five years, 198 of the 28,584 patients developed ischemic stroke (0.7%), with 1% of the hyperthyroidism patients and 0.6% of the comparison group having a stroke. After accounting for many factors such as age, gender, high blood pressure, diabetes, and an irregular heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation (AF), the risk of hyperthyroidism patients having a stroke was 44 percent higher than those without hyperthyroidism.

In adults over the age of 60, Hyperthyroidism is known to be associated with AF, which occurs when the heart beats irregularly and ineffectively and can lead to a stroke. However, the risk of stroke in younger people with hyperthyroidism has not been previously studied. This study could lead to a new screening process for young adults to help lower risk of developing a stroke sooner than expected.

Press Release

American Stroke Association

Biodiesel improves health in school buses AND students

By Amy Woolf

School buses in one school district in Michigan have been running on B20 (20% biodiesel) since 2002, and since that time, the bus maintenance team has noticed a major improvement in the health of the buses’ moving parts. Recently a St. John’s district school bus completed its 300,000th mile, a feat never before achieved in a Michigan school district.

Engines that are fueled by biodiesel are able to go longer between oil changes. The mechanics in St. John have been able to go from changing the oil every 6,000 miles to 12,000-18,000 miles. This saves the school district money on oil and filters. These savings are due to the biodiesel lubricating the moving parts in an engine better than average diesel fuel.

Using biodiesel not only improves the health of the school buses, the students and the drivers of the buses also stand to benefit from vehicles running on biodiesel. Using biodiesel has been proven to have fewer harmful emissions than regular diesel. Its health benefits have been recorded from its use in mines across the United States, miners’ respiratory health has improved with the use of biodiesel.  In fact, school districts using biodiesel have reported fewer students complaining of headaches and fewer missed school days. Students that are riding in a school bus running average diesel are exposed to exhaust levels that are higher than the level considered to pose a cancer risk. The diesel exhaust levels recorded inside a running school bus are 23 – 46 times higher then the level identified to pose a cancer risk.

Overall using biodiesel in school buses has a positive environmental impact, a positive health impact, and a positive financial impact. It stands to reason that more school systems should consider the switch to biodiesel.

Press Release

The Sea Squirt: An Answer to Alzheimer’s?

Ciona intestinalis

By Kelly Lohr

The newest breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research is coming from an unlikely source–a sea squirt.  Just this week (March 2, 2010) Mike Virata and Bob Zeller of San Diego State University believe that Ciona intestinalis, known commonly as the sea squirt, may be the perfect model organism for this disease.

The brains of Alzheimer’s patients are typically filled with tangles and plaques made of the protein fragment beta-amyloid.  Alzheimer’s disease affects nearly 4 million Americans and an estimated 27 million people worldwide. It is the most common form of age-related dementia and has no cure. Current drug regimens only relieve symptoms and cannot halt the progression of the disease. Research in the scientific community is currently  aimed at slowing the disease through drugs such as Aricept and Namenda which are focused on decreasing plaque accumulation.

Recently, research has shown the need for an improved model organism to aid  in understanding the pathology of the disease.  Currently, genetically modified strains of mice have been the organism of choice in the research of this disease. However, there are limitations in the use of mice including an extremely long waiting period for plaque development like those seen in Alzheimer’s brains. Also, these mice do not contain the same genetic mutations linked to hereditary risk of Alzheimer’s disease.  Mice are also more costly to purchase and maintain for research.

Sea squirts are tunicates, marine organisms with a hard outer tunic and a soft body. They live on underwater structures and are filter feeders that eat small plant material. It has been suggested that sea squirts are actually our closest invertebrate relatives.  As far as research benefits, sea squirts share nearly 80% of our genes and resemble vertebrates in their immature form.  These animals are inexpensive to house and contain all of the genes needed for the development of Alzheimer’s plaques in humans.

An immature sea squirt.

Virata and Zeller found that by giving the immature sea squirt amyloid precursor protein, a mutant protein linked to hereditary Alzheimer’s, sea squirts developed brain plaques in a single day.  Further, these plaques and the behavioral deficits seen in these animals were able to be reversed using a drug meant to remove plaques.  Such techniques have been ineffective in all other invertebrate models, including the commonly used nematode, C. elegans.  Now, investigators can be freed from genetic, time, and financial constraints.  These findings provide a resource for an entirely new take on Alzheimer’s research…all because of a sea squirt.

For more information, click here.

Got milk? Vitamin D, a key player in multiple sclerosis

By Kelly Lohr

Drinking milk may do a lot more than just strengthen our bones. A study out of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston recently suggested drinking milk during pregnancy may markedly reduce the chance of the child developing multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life.

Vitamin D can be found in dairy, fatty fish, and supplements. Exposure to sunlight also produces this helpful vitamin.

Lead by Fariba Mirzaei, MD, the study examined over 35,000 female nurses whose mothers had completed questionnaires recording their diets during their pregnancies with their now-grown daughters.  The work occurred over a 16-year period, during which 199 women developed MS.

MS is a degenerative disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The symptoms vary, ranging from numbness in the arms and legs to paralysis and loss of vision. Unfortunately for its sufferers, the progress and severity of MS are often unpredictable. The neurons in our body are partially covered in a fatty substance called myelin in order to insulates the cells and  to allow them to transmit signals quickly. If the myelin is damaged, these signals can be delayed. MS results in the destruction of this insulating myelin in the CNS. This breakdown is thought to be caused by the body’s immune system attacking the myelin sheath.

Normal and damaged myelin in neurons.

The researchers lead by Dr. Mirzaei found that the risk of MS was lower in women whose mothers had high milk or vitamin D diets during pregnancy. Women whose mothers drank four glasses of milk per day had a 56% less chance of developing MS than those whose mothers drank less than three glasses per month. In general, women in the top 20% of vitamin D intake had a 45% less chance of having a child develop MS than those in the bottom 20% of vitamin D intake.

Vitamin D can come in many forms including fatty fish, milk and dairy products, and exposure to sunlight. Supplements could also be used to counter vitamin deficits in the diet. This study serves as evidence of a growing role for vitamin D in the pathology of MS. Prevention may play an important part in the disease, perhaps starting as early as pregnancy.

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/716913

Using Biodiesel Improves Miner’s Health

By Amy Woolf

Using biodiesel in underground mines has been proven to improve the underground air quality within a few days of switching from conventional fuel to biodiesel. Air quality is the main factor relating to poor health of miners. Mining companies reported claims to the air improvement after the switch to biodiesel, which caused the Mine Safety Health Administration (MSHA) to publish a report confirming these claims. The MSHA tested the biofuel and found that it not only reduced emissions, but they also found that there was no loss of performance in machines running biodiesel, even when they run for 20 hours at times.

Risks related to the exposure to Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) can be mild such as eye and nose irritation to more serious lung conditions. Miners are exposed to over 100 times the typical environmental concentration of diesel exhaust when working in mines that run machines on diesel fuel. The MSHA tested several blends of biodiesel and found that it did “result in a cleaner and healthier working environment.” The Rogers Group, a mining company in Kentucky, has been using biodiesel for three years in their mines, B99 (which is a 99% blend of biodiesel) in below sea level mines and B50 (50% blend of biodiesel) in mines with more natural airflow. Biodiesel in a traditional diesel engine has been proven and endorsed by the MSHA to reduce the DPM in the mining environments by reducing the quantity of harmful emissions like carbon in the particulate matter (biodiesel contains oxygen which allows for a more complete combustion of CO2).

Biodiesel is a growing sector of the renewable fuel movement. It burns cleaner than conventional fuel and can be made from vegetable oils, fats, and recycled cooking oil. It is relatively simple to manufacture, making it possible to successfully “home-brew”.

Image from: Dieselnews Australia

Press Release

2/4/10