January 10, 2008, 10:57 PM CT

Teens getting help for suicidal behavior

Its a topic people often dont want to talk about, but suicide is a serious issue that needs serious attention.

As per a University of Alberta researcher, teens are difficult to reach and there have traditionally been few services that directly target adolescent suicidal behavior. Elaine Greidanus says a number of teens arent picking up a phone, or seeing a counsellor, theyre more likely logging on for emotional support.

Greidanus, a grad student in Educational Psychology, did a study to see how helpful cyber support really is.

Greidanus observed an online help site, where teens would create an anonymous thread, and studied about a dozen participants. Trained volunteers, who helped the adolescents, would write messages including: It sounds like you are experiencing a lot of pain right now, What are some things that give you strength in your life" and If you read some of the other threads, you may be surprised that several people have similar feelings. Greidanus also observed that volunteers would frequently suggest specific resources including local telephone distress lines or talking to a counsellor.

Not only would the teens get advice from the site volunteers but from other adolescents who were online. Greidanus noticed messages of empathy including Stop hurting yourself, I care for you! and You should go to the doctor. She found these messages helped the participants develop a relationship and a sense of community with their peers......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

December 9, 2007, 5:00 PM CT

Nderstanding Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

ATLANTA Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have opened a new window into the roots of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

We are looking under the surface of CML to understand better where the cancer is coming from. We have discovered abnormal cells in the early stem cell population in some CML patients, which dont belong to the CML clone. These are abnormal cells that are not part of the CML clone, said Thomas Bumm, M.D., OHSU Cancer Institute member.

This research will be presented at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in Atlanta on Sunday, Dec. 9, at 4:30 p.m.

Bumm was looking into Philadelphia Chromosome-negative stem cells which he and others had thought would look like normal, healthy cells, and have normal chromosomes. (It has been known that the driving force of CML is the Philadelphia Chromosome-positive cancer cells.).

But no, these chromosome negative cells are not normal looking. We are seeing that there are other abnormal cells in the early stem cell population in the bone marrow of some CML patients that are Philadelphia Chromosome-negative. They have abnormalities such as the deletion of chromosome 7 or a duplication of chromosome 8, explained Bumm, a fellow in hematology/medical oncology, OHSU School of Medicine......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

December 3, 2007, 10:32 PM CT

Head injuries among snowboarders and skiers

Serious head injuries among alpine skiers and snowboarders have risen over the past 15 years, reveals research in Injury Prevention.

The increase has coincided with faster speed and the inclusion of more jumping and acrobatics as the norm in these sports, say the authors.

The authors base their findings on a comprehensive international trawl of published research on injuries sustained by mountain skiers and snowboarders between 1990 and the end of 2004.

They looked especially for serious brain and spinal cord injuries. These make up a relatively small proportion of those sustained while skiing and snowboarding, but they are the leading cause of death, say the authors.

A cache of 51 articles revealed 24 from 10 countries that were relevant.

The research suggests that the rate of this type of serious injury has steadily risen in all the countries that have reported data.

One study indicates that the percentage of head injuries among skiers has increased from 12% in 1993 to 15% in 1997, while the number among snowboarders has quintupled over the same timeframe.

Another piece of research suggests that skiers and snowboarders under the age of 35 are more than three times as likely to have a brain injury as younger participants......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

December 2, 2007, 8:51 PM CT

Blood transfusions to surgery complications

Women die and get infections more often than men after heart surgery because they tend to receive more blood transfusions, which boost the risks of bad outcomes, as per a research studyreported in the December Journal of Womens Health.

Co-authored by scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center and University of Michigan Health System, the study raises another red flag about transfusions, an ancient medical practice that some doctors now believe is overused.

Blood transfusions were once reserved for only the sickest patients, but have evolved from a life-saving treatment to an elective therapy for a number of illnesses. Patients today receive donor blood, for example, to prevent severe anemia and improve oxygen delivery due to heart failure.

For 100 years weve assumed blood transfusions are good for people, but most of these clinical practices grew before we had the research to support it, said co-author Neil Blumberg, M.D., professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and director of Transfusion Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

In the current study, Blumberg and corresponding author Mary Rogers, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, Department of Internal Medicine, analyzed the data of 380 adult Rochester, N.Y., patients who had primary coronary artery bypass graft surgery, primary valve replacement, or both, in 1997 or 1998 at Strong Memorial Hospital. Scientists looked at in-hospital deaths, lengths of stay, number of days of infection and fever, and whether any patients developed pulmonary dysfunction, a serious side effect of heart surgery. No external funding was received for the study......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

November 28, 2007, 10:01 PM CT

Monitoring of a common epilepsy drug during pregnancy

Research at Emory University shows that monitoring the level of an epilepsy drug, called lamotrigine, in the blood helps reduce increased seizure activity and improve the overall health of pregnant women and their fetuses.

The findings are published Nov. 28 in the online edition of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The drug, taken by pregnant women with epilepsy because of its mild risk of birth defects, has been associated with increased seizure activity in up to 75 percent of pregnancies, as per some previous research studies.

This is important data considering current therapy guidelines do not address how to dose epilepsy drugs once women become pregnant, says study author Page Pennell, MD, associate professor of neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, and director of the Emory Epilepsy Program.

For the study, 53 women taking lamotrigine underwent therapeutic drug monitoring every one-to three-months throughout their pregnancies.

Dr. Pennell and her colleagues measured seizure activity and the amount of lamotrigine in the blood since past studies have shown lamotrigine levels significantly drop during pregnancy, causing seizures to worsen.

In the current study, the clearance of lamotrigine increased by 89 percent in the third trimester in comparison to non-pregnant levels. Dosages were adjusted depending on the lamotrigine blood levels with the goal of maintaining each patients target concentration determined by pre-pregnancy information......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

November 18, 2007, 9:15 PM CT

Tinea of the nails underdiagnosed in children

Two doctors from Hospital del Mar in Barcelona and UAB professors have observed, through a research carried out during the past 9 years, an increase in the number of children affected by tinea of the nails, as well as an underdiagnosis of this affection by paediatricians.

In Europe, Tinea unguium has an incidence rate between 0 and 2.6% (average 0.3%) in general population. The symptoms of tinea of the nails are generally well tolerated by patients, causing a delay in medical consultation. Together these two factors represent a challenge for a pediatrician faced with diagnosis and therapy of tinea of the nails.

An increase in the number of cases of tinea of the nails was observed in our Pediatric Unit in Barcelona. From 1976 to 1984, one patient was diagnosed with tinea of the nails (4), whereas this number has augmented considerably in the past 9 years, in which 12 patients have been diagnosed with this pathology.

Etiologic evaluation was carried out by: a) direct examination with 40% KOH at 400X; b) culture in specific medium; c) macro/micro morphologic evaluation of the colonies. Twelve cases of T. unguium were identified, of which four patients were 12 years old or younger, seven presented onycholysis and five demonstrated enlargements and change of color of the affected nails. The average duration of disease before diagnosis was 21.6 months (range 2-60 weeks). In eight patients, tinea of the nails coincided with tinea pedis. The etiology in 10 patients was T. rubrum and in 2 patients was T. tonsurans......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

November 15, 2007, 10:27 PM CT

Suppressing herpes virus may reduce infectiousness of HIV

A recent study of men co-infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) and HIV revealed that drugs used to suppress HSV decrease the levels of HIV in the blood and rectal secretions, which may make patients less likely to transmit the virus. This study is reported in the November 15 issue of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Most HIV-infected persons are also infected with HSV-2, which is the major cause of genital herpes. Previous studies demonstrated that the risk of passing HIV to a sexual partner is greater when the HIV-infected person has genital ulcers caused by HSV. Prior studies among HIV/HSV-2 co-infected persons and test-tube research have also demonstrated that HIV levels are increased during genital HSV reactivation.

In a pilot study of the effect of HSV-2 suppression on levels of HIV infectiousness, Connie Celum, MD, MPH, Richard Zuckerman, MD, MPH, and a team of scientists at the University of Washington and the research organization Impacta, in Lima, Peru performed a randomized, placebo-controlled cross-over study of daily HSV suppressive therapy in a small group of HIV/HSV-2 co-infected men who have sex with men.

Twenty men aged 22 to 41 enrolled in this trial, which took place in Peru. The men studied had no previous antiretroviral treatment and were not currently receiving antiretroviral treatment for HIV infection. Subjects were randomly assigned to the anti-HSV drug, valacyclovir 500 mg, twice daily or matching placebo for initial therapy. After eight weeks, subjects had a washout period in which they received twice daily placebo. Subjects then crossed over to the alternative therapy (placebo or valacyclovir) for eight weeks. Participants visited the clinic three times a week during each therapy arm. At each visit, rectal secretions were collected and weekly blood samples were obtained to determine levels of HIV......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

November 15, 2007, 10:16 PM CT

Proposed monographs for dietary supplements

The U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) is pleased to announce 11 new proposed monographs for dietary supplements for public notice and comment.

Six Turmeric-related monographs and three Soy Isoflavones monographs appeared in Pharmacopeial Forum (PF) 33(6), the issue corresponding to November/December 2007. These are Turmeric, Powdered Turmeric, Powdered Turmeric Extract, Curcuminoids, Curcuminoids Capsules, Curcuminoids Tablets, Soy Isoflavones Extract, Soy Isoflavones Capsules, and Soy Isoflavones Tablets. Two monographs for single ingredient amino acid formulations, arginine capsules and arginine tablets also appeared in PF 33(6). PF is the journal through which USP offers, for public review and comments, new and revised standards pertaining to the United States PharmacopeiaNational Formulary.

USP is pleased to release these new monographs in addition to the proposed monographs on Powdered Decaffeinated Green Tea Extract and Powdered Bilberry Extract published recently in PF 33(4) in July 2007, said Darrell Abernethy, M.D., Ph.D., chief science officer at USP. This is an important step towards advancing the quality of these dietary supplements, which are increasingly used by consumers. USP welcomes comments on the new monographs from all interested parties.

The proposed monographs contain specific and validated analytical methods that will ensure the identity of the articles and protect consumers and industry from low quality and adulterated products. For example, the proposed monograph on Powdered Bilberry Extract distinguishes the true extract from articles adulterated with azo dyes and other anthocyanin-containing botanicals. Green Tea, Turmeric and Soy Isoflavones monographs were also the subjects of many the 2006 National Institutes of Health research grants......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

November 14, 2007, 9:27 PM CT

Hormone links sleep, hunger and metabolism

While investigating how the hormone orexin might control sleep and hunger, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered, to.

their surprise, that it activates a protein, HIF-1, long known to stimulate malignant tumor growth.

The study, appearing today in the online version of the journal Genes and Development, is among the first to show how HIF-1 operates in healthy tissues rather than in tumors, said Dr. Thomas Kodadek, chief of translational research at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study.

HIF-1 is very big in the cancer community, Dr. Kodadek said. So we were intrigued to find this important and very basic mechanism that is uncorrelation to cancer.

Orexin was already known for its role in sleep and hunger. Researchers, including Dr. Masashi Yanagisawa, professor of molecular genetics at UT Southwestern, had observed that lack of orexin causes the sleep disorder narcolepsy.

Its really the most straightforward system relevant to the biology of sleep you can look at, Dr. Kodadek said. You lack orexin" Youve got narcolepsy. End of story.

Dr. Kodadeks project is part of an initiative funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to develop technologies to understand and treat sleep disorders......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

November 14, 2007, 8:47 PM CT

Protein may play a role in severe asthma

New Haven, Conn.A protein measured in a simple blood test may be a new biomarker to identify patients with the most serious form of asthma, Yale School of Medicine scientists report today in the New England Journal (NEJM).

Identifying this new biomarker, YKL-40, brings researchers one step closer to a therapy for the nations 2.5 million asthmatics with a severe form of the disease that is difficult to treat, the scientists say.

The studies were done in collaboration with researchers in Wisconsin, France, and at MedImmune Inc.

Asthma is a chronic disease of the lung that affects more than 30 million Americans, among them nine million children. Typically it is characterized by chronic inflammation and structural changes in the airwayssymptoms that are severe in some patients and mild in others. Investigators are trying to find ways to control the inflammation and to understand the variation in severity.

The scientists reviewed serum levels of YKL-40 in 253 adults patients in three asthma and control groups at Yale, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Paris. The found increased circulating serum levels of YKL-40 in patients with asthma in comparison to those without disease. In addition, blood levels of YKL-40 correlated with asthma severity, lung function, and thickness of the patients bronchial wall......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source