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Efficacy of Antidepressants for Children and Adolescents
Table 1. A List of Published and Unpublished Sources Commonly Cited in Recent Reviews Reporting on SSRIs for Child and Adolescent Depression
Practitioners of pediatric medicine may still be undecided as to whether the newer generation of antidepressant drugs is effective for child and adolescent depression (CAD) [1]. Since 1989, when selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were introduced in the United States, they have become the top-selling drug category; as a number of as one in eight adult Americans having tried at least one SSRI in the past ten years. Despite their popularity in treating adult depression, the efficacy of SSRIs for CAD remains in dispute. In this article, I examine some of the core problems in medical research that have led to this disagreement.
Specificity, Safety, and Efficacy
Advances in molecular biology and neuroscience have fostered increasingly specific drugs. However, the pharmaceutical industry promotes an idea of drug specificity that may extend beyond the existing data. For example, SSRIs may selectively block the reuptake of serotonin, as claimed by a number of SSRI manufacturers, but they also influence numerous postsynaptic serotonin receptor systems, instigating multiple neurochemical effects. Furthermore, certain neurotransmitter systems are so tightly entwined that affecting one inevitably influences others (e.g., selective norepinepherine reuptake inhibitors also influence the serotonergic system). Hence, drugs often have effects that seem uncorrelation to the presumed therapeutic outcome (e.g., tricyclic antidepressants [TCAs] and SSRIs have significant effects on fast sodium channels and platelet function, respectively). And one drug can treat a variety of syndromes. For example, SSRIs are effective for symptoms ranging from obsessive-compulsive disorder to panic and anxiety. Thus, specificity, as defined by the pharmaceutical industry, is perhaps an overextended notion.........
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Patients Positively Weigh In On Liposuction
"Liposuction is one of the most satisfying procedures for patients and most effective at eliminating localized fat," said ASPS Spokesperson Jeffrey Kenkel, MD, study co-author, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. "The majority of patients recognize their role in maintaining positive results and pursue a healthy diet and exercise. These patients typically maintain or lose weight after surgery, while those that do not may gain small amounts of weight. Ultimately, one's lifestyle can affect long term-results".
According to the study, approximately 57 percent of patients reported no weight change after having liposuction - 46 percent of these patients actually reported a weight loss, losing an average of five to 10 pounds in less than six months. Forty-three percent of patients reported gaining weight, with the majority gaining between five and 10 pounds more than six months after surgery.........
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Drug Could Help Quit Smoking
But despite the relative effectiveness of medications currently on the market, more than 80 per cent of quitters will be smoking again within a year, according to a review in the latest IJCP, the UK-based International Journal of Clinical Practice.
A new kind of drug has now been developed that could improve long-term quit rates, according to Dr Jonathan Foulds from the Tobacco Dependence Program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Varenicline is being evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration under a six-month priority review which began in late 2005.
"Trials carried out so far have yielded promising results, suggesting that varenicline could be a major advance in the treatment of nicotine dependence" says Dr Foulds.
"Drugs are normally earmarked for priority review by the FDA if they are felt to address health needs that are not currently being adequately met.
"What makes varenicline different to existing medicine is that it is the first treatment specifically designed to target the neurobiological mechanism of nicotine dependence".........
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Aspirin, Cholesterol Drugs And Blood Pressure
People who were taking all three drugs had less severe strokes, had shorter hospital stays, and were better able to function when leaving the hospital than those who were taking one, two, or none of the three drugs.
The study examined 179 people who came to the hospital within 24 hours after having a stroke. Scientists looked at how severe the strokes were, how much brain cell damage was caused by the stroke, and other factors. The participants were divided into five groups: 69 people were taking none of the three drugs; 47 people were taking aspirin only; 29 were taking aspirin and ACE inhibitors, or blood pressure drugs; 14 were taking aspirin and statins, or cholesterol-lowering drugs; and 20 people were taking all three drugs.
The study also found that even though the amount of initial brain cell damage was roughly equal, on average, among the five groups, the amount of brain cells that were still at risk of damage at the time of hospital admission was smaller among those taking all three drugs.........
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Coding For Arthropods
In a new study published online this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology, Federico Abascal, Rafael Zardoya, and his colleagues show that in the mitochondria of arthropod there are two nonstandard codes, and suggest that genetic code changes within a lineage may be more frequent than was earlier believed.
The authors aligned the mitochondrial coding sequence from >600 animal species looking for conserved codons and identifying which amino acid (AA) it specified in the corresponding protein. The most frequent AA was taken to be the canonical translation of that codon. What they found was that eventhough most codons adhered to the common genetic code in all species, there was nonetheless a surprising trend in the arthropods, the largest of all animal phyla. Typically, AGG translates as the amino acid serine. However, among the arthropod mitochondrial genomes, AGG coded for serine in some species and lysine in others. The authors' analysis of the patterns of change also suggests that the original arthropod mitochondrion used AGG for lysine, not serine.........
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Drink Milk During Pregnancy
In this study, women whose daily consumption of milk during pregnancy was 1 cup (250 ml) or less consumed less protein and vitamin D and gave birth to smaller babies than mothers who drank more milk. Milk and vitamin D intakes during pregnancy were found to be each associated with infant birth weights, independently of other risk factors.
In a related commentary, Hollis and Wagner note that this study makes a very intriguing and important observation in relation to vitamin D. They think that vitamin D may not only affect fetal skeletal formation, but also neurodevelopment, immune function and chronic disease susceptibility during the later part of life.........
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Calcium May Prevent Fractures In Elderly Women
Menopause reduces women's levels of the hormone estrogen, and these lowered levels can contribute to calcium deficiencies, as per background information in the article. Calcium supplements can be used to correct this imbalance, but it is not known if these supplements can prevent fractures in bones weakened by the loss of calcium, a condition known as osteoporosis.
Richard L. Prince, M.D., University of Western Australia, Western Australian Institute of Medical Research and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Devine, and his colleagues studied the effect of calcium supplementation on 1,460 women older than age 70 years. Half of the patients were randomly assigned to take 600-milligram calcium carbonate tablets twice per day and the other half took identical placebo tablets. X-rays, bone ultrasounds and bone scans were performed at the beginning of the study and after five years, and adverse events that mandatory a visit to a health care provider were recorded at four-month intervals. Participants returned their unused pills at the end of each year-long period and those who took fewer than 80 percent were classified as noncompliant.........
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Alcoholics With A Borderline Personality Disorder
"We knew from prior research that both alcohol dependence and personality disorders are significant risk factors for suicidal behavior," said Ulrich W. Preuss, assistant professor of psychiatry at Martin-Luther-University of Halle, Gera number of. "However, how each affects the other or interact together, this was not researched."
Kenneth R. Conner, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, concurs. "There are meager data on the contribution of most personality disorders to attempted suicide among individuals treated intensively for alcohol dependence, a high-risk population," he said. "This study is highly unusual in that all of the current personality disorders were assessed using a credible research interview in a large alcohol-dependent sample."........
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Breast cancer
Breast cancer claims the top position as the leading cause of deaths from cancer among women aged between 40 and 55 years. Breast cancer can occur in males too; with about 1450 new cases of male breast cancer diagnosed every year within the United States of America. It is comforting to note that the deaths from breast cancer among women of all ages have declined in the United States by 2.8% for every year from 1990 to 2000. The declining mortality rates may be attributed to the successful screening programs and advances in the therapy of breast cancer.
Risk of development of cancer of the breast varies among different ethnic groups within the United States of America. Caucasian women living within the United States have about 13.1% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. African American women have comparatively lower risk of development of breast cancer and the lifetime risk of breast cancer among this subpopulation is approximately 9.6 (Data from SEER). Even though Black women have a lower incidence of breast cancer compared to Caucasian women, the mortality rate is approximately 28 percent higher in African American women compared to White women. There has been an upward trend in the incidence of earlier forms of breast cancer in the United States. The incidence of the earliest type of breast cancer known as DCIS has increased by about 130 percent over the last few years. It is reasonable to assume that the higher occurrence of earlier forms of breast cancer is the direct result of an excellent screening program.........
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Breast Cancer - Problem Faced By Women
Breast cancer occurs when cell in our breasts known as tumor grow out of control causing damage to the nearby tissues and spreads throughout. These tumors which are malignant are known as cancerous tumors and cause lot of damage to your body. As it takes lot of time for a tumor to grow, it may not be easy to detect the tumor during self exam. But these can be detected with mammograms.
Breast cancers best therapy - early detection. Once, cancer is detected it becomes easier for the doctors and yourself to fight it out. By the age of 20 all women should start doing Breast Self Examination (BSE) it is one of most easiest and earliest ways of detecting cancer. These check ups should be done few days after your periods. You should do this check up at least once a month. A clinical breast exam should be done at least once a year.
Some of the signs to look for, while doing BSE ........
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