April 21, 2007, 8:19 AM CT

Dental X-Rays of carotid artery not enough

Detection of calcified tissue in the carotid artery by dental x-rays is not enough evidence to estimate a patient's stroke risk was the conclusion of a systematic literature review published in this month's Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability among adults in the U.S. It occurs when a blood vessel that brings oxygen and nutrients to the brain bursts or becomes clogged by a blood clot or some other mass.

Panoramic radiography is a procedure used in dental practice for detecting dental disease. As per the JADA article authors, a trend toward using panoramic x-rays to identify stroke-prone patients has become a much-debated health care issue over the past two decades.

In their literature review, the authors conducted an electronic search using 11 databases to evaluate evidence that links calcified carotid artery atheroma (CCAA) detection on panoramic radiographs and the precipitation of cerebrovascular accidents (CVA). The search identified 54 articles for the review. Only one study satisfied the authors' inclusion criteria and found no significant difference in the occurence rate of cerebrovascular diseases between subjects with CCAA and subjects without CCAA.

This issue is complicated because there are a number of risk factors that predispose a person to generalized atherosclerosis and plaque formation that also can promote the risk of cerebrovascular blockage and stroke, as per the article......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

April 18, 2007, 11:08 PM CT

Smoking indicator of alcohol misuse

Where there is cigarette smoking there is probably misuse of alcohol too, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

"This means cigarette smoking status can be used as a clinical indicator for alcohol misuse, which presents an opportunity for intervention," said the principal investigator, Sherry McKee, assistant professor of psychiatry.

She said that although brief screening and brief intervention provided in primary care settings are effective, clinicians do not frequently screen for alcohol misuse. This is a matter of concern because 26 percent of the U.S. population is drinking at hazardous levels, which puts them at increased risk for alcohol-related consequences such as injuries from motor vehicle crashes, hypertension, depression, and certain cancers.

"Only an estimated 30 percent of individuals who had a primary care visit reported being screened for an alcohol or drug use problem," McKee said. "Physicians are much more likely to ask patients whether and how often they smoke".

She and her collaborators arrived at their conclusions after analyzing data obtained from 42,374 adults in a national epidemiological survey on alcohol misuse and other related conditions. Following guidelines that physicians use to assess tobacco and alcohol use, they found that non-daily smokers are five times more likely to have a problem with alcohol compared to people who have never smoked. Daily smokers are three times more likely to have an alcohol problem......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

April 15, 2007, 9:46 PM CT

Blame the brain for high blood pressure

The controversial idea that one cause of high blood pressure lies within the brain, and not the heart or blood vessels, has been put forward by scientists at the University of Bristol, UK, and is published this week in the journal Hypertension.

Dr. Hidefumi Waki, working in a research group led by Professor Julian Paton, has found a novel role for the protein, JAM-1 (junctional adhesion molecule-1), which is located in the walls of blood vessels in the brain.

JAM-1 traps white blood cells called leukocytes which, once trapped, can cause inflammation and may obstruct blood flow, resulting in poor oxygen supply to the brain. This has led to the idea that high blood pressure hypertension is an inflammatory vascular disease of the brain.

One in three people in the UK are likely to develop hypertension, and with 600 million people affected world wide, it is of pandemic proportions. The alarming statistic that nearly 60 per cent of patients remain hypertensive, even though they are taking drugs to alleviate the condition, emphasises the urgency of looking for new mechanisms by which the body controls blood pressure, and finding new therapeutic targets to drive fresh drug development.

Professor Paton said: We are looking at the possibility of treating those patients that fail to respond to conventional therapy for hypertension with drugs that reduce blood vessel inflammation and increase blood flow within the brain. The future challenge will be to understand the type of inflammation within the vessels in the brain, so that we know what drug to use, and how to target them. JAM-1 could provide us with new clues as to how to deal with this disease......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

April 15, 2007, 8:42 PM CT

Lyme Disease Vaccine Proteins Patented

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and collaborators at Stony Brook University have received U.S. Patent Number 7,179,448 for developing chimeric, or "combination," proteins that may advance the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests for Lyme disease.

The genetically engineered proteins combine pieces of two proteins that are normally present on the surface of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, but at different parts of the organism's life cycle. "Combining pieces of these two proteins into one chimeric protein should trigger a 'one-two-punch' immune response more capable of fending off the bacterium than either protein alone," says Brookhaven biologist John Dunn, a researcher on the BNL Lyme disease team. "These chimeric proteins could also be used as diagnostic reagents that distinguish disease-causing strains of bacteria from relatively harmless ones, and help assess the severity of an infection," Dunn said.

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S., causing approximately 25,000 new cases each year - a rate that is expected to increase by at least a third from 2002 to 2012, as per a new study. Early symptoms of the disease, which is spread by the bite of an infected deer tick, include a bull's-eye rash at the site of the bite and flu-like symptoms. If not promptly treated with antibiotics, it can lead to more serious symptoms, including joint and neurological complications......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

April 10, 2007, 6:02 PM CT

Eye diseases for great painters

After writing two books on the topic of artists and eye disease, the Stanford University School of Medicine ophthalmologist decided to go one step further and create images that would show how artists with eye disease actually saw their world and their canvases. Combining computer simulation with his own medical knowledge, Marmor has recreated images of some of the masterpieces of the French impressionistic painters Claude Monet and Edgar Degas who continued to work while they struggled with cataracts and retinal disease.

The results are striking:

In Marmor's simulated versions of how the painters would most likely have seen their work, Degas' later paintings of nude bathers become so blurry it's difficult to see any of the artist's brush strokes. Monet's later paintings of the lily pond and the Japanese bridge at Giverny, when adjusted to reflect the typical symptoms of cataracts, appear dark and muddied. The artist's signature vibrant colors are muted, replaced by browns and yellows.

"These simulations may lead one to question whether the artists intended these late works to look exactly as they do," said Marmor who has long had interest in both the mechanics of vision and the vision of artists. "The fact is that these artists weren't painting in this manner totally for artistic reasons"......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

April 1, 2007, 8:53 PM CT

Getting dirty may lift your mood

Treatment of mice with a friendly bacteria, normally found in the soil, altered their behavior in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs, reports research reported in the latest issue of Neuroscience.

These findings, identified by scientists at the University of Bristol and his colleagues at University College London, aid the understanding of why an imbalance in the immune system leaves some individuals vulnerable to mood disorders like depression.

Dr Chris Lowry, lead author on the paper from Bristol University, said: "These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health. They also leave us wondering if we shouldnt all be spending more time playing in the dirt".

Interest in the project arose after human cancer patients being treated with the bacteria Mycobacterium vaccae unexpectedly reported increases in their quality of life. Lowry and colleagues reasoned that this effect could be caused by activation of neurons in the brain that contained serotonin.

When the team looked closely at the brains of mice, they observed that therapy with M. vaccae activated a group of neurons that produce the brain chemical serotonin. The lack of serotonin in the brain is thought to cause depression in people, thus M. vaccaes effects on the behavior of mice may be due to increasing the release of serotonin in parts of the brain that regulate mood......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

March 27, 2007, 9:41 PM CT

Heart Attack Patients and Stem Cell Therapy

Heart attack patients who received an new intravenous adult stem cell therapy, Provacel-, experienced a lower number of adverse events, such as cardiac arrhythmias, and had significant improvements in heart, lung and global function compared to those who received a placebo, according to six-month Phase I study data presented at the American College of Cardiology's Innovation in Intervention: i2Summit in New Orleans on March 25.

Rush was one of 10 premier cardiac centers across the country that participated in the 53-patient, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Among other findings, patients receiving Provacel were 75 percent less likely to experience an arrhythmic adverse event compared to those receiving placebo (9 % vs. 37%, p=0.025) and significantly more patients who received Provacel experienced improvement in their overall condition at six months as compared to those receiving placebo (42% vs. 11%, p=0.027).

Provacel is a preparation of adult stem cells pre-formulated for intravenous delivery by the drug's manufacture, Osiris Therapeutics. Patients were administered an infusion of either Provacel or placebo within 10 days of having a heart attack and are being followed for 2 years. To prevent bias, neither the patient nor the doctor knows who received the stem cell treatment and who received placebo......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

March 25, 2007, 9:09 PM CT

Tooth Decay, Gum Infections And Ethnicity

A New York University College of Dentistry research team has observed that immigrants ethnicity and country of origin predispose them to caries (tooth decay) and periodontal (gum) disease.

The team leader, Dr. Gustavo D. Cruz, an Associate Professor of Epidemiology & Health Promotion and Director of Global Oral Public Health at NYU, undertook the largest-ever study on the oral health of immigrants to the United States, analyzing caries and periodontal disease rates in over 1,500 Chinese, Haitian, Indian, West Indian, and Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Central and South American immigrants of Hispanic origin living in New York City.

Dr. Cruz, who presented his findings today at the annual scientific meeting of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) in New Orleans, said the study revealed significant differences among the ethnic groups. Puerto Ricans, Haitians, and.

Indians, for example, were more likely to suffer from periodontal disease, while Hispanics were more likely to have dental caries.

"These differences," Dr. Cruz said, "are deeply rooted in an immigrants country of origin, where early cultural influences can set the stage for oral health problems that may occur during the later part of life.

"For example, some ethnic groups may be more prone to tooth decay partly because their traditional foods are high in refined carbohydrates, while other groups may be less susceptible to decay because refined carbohydrates are almost absent from their diet......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

March 22, 2007, 5:13 AM CT

wiping out tooth decay

Today, during the 85th General Session of the International Association for Dental Research, Forsyth Institute researchers are reporting that they have developed an effective program for eliminating cavities. This program, called ForsythKids, is an innovative school-based cavity prevention program, which provides elementary school children with oral health education, dental exams, cleanings and preventive care. For children enrolled in the program, one round of therapy reduced new cavities by 50%. After two rounds of the Forsyth model of prevention there was virtually no new tooth decay.

ForsythKids confronts one of todays most pressing oral health challenges: delivering effective oral health care to children at risk of decay. The goal of the program is to increase access and improve health, while creating a model that can be replicated in any community. The elementary school children enrolled in ForsythKids receive a dental exam, tooth cleaning, preventive care consisting of sealants, fluoride, temporary fillings when necessary, and oral health education two times a year without ever leaving their school.

Of the children enrolled in the pilot program, 77% had untreated cavities and 13% had acute infections or abscesses. "Our initial studies have shown that you can effectively prevent, what is today, the most common childhood disease tooth decay," said Richard Niederman, DMD, Director, Center for Evidence-Based Dentistry at The Forsyth Institute. "Just two weeks ago we saw a terrible tragedy in the national news about a tooth infection that led to the untimely death of a 12-year old boy, who like thousands of other children, did not have access to dental care. Through programs like the ForsythKids we can eliminate barriers to care and improve the health of all children"......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source

March 20, 2007, 10:07 PM CT

Radiation-resistant Bacterium

Recent discoveries by scientists at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) could lead to new avenues of exploration for radioprotection in diverse settings. Michael J. Daly, Ph.D., an associate professor in USU's Department of Pathology, and colleagues have uncovered evidence pointing to the mechanism through which the extremely resilient bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans protects itself from high doses of ionizing radiation (IR). The results of the recent study, titled "Protein Oxidation Implicated as the Primary Determinant of Bacterial Radioresistance" were reported in the March 20 edition of PLoS Biology.

These discoveries likely will cause a shift in D. radiodurans research, changing the focus from DNA damage and repair toward a potent form of protein protection. These findings point to new avenues of exploration for radioprotection, which could eventually influence how individuals are treated for exposure to chronic or acute doses of radiation; could lead to ways to protect cancer patients from the toxic effects of radiation treatment; and may prove significant in efforts to contain toxic runoff from radioactive Cold War waste sites.

Fifty years ago, researchers discovered D. radiodurans, leading to speculation that the incredible degree of resistance exhibited by the bacteria has to do with its mechanism of DNA repair, and the majority of research on the bacteria has centered on this hypothesis. However, D. radiodurans has subsequently shown nothing obviously unusual in its DNA repair components, and it appears that bacteria at differing levels of resistance sustain the same amount of DNA damage from a given dose of IR. Additionally, a number of bacteria are killed by IR doses that actually cause very little DNA damage......... Posted by: Rose      Read more         Source