January 24, 2008, 10:50 PM CT

Norwegian ban on dental amalgam

In an editorial published recently in the recent issue of the Journal of Dental Research, Derek Jones, Professor Emeritus of Biomaterials, Dalhousie University (Halifax, NS, Canada), and Chair of the International Standards Organizations Technical Committee on Dentistry, denounces new Norwegian regulations governing the use of mercury that will adversely affect the use of dental amalgam not only in Norway, but also in other countries around the world that are contemplating taking similar action.

Says Jones, For the past 20 years, the public has been bombarded by sensational, confusing, and misleading media reports about health issues correlation to dental amalgam. The public opinion on this issue has been modified by minority, non-scientific views driven and supported by media sensationalism. Mobilization of irrational public fear is the strategy used by lobby groups to pressure governments to change public policy. It is important that governments adhere to scientific principles and base health and environmental policies on sound scientific knowledge. Dentistry is an applied science and needs to bring issues such those dealing with dental amalgam to the attention of governments.

Effective January 1, 2008, the Norwegian government now prohibits the production, importation, exportation, sale, and use of substances that contain mercury, including dental amalgam. In the editorial, the author contends that, at present, there is no conclusive evidence in the scientific literature to demonstrate a link between the cause of irreversible neurological disorders or of impaired kidney function and mercury vapors from dental amalgam. Further, eventhough it is generally accepted that some 50% of mercury pollution comes from natural sources, the relative contribution from natural vs. anthropogenic mercury sources remains unclear, and the natural source may be considerably higher. Pollution from dentistry is insignificant compared with that from industrial use and natural sources. Clearly, the above information leads to the logical conclusion that banning "dental amalgam" is a political issue that will not only have no impact on total worldwide mercury pollution, but also removes a viable therapy option for dentists and their patients......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 22, 2008, 10:59 PM CT

Low vitamin E levels and physical decline

Scientists at Yale School of Medicine have observed that a low concentration of vitamin E in the blood is linked with physical decline in older persons.

Reported in the January 23 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association, the study included 698 people age 65 or older who were randomly selected from the population registry in two municipalities close to Florence, Italy. The researchers, led by first author Benedetta Bartali of Yale, collected blood samples to measure the levels of micronutrients including folate, iron and vitamins B6, B12, D and E. They assessed physical decline in the study participants over a three-year period using an objective test of three tasks: walking speed, rising repeatedly from a chair, and standing balance.

We reviewed the effects of several micronutrients and only vitamin E was significantly linked to decline in physical function, said Bartali, a nutritionist and a Brown-Coxe Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale School of Medicine. The odds of declining in physical function was 1.62 times greater in persons with low levels of vitamin E compared with persons with higher levels.

Bartali added, It is unlikely that vitamin E is simply a marker for poor nutrition because our results are independent of energy intake, and the effect of low levels of other micronutrients was not significant. Our results suggest that an appropriate dietary intake of vitamin E may help to reduce the decline in physical function among older persons. Since only one person in our study used vitamin E supplements, it is unknown whether the use of vitamin E supplements would have the same beneficial effect......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 22, 2008, 10:43 PM CT

Drive-through Windows Contribute To Delays, Errors

Consumers who pick up their prescription medications at a pharmacy drive-through window might be jeopardizing their own safety in the name of convenience.

A new study indicates that pharmacists who work at locations with drive-through windows believe the extra distractions linked to window service contribute to processing delays, reduced efficiency and even dispensing errors.

The surveyed pharmacists reported that the design and layout of their workplace has an impact on dispensing accuracy, particularly the presence of drive-through window pick-up services. Results also indicate that automated dispensing systems in pharmacies are likely to reduce the potential for errors and enhance efficiency.

The study suggests pharmacy design should emphasize minimal workflow interruptions but it also offers a caution to consumers to check their prescription medications, particularly those obtained from a pharmacy's drive-through window, said Sheryl Szeinbach, the study's lead author and a professor of pharmacy practice and administration at Ohio State University.

"Maybe we ought to stop and consider: 'Am I likely to get the same level of service from the drive-through as I am actually interacting face-to-face with a health-care professional?'" Szeinbach said......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 21, 2008, 9:04 PM CT

Brain connections strengthen during waking hours

Now new research from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health clarifies this phenomenon, supporting the idea that sleep plays a critical role in the brains ability to change in response to its environment. This ability, called plasticity, is at the heart of learning.

Reporting in the Jan. 20, 2008, online version of Nature Neuroscience, the UW-Madison researchers showed by several measures that synapses nerve cell connections central to brain plasticity were very strong when rodents had been awake and weak when they had been asleep.

The new findings reinforce the UW-Madison scientists highly-debated hypothesis about the role of sleep. They think that people sleep so that their synapses can downsize and prepare for a new day and the next round of learning and synaptic strengthening.

The human brain expends up to 80 percent of its energy on synaptic activity, constantly adding and strengthening connections in response to all kinds of stimulation, explains study author Chiara Cirelli, associate professor of psychiatry.

Given that each of the millions of neurons in the human brain contains thousands of synapses, this energy expenditure is huge and cant be sustained.

We need an off-line period, when we are not exposed to the environment, to take synapses down, Cirelli say. We think thats why humans and all living organisms sleep. Without sleep, the brain reaches a saturation point that taxes its energy budget, its store of supplies and its ability to learn further......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 21, 2008, 9:03 PM CT

Lupus in women: New genetic risk factors identified

Montreal, January 20, 2008 An international consortium of clinical researchers and genomics experts, including scientists from the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) and Universit de Montral (UdeM), have uncovered multiple new genetic risk factors for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), usually known as lupus. The large-scale genomic study is the first of its kind to investigate the genetic basis of lupus. Dr. John D. Rioux, associate professor of medicine at the MHI and UdeM, co-authored the study that appears in the January 20 online edition of Nature Genetics.

Systemic lupus can affect joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain and blood. The disease occurs in about 31 out of every 100,000 people and affects women nine times more frequently than men. Researchers think that lupus is caused by genetic variants that interact with one another and the environment.

The research team studied the DNA of 720 women of European descent with lupus and 2,337 women without lupus. They scanned the entire genome for more than 317,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are locations on chromosomes where a single unit of DNA, or genetic material, may vary from one person to the next. The goal was to identify SNPs associated with lupus. They confirmed these results in another independent set of 1,846 women with lupus and 1,825 women without lupus......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 21, 2008, 9:02 PM CT

Steps toward Stopping Autoimmune Disease

A landmark genetic study has identified multiple genes associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease that affects an estimated 1.4 million Americans.

Lupus can affect the joints, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain and blood and occurs in about 31 out of every 100,000 people. Women are nine times more likely than men to develop the condition, which is often difficult to diagnose.

In 2005 the Alliance for Lupus Research (ALR) formed and supported the International Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Genetics (SLEGEN) Consortium, charging researchers with searching for genetic variants that might predispose an individual to developing lupus.

Reported in the January 20, 2008, issue of Nature Genetics, initial study results uncovered several genes associated with lupus and underscore the importance of genetic variants in diseases that affect immune function. The findings will ultimately lead to new therapies and earlier diagnosis.

The SLEGEN study is a model for collaborative genetic research, said Mary Kuntz Crow, M.D., an immunity and inflammation specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and 2008 chair of the ALR Scientific Advisory Board. The ALR approach of supporting investigations targeted toward developing new therapies for people with lupus is unique and meaningful......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 17, 2008, 10:17 PM CT

Alzheimer's plaques in mice

Increasing levels of a protein that helps the brain use cholesterol may slow the development of Alzheimer's disease changes in the brain, as per scientists studying a mouse model of the disease at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Elevated levels of the protein ABCA1 sharply reduced buildup of brain plaques that are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, as per senior author David M. Holtzman, M.D., the Andrew and Gretchen Jones Professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine and neurologist-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The study, appearing this month in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, highlights a new possibility for potential Alzheimer's therapy: altering the brain's use of lipids, a class of fat-soluble compounds that includes cholesterol.

"It's becoming clear that ABCA1 may be a good drug target for Alzheimer's therapies," Holtzman says. "There are known drugs that can increase ABCA1 levels, and with some further development of this or similar classes of drugs and additional insights into how ABCA1 slows down plaque deposition, there may be a way to create a new approach to Alzheimer's therapy".

Discovered in 2001, ABCA1 is a naturally occurring enzyme already under study for its potential to treat heart disease. Lipids like cholesterol aren't soluble, so to be transported through the bloodstream and into and out of cells and organs, they have to be linked to molecules known as apolipoproteins. ABCA1 facilitates this process, which is known as lipidation......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 14, 2008, 5:32 PM CT

Difference in response to multiple sclerosis treatment

By comparing the DNA of patients with multiple sclerosis whose symptoms are reduced by interferon beta treatment to the DNA of those who continue to experience relapses, scientists may have identified important genetic differences between the two, as per an article posted online today that will appear in the March 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. These differences could eventually be used to help predict which therapys will help which patients.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disorder in which nerve fiber coatings degenerate, causing muscle weakness, spasms and partial or complete paralysis. A protein known as recombinant interferon beta is widely used to treat multiple sclerosis symptoms and possibly slow progression of the disease, as per background information in the article. Despite interferon beta treatment, up to 50 percent of patients with MS continue to experience relapses and worsening disability, the authors write. In addition, adverse effects, such as flulike symptoms and depression, are common, leading a number of patients to discontinue treatment.

Esther Byun, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and his colleagues of a multi-center international collaboration followed a group of 206 Southern European patients with relapsing-remitting MSthe most common type, in which patients experience periods of symptoms followed by periods of symptom-free remissionfor two years after they began interferon beta treatment. Every three months, neurologists analyzed patients disability levels; throughout the study, 99 responded positively to interferon beta and 107 did not......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 14, 2008, 3:55 PM CT

Increasing Physician Disease Reporting

With emerging diseases like the West Nile Virus, and re-emerging diseases such as the pandemic flu and drug-resistant tuberculosis, it's increasingly important to promptly detect a potential infectious outbreak within a community. But public health officials can't act quickly unless physicians report the diseases.

"Quick reporting by several physicians, all acting independently, allows the public health authorities to promptly recognize a pattern and take the necessary action to contain the disease by isolating and treating cases, quarantining affected groups and taking other measures to hopefully prevent a wider outbreak," said Temple University doctor Dr. Lawrence Ward, MD, MPH, FACP. Ward is an assistant professor of medicine, an associate program director of the internal medicine residency program and medical director of the Medicine Group Practice at Temple University Hospital.

Ward led a study reported in the recent issue of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice that found simple and cost efficient methods such as e-mail reminders, an informational web site, and a program for handheld devices significantly increased spontaneous reporting by physicians.

"Currently, few physicians report diseases to public health authorities. They either don't know the methods for reporting, or the specific conditions that are mandatory by law to be reported. Public health officials also do not adequately communicate the vitally important role played by practicing physicians, as frontline agents of public health, in the identification of new disease patterns and the importance of prompt reporting," Ward said......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source

January 6, 2008, 10:11 PM CT

Key to avian flu in humans

MIT scientists have uncovered a critical difference between flu viruses that infect birds and humans, a discovery that could help researchers monitor the evolution of avian flu strains and aid in the development of vaccines against a deadly flu pandemic.

The scientists observed that a virus's ability to infect humans depends on whether it can bind to one specific shape of receptor on the surface of human respiratory cells.

Now that we know what to look for, this could help us not only monitor the bird flu virus, but it can aid in the development of potentially improved therapeutic interventions for both avian and seasonal flu, said Ram Sasisekharan, MIT Underwood Prescott Professor of Biological Engineering and Health Sciences and Technology, and the senior author of a paper on the work that will appear in the Jan. 6 issue of Nature Biotechnology.

Flu viruses come in a number of strains, and not all of them can infect humans. Strains known as H1 or H3 have jumped from birds to humans and hence are tailored to attack cells of the human upper respiratory tract. H5 strains are commonly confined to birds, but when they do infect humans they can have very high fatality rates.

In the past decade, isolated outbreaks of avian flu (H5N1) in humans have raised concerns that a deadly pandemic could arise if the avian flu evolves to a form that can easily infect humans and pass from person to person. Some researchers believe such an outbreak could rival the 1918 Spanish flu that killed 50 million to 100 million people worldwide......... Posted by: Emily      Read more         Source