Ortho Biotech Announces NDA Submission For Trabectedin For The Treatment Of Relapsed Ovarian Cancer
Ortho Biotech Products, L.P. announced the submission of a new drug application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for trabectedin when administered in combination with DOXIL(R) (doxorubicin HCI liposome injection) for the treatment of women with relapsed ovarian cancer (ROC). If approved, trabectedin combined with DOXIL will provide a new, non-platinum treatment option for these patients in the United States. The application follows the completion of a multicenter, randomized Phase III study, ET743-OVA-301, one of the largest studies conducted in ROC, comparing the combination of trabectedin and DOXIL to DOXIL alone in 672 patients. The study showed that patients treated with the combination treatment had a statistical... More »
Effort to Stop Smoking is More Intense for Women
No evidence can confirm if men or women have more success in efforts to stop smoking. But, according to the December issue of Mayo Clinic Women?s HealthSource, women tend to report more intense withdrawal symptoms, including depression, irritability, anxiety, lethargy, a reduced ability to concentrate, and weight changes. The average weight gain for women after quitting is 5 to 10 pounds. When pounds start adding up, some women get nervous and tense and start smoking again. For women and men, stopping is difficult and usually takes four to six tries to successfully quit. ?People need to realize that if they have a relapse, they can learn from it,? says Patrick Draper, a tobacco treatment specialist at Mayo Clinic?s Nicotine Dependence Center. ?The only way to stop smoking is to keep trying.? More »
Decrease Drug Costs?Go Generic
Today, more than ever, consumers can opt for generic equivalents of brand-name medications at substantial cost savings. According to the December issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter, generic versions of brand-name prescription drugs can cost 30 percent to 90 percent less. Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a record number of generic drug applications, up more than 30 percent from 2006. Generics might look different from the brand-name drug because they can have different fillers or coloring agents. But the active ingredients are closely regulated by the FDA and must be within a small percentage of the brand-name medication. More »
E-prescribing Systems Can Boost Drug Cost Savings
Electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) systems that allow doctors to select lower cost or generic medications can save $845,000 per 100,000 patients per year and possibly more system-wide, according to findings from a new study funded by HHS? Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The finding may have important financial implications, the study authors concluded. As e-prescribing systems become more widely available and easier to use, their greater use among doctors is likely. Complete use of e-prescribing system with formulary decision support could reduce prescription drug spending by up to $3.9 million per 100,000 patients per year, according the study?s authors. The study findings come at a time when many insurers, policymakers, and patients are seeking ways to control fast-rising drug costs. To encourage the use of lower cost or generic drugs, many insurers are now using lists of approved prescription drugs known as formularies. Under these arrangements, patients are often charged the lowest co-payment for generic medications (tier 1), a higher sum for preferred brand-name drugs (tier 2) and the highest amount for non preferred brand-name drugs (tier 3). More »
Pressure Ulcers Increasing Among Hospital Patients
Hospitalizations involving patients with pressure ulcers? either developed before or after admission ? increased by nearly 80 percent between 1993 and 2006, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Pressure ulcers, also called bed sores, typically occur among patients who can?t move or have lost sensation. Prolonged periods of immobility put pressure on the skin, soft tissue, muscle or bone, causing ulcers to develop. Older patients, stroke victims, people who are paralyzed or those with diabetes or dementia are particularly vulnerable. Pressure ulcers may indicate poor quality of care at home, in a nursing home or hospital. Severe cases can lead to life-threatening infections. AHRQ?s analysis found that of the 503,300 pressure ulcer-related hospitalizations in 2006: More »
Lazy eye treatment times could be drastically reduced, new research shows
Treatment times for amblyopia ? more commonly known as ?lazy eye? ? could be drastically reduced thanks to research carried out at The University of Nottingham. Amblyopia is thought to affect up to 2.5 per cent of people and accounts for around 90 per cent of all children?s eye appointments in the UK. Occlusion therapy ? patching the normal eye for lengthy periods to ?train? the affected eye ? is the main treatment for amblyopia. However, this method can be distressing to children, is unpopular with parents and can adversely effect educational development. This type of therapy has been used in various forms since 1743 and has long been considered to only be effective up until late childhood. The new treatments developed in the Visual Neuroscience Group in the University?s School of Psychology have not only reduced potential treatment times by an unprecedented amount, they have also proved that it is possible to treat amblyopia in adults. Early results suggest gains, that would have required around 120 hours of occlusion therapy to achieve, can be produced after just 10 hours. More »
Reforms Needed in Health Care Services for Adolescents
Reforms Needed in Health Care Services for Adolescents, Including Greater Coordination of Care and Better Training for Providers WASHINGTON?Current health services for adolescents are fragmented and poorly designed to meet the health needs of all of the nation?s adolescents, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. Although most U.S. adolescents are healthy, many engage in risky behavior, develop unhealthy habits, and have physical and mental conditions that can jeopardize their immediate and future health. Health care providers need better training in how to meet the specific health needs of those aged 10 to 19, said the committee that wrote the report. ?Adolescents have unique health care needs, and our health system should not approach their care the same way it does children or adults,? said committee chair Robert S. Lawrence, professor of environmental health sciences and health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ?As policymakers discuss how to restructure the way health care is delivered in the U.S., the distinct problems faced by adolescents?such as risky behavior?deserve particular attention. And because adolescence is a critical period for developing habits that build a strong foundation for health throughout one?s entire life, services need to focus on promoting healthy behaviors, preventing disease, and managing health conditions.? More »
Honey adds health benefits, is natural preservative and sweetener in salad dressings
Antioxidant-rich honey is a healthy alternative to chemical additives and refined sweeteners in commercial salad dressings, said a new University of Illinois study. ?To capitalize on the positive health effects of honey, we experimented with using honey in salad dressings,? said Nicki Engeseth, a U of I associate professor of food chemistry. ?We found that the antioxidants in honey protected the quality of the salad dressings for up to nine months while sweetening them naturally.? Engeseth?s study substituted honey for EDTA, an additive used to keep the oils in salad dressings from oxidizing, and high-fructose corn syrup, used by many commercial salad-dressing producers to sweeten their salad dressing recipes. More »
Overweight kids may have more anxiety, depression
Compared with their thinner peers, overweight children may be more prone to developing depression and anxiety symptoms by the time they reach middle school, a new study suggests. The study, which followed more than 1,200 U.S. children from age 2 to sixth grade, found those that those who were overweight tended to have more ?internalizing? problems as they moved through elementary school?being somewhat more prone to becoming withdrawn, anxious or depressed. They were not, however, at higher risk of conduct problems, like acting out at school. More »
Progression of Retinal Disease Linked to Cell Starvation
Rods and cones coexist peacefully in healthy retinas. Both types of cells occupy the same layer of tissue and send signals when they detect light, which is the first step in vision. The incurable eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa, however, reveals a codependent relationship between the two that can be destructive. When flawed rods begin to die, otherwise normal cones follow them to the grave, leading to blindness. A new study might explain why. Data published online in Nature Neuroscience Dec. 7 suggest the cones are starving to death. As rods disappear, the structure of the retina breaks down. This might disrupt the connections between the cones and their source of nutrients. ?This is the first study linking cone death in Retinitis Pigmentosa to a metabolic problem that suggests starvation,? says senior author Constance Cepko, an HMS professor and investigator with Howard Hughes Medical Institute. ?If we can find a way to supply nutrients to the cones, we might be able to preserve daylight vision in patients.? More »
Ultrasound Screening Helps Prevent Stroke in Children with Sickle Cell Disease
Screening with an ultrasound machine has proved highly successful in preventing stroke among children with sickle cell disease, by identifying children who are then preventively treated with blood transfusions. Over an eight-year period at The Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia, researchers found that the technique, transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD), along with regular transfusions for children found to be at high risk, reduced stroke to one-tenth of the incidence found before TCD was introduced. ?We studied the impact of using TCD starting in 1998, when the technique became routine at our hospital and many other centers,? said Janet L. Kwiatkowski, M.D., a pediatric hematologist at The Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia. Kwiatkowski presented her group?s results today at a press conference during the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology. Childhood stroke has long been known to be a devastating complication of sickle cell disease, an inherited condition in which abnormal hemoglobin deforms red blood cells into sickle-shaped bodies that do not pass smoothly through blood vessels. More »
Food can affect a cell in the same way hormones do
VIB researchers connected to the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven have discovered an important new mechanism with which cells can detect nutrients. This happens in the same way ? and with the same effects ? as when cells receive a message from a hormone. This finding can teach us more about how food affects our body; and, furthermore, it can form the basis for new candidate targets for medicines. Receptors Every living thing is composed of cells ? and, via receptor proteins on their outer surface, cells communicate with each other and with the outside world. Receptors are found on skin cells (pain and pressure receptors, for example) as well as on the cells of other tissues and organs. By binding with certain substances, such as hormones, the receptors pick up signals from outside the cell. They transmit the signal to the interior of the cell, where it can induce all kinds of reactions. Receptors can be stimulated or blocked to evoke or prevent a certain effect. Foreign substances, such as medicines, can also bind to a receptor and cause a particular effect. For some time now, scientists have suspected that cells can also detect the presence of food via one or another receptor ? but no one has known how that happens. Sensing and transporting In addition to receptors, cells also have transport proteins that can carry nutrients through the cell membrane to the inside of the cell, where they can be put to use. Furthermore so-called ?transceptors? have been discovered that sense and transport food simultaneously. More »
Less sun, more depression for people with SAD
Douglas Cootey is replacing his lightbulbs with brighter ones, but not just to see better. The new broad spectrum lights simulate sunlight, and might help enliven his mood in the gloomy winter months. Cootey realized that his symptoms fit those of seasonal affective disorder, a condition that typically generates depression during autumn and winter and then goes away in the sunnier months. More »
Zimbabweans ill with cholera crossing border
Doctors worry about the woman sitting on a bed inside the large tent, an IV in her arm. Chipo Matewe, 23, is eight months pregnant and stricken with cholera. More »
Allergic and wheezing, but still keeping pets
It started with sinus congestion for Shawna Coronado. Then the splitting migraines came. Coronado soon discovered the furry causes: her family's dog and cat. Like the 10 million American pet owners with allergies, the Coronados faced a dilemma: Can a sneezy-wheezy human and pet co-exist in the same house? More »
Patient's photo helps radiologists read scan
Radiologists who read imaging exams -- such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and CT scans -- may do a better job if they see a picture of the face that goes with the diagnostic test, according to research presented this week at the Radiology Society of North America's annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois. More »
Tainted milk deaths rise in China
Six Chinese infants may have died from consuming melamine-tainted milk powder, twice the number previously reported by the government, the Ministry of Health said Monday. More »
Happiness is contagious: study
Happiness is contagious, researchers reported on Thursday. The same team that demonstrated obesity and smoking spread in networks has shown that the more happy people you know, the more likely you are yourself to be happy. And getting connected to happy people improves a person?s own happiness, they reported in the British Medical Journal. ?What we are dealing with is an emotional stampede,? Nicholas Christakis, a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, said in a telephone interview. More »
Children?s National convenes first childhood obesity symposium
On Tuesday, November 25, 2008, the Obesity Institute at Children?s National Medical Center gathered experts from many disciplines to share ideas, failures and successes, and the future promise of prevention and intervention strategies to fight childhood obesity, both in the District of Columbia and nationwide. Through the Obesity Institute, Children?s National seeks to reduce childhood obesity using a multidisciplinary approach that draws upon our experts from throughout Children?s National, as well as research, clinical, policy, and advocacy partners region. ?There is no single cause for the increase in childhood obesity, but certainly high fat diets and lack of exercise are contributing factors,? said Denice Cora-Bramble, MD, MBA, executive director of the Goldberg Center for Community Pediatric Health at Children?s National. ?Likewise, there is no single answer to systematically solving the problem. But the upward trend, especially here in the District, demands that we develop effective interventions faster.? More »
Binge-drinking may raise stroke risk
People who occasionally binge-drink may have a heightened long-term risk of suffering a stroke, even if they do not regularly drink heavily, a new study suggests. Researchers have known that while moderate drinking seems to lower the risk of heart disease and stroke, regular, heavy alcohol consumption has the opposite effect. But the relationship between sporadic binge-drinking and stroke risk has been unclear. In the new study, Finnish researchers found that of nearly 16,000 adults followed for a decade, those who said they sometimes binged on alcohol were more likely to suffer a first-time stroke than non-bingers?regardless of their overall drinking patterns. More »
Child abuse more common than statistics suggest
About 1 in 10 children in the developed world is abused each year but official statistics indicate less than a tenth of those abused are investigated, a series of international studies showed on Wednesday. Child protection services are failing to recognise abuse in part because doctors, schools and community health workers underreport it, they wrote in the Lancet medical journal. Tackling the problem is critical as there is clear evidence that effects from abuse last well into adulthood, making it more likely these children will be violent and engage in risky sexual behaviour as adults, they added. More »
Multiple sclerosis seen associated with headache
Patients with multiple sclerosis are more apt to suffer from headaches than the general population, results of a study hint. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a disease in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and damages the myelin sheath that protects nerve cells. It can cause symptoms ranging from vague tingling to blindness and paralysis. ?Headache is not generally considered a symptom of MS, and studies investigating the relationship between the two conditions have produced conflicting results,? Dr. Mario Zappia, of the University of Catania, and colleagues note in a report published this month. More »
Treatment for Advanced Hepatitis C Doesn?t Work
An NIH funded multi-center clinical trial found no benefit from ?maintenance therapy,? low-dose peginterferon used for hepatitis C patients who have not responded to an initial round of treatment. In addition, the study showed a surprising health decline in patients with liver disease over the course of four years. A Saint Louis University researcher was lead author and chairman of the study, which will be published in the Dec. 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study ruled out low-dose peginterferon maintenance therapy as a treatment for patients with advanced chronic hepatitis. ?This course of treatment had been adopted by a number of doctors in the U.S. and in other countries, though it had yet to be proven to work. That practice should be stopped based on the results of this trial. There is no rationale for using maintenance therapy,? said Adrian Di Bisceglie, M.D., professor of internal medicine, chief of hepatology and co-director of the Liver Center at Saint Louis University. ?The treatment is clearly ineffective.? More »
Calorie Restriction And Exercise Show Breast Cancer Prevention Differences In Postmenopausal Women
Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have identified pathways by which a reduced-calorie diet and exercise can modify a postmenopausal woman's risk of breast cancer. The results, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, suggest that both caloric restriction and exercise affect pathways leading to mTOR, a molecule involved in integrating energy balance with cell growth. Dysregulation of the mTOR pathway is a contributing factor to various human diseases, including cancers. Diet and exercise reach mTOR through different means, with calorie restriction affecting more upstream pathways, which could explain why caloric restriction... More »
UNC Researchers Find Clue To Stopping Breast-Cancer Metastasis
If scientists knew exactly what a breast cancer cell needs to spread, then they could stop the most deadly part of the disease: metastasis. New research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine takes a step in that direction. Carol Otey, Ph.D. and UNC colleagues reduced the ability of breast cancer cells to migrate by knocking down the expression of a protein called palladin. They also found higher levels of palladin in four invasive breast cancer cell lines compared to four non-invasive cell lines. "This study shows that palladin may play an important role in the metastasis of breast cancer cells as they move out of the tumor and into the blood vessels and lymphatics to spread throughout the body," s... More »