EU approves third swine flu vaccine for distribution

The European Commission has cleared for distribution in Europe a third vaccine to fight swine flu, amid fears of a second wave of the potentially deadly virus, an EU official said Friday.

The move came after the London-based European Medicines Agency (EMEA) recommended on October 2 that the Celvapan vaccine, produced by US drugs firm Baxter, be used across the EU's 27 member nations.

European authorities have already fast-tracked approval of two other vaccines -- Pandemrix from British firm GlaxoSmithKline and Focetria from Swiss peer Novartis -- amid mounting fears about the new winter influenza season.

In Britain, which is European nation worst hit by swine flu, vaccinations are expected to begin later this month.

Governments in the northern hemisphere have ordered swine flu vaccines ahead of the winter season as they brace for a second wave of the virus, which spread across the world after emerging in Mexico and the United States in April.

At least 4,525 people have died from swine flu infections since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April, the World Health Organisation said Friday.

Source:www.google.com

Frequent, Brisk Exercise After Menopause Lowers Breast Cancer Risk

Postmenopausal women who maintain a regular, moderate to vigorous exercise program reduce their risk for breast cancer, even if they did not exercise in the past, according to a study published online October 1 in BM C Cancer.

"Among the few modifiable risk factors for breast cancer, a high versus low level of physical activity has been consistently associated with 20-40% reduced risk of postmenopausal breast cancer," write Tricia M. Peters, MPhil, of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, and colleagues of the National Institute of Health-American Association of Retired Persons Diet and Health Study. "In order to better characterize the physical activity-breast cancer relation, further investigation of specific parameters of physical activity such as the intensity and the time of life of physical activity that may be most effective for breast cancer prevention among postmenopausal women is needed."

The study, begun in 1995, consisted of 118,899 women, ages 50 to 71 years, who answered questions about their exercise habits during 4 periods of their lives: ages 15 to 18 years, 19 to 29 years, 35 to 39 years, and in the past 10 years. Participants also indicated the number of hours exercised per week, from less than 1 to more than 7, and whether their activities were light (eg, bowling and fishing) or moderate to vigorous (eg, jogging and swimming) for each of the periods.

During 6.6 years of subsequent tracking, 4287 breast cancers, mostly estrogen receptor (ER)–positive (84%; n = 1352), were diagnosed among the participating women.

Researchers found that women who maintained a high level of activity for more than 7 hours a week during the 10 years before the study reduced their risk for breast cancer by 16% vs more sedentary women in age-adjusted and multivariate (each relative risk [RR], 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.76 - 0.93) models. Adjustment for light exercise during the recent decade did not significantly affect the risk (RR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.76 - 0.95). Further adjustment for body mass index (BMI) had limited impact on the correlation between brisk activity and the risk for breast cancer (RR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.78 - 0.96).

The authors noted that their results regarding physical activity after menopause are consistent with previous findings. "Our observation that recent physical activity showed a stronger inverse association with breast cancer risk than historical activity is supported by two systematic review and three prospective studies among postmenopausal women," they point out, citing a review published in Epidemiology (2007;18:137-157) and a cohort study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2003;290:1331-1336), among others.

Combined light and moderate to vigorous exercise across the lifespan somewhat affected risk (P = .49 -.53). A greater positive relationship between risk and all activity, regardless of intensity level, existed for ages 19 to 29 years and ages 35 to 39 years (P = .79 for both light and moderate to vigorous activity) vs light and moderate to vigorous exercise during the 10 years before the study or for the 15- to 18-year-old period (P = .35 for light activity; P = .28 for moderate to vigorous activity).

Reasons for the link between activity and reduction of breast cancer risk may include the ability of exercise to reduce levels of endogenous sex hormones, modulate insulin and insulin-like growth factors, increase immunity, and reduce ongoing inflammation, according to the researchers.

Source:www.medscape.com

Affordable cholera vaccine closer to reality

A cheap cholera vaccine is getting closer to international distribution after proving safe and effective in a large clinical trial. 

About sixty-seven thousand people aged one year or older living in cholera-prone Kolkata, India, completed the trial, receiving two doses of either vaccine or a placebo. 

After two years, the vaccine had reduced cholera cases by around two-thirds in vaccinated people, was equally effective in all age groups and had no serious side effects. 

Oral vaccines for cholera, which is caused by Vibrio cholerae bacteria, are available but often too expensive for endemic countries' public health programmes. 

The vaccine is based on an earlier version manufactured and used in Vietnam. But Vietnam's drug regulatory authority is not approved by the WHO, and the vaccine did not meet WHO standards because the manufacturing process did not always remove cholera toxin from the vaccine. 

Vietnamese manufacturer ViBiotech worked with the International Vaccine Institute to reformulate the vaccine and production has now moved to India where the regulatory authority is approved. 

But follow-up studies to confirm how long protection lasts and whether it can provide 'herd immunity'  ‘protection of the unvaccinated by immunising most of the population’ could make the vaccine more beneficial in the long term. 

Saranya Sridhar of the School of Public Health at the US-based University of California, Berkeley, agrees, writing in an accompanying comment: "Today's encouraging results must be tempered by cautious optimism as results from longer follow-up for evidence of lasting protection must be reviewed before this current vaccine is recommended as an alternative to the expensive [vaccine]". 

Sridhar says that the vaccine must be directly compared with the WHO's recommended vaccine but that it "might be the first major step in the deployment of a cholera vaccine for mass immunisation in cholera-endemic areas".

Source:www.alertnet.org

HIV test -mandatory for pregnant women in India

Passing AIDS from mother to child is a human rights violation and soon all pregnant women in India will have to undergo a mandatory HIV test, the parliamentary forum on HIV and AIDS said on Friday.

"We want a HIV free generation. We are for testing all pregnant women for HIV so that no children can be born with the disease," Oscar Fernandes, head of the Parliamentary Forum on HIV and AIDS, told IANS.

"Passing the disease to a new born is a human rights violation. This should stop and all of us must try to make this a success," he said on the sideline of an event here. He, appreciated across the country for advocating a better life for AIDS patients, said: "The new born should not suffer lifelong without committing any sin. Why should they suffer? Isn't it a human rights violation?"

The former labour minister said the forum met UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibe Thursday and discussed the issue with him. Sidibe said, “India must produce a generation without HIV'. This is possible if we go for detecting the virus in every single pregnant women before delivery."

India is home to at least 2.5 million HIV positive people and thousands of babies are born with HIV positive status as they acquire the virus while in their mother's womb.

Fernandes said this would be done by involving the panchayats. "You know, institutional delivery in India happens in around 50 percent of the cases. Here we have to involve the panchayats." He added that the health ministry's Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) will take this issue for implementation. JSY is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and is being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among the poor.

JSY is a 100 percent centrally sponsored scheme and it integrates cash assistance with delivery and post-delivery care. The success of the scheme would be determined by the increase in institutional delivery among the poor families. "If we detect HIV before the institutional delivery, it will curb HIV spread. You will see it soon," Fernandes said.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Talk Therapy Can Significantly Treat Bulimia

Cognitive behavioral therapy or talk therapy can significantly help patients overcome bulimia and binge eating problems, reveals a new study.

People with bulimia experience cycles of disordered eating behavior in which they overeat and then purge, often by self-induced vomiting or taking laxatives.

Binge eating disorder includes bouts of overeating, but without purging, and researchers have linked it to obesity.

"Cognitive behavioral therapy is really the treatment of choice," said lead author Dr. Phillipa Hay, is foundation chair of mental health at the University of West Sydney in Australia.

"It has far and away the best evidence. It hadn't really been so definitively found in previous reviews," Hay added.

The review included 48 studies with 3,054 participants and strengthened earlier findings in favor of cognitive behavioral therapy.

It found that 37 percent of people completely stopped binge eating when given CBT focused on binging - while 3 percent of those assigned to a waiting list control group quit.

Cognitive behavioral treatment of bulimia or binge eating disorder typically involves 15 to 20 outpatient sessions with a therapist over a five-month period. CBT works by helping patients change the way they think about their behavior.

"CBT rests on the premise that unhealthy thoughts lie at both the roots of bulimia nervosa and in the maintenance of unhealthy eating behaviors," said Dr. Cynthia Bulik, is director of the University of North Carolina Eating Disorders Program at Chapel Hill.

"The goals of CBT are first to have the patient become his or her own detective and - via self-monitoring - start to understand their patterns of binge eating and purging and recognize and anticipate the cues (triggers) for their unhealthy behaviors," Bulik added. 
Source:www.medindia.net

The secret behind acupuncture

Morry Silberstein, professor at Australia's Curtin University of Technology (CUT), has developed a new theory that explains, for the first time, the scientific reasons why acupuncture works .

"We have never really had a scientific explanation for how acupuncture actually works," he said. "If we can explain the process scientifically, we can open it to full scientific scrutiny and develop ways to use it as a part of medical treatments."

His research suggests that the insertion of an acupuncture needle into the skin disrupts the branching point of nerves called C-fibres, which transmit low-grade sensory information over very long distances.

"We have known for some time that acupuncture points have a much lower electrical resistance than nearby areas of skin," Silberstein said. "It is possible that this is because C-fibre nerves branch at acupuncture points."

Scientists do not know exactly what role C-fibres play in the nervous system; however, Silberstein has a theory.

"This network of nerves possibly exists to maintain our state of arousal or wakefulness, and its disruption by an acupuncture needle numbs our general sensitivity to pain," he said.

"It may provide us with new methods of treating sleep problems, pain and high blood pressure," he said, besides furthering our understanding of the autonomic nervous system.

These findings are slated for publication in the Journal of Theoretical Biology Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Sperm offers new weapon to fight ageing

Graz University scientists in Austria say that compound found in human sperm, known as spermidine, may prove the next weapon in the fight against aging.
They have found that spermidine slows ageing processes, and increases longevity in yeast, flies, worms, mice, and human blood cells by protecting cells from damage.
The researchers point out that cell ageing happens when a process whereby damaged cells or parts of cells are recycled, scientifically known as autophagy, goes wrong.
They further state that spermidine concentration has also been found to decline with age.
They have found that adding spermidine suppressed various processes associated with ageing, and reduces free radicals and increasing lifespan.
In a study on fruit flies, the researchers observed that treated insects lived 30 per cent longer than their untreated counterparts.
Worms who were treated using the new approach were found to live 15 per cent longer than those untreated.
Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

New drug Tocilizumab could help 40,000 rheumatoid arthritis sufferers

An alternative new drug for rheumatoid athritis may help to ease the painful symptoms of 40,000 patients who do not benefit from current medications.

Tocilizumab is the first new treatment for the condition to be developed for ten years, but to treat one patient will cost up to £9,300 a year, and it has yet to be approved for widespread use on the NHS. Five trials involving more than 4,000 patients have shown that the injected treatment can transform the lives of patients who cannot tolerate other therapies or no longer respond to them.

Six times more patients reported that they achieved clinical remission — a return to “normal” quality of life — with tocilizumab than with the standard drug treatment methotrexate. The drug, also known as RoActemra, targets a key signalling molecule that causes painful inflammation around the joints.

But this month the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) which assesses the cost effectiveness of new medicines in England, issued preliminary guidance that rejected the treatment as too expensive for use on the NHS. Without NICE approval, local health authorities are highly unlikely to pay for the drug.

The National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, a charity supporting sufferers of the disease, described the decision as “extremely bad news”. But NICE could still reverse or alter this decision, before producing its final guidance in February.

Drug manufacturers said yesterday that negotiations with the watchdog were continuing.

Treating rheumatoid arthritis and related illnesses is estimated to cost the NHS more than £4 billion each year, as about 350,000 adults in Britain are estimated to suffer from the condition, many of whom are severely disabled.

Tocilizumab, made by the Japanese company Chugai Pharma and distributed by Roche, targets a specific molecule called Interleukin-6, which plays a key role in the immune system and generates inflammation which can exacerbate the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. It may be given either on its own or in combination with traditional anti-rheumatic drugs such as methotrexate, as a second- or third-line treatment where other therapies have failed.

In patients not responding to methotrexate or another altenrnative, anti-TNF (tumour necrosis factor) drugs, tocilizumab achieved 30 per cent remission rates after six months. After two years of treatment, 54 per cent of patients had seen their symptoms eased by the drug, based on their responses to clinical questionnaires.

Alisa Bosworth, chief executive of the NRAS, said: “The availability of this new drug is a significant breakthrough in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Access to new treatment options is crucially important to enable more patients to have an opportunity of slowing disease progression and regaining their quality of life. Without access to these treatments, patients face a life of increasing disability and pain.” 

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Coeliac bone loss link uncovered

Osteoporosis is a known risk of coeliac disease and has been explained by a failure to absorb calcium or vitamin D. But a study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests coeliac patients produce antibodies which attack a key protein that maintains bone health.They could easily be treated with drugs to prevent bone loss, researchers say.

It also explains why osteoporosis in those with the digestive disorder may not respond to calcium and vitamin D.

Coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to gluten, a protein found in wheat, which damage the small finger-like villi that line the small intestine and play a key role in digestion. When damaged and inflamed, the villi are unable to absorb food properly, causing diarrhoea and malnutrition.

It affects one in 100 people, and of these a significant proportion may go on to develop osteoporosis - a disease of bone that leads to an increased risk of painful and disabling fractures.

Protein clue

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh say it may be a protein called osteoprotegerin which holds the key to the link between coeliac disease and osteoporosis.

In 20% of the coeliac patients tested, antibodies were produced which stopped this protein - crucial for maintaining bone strength - from working effectively.

Lead researcher Professor Stuart Ralston from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, said: "This is a very exciting step forward. Not only have we discovered a new reason to explain why osteoporosis occurs in coeliac disease, but we have also found that it responds very well to drugs that prevent bone tissue removal.

"Testing for these antibodies could make a real and important difference to the lives of people with coeliac disease by alerting us to the risk of osteoporosis and helping us find the correct treatment for them."

Sarah Sleet, head of Coeliac UK said: "Osteoporosis is a damaging complication of coeliac disease and our traditional understanding of its cause has left some people with the condition with little hope that their symptoms and quality of life will improve.

"This new breakthrough in understanding and treatment will give renewed hope to our members struggling with their condition."

Dr Claire Bowring, medical policy officer with the National Osteoporosis Society said: "We already know that coeliac disease is a risk factor for osteoporosis and that early diagnosis and treatment of coeliac disease gives the best chance of improving bone density.

"A better understanding of the relationship between coeliac disease and osteoporosis will enable clinicians to manage both conditions more effectively.

"Although this research is at an early stage it is certainly interesting and we look forward to more extensive work to identify how prevalent this antibody is in people with coeliac disease."

Source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Scientists test 'miracle' pill to cure period pains

Scientists from Southampton have created a pill, from a drug called VA111913, to cure women's period pains. The drug, taken as a prescribed medicine, is designed to tackle the cause of agonising monthly stomach cramps which leave some women bedridden. It is currently in the second phase of testing and is being is being trialled on 128 women, aged between 18 and 35, in Britain and America. Participants will be given a six-day course of the treatment during their menstrual cycle. If proven to be effective, the drug, called VA111913, could be available within four years.

Dr Jim Phillips, chief executive of Vantia Therapeutics, the Southampton-based company behind the discovery, is confident the drug will be a success.
He said: "I think it would be fair to call it a breakthrough, there is certainly no other treatment like it. From our research there is nothing to suggest it won't work."

Period pain is caused by contractions in the womb as it sheds its lining during menstruation. Each contraction temporarily stops the blood flow to the womb causing the blood vessels in the muscle wall to compress and the tissue to be starved of oxygen – causing pain, called dysmenorrhoea. At the same time chemicals, called prostaglandins, are released that induce stronger contractions and can cause more pain.

There are thought to be a number of ways to ease the pain – from relaxing exercises to placing a hot water bottle on the stomach.There are also several painkillers on the market, but there is currently no treatment specifically designed to stop the pain completely.

The company's chief medical officer, Hilary McElwaine-Johnn, said: "We found that what was on the market did not meet the need of those women who can't even get to work or school because of the pain."

The new drug works by targeting the muscles that contract in the uterus wall, by doing this scientists believe this will stop the pain.

Dr Phillips said: "This had the potential to directly target the cause of dysmenorrhoea by acting on the smooth muscle in the uterus wall. We believe this could offer and effective alternative to the over-the-counter painkillers."

If successful the company could win a slice of the therapeutic market for period pains estimated to be worth around one billion dollars.

Dr Phillips hopes the revenue from the drug could run into multi-millions. He said: "We won't get any revenue from it for at least five years, but if it is successful we would be looking for commercialisation partnerships that would be worth tens of millions of dollars in the United States."

The result of the trial, taking place over the next two months, will be known by the middle of next year.

Source:www.telegraph.co.uk

B-vitamins: no effect on heart disease

B-vitamin supplements do not reduce the risk of developing or dying from heart disease, researchers say.

The authors of the Cochrane Systematic Review, published this week, said the supplements should not be recommended for prevention of cardiovascular disease.

"There is no evidence to support the use of B-vitamins as supplements for reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke or death associated with cardiovascular disease," said lead researcher, Arturo Martí-Carvajal of the Iberoamerican Cochrane Network in Valencia, Venezuela.

"We found no evidence that homocysteine-lowering interventions, in the form of supplements of vitamins B6, B9 or B12 given alone or in combination, at any dosage compared with placebo or standard care, prevents myocardial infarction, stroke, or reduces total mortality in participants at risk or with established cardiovascular disease," the authors wrote.

Certain B-vitamins, specifically B12, B9 (folic acid) and B6, influence levels of an amino acid in the blood called homocysteine. High levels of this molecule are associated with an increased risk of heart disease. It has been suggested that giving B-vitamin supplements could help regulate levels of homocysteine, thereby reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and death. But according to the researchers, there is no scientific basis for this claim.

"Prescription of these supplements cannot be justified, unless new evidence from large high quality trials alters our conclusions. There are currently three ongoing trials that will help to consolidate or challenge these findings," said the authors.

The review included eight trials involving a total of 24,210 people.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. 

Source:www.pharmacynews.com

Seven swine flu deaths take India's toll to 366

Seven people including four from Kerala died of swine flu Wednesday taking India's toll due to influenza A (H1N1) to 366, the health ministry said.

Two deaths were reported from Karnataka and one from Maharashtra. With these deaths the death toll in Kerala went up to nine, while Maharashtra's toll stands at 148 and Karnataka's 103. 

Authorities in Karnataka said an 18-year-old boy died in a government hospital and a 38-year-old woman succumbed to the flu in a private hospital, both in Bangalore. 

Details of the casualties in Kerala and Maharashtra were not available. 

With approaching winter, experts fear the swine flu pandemic might rise further.

People should take all preventive measures, which include avoiding crowded places and maintaining personal hygiene. People with swine flu symptoms should immediately check with doctors and get needful tests done,' Karnataka Principal Secretary for Health I.R. Perumal told IANS.

Out of the 103 swine flu deaths reported in Karnataka, 70 were registered in Bangalore and rest from other parts of the state. 

The country also reported 101 fresh cases of swine flu. Of these, 46 were from Maharashtra, 29 from Delhi and 14 from Haryana. 

Among the states, Maharashtra is number one with a total of 3,152 cases, followed by Delhi, which has nearly 3,000 cases of swine flu.

Source:http://sify.com/

Antidepressants linked to premature birth risk

More than 1 in 10 women become depressed during pregnancy. In cases where doctors recommend drug treatment, the first choice is often a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). But Doctors are advised that pregnant women should take SSRIs "only if potential benefit outweighs risk".

A new study has looked at 329 women who were taking SSRIs while pregnant. The health of their babies was compared with the health of babies born to women not taking antidepressants. Some of the women in this latter group had mental health problems, while others did not.

Women taking an SSRI had twice the risk of a premature birth. On average, women gave birth four or five days sooner if they took an SSRI while pregnant.But the results don't tell us the actual numbers of women in each group who gave birth prematurely, so we can't say what the actual risk is.

About 16 in 100 babies needed treatment in an intensive care unit if their mother had taken an SSRI, compared with 7 in 100 babies whose mothers were healthy, and 9 in 100 babies whose mothers had a mental health problem but who weren't taking an SSRI.

Babies also appeared less healthy overall if their mother had taken an SSRI. This was measured looking at their skin colour, how much they moved about, their pulse rate and breathing, and how much they responded to stimulation.

SSRIs didn't increase the risk of having an underweight baby. The study only looked at what happened around birth, so we don't know whether or not SSRIs have longer-term consequences.

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Now, a memory boosting nasal spray

A quick burst of the inhaler before bed time helps the brain retain memories during sleep, a study shows. However, the spray appears to work only if it is followed by a good night of rest.

The spray, developed at the University of Lubeck in Germany, uses a molecule found in the immune system called interleukin 6. The researchers tested it on 17 healthy young men who spent two nights sleeping in a laboratory.

On each night after reading a short story, the scientists sprayed a fluid in to their nostrils which contained either interleukin-6 or a dummy liquid and then monitored the volunteers overnight. In the morning, they were asked to write down as many words from the short story as they could.

Those given the interleukin-6 spray did significantly better in the tests and recalled more words than those given the placebo, the researchers report in the journal, Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology.

The molecule appears to work during rapid eye movement, or REM sleep, when the brain is sorting out memories from the day before. The researchers are unsure how long the effect lasts --or how powerful it is.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Ordinary flu jab may protect against H1N1 - study

Mexican researchers say they have some evidence that the ordinary seasonal flu vaccine may offer some protection against the new pandemic H1N1 swine flu -- contrary to other studies.

They found that people who had been vaccinated against seasonal flu were far less likely to be sick or to die from H1N1 than people who had not been immunized against seasonal flu.

"These results are to be considered cautiously and in no way indicate that seasonal vaccine should replace vaccination against pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009," Lourdes Garcia-Garcia and colleagues at the National Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca wrote in the British Medical Journal.

But they said the findings might offer some good news for people who have been vaccinated against seasonal flu, especially as governments are just beginning to distribute newly made swine flu vaccines.

The new H1N1 swine flu virus is a very distant cousin of the H1N1 seasonal flu virus, which is included in the mixture provided every year in the seasonal flu vaccine.

Most studies have shown the annual vaccine provides little or no protection against H1N1, likely because it is very different.

One study in Canada suggested that in fact people who got seasonal flu vaccines may be more likely to become infected with H1N1, although the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention both expressed doubts about the findings.

Garcia's team studied 60 patients with confirmed swine flu and 180 similar people with other diseases being treated in the Mexico City area.

The Mexican government distributes seasonal flu vaccine.

Only eight people who had been vaccinated against seasonal flu were among the swine flu cases, the researchers reported. They found that 29 percent of unvaccinated people in the study became infected with H1N1, versus 13 percent of vaccinated people.

None of the vaccinated people died, but 35 percent of swine flu patients who died had not been vaccinated against seasonal flu, they found.

"Seasonal vaccination might protect against the most severe forms of the disease," the researchers wrote.

Source: www.reuters.com

Scientists on brink of cancer treatment revolution

Cancer treatment will be dramatically transformed in the near future as a number of research projects reach fruition, Britain's leading cancer scientist will announce this week.

Sir David Lane, chief scientist at Cancer Research UK, will reveal on Wednesday that teams are closing in on techniques that are likely to lead to the creation of a new generation of drugs to combat major cancers. "The next few years are going to be very exciting," he said. "It would be wrong to raise hopes for patients in the very short term, but it would be unimaginable if we did not turn this work into something immensely useful in 10 to 20 years."

Lane will be the keynote speaker at a London conference organised by the National Cancer Research Institute to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of a human protein called p53, shown to play a pivotal role in the spread of nearly all cancers. "I was only a junior scientist at the time. It was clear p53 was important. However, none of us had any idea that it would turn out to be vital to understanding cancer. It is almost a universal factor we now realise."

Cancers arise because DNA errors build up inside the body's cells. It is the role of p53 to correct those errors and prevent cancerous mutations from spreading. Hence its nickname, the "guardian of the genome". It organises repairs to damaged cells and, in those beyond repair, it arranges for the cell to be killed off before it can spread and divide.

However, sometimes p53 becomes damaged and cannot do its job. As a result, damaged cells are able to form a tumour. "In this sense, you can think of cancers as the living dead: they are made up of cells that should have been killed off but which somehow have not and which pass through the body with deadly consequences," said Lane.

The crucial point about the discovery of p53's almost universal role in the formation of nearly all of the 200 types of cancer that affect humans is that it has raised immediate prospects of developing treatments for a wide range of tumours. Hence the excitement among cancer experts and the number of scientific studies now focused on the protein. These studies led last year to the publication of an average of 10 scientific reports on p53 every day.

Many of these studies are already producing results, as Peter Johnson, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician, will tell the conference. "We are starting to use our understanding of p53 to select treatment. For example, we know that in chronic lymphatic leukaemia conventional chemotherapy does not work well because cells continue to divide despite being damaged [by chemotherapy]."

What was now needed, Lane told the Observer, was to develop a drug that could pinpoint a cell with no p53 in it or possessed a mutated form of p53. It could then destroy that cell before it could spread and cause cancer. "That is the ultimate goal. We have a way to go, but we are confident. The last few years have been immensely encouraging."

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Gene Discovery May Advance Head and Neck Cancer Therapy

In a finding that could have a major impact on the diagnosis and treatment of one of the most deadly types of cancer, U.S. researchers have identified 231 potential new genes associated with head and neck cancer.

Previously, only 33 genes were known to be linked to head and neck cancer, which includes cancers of the mouth, nose, sinuses, salivary glands, throat and lymph nodes in the neck.

"These new genes should advance selection of head- and neck-specific gene targets, opening the door to promising new molecular strategies for the early detection and treatment of head and neck cancer. It also may offer the opportunity to help monitor disease progression and a patient's response to treatment," study lead author Maria J. Worsham, director of research in the oncology department at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, said in a news release.

She and her colleagues examined DNA in five head and neck cancer tumor samples for 1,043 possible cancer-related genes. Of the 231 potential new genes associated with head and neck cancer, 50 percent were present in three or more of the DNA samples and 20 percent were present in all five samples.

The study was scheduled to be presented Oct. 4 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery Foundation in San Diego.

Head and neck cancer causes 2.1 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States. About 39,000 Americans develop head and neck cancer a year, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Tobacco use is linked to 85 percent of head and neck cancers, according to the Cancer Institute.

Source: http://health.usnews.com

India may switch to ozone-friendly anti-asthma inhalers

When an inhaler provides relief to an asthma patient it may also be harming the ozone layer, but an NGO is advocating a complete switch to eco-friendly inhalers.

"If everything goes fine, all asthma inhalers in India will use either dry powder or will use a hydrofluoroalkane (HFA) propellant," said N. Mansukhani, development facilitator of the NGO, CFC Free Inhalers.

Many of the existing varieties of inhalers release chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) into the atmosphere, eating up the fast-depleting ozone layer.

The health ministry and the environment and forests ministry are concerned about such inhalers, used by many of the approximately 15 million asthma patients in India, and are considering a shift to those varieties that do not harm the ozone layer and thus help reduce many climatic and health- related problems.

"The effort is to shift to hydrofluoroalkane-based inhaler," Mansukhani said.

He said India is one of 195 signatories to the Montreal Protocol and is working towards phasing out CFCs completely by January 2010 and save the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from harmful UV radiation.

CFC Free Inhalers has been coordinating with the two ministries for the switchover.

"These inhalers provide the same health benefits as the old CFC-containing inhalers but without damaging the ozone layer," he said, adding that the cost of the new variety may be a little higher than the current market price.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

National Honour For Orya Doctor

An Oriya doctor has done the state proud by winning a national award for his research on malaria control among underprivileged tribals in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Union health minister Gulam Nabi Azad awarded Manoj Das, a native of Berhampur, the prestigious Biomedical Research Award in New Delhi recently. The award was in recognition of his pioneering bio-environmental malaria control in Car Nicobar Island that reduced the prevalence of the vector borne disease without the use of insecticides. Das' 16-year-long project among local Nicobarese tribals.

Das, who works at National Institute of Malaria Research in Ranchi, said, "I have worked among primitive tribals such Jarwas, Andamanese, Onges, Nicobarese and Shompens in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. I am happy that my work helped in identifying and establishing the risk factors and methods to control the disease." 

Das, an alumnus of Berhampur University, has published over 50 papers in national and international scientific journals. His contributions to malaria control have been appreciated and recognized by the air force, Social Welfare Advisory Board and Tribal Council of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Curcumin may help block nicotine-induced cancer cells

Curcumin, a yellow pigment found in turmeric, the Indian spice, may block nicotine from activating cancer causing cells in patients with head and neck cancer who continue to smoke, suggests a new study.

The findings of the study may help discover potential therapies for cancer prevention and treatment.

In order to test the effectiveness of Curcumin, researchers pre-treated the cultured head and neck squamous cell carcinoma cells (HNSCC) developed in the lab with curcumin, and then exposed the cells to nicotine—drug found in tobacco leaves.

Squamous cell carcinoma is a form of cancer that may occur in many different organs, including the skin, lips, mouth, lungs etc.

The results showed that curcumin was able to block the activity of cancer causing cells.

The study also suggests that turmeric could be used as a chemo-preventive agent to prevent cancer and also block the harmful effects of nicotine.

In addition to have anticancer properties, Curcumin is also known to exhibit preventive effects against heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.

Source:www.themedguru.com

Nobel Prize in Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded this year to three American scientists who solved a problem of cell biology with deep relevance to cancer and aging. The three will receive equal shares of a prize worth around $1.4 million.

The recipients solved a longstanding puzzle involving the ends of chromosomes, the giant molecules of DNA that embody the genetic information. These ends, called telomeres, get shorter each time a cell divides and so serve as a kind of clock that counts off the cell’s allotted span of life.

The three winners are Elizabeth H. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, Carol W. Greider of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Jack W. Szostak of Massachusetts General Hospital. Only eight women have previously won the Nobel prize in Medicine or Physiology, and it is the first time any science Nobel has been awarded to more than one woman.

The discoveries were made some 20 years ago in pursuit of a purely scientific problem that seemingly had no practical relevance. But telomeres have turned out to play a role in two medical areas of vast importance, those of aging and cancer, because of their role in limiting the number of times a cell can divide.

The field of telomere research grew out of a puzzle in the mechanics of copying DNA. The copying enzyme works in such a way that one of the two strands of the double helix is left a little shorter after each division. Work by the three winners and others led to the discovery of telomerase, a special enzyme that can prevent the shortening by adding extra pieces of DNA.

Dr. Blackburn addressed this problem by working with a single-celled organism found in pond water known as Tetrahymena. It was particularly suitable because its genome is divided into many small chromosomes so each cell has a large number of telomeres. 

While she and Dr. Greider were working with Tetrahymena, Dr. Szostak was studying the same problem in yeast. The two groups in collaboration worked out the basic mechanism of how telomerase works and the special piece of RNA it carries to help elongate the chromosomes. RNA is a close chemical cousin of DNA.

This piece of basic biology soon turned out to have important implications for aging and cancer. Telomerase is usually active only at the beginning of life; thereafter the telomeres get shorter each time a cell divides. When they get too short, a cell is thrown into senescence, meaning that it is prevented from dividing again.

Short telomeres are known to play a role in certain diseases of aging, and may be of more general importance. Telomeres are also important in cancer, a disease in which control of cell proliferation is lost. Cancer cells need to reactivate the telomerase gene, or their telomeres will get steadily shorter, forcing them into senescence. In some 80 to 90 percent of human cancer cells, the telomerase gene has been switched back on, Dr. Blackburn said. Clinical trials are under way to see if cancers can be treated by inhibiting telomerase.

Source: www.nytimes.com