Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Announces Positive Data From Cotara(R) Brain Cancer Trials
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPHM), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer and hepatitis C virus infection, released every update from couple clinical trials assessing its targeted therapy Cotara(R) in the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most deadly form of brain cancer. The Cotara clinical update covers the first cohort of patients in its dosimetry trial of the same kind with well in the manner that experience to date in an ongoing Phase II safety and efficacy trial. In patients treated in the studies, Cotara appears to be safe and well tolerated, with no dose-limiting adverse events. Patients who are continuing in the trials are being monitored for safety and overall survival, with several surpassing the median expected survival time for relapsed GBM patients. The recent addition of new clinical sites in both the dosimetry and Phase II trials is expected to help expedite the hurry of patient enrollment going forward. The company also announced that given conditions from the first patient squadrons in the dosimetry trial has been accepted for presentation at the 2008 ASCO Annual Meeting.
“We are encouraged by early results from these two Cotara clinical studies and appearance forward to presenting data from the dosimetry trial at the upcoming ASCO Annual Meeting,” said Steven W. King, president and CEO of Peregrine. “In view of the short expected survival time of approximately six months in this patient populousness, it is promising that we bear early GBM patients in these trials who have survived by the six-month timeframe, with one patient now surviving 15 months post-treatment.”
The open-label Phase I dosing and dosimetry study at U.S. brain cancer centers is enrolling GBM patients with recurrent disease. Patients in this trial receive an initial imaging prescribed portion of Cotara before receiving the therapeutic dose. The examine’s main objectives are to confirm the greatest tolerated dose, to determine radiation dosimetry and to assess overall patient survival, progression-free survival and the proportion of patients alive at six months following Cotara administration. In the three GBM patients enrolled in the first cohort, Cotara was safe and well tolerated, with no dose-limiting toxicities. Patients have been followed post-treatment to determine overall survival, with the first treated patient currently surviving 15 months post-treatment and the last treated patient currently surviving four months post-treatment. Dosimetry analysis indicates that Cotara was concentrated only in the tumor in these patients, and not in other organs.
Mr. King added, “With enrollment of the second patient cohort underway, we welcome Dr. William Shapiro of the Barrow Neurological Institute as principal investigator of our newest dosimetry study clinical site. Dr. Shapiro successfully participated in earlier Cotara studies and we are delighted that his center is now participating in the Cotara dosimetry trial.”
“We are pleased to join the dosing and dosimetry trial of Cotara for the treatment of recurrent GBM,” said Dr. William Shapiro, director, neuro oncology program; Marley chair, neurology; professor of neurology, University of Arizona College of Medicine; and Cotara principal investigator at the Barrow Neurological Institute. “GBM is a deadly disease with very poor survival prospects for relapsed patients, and improved therapies are urgently needed. We are hopeful that the encouraging survival trends seen in previous Cotara studies will be replicated in larger trials going forward, and we view this dosimetry trial as an important step on that path.”
Mr. King continued, “We are also pleased to report that we have recently added additional clinical sites to the Cotara Phase II study, increasing the total participating centers from three sites to eight sites. We anticipate enhanced enrollment rates going forward, particularly in view of the quality and enthusiasm of the investigators we have recruited. We look forward to reporting greater degree of remote interim results from the Cotara program as we achieve additional enrollment milestones in the events to come months.”
The objectives of the open-label Phase II trial are to confirm the safety of the selected dose of Cotara and to obtain estimates of overall patient survival, progression-free survival and the proportion of patients alive at six months in GBM patients at first relapse. Patients in the trial are receiving a single infusion of Cotara by convection-enhanced delivery (CED), a technique that delivers the agent to the swelling with great precision. Patients receive brain scans at eight-week intervals post-treatment. Total enrollment in the 40-patient trial has reached the 20% completion mark. Patients who are continuing in the trials are being monitored for safety and overall survival, with the first dosed calm having reached eight months of survival post-treatment. Patient screening for the trial will continue until all 40 patients have been enrolled.
About Cotara(R)
Cotara is an experimental treatment for brain cancer that links a radioactive isotope to a targeted monoclonal antibody. This monoclonal antibody is designed to restrain to a type of DNA that is exposed only on dead and dying cells. Solid tumors have many dead and dying cells at their center. Cotara’s targeting mechanism enables it to home in on these cells, delivering its radioactive “payload” directly to the center of the tumor mass and thereby destroying it “from the inside out” with minimal radiation exposure to healthy tissue. Cotara is delivered using convection-enhanced delivery (CED), which targets the specific tumefaction site in the brain. In a previous clinical study, a subset of patients with recurrent glioblastoma treated with Cotara achieved a middle survival of 38 weeks, a 58% increase over the median survival time of 24 weeks for patients treated with standard of care therapy. In this study, 25% of 28 recurrent patients survived for more than a year post-treatment and 10% of patients survived for more than three years. These data are considered a promising development in this deadly disease. Cotara has been granted orphan drug status and fast track designation for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
About Peregrine Pharmaceuticals
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of innovative product candidates in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The company is pursuing three separate clinical programs in cancer and HCV infection by its tend proceeds candidates bavituximab and Cotara(R). Peregrine also has in-house manufacturing capabilities through its wholly owned subsidiary Avid Bioservices, Inc. (http://www.avidbio.com), which provides development and bio-manufacturing services for both Peregrine and outside customers. Additional information about Peregrine can be found at http://www.peregrineinc.com.
Safe Harbor Statement: Statements in this press release which are not purely historical, including statements regarding Peregrine Pharmaceuticals’ intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations, representations, projections, plans or predictions of the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the risk that survival trends will not be replicated in larger trials and the risk that the company will experience delays in patient enrollment. It is important to note that the company’s actual results could differ materially from those in any such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially embrace, but are not limited to, uncertainties associated with completing preclinical and clinical trials for our technologies; the early stage of product development; the significant costs to develop our products as all of our products are currently in development, preclinical studies or clinical trials; obtaining additional financing to support our operations and the development of our products; obtaining regulatory approval for our technologies; anticipated timing of regulatory filings and the potential issue in gaining regulatory approval and complying with governmental regulations applicable to our business. Our business could be affected by a number of other factors, including the risk factors listed from time to time in the company’s SEC reports including, but not limited to, the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended April 30, 2007 and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended January 31, 2008. The company cautions investors not to place undue sure dependence on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc. disclaims any obligation, and does not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statements in this press release.
Peregrine Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
http://www.peregrineinc.com
RNs Hail Victory In Campaign To Stop Sutter Health From Closing Santa Rosa Hospital
Nurses and Patients Led Two-year Campaign to Save Facility - Awaiting Final Details from Sutter
Nurses at Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa hailed the victory of their campaign to stop Sutter Health from closing the facility, a former county hospital that is essential to the public health of Sonoma County.
Sutter agreed in 1996 to a 20-year lease to run the facility, but in recent years has attempted to walk away from its obligations. Their attempts were met with a broad-based campaign led by nurses and patients to keep the hospital open. Actions included pickets, testimony by CNA President Deborah Burger, RN before the County Board of Supervisors, a bake sale to help the facility stay open, and letter to the editor and phone call campaigns.
“RNs at the facility are delighted that Sutter Santa Rosa is staying clear. We love this hospital. It has come to be our family, and we know this is the best thing for our patients, our community, and the public health of Santa Rosa. We are gratified because we worked so hard to make Sutter keep its word and stay at the hospital. However, our optimism literary works cautious as we await final word from Sutter on their plans and its details,” declared Mary O’Brien, an RN at the facility.
California Nurses Association
Bird Brains Suggest How Vocal Learning Evolved
Though they perch far apart on the avian family tree, birds with the ability to learn songs use similar brain structures to sing their tunes. Neurobiologists at Duke University Medical Center now have an explanation for this puzzling likeness.
In all three groups of birds with vocal learning abilities - songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds - the brain structures for singing and wide information to hum are embedded in areas controlling movement, the researchers discovered. The team also found that areas in charge of movement share many functional similarities with the brain areas for singing. This suggests that the brain pathways used for vocal learning evolved out of the brain pathways used for motor control.
These ancient pathways, which power limb and body movements, constrained both the location and circuitry of structures for learning and imitating sounds, theorizes senior author Erich Jarvis, Ph.D., associate professor of neurobiology. The findings may also help solve the riddle of why humans talk with our hands and voice, but chimps can talk only with their hands.
“In its most specialized way, spoken speech is the ability to control the learned movements of our larynx,” Jarvis said. “It’s possible that human language pathways have also evolved in ways similar to these birds. Perhaps the evolution of vocal learning brain areas for birds and humans exploited a universal motor system that predates the split from the common ancestor of birds and mammals.”
The results appear in the March 12, 2008 edition of the journal PLoS ONE. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and a National Institutes of Health Pioneer Award to Jarvis. The collaborative study was co-led by Henrik Mouritsen of the University of Oldenburg in Germany, who was supported by the VolkswagenStiftung, and first author Gesa Feenders, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Newcastle, UK.
“This innovative research exemplifies the bold thinking and creative approaches fostered by the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award,” said National Institutes of Health Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. “The discovery that vocal learning brain pathways are embedded in the parts of the brain that control body movement offers unexpected insights on the origins of spoken language and could open up new approaches to understanding vocalization disorders in humans.”
Jarvis and his colleagues examined view from above species with vocal learning skills and some without: garden warblers, zebra finches, budgerigars (parrots), Anna’s hummingbirds and ring doves. Their technique involved observing and manipulating bird behavior, then recording which genes were active in the birds’ brains when the birds were moving and singing in certain ways.
“When we use this behavioral molecular mapping approach, we get gene expression patterns in the brain that light up like MRI images,” Jarvis said. The study is the first to map the parts of the forebrain that control movement in birds. The forebrain is the largest part of the brain, and includes the pathways for thought, learning and perception.
While all birds vocalize, for most of them these sounds are genetically hardwired. Only songbirds, parrots and hummingbirds have the ability to learn songs. This type of vocal learning is similar to the way that humans learn to proclaim, Jarvis said.
“Based on the data, we think that the brain has a pre-existing substrate, that is to say a forebrain motor pathway, that led to the evolution of similar vocal learning pathways in three different bird families,” Jarvis said.
The connection between movement and vocal learning also extends to humans, Jarvis suggests. Human brain structures for speech also lie adjacent to, and even within, areas that control movement. “We can make a plausible argument that in humans, our spoken language areas also evolved out of pre-existing motor pathways,” he said. These pathways, he believes, date back to the common ancestor of reptiles, birds and mammals, creatures called stem amniotes that lived about 300 million years ago.
The results from birds are consistent with the hypothesis that spoken language was preceded by gestural language, or despatch based on movements (one of several competing explanations for the origin of spoken tongue), Jarvis adds. Both humans and chimps gesture with the limbs while communicating, and young children gesture even before they commence talking. “Gesturing is something that goes along naturally with speech. The brain areas used for gesturing may have been co-opted and used for speech,” Jarvis said.
Co-authors on the study include Miriam Liedvogel, University of Oxford, UK; Manuela Zapka, University of Oldenburg, Germany; Miriam Rivas, Haruhito Horita and Erina Hara, Duke; and Kazuhira Wada, Hokkaido University, Japan.
Molecular Mapping of Movement-Associated Areas in the Avian Brain: A Motor Theory because of Vocal wide information Origin
Feenders G, Liedvogel M, Rivas M, Zapka M, Horita H, et al. (2008)
PLoS ONE 3(3): e1768. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001768 Please click here to view article online
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PEPFAR Programs Should Include Family Planning Services, Opinion Piece Says
Although the President’s Emergency plan for AIDS Relief has made “impressive gains,” the program is “lacking” because it does not provide HIV prevention to women through expanded access to reproductive health and family planning programs, Janet Fleischman, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ HIV/AIDS Task Force, writes in a Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece.
According to Fleischman, it is “carping” that HIV/AIDS programs include family planning services. She adds that such services allow women to reduce the number of “unintended pregnancies leading to children born with HIV, as well as the number of child deaths.” Integration of family planning and HIV services also be disposed “help strengthen the soundness sector overall,” according to Fleischman. In addition, integrated programs represent the “kind of efficiency and long-term cost-effectiveness that should make” integrated programs a “priority,” she adds.
Although it “won’t be easy” to combine family planning services with HIV prevention programs because of a lack of funding as far as concerns family planning, the U.S. has an “unprecedented opportunity” to do so as Congress works to reauthorize PEPFAR, Fleischman writes. She concludes that the U.S. “should heed the evidence and promote this integrated approach as a key component of its AIDS policy” (Fleischman, Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/11).
Reprinted with kind allowance from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published towards kaisernetwork.org, a free office of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Lawsuit Filed Against Planned Parenthood Affiliates For Allegedly Overcharging California For Contraceptives
A lawsuit recently made public alleges that Planned Parenthood affiliates in California overcharged the government for oral contraceptives, the Los Angeles Times reports. At issue are government reimbursement rules on account of pharmaceutical products made available at public health programs through a federal program that allows health centers to purchase used by all drugs from manufacturers at reduced prices. In go for the discounts, clinics must follow specific rules for seeking reimbursement.
California health officials said that they do not believe Planned Parenthood acted improperly because the organization was given contradictory guidance on billing from the state. At issue is whether Planned Parenthood affiliates were required to bill “at cost” or could charge higher “usual and customary” fees that take into account the cost of storing the drugs and dispending them, according to the Times. An official at the state Department of Health Care Services said the organization does not need to repay somewhat funds already reimbursed by the state because the state’s own rules were unclear. The suit in law was originally filed in 2005 by Victor Gonzalez, former vice president of finance and administration of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. Gonzalez said he was fired in March 2004 after raising concerns surrounding the “illegal accounting, billing and donations practices of Planned Parenthood,” the Times reports. Gonzalez alleges that Planned Parenthood overcharged the state and federal governments by $180 million for line control pills. According to letters supposing to the Times by Gonzalez’s attorney Jack Schuler, questions about billing practices were raised as early as 1997 by an unnamed Medi-Cal official. According to Schuler, the alleged overbillings continued until the Legislature changed the rule in 2004 to clarify billing and reimbursement rules with respect to dispensing contraception.
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Gonzalez said he attempted to raise the issue of “overbilling” with top Planned Parenthood officials internally. Schuler said Gonzalez plans to rely on internal Planned Parenthood communications showing that officials worked to lobby parade health officials to adopt the organization’s point of view. Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California spokesperson Ana Sandoval declined to comment Friday, saying the organization has not seen the lawsuit (Ornstein, Los Angeles Times, 3/8).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
© 2007 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.
Statement In Response To Allegations By Jim Devine MP, Nursing And Midwifery Council, UK
The Nursing and Midwifery Council rejects allegations made by Jim Devine MP. There is an open invitation to Mr Devine and his colleagues to meet us to agitate their concerns and to give us an opportunity to respond. We are saddened that they felt unable to do so.
Read the rest of the statement
Background
On 18th February, Jim Devine MP (Labour, Livingston), made the following remarks to Ben Bradshaw MP, Minister of State for Health Services, during the course of the debate on amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill: “Will my Hon. friend meet me and members of the Nursing and Midwifery Council who are concerned about the structure of that body? It appears to be same racist and to employ a swaggering strategy”.
Similar allegations were subsequently made by John Smith MP (Labour, Vale of Glamorgan).
The NMC issued the following statement on 19 February in response to media enquiries regarding Mr Devine’s remarks:
“The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) in both its Council and workforce is a differing organisation that has a good track record in promoting equality and diversity. The NMC has in place a specific evenness and diversity unit to promote equality and diversity within the NMC. In addition, we have created an independent Appointments Board to monitor the membership of those who hear professional misconduct and health cases and to create greater opportunities for involvement and participation from diverse communities.
As a regulator, public body and employer, the NMC takes its statutory responsibilities very seriously. Any allegations of acuteness on whatever grounds are investigated fully and in accordance with the principles of worthy practice. The NMC also has legal responsibilities in relation to the confidentiality of current and former members of staff. It would be utterly inappropriate for the NMC to breach confidentiality by commenting on dealings relating to current or former employees. For these reasons the NMC will also not comment on any one ongoing investigations.
The NMC is strict in ensuring that all decisions on payments made to individuals on redundancy or termination of employment strictly adhere to best practice in corporate governance. All such payments for senior staff are fully audited in accordance with the NMC’s financial procedures. They are also referred to Council Members on the Remuneration and Appointments Committee. Their role is to advise on all issues relating to the termination of employment and issue payments to members of the senior management team”.
The NMC does not recognise the organisation that Mr Devine and Mr Smith describe. The NMC has not been formally approached by either Mr Devine or Mr Smith with any evidence to support the allegations which have been made in Parliament and to the media. The NMC has written to both MPs requesting that they meet with the NMC and take the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of the NMC, its staff and the important work that we do to safeguard the health and useful being of patients and the public by meeting with us.
The NMC’s response to the debate in Westminster Hall, 11 March 2008
On 11 March, Mr Devine held at debate on the NMC in Westminster Hall. View a full transcript of the debate [PDF]. The NMC then issued the following statement on 12 March:
The Nursing and Midwifery Council rejects allegations made through means of Jim Devine MP. There is an open invitation to Mr Devine and his colleagues to proper us to discuss their concerns and to give us an opportunity to respond. We are saddened that they felt unable to do so.
We very much kind reception the Minister’s assistance and the opportunity for independent scrutiny of our governance and operating processes by the Charity Commission and the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence.
We are confident that this will provide us with the opportunity - thus far denied - to put forward our case. Independent scrutiny will give us a chance to demonstrate that we are a fully accountable, open and transparent organisation which does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.
The NMC’s workforce is extremely diverse, highly able and committed to delivering excellence in regulation and public protection and will continue to do so.
Nursing and Midwifery Council
Nymox Releases Further Results From Latest U.S. Study Of NX-1207 For Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation (NASDAQ: NYMX) announced that results from the Company’s new multi-center U.S. Phase 2 study showed evidence that the Company’s proprietary drug NX-1207 can markedly reduce the incidence of nighttime urination (nocturia), a singly bothersome symptom associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). After 90 days, subjects treated with a therapeutic dose of NX-1207 had a mean % reduction in nocturia symptom score of 41% versus 4% for subjects treated with finasteride, an approved BPH treatment. This improvement was statistically significant (p<.001).
Having to repeatedly get up in the night to urinate is a common symptom of BPH that can cause chronic sleep loss and, in turn, lead to fatigue, memory deficits, mood changes including depression, and increased risk of long term medical problems. The nocturia symptom score is a component of the standard AUA BPH Symptom register used to assess the severity of BPH symptoms and to evaluate BPH treatments.
In the study, subjects received a one-time single dose of NX-1207 administered by intraprostatic injection by a urologist in an office setting. The entire procedure lasted on average 5-10 minutes, with the injection taking 1-2 minutes, and did not require anesthesia or catheterization. There were no significant side effects from NX-1207 in the trial.
Overall, subjects in the study’s Intent-to-Treat group who received 2.5 mg of NX-1207 reported a mean improvement in total AUA BPH Symptom Score of 9.71 points after 90 days as compared to the mean improvement of 4.13 points for subjects randomized to finasteride, an approved drug treatment for BPH. This difference was statistically significant (p=0.001). The AUA BPH Symptom Score measures self-assessed severity of BPH symptoms in 7 areas: 1) sensation of incomplete emptying of the bladder; 2) need to urinate frequently; 3) stopping and starting during urination; 4) urgent need to urinate; 5) weakness of urinary stream; 6) need to push or strain during urination; and 7) urination during sleep (nocturia). Published studies of currently approved drugs for BPH show AUA BPH Symptom Score improvement typically in the 3.5 to 5 point range.
The full results from the study will be released at peer-review medical meetings later in 2008.
The Company previously completed three other U.S. trials and 5 follow-up studies for NX-1207. In a Phase 2 double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized multi-center U.S. Study NX02-0014, patients treated by NX-1207 showed after 3 months a statistically significant mean improvement of 9.35 points in BPH Symptom Score values and a statistically significant reduction in mean prostate volume. A recently completed blinded placebo-controlled follow-up study assessed treatment outcomes for 103 subjects from this Phase 2 study 16 to 27 months after a single treatment with NX-1207 or placebo. The study results showed evidence of durable benefit from NX-1207 treatment. At the time of follow-up, 52% of patients treated with NX-1207 were not on BPH medication and had not required surgical intervention for their BPH since their initial treatment with NX-1207; these patients had a mean improvement of 10.2 points in AUA BPH Symptom Score values.
BPH treatment represents a growing market through more than 100 million men worldwide being estimated to suffer from BPH symptoms. The disorder is a common affliction of older men, affecting approximately half of men over age 50 and close to 90% of men by age 80, and is associated with growth in prostate size as men age. BPH causes difficulties with urination associated with aging, such as urination at night, urge to void frequently, hesitancy, weak stream, and other problems, and can cause acute urinary retention requiring immediate medical attention.
More information about Nymox is available at http://www.nymox.com.
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” as defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and the actual results and future events could differ materially from management’s current expectations. The conduct of clinical trials and the development of drug products involve substantial risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from expectations. Promising early results do not ensure that later stage or larger scale clinical trials will be successful or will proceed as expected. Such factors are detailed from time to time in Nymox’s filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities.
Nymox Pharmaceutical Corporation
25% Of U.S. Girls, Young Women Ages 14 To 19 Have Common STIs, CDC Study Says
About 25% of U.S. girls and young women ages 14 to 19 have at least one of four common sexually transmitted infections, according to a inquiry released Tuesday by CDC during a conference in Chicago, the New York Times reports. According to the Times, the study was the first to look at facts on the four most common STIs in in the teens females, including human papillomavirus. The findings, at what time extrapolated to the general population, show that 3.2 million teenage girls have at least single of four STIs — chlamydia, anti-herpes simplex venom 2, HPV or the common parasite trichomoniasis, according to Sara Forhan, a CDC researcher who led the study. Officials at CDC said the findings underscore the need to strengthen screening, vaccination and other prevention measures for the diseases.
The 838 participants were chosen at random from CDC’s 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Ninety-six percent of the participants submitted vaginal swabs for testing (Altman, New York Times, 3/12). About 18% of the girls were infected with HPV, 4% were infected with chlamydia, 2.5% had trichomoniasis and 1.9% had HSV2. About half of the girls surveyed acknowledged having sex. Among this group, 40% had at least one of the four infections (Wall Street Journal, 3/12). Among adolescents who reported having had one sex partner, the rate of STIs was 20% (Dunham, Reuters, 3/11). Of the participants who had an STI, 15% had other than one infection (New York Times, 3/12).
Nearly 50% of African-American girls had at least single in kind of the four STIs, compared with 20% of white and Mexican-American girls (Wall Street Journal, 3/12). The researchers attributed the higher STI prevalence among black girls to limited access to health care (Beras, Miami Herald, 3/12). John Douglas, director of CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, at the conference recommended that physicians who diagnose girls and women with a curable STI give them additional drugs to give to their male partners. Douglas said the strategy, called “expedited partner therapy,” is a “promising approach” (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 3/12). Douglas also recommended that girls and women diagnosed with an STI be retested three months after treatment to detect and treat possible reinfection.
About 19 million new STIs are diagnosed annually in the U.S. in all age groups, according to the Times. Annual screening for chlamydia is recommended for sexually active women younger than age 25. CDC recommends that females ages 11 to 26 be vaccinated against HPV (New York Times, 3/12). The agency also recommends routine HIV testing for all people ages 13 to 64, regardless of perceived risk (Washington Times, 3/12).
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Douglas said that the eminently STI rates are “clear signs” that CDC “must continue developing ways to reach” people most at risk of contracting an infection (New York Times, 3/12). Kevin Fenton, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at CDC, said that “screening, vaccination and other prevention strategies for sexually active women are among [the agency’s] highest public health priorities.”
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the study shows that “the national policy of promoting abstinence-only programs is a $1.5 billion failure,” adding that “teenage girls are paying the real price” (Tanner, AP/Google.com, 3/11).
CBS’ “Evening News” on Tuesday reported on the study. The segment includes comments from Douglas and Elizabeth Alderman of the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore (LaPook, “Evening News,” CBS, 3/11).
NBC’s “Nightly News” on Tuesday also reported on the apply the mind to. The segment includes comments from nurse practitioner Paula Bryant-Barnett and Fenton (Guthrie, “Nightly News,” NBC, 3/11).
Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women’s soundness Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women’s Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.
© 2007 The Advisory Board Company. aggregate rights reserved.
Hope For Crohn’s Patients With Fistulas Found In HUMIRA/Adalimumab
At the recent European Crohn’s and Colitis Organization (ECCO) annual congregation in Lyon, France, Abbott Laboratories announced that HUMIRA (Adalimumab) is successful in the treatment of fistulas in susceptible Crohn’s patients.
Crohn’s Disease (CD) is a gastrointestinal disorder which is indicated by chronic inflammation of the wall of the digestive tract. The disease involves constant cycles of flare-ups and remission throughout the life of the patient, and without proper treatment, sourness be addressed surgically. It is considered an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), similar to ulcerative colitis. Up to 43% of Crohn’s disease patients develop painful and embarrassing fistulas, which are tunnels that connect conceited organs to surrounding tissues such as the bladder, vagina, or skin. These are difficult to treat, can cause fecal discharge in abnormal locations, and can thus lead to incontinence, infections, and complications that will necessitate surgery.
HUMIRA, or Adalimumab works by binding Tumor Necrosis Factor ? (TNF-?), an of importance part of the immune replication pathway — in this way it is related to infliximab and other TNF-? blockers. It has been approved in separate countries for treatment of many autoimmune diseases including CD, psoriasis, and certain types of arthritis. Abbott Labs is also studying HUMIRA in pediatric CD.
The fistula study was based on data taken in the CHARM study. In a subanalysis, it was shown that fistula healing was improved with treatment with HUMIRA:
- 60% of patients experienced fistula healing at one year of treatment
- 76% of patients who experienced healing at one year sustained the healing through two years
- 71% of patients demonstrated a 50% reduction in the number of draining fistulas after two years of manipulation
Over a two year term, fistula patients had a higher quality of life because the CD was in remission, defined as scoring greater than 170 points on the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ): after 1 year, 54% of patients and after 2 years, 60% of patients achieved this score.
Sustainability of Adalimumab in Improving the Quality of Life of Patients With Fistulizing Crohn’s Disease: 2-Year Data From CHARM
E. V. Loftus, Jr., J. F. Colombel, R. Panaccione, B. G. Feagan, M. A. Kamm, P. F. Pollack, J. Chao, P. Mulani
For More Information, see http://www.humira.com/
Written by Anna Sophia McKenney
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without leave of Medical News Today
Researchers Use Genes To Slow Aging Down
Scientists have discovered a number of genes that associated with aging. Discovery will help to develop ways of slowing down aging process and cutting rates of time of life related illnesses.
Researchers from University of Washington in Seattle studied genes of yeast cells and nematode worms, which are primitive organisms with 1.5 billion years of evolution between them. Researchers are now trying to find genes affecting age in both organisms, to link the aging genes to human genes and block aging genes.
Nematodes and humans are found to have more similar genes than nematodes and yeasts. Nematodes are found to have 276 genes associated with aging, 25 of these genes are present in yeasts, 15 in humans. If researchers find any genes in nematodes and yeasts affecting aging in sort way, there are unimpeached chances to find like genes in humans.
Scientists found that the genes are sensitive to food signals, so they think that a significant reduction of calories may affect aging related genes. However, such a strict diet may likewise lead to reduced fertility.
If the study is successful, scientists direct to develop pills that will block aging kin genes without powerful changes in diet. This will prolong life span and reduce the number of aging connected diseases.
No commentsWillamette Dental Announces Opening Of New Specialty Dental Office, USA
Willamette Dental announced it will be parted a 5,875-square-foot specialty dental office in Seattle, Washington, March 17, 2008. Located at 11011 Meridian Ave. N., Suite 104, Seattle, WA, 98133, this office will provide specialty dental care in the area of orthodontics, oral surgery, endodontics, implant restorative, periodontal and periodontal hygiene care. The existing Northgate Office, located a few blocks from home, will continue to perform general dentistry and emergency dental services.
“Due to increased dental plan membership and corresponding patient growth in the Seattle/Northgate area, the current Northgate dental formulary of devotion could no longer service our general practice and specialty care needs,” said Steve Petruzelli, Willamette Dental Management, Inc., President and CEO. “This increase in space will concede us to better serve the needs of the growing number of patients in this area.”
The addition of Northgate Specialty will mark a total of 61 Willamette Dental office locations throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Reno, Nevada; 27 of those offices are in Washington.
About Willamette Dental
The Willamette Dental family of companies provides affordable quality dental insurance plans and evidence-based dental care to plan members of business, government and nonprofit groups end its 61 dental offices. For more information surrounding Willamette Dental, visit them on the web at http://www.willamettedental.com.
Signaling System Halts Growth Of Childhood Brain Cancer
Brain Cancer
A discovery by dint of. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists suggests a safer way to treat medulloblastoma, a rare but often fatal childhood brain tumor. The group found that one of the brain’s signaling pathways inhibits the germination of the highly aggressive cancer cells.
The researchers discovered that three proteins, designated BMP2, BMP4 and BMP7, halted the growth of medulloblastoma tumors and induced the malignant cells to develop into normal neurons.
"We think we have identified a way that be possible to be used to prevent tumor formation and a potential target during the term of therapy," said Martine F. Roussel, Ph.D., a member of the St. Jude Department of Genetics and tumefaction Cell Biology. A report on this work appears in the March 15 issue of "Genes & Development." Roussel is the paper’s senior author. Several research teams are seeking to decipher the intricate signaling mechanisms that govern the proliferation of cells called granule neuron progenitors (GNPs). These cells go on to develop into neurons in the cerebellum during the first year of life. But the disruption of this differentiation process can trigger medulloblastoma.
Previous research had shown that spurring GNPs to differentiate into neurons requires that BMPs bind to a set of receptors on the cell surface. This binding results in blocking the activity of a signaling pathway triggered by another molecule called Sonic hedgehog.
"the sort of was not known, and what we now find, is that the effect of BMPs on normal GNP cells is almost exactly mimicked in GNP-like tumor cells," Roussel said.
In cell culture experiments, her assign places to found that BMPs rapidly cause the degradation of a protein called Math1, which occurs in dividing GNPs, but not in non-proliferating neurons. Twelve hours after BMP treatment, researchers could find out no Math1 and cell growth soon stopped.
The exact way Math1 works refuse unknown. However, in mice the protein is vital to the formation of a normal brain. Mice genetically altered so they do not carry the gene for Math1 failed to develop cerebella.
The St. Jude team also performed gene transfer experiments in mice to test BMPs as a possible medulloblastoma treatment. Using a genetically altered virus, scientists inserted the BMP gene into the cancer cells and showed that the transfer not only halted tumor vegetation, but induced the cancer cells to vary into neurons.
No commentsObese Women Improve Quality Of Life With Exercise
Sedentary, overweight or obese women be able to improve their quality of life by exercising as little as 10 to 30 minutes a day, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s Conference upon Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism.
The Dose Response to Exercise in postmenopausal Women (DREW) study, first reported in 2007, was the largest randomized, controlled trial examining the role of exercise in postmenopausal women. These secondary results focus on quality of life among 430 women divided into four groups: three groups exercising at various levels and one command group that did not exercise.
"While the women who participated in the highest exercise group saw the greatest improvements in most quality of life scales, the women in the lowest exercise group also saw improvements," before-mentioned Angela Thompson, M.S.P.H., co-author of the study and research associate at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La. "The public health message is tremendous, because it provides further act as aid to for the notion that even suppose that someone cannot exercise an sixty minutes or more daily, getting out and exercising 10 to 30 minutes per day is beneficial, too."
All participants in the exercise groups reported a statistically significant improvement in social functioning compared to those in the control group of women who didn’t exercise. However, women who participated in more exercise, from 135 to 150 minutes a week, also showed significant improvements in general hale condition, vitality and mental health.
The women who exercised more in addition improved in physical functioning, role limitations in work or other activities due to physical problems and role limitations due to emotional problems, the researchers declared. None of the women reported a statistically significant improvement in pain.
After exercising six months, the women improved almost 7 percent in physical function and general health, 16.6 percent in vitality, 11.5 percent in performing work or other activities, 11.6 percent in emotional health and more than 5 percent in social functioning.
"This has not been shown in a large controlled study before," said Timothy S. Church, M.D., principal investigator and research director at Pennington Biomedical Research Center. "This is the in the first place large controlled study of postmenopausal women to look at the effect of exercise training on the quality of life. It shows that exercise gives you energy and makes you feel better."
This study included 430 sedentary women, average age 57, who were overweight or obese. Researchers randomly assigned women to one of three exercise groups, including those expending about four kilocalories by means of kilogram (kcal/kg) of energy each week amounting to 70 minutes a week; 8 kcal/kg/week amounting to 135 minutes per week; or 12 kcal/kg/week amounting to 190 minutes a week. Most of the exercise was divided into three or four sessions a week. When not in organized exercise, these women were fitted with pedometers. A fourth dispose had no planned exercise and served as controls.
Researchers measured quality of life before and after the six-month exercise intervention with the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 Health Status Survey. The scores were adjusted for ethnicity, age, application status, smoking, antidepressant use and marital status.
To determine physical health, women were asked about physical functioning such as what types of physical activities they participated in from carrying groceries to climbing flight of steps to walking a mile; limitations in physical activity; discomfort; and their own assessment of their health.
Researchers determined mental health by having the women do a self-assessment of vitality, social-time, ability to accomplish what they set out to do, and whether they were nervous, down in the dumps, peaceful or happy.
Though the women in the study were overweight or obese, sedentary and postmenopausal, they were fairly healthy and reported a fairly high status of life at baseline.
"At baseline the mean proportion vitality and role emotional scores for these women were lower than for the U.S. peopling," Thompson said. "At follow-up, the average vitality and role emotional scores were higher than the average U.S. population."
The data showed a positive association between six months of exercise and changes in quality of mode. "This association was strongest among the group who received the highest dose of exercise, which was 150 percent of the National Institute of Health’s Consensus Development recommended physical activity dose," Thompson said. "Some of the women did lose scale over the line of conduct of the study goal the self-reported improvement in quality of life was not dependent on weight loss."
Many of the women grew up when females didn’t participate in sports and most had never been physically active before. The research program included a team to teach the women how to put in action.
"Walking a little bit every day will help tremendously," Thompson said. "Walk by your mother, a neighbor or friend. A little physical activity will improve your characteristic of life."
Researchers also advised older women to join gyms that have specific sections for women or that are targeted at women.
"Physical activity not only provides a better quality of life but better balance, stronger bones and confidence in walking," Church said. "Start exercising for small amounts of time and then gradually work up to 150 minutes a week. A little is better than nothing."
No commentsMouse Nerve Cells Protected From Damage By New Drug
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a deep-seated inflammatory disease of the brain and spinal cord. Individuals with MS develop progressive neurological disability, and this is thought to be caused by degradation of the nerve cells. It is therefore hoped that treatments that protect nerve cells might assistance individuals with the improving form of MS. Data to support this hypothesis has now been generated using a chronic progressive EAE mouse model of MS by Howard Weiner and colleagues at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston.
In the study, treatment of mice after the onset of disease with a water-soluble agent known as ABS-75, which has antioxidant properties and blocks the stimulation of the subset of nerve cells that express the NMDA receptor, markedly reduced disease progression. This profitable effect was associated with decreased nerve cell degradation, and a similar protective effect was observed for ABS-75 when it was added to cultured nerve cells exposed to damaging reagents. These data led the authors to suggest that agents similar to ABS-75 might provide a new approach to treating individuals with MS and other neurodegenerative disorders.
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Article adapted by dint of. Medical News Today from original compel release.
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TITLE: Reversal of axonal loss and impotence in a mouse model of progressive multiple sclerosis
AUTHOR CONTACT:
Howard L. Weiner
Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Source: Karen Honey
Journal of Clinical Investigation
Early Colon Cancer Detection Saves Lives
Early colon cancer detection is the key to its cure.
According to National Cancer Institute (NCI) about 150000 people are being colon cancer diagnosed each year. About 50000 of these people die every year. Colon cancer is rated the second cancer after breast cancer, but it’s easily treatable if detected early.
About half of all Americans with colon cancer are not conscious of the disease. It has a 90% specific if detected early, but some people don’t get screened regularly as advised by doctors.
People are avoiding screening and there are different reasons for it. Some of them are just apprehensive to find used up they have the cancer, some of them are just afraid of colonoscopy that may be painful, some people just feel healthy, don’t have annoying symptoms and think they don’t need a screening.
Colonoscopy is the latest screening to detect colon cancer. It uses a tube with a camera and light, which passes through the colon and enables doctors to closely monitor colon tissue. If in that place are any suspicious tissues found in colons they are immediately removed for biopsy. These tissues are clumps of cells called polyps.
About 30% of polyps are later turning into cancerous tissues. The process takes from 7 to 10 years allowing patients a plenty of time for the sake of early cancer treatment. Proper colon cancer treatment combined with healthy lifestyle prosperously cure the disease.
Gastroenterologists advise everyone aged 50 and older to get regularly screened. Those with colon cancer family history are advised to start screenings at age of 40. Any bowel disease, such as diarrhea, constipation, stool bleeding, anemia, gas should be immediately told to a doctor, because these may be signs of cancer.
No commentsCause Of Severe Allergic Reaction To Cancer Drug Discovered
Clinicians have been perplexed by the fact that some patients given the drug cetuximab - an immune-based therapy commonly used to treat persons diagnosed with head strong and neck cancer, or colon cancer - be the subject of a severe and rapid adverse reaction to the drug. Sometimes the reaction includes anaphylaxis, a life-threatening condition characterized by a drop in blood pressure, fainting, difficulty breathing, and wheezing. Now researchers funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered that specific pre-existing antibodies cause the severe reaction to the drug. This discovery in turn has enabled them to explain the unusual geographic pattern of this reaction seen among individuals in the United States. The unusual findings of this investigation appear in a report published in the March 13 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
“These intriguing research findings not only are potentially important to physicians treating certain cancer patients, mete also may have broader implications for the use of immunotherapies for other diseases,” notes Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., NIAID director.
NIAID grantee Thomas Platts-Mills, M.D., Ph.D., who heads the Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology at the University of Virginia, led a research study to investigate the cause of the clinical problem with cetuximab. Their newly reported findings are of immediate importance in the care of cancer patients, says Dr. Platts-Mills. “Because of the widespread use of cetuximab in cancer treatment, it may be useful to pre-screen patients for specific IgE antibodies to cetuximab to identify those who are at risk for serious adverse reactions, including anaphylaxis.”
Cetuximab is a partially humanized mouse monoclonal antibody, which means it is produced by a single cell line and acts against a specific protein. The drug inhibits a growth factor receptor found on the cell surface, thereby controlling the growth of cancer cells.
Upon reviewing the scientific literature, the research team was intrigued by the unusual geographic distribution of patients with anaphylaxis. For example, 22 percent of patients treated with cetuximab in Tennessee and North Carolina had anaphylactic reactions and even higher rates and clusters of cases were reported from regions of Arkansas, Missouri and Virginia. In striking difference, less than 1 percent of patients receiving cetuximab in the Northeast region of the United States suffered such reactions.
Anaphylactic reactions are typically triggered by immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies, which the immune system produces after being sensitized by prior exposure to any allergen, a normally harmless substance that in some people causes an abnormal immune response. But when Dr. Platts-Mills and his collaborators further reviewed the clinical data, they came across another unusual finding. Anaphylactic reactions in these individuals had occurred within minutes of their first exposure to cetuximab, suggesting that the patients had already been primed to respond to cetuximab.
The researchers then hypothesized that these patients had pre-existing IgE antibodies that cross-reacted by cetuximab and that these IgE antibodies were directed against a specific sugar molecule present on cetuximab. This hypothesis was derived, in part, from knowledge that all people develop characteristic antibodies to sugars found on foods, bacteria and viruses, although such antibodies are of a non-IgE class, called IgM.
To test their hypothesis, Dr. Platts-Mills and his colleagues analyzed the antibodies present in serum of 538 individuals. They developed a technique for measuring IgE antibodies to cetuximab and, in further experiments, proved that the IgE antibodies were directed against sugar molecules on cetuximab.
The 538 serum samples included pre-treatment samples taken from 76 cetuximab-treated cancer patients primarily from Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. The remaining serum samples - from individuals in Nashville, Northern California and Boston - served as controls to investigate the geographical differences in hypersensitivity rates.
The researchers found that among the 76 cancer patients, 25 developed hypersensitivity reactions and 18 of these individuals showed a fully convinced reaction for IgE antibodies to the drug. Among the 51 serum samples from patients who did not have a hypersensitivity reaction, only one had in the same state antibodies. In control groups, IgE antibodies against cetuximab were found in 21 percent of the samples from Nashville, 6 percent of the samples from Northern California, and less than 1 percent of the samples from Boston.
Although severe anaphylactic reactions accept been reported following treatment by several different monoclonal antibodies, this is the first time a clear mechanism underlying such a reaction has been defined. “Dr. Platts-Mills and his colleagues have shown that the presence of pre-existing IgE antibodies to a specific sugar molecule on cetuximab is highly predictive of a hypersensitivity reaction to cetuximab,” says Marshall Plaut, M.D., chief of the Allergic Mechanisms Section at NIAID. “Furthermore, their research answers an important question about for what cause the local geographic prevalence of these antibodies leads to regional differences in anaphylactic reactions to cetuximab.”
Now the researchers are looking for answers to yet another question: What causes a high share of the population in certain parts of the country to produce these particular IgE antibodies that react with cetuximab? Research is in progress to explore if the specific IgE antibodies are triggered by means of differences in regional exposures to ticks or other parasites or to infectious organisms.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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NIAID is a component of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose and treat infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and illness from potential agents of bioterrorism. NIAID also supports exploration on basic immunology, transplantation and immune-related disorders, including autoimmune diseases, asthma and allergies.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation’s Medical Research Agency - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.
Reference: C Chung et al. Cetuximab-induced anaphylaxis and IgE specific for galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose. New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa074943 (2008).
News releases, fact sheets and other NIAID-related materials are available on the NIAID Web site at http://www.niaid.nih.gov/.
Source: Sitara Maruf
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
UN ambassador against genital mutilation missing (AFP)
Waris Dirie was multilated as a young girl and fled her native Somalia aged 13 to escape a unnatural nuptial rites. She was last seen in the early hours of Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal said.
"From the kind of we understand, she disappeared at around two or three o'clock in the morning after getting a taxi to return to her hotel," he told AFP.
Earlier, 43-year-old Dirie had become lost in the Belgian excellent and had been helped by police, who mistakenly took her to a house of entertainment from the same chain being of the class who the one she was staying in but at which she had no reservation, he said.
As a UN goodwill minister, she was to attend a colloquy on genital multilation in Brussels to mark international women's day on Saturday, and on Friday had been due to visit Kerkrade in the Netherlands to receive a prize.
Dirie was attacked in her home in Vienna in March 2004 by a Portuguese man who had turn to obsessed with her and followed her more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from her former abode in the Welsh capital Cardiff.
In addition to modelling work, Dirie was known for writing four books of memoirs and she had a minor role in the 1987 James Bond movie, "The Living Daylights".
Her disappearance came less than a month later another African-born model who campaigned against female circumcision, Katoucha Niane, was found floating drowned in the river Seine in Paris. Her autopsy found no signs of violence.
There is being of the class who yet no indication that these events are linked.
No commentsEx-model Waris Dirie found in Belgium (AP)
Dirie, 43, appeared to be in good health and was being questioned by police about the disappearance, said Estelle Arpigny, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.
She declined to give more remote minor circumstances, saying it was unclear what had happened since Dirie vanished early Wednesday. Belgian media reports uttered police found her Friday afternoon walking the Brussels‘ Grand Place square.
Hours earlier, police had announced they were launching a nationwide search for the former model, who had last been seen getting into a cab after a mix-up across a hotel.
Dirie gained international fame as a prototype posing in Chanel ads and acting in the 1987 James Bond movie “The Living Daylights” before launching her campaign against female genital mutilation in 1996.
She shocked the world with a best-selling book “Desert Flower” that described how her genitals were sliced over through a dirty razor flat part without anesthesia, and then stitched together.
Now a U.N. goodwill ambassador, she was due to declare on genital mutilation in Brussels at two conferences on women’s rights organized by the European Union, including one on Thursday attended by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
News of Dirie’s disappearance came a week after French police said they had found the carcass of one more former model of African origin who had campaigned against female genital mutilation. Guinean-born Katoucha Niane was discovered floating in the River Seine in Paris.
The French police said an autopsy showed no signs of foul play, raising the possibility that she may have fallen accidentally into the river. However, Katoucha’s family members say they suspect killing of a human being.
Dirie’s manager, Walter Lutschinger, said she had been involved in an altercation in a hotel reception area after a taxi driver took her to the wrong branch of the Sofitel hotel bond. The police were called and drove Dirie around Brussels looking for the correct hotel because she had apparently forgotten where she was staying.
At one inn, while staff and police were checking for her name on a computer, Meilleur said Dirie stepped out saying she planned to buy cigarettes from an all-night kiosk, but instead climbed into a taxi and drove away.
An Austrian citizen, Dirie was attacked in her Vienna apartment in 2004 by a Portuguese handyman who had stalked her. The man was given a five-month suspended sentence by an Austrian court.
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Associated Press writers Constant Brand and Aoife White in Brussels and George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
Waris Dirie Foundation: http://www.waris-dirie-foundation.com
No commentsCaspase-12: MUHC Researcher Finds New Defense Mechanism Against Intestinal Inflammation
The body’s first line of defence against pathogenic bacteria that we ingest may not be the immune system but rather the cells that lineage the intestine. This surprising conclusion is just one facet of a study by Dr. Maya Saleh, a researcher at the Research institute of the McGill University Health Centre, published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe on March 12.
This, and the various mechanisms revealed by this discovery, could lead to important therapeutic innovations, particularly in the treatment of diarrheal diseases and seditious bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease.
When pathogenic E. coli bacteria infect the body, they bind to epithelial cells on the interior wall of the intestine before injecting infectious material into the cells with a syringe-like mechanical construction. This contact triggers a defence reaction within the epithelial cell called the Nod pathway, which results in alerting the immune connected view as well as in the release of antimicrobial peptides called defensins.
Defensins energize as antibiotics: they kill bacteria directly by puncturing holes in their walls. These peptides also play a role in activating the immune system itself and tuning the inflammatory reaction.
“This mechanical construction expands our idea of immunity: it hinges upon epithelial cells, not immune cells, early on during infection,” says Dr. Saleh. “Furthermore, our study demonstrates that this mechanism is regulated negatively by the Caspase-12 protein, meaning that this protein limits defensin production. This hampers the elimination of bacteria, which then trigger an intense inflammatory reaction manifested by dint of. various symptoms including severe diahrrea.”
These fundamental discoveries change our understanding of the immune defence. They likewise open new avenues for a deeper understanding and more targeted treatments of diseases related to intestinal inflammation, such as diarrheal diseases caused by pathogenic E. coli or Crohn’s disease.
In the case of diarrhea, intestinal inflammation is caused by a process similar to the one described above by Dr. Saleh. Treatments that target Caspase-12 would decrease inflammation by acting on the source rather than on the symptoms.
Crohn’s disease is the chronic inflammation of the digestive tract, and its specific causes are uninvestigated. What is known, however, is that this pathology is linked to a genetic mutation in the Nod pathway. “This study allows us to consider three possible explanations for Crohn’s disease: the Nod pathway mutation could induce either a lack of bacterial “sensing” or a hyperactivation of the immune system resulting in both cases in excessive inflammation against bacteria naturally not absent in the digestive system; it is also possible that the pathology is caused by an excessive and recurring reaction against a pathogenic microorganism,” says Dr. Saleh. The debate is now open.
In each of these cases, medication targeting Caspase-12 would decrease inflammation symptoms by directly attacking the underlying cause.
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Article adapted by means of Medical News Today from original press release.
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Dr. Maya Saleh is a researcher with the Critical Care Division and the Centre for the Study of Host Resistance at the Research set on foot of the McGill University freedom from disease Centre (MUHC) as well as an assistant professor with McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine.
This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
The Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) is a world-renowned biomedical and health-care hospital research centre. Located in Montreal, Quebec, the institute is the research arm of the MUHC, a university health center affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. The institute supports over 500 researchers, nearly 1000 graduate and post-doctoral students and operates additional than 300 laboratories devoted to a broad spectrum of fundamental and clinical research. The Research Institute operates at the forefront of knowledge, innovation and technology and is inextricably linked to the clinical programs of the MUHC, ensuring that patients benefit directly from the latest research-based knowledge. For further details visit: http://www.muhc.ca/research.
Source: Isabelle Kling
McGill University Health Centre
Asthma Guidelines - Breathe Easier This Spring
Allergy and asthma specialists from around the country will win this week to begin implementing The National Asthma Education and Prevention Program’s (NAEPP) Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Asthma. These guidelines are intended to improve care for the millions of Americans that suffer from this chronic condition. Information in the guidelines reported that allergies hold emerged as one of the most important factors in the development, persistence and potential extremity of asthma and that allergy testing is necessary to educate patients about allergen avoidance and symptom superintendence.
"The role of allergy testing in asthma management is important information for patients, particularly because many asthmatics are not aware that a simple blood test can be conducted to identify what is triggering an asthma attack," said Dean Mitchell, MD, leading allergist and original of Dr. Dean Mitchell’s Allergy and Asthma Solution. "Allergy diagnostic testing using a specific IgE blood test is a safe and accurate course to identify triggers early on and effectively horsemanship patients."
The guidelines were developed by an skilful panel commissioned by the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program and coordinated by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health to make secure that the asthma guidelines reflect the latest scientific advances in this area. The guidelines were first published in 1991 and revised in 1997 and 2002. These latest parameters highlight the importance of keeping asthma under control through four critical components of asthma care, including: assessment and monitoring, patient education, control of environmental factors contributing to asthma severity, and pharmacologic therapy.
"As the presence of allergens increases this spring allergy season, it will be critical for patients to understand what their allergic triggers are and how to avoid those allergens," related Dr. Mitchell. "By accurately diagnosing allergies, healthcare providers be possible to counsel avoidance strategies, so that patients can minimize their exposure to triggers, which collectively are responsible for pushing them over their allergic door and intensifying asthma symptoms."
According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, approximately 23 a thousand thousand Americans have asthma and more than seven million of these are children, making it one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood. While the number of asthma-related deaths has declined in recent years, asthma remains the cause for nearly two very great number emergency room visits annually, resulting in a significant economic burden on our healthcare system.
"Knowledge gained from allergy testing allows asthma patients to make necessary adjustments to their environment or diet to decrease their risk for asthma attacks and subsequent hospitalizations," said Dr. Mitchell.
ImmunoCAP was the first allergy test to be cleared by the FDA as a truly quantitative test for pinpointing allergens and allergy blood testing is recognized by the National Institutes of Health for the transactions of patients with asthma. The ImmunoCAP technology works by measuring IgE antibodies to food, indoor and outdoor allergens in a small sample of blood. Specific IgE is produced as a result of sensitization to an allergen and increases with exposure to that substance.
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