Group therapy may extend lives of cancer patients
November 17, 2008
Group therapy may extend lives of cancer patients
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Psychological group therapy for women with breast cancer may help them not only to cope better with their disease but also live longer, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
New test to identify heart failure in ER superior
November 12, 2008
New test to identify heart failure in ER superior
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - A new blood test to identify heart failure patients in most dire need of treatment when they turn up at an emergency room complaining of shortness of breath proved better than current tests, according to results of a study unveiled on Tuesday.
Mbeki blamed for 330,000 deaths
November 9, 2008
Thabo Mbeki stood down as president in September 2008
A prominent South African Aids activist has told the BBC former President Thabo Mbeki should be called to account for his decision to block HIV medication.
A recent Harvard School of Public Health study said 330,000 deaths were caused by his 1999 decision to declare available drugs toxic and dangerous.
Zackie Achmat said Mr Mbeki had ignored the scientific evidence.
Mr Mbeki’s spokesman referred media enquiries to the government, but no spokesman was available to comment.
Mr Achmat, who leads the Treatment Action Campaign, which successfully lobbied for the eventual reversal of government policy, claimed Mr Mbeki had “blood on his hands”.
He called for him to be summoned to a judicial inquiry or the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
‘Major obstacle’
The study, published on 20 October, said that as a result of Mr Mbeki’s policies, nearly 35,000 babies were also born HIV-positive between 2000 and 2005.
The former president had failed to roll out the drugs which could have prevented mother-to-child transmission, said the researchers.
The study, led by Dr Pride Chigwedere, accused the South African government of “acting as a major obstacle in the provision of medication to patients with Aids”.
The authors said that under the leadership of Mr Mbeki, the government had restricted use of donated anti-retroviral drugs and blocked funds for more than a year from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
To estimate the benefits they say were lost to South Africans because of the failure to provide appropriate drugs between 2000 and 2005, the researchers looked at a number of factors.
These included:
• the number of patients who died without receiving treatment
• the relative cost of the drugs and the resources available
• comparative treatment programmes in Namibia and Botswana.
Since the former president was replaced in September 2008 a new health minister, Barbara Hogan, has been appointed and she has been praised by Aids campaigners for tackling the HIV issue with determination.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Women’s hands ‘harbour more bugs’
November 4, 2008
Human skin harbours many bacteria
Women have a greater range of different types of bacteria on the palms of their hands than men, US research suggests.
The study also found that human hands harbour far higher numbers of bacteria species than previously thought.
Using powerful gene sequencing techniques, researchers found a typical hand had roughly 150 different species of bacteria living on it.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study found bacteria types varied greatly between individuals.
Woman loses assisted suicide case
October 30, 2008
Woman loses assisted suicide case
A woman with multiple sclerosis has lost her High Court case to clarify the law on assisted suicide.
Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, is considering going to a Swiss clinic to end her life, but fears her husband may be charged on his return to the UK.
She had wanted a guarantee that her husband, Omar Puente, would not be prosecuted.
There have so far been no prosecutions of relatives of 101 UK citizens who have gone to the Dignitas clinic.
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 How can we make sure that we act within the law if they won’t tell us in what circumstances they would prosecute?  Debbie Purdy
 Q&A: Assisted suicide ruling
‘My brother chose to end suffering’
Analysis: The law needs reform
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Ms Purdy, who was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 1995 and can no longer walk, was granted permission to appeal because of public interest in the case.
But speaking outside the High Court after the ruling, she said she was disappointed with the result and would be appealing.
“We still don’t know how we can make sure that we stay within the law, because I’m certainly not prepared for Omar to break the law - I’m not prepared for him to face jail.”
“How can we make sure that we act within the law if they won’t tell us in what circumstances they would prosecute?”
She said she was still considering travelling to Switzerland to take a lethal dose of barbiturates prescribed by doctors at Dignitas.
Ms Purdy wants her husband at her side but fears he may be prosecuted on his return to Britain, and says she may therefore have to make the trip earlier than she really wanted.
Aiding or abetting a suicide is a crime punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment.
Guidance
A judicial review was granted to Ms Purdy on the grounds that the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had acted illegally by not providing guidance on how decisions on prosecution are reached.
During the hearing earlier this month, she argued the lack of clarification was a breach of her human rights.
But two High Court judges have ruled they had not been infringed and existing guidelines were adequate.
Lord Justice Scott Baker said: “We cannot leave this case without expressing great sympathy for Ms Purdy, her husband and others in a similar position who wish to know in advance whether they will face prosecution for doing what many would regard as something that the law should permit, namely to help a loved one go abroad to end their suffering when they are unable to do it on their own.
“This would involve a change in the law.
“The offence of assisted suicide is very widely drawn to cover all manner of different circumstances - only Parliament can change it.”
It is not the first time the issue has been raised in the courts.
In 2001 Diane Pretty, who had motor neurone disease, failed to get immunity from prosecution for her husband if he helped her to die in the UK.
Several attempts to legalise suicide in Britain have also been rejected.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Suicide linked to brain changes
October 27, 2008
The researchers looked at brain tissue
The brains of people who commit suicide are chemically different to those who die from other causes, a Canadian study has suggested.
Researchers analysed brain tissue from 20 dead people and, in those who killed themselves, they found a higher rate of a process that affects behaviour.
Writing in Biological Psychology, they said it appeared environmental factors played a part in the changes.
And they said the discovery opened up a new avenue of research.
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The researchers, from the University of Western Ontario, Carleton University and University of Ottawa, analysed tissue from 10 people who had a serious depressive disorder and had committed suicide and 10 who had died suddenly from other causes, such as a heart attack.
They found that the DNA in the suicide group was being chemically modified by a process normally involved in regulating cell development, called methylation.
It is methylation which shuts down the unwanted genes in a cell - so the necessary genes are expressed to make a cell a skin cell rather than, for example, a heart cell.
The rate of methylation in the suicide brains was almost 10 times that of the other group, and the gene that was being shut down was a chemical message receptor that plays a major role in regulating behaviour.
In the paper, the researchers suggest this reprogramming could contribute to the “protracted and recurrent nature of major depressive disorder”.
Previous research has suggested that changes to the methylation process can be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors called epigenetics.
Modifications ’shape life’
Dr Michael Poulter, who led the research, said: “The whole idea that the genome is so malleable in the brain is surprising, because brain cells don’t divide.
“You get dealt your neurons at the start of life, so the idea that there are still epigenetic mechanisms going on is pretty unusual.”
He said the findings of the study opened up a new avenue of research and potential therapies for depression and suicidal tendencies.
John Krystal, the editor of Biological Psychiatry, said: “This is exciting new evidence that genetic and environmental factors may interact to produce specific and long-lasting modifications in brain circuits.
“Further, these modifications may shape the course of one’s life in extremely important ways, including increasing the risk for major depressive disorder and perhaps suicide.”
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Action call over maternal deaths
October 26, 2008
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of mortality in childbirth
Urgent action is needed to reduce the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth, the World Health Organization has said.
Its director of maternal health, Dr Franciso Songanem, said funding needed to be better co-ordinated.
And he admitted the 2015 target to reduce maternal deaths by 75% from 1990 levels was likely to be missed.
Analysis in 2007 show rates have changed little - latest figures show 500,000 women are dying each year.
The research by Harvard University, shows that between 1990 and 2005 mortality rates fell at less than 1% per year.
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Urgent global action is needed to increase investment and political commitment to scale up these life-saving services for mothers and their children Dr Franciso Songane, of the World Health Organization
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The study said unsafe abortions, haemorrhaging and problems delivering were the major causes.
Dr Songane, director of the WHO’s Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, said maternal deaths were still far too common and the 2015 target was “unlikely to be met”.
“Some 99% of maternal deaths occur in the poorest communities of the world. Most deaths could be prevented and solutions exist, but are not available to those who need them most.
“Urgent global action is needed to increase investment and political commitment to scale up these life-saving services for mothers and their children.”
He said the solution lay in more investment and directing funds to local projects that could make a difference.
He cited a project in Matlab in the south of Bangladesh run by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, which is featured in the BBC World series Survival.
Nine in 10 women in Bangladesh give birth at home without any medical intervention, with more than one in 50 dying.
The scheme trains local women to offer advice about diet, run ante-natal classes and help deliver babies.
Dr Muhammad Yunnus, who is helping to run the project, said: “We have to give all women a better chance of surviving childbirth.”
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Western diet ‘raises heart risk’
October 21, 2008
Swapping fried and salty foods for salads could cut the global incidence of heart attacks by a third, a study of eating habits suggests.
Researchers analysed the diet of 16,000 people in 52 countries and identified three global eating patterns, Circulation journal reports.
The typical Western diet, high in fat, salt and meat, accounted for about 30% of heart attack risk in any population.
A “prudent” diet high in fruit and veg lowered heart risk by a third.
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30% of the risk of heart disease in a population could be related to poor diet Lead author Romania Iqbal
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An Oriental diet, high in tofu, soy and other sauces, made no difference to heart attack risk. The researchers created a dietary risk score questionnaire based on 19 food groups and then asked 5,561 heart attack patients and 10,646 people with known heart disease to fill out their survey.
People who ate a Western diet had a 35% greater risk of having a heart attack than those who ate little or no fried foods and meat.
It is well known that the typical Western diet causes heart disease. High salt in the diet can raise blood pressure and the wrong type of fat can clog blood vessels.
Investigating overall eating patterns is more true to life than looking at intake of individual foods or nutrients.
Global trend
The researchers said their work suggested that the same relationships between food and heart disease that are observed in Western countries exist in other regions of the world.
Lead author Romania Iqbal, of McMaster University in Canada, said: “30% of the risk of heart disease in a population could be related to poor diet.”
The researchers said that while components of the Oriental diet might be bad for the heart - such as the salt in soy sauce - these elements were likely cancelled out by protective components.
Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse for the British Heart Foundation, said: “This study shows that it doesn’t matter whether you live in Bolton or Bombay, or whether you like to eat British, African Caribbean or Asian foods.
“The vital thing is to reduce your intake of salty, fried, fatty food to a minimum but increase the amount of fruit and vegetables you eat.”
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Brain signals predict weight gain
October 19, 2008
The number of obese adults is increasing
The brain’s response to food is linked to future weight gain in women, US researchers report in Science.
Brain imaging showed those who had the weakest response to drinking a chocolate milkshake were most likely to have put on weight a year later.
Poor responses to food were also associated with a gene controlling the brain’s response to dopamine - a chemical controlling pleasure.
It backs previous work showing obese people may get less pleasure from food.
Two separate studies, one in 43 female students aged 18 to 22 and another in 33 teenage girls aged 14 to 18, measured activation in a certain part of the brain (the dorsal striatum) when drinking chocolate milkshake or a tasteless drink.
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It is possible that behavioural or pharmacological interventions that correct this reward deficit may help prevent and treat obesity Dr Eric Stice, study researcher
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The researchers also tested for a particular genetic variant - TaqA1 - which is linked to fewer dopamine receptors in the brain.
A year later, those with the “blunt” responses to the milkshake and the genetic variant were most likely to gain weight.
Dr Eric Stice, from the Oregon Research Institute, said although recent studies had suggested that obese people may experience less pleasure when eating and eat more to compensate, this is the first study to link that with future weight gain.
“The evidence that this relation is even stronger for individuals at genetic risk for compromised signalling in these brain regions points to an important biological factor that appears to increase risk for obesity onset.”
He added: “It is possible that behavioural or pharmacological interventions that correct this reward deficit may help prevent and treat obesity.”
Dr David Haslam, a GP and clinical director of the National Obesity Forum, said there were interesting parallels with the findings and addiction.
“There is a debate about whether you can have a genuine addiction to food.
“But someone say on low dose heroin becomes resistant to the dopamine response and needs more and more.
“This is very interesting but it doesn’t really help us now with tackling obesity,” he said.
Source: bbc.co.uk/
Obesity ‘lifts inflammation risk’
October 18, 2008
Obesity may have a negative impact on body chemistry
Obesity and lack of fitness raise the risk of illness by impacting negatively on the body’s internal chemistry, research suggests.
A US team found levels of white blood cells were highest in men who were unfit and overweight.
White blood cells are key to fighting infection, but high levels can be a sign of inflammation, which is linked to coronary heart disease.
The study appears in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
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There is nothing worse than a risk factor that an individual cannot modify, but here are two risk factors - obesity and fitness - which they can do something about Professor Tim Church
Pennington Biomedical Research Center |
A team from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center carried out tests on 452 healthy men who were taking part in a long-term study of fitness.
Blood tests were taken, and analysed for their content of various types of white blood cell.
After taking account of age, the researchers found that all groups of white blood cell were lowest in the men who were most physically fit.
The greater proportion of body fat a man had, the higher his white blood cell count was.
Total white cell count was highest in men who had a combination of higher body fat and lower levels of physical fitness.
Levels were also high among men with lower body weight but lower levels of fitness.
However, a high degree of physical fitness negated the effect of extra body fat.
Key role
White cell counts tend to rise after a bout of vigorous exercise, but the researchers said regular exercise might condition the body to respond more efficiently to the physical demands made of it.
Lead researcher Professor Tim Church said it was clear that inflammation played a key role in heart disease and other illnesses, but the factors which drove it were still relatively unclear.
He said: “There is nothing worse than a risk factor that an individual cannot modify, but here are two risk factors - obesity and fitness - which they can do something about.”
June Davison, cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: “These findings add to evidence that regular physical activity and keeping close to a healthy weight have huge benefits for your heart health.”
And John Brewer, performance director at the Lucozade Sport Science Academy in Slough, stressed that an unhealthy lifestyle posed “real dangers” to health.
He said: “Whilst studies like this one, and initiatives from the government and health-promotion agencies, can raise awareness of the risks, ultimately it is down to individuals to chose a lifestyle and habits that give them the best chance of leading a healthy, active life.”
Source: bbc.co.uk/