Jume 4 - 8, 2009

Improved dietary fatty acids alter gene expression to reduce inflammation

LIFE EXTENSIONS  June 05, 2009

In an article published in the June 5, 2009 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry <http://www.jbc.org/> , researchers from Wake Forest University revealed that altering fatty acid intake to mimic the diet of early humans reduces the expression in humans of a gene that promotes inflammation. Increased systemic inflammation is associated with allergic and inflammatory diseases such as asthma <http://www.lef.org/protocols/respiratory/asthma_01.htm> , allergies, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and arthritis.

The Western diet includes a greatly increased intake of pro-inflammatory
omega-6 fatty acids found in meat and vegetable oils and reduced amounts of omega-3 fatty acids that occur in fish and flax oil as compared to the diets of our ancestors. Evidence suggests that humans originally consumed a diet that contained a 2 to 1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids as opposed to the current ratio which is greater than 10 to 1. For their study, the researchers administered a controlled diet to 27 volunteers for one week, after which the participants were supplemented with fish and borage oil for 4 weeks to reduce the ratio of omega-6 to
omega-3 fatty acids.

At the end of the treatment period, omega-3 fatty acid content had risen, while the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids declined. The ability of white blood cells known as neutrophils to produce the inflammation marker leukotriene B4 was lowered by 31 percent. Also significantly lowered were cytokines interleukin-1beta, interleukin-10, and interleukin-23, as well as the expression of PI3K which is involved with immune signaling.

“This report demonstrates, for the first time in humans, that the expression of an early step (PI3K) in signal transduction, as well as several important downstream effectors, are significantly reduced by altering ingestion of polyunsaturated fatty acids to shift circulating
omega-6 to omega-3 ratios,” the authors announce. “These data provide evidence that large changes in gene expression are likely an important mechanism by which polyunsaturated fatty acids exert their potent effects in clinical conditions.”

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Low antioxidant intake could play a role in male infertility

LIFE EXTENSIONS  June 03, 2009

In an article published online this year in the journal Fertility and Sterility <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00150282> , Spanish researchers report that reduced intake of antioxidants is associated with low semen reproductive capacity. Increased intake of nutrients that have an antioxidant activity, such as vitamin C, help lower dam aging oxidative stress, which affects semen quality.

Jaime Mendiola of the University of Murcia in Espinardo, Spain and his associates compared the diets of 30 fertility clinic patients with reproductive problems due to poor quality semen to the diets of 31 control patients with normal semen. Men in the control group were found to have a significantly greater intake of fiber, carbohydrates, vitamin C, folate, and lycopene and a lower intake of protein and fat than the men with reproductive difficulties.

"Our previous research study, published in March, showed that men who eat large amounts of meat and full fat dairy products have lower seminal quality than those who eat more fruit, vegetables and reduced fat dairy products,” Dr Mendiola stated. “In this study, we have found that people who consume more fruits and vegetables are ingesting more antioxidants, and this is the important point."

"We saw that, among the couples with fertility problems coming to the clinic, the men with good semen quality ate more vegetables and fruit than those men with low seminal quality," he noted. "A healthy diet is not only a good way of avoiding illness, but could also have an impact on improving seminal quality. What we still do not understand is the difference between taking these vitamins naturally and in the form of supplements. In the studies we are going to carry out in the United States (where the consumption of vitamins in tablet form is very common) we will be looking at the role of supplements."

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Vitamin C may help diabetics

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- 06-05-09

A University of Oklahoma researcher might have found a link between taking vitamin C with insulin and stopping blood vessel damage caused by type 1 diabetes.

"We know that when the glucose is under control, the organs that have been damaged by high glucose take 10 to 12 years to get back," said principal researcher Dr. Michael Ihnat, a pharmacologist at the OU College of Medicine Department of Cell Biology. "We wanted to have the ability to test what might be causing this."

The study's findings will appear this week in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Ihnat's team reconfirmed data that pointed to free radicals as the cause of the damage.

Free radicals are any atom or molecule with a single unpaired electron in the outer shell. They move through the body stealing an electron from other atoms or molecules, which starts a chain reaction. Diabetes complications include damaged proteins and blood vessels, a result of free radicals' rampage through the body, he said.

Ihnat, along with Dr. Antonio Ceriello of the University of Warwick in England, collaborated on a theory that antioxidants would stop or reduce the damage, preventing some painful and fatal consequences of diabetes.

Those include heart disease, poor circulation, amputation, kidney disease and diabetic retinopathy.

In a carefully controlled study, researchers put patients who previously had difficulty controlling their glucose levels on intravenous insulin and vitamin C, he said.

"Vitamin C was able to get patients normalized for complication markers," Ihnat said. "Vitamin C is an antioxidant that can get the levels of free radicals under control."

He suggested that people with type 1 diabetes take a multivitamin supplement or a couple of vitamin C tablets each day to prevent damage to their blood vessels and organs.

"To be brutally honest, it can't hurt them, but we think their doctors should be informed," Ihnat said.

Diabetics also should eat foods that are high in antioxidants, such as berries, carrots, broccoli, nuts and leafy greens, he said.

The results may not be as dramatic as researchers found in the study because vitamin C was supplied for a full day intravenously.

But Ihnat said he is working to engineer a better way pharmaceutically to get antioxidant molecules into the bloodstream.

"We don't have a cure obviously in hand," he said, "but we have an idea of how to minimize damage."

http://www.lef.org/news/LefDailyNews.htm?NewsID=8343&Section=Vitamins
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Avandia Attorney Says Study Based on 'Useless Trick Science'---Today's announcement hurts thousands of Avandia patients, counsel says

PR Newswire  06-05-09

HOUSTON, June 5, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Noted Houston trial lawyer Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm says "useless trick science"
is the basis for a new study being unveiled today in New Orleans by drug maker GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) about the side effects caused by the company's diabetes medication Avandia, which reportedly has been linked to heart problems in thousands of patients.

Mr. Lanier represents many former Avandia users who suffered heart attacks and other heart problems after taking the drug. The study released today follows six years of research paid for by GlaxoSmithKline to purportedly determine whether Avandia causes heart problems at a higher rate than other diabetes medications. The study results are being presented at the American Diabetes Association's 69th Scientific Sessions, the world's largest diabetes conference.

Among the many problems cited by medical professionals who have reviewed the study's methodology is that not enough participants were included to produce statistically valid results. The study also used Avandia in combination with other drugs rather than determining the effects of taking the drug alone.

"This study is a prime example of getting what you pay for," says Mr.
Lanier. "For six years, GlaxoSmithKline has been pouring money into this study to get the results they wanted, and that's exactly what's happening today."

The Rosiglitazone Evaluated for Cardiac Outcomes and Regulation of Glycaemia in Diabetes, or RECORD, study is based on information from diabetes patients who live in Europe. The study results follow a 2007 report in The New England Journal of Medicine, which revealed that Avandia users suffered a 43 percent increase in heart attacks and a 64 percent increase in cardiac deaths.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration responded by requiring GlaxoSmithKline to include an updated "Black Box" warning on Avandia prescriptions about the potential increased risk of heart attacks.
"Black Box" warnings are the most serious warnings required by the FDA, and are used only when a drug presents a significant risk of serious adverse side effects. Preliminary results from the RECORD study showed no statistically significant difference in heart problems among users of Avandia and other diabetes medications, but Mr. Lanier and others who have reviewed the methodology say the results are unreliable.

"One of the FDA's own researchers said two years ago that he didn't think this study should have been conducted because it couldn't produce scientifically reliable or valid results," says Mr. Lanier. "By using tricks as science and publishing this study, GlaxoSmithKline is disregarding the safety of thousands of diabetes patients in the company's pursuit of the almighty dollar."

With offices in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Houston and New York, The Lanier Law Firm is committed to addressing client concerns with effective and innovative solutions in courtrooms across the country. The firm is composed of outstanding trial attorneys with decades of experience handling cases involving pharmaceutical liability, asbestos exposure, intellectual property, business litigation, product liability, toxic exposure and maritime law.

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Low levels of vitamin D linked to common vaginal infection in pregnant women

NewsRx.com 06-05-09

Pregnant women with low levels of vitamin D may be more likely to suffer from bacterial vaginosis (BV) a common vaginal infection that increases a woman's risk for preterm delivery, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Available online and published in the June issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the study may explain why African-American women, who often lack adequate vitamin D, are three times more likely than white women to develop BV (see also University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences).

"Bacterial vaginosis affects nearly one in three reproductive-aged women, so there is great need to understand how it can be prevented,"
said Lisa M. Bodnar, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., assistant professor of epidemiology, obstetrics and gynecology, University of Pittsburgh. "It is not only associated with a number of gynecologic conditions, but also may contribute to premature delivery the leading cause of neonatal mortality making it of particular concern to pregnant women."

The study, which included 469 pregnant women, sought to determine whether poor vitamin D status played a role in predisposing women, especially African-Americans, to BV. Dr. Bodnar and colleagues at Magee-Womens Research Institute found that 41 percent of the study participants had BV and of these, 93 percent had insufficient levels of vitamin D. They also found that the prevalence of BV decreased as vitamin D levels rose.

Vitamin D may play a role in BV by regulating the production and function of antimicrobial molecules, which in turn may help the immune system prevent and control bacterial infection. However, only about one in four Americans gets enough vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency may be more common in African-Americans because dark pigmentation limits the amount of vitamin D that can be made in the skin through casual exposure to sunlight. African-American women also are less likely to meet dietary recommendations of vitamin D.

"Although this is a preliminary study, it points out an interesting connection between vitamin D and BV," said Dr. Bodnar. "We don't recommend pregnant women take mega-doses of vitamin D based on these findings, but they should talk with their doctor if they have concerns about their vitamin D status. All women should be encouraged to eat a healthy diet and take a prenatal vitamin before they become pregnant or as soon as they find out they are pregnant."

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WHO recommends rotavirus vaccine for all children

Last Updated: 2009-06-05 8:25:04 -0400 (Reuters Health)

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation recommended on Friday that oral rotavirus vaccines be included in all national immunisation programmes to avert half a million diarrhoeal deaths and 2 million hospitalisations a year.

Children in Europe and the Americas have had access to the rotavirus vaccine for three years but it had previously not been tested in and approved for low-income settings where the dehydrating disease is most lethal.

The U.N. agency's new global guidance is expected to boost demand for Merck's RotaTeq, GlaxoSmithKline's Rotarix vaccines in Africa and Asia, and from health charities.

"This WHO recommendation clears the way for vaccines that will protect children in the developing world from one of the most deadly diseases they face," said Tachi Yamada of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Rotavirus is a leading cause of severe gastroenteritis, including vomiting and diarrhoea, in infants and young children. The contagious infection kills an estimated 1,600 children under the age of 5 every day, mostly in Africa and Asia.

The first vaccine developed to fight rotavirus, sold by Wyeth, was pulled from the market in 1999 after it was linked to a rare, life-threatening type of bowel obstruction known as intussusception. The Merck and Glaxo vaccines do not have that problem.

The WHO said clinical trials in poor communities in South Africa and Malawi showed the new oral vaccines significantly reduced severe diarrhoea episodes related to rotavirus. Trials are continuing in Bangladesh, Vietnam, Ghana, Mali and Kenya, but the guidance was issued ahead of those full results "since available evidence indicates that efficacy data can be extrapolated to populations with similar mortality patterns regardless of geographic location," the WHO said.

Developing countries wanting help to distribute the rotavirus vaccine can seek assistance from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), a Geneva-based international procurer and WHO partner.

GAVI, the WHO and the U.N. children's agency UNICEF are now working to develop "a new accelerated and integrated approach" to tackle rotavirus diarrhoea and pneumonia together.

Those two vaccine-preventable diseases account for more than 35 percent of the world's child deaths each year, the vast majority in poor countries, the WHO said.

It also stressed that "there are many causes of diarrhoeal disease,"
meaning that efforts to improve water quality, sanitation standards and access to rehydration salts must continue despite the expansion of the vaccine.

Green tea ingredient may fight incurable leukemia

Last Updated: 2009-06-04 15:16:58 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A chemical found in green tea may shrink lymph nodes and reduce white blood cell counts in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a new study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology shows.

There is no cure for CLL, and about half of patients with the disease have an aggressive, fatal form, Dr. Tait D. Shanafelt of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and colleagues explain in the report. At present, there is no therapy available that can prevent early-stage CLL from progressing.

After the researchers published promising results using the green tea component epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) to treat cancer cells in lab dishes, Shanafelt and his colleagues noticed that some patients with CLL started taking products containing tea polyphenols on their own -- and showed a response.

In the current study, the researchers tested Polyphenon E capsules, which contain about 200 milligrams of EGCG, in 33 patients who had early-stage CLL and no symptoms. They tested doses ranging from 400 to 2000 milligrams taken twice a day.

Even at the highest doses, side effects were few, the researchers found.

Fifteen patients showed a 20 percent or greater reduction in their white blood cell count, which lasted for at least two months in 11 patients.

Twelve patients had swollen glands when they were enrolled in the study, and 11 of them had a reduction of at least 50 percent in the lymph node swelling.

The highest dose seemed to be most effective, with 16 (76 percent) of the 21 patients taking 1200 to 2000 milligrams of EGCG showing a biologic response, compared to two (17 percent) of 12 patients taking 400 to 1000 milligrams.

The findings suggest that giving EGCG to early-stage CLL patients could help stabilize the disease, Shanafelt and his colleagues say. They are now conducting another study using 2000 milligrams of EGCG twice daily in patients with early-stage CLL.

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, online May 26, 2009.

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Sedatives may increase elderly suicide risk-study

Last Updated: 2009-06-04 8:14:25 -0400 (Reuters Health)

LONDON (Reuters) - Sedatives and sleeping pills prescribed to ease depression, anxiety and sleep problems appear to increase the risk of suicide four-fold among the elderly, Swedish researchers said on Wednesday.

A review of elderly suicides in the Swedish city of Gothenburg and two nearby counties showed that antidepressants, antipsychotics, sedatives and hypnotics appeared to make it more likely an older person would commit suicide.

While research has linked use of these drugs to suicides among younger people, there had also been evidence the pills may reduce the risk in the elderly, Anders Carlsten and Margda Waern of Gothenburg University reported in the BioMed Central journal BMC Geriatrics.

They reviewed the records of 85 men and women older than 65 who had committed suicide and compared them with a group of elderly people from among the general population who did not kill themselves.

After adjusting for psychiatric conditions, the patients who took sedatives and hypnotics for sleeping problems were four times more likely to commit suicide, Carlsten's team found.

"Clinicians need to be aware of this as these drugs are widely prescribed to the elderly," they wrote.

According to the World Health Organisation, 877,000 people worldwide kill themselves each year. For every suicide death, anywhere from 10 to 40 attempts are made, the U.N. agency estimates.

Scientists have linked sleep disturbances to increased suicidal risk in people with psychiatric disorders and in adolescents but it is unclear whether the association also exists in the general population.

"A careful evaluation of the suicide risk should be carried out when an elderly person presents with symptoms of anxiety and sleep disturbance,"
the researchers wrote.

While they do not know exactly why, Carlsten and Waern suggested that the drugs somehow trigger aggressive or impulsive behaviour or provide the means for people to take an overdose.

Disabilities or sleep problems may make people more likely to commit suicide, they added.

"Persons with these problems might be more likely to seek health care and perhaps more likely to receive prescriptions for psychotropic drugs," they wrote.

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Exercise after age 30 may curb breast cancer risk

Last Updated: 2009-06-03 10:17:17 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After age 30, exercising for more than an hour a week may help cut a woman's chances of developing breast cancer, according to a study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Seattle.

In the study, Lisa Sprod of University of Northern Colorado in Greeley and colleagues asked 4296 women to recall their physical activity levels during four key stages of life: 10 to 15 years old, 15 to 30 years old, 30 to 50 years old, and 50 years old and older.

The odds of developing breast cancer did not appear to change in relation to exercise levels between ages 10 and 30, but women above age 30 significantly cut their chances of developing breast cancer if they were more active, the researchers found.

"An average amount of exercise was defined as 60 minutes per week,"
Sprod told Reuters Health, "so anyone exercising less than 60 minutes was below average, above 60 minutes was above average, and anyone that considered themselves 'highly competitive' chose that category."

Fewer women who classified themselves as "highly competitive" between the ages of 30 and 50 developed breast cancer, compared to women who were less physically active.

Likewise, fewer women who classified themselves as highly competitive at age 50 or older developed breast cancer when compared to women who exercised less than 60 minutes per week.

"Preliminarily," Sprod said, "the take home message is that accumulating greater physical activity after the age of 30 may play a role in reducing the risk of developing breast cancer."

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Half of Arthritis Doctors Regularly Prescribe Placebo Pills to Patients

David Gutierrez, NaturalNews.com  June 5, 2009

(NaturalNews) Half of general practitioners and rheumatologists regularly prescribe their patients drugs just to produce a psychological effect, according to a survey conducted by researchers from the National Institutes of Health and published in the British Medical Journal.

Rheumatologists treat disorders of the joints and connective tissues, such as arthritis.

Of 679 doctors surveyed, more than 60 percent said that it is ethical to prescribe a placebo to patients, approximately 50 percent said they did so at least two to three times per month, and most of these said they did not inform patients that the prescription was only for a placebo <http://www.naturalnews.com/placebo.html> .

Researchers have confirmed that the "placebo effect," in which a patient feels better merely because they believe they have been given treatment, has an actual physiological basis. When patients are given a placebo, changes take place in their bodies that actually improve their health <http://www.naturalnews.com/health.html> .

The American Medical Association (AMA) considers the prescription of placebos <http://www.naturalnews.com/placebos.html>  unethical, however, unless a patient is explicitly informed what they are getting.

"In the clinical setting, the use of a placebo without the patient's knowledge may undermine trust, compromise the patient-physician relationship, and result in medical harm to the patient," said a 2006 AMA ethics panel. "A placebo must not be given merely to mollify a difficult patient, because doing so serves the convenience of the physician more than it promotes the patient's welfare."

Few doctors <http://www.naturalnews.com/doctors.html>  reported using pharmacologically neutral placebos such as sugar pills; the most common placebos used were vitamins or over-the-counter painkillers.
Approximately 13 percent of respondents said they used sedatives as placebos, while another 13 percent admitted to prescribing antibiotics.

"There was probably a time in medicine when [doctors] were using these more routinely, in perhaps a more paternalistic era," said researcher Jon Tilbur

http://www.naturalnews.com/z026391_placebo_doctors_arthritis.html

One in seven scientists say colleagues fake data

Hannah Devlin

TIMES ONLINE (UK)  June 4, 2009

Faking scientific data and failing to report commercial conflicts of interest are far more prevalent than previously thought, a study suggests.

One in seven scientists says that they are aware of colleagues having seriously breached acceptable conduct by inventing results. And around
46 per cent say that they have observed fellow scientists engage in “questionable practices”, such as presenting data selectively or changing the conclusions of a study in response to pressure from a funding source.

However, when scientists were asked about their own behaviour only 2 per cent admitted to having faked results.

Daniele Fanelli, of the University of Edinburgh, who carried out the investigation, believes that high-profile cases such as that of Hwang Woo-Suk, the South Korean scientist disgraced for fabricating human stem cell data, are less unusual than is generally assumed. “Increasing evidence suggests that known frauds are just the tip of the iceberg and that many cases are never discovered,” he said.

The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal PLoS One, are based on a review of 21 scientific misconduct surveys carried out between 1986 and 2005. The results paint a picture of a profession in which dishonesty and misrepresentation are widespread.

In all the surveys people were asked about both their own research practices and those of colleagues. Misconduct was divided into two
categories: fabrication, the actual invention of data; and lesser breaches that went under the heading “questionable practices”. These included dropping data points based on a “gut feeling” and failing to publish data that contradict one’s previous research.

The discrepancy between the number of scientists owning up to misconduct and those having been observed by colleagues is likely to be in part due to fears over anonymity, Dr Fanelli suggests. “Anyone who has ever falsified research is probably unwilling to reveal it despite all guarantees of anonymity.”

The study predicts that the 2 per cent figure, although higher than most previous estimates, is still likely to be conservative.

Another explanation for the differences between the self-report results and colleague-report results could be that people consider themselves to be more moral than others. In a marginal case, people might characterise their colleagues’ behaviour as misconduct more readily than they would their own.

The study included scientists from a range of disciplines. Misconduct was far more frequently admitted by medical or pharmacological researchers than others, supporting fears that the field of medical research is being biased by commercial interests.

So, if 1 in 7 actually say it, how many actually DO it?  And if they get money to present certain data that would benefit the money giver, than how much date is fake?