Articulatory Loop

We know HIV is bad for you. That's rather obvious - it causes all kinds of nastiness. One of the big problems facing those with HIV is the virus' ability to mutate at astounding rates, and thus rapidly develop resistance to any treatments thrown its way. An experimental drug, etravirine, may provide needed relief in this area: resistant patients treated with approved antiviral drugs and etravirine seem to have lowered their viral loads much more than those on antivirals alone. Granted, this data is from a pharmaceutical company's press release, with no publication cited, but we can hope the effects are real.

While everyone knows HIV is bad, most people are aware that drinking lots of cola is probably not good for them. Unfortunately, an article in the July issue of the journal Epidemiology suggests that folks who drink more than two servings of cola per day (that's less than one of those 20-oz bottles!) had a higher risk of chronic kidney disease. The culprit seems to be cola's characteristic phosphoric acid, as other sodas and caffeinated drinks didn't show similar effects.

Finally, you probably thought that Selenium was good for you. Health food stores and "dietary supplement" companies have been touting it for years as a miracle for everything from cancer to obesity and beyond. Unfortunately, what looks like a pretty robust clinical trial has found that selenium supplementation appears to be linked to higher risk of diabetes. Granted, this result comes from secondary analysis, but still it should serve as a warning: we don't really know what all those "supplements" do to our bodies.

Labels: AIDS, antiviral, cola, diabetes, diet, drugs, health, HIV, kidney, renal disease, selenium, supplements

Seriously, a mini-tiger? YES PLEASE! I'm not even a cat person, but I want one of these guys so bad it hurts.

And that's not the only wonderful science brings us today.

Canadian researchers have identified a peptide, which they are calling innate defense regulator peptide (IDR-1), that appears to be able to upregulate the innate immune system without a dangerous inflammatory response, offering hope against antibiotic resistant infections (among other things).

The battle against HIV/AIDS may get some new help now, as the WHO has published its recommendation that heterosexual men in sub-Saharan African be circumcised as a preventive measure. Now, I won't re-hash all the innumerable problems with this approach and its announcement (go here for a good, if shrill, discussion), but if it has any chance of helping, I say go for it. The potential harm is minimal, especially if the media is willing to be a little, teensie bit responsible about it.* In a possibly-more-important discovery, a US-UK team of researchers have found that green tea's famous epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) could help stop HIV, by interfereing with its ability to bind to cells. The work is really preliminary, but also has tons of potential.

And possibly good news for ADD** folks (like me): MIT researchers have found that different kinds of attention seem to be governed by different areas of the brain. The executive-function type attention, which is often the thing that us ADD folks lack seems to reside in the PFC, and could perhaps be improved separately from other attention types. Interesting...



* OK, so there's a good chance this'll be a disaster.
* * I don't actually buy any of this ADD stuff. 50 or 100 years ago, people who were interested in lots of different things and didn't like to do one thing too long were called "Renaissance Men," which was a compliment. Now we get tossed on Ritalin and told to settle down, which makes no one happier.

Labels: AIDS, antibiotic resistance, brains, circumcision, cute, cute overload, EGCG, green tea, HIV, immune system, toyger

Japanese researchers claim that they've found a way to make breast implants from a woman's own tissue and stem cells. A surgeon at Tokyo University's medical school claims to have given 40 women as much as a 2-cup-size increase by injecting a slurry of stem-cell enriched fat cells into their breasts. Other researchers are, understandably, dubious. I really wonder about the safety of this kind of procedure in terms of breast cancer, if nothing else.

The FDA has approved its first recombinant DNA sutures for use in the US. The sutures absorb into the patients body, eliminating the need to have them removed (which can interfere with healing), and hopefully you're not allergic to them. Which the FDA's ruling suggests you may be.

But you know what's good for you? Naps. A large study of Greek men and women found that those who took frequent midday naps were less likely to die of heart disease than non-nappers. The study was big, and with a decent follow-up (n=23000 over six years), and looks convincing. Now, if only I could convince my employers to go for it!

And more from Captain We-Already-Knew-That-Really, a well-executed clinical trial has confirmed the utility of marijuana as treatment for AIDS-related nerve pain. Needless to say, the White House/DEA (both famous for scientific integrity) claim that the study was too small (n=50, which is almost certainly plenty), and invalid, etc., because it does not fit with their political ideas. Can we, as a society, move on please?

Labels: AIDS, breast implants, breasts, drugs, heart disease, Japan, marijuana, nap, recombinant DNA, sleep, stem cells