Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Different Strokes: Drugs, Brains, and Fat Asses
Everything has side-effects, especially medications. Many are bad, some are good, and most come as a bit of a surprise.
A household item, so basic it's hard to even think of it as medicine, may turn out to be a powerful weapon against cancer: talc, when applied to the chest cavity, appears to greatly (and lastingly) stimulate production of the powerful anti-cancer hormone endostatin. Yay for baby powder!
On the downside (or possibly not, depending on how evil you are): those wheeled shoes that seem so popular these days, sending already-bothersome children (and frat boys...hi Mark!) careening down supermarket aisles at ever-increased velocity, appear to be linked to a rash of orthopedic injuries. Hah-hah!
In a recent study, US researchers found that a popular anti-hypertension drug, isradipine, seems to slow, and maybe even halt, the neurodegenerative process of Parkinson's disease. They found that young dopamine neurons used sodium gradients for their electrical activity, but older ones used calcium - a much more unruly and dangerous ion for cells - and that isradipine seems to force the cells to 'rejuvenate,' reverting to less-damaging sodium pump function. Aside from how awesome it'd be to really have a treatment for Parkinson's (to which I am rather strongly genetically predisposed), this discovery is bloody cool!
More good news for Parkinson's sufferers (at least in countries that aren't run by anti-science nimrods): researchers injected human neural stem cells into Parkinsonian monkeys, and found that they showed sustained improvement in symptomology. Awesome!!!
Drugs aren't the only things that have multiple surprising effects: Alzheimer's disease whipping-boy protein gamma-secretase (an enzyme responsible for production of AD's signature amyloid plaques) may not be a good place to target drug interventions. You see, it also acts as a potent tumor suppressor by lowering activity of epidermal growth factor receptor, which is implicated in skin cancer development. Bad as AD is, patients probably won't be lining up to get cancer instead.
Speaking of brains. Those of medical residents work better on more sleep, and patient care improves as a result. Well, OK, maybe not strictly as a result of more sleep, but certainly as a result of less overworked residents: a Yale study has found that patient care improved after the training program moved to the new 80-hour maximum week for residents.
And, last but not least, the Bad News. At least, for those looking for a quick-fix miracle diet pill, now that TrimSpa is ... errr ... not so hot anymore. We've all been awaiting the FDA study results on rimonabant, aka Acomplia, aka Zimulti, aka that-CB-1inhbitor-Michael-keeps-blabbing-about.
Well here's the thing: it seems to be fairly effective for weight loss (a promising but unthrilling 5% over placebo), but it has a very prominent side effect: depression and suicidal thoughts. I have to admit though, I'm not really impressed so far: people likely to be prescribed such a drug are likely to be highly sensitive about their self-esteem in the first place. If the drug doesn't work the almost-certainly advertised "miracles" they might get really disheartened. On the other hand, CB1 is rather profoundly linked to mood and cognition, and to motivation/executive functions, so that its inhibition could cause depression doesn't shock me one bit.
Hmmmmm......
A household item, so basic it's hard to even think of it as medicine, may turn out to be a powerful weapon against cancer: talc, when applied to the chest cavity, appears to greatly (and lastingly) stimulate production of the powerful anti-cancer hormone endostatin. Yay for baby powder!
On the downside (or possibly not, depending on how evil you are): those wheeled shoes that seem so popular these days, sending already-bothersome children (and frat boys...hi Mark!) careening down supermarket aisles at ever-increased velocity, appear to be linked to a rash of orthopedic injuries. Hah-hah!
In a recent study, US researchers found that a popular anti-hypertension drug, isradipine, seems to slow, and maybe even halt, the neurodegenerative process of Parkinson's disease. They found that young dopamine neurons used sodium gradients for their electrical activity, but older ones used calcium - a much more unruly and dangerous ion for cells - and that isradipine seems to force the cells to 'rejuvenate,' reverting to less-damaging sodium pump function. Aside from how awesome it'd be to really have a treatment for Parkinson's (to which I am rather strongly genetically predisposed), this discovery is bloody cool!
More good news for Parkinson's sufferers (at least in countries that aren't run by anti-science nimrods): researchers injected human neural stem cells into Parkinsonian monkeys, and found that they showed sustained improvement in symptomology. Awesome!!!
Drugs aren't the only things that have multiple surprising effects: Alzheimer's disease whipping-boy protein gamma-secretase (an enzyme responsible for production of AD's signature amyloid plaques) may not be a good place to target drug interventions. You see, it also acts as a potent tumor suppressor by lowering activity of epidermal growth factor receptor, which is implicated in skin cancer development. Bad as AD is, patients probably won't be lining up to get cancer instead.
Speaking of brains. Those of medical residents work better on more sleep, and patient care improves as a result. Well, OK, maybe not strictly as a result of more sleep, but certainly as a result of less overworked residents: a Yale study has found that patient care improved after the training program moved to the new 80-hour maximum week for residents.
And, last but not least, the Bad News. At least, for those looking for a quick-fix miracle diet pill, now that TrimSpa is ... errr ... not so hot anymore. We've all been awaiting the FDA study results on rimonabant, aka Acomplia, aka Zimulti, aka that-CB-1inhbitor-Michael-keeps-blabbing-about.
Well here's the thing: it seems to be fairly effective for weight loss (a promising but unthrilling 5% over placebo), but it has a very prominent side effect: depression and suicidal thoughts. I have to admit though, I'm not really impressed so far: people likely to be prescribed such a drug are likely to be highly sensitive about their self-esteem in the first place. If the drug doesn't work the almost-certainly advertised "miracles" they might get really disheartened. On the other hand, CB1 is rather profoundly linked to mood and cognition, and to motivation/executive functions, so that its inhibition could cause depression doesn't shock me one bit.
Hmmmmm......
Labels: Alzheimers, cancer, CB1, disease, drugs, fat, health care, hypertension, injury, kids, Parkinson's, rimonabant, science, stem cells, stupidity, weight-loss
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Easy Way Out
Sick of spending all that time at the gym, and eating nothing but celery and soy protein, hoping to lose weight? Fear not, science may soon have an answer! US researchers claim that they've developed a pill that makes mice burn fat and improve muscle tone, without any exercise. The drug seems to activate PPAR-delta, which 'turns on' fat metabolism.
The drug could be useful for treating metabolic syndrome and muscular wasting disorders, but in all honesty, we all just want to eat more chocolate.
And you know what goes well with chocolate? Cherries! The good news is that tart cherries appear to have positive effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose tolerance. The study is in rats, and the doses rather impressively high, but still this could be encouraging data - and a good excuse for more cherry pie, just like you remember from when you were a kid.
You remember that, right? If you don't, there may be a pill for that too: MIT researchers have found that inhibiting HDACs could reverse memory loss associated with neurodegeneration. Which, if it works in humans, will be a GINORMOUS leap forward in treating Alzheimer's and related disorders.
Alas, there is still no pill to cure stupidity. Graham points us to a particularly stunning example of the modern trend of pathologizing everything, combined with a healthy dose of bloody moronic.
The drug could be useful for treating metabolic syndrome and muscular wasting disorders, but in all honesty, we all just want to eat more chocolate.
And you know what goes well with chocolate? Cherries! The good news is that tart cherries appear to have positive effects on blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose tolerance. The study is in rats, and the doses rather impressively high, but still this could be encouraging data - and a good excuse for more cherry pie, just like you remember from when you were a kid.
You remember that, right? If you don't, there may be a pill for that too: MIT researchers have found that inhibiting HDACs could reverse memory loss associated with neurodegeneration. Which, if it works in humans, will be a GINORMOUS leap forward in treating Alzheimer's and related disorders.
Alas, there is still no pill to cure stupidity. Graham points us to a particularly stunning example of the modern trend of pathologizing everything, combined with a healthy dose of bloody moronic.
Labels: Alzheimers, cherries, cholesterol, diet, drugs, exercise, fat, HDAC, hunger, hypertension, memory, metabolic syndrome, metabolism, obesity, pills, PPAR-delta, stupidity
Monday, April 16, 2007
Passing Blame
The American Taliban is really obsessed with sex. They don't want people to have any fun with it, for starters, and they certainly don't want anyone who isn't Just. Like. Them. to be having it. And since they are mostly middle-aged or older, we get "abstinence-only sex ed." Which, aside from being ridiculous, is now officially ineffective. But we all knew this - if abstinence rules, as are claimed to have been followed "in the good old days," were followed, the human race would have dies out long ago. But of course these folks (who also claim to be big on "fiscal responsibility") want to keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars on abstinence-only programs.
Once you've had sex, they really, REALLY don't want you to be able to control whether or not you get pregnant. Luckily, the Washington State government has just passed a law requiring that pharmacies (though not necessarily individual pharmacists) must fill any and all legal prescriptions. This will hopefully defuse a particularly odious tactic employed by the AT - that of health care providers (all of whom took an oath of one sort or another to provide care) refusing to fill certain prescriptions or care for certain patients on "moral" grounds.
And speaking of things that you can justifiably blame for all your problems: UK researchers have found that hypertension may be due to brain inflammation, in addition to or as opposed to (it's not clear which) circulatory causes. The culprit seems to be a newly discovered protein called junctional adhesion molecule-1 (JAM-1)...for once it may be time to, errr ... pump down the JAM.
Speaking of blame and stomach-turning puns, Pittsburgh researchers have identified three more genes which appear to contribute to Crohn's disease: PHOX2B, NCF4, and autophagic gene ATG16L1. Cool!
Once you've had sex, they really, REALLY don't want you to be able to control whether or not you get pregnant. Luckily, the Washington State government has just passed a law requiring that pharmacies (though not necessarily individual pharmacists) must fill any and all legal prescriptions. This will hopefully defuse a particularly odious tactic employed by the AT - that of health care providers (all of whom took an oath of one sort or another to provide care) refusing to fill certain prescriptions or care for certain patients on "moral" grounds.
And speaking of things that you can justifiably blame for all your problems: UK researchers have found that hypertension may be due to brain inflammation, in addition to or as opposed to (it's not clear which) circulatory causes. The culprit seems to be a newly discovered protein called junctional adhesion molecule-1 (JAM-1)...for once it may be time to, errr ... pump down the JAM.
Speaking of blame and stomach-turning puns, Pittsburgh researchers have identified three more genes which appear to contribute to Crohn's disease: PHOX2B, NCF4, and autophagic gene ATG16L1. Cool!
Labels: abstinence, America, anal sex, brains, conservatives, crohn's, fascists, genes, government waste, hypertension, IBD, inflammation, JAM-1, prescriptions, sex-ed, taliban, Washington
