Friday, March 02, 2007
So Maybe Hard Work Could Kill You
A small study of Olympic wrestlers indicates that Hepatitis B, which can cause liver damage, failure, and death, can be transmitted through sweat. This is fairly scary - if hep-B can be transmitted this way, what about other things? As far as hep-B is concerned though, it's just more evidence that we need comprehensive vaccinations. Hepetitis B is a very stupid way to die, especially in the US where vaccine is readily available.
On the other hand, sweating isn't always a bad thing: it can be part of losing weight, for which there may be yet another good reason. A presentation at the AAAS meeting this year highlighted a growing problem of obesity in the medical arena: being really fat can make otherwise safe drugs become toxic. Acetominaphen (Tylenol) is one of the biggest problems. The data here are sketchy, but worth noting. Drugs are an important part of our lives ;-)
There is some good news on the drug front today, on both the HIV and malaria fronts. Sanofi-Aventis' neglected disease program has just released - off patent! - a tailored dose, combination pill for malaria. ASAQ combines two potent antimalarials, artesunate and amodiaquine, into one pill, with single-pill doses for adults, children, and infants. The idea is that ASAQ will be manufactured locally, making is cheaply available to poor parts of the world (where malaria does its damage). Its production could, additionally, help develop economies.
Pfizer released news this week of the first HIV drug to interact with the crucial CCR5 receptor - a goal since that protein's role in infection was discovered in the 1990's. The new drug is of course on fast-track regulatory review, and could begin use later this year, bringing new hope to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
On the other hand, sweating isn't always a bad thing: it can be part of losing weight, for which there may be yet another good reason. A presentation at the AAAS meeting this year highlighted a growing problem of obesity in the medical arena: being really fat can make otherwise safe drugs become toxic. Acetominaphen (Tylenol) is one of the biggest problems. The data here are sketchy, but worth noting. Drugs are an important part of our lives ;-)
There is some good news on the drug front today, on both the HIV and malaria fronts. Sanofi-Aventis' neglected disease program has just released - off patent! - a tailored dose, combination pill for malaria. ASAQ combines two potent antimalarials, artesunate and amodiaquine, into one pill, with single-pill doses for adults, children, and infants. The idea is that ASAQ will be manufactured locally, making is cheaply available to poor parts of the world (where malaria does its damage). Its production could, additionally, help develop economies.
Pfizer released news this week of the first HIV drug to interact with the crucial CCR5 receptor - a goal since that protein's role in infection was discovered in the 1990's. The new drug is of course on fast-track regulatory review, and could begin use later this year, bringing new hope to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Labels: acetominaphen, amodiaquine, artesunate, CCR5, drugs, HBV, hepatitis B, HIV, malaria, maraviroc, obesity, sweat, wrestlers
Monday, February 12, 2007
More Armpit Sweat
We learned last week that sniffing your coworkers' armpits may be a good way to decrease stress at work, but were left wondering why. Well, a Berkeley study has found that a male pheromone, androstadienone, secreted in sweat, caused exposed heterosexual womens' cortisol levels to become elevated. And they got turned on. So, it seems that maybe too much antiperspirant may not be a great idea.
Speaking of taking the romance out of things, US researchers have found that insecure babies grow up to have relationship troubles. What makes a baby insecure? Since no one knows precisely, we stick with the default: blame your parents!!!
You can blame everything on your parents, you know. After all, they gave you your genes. They may have given you a mutated SLC30A8 zinc transporter, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, or they gave you a common version of DARPP-32, which makes you a better thinker (by improving communication between the striatum and PFC) but may also put you at risk for schizophrenia (if the cortex is otherwise compromised and can't handle all that striatal input).
And finally, genes aside, your brain needs sleep. Mouse studies indicate that sleep deprivation inhibits hippocampal neurogenesis, and while we're not sure exactly what those new cells are needed for, it's probably a safe bet that their lack is related to the cognitive deficits seen in sleep deprivation.
Speaking of taking the romance out of things, US researchers have found that insecure babies grow up to have relationship troubles. What makes a baby insecure? Since no one knows precisely, we stick with the default: blame your parents!!!
You can blame everything on your parents, you know. After all, they gave you your genes. They may have given you a mutated SLC30A8 zinc transporter, increasing your risk of type 2 diabetes, or they gave you a common version of DARPP-32, which makes you a better thinker (by improving communication between the striatum and PFC) but may also put you at risk for schizophrenia (if the cortex is otherwise compromised and can't handle all that striatal input).
And finally, genes aside, your brain needs sleep. Mouse studies indicate that sleep deprivation inhibits hippocampal neurogenesis, and while we're not sure exactly what those new cells are needed for, it's probably a safe bet that their lack is related to the cognitive deficits seen in sleep deprivation.
Labels: armpits, babies, brains, corisol, neurogenesis, pheromones, relationships, romance, schizophrenia, sweat
