Medical News

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Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered how a novel form of vitamin K exerts its cancer-killing effects in primary liver cancers, which are notoriously resistant to chemotherapy. The research results, published in the May issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry, describe an important new way to treat, and possibly prevent, cancer by triggering programmed cell death.

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APA Annual Meeting Highlights, Tuesday, June 2, 1998. Note: All presentations are embargoed from broadcast, publication, and electronic dispersement until the day of the presentation.

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A series of chemical compounds--known as nitrosamines--found in unburned tobacco and tobacco smoke have been strongly linked to lung cancer formation, says Stephen S. Hecht, Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center in Minneapolis. In the first comprehensive review in over a decade, Hecht summarizes all the peer-reviewed studies of the biochemistry, biology, and carcinogenicity of these tobacco- specific nitrosamines.

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Research from American Urological Association Meeting (6-2-98): 1) Racial Variation in PSA in a Well-Defined Cohort of Men without Known Prostate Cancer, 2) Effect of Viagra on Quality of Life Parameters in Men with Broad-Spectrum Erectile Dysfunction, 3) Long-Term Survival Following Conservative Management of Localized Prostate Cancer, 4) Enlarged Prostate: Predicting Those at Highest Risk and Prevention with Finasteride

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Research from American Urological Association Meeting (6-2-98): 1) Effects of Oral Treatment with Ginkgo Biloba Extract in Patients with Erectile Dysfunction, 2) Disappointing Results with Transurethral Alprostadil in Men with Erectile Dysfunction, 3) Efficacy and Safety of Oral Phentolamine (Vasomax) for the Treatment of Minimal Erectile Dysfunction, 4) Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Sildenafil (ViagraTM) in the Treatment of Severe Erectile Dysfunction

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Both the LHRH-A agent Zoladex (goserelin acetate implant) and the antiandrogen Casodex (bicalutamide) Tablets may have a role in treating prostate cancer in patients diagnosed with early stage disease, according to data released here today at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA).

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1- New Research into Treatments for Drug Abuse 2- Schizophrenia: Patient Education Key to Compliance 3- Reporters Can Experience Virtual Schizophrenia 4- Violence in Schools

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Researchers at the University of Minnesota have located a gene that causes a second form of myotonic dystrophy --the most common form of muscular dystrophy in adults--on chromosome 3.

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After being institutionalized for more than 10 years, doctors worried that Claudette Jacobs Derk, who suffers from schizophrenia, would never gain control of her disease. However, after her doctor initiated therapy with Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) tablets, Derkís hallucinations, delusions, and most of the other symptoms associated with her illness disappeared.

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Neurocognition specialists indicate that motor and language performance will be better facilitated when Aphasic individuals direct their attention to the appropriate location not controlled by the area of their parietal lesion.

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Two newly published studies strengthen reports of a link between childhood obesity and the increase risk of adult cardiovascular disease, according to the June American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN).

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Research from American Urological Association Meeting (6-1-98): 1) Mortality from Prostate Cancer after Non-Curative Treatment, 2) Grade, Stage, and Age Migration in the PSA Era, 3) Occupational Risk Factors for Prostate Cancer, 4) Recent Declines in Prostate Cancer Incidence and Mortality in Olmsted County, MN, 5) Duration of Pre-Clinical Prostate Cancer Based on Serial PSA Data, 6) Testicular Transposition for Treatment of Chronic Lymphedema Following Inguinal Node Dissection

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New York--The American Heart Association announced today that obesity has been added to the association's list of major risk factors that people can control to prevent death and disability from coronary heart disease, the cause of heart attacks.

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It's not necessarily how many automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are available in a community, it's where they're located that may improve the success rate of restarting stalled hearts, according to a study.

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1) Post-Partum Depression in Men ?, 2) Children of Holocaust Survivors Inherit Ptsd, 3) Earlier Onset, Tougher Battle for Elderly with Depression, 4) "Lassie Therapy" Puts Patients at Ease, 5) Inadequate Employment Programs Need Work

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News conference to announce addition of obesity to the American Heart Association's list of major, modifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease, the nation's number one killer. List also includes smoking, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure and sedentary lifestyle -which people can control to reduce their chances for disability and death from heart disease.

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Researchers at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons have discovered that close relatives of individuals who have colon polyps (non-cancerous growths, or adenomas) face as high a risk of developing colorectal cancer as do people who have relatives with colorectal cancer itself. The research is reported in the June 1 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

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Annual mammograms for women 40 to 49 save three times as many lives as screening women in that age group every other year, according to a new study from researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center. The study showed that annual screening for women 40 to 49 and biennial screening for women 50 to 79 is the most cost effective way to use mammography to lower the death rate from cancer. The findings are published in the June issue of the journal Cancer.

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1. People with relatives with colorectal polyps have 4 times more risk of developing colorectal cancer. 2. DEET (N,N-dithyl-3-methybenzamide) is the best repellent of mosquitoes. 3. Human rabies cases from 1980 to 1996 reviewed. 4. HIV will develop resistance to new drugs unless widely used. 5. The decision to enter a medical subspecialty is somewhat influenced by the degree of managed care where the physician is trained.

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In a study of prostate cancer at different ages, Johns Hopkins researchers have found that at diagnosis, older men have more extensive disease than younger men even if their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels are the same. PSA is a protein made by the prostate; rising blood levels suggest that the prostate is enlarged or even cancerous.

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Research from American Urological Association Meeting (5-31-98): 1) Fertility Update on Nerve Sparing RPLND in Clinical Stage 1 Nonseminoma, 2) Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Dissection as Therapy for Testicular Tumors, 3) Age, PSA and the Chance of Curable Prostate Cancer Among Men with Non-Palpable Disease, 4) Effect of "High-Dose" Shock Wave Lithotripsy on Kidneys

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Research from American Urological Association Meeting (5-31-98): 1) In Vitro Functional Properties of the Rat Bladder Regenerated by the Bladder Acellular Matrix Graft, 2) Analysis of Vasculogenic Erectile Dysfunction As a Potential Predictor of Occult Cardiac Disease, 3) Engineered Neo-Organs for Bladder Replacement

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While research has tied optimism to better coping and disease course with health challenges such as surgery and AIDS, a new study is the first relating optimism to immune change in a healthy population.

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With the goal of helping people with schizophrenia return to a more ìnormalî way of life, Zeneca Pharmaceuticals partnered with the American Psychiatric Association to produce a video that would show patients just how possible that kind of life could be.

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Research from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests patients with advanced liver cancer can tolerate high doses of radiation therapy---which will potentially improve their chances of survival.

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Research from the University of Michigan Women's Health Program suggests that gene therapy may someday control a condition responsible for nearly half the 550,000 hysterectomies performed in the United States each year.

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Recent scientific data show that Seroquel (Quetiapine Fumarate) tablets, the most recent entrant in the atypical antipsychotic market, effectively address several common treatment concerns while minimizing some of the troublesome side effects associated with traditional antipsychotic therapy, such as extrapyramidal symptoms and sexual/hormonal side effects.

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Obstetricians regularly prescribe bed rest for women with complicated pregnancies, but many appear to be unaware of the harmful side effects of the inactivity, according to a study by UW-Madison School of Nursing researchers. Published in the current Journal of Women's Health, the study also showed that obstetricians vary greatly in the degree of restriction ordered for the same problem, as well as the location of bed rest--hospital or home.

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New studies in the June issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine examine the effectiveness of carbon monoxide detectors in Chicago-one of the first metropolitan areas to require them in residences-and the dangers of a new date rape drug.

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Findings from a study, in which a gene that speeds cholesterol metabolism was turned off, will help scientists develop better drugs for controlling life-threatening levels of the substance, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas reported in the May 29 issue of Cell.

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A survey by HHS' Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) shows nearly one in five nursing homes offers care for residents with Alzheimer's disease or other special-need residents in specialized units.

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The use of adult disposable paper undergarments dramatically exceeds the use of infant disposable diapers in the United States. Why? Incontinence -- the involuntary loss of urine -- one of the most prevalent, yet least discussed problems among women today. But no woman should have to suffer, physically or emotionally, from incontinence, says Charles Nager, M.D., an associate professor in the UCSD Department of Reproductive Medicine who specializes in the field of urogynecology.

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Members of the ANA joined President Clinton and Vice President Gore at the White House today to urge Congress to pass managed care reform legislation. A key focus of nurses' call to legislative action has been the unmet health care needs of women and a demand for prompt passage of the Patients Bill of Rights Act of 1998.

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Leading researchers show that patient education and the latest medications, such as Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) tablets, are improving the management of schizophrenia and changing lives.

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Two laboratories report the discovery that pacemaker activity in both the heart and the brain is mediated by a common family of novel genes. Pacemaker cells generate rhythmic, spontaneous electrical impulses that can control muscle activity, certain automatic functions such as breathing, and behavioral states, including arousal from sleep. Inappropriate pacemaker activity can lead to both inherited and acquired cardiac arrhythmias, and may also underlie various neurological disorders.

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Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have characterized the function of a subunit of the NMDA receptor, a specialized molecule on nerve cells that admits calcium when activated by the neurotransmitter glutamate. The subunit, dubbed NR3A, appears to regulate the activity of the NMDA receptor in ways that may protect nerve cells from damage. Their findings are published in the May 28 Nature.

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Leading Researchers and Clinicians Present the Latest Information on Antipsychotic Treatments at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada : 1)Individualizing the Treatment of Psychoses; 2) New Atypicals: Data Versus Clinical Experience

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Investigators have succeeded in designing synthetic therapeutic RNA molecules that are 14,000 times more stable in the body than their natural counterparts. After a single injection, these small catalytic RNA molecules---molecular "scissors" termed ribozymes---were able to shrink human glioma brain tumors that had been transplanted into rats from 20 grams to almost 1 gram in only 20 days.

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Amplification is a good way to get your message across. Similarly, an unusual type of virus---alphaviruses---employ a novel mechanism to amplify their mRNA in the cell to produce unprecedented amounts of protein. Now, a team of scientists in Sweden have exploited this intriguing facet of alphavirus biology to make a DNA vaccine that generates unprecedented amounts of influenza virus antigen, rendering mice resistant to influenza infection. The alphavirus-derived vaccine provides protective immunity comparable to conventional DNA vectors, but requires between 10 and 1000-fold less DNA.

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"Medical librarians can point people to the best Internet sites, help them narrow down their reading choices, or explain complicated information in easy-to-understand terms," said Rachael K. Anderson, AHIP, president of the Medical Library Association (MLA), an organization that represents 4,000 medical librarians in health, medical and academic centers across the nation.

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People who lower fat or carbohydrate intake in an attempt to lose weight might be in for a bigger battle than they expected. A new study found that people who ate low-fat or low-carbohydrate lunches compensated by eating more fat or carbohydrates at other meals.

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Despite technical refinements in the use of radioactive "seeds" to treat prostate cancer, a study by Johns Hopkins investigators casts doubt on its effectiveness in curing the disease. The radioactive pellets are put into the prostate in a procedure called interstitial radiotherapy.

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Regular exercise can help people with serious lung disease reduce anxiety and depression and improve endurance and some kinds of intellectual functioning, a new study shows.

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A study published in the May 28 issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry demonstrates that Prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride) in combination with group therapy is more effective than group therapy alone in treating HIV-positive patients diagnosed with major depression. The study also shows that Prozac did not interact significantly with any HIV medications and produced minimal side effects. Results of the study might lead to better compliance by patients already taking multiple drug therapies.

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More than 1,800 original research studies aimed at preventing, diagnosing, and treating adult and childhood diseases of the kidney, urethra, and genitals, plus dozens of state-of- the-art educational presentations, will highlight the 93rd Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association at the San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, May 30 - June 4, 1998.

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American Urological Association Annual Meeting Media Briefing Schedule. All media briefings will be held in Room 18 of the San Diego Convention Center.

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Accompanying this memo is detailed information about the American Urological Association 1998 Annual Scientific Meeting slated for May 30-June 4 at the San Diego Convention Center. Among the materials included with this memo are a news release providing detailed information about the meeting, including a description of key plenary sessions; a listing and summaries of newsworthy abstracts scheduled to be presented; and an overview of the program for this international scientific forum.

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The first ever head to head study in North America comparing St. Johnís Wort with standard prescription drug treatment for depression has just been launched. Dr. Jonathan Davidson will lead a panel of medical experts who will discuss the clinical use of St. Johnís Wort to treat depression. Leading Canadian psychiatrist, Dr. Jacques Bradwejn, who helped design and plan the study, will provide a Canadian psychiatric perspective on using St. Johnís Wort to treat depression.

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A relatively new and highly useful anticancer drug appears to work by cutting up the ends of chromosomes, a region known as the telomere, new research shows. The finding may help explain a serious after-effect of the drug.

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Capitalizing on an opportunity presented by a patient scheduled for tests using electrodes surgically placed on his brain, Johns Hopkins scientists have clocked the speed of thought, measuring the time the patient took to understand what everyday objects are in pictures.