India's Bharat Biotech to sell $1 diarrhoea vaccine |  |
- India's Bharat Biotech to sell $1 diarrhoea vaccine
- Silencing 'hedgehog' molecule halts breast cancer
- Low vitamin D levels are related to decreased response to osteoporosis medicine
- CWRU researcher studies ways to help teens overcome fears and stigmas of mental illness
- Desserts with a low glycemic index may benefit weight-loss efforts for obese children
- Intravenous nutrition in critically ill patients should be delayed, study finds
- Cut down on 'carbs' to reduce body fat, study authors say
- Hormone test predicts ovarian function after chemotherapy for breast cancer
- Calorie-burning brown fat is a potential obesity treatment, researchers say
| India's Bharat Biotech to sell $1 diarrhoea vaccine Posted: 06 Jun 2011 12:35 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Hyderabad, June 6 - Leading bio-pharma company Bharat Biotech Monday announced that ROTAVAC , India's first indigenously developed rotavirus diarrohea vaccine, will be sold to global public markets, UN procurement agencies and governments the world over at a price of $1. The Hyderabad-based firm hopes its new vaccine will help prevent part of the 500,000 child deaths each year caused due to rotavirus diarrhoea and improve access to better, affordable vaccines. The company expects an India license for its vaccine in 2014 and World Health Organisation - prequalification in 2015 for supply to United Nations agencies. The vaccine is currently undergoing Phase III clinical development for safety and efficacy in 8,000 subjects -- one of the largest such clinical trials ever conducted in India, said a statement by the company. 'The key to our success of bringing down the cost of vaccine is our novel concept in vaccine development and innovative manufacturing processes with public health in mind,' said Bharat Biotech chairman and managing director Krishna Ella. Ella recalled that in 2001 he had made a commitment to the Gates Foundation to develop and supply a novel rotavirus vaccine at $1 a dose. 'We are extremely happy to honour that commitment,' he said. Bharat Biotech's rotavirus vaccine development project is a public-private partnership project. It is between the company and the biotechnology department of the Indian government; Gates Foundation; Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health; Centers for Disease Control, US; National Institutes of Health -, USA; Society for Applied Studies, Translational Health Sciences Technology Institute, Indian Institute of Science, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and Stanford University. Bharat Biotech has an installed capacity of 300 million doses. http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Silencing 'hedgehog' molecule halts breast cancer Posted: 06 Jun 2011 11:43 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Sydney, June 6 - Breast cancer cells are known to create the conditions for their own survival by communicating their needs to the healthy cells surrounding them. Now researchers have identified a molecule known as 'hedgehog' that sits at the centre of the switchboard in breast cancer, transmitting biochemical signals between cancer cells and healthy cells. When this chat is blocked, the hedgehog is 'silenced,' tumours shrink and stop their spread, the journal Cancer Research reports. While the finding applies to all breast cancers, it is particularly relevant for women with basal breast cancer, - for which there is no current targeted therapy. The good news is that drugs for silencing hedgehog are already undergoing Phase 2 clinical trials in other cancer types. Clinical associate professor Sandra O'Toole and Alex Swarbrick, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, analysed breast tumour samples from a cohort of 279 women with advanced breast cancer revealing that the higher the level of hedgehog, the more aggressive the cancer. Having discovered high levels of hedgehog in some breast cancer patients, they went on to over-produce the protein in mouse models of basal breast cancer, said a Garvan statement. Mice developed tumours that grew and spread through the body rapidly. When hedgehog was blocked, the tumour growth and spread were significantly slowed. 'We are hopeful that our findings will drive the progress of clinical trials for anti-hedgehog drugs in breast cancer,' said Swarbrick. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Low vitamin D levels are related to decreased response to osteoporosis medicine Posted: 06 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Women with low bone density are seven times more likely to benefit from a bisphosphonate drug when their vitamin D blood levels are above recent recommendations from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) as adequate for bone health. These new study results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. Maintaining adequate vitamin D levels above those recently recommended by the IOM is important for optimizing a standard therapy for osteoporosis: bisphosphonates, said coauthor Richard Bockman, MD, PhD, chief of the endocrine service at Hospital for Special Surgery and professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, both in New York City. Last November the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued its recommendations on vitamin D intake, reporting that most adults up to age 70 need no more than 600 International Units, or IU, a day to maintain bone health. According to the IOM, this intake, along with adequate calcium, is enough to achieve the minimum adequate vitamin D blood level, measured as serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is 20 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). However, in Bockman's study of 160 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, an average 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of 20 to 30 ng/mL was associated with a high likelihood of not responding to at least 18 months of bisphosphonate treatment. Patients took alendronate, risedronate, ibandronate or zolendronate. The rate of women who were nonresponders at this serum vitamin D level was 77.8 percent, compared with 42.3 percent when serum vitamin D was in the range of 30 to 40 ng/mL. Only 24.6 percent were nonresponders for a level above 40 ng/mL, the authors reported. Patients with a hydroxyvitamin D level of 33 ng/mL and above had a sevenfold greater likelihood of having a favorable response to bisphosphonate therapy than below that level, they found. This value of at least 33 ng/mL is higher than the level considered as adequate by the... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| CWRU researcher studies ways to help teens overcome fears and stigmas of mental illness Posted: 06 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) When teens start experiencing changes in moods or emotions, they tend to fear sharing their blue days with their families and adults who can help them. As a consequence, they often suffer in silence. Case Western Reserve University KL2 Clinical Research Scholar and Instructor Melissa Pinto-Foltz from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing wants to find the magical elixir that helps teens speak up, seek help and then stick with treatments that get them feeling better. About one in five Americans has a mental illness, with half of these individuals first experiencing symptoms of mental illness in their teen years, she said. Pinto-Foltz's research contributes to efforts nationwide to combat a public health issue, stigma and mental health literacy, made a priority in a U. S. Surgeon General's Report and the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. She found that a good way to reach teens to help them learn about mental illness and improve negative attitudes about mental illness was through their school. She studied 156 girls in the 9th and 10th grade in a research project set in public high schools in Louisville, Ky. About half the group participated in a special national program called In Our Own Voice, offered by the National Alliance for Mental Illness, and the other half did not see the program. More than 200,000 people across the U.S. have seen the In Our Own Voice program, which is frequently given in schools, churches and other community settings. The one-hour program involves learning through storytelling and changing attitudes through interacting with people who are in sustained recovery from mental illness. These individuals tell their personal stories of what it was like to first discover the illness and get through their recovery from the illness. While the program is widely used across the U.S., no evidence exists that it is effective with teens, nor has the impact of the program been examined... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Desserts with a low glycemic index may benefit weight-loss efforts for obese children Posted: 06 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Overweight girls lose more weight and can better stay on a healthy diet if they eat sugar-free, low-fat desserts several times weekly, as opposed to any dessert once a week, a new study finds. The results will be reported Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. Dieters commonly splurge on dessert once a week, usually choosing fattening items, said lead investigator Antonia Dastamani, MD, PhD, a pediatrician and research fellow at Athens University School of Medicine in Athens, Greece. However, we found a positive effect of more frequent consumption of desserts that have a low glycemic index and low glycemic load. Carbohydrates have a low glycemic index (GI) if they raise glucose, or blood sugar, levels more slowly than other carbohydrates do. The glycemic load (GL), which depends on serving size, is the food's total effect on blood sugar. Studies suggest that low GI/GL diets have a positive effect on weight control and improving insulin resistance, Dastamani said. Obesity can cause insulin resistance, in which the body does not properly use the hormone insulin. This results in high blood sugar levels and sets the stage for development of diabetes. Dastamani and her colleagues tested the effects of incorporating into a balanced diet certain low-calorie, low-GI/GL desserts containing sugar substitutes such as sucralose. The products are made by the Giotis Company, a food production company in Athens, which donated the desserts and helped fund the study. The investigators studied the effects of two diets in 29 girls, ages 10 to 14 years, who had a body mass index (BMI) in the 85th percentile or above, considered overweight or obese. A group of 15 girls ate a diet consisting of 45 percent carbohydrates, 35 percent fats and 20 percent proteins, including the low-GI/GL desserts four times a week. The other group of 14 girls followed the same diet except, instead of the low-GI/GL desserts, they ate... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Intravenous nutrition in critically ill patients should be delayed, study finds Posted: 06 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Patients in the intensive care unit who do not tolerate adequate nutrition from tube feeding should wait a week before receiving intravenous (IV) feeding because, compared with early IV feeding, it enhances recovery from critical illness. Results of a new multicenter study from Belgium will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. These findings have enormous impact for improving quality and reducing the cost of medical care for critically ill patients, said the study's principal investigator, Greet Van den Berghe, MD, PhD, a professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. Results of this large randomized, controlled clinical trial contradict European clinical guidelines on IV nutritional support in ICU patients, and lend support to American and Canadian recommendations. Van den Berghe said, The standard of care in Europe should change. At issue is the optimal timing to initiate parenteral nutrition (PN), also called IV feeding, in critically ill patients who are not getting enough calories through the gut by enteral nutrition, or tube feeding. To avoid ICU patients becoming weak from nutritional deficit, European experts recommend that they begin PN within two days of admission to the ICU, Van den Berghe explained. However, PN is linked to an increased frequency and severity of hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar. Experts in the U.S. and Canada advise withholding PN during the first week in the ICU if patients were not malnourished before admission. Until now there has been no good scientific evidence to support either of the widely implemented nutritional strategies in intensive care, she said. This study, called the EPaNIC trial for Early Parenteral Nutrition to supplement insufficient enteral nutrition in Intensive Care patients, compared the timing of PN initiation in adults at seven ICUs in Belgium who were at risk of malnutrition. Of the 4,640 participants, 2,312 patients were... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Cut down on 'carbs' to reduce body fat, study authors say Posted: 05 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A modest reduction in consumption of carbohydrate foods may promote loss of deep belly fat, even with little or no change in weight, a new study finds. Presentation of the study results will be Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. When paired with weight loss, consumption of a moderately reduced carbohydrate diet can help achieve a reduction of total body fat, according to principal author Barbara Gower, PhD, a professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. These changes could help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, stroke and coronary artery disease, Gower said, noting that excess visceral, or intra-abdominal, fat raises the risk of these diseases. Gower and her colleagues conducted the study, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, in 69 overweight but healthy men and women. Subjects received food for two consecutive eight-week periods: first a weight maintenance intervention, and then a weight loss intervention, which cut the number of calories that each person ate by 1,000 each day. Subjects received either a standard lower-fat diet or a diet with a modest reduction in carbohydrates, or carbs, but slightly higher in fat than the standard diet. The moderately carb-restricted diet contained foods that had a relatively low glycemic index, a measure of the extent to which the food raises blood glucose levels. This diet consisted of 43 percent calories from carbohydrates and 39 percent calories from fat, whereas the standard diet contained 55 percent of calories from carbohydrates and 27 percent from fat. Protein made up the other 18 percent of each diet. At the beginning and end of each study phase, the researchers measured the subjects' fat deep inside the abdomen and their total body fat using computed tomography (CT) and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans. After the weight maintenance phase, subjects who consumed the moderately... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Hormone test predicts ovarian function after chemotherapy for breast cancer Posted: 05 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A test that shows how many eggs a woman has in her ovaries may help young women with breast cancer know what their reproductive function will be after chemotherapy, a new study finds. The results will be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. Called the anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) test, this blood test measures levels of an ovarian hormone that reflects the size of the ovarian reserve, or remaining egg supply. Currently, doctors use it to quantify a woman's ovarian reserve before in vitro fertilization treatments. Now researchers from Scotland have found that measurement of AMH indicates how likely it will be for a woman to still have eggs in her ovaries after chemotherapy, which can often damage a woman's eggs and cause infertility. Future reproductive function is a concern for many young women with cancer, said lead investigator Richard Anderson, MD, PhD, professor of clinical reproductive science at the University of Edinburgh. This test will be of benefit to women with newly diagnosed cancer to help decide whether they need to take steps to preserve their fertility. In the U.S. alone, breast cancer is diagnosed in more than 25,000 women younger than 45 each year, according to the American Cancer Society. For this study, Anderson and his colleagues recruited 50 premenopausal women, ages 29 to 51, who had just received a diagnosis of early breast cancer. All women had normal menstrual cycles and were asked to keep a daily record of their menstrual cycle, as an index of ovarian activity, during the two years of the study. Before the women started chemotherapy, they gave blood samples for AMH testing. They again had AMH tests one and two years after starting treatment. Before chemotherapy the median AMH level was 0.4 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). After cancer treatment the AMH level fell rapidly, becoming undetectable (below 0.16 ng/mL) in 68 percent of the women after one cycle of... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Calorie-burning brown fat is a potential obesity treatment, researchers say Posted: 05 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A new study suggests that many adults have large amounts of brown fat, the good fat that burns calories to keep us warm, and that it may be possible to make even more of this tissue. The study's lead author, Aaron Cypess, MD, PhD, will present the results Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. We are now even more optimistic that brown fat could be used for treating obesity and diabetes, said Cypess, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. Cypess heads the research team that two years ago published a study showing that brown fat is present in adults, not just in infants and small mammals, as scientists had thought. Although most adult fat is calorie-storing white fat, most adults have some brown fat in an area extending from the front of the neck to the chest, he reported at The Endocrine Society's meeting in 2009. Now they have learned that brown fat cells lie in deeper fat, not superficial fat, and that the number of regions of brown fat varies by person, Cypess reported. They discovered this by measuring the expression of a protein found exclusively in brown fat, called uncoupling protein-1. However, even in those regions where many brown fat cells are present, they are mixed with white fat cells. It's a marbling at the cellular level, Cypess said. We wondered: Wouldn't it be nice if you could grow more brown fat? The answer is yes. In their new study, the researchers succeeded in growing mature human brown fat cells from preadipocytes, or pre-fat cells, that they obtained from a fresh sample of brown fat taken from the neck of a patient having routine surgery. The process took about two weeks in a laboratory dish but likely occurs more quickly in the body, Cypess said. Some of these preadipocytes may have the choice to become either white or brown fat, he said. In another experiment, Cypess and his colleagues measured how many calories brown... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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