Virus associated with prostate cancer tumors and chronic fatigue syndrome unlikely to be the cause

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• Virus associated with prostate cancer tumors and chronic fatigue syndrome unlikely to be the cause
• Rabies deaths rattle Andhra
• ACSM: Yoga helped older stroke victims improve balance, endurance
• Breast cancer surgery patients benefit from adding radiation therapy
• Anorexic girls have increased bone density after physiological estrogen treatment
• Fetal programming of disease risk to next generation depends on parental gender
• Hormone deprivation therapy for prostate cancer may raise diabetes risk
• Pioneering stem cell bandage receives approval for clinical trial
• Young women most vulnerable to HIV: UNAIDS
• About $22 bn investment needed to fight HIV: UNAIDS

Virus associated with prostate cancer tumors and chronic fatigue syndrome unlikely to be the cause Posted: 04 Jun 2011 06:56 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A study that includes authors at UC Davis has found that a retrovirus associated with prostate cancer tumors and chronic fatigue syndrome that evolved in laboratory mice less than two decades ago is unlikely to be widespread in humans and the cause of either disease. The study of the retrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus, or XMRV, appears online in the journal Science. The study traces the lineage of the XMRV virus back through several generations of laboratory-cultured prostate cancer cells. The researchers found the virus to be virtually undetectable in the earliest tumors propagated in laboratory mice, but teeming in abundance after many such mouse passages. In the process, they establish that XMRV derives from two parent retroviruses present in the mice. "For a retrovirus to cause cancer, almost every cancer cell should harbor the virus. When we found the virus was not in the early passages of the tumor cells, but plentiful in the later ones, it made us suspicious that XMRV was not the cause of the original tumor," said study coauthor Hsing-Jien Kung, professor and deputy director of the UC Davis Cancer Center. Kung is an expert on retroviruses and the biology of prostate cancer cells. The study is one of two that refute connections between XMRV and human disease that appear in the journal Science. The second study does not find XMRV in chronic fatigue syndrome patients, including many individuals found to be infected in an earlier survey. In 2006, scientists reported finding XMRV in 27 percent of human prostate cancer tumors, and in 2009, in the blood of 67 percent of chronic fatigue syndrome patients. Because retroviruses are known to cause a number of human diseases, including AIDS and adult T-cell leukemia, these results made XMRV a potential source of both disorders. However, other studies failed to find a correlation between these diseases and the virus. "We became interested in... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Rabies deaths rattle Andhra Posted: 04 Jun 2011 10:40 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Hyderabad, June 4 - As Challa Babu pleaded with doctors to save him, the medical staff and his parents watched helplessly. The 16-year-old lost the battle to rabies, a disease that has claimed at least 13 lives in one month in Andhra Pradesh. These were among more than 13,000 cases of dog bite reported in hospitals across the state, where people are blaming lack of vaccines for the crisis. People across the state were shocked as news channels beamed the horrific visuals of the boy's last moments at a government-run hospital in Khammam town recently. Hundreds of cases of dog bites come in to hospitals every day. The painful and heart-rending deaths, some of them caused by the reported non-availability of rabies vaccine in government hospitals, have so terrified people that some are thinking twice before stepping out of their houses. As hordes of stray dogs are roaming the streets in towns and villages across the state, health and municipal authorities appear clueless on how to tackle the menace. Every day, hundreds of people, including a large number of children, are approaching hospitals with bleeding wounds caused by street dogs. In a few cases, the dogs have gone on a biting spree, injuring 30 to 50 people. Infants with grievous wounds on their faces, hands and other parts of the body are being brought to hospitals every day. According to health officials, over 13,000 people were bitten by stray dogs in the last one week. While the state has been reporting 30 to 50 deaths due to rabies every year, the number of dog bites reported in recent days is unprecedented. In East Godavari district, which has reported nine deaths so far, people are standing in long queues outside government hospitals to take anti-rabies vaccine. 'People who are receiving the vaccines are lucky because those sent back by the hospital staff citing non-availability of the vaccines have met a horrible fate,' Purna Rao, an agriculturist in East Godavari... http://www.rxpgnews.com

ACSM: Yoga helped older stroke victims improve balance, endurance Posted: 04 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) An Indiana University study that exposed older veterans with stroke to yoga produced exciting results as researchers explore whether this popular mind-body practice can help stroke victims cope with their increased risk for painful and even deadly falls. The pilot study involved 19 men and one woman, average age of 66. For eight weeks, they participated in a twice weekly hour-long group yoga class taught by a yoga therapist who dramatically modified the poses to meet the veterans' needs. A range of balance items measured by the Berg Balance Scale and Fullerton Advance Balance Scale improved by 17 percent and 34 percent respectively by the end of the program. But equally exciting to lead researcher Arlene A. Schmid, rehabilitation research scientist at the Richard L. Roudebush VA Medical Center in Indianapolis, was the measurable gain in confidence the study participants had in their balance. It also was interesting to see how much the men liked it, said Schmid, assistant professor of occupational therapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Many of the veterans wanted the study to continue or asked for a take-home exercise plan so they could continue the practice. They enjoyed it so much partly because they weren't getting any other treatment. They had already completed their rehabilitation but felt there still was room for improvement. Schmid will discuss her findings on Saturday during the American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Denver. Her poster presentation, Preliminary Evidence of Yoga on Balance and Endurance Outcomes for Veterans with Stroke will be from 7:30 a.m.-11 a.m. in Hall B in the session for Fitness and Performance Testing for Posture, Stability and Balance. Statistics concerning strokes and falls are grim, with studies showing that strokes can quadruple the risk of falling and greatly increase the risk of breaking a hip after a... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Breast cancer surgery patients benefit from adding radiation therapy Posted: 04 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) (Hamilton, ON) June 4, 2011 - Additional radiation treatment improves disease free survival lessening the chance of cancer recurring in women with early breast cancer who have had breast conserving surgery (lumpectomy), interim results of a new study found. The results will be presented Monday, June 6 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. These results are potentially practice-changing, said Dr. Timothy J. Whelan, professor of oncology at McMaster University's Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine and lead study investigator for the NCIC Clinical Trials Group, which is funded by the Canadian Cancer Society. In the study of more than 1,800 women with breast conserving surgery, participants received whole breast radiation (WBI) alone or WBI plus radiation to the surrounding lymph nodes called regional lymph node irradiation (RNI). Most of the women had one to three positive lymph nodes while 10 per cent had high-risk, node-negative breast cancer. All had been treated with breast-conserving surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy or endocrine therapy. After a five-year follow-up, interim analysis of the data showed a greater than 30 per cent improvement in disease-free survival for those receiving RNI. This resulted from a 41 per cent lower rate of recurrences in the breast and lymph nodes and a 36 per cent lower rate of cancer recurrence in other parts of the body. There was a low, but statistically significant, increased risk of moderate pneumonitis (lung inflammation) and lymphedema (excess lymphatic fluid) in the arm on the radiated side. Whelan, division head of radiation oncology at McMaster and the Juravinski Cancer Centre and a Canada Research Chair, expects the results will encourage physicians to offer all women with node-positive disease the option of receiving regional nodal irradiation. Adding regional nodal irradiation improved disease-free survival, lowered the risk of recurrences, and... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Anorexic girls have increased bone density after physiological estrogen treatment Posted: 04 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Estrogen therapy improves low bone density due to anorexia nervosa in teenage girls with the disease when given as a patch or as a low oral dose that is physiological (close to the form or amount of estrogen the body makes naturally). These results of a new study are being presented Monday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. A large proportion of adolescents with this eating disorder have low bone density and therefore are at an increased risk of fractures, said Madhusmita Misra, MD, the study's lead author and an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. An important cause of this low bone density is low levels of estrogen, a hormone in the body that prevents bone loss. Previous studies have shown that giving oral estrogen combined with progesterone as birth control pills is not effective in increasing bone density in girls with anorexia nervosa, Misra said. However, the impact of giving estrogen in a more natural, or physiological, form has not been previously studied in girls with anorexia nervosa. This National Institutes of Health-funded study explored, over an 18-month period, the effect of physiological estrogen replacement on bone accrual rates in 110 female patients with anorexia nervosa. These patients and 40 healthy-weight girls as controls were between ages 12 to 18 years, a common time for anorexia nervosa to start and also an important time for building optimal bone mass, Misra said. Girls with anorexia nervosa were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo (an inactive substance) or one of two types of estrogen based on their bone maturity. The researchers estimated bone maturity (whether growth plates had closed) based on wrist and hand X-rays. Those girls with mature bone received either placebo or a full adult dose of estrogen (100 micrograms of estradiol) given via a skin patch. This transdermal form is a natural form of... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Fetal programming of disease risk to next generation depends on parental gender Posted: 04 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Overexposure to stress hormones in the womb can program the potential for adverse health effects in those children and the next generation, but effects vary depending on whether the mother or father transmits them, a new animal study suggests. The results will be presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. This research sheds light on how babies who are exposed in the womb to excessive levels of stress hormones, known as glucocorticoids, can pass on the health effects to their own children, and how the effects vary between mothers and fathers, said the study's principal investigator, Amanda Drake, MD, PhD, a senior clinical fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Glucocorticoid levels may become raised during pregnancy if, for example, the mother experiences stress or illness or receives glucocorticoid drugs for treatment of illness or premature labor. Excess glucocorticoid exposure of the fetus can reduce birth weight and raise blood pressure later in life in animals and humans, and babies born with low birth weight are at increased risk of diabetes and heart disease in adulthood, Drake said. This has led to the concept of fetal programming, suggesting that the environment experienced in the womb can affect development, resulting in an increased risk of later disease. This increased disease risk can be passed to the next generation, Drake said. Using a rodent model of early life programming, Drake and colleagues studied the effects of glucocorticoid overexposure, with the drug dexamethasone, during the last week of gestation. They studied the effects on the directly exposed offspring and on their offspring. Their prior research showed that the low birth weight induced by prenatal exposure to dexamethasone transmits to a second generation through both male and female rats, according to Drake. This new research showed that although birth weight is reduced in the offspring of male or... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Hormone deprivation therapy for prostate cancer may raise diabetes risk Posted: 04 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Men with prostate cancer are at higher risk of developing diabetes or diabetes risk factors if they receive androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) to block the production or action of male hormones that can fuel the growth of this cancer. The results of this new study on the second-most common cancer in men are being presented Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. These patients may benefit from counseling, screening and closer monitoring for the development of these complications, said the study's lead author, Maria Luisa Cecilia Rivera-Arkoncel, MD, a fellow at the Philippine General Hospital in Manila. This study adds to the scientific evidence that ADT may increase the chance of diabetes. Sometimes called medical or surgical castration, ADT is a common treatment when prostate cancer has spread outside the prostate. It can be permanent by surgically removing both testicles (bilateral orchiectomy), or, more often, temporary by using medications, such as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, to prevent the testes from making testosterone. In their study, Rivera-Arkoncel and her colleagues compared 38 men with prostate cancer who received ADT and 36 men with less advanced prostate cancer who did not receive hormonal therapy. Men in the ADT group either underwent bilateral orchiectomy at least six months earlier or received six or more months of treatment with injections of GnRH agonists. Both groups received treatment at the Philippine General Hospital from 2004 to 2010. Although the average age of the two groups was not the same at the beginning of the study, the groups were similar in terms of other diabetes risk factors, Rivera-Arkoncel said. Based on a review of medical records, the researchers identified patients with Type 2 diabetes or the metabolic syndrome. This syndrome is a cluster of metabolic risk factors that increase the chance of developing diabetes, heart disease and stroke.... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Pioneering stem cell bandage receives approval for clinical trial Posted: 04 Jun 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Millions of people with knee injuries could benefit from a new type of stem cell bandage treatment if clinical trials are successful. The world's first clinical trial for the treatment of patients with torn meniscal cartilage has received approval from the UK regulatory agency, the MHRA1, to commence. The current treatment for the majority of tears is the removal of the meniscus, a procedure that often results in the early onset of osteoarthritis. The Phase I trial, one of the first in the UK to be approved using stem cells, will treat meniscal tear patients with a cell bandage product, seeded with the patient's own, expanded, stem cells. The cell bandage, produced by Azellon Ltd, a University of Bristol spin-out company, is focused on the research, development and commercialisation of an adult autologous (patient's own) stem cell technology which in vitro (tissue culture) has shown great promise for the healing of meniscal tears. The trial is designed primarily to test the safety profile of Azellon's cell bandage in ten meniscal tear patients, but some information on whether or not it works will also be obtained. The bandage, containing the patient's own stem cells will be implanted in a simple surgical procedure using a specially designed instrument that helps to deliver the cells into the injured site as a first-line treatment in place of removal of the meniscus. Patients will be closely monitored for safety over a five-year follow-up period. Professor Anthony Hollander, Chief Scientific Officer at Azellon Ltd and Head of the School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol, said: The approval we have received from the MHRA is an important milestone in the development of stem cell therapies in the UK. These cells hold much scientific and medical promise but we can only know if they work or not by testing them out in clinical trials. Professor Ashley Blom, Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Young women most vulnerable to HIV: UNAIDS Posted: 03 Jun 2011 05:28 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, June 3 - At least 26 percent of all new HIV infections in the world are among young women in the age group of 15-24 years, a UNAIDS report released Friday said. According to the report 'AIDS at 30: Nations at the crossroads', gender inequalities remain a major barrier to effective HIV response. 'HIV is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age, and more than a quarter - of all new global HIV infections are among young women aged 15-24,' it said. The report also said that apart from women, HIV prevalence among homosexuals, people who inject drugs, sex workers and their clients and transgender people are higher than among other population. 'Access to HIV prevention and treatment for populations at higher risk of infection is generally lower due to punitive and discriminatory laws, and stigma and discrimination,' it added. It said that till April this year, 79 countries treated consensual same-sex relations as a criminal activity. The report said that globally, the rate of new HIV infections declined by nearly 25 percent between 2001 and 2009, it said. An estimated 34 million HIV-positive people live around the world, while nearly 30 million people have died of AIDS-related causes globally since the first case was reported 30 years ago. In India, there are 2.5 million HIV/AIDS affected people. http://www.rxpgnews.com

About $22 bn investment needed to fight HIV: UNAIDS Posted: 03 Jun 2011 04:36 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, June 3 - Nearly $22 billion investment is needed to bring down new HIV/AIDS infections globally by 2015, said a UNAIDS report released Friday. 'A 2011 investment framework proposed by UNAIDS and partners found that an investment of at least $22 billion is needed by the year 2015, $six billion more than is available today,' according to a new report 'AIDS at 30: Nations at the crossroads'. 'When these investments are directed towards a set of priority programmes that are based on a country's epidemic type, the impact is greatest,' it added. It is estimated that the return on such an investment would be 12 million new HIV infections averted and 7.4 million AIDS related deaths averted by the year 2020, it said. 'The number of new infections would decline from about 2.5 million in 2009 to about one million in 2015,' the report added. Investments in the HIV response in low-and middle-income countries rose nearly 10-fold between 2001 and 2009, from $1.6 billion to $15.9 billion. However, in 2010, international resources for HIV declined mainly due to global meltdown. 'Many low-income countries remain heavily dependent on external financing,' the report added. In 56 countries, international donors account for at least 70 percent of HIV resources. 'I am worried that international investments are falling at a time when the AIDS response is delivering results for people,' said Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS executive director. 'If we do not invest now, we will have to pay several times more in the future.' 'We are at a turning point in the AIDS response. The goal towards achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support must become a reality by 2015,' the report said. The report said that an estimated 34 million people are living with HIV and nearly 30 million people have died of AIDS-related causes globally since the first case of AIDS was reported 30 years ago. About 6.6 million people were... http://www.rxpgnews.com

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