November 10, 2006, 5:04 AM CT

To slow AIDS in Russia, treat HIV-positive addicts

The key to combating AIDS in Russia may be to treat HIV-infected drug users. A new model estimating the spread of HIV in Russia suggests that treating injection drug users with antiretroviral medicine will slow transmission of the virus among the general population.

The study, which will appear in the recent issue of the journal AIDS, was led by Douglas Owens, MD, a researcher at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and Margaret Brandeau, PhD, professor of engineering at Stanford.

Estimates vary, but around 1 million Russians - slightly more than 1 percent of the adult population - are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Injection drug users account for three-quarters of all HIV cases in Russia, and the epidemic is spreading rapidly to non-drug users. According to the United Nations, Russia's HIV infection rate is among the fastest-growing in the world. By 2020, HIV could afflict 14.5 million Russians, according to a study from the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C.

Advances in antiretroviral therapies have the potential to stem the spread of the virus in Russia, but in 2005 less than 1 percent of HIV-infected Russians - 5,000 people - received the life-extending drugs.........

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November 10, 2006, 4:38 AM CT

Antioxidant Therapies And Radiation Treatment

Cancer patients can get the vital nutritional benefits from taking antioxidants without the risk of interfering with radiation therapy, as per research findings being presented this weekend at the Society of Integrative Oncology's Third International Conference in Boston. The Society for Integrative Oncology is a non-profit organization of oncologists and other health professionals studying and integrating effective complementary therapies in cancer care.

The study, Effect of Concomitant Naturopathic Therapies on Clinical Tumor Response to External Beam Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer, was conducted by scientists at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and evaluated PSA levels of patients with prostate cancer after receiving radiation treatment. Scientists found no difference between patients taking antioxidants and those who did not. Antioxidants used in the study included green tea extract, melatonin, high-potency multivitamins, vitamin C and vitamin E.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America chose this study to address clinical concerns about the use of dietary supplements in conjunction with conventional cancer therapies. The study addressed the concern that antioxidants might interfere with cancer cell oxidation levels that contribute to tumor killing by chemotherapy and radiation treatment.........

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November 8, 2006, 9:27 PM CT

Blocking Gene Improves Radiation Effectiveness

Inhibiting a particular cancer-causing gene can enhance the cell-killing effects of radiation, a team of radiation oncologists and cancer biologists at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia have found.

Adam Dicker, M.D., Ph.D., professor of radiation oncology at Jefferson Medical College and his co-workers used an increasingly common animal model, the zebrafish, and antisense technology to show that the drug flavopiridol works by blocking the activity of the gene, cyclin D1, which is made in excessive amounts in about half of all breast cancers. Using similar techniques in the future, the scientists say, may enable researchers to better gauge the effects of drugs.

According to Dr. Dicker, flavopiridol was found to inhibit cyclins, a family of genes vital to cell functioning. When it was initially tested in clinical trials, it was found to be toxic in humans. But in the laboratory, it added to the cell-killing effects of ionizing radiation, which is used to treat cancer. No one was sure why.

To find out, Dr. Dicker and his group turned to zebrafish. If they understood how the drug was causing toxicity, they or someone else could potentially design molecular copycat drugs that worked just as well, but were less toxic.........

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November 8, 2006, 8:53 PM CT

About Reading Difficulty

At least one in three children in this country has difficulty learning to read. Research shows that children's aggressive behavior and reading difficulties during early elementary school years are risk factors for adolescent problem behaviors such as delinquency, academic failure, and substance use. Oregon Research Institute (ORI) researchers recently received high marks for their work to reverse this trend.

An evaluation of a reading program for elementary students conducted by ORI researchers has been identified as the only study in the country that met the highest standards for research on programs for English language learners. The What Works Clearinghouse, in their review of research on effective interventions for English language learners, identified the reading program used in ORI's Schools and Homes in Partnership (SHIP) project as having potentially positive effects on the reading achievement of English language learners.

"This is quite an honor for us," notes ORI scientist Barbara Gunn, Ph.D., who directed the study. "Eventhough there are a number of studies of the effectiveness of instructional practices, few are well-designed experimental evaluations and even fewer focus on effective approaches for teaching beginning readers".

As teachers face growing requirements to improve academic outcomes for their students it is very important that scientists give them the information they need to make knowledgeable decisions on programs and approaches to use in their classrooms. This research was unique because it used the highest standards set for educational research and demonstrated that this kind of study can be done in schools across the state.........

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November 7, 2006, 11:17 PM CT

Gene Shapes Brain Region

A gene variant linked to mental illness goes hand-in-hand with enlargement of a brain region that handles negative emotions, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System have found.

The region of the brain called the pulvinar is larger and contains more nerve cells in humans who carry the gene.

"This might indicate that the brain regions that receive input from the pulvinar are more strongly influenced in such individuals, and the pulvinar communicates with brain regions involved in negative emotional issues," said Dr. Dwight German, professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern and senior author of a study available online and in a future issue of Biological Psychiatry

The scientists focused on a gene correlation to the neurotransmitter serotonin, one of the chemical messengers that nerves use to communicate with one another. Once specific nerve cells release serotonin, a molecule called the serotonin transporter (SERT) brings it back into the cell. Thus, serotonin has only a brief influence on the target neurons. Drugs that prevent this re-uptake, such as Prozac, are frequently used to treat patients with depression.

The serotonin transporter gene has two forms, or variants: short, or SERT-s, and long, SERT-l. A person can have two copies of the short gene, one copy each of the short and long, or two copies of the long gene. It is estimated that about 17 percent of the population has two copies of the SERT-s gene.........

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November 7, 2006, 7:50 PM CT

One Millisecond After Head Hits Car Windshield

Research by a Sandia National Laboratories engineer and a University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center neurologist shows that brain injury may occur within one millisecond after a human head is thrust into a windshield as a result of a car accident.

This happens prior to any overall motion of the head following impact with the windshield and is a new concept to consider for doctors interested in traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Paul Taylor of Sandia's Multiscale Computational Materials Methods Department and Corey Ford, neurologist at UNM's Department of Neurology and MIND Imaging Center, made the discovery after modeling early-time wave interactions in the human head following impact with a windshield, one scenario leading to the onset of TBI.

Sandia is a National Nuclear Security Administration laboratory.

TBI is associated with loss of functional capability of the brain to perform cognitive and memory tasks, process information, and perform a variety of motor and coordination functions. More than five million people in the U.S. live with disabilities associated with TBI.

"In the past not a lot of attention was paid to modeling early-time events during TBI," Taylor says. "People would - for example - be in a car accident where they hit their head on a windshield, feel rattled, go to an emergency room, and then be released. We were interested in why people with head injuries of similar severity often have very different outcomes in memory function or returning to work".........

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November 6, 2006, 7:43 PM CT

Pounding Heart And Sweaty Palms

People who get scared when they experience a pounding heart, sweaty palms or dizziness -- even if the cause is something as mundane as stress, exercise or caffeine -- are more likely to develop a clinical case of anxiety or panic disorder, according to a Florida State University researcher in Tallahassee, Fla.

While other researchers have proposed a connection between this so-called "anxiety sensitivity" and a range of anxiety problems, the study by FSU psychology professors N. Brad Schmidt and Jon Maner and University of Vermont Professor Michael Zvolensky provides the first evidence that anxiety sensitivity is a risk factor in the development of anxiety disorders. The study would be published in the recent issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

"The findings offer an exciting possibility for prevention of anxiety and panic reactions among high-risk individuals," Schmidt said, explaining that the key is to teach people cognitive and behavioral skills to reduce their anxiety sensitivity so that it does not lead to a serious problem.

People with anxiety sensitivity perceive their physical responses to certain triggers as a sign of imminent personal harm. They not only fear their reactions, they also fear that other people will detect their anxiety, which only serves to increase their anxiety and puts them at risk for a panic attack, according to Schmidt.........

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November 6, 2006, 4:57 AM CT

The LouseBuster

University of Utah biologists invented a chemical-free, hairdryer-like device the LouseBuster and conducted a study showing it eradicates head lice infestations on children by exterminating the eggs or "nits" and killing enough lice to prevent them from reproducing.

The study reported in the November 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics "shows our invention has considerable promise for curing head lice," says Dale Clayton, a University of Utah biology professor who led the research and co-invented the machine.

"It is especially effective because it kills louse eggs, which chemical therapys have never done very well," he says. "It also kills hatched lice well enough to eliminate entire infestations. It works in one 30-minute therapy. The chemical therapys require multiple applications one to two weeks apart".

The LouseBuster now is in early stages of commercial development by a University of Utah spinoff company, Larada Sciences, for which Clayton is chief scientific officer. Patents are pending on the LouseBuster technology, which Clayton hopes will be on the market within two years for use in schools and clinics.

"Each year, millions of children are infested with head lice, a condition known as pediculosis, which is responsible for tens of millions of lost school days," the study's authors write. "Head lice have evolved resistance to a number of of the currently used pediculicides [insecticide shampoos]. Hot air is an effective, safe therapy and one to which lice are unlikely to evolve resistance".........

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November 5, 2006, 9:11 PM CT

Smoking, Radiation And Prostate Cancer

Smoking has been found to contribute to poorer outcomes for people treated for a number of kinds of cancer and now, scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center have associated smoking and acute side-effects following radiation treatment for prostate cancer. The study was presented today at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Philadelphia.

Smoking is linked to an increased risk of radiation-related side effects in cancers of the head and neck, cervix, lung and breast. For this study, scientists analyzed the impact of smoking on gastrointestinal (GI) and genitourinary (GU) side effects for 1,194 prostate cancer patients treated at Fox Chase Cancer Center with 3D conformal radiation treatment between 1991 and 2001. Smoking information collected previous to therapy included status as a current smoker, ex-smoker or non-smoker. Patients treated with androgen deprivation previous to or during therapy were excluded.

"Our patients who smoked during therapy reported having more acute gastrointestinal side-effects such as diarrhea," said Niraj Pahlajani, M.D., lead author on the study and a resident in the radiation oncology department at Fox Chase.

"Fortunately, smoking didn't appear to impact long-term GI side effects or genitourinary side-effects. These results underscore the importance of smoking cessation previous to radiation treatment".........

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November 5, 2006, 8:44 PM CT

Six Months Of Hormone Therapy Enough For Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer patients treated with either radiation or surgery who use hormone therapy for longer than six months do not survive any longer than patients who use the treatment for a shorter amount of time, according to a study presented November 5, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.

"Many patients with high risk prostate cancer are treated with two or more years of hormone therapy based on studies performed over a decade ago," said Cliff Robinson, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. "Our study's findings suggest that treating current patients with shorter-term hormone therapy may not only be equally effective, but also improve their quality of life, due to a lesser degree of treatment side effects".

The authors also found that patients receiving longer than six months of hormone therapy were twice as likely to die as patients who use the treatment for a shorter amount of time. "The reasons why patients receiving longer term hormone therapy may do worse are unclear," said Dr. Robinson, who also cautions, "A number of factors could complicate the issue, and this area needs further investigation before any conclusions can be drawn".........

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