Moderate Sleep and Less Stress May Help With Weight Loss

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 30,2011

Kaiser Permanente study finds people who slept 6-8 hours a night and reported lower stress levels lost more weight

If you want to increase your chances of losing weight, reduce your stress level and get adequate sleep. A new Kaiser Permanente study found that people trying to lose at least 10 pounds were more likely to reach that goal if they had lower stress levels and slept more than six hours, but not more than eight hours, a night.

The paper, published in the International Journal of Obesity, was the result of a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Nearly 500 participants from Kaiser Permanente in Oregon and Washington took part in the study, which measured whether sleep, stress, depression, television viewing and computer screen time were correlated with weight loss. Several previous studies have found an association between these factors and obesity, but few have looked at whether these factors predict weight loss.

“This study suggests that when people are trying to lose weight, they should try to get the right amount of sleep and reduce their stress,” said lead author Charles Elder, MD, MPH, an investigator with the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore., who also leads Integrative Medicine at Kaiser Permanente Northwest. “Some people may just need to cut back on their schedules and get to bed earlier. Others may find that exercise can reduce stress and help them sleep. For some people, mind/body techniques such as meditation also might be helpful.” Read the rest of this entry »

Antioxidant Formula Prior to Radiation Exposure May Prevent DNA Injury

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 29,2011

Small Trial Finds That Pre-administering a Mixture Easily Absorbed Into Body Is Safe for Adults, May Provide Protection Against Cell Damage, Say Interventional Radiologists

A unique formulation of antioxidants taken orally before imaging with ionizing radiation minimizes cell damage, noted researchers at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago, Ill. In what the researchers say is the first clinical trial of its kind, as much as a 50 percent reduction in DNA injury was observed after administering the formula prior to CT scans.

“In our initial small study, we found that pre-administering to patients a proprietary antioxidant formulation resulted in a notable dose-dependent reduction in DNA injury,” said Kieran J. Murphy, M.D., FSIR, professor and vice chair, director of research and deputy chief of radiology at the University of Toronto and University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “This could play an important role in protecting adults and children who require imaging or a screening study,” he added.

“Pre-administering this formula before a medical imaging exam may be one of the most important tools to provide radioprotection and especially important for patients in the getting CT scans,” said Murphy. The study’s data support the theory about a protective effect during these kinds of exposure, he explained.

“There is currently a great deal of controversy in determining the cancer risks associated with medical imaging exams. Although imaging techniques, such as CT scans and mammograms, provide crucial and often life-saving information to doctors and patients, they work by irradiating people with X-rays, and there is some evidence that these can, in the long run, cause cancer,” explained Murphy. The interventional radiologist researchers responded to this patient need by exploring a way to protect individuals from these potentially harmful effects. This may be of importance to interventional and diagnostic radiologists and X-ray technologists who have occupational exposure also.

The small study showed that even though many antioxidants are poorly absorbed by the body, one particular mixture was effective in protecting against the specific type of injury caused by medical imaging exams. People are 70 percent water, and X-rays collide with water molecules to produce free radicals (groups of atoms with an unpaired number of electrons that are dangerous when they react with cellular components, causing damage and even cell death) that can go on to do damage by direct ionization of DNA and other cellular targets, noted Murphy. The research team evaluated whether a special combination of antioxidants have an ability to neutralize these free radicals before they can do damage. Read the rest of this entry »

Vitamin B2 Eye Drops and Low Dose Ultraviolet May Cure Keratoconus

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 29,2011

A potentially blinding disease called keratoconus may now be stopped and even reversed with a new process applying vitamin B2 eye drops and low-dose ultraviolet light to the diseased eye. The first FDA-monitored clinical trial in Illinois of what is called “corneal collagen cross linking” has begun and is enrolling under the direction of Robert L. Epstein, MD at the McHenry and Niles offices of Mercy Health System.

People afflicted with keratoconus lose vision due to a weakness in the cornea, the front clear optical wall of the eye. With time the eye with keratoconus becomes more misshapen and unable to produce a clear focus of images, even with glasses. Hard contacts may help vision at first but do not stop disease progress and become more painful and less effective with time. Corneal transplants can be performed, healing is slow, and even then there can be recurrence of the condition. Estimates are that keratoconus affects 1 in 2000 people, may begin as early as during teen years and worsens during adult life. Rarely, a variant of this disorder can even occur with blurring of sight in some people who had vision corrective surgery in the past. Since the tendency for keratoconus is genetic, family members of keratoconus sufferers should be checked themselves, as it is easier to treat the condition at an earlier stage.

Cross-linking now is added on an investigational basis to existing treatments for keratoconus. These treatments include Intacs intra-corneal rings to brace and reshape the cornea and contact lenses to cover the irregular areas of the cornea and provide better vision when worn.

FDA Approves New Treatment for a Type of Late-Stage Skin Cancer

• Author: Health Informer
• Filed under: Health News
• Date: Mar 28,2011

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Yervoy (ipilimumab) to treat patients with late-stage (metastatic) melanoma, the most dangerous type of skin cancer.

Melanoma is the leading cause of death from skin disease. An estimated 68,130 new cases of melanoma were diagnosed in the United States during 2010 and about 8,700 people died from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“Late-stage melanoma is devastating, with very few treatment options for patients, none of which previously prolonged a patient’s life,” said Richard Pazdur, M.D., director of the Office of Oncology Drug Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Yervoy is the first therapy approved by the FDA to clearly demonstrate that patients with metastatic melanoma live longer by taking this treatment.”

Yervoy is a monoclonal antibody that blocks a molecule known as cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen or CTLA-4. CTLA-4 may play a role in slowing down or turning off the body’s immune system, affecting its ability to fight off cancerous cells. Yervoy may work by allowing the body’s immune system to recognize, target, and attack cells in melanoma tumors. The drug is administered intravenously.

Yervoy’s safety and effectiveness were established in a single international study of 676 patients with melanoma. All patients in the study had stopped responding to other FDA-approved or commonly used treatments for melanoma. In addition, participants had disease that had spread or that could not be surgically removed.

The study was designed to measure overall survival, the length of time from when this treatment started until a patient’s death. The randomly assigned patients received Yervoy plus an experimental tumor vaccine called gp100, Yervoy alone, or the vaccine alone.

Those who received the combination of Yervoy plus the vaccine or Yervoy alone lived an average of about 10 months, while those who received only the experimental vaccine lived an average of 6.5 months.

Common side effects that can result from autoimmune reactions associated with Yervoy use include fatigue, diarrhea, skin rash, endocrine deficiencies (gland or hormone), and inflammation of the intestines (colitis). Severe to fatal autoimmune reactions were seen in 12.9 percent of patients treated with Yervoy. When severe side effects occurred, Yervoy was stopped and corticosteroid treatment was started. Not all patients responded to this treatment. Patients who did respond in some cases did not see any improvement for several weeks.

Due to the unusual and severe side effects associated with Yervoy, the therapy is being approved with a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy to inform health care professionals about these serious risks. A medication guide will also be provided to patients to inform them about the therapy’s potential side effects.

Yervoy is marketed by New York City-based Bristol-Myers Squibb.