Month: December 2013

Hepatitis C: All that you need to know about the silent killer

Hepatitis is an infectious liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Its severity ranges from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious lifelong sickness. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 150 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus, and more than 350,000 people die yearly from hepatitis C-related liver diseases.

How Hepatitis C spreads?

Of the several hepatitis viruses, hepatitis C is believed to be among the most serious. Hepatitis C is transmitted through contact with infected blood. It can also be contracted through:

  1. Sharing drugs and needles
  2. Having unprotected sex with an infected person
  3. From mother to baby during child birth

What are the signs and symptoms of Hepatitis C?

Generally, hepatitis C shows no signs and symptoms during initial stages. If signs and symptoms do
happen, they may include:

Fever

Fatigue

Nausea

Vomiting

Abdominal pain

Loss of appetite

Joint pain and jaundice

How can it be treated?

While hepatitis C can be treated using antiviral medicines, treatment is not always essential. Before
undertaking any treatment, careful screening is vital for the patients to find out the most appropriate
approach.

Interferon and ribavirin are used to treat Hepatitis C. Owing to scientific advancement, new antiviral
drugs for hepatitis C have been developed, which may be more effective and better tolerated than
existing therapies. As per the WHO, two new therapeutic agents — telaprevir and boceprevir — have
recently been licensed in some countries.

Can Hepatitis C be prevented?

Currently, there is no vaccine for hepatitis C. But, the risk of infection can be reduced by following a
few tips:

Avoid sharing personal care items like razors

Be cautious if you are getting a tattoo or body piercing, check if the apparatus being used is clean

Avoid having sex with hepatitis C-infected person or use a latex condom every time you have sex

Avoid sharing needles

If you are infected with hepatitis C virus, avoid spreading it by not donating blood or tissue.

Source: healcon

Hundred thousand genomes to be mapped in Saudi Arabia

Up to 100,000 people in Saudi Arabia are to have their genetic codes mapped in a new human genome project.

The research will look at genes linked with diseases, and pave the way for prenatal and premarital screening.

The project, funded by the Saudi Arabian national science agency, will create a DNA database to develop personalised medicine.

A similar UK scheme is under way to map the genomes of 100,000 NHS patients.

Genome studies are moving from analysing the personal DNA code of individuals for research purposes, to clinical applications, such as treatments tailored to the genetic makeup of cancers.

The Saudi effort will focus on sequencing 100,000 human genomes over the next five years to study both normal genes and those linked to disease.

King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology president Dr Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al Suwayl said: “We have clear strategy and policy of the importance of science to a knowledge-based society and we believe the Saudi human genome programme will help shape the understanding of health and disease and usher in an era of personalised medicine in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and we are grateful for the investment and vision of the Saudi leadership.”

The research will take place at 10 genome centres across Saudi Arabia, with another five genome centres to be created in coming years.

UK genome expert Dr Ewan Birney, said while big genetic differences between Middle Eastern populations and populations outside the Middle East were unlikely, there may be a slightly different spectrum of genetic diseases in Saudi Arabia.

Commenting on the announcement of the project, Dr Birney, associate director at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory – European Bioinformatics Institute, said: “I’m excited that Saudi Arabia is taking a substantial step forward in sequencing genomes in their clinical healthcare.

“I hope to see broader engagement between Western countries and Middle Eastern countries in this area, and data sharing and expertise sharing in both directions.”

A number of genome sequencing efforts are under way around the world. They include the 1,000 genomes project, an international research effort to look at human genetic variation.

The UK is to map the genomes of up to 100,000 NHS patients with cancer and rare diseases by 2017 in a £100m effort funded by the government.

Source: BBC

Phillippines urged to invest in new tech to boost medical tourism

The Philippines should continuously invest in new technologies, focus on niche treatment and medical products, and seize untapped markets to boost its medical tourism industry, an official of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. said.

MPIC operates the country’s largest hospital network with a total of 2,150 beds in its eight full-service hospitals.

Augie Palisoc Jr., MPIC executive director for the hospital group, said medical insurance portability is vital to attracting more patients, particularly retiring Filipino overseas workers who will be dependent on medical insurance for their hospitalization needs.

“The transferability of insurance will open the gates for more people to come to the Philippines,” Palisoc said.

OFWs whose insurance policies are not transferable could not retire in the Philippines because they could not reimburse medical expenses from their policies.

Health and wellness tourism in the Philippines in terms of value grew by 18 percent last year, largely due to the rise of medical tourism as more foreign tourists and Filipino expatriates flew to the country to avail themselves of medical treatments and procedures for a fraction of the cost in developed countries.

There are four hospitals in the country that that have been awarded Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation for quality and patient safety. These include St. Lukes Medical Center, The Medical City, Makati Medical Center, all located in Metro Manila; and Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu.

JCI is considered the authority in patient safety and quality improvement with a presence in more than 90 countries to date.

The accreditation means the services offered by a hospital is benchmarked with the highest standards of care and safety practiced by renowned hospitals around the world.

The most popular procedures sought in the Philippines are cosmetic surgery, diagnostic testing and imaging, elective surgeries, prostate surgery or coronary bypasses, and dermatology.

The Philippines, however, lags behind other countries in the region in drawing health tourists due to its restrictive policy and uncompetitive business environment, as well as lack of quality infrastructure.

The Philippines has well-trained doctors and nurses with high standards of English communication but they eventually migrate to other countries where salaries are significantly higher than in their home country.

To attract at least 175,000 foreign medical tourists annually, the government is ramping up spending on infrastructure by putting up new roads, bridges, and airports. It is also undertaking an intensified marketing campaign.

MPIC’s growing healthcare network includes the Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Asian Hospital and De Los Santos Medical Center in Metro Manila; Central Luzon Doctors Hospital in northern Luzon, Riverside Medical Center in Visayas and Davao Doctors Hospital in MIndanao.

The hospital group, which accounts for five percent of MPIC’s portfolio, saw a 24 percent jump in net profit in the nine months through September to P670 million. The increase was attributed to higher patient revenues, lower losses at the nursing schools and tighter expense controls.

Source: phil star

New laser procedure treats gum disease with less pain

Years ago, 78-year-old Florence Lee underwent surgery for periodontitis, a severe form of gum disease. And her experience was horrible.

“I had pain during the procedure, I had pain after the procedure and I was frightened,” Lee said.

When Lee learned she might need to be treated again, she was fearful of the procedure, which involves cutting into the gums in order to remove the bacteria that leads to bone loss.

Luckily, Lee learned about a new treatment for gum disease, called laser-assisted new attachment procedure (LANAP). During the procedure, doctors place a tiny fiber in the pocket between the gum and the tooth, delivering the same results with less pain.

“What it does is it targets specifically the inflamed tissue, the infected tissue and the bacteria associated with causing the periodontal destruction,” said Dr. Sam Morhaim, a periodontist at the Great Neck & Mid-Island Dental Associates in New York.

Morhaim said patients typically come in for two visits, each of which last about two hours. Comparatively, traditional surgery can take four or more sessions.

If LANAP catches on, Morhaim said it could do for dentistry what LASIK surgery did for ophthalmology. Other benefits of LANAP include reduced pain, swelling and sensitivity, in addition to the fact that no cutting or sutures are involved in the procedure. Furthermore, it offers great results.

“”We’re starting to see regeneration of the lost tissues, which is very exciting for us, because now we can offer

Lee decided to undergo the LANAP procedure and said that after the surgery, she didn’t experience any pain. She was even able to drive herself home afterwards, because the procedure requires only local anesthesia. technology that is super conservative compared to our conventional means with less downtime,” Morhaim said.

“I would recommend anyone who was having (periodontitis) and (was) fearful of it would have laser (treatment) and not any other procedure,” Lee said.

While insurance plans typically cover LANAP, only a few doctors in the country are performing the procedure.

Source: inagist

Hide and seek: Brain cancer cells ‘lose’ mutations to evade cancer drugs

Brain cancer can play a deadly game of hide and seek.

A new study published in the journal Science has revealed that brain cancer cells can actually evade many current cancer drugs – by temporarily scaling down a certain genetic mutation that the drugs target. Additionally, once therapy has stopped, the cancer cells can then intensify the mutation once again.

According to the researchers, this study has huge implications for the future treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) – a brain cancer that is in desperate need of effective therapies.

“It’s one of the most common types of adult brain cancer and one of the most lethal of all types of human cancers,” study author Dr. Paul Mischel, a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and a professor in the department of pathology at the University of California, San Diego, told FoxNews.com. “And there are a number of real challenges [in treatment]. There are no good early detections for the disease, and the tumor cells invade through the brain, so it’s almost completely impossibly to surgically remove the entire tumor.”

Mischel also noted that GBM becomes resistant to modern chemotherapy and radiation treatments relatively quickly.

Recently, alternative cancer drugs have emerged that are capable of targeting specific genetic mutations in cancer cells. About 60 percent of GBM cells express a mutated variant of the epidermal growth factor receptor – also called EGFRvIII.  Found in the extrachromosomal DNA of these cancer cells, EGFRvIII helps to promote tumor growth and proliferation, and many targeted therapies work by targeting and suppressing this specific mutation.

However, these drugs ultimately haven’t translated to better outcomes for GBM patients.

“You would think that drugs that are used to target that receptor would be effective, but the results have been very disappointing,” Mischel said.

In order to better understand why, Mischel and his research team analyzed the genetic makeup of GBM tumors. When they treated the cancer cells with targeted therapies, they found that the pieces of mutant EGFRvIII DNA, which normally float outside the cancer’s chromosomes, temporarily jumped onto an obscure chromosome — where they could “hide” from the drugs. Then, once they ceased treatment, the DNA pieces removed themselves from the chromosome and floated freely once again, promoting cancer cell proliferation.

So in essence, the cancer cells were able to “shut down” the expression of the mutation while the cancer drugs were present in the body.

“This was a real surprise,” Mischel said. “…Those pieces of extra chromosomal DNA ‘disappeared’ when treated with the drug. It’s truly a hide-and-seek mechanism, because when the drug was removed, it jumped back off the chromosome.”

Mischel said it is still not understood exactly how the cancer can detect the presence of the drugs in the body, but the researchers have a few preliminary ideas.

“The mechanism by which the DNA is sensing the drug is really not understand,” Mischel said. “But the theory is that the DNA is sensing the signals that are being sent indirectly by the drug.”

The study’s findings help better explain why GBM becomes resistant to targeted therapies and it may help doctors determine a better course of treatment for patients. Mischel argued that the discovery could completely change how physicians treat patients with other types of cancer as well.

“It’s really a complete paradigm shift in how we begin to think about treating people with targeted therapies,” Mischel said. “…This find has big implications for this disease, because other types of cancers have these mutations present on extra chromosomal DNA….How we dose these tumors could change. The data we have in hand would suggest a very different type of dosage for targeted cancer treatment.”

Source: all voices

Root Causes of Dyslexia Unraveled

Dyslexia, the learning disability that makes reading and processing speech a challenge, may result from problems with brain connectivity, a new study suggests.

Scientists estimate that dyslexia affects more than 10 percent of the world’s population. Some hypothesize that in people with dyslexia, the way that speech sounds are represented in the brain is impaired, while others contend that the brains of people with dyslexia represent the sounds correctly, but have trouble accessing them because of faulty brain connections.

Ultimately, understanding the roots of dyslexia could lead to better ways to help people with the disability, the researchers said.

Normally, when people read words or hear spoken language, the brain creates a map to represent the basic sounds in speech, called phonemes. These brain representations have to be robust, for instance, all “b” sounds must map to the same category. But they must also be distinct, in order to distinguish between similar sounds such as “b” and “d.”

In the new study, Bart Boets, a clinical psychologist at KU Leuven, in Belgium, and his colleagues used brain imaging to test which hypothesis — flawed sound representations or flawed wiring — best explains dyslexia.

The researchers scanned the brains of 23 adults with dyslexia and 22 adults without the condition as they responded to various speech stimuli. The scientists looked at how accurately the participants’ brains mapped sounds to their phonetic representations.

People with dyslexia had intact representations of basic sounds, just as non-dyslexic people did, the scans revealed.

“To our surprise, and I think to the surprise of a large part of the dyslexia research society, we found out that phonetic representations were perfectly intact. They were just as robust and distinct in individuals with dyslexia as they were in typical readers,” Boets told reporters today (Dec. 5).

The researchers then investigated whether brain connectivity differed between the dyslexic and normal participants. In particular, they examined how well 13 brain areas involved in language processing were connected to phonetic representations.

The participants with dyslexia had notably worse connectivity between Broca’s area, a region in the brain’s frontal lobe linked to speech production, and the left and right auditory cortexes, the researchers reported online today in the journal Science. In addition, the people with the weakest connections performed the worst on reading and spelling tests.

The findings suggest dyslexia stems from a failure to connect to fundamental sound representations, rather than problems with those representations themselves, the researchers said.

Boets compared the dyslexic brain to data stored on a computer server. “The data [itself is] perfectly intact, but the connection to access this data is somehow degraded — maybe too slow or somehow distorted,” Boets said.

Frank Ramus, a cognitive scientist at the École Normale Supérieure, in France, who was not involved in the study, called it the most conclusive study of dyslexia’s causes in the last five years, adding that, if the results hold, they would change scientists’ understanding of dyslexia.

However, Usha Goswami, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge, in England, who supports the view that dyslexia is a problem of faulty representations, interpreted the results differently.

“The data in the study do not show that dyslexia is caused by a difficulty in accessing phonemes, as the participants are adults,” Goswami told LiveScience. “The reduced connectivity shown could be a result of a lifetime of poor reading, rather than evidence for a reduced access to phonemes which has caused dyslexia.”

Source: live science

Testosterone-heart disease link explained

In recent months, there has been a great deal of contradictory information regarding testosterone. So much so that it is hard for any man to decipher what level is right, and whether seeking an “optimal” level is the preferred course of action.

In 2011, 5.3 million prescriptions for testosterone were written in the United States. The rate of prescriptions has tripled since 2000, and sales reached $1.6 billion in 2011. There has obviously been a lot of marketing for testosterone and low-T syndrome, but what exactly is testosterone is and what would are the benefits of treatment?

Testosterone is a hormone which helps regulate heart function and plays a part in sperm production, bone health, energy levels, concentration and muscle mass. This essential hormone does much more than just fuel a man’s sex drive. The problem is, most men experience a natural decline in testosterone as they age starting at 30, and testosterone supplementation is commonly prescribed to help these men regulate their hormone levels. The benefits and risks of the long-term use of testosterone therapy however, are not well known.

In a new study, the University of Texas looked at 9,000 male veterans who had undergone coronary angiography between 2005 and 2011, a procedure for testing the arteries when people have symptoms such as chest pain or are at high risk for heart problems.

The study found that men with signs of heart problems who take injections of testosterone or use gel containing the hormone had a 30 percent increased risk of heart attack, stroke or dying, compared with men who didn’t use the hormone. The study was stopped early due to higher rates of heart problems in the group receiving the hormone.

It is important to note that all of the men in the study more severe medical conditions including coronary artery disease, diabetes and previous heart attacks, than men in the general population. These risk factors may have been part of the reason testosterone treatments were harmful to them, but more research is needed to know for sure.

It is not hard to see why medical professionals would also be divided when it comes to testosterone treatment. Some side effects include acne, enlarged breasts, prostate problems, testicle shrinkage and limited sperm production. Similarly, once you start on it, you suppress your own production of testosterone and injections become a lifetime commitment.

As is the case with most hormones, testosterone needs to be kept in balance, and your physician can decide what level is right for you since this, too, can vary from man to man, and from lab to lab. A treatment program should be frequently monitored through lab tests, paying attention to potential side effects.

Men with prostate cancer should not receive testosterone as it could speed up cancer growth. Testosterone is not thought to cause prostate cancer, but may speed up the severity of the disease.

Source news.nom

Patients who came into direct contact with cobalt-60 likely to die

Six people have reportedly been admitted to a hospital in Mexico for radiation exposure after they came into contact with, or were in the vicinity of, stolen containers of highly radioactive cobalt-60.

Earlier reports indicated that the stolen containers had been broken open, and if this is the case, one expert said any patient who came into direct contact with the radioactive material may be vulnerable to central nervous system failure – a condition that results in the swelling of the brain and paralysis, and can lead to death in a matter of hours.

“All you can do is supportive care, perhaps steroids and IV fluids and monitoring and doing what you can,” Dr. James O’Donnell, division chief of nuclear medicine at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, told FoxNews.com. “If you know someone is exposed above (a certain) point, if they do experience central nervous system collapse, our experience in [the] medical world is there’s not an awful lot you can do, it’s not likely to be successful and they’re likely to die.”

Cobalt-60 is an isotope typically only used in machinery, or in radiation therapy for cancer patients, according to O’Donnell. The health effects of exposure to cobalt-60 depend upon the length of time a person is exposed, their distance from the radioactive material, and whether or not any type of shielding was present – for example, if the radioactive material was stored in a container.

While any patients who experienced direct contact with cobalt-60 may be at risk of death, O’Donnell said that others who were simply in the vicinity of the material may experience lesser side effects, such as skin burns or blisters, or gastrointestinal problems.

“With the kinds of exposures they were getting, I would guess it isn’t going to be really hyper-acute, like a bomb, but more gastrointestinal, which means they could get cramping, nausea, vomiting, bleeding that would be hard to control,” O’Donnell said.

Reports indicate that one patient admitted was experiencing dizziness and vomiting, according to FoxNews.com.

Risk to hospital workers

Depending on whether or not the admitted patients experienced direct contact with cobalt-60, other patients or hospital workers may be at some risk for exposure to the radioactive material, O’Donnell noted.

“If someone is (externally) exposed to gamma rays, the treatment of the patient is external and there’s no real hazard to any health care personnel or anyone taking care of them. You’re not going to catch someone else’s sunburn,” O’Donnell said. “But if they broke into the container and scraped it, or got it on them, now they’re contaminated and if someone else were to get it on them, now they could be exposed because the actual source of the radiation is there.”

However, he noted that most hospitals are equipped to deal with radiation exposure and are well-versed on techniques that can limit the exposure of hospital workers, or other patients.

“Everything stops, you try to put down absorbent paper, cover things up, cover things with a lead apron, try to isolate the contamination away from people. Then clean up the patient, wash them up, hose them off,” O’Donnell said. “And that’s where the radiation safety people at the hospital get involved with radiation detectors, and try to get (the radiation) back down to the background level.”

Any hospital with a radiology department would have access to dosimeters, which track exposure to radiated energy, according to O’Donnell. As a result, they would be able to ensure that hospital workers limit their exposure. Long-term exposure to radiation has been associated with an increased risk for certain cancers like lymphoma or leukeumia.

“You can never say the risk of anything is zero, but the foreseeable risk would be low enough for occupation workers,” O’Donnell said. “It’s based on our experience that for people who get no more (a certain amount of exposure), there’s no increase in cancers.”

Source: healcon

Camp Lejeune water contamination linked to birth defects

Water pollution at the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina has been linked to increased risk of birth defects and childhood cancers, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A study released by the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substance & Disease Registry on Thursday confirmed a long-suspected link between chemical contaminants in tap water at the Marine Corps base and serious birth defects such as spina bifida

It also showed a slightly elevated risk of childhood cancers including leukemia.

Dr. Vikas Kapil, a medical officer and acting deputy director of the CDC agency that produced the study, said it surveyed the parents of 12,598 children born at Lejeune between 1968 and 1985, the year most contaminated drinking water wells at Camp Lejeune were closed.

From that same group of participants, 106 cases of birth defects and childhood cancers were reported. But Kapil said researchers could only confirm the diagnoses in 52 cases.

Computerized birth certificates first became available in 1968. The study’s authors said they could not prove exposure to the chemicals caused specific individuals to become ill.

The CDC has linked the contamination to a number of sources including leaking underground storage tanks, industrial spills, and an off-base dry cleaning firm.

Lejeune spokeswoman Captain Maureen Krebs said the Marine Corps has supported scientific and public health organizations studying the health impacts of the contamination.

“These results provide additional information in support of ongoing efforts to provide comprehensive science-based answers to the health questions that have been raised,” Krebs said in a statement.

“The Marine Corps continues to support these initiatives and we are working diligently to identify and notify individuals who, in the past, may have been exposed to the chemicals in drinking water.”

The Veterans Administration has already been providing disability compensation claims to the affected families and personnel exposed to the contaminated water.

Source: Reuters

J&J, Pharmacyclics leukemia drug effective long term: study

The oral drug, ibrutinib, last month won U.S. approval to treat a rare and aggressive form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma known as mantle cell lymphoma. It is awaiting a Food and Drug Administration decision on treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), a slowly progressing form of blood cancer that primarily affects people aged 65 and older.

Some industry analysts had expected the CLL approval to come at the same time as the lymphoma decision. Data from this and other studies being presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in New Orleans could give regulators additional comfort about the medicine’s safety and effectiveness in treating CLL.

“Patients receiving ibrutinib are doing much better than historically what we’re used to seeing with CLL,” Dr John Byrd, a co-leader of the study, said in a telephone interview.

The 148-patient ibrutinib extension study looked at both previously untreated CLL patients and those who had relapsed or stopped responding following prior therapies.

With a median follow-up of more than 27 months of treatment, nearly all of the previously untreated, or treatment-naive, patients and almost three quarters of the relapsed and refractory patients had no evidence of the disease progressing.

REMISSIONS CONTINUE

“With extended follow-up the remissions with ibrutinib appear to be continuing and the safety of this long-term is being maintained,” said Byrd, professor of internal medicine and director of hematology at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus.

“There has not been an increase of infections or other late-term complications, suggesting that it’s going to be a drug that patients can take for a continued, extended period of time without it being a detriment,” he added.

Researchers had not yet been able to determine median progression-free survival – the point at which the disease begins to worsen for half the patients in a study.

Among previously untreated patients, about 96 percent had not yet experienced disease progression, with just one of 31 patients in that group relapsing so far, researchers said.

Typically you would expect about 50 percent to see disease progression at two years, Byrd explained.

“You don’t even need a statistician to see the difference. The data are better,” he said.

Of the 117 previously treated patients in the extension study, 21 had experienced disease progression and 11 had died within 30 days of receiving their last dose of the drug. That left more than 70 percent whose disease remained in check.

“Ibrutinib is the single most active drug that’s come into the clinic for CLL in terms of the durability of remission induced with it, so it’s going to be a game-changer in CLL,” Byrd predicted.

“A lot of the patients from the initial phase II study have been on drug for two to three years,” he added.

Serious adverse side effects, such as pneumonia, declined after the first year of treatment, researchers said. The incidence of serious side effects was twice as high in patients who had received prior therapies, which may have had more to do with the state of their disease than a reaction to ibrutinib, they said.

“Long term follow-up has only shown a low risk of infection that you would expect to see in this patient population,” said Byrd. “Otherwise the safety has been very favorable relative to other things that have been used in this patient population.”

RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee is forecasting eventual annual worldwide sales of $5 billion for the medicine, now being sold for lymphoma under the brand name Imbruvica.

About 15,000 Americans are diagnosed with CLL each year, according to ASH. While there are effective treatments for the disease, such as chemotherapy combined with Roche’s Rituxan, current therapies can be highly toxic.

Ibrutinib is one of several new medicines for CLL – including one in late stage development from Gilead Sciences Inc – that have fewer toxicities and safety issues and may lead to better quality of life for patients being treated.

“The future will hold combining this with some of the other new targeted therapies that we have coming forward to get complete remissions and hopefully get us onto the path of cure,” Byrd said.

Source: health render