Stem Cell Research To Begin In UK
Stem cell research has been the focus of many scientific and political debates for many months, with little progress made on actual research. However, British authorities have now granted two groups of scientists permission to begin stem cell research on human embryos.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Applications in Britain has granted licenses to the Centre for Genome Research in Edinburgh and Guy's Hospital in London to commence stem cell research. Researchers in Edinburgh will attempt to create stem cell lines to be put in the stem cell bank at the Medical Research Council. They hope to further understanding of embryonic development and to develop treatment for diseases like Parkinson's. The researchers in London will also create lines for the stem cell bank and will focus on treatments for neural and pancreatic diseases.
The researchers have stated that they will only use embryos which have been generated for infertility treatment, but are not needed in order to produce a child. These embryos are usually destroyed, but will now be used for reseearch if the couple who gave the sperm and egg agrees. The researchers will focus on ways of cultivating stem cells and directing them to develop into nerve, heart, and blood cells. They will not focus on therapeutic cloning.
  
Metformin May Increase Full-Term Pregnancies
Women who have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are at a much greater risk of infertility and miscarriage than women without the syndrome. A new study shows that one way of counteracting the pregnancy problems associated with PCOS may be by prescribing the diabetes drug metformin.
The study was based on retrospective examination of 96 women with PCOS. Sixty-five of the women had taken metformin to help them ovulate, and there were 68 pregnancies in this group. Six of these ended in miscarriage during the first trimester. By comparison, 13 of the 31 pregnancies in the group of women who did not take metformin ended in miscarriage. The researchers also studied a smaller group of women who had had previous miscarriages. They found that metformin not only aided fertility but decreased the risk of miscarriage in these women by more than fivefold.
This study was a collaboration between researchers in the U.S. and in Venezuela, and has been published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (volume 87; pages 524-9; February 2002). The study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, which is now considering funding a trial of metformin to see if it reduces the risk of miscarriage in women with ovarian problems. This would be more accurate than a retrospective study.
Cerebral Hemorrhage: A Result Of Microbleeds?
One of the most common complicatons of ischemic stroke is that of cerebral hemorrhage. According to new research, this may be caused by prior "microbleeds," which are tiny spots of bleeding on the brain.
Ischemic stroke is caused by an artery blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the brain. Twenty to forty percent of people who have had an ischemic stroke have cerebral hemorrhaging the week after their stroke. Researchers from Hopital Neurologique in Lyons, France recently conducted a study to determine the cause of cerebral hemorrhage.
The researchers studied MRI brain images of 100 people between the ages of 19 and 83 who had had a stroke. Twenty of these had evidence of old microbleeds, and these people were seven times more likely to have cerebral hemmorhaging than those who did not have microbleeds. Microbleeds may indicate a weakness in the brain's blood vessels, which may be caused by aging, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The researchers also found that diabetes was an independent risk factor for cerebral bleeding.
The researchers have published their findings in the journal Stroke (volume 33; pages 735-42; March 2002). They believe more research is needed to determine if old microbleeds are such a risk that clot-dissolving drugs should be avoided in order to prevent cerebral hemorrhaging.
Staph Toxin Linked To Lethal Pneumonia
A new study has shown that staph bacteria carrying the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) toxin can cause a highly lethal form of pneumonia. Those who are at the greatest risk for this are people with compromised immune systems, especially children and those with diabetes and lung disease.
The study, published in the journal The Lancet (volume 359; pages 753-759; March 2, 2002), was led by researchers at the National Reference Center for Staphylococcal Toxemia in Lyon, France. They have found a connection between staph infection and the PVL toxin in 29 cases of pneumonia. This leads to widespread destruction of respiratory tissue. Seventy-five percent of the sixteen cases in their study were fatal.
The PVL toxin kills white blood cells, and a small percentage of Staphylococcus aureus strains produces this toxin. The researchers are not sure how common this specific type of pneumonia is, but they have found that it is most common in children and young adults. This may be because children do not yet have the antibodies needed to fight the infection. The children with the infection were more likely to have a high fever and cough up blood, and have an illness similar to flu that rapidly turned into severe pneumonia.
Snoring May Up Type 2 Diabetes Risk
There are many well-publicized risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, but a new study indicates that sleep habits may also influence the risk of developing the disease.
The study was conducted by researchers at Harvard, and has been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (volume 155; pages 387-93; March 1, 2002). The researchers examined data from the Nurses' Health Study, which included over 70,000 women. None of these women had Type 2 diabetes at the study's beginning in 1986, but 1,957 of the participants had developed the disease by 1996.
The researchers took into consideration the women's age, body mass, and smoking and drinking habits, and found that women who reported that they snore every night were twice as likely to develop diabetes as those who didn't report snoring. Those who reported snoring occasionally had a 40% increase in diabetes risk.
Snoring has already been linked to obesity, which is also a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes. However, the study authors say that the women who snored and were at an increased risk for diabetes were not always obese. In earlier work with these volunteers, the Harvard researchers found women who snore are more likely to have high blood pressure. More research is needed to determine the connection between snoring and diabetes risk.
Do Processed Meats Cause Type 2 Diabetes?
Lifestyle has been found to have a great influence on whether or not a person develops Type 2 diabetes. One recent study that appears to link lifestyle to risk examines how diet plays into diabetes risk.
Participants in the study were part of Harvard's Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, and included 42,000 men between the ages of 40 and 75. None of the participants had diabetes, heart disease, or cancer when they began the study in 1986. Over the subsequent twelve years, 1,321 of the participants developed Type 2 diabetes.
The study authors focused on the study participants' diets, and found that those who ate processed meats at least five times per week were 46% more likely to develop Type 2 than those who ate processed meats less than one time per month. The researchers state that the men who were more likely to eat processed meats often were also likely to eat other unhealthy foods and to have other unhealthy practices lilke smoking and poor exercise habits. However, processed meats may be an independent risk factor for diabetes regardless of a person's overall eating habits and other unhealthy habits.
Researchers have found that the nitrates that are found in processed meats may do harm to beta cells in the pancreas. This may cause a reduction in the cells' ability to secrete insulin, which is a factor in diabetes. Results of the study have been published in the journal Diabetes Care (March 2002).
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