Extra Pounds In Women Causes Unhealthy InflammationObesity has long been associated with heart disease and the conditions that lead to it, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and other cardiovascular risks. But now, new findings are revealing unusual possible causes for the increased risk for vascular problems. Compared to thin women, obese women are six times more likely to have inflammation in their arteries that appears to increase their already high risk of developing heart disease. In seemingly healthy people, scientists recently discovered that a low-grade inflammation can exist for years and increase a person's risk of a heart attack or stroke. The cause of the quiet inflammation is unknown, but it might be bacteria. To test this theory, researchers prescribed antibiotics to help fight heart disease. Doctors already frequently prescribe aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack because it thins the blood. It may have a hidden bonus since aspirin also reduces inflammation. In her recent study, Dutch scientist Marjolein Visser used a U.S. database of 16,000 Americans. Knowing that fat cells can produce interleukin-6 that causes inflammation in the bloodstream, she studied whether obesity itself could be a culprit. She used a blood test that detects C-reactive protein, or CRP. Levels of CRP skyrocket when people have colds, inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, even heart disease. But lower levels indicate a quiet inflammation that may be the problem. This low-grade inflammation occurs in obese women six times more often than normal-weight people. Obese men were twice as likely to have it. Why this occurs is unknown but the women in the study were much more overweight than the men. Visser statistically controlled for other diseases that might have caused the study participants' CRP levels to rise. She examined only healthy people under age 40 and found the inflammation in those women who are obese. The study isn't proof that obesity inflames people's arteries, cautioned Dr. Richard J. Havlik of the National Institute on Aging, which funded the research. But the federal agency is funding more research into the link and probing whether obesity-caused inflammation might have ramifications for other diseases, too. First, Visser is preparing to see whether losing weight causes CRP levels to drop immediately. For now her findings raise the question of whether aspirin or any other anti-inflammatory drug could help obese people avoid heart disease. Visser mentions that nobody has tested that yet.
FDA Advisory Committee Approves Avandia, New Type 2 Diabetes DrugThe Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced April 23 unanimous approval of the use of SmithKline Beecham's new drug Avandia (rosiglitazone maleate) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes both as single therapy and in combination with metformin, following a thorough review of safety and efficacy data. Avandia is a new generation thiazolidinedione (TZD), a class of oral diabetes agents that directly target insulin resistance which is an underlying cause of type 2 diabetes. The basic problem in type 2 diabetes is the body's inability to use its own insulin appropriately, known as insulin resistance. Other type 2 diabetes medicines primarily work by increasing insulin production in the pancreas or decreasing glucose output by the liver. Avandia sensitizes the body's response to its own natural insulin, thereby improving blood sugar control. The committee's recommendation was based on clinical trials of more than 5,500 people with type 2 diabetes which demonstrated that Avandia significantly lowered the blood sugar levels of patients. Blood sugars were lowered on average by 58 mg/dl for a dose of 4 mg and 76 mg/dl for a dose of 8 mg. Additionally, patients maintained a reduction of up to 1.5% in Hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) levels at a dose of 8 mg. These values demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in glycemic control. Of the 5,500 people in the clinical studies, nearly 4,600 patients were treated with Avandia. Of these individuals, approximately 3,300 received the drug for at least six months, and 2,000 received it for more than one year. In clinical trials Avandia was well-tolerated, with the most common reported side effects being upper respiratory tract infections and headaches. In contrast to Rezulin, the only thiazolidinedione currently in use, there have been no reported cases of jaundice or liver failure in the small group of people who have used Avandia. The committee's favorable recommendation will be considered by the FDA in its final review of the new drug application (NDA) for Avandia. The drug is on a six-month/priority review schedule, which the FDA grants to drugs that, if approved, would be a significant improvement compared to current products. Avandia recently received approval in Mexico as single therapy and in certain combination regimens for treatment of type 2.
Research Shows Amazon Plant May Slow Alzheimer'sA new report from researchers at theExperimental Biology 99 meeting shows that Uncaria tomentosa (Cat'sClaw), a rain forest woody vinederivative from the Amazon inhibits the deposition of beta-amyloid protein deposits, that areassociated with Alzheimer's disease, in rats. Researchers from the University of Washington, ProteoTech, Inc. (a Redmond, Washington biotechnology company), and RexallSundown completed in vitro studies demonstrating that PTI- 00703(TM) alone, or in combination with certain other botanical ingredients,including Ginkgo biloba, rosemary, gotu kola, and bacopin, is a potentinhibitor of beta-amyloid protein fibril formation and growth. Researchers found that PTI-00703(TM) alone and in other combinations inhibitedbeta-amyloid protein fibril formation and growth. It also caused disruption and breakdown of already-formed amyloid fibrils, and inhibited interactions of beta-amyloid protein with glycosaminoglycans. A synergistic effect was seen when PTI-00703(TM) was combined with other botanical ingredients that further limited amyloid fibril growth and enhanced disruptionof preformed beta-amyloid protein fibrils. ProteoTech and Rexall Sundown announced plansto conduct a clinical trial testing PTI-00703(TM) in patients with mild-to- moderate Alzheimer's disease. Theprincipal investigator for the multi-center trial is anticipated to be JeffreyKaye, M.D., Professor of Neurology, Oregon Health Sciences University, andDirector, Aging & Alzheimer's Disease Center, Portland, Oregon. Additionalsites will be named later. "This is an important finding because manybelieve that the brain abnormalities observed in Alzheimer's disease may, in fact, be an inevitability of aging," said Alan Snow, Ph.D., ResearchAssociate Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington, and one ofthe co-founders of ProteoTech Inc. ProteoTech is a drug discovery company focused on therapeutics and diagnosticsfor human disease utilizing proteoglycan technologies. The "amyloid diseases" all involve the accumulation of specific proteoglycans believed to augment the amyloid process and inhibit the body's natural ability to remove unwanted"amyloid deposits."Proteoglycans are synthesized by virtually all cells of the body and play significant roles in the pathogenesis of a number of human diseases, including Alzheimer's, Down's syndrome, diabetes, cancer, arthritis,atherosclerosis, heart disease and AIDS. One of ProteoTech's human diseasetargets is Alzheimer's disease, one of a group of human diseases that arecharacterized by the deposition and persistence of an insoluble substance knownas "amyloid."
You Are What You Eat As A ChildTwo new studies indicate that by the age of six, children have developed eating habits that could play a major role in the diseases they develop as adults, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. Also differences in the indicators of health problems to come were shown by age six in black and Mexican-American children as compared to white children. One study, conducted by Dr. Alan R. Sinaiko of the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis and associates, involved 679 public schoolchildren who were followed from age 7 through 23. Beginning in 1977, the children were periodically tested for their weight, body mass index and blood pressure. When they became adults, blood samples tested for cholesterol and insulin levels showed that body weight during childhood was a good indicator of whether an adult would exhibit risk factors for cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance and diabetes. Especially important was the rate at which the weight was gained as a child. The second study conducted at Stanford examined cardiovascular risk factors among children in various ethnic groups. It found differences in the risk factors for cardiovascular disease for blacks and people of Hispanic descent compared to whites as early as age 6 in some cases. They also found that while poor nutrition and low income often were associated, the health differences among the three groups of children appeared to be more significant than economic factors. They found significantly more problems in the minority children in most of the health categories--body mass index, fat intake, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Medicare Preventive Care Goes UnusedMost older Americans fail to get cancer checks, pneumonia vaccines and other kinds of preventive care, according to a new report that describes a "massive underuse" of basic services that would keep people healthier. The vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries do not take advantage of preventive tests, such as mammogram and colorectal tests that might someday save their lives. According to the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, a detailed annual review of patterns of medical practice, most elderly patients and their doctors are not ordering preventive tests. This is true, even though Medicare will cover all or most of the cost, depending on the procedure The study found, for example, that only 28 percent of all women from the ages of 65 to 69 had a mammogram during 1995-96, the study period, even though all should have one every two years. Similarly, a blood test or a colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer should be performed annually on people older than 65, but only 12 percent of the Medicare beneficiaries received the test. Furthermore, people with diabetes should receive annual eye exams and glucose level checks, as well as twice-yearly measurements of cholesterol. Yet a survey of the prevalence of eye examinations showed it as low as 25 percent of the approximately 1.7 million Medicare beneficiaries. Health maintenance organizations, although often criticized in some areas, almost always have higher levels of screening tests than the traditional fee- for-service Medicare system. In the fee-for-service system, patients are free to select any Medicare doctor. The HMOs typically have computerized systems for gathering information and an incentive to do so since businesses decide which HMO to select for their workers oftentimes based on screening statistics. The benchmark, or best performance, was by Kaiser, which had an 80 percent rate of providing mammograms in 1995-1996. Nationally, about 15 percent of the 40 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in HMOs. The Dartmouth Atlas also shows that a person's place of residence strongly influences the likelihood of having preventive screening tests.
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