Study challenges drug's role in autism
The use of mercury-based preservative thimerosal may not be linked with autism as previously thought, according to a new study.
The prevalence of autism in California children continued to rise after many vaccine manufacturers started to remove the mercury-based preservative thimerosal in 1999, suggesting that the chemical was not a primary cause of the disorder, according to the study published in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
The analysis found that from 2004 to 2007, when exposure to thimerosal dropped significantly for 3- to 5-year-olds, the rate continued to increase in that group from 3.0 to 4.1 per 1,000 children, according to the study.
"If mercury exposure in vaccines was a major cause of autism, then the number of ... affected kids should have diminished once they were no longer exposed to thimerosal," said Dr. Robert Schechter, lead author of the study and a medical officer at the state Department of Public Health. "That is not what we found."
The study is the latest in a series that has investigated the connection between thimerosal and autism. The majority have found no association.
The latest study was based on data from the California Department of Developmental Services, which provides services to about 36,000 people with autism and has one of the country's best reporting systems.
The researchers looked at all reported cases in the state of California starting with children born in 1989. They found the number of cases per 1,000 children has been steadily increasing from that point to March 2007, the end point of the study.
Steve M. Edelson, an experimental psychologist who is director of the Autism Research Institute, a nonprofit organization in San Diego of California, said the study, along with evidence from previous research, argued against thimerosal as the major culprit in autism.
But, he added, it still does not rule out all blame. Edelson said such large-scale analysis could overlook smaller groups of children, who for whatever reasons have a particular vulnerability to mercury. He said more solid evidence can only come from laboratory studies, such as postmortem analyses of the brains of autistic children.
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Showing posts with label study. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Dieting hardest for emotional eaters: study
Dieting hardest for emotional eaters: study
French fries are shown in Hollywood, California October 3, 2007. Emotional eaters -- people who eat when they are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount of weight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)CHICAGO (Reuters) - Emotional eaters -- people who eat whenthey are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount ofweight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S.researchers said on Thursday.
They said the study may explain why so many people who loseweight gain it all back.
"We found that the more people report eating in response tothoughts and feelings, the less weight they lost," HeatherNiemeier, an obesity researcher at The Miriam Hospital and TheWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said in astatement.
"Amongst successful weight losers, those who reportemotional eating are more likely to regain," said Niemeier,whose study appears in the journal Obesity.
The study included 286 overweight men and women who wereparticipating in a behavioral weight loss program.
A second group consisted of more than 3,300 adults who havelost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year.
Niemeier and her team analyzed responses to an eatinginventory questionnaire.
They focused on people who ate because of externalinfluences, such as people who eat too much at parties, andpeople who ate because of internal influences, such as feelinglonely or as a reward.
What they found is that the more a person ate for internalreasons, the less weight they lost over time.
"Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention toeating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play asignificant role in weight loss," Niemeier said.
The study was funded by a grant from the NationalInstitutes of Health.
French fries are shown in Hollywood, California October 3, 2007. Emotional eaters -- people who eat when they are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount of weight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S. researchers said on Thursday. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)CHICAGO (Reuters) - Emotional eaters -- people who eat whenthey are lonely or blue -- tend to lose the least amount ofweight and have the hardest time keeping it off, U.S.researchers said on Thursday.
They said the study may explain why so many people who loseweight gain it all back.
"We found that the more people report eating in response tothoughts and feelings, the less weight they lost," HeatherNiemeier, an obesity researcher at The Miriam Hospital and TheWarren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said in astatement.
"Amongst successful weight losers, those who reportemotional eating are more likely to regain," said Niemeier,whose study appears in the journal Obesity.
The study included 286 overweight men and women who wereparticipating in a behavioral weight loss program.
A second group consisted of more than 3,300 adults who havelost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year.
Niemeier and her team analyzed responses to an eatinginventory questionnaire.
They focused on people who ate because of externalinfluences, such as people who eat too much at parties, andpeople who ate because of internal influences, such as feelinglonely or as a reward.
What they found is that the more a person ate for internalreasons, the less weight they lost over time.
"Our results suggest that we need to pay more attention toeating triggered by emotions or thoughts as they clearly play asignificant role in weight loss," Niemeier said.
The study was funded by a grant from the NationalInstitutes of Health.
Beta carotene protects memory in study
Beta carotene protects memory in study
A split-view image showing PET scans of a normal brain (L) and a brain with Alzheimer's disease. Beta carotene taken as a dietary supplement for many years may protect against declines in memory, thinking and learning skills that often precede Alzheimer's disease, researchers said on Monday. (National Institute on Aging/Handout/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Beta carotene taken as a dietarysupplement for many years may protect against declines inmemory, thinking and learning skills that often precedeAlzheimer's disease, researchers said on Monday.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,pointed to a protective effect against cognitive decline inhealthy men who look beta carotene for about 18 years, but notin men who took the supplements for an average of a year.
The findings indicate beta carotene may be an importantweapon in warding off memory problems that may foreshadowAlzheimer's and other forms of dementia, the researchers said.
"This is the first trial that has found any way to helpyour memory if you're healthy. I think it does tell us that wecan change how our memory improves or worsens," FrancineGrodstein of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who ledthe study, said in a telephone interview.
Taking beta carotene may have risks for some people such asraising lung cancer risk in smokers, Grodstein said.
Beta carotene is one of the antioxidants -- substances thatprevent some of the damage from unstable molecules known asfree radicals -- created when the body turns food into energy.Some experts think antioxidants can lower the risk of cancer,heart disease and other ailments.
"Beta carotene is an antioxidant vitamin. So the reason wethought it might help your brain is because there is now a lotof evidence that oxidative damage harms your brain. And thatmay be one of the initiating factors which leads to memoryproblems," Grodstein said.
In this study, researchers examined the effects of betacarotene on cognitive ability in two groups of men.
Those in a group of 4,052 men were randomly assigned in1982 to take either 50 milligrams of beta carotene or a placeboevery other day. Another 1,904 men between 1998 and 2001 werealso randomly assigned to take either the same amount of betacarotene or a placebo every other day.
The men in the long-term group took the supplements for anaverage of 18 years. The men in the short-term group did so foran average of a year, with the longest being three years.
Men who took beta carotene in the long-term group recordedsignificantly higher scores on several cognitive tests --particularly tests of verbal memory -- compared with those whotook a placebo, the study found. In the short-term group, themen taking beta carotene did no better in cognitive tests.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Kristine Yaffeof the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center andUniversity of California at San Francisco sounded a note ofcaution, saying studies have yielded mixed results aboutantioxidant supplements and better cognitive outcomes.
"For the clinician, there is no convincing justification torecommend the use of antioxidant dietary supplements tomaintain cognitive performance in cognitively normal adults orin those with mild cognitive impairment," Yaffe wrote.
Another study also examined the link between diet anddementia. French researchers, writing in the journal Neurology,tracked the diets of 8,085 men and women over age 65. They werefollowed for four years, during which 183 of the participantsdeveloped Alzheimer's and 98 developed some other dementia.
Risk for developing dementia was found to be lower in thosewith diets heavy in fish, omega-3 oils, fruits and vegetables.
(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Todd Eastham)
A split-view image showing PET scans of a normal brain (L) and a brain with Alzheimer's disease. Beta carotene taken as a dietary supplement for many years may protect against declines in memory, thinking and learning skills that often precede Alzheimer's disease, researchers said on Monday. (National Institute on Aging/Handout/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Beta carotene taken as a dietarysupplement for many years may protect against declines inmemory, thinking and learning skills that often precedeAlzheimer's disease, researchers said on Monday.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine,pointed to a protective effect against cognitive decline inhealthy men who look beta carotene for about 18 years, but notin men who took the supplements for an average of a year.
The findings indicate beta carotene may be an importantweapon in warding off memory problems that may foreshadowAlzheimer's and other forms of dementia, the researchers said.
"This is the first trial that has found any way to helpyour memory if you're healthy. I think it does tell us that wecan change how our memory improves or worsens," FrancineGrodstein of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who ledthe study, said in a telephone interview.
Taking beta carotene may have risks for some people such asraising lung cancer risk in smokers, Grodstein said.
Beta carotene is one of the antioxidants -- substances thatprevent some of the damage from unstable molecules known asfree radicals -- created when the body turns food into energy.Some experts think antioxidants can lower the risk of cancer,heart disease and other ailments.
"Beta carotene is an antioxidant vitamin. So the reason wethought it might help your brain is because there is now a lotof evidence that oxidative damage harms your brain. And thatmay be one of the initiating factors which leads to memoryproblems," Grodstein said.
In this study, researchers examined the effects of betacarotene on cognitive ability in two groups of men.
Those in a group of 4,052 men were randomly assigned in1982 to take either 50 milligrams of beta carotene or a placeboevery other day. Another 1,904 men between 1998 and 2001 werealso randomly assigned to take either the same amount of betacarotene or a placebo every other day.
The men in the long-term group took the supplements for anaverage of 18 years. The men in the short-term group did so foran average of a year, with the longest being three years.
Men who took beta carotene in the long-term group recordedsignificantly higher scores on several cognitive tests --particularly tests of verbal memory -- compared with those whotook a placebo, the study found. In the short-term group, themen taking beta carotene did no better in cognitive tests.
In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Kristine Yaffeof the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center andUniversity of California at San Francisco sounded a note ofcaution, saying studies have yielded mixed results aboutantioxidant supplements and better cognitive outcomes.
"For the clinician, there is no convincing justification torecommend the use of antioxidant dietary supplements tomaintain cognitive performance in cognitively normal adults orin those with mild cognitive impairment," Yaffe wrote.
Another study also examined the link between diet anddementia. French researchers, writing in the journal Neurology,tracked the diets of 8,085 men and women over age 65. They werefollowed for four years, during which 183 of the participantsdeveloped Alzheimer's and 98 developed some other dementia.
Risk for developing dementia was found to be lower in thosewith diets heavy in fish, omega-3 oils, fruits and vegetables.
(Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Todd Eastham)
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
US troops mental health concerns underestimated: study
US troops mental health concerns underestimated: study
A US soldier looks at the sky as he sits atop of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a patrol on the outskirts of Baghdad, in 2005. Mental health problems such as depression plaguing US soldiers months after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan are being largely underestimated, according to a Pentagon study published Tuesday.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)WASHINGTON (AFP) - Mental health problems such as depression plaguing US soldiers months after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan are being largely underestimated, according to a Pentagon study published Tuesday.
Military doctors have discovered that signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse are often only showing up in a second medical examination given to the troops some three to six months after coming home.
The study of some 88,235 soldiers found that on their second evaluation some 10,288 or about 11.7 percent were prescribed some kind of psychiatric care, compared to 3,925 (4.4 percent) on their first evaluation, given just after they return from the field.
The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that by combining the figures some 20.3 percent of active soldiers and 42.4 percent of reserves had been diagnosed with some kind of mental health problem, linked to their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It was the second study initiated by the Department of Defense after an earlier one "raised concerns that mental health problems might be missed because of the early timing of this screening," the authors of the study wrote.
The second study, carried out via a questionnaire and an interview with a clinicians, "found that soldiers reported more mental health concerns, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression or alcohol misuse during the later screening."
"The study shows that the rates that we previously reported based on surveys taken immediately on return from deployment substantially underestimate the mental health burden," the authors write.
"This emphasizes the enormous opportunity for a better-resourced Department of Defense mental health system to intervene early before soldiers leave active duty."
Concerns about conflicts, especially within the family, also quadrupled between the first and second examinations of the returning soldiers, the study said.
"Increased relationship problems underscore shortcomings in services for family members," the authors from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research wrote.
"Soldiers frequently reported alcohol concerns, yet very few were referred to alcohol treatment," added the report.
But all those with some kind of mental health care problem had either already been treated or were receiving some kind of medical care, the study noted.
And although soldiers were more likely to report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder on their second screening, between 49 to 59 percent of those diagnosed on their first test had shown some improvement.
"Among active component soldiers, use of mental health services increased substantially following the later screening, especially within 30 days of the assessment," the report added.
A US soldier looks at the sky as he sits atop of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle during a patrol on the outskirts of Baghdad, in 2005. Mental health problems such as depression plaguing US soldiers months after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan are being largely underestimated, according to a Pentagon study published Tuesday.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)WASHINGTON (AFP) - Mental health problems such as depression plaguing US soldiers months after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan are being largely underestimated, according to a Pentagon study published Tuesday.
Military doctors have discovered that signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse are often only showing up in a second medical examination given to the troops some three to six months after coming home.
The study of some 88,235 soldiers found that on their second evaluation some 10,288 or about 11.7 percent were prescribed some kind of psychiatric care, compared to 3,925 (4.4 percent) on their first evaluation, given just after they return from the field.
The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that by combining the figures some 20.3 percent of active soldiers and 42.4 percent of reserves had been diagnosed with some kind of mental health problem, linked to their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It was the second study initiated by the Department of Defense after an earlier one "raised concerns that mental health problems might be missed because of the early timing of this screening," the authors of the study wrote.
The second study, carried out via a questionnaire and an interview with a clinicians, "found that soldiers reported more mental health concerns, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression or alcohol misuse during the later screening."
"The study shows that the rates that we previously reported based on surveys taken immediately on return from deployment substantially underestimate the mental health burden," the authors write.
"This emphasizes the enormous opportunity for a better-resourced Department of Defense mental health system to intervene early before soldiers leave active duty."
Concerns about conflicts, especially within the family, also quadrupled between the first and second examinations of the returning soldiers, the study said.
"Increased relationship problems underscore shortcomings in services for family members," the authors from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research wrote.
"Soldiers frequently reported alcohol concerns, yet very few were referred to alcohol treatment," added the report.
But all those with some kind of mental health care problem had either already been treated or were receiving some kind of medical care, the study noted.
And although soldiers were more likely to report symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder on their second screening, between 49 to 59 percent of those diagnosed on their first test had shown some improvement.
"Among active component soldiers, use of mental health services increased substantially following the later screening, especially within 30 days of the assessment," the report added.
Study backs ultrasound to judge ovarian malignancy
Study backs ultrasound to judge ovarian malignancy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using ultrasound images may be abetter way than blood tests to determine whether a woman'sovarian tumor is benign or malignant, European researchers saidon Tuesday.
Higher levels of a so-called tumor marker protein calledCA-125 in the blood is considered the standard way to judge ifan ovarian tumor is benign or malignant, but this methodsometimes can yield wrong answers, the researchers said.
Researchers led by Dr. Dirk Timmerman of KatholiekeUniversiteit Leuven in Belgium tested whether ultrasoundassessment of the tumor by an experienced examiner was a bettermethod. Ultrasound employs high-frequency sound waves to createimages of things inside the body.
In the study, 1,066 women with ovarian tumors were given anultrasound examination. Of these women, 809 provided bloodsamples before surgery to remove the ovarian tumors to beanalyzed for CA-125, which is overproduced by ovarian tumorcells.
The ultrasound examiners accurately gauged 93 percent ofthe tumors as either benign or malignant using a method calledpattern recognition, according to the study. The blood testsmeasuring CA-125 levels, in comparison, accurately determinedthe nature of 83 percent of the tumors, the researchers said.
"In light of our results, it is difficult to understand whymeasurement of CA-125 serum levels is such an entrenched partof the preoperative evaluation" of such tumors, they wrote inthe Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers noted that the accuracy of the ultrasoundmethod depends on the experience of the examiner.
"We hope our results will encourage responsible parties toexpend more effort and more resources to educate and trainthose who perform gynecologic ultrasound examinations, so thatthe potential of the ultrasound technique can be maximized,"they wrote.
Ovarian cancer is more common in women after age 50 but isvery difficult to detect early. Women with ovarian cancer oftenhave no symptoms or mild ones until it is in an advanced stageand tough to treat.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 15,000women will die from ovarian cancer in the United States alonethis year, with 22,000 new cases seen. Worldwide there are morethan 190,000 new cases of ovarian cancer each year, accordingto the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Beech)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Using ultrasound images may be abetter way than blood tests to determine whether a woman'sovarian tumor is benign or malignant, European researchers saidon Tuesday.
Higher levels of a so-called tumor marker protein calledCA-125 in the blood is considered the standard way to judge ifan ovarian tumor is benign or malignant, but this methodsometimes can yield wrong answers, the researchers said.
Researchers led by Dr. Dirk Timmerman of KatholiekeUniversiteit Leuven in Belgium tested whether ultrasoundassessment of the tumor by an experienced examiner was a bettermethod. Ultrasound employs high-frequency sound waves to createimages of things inside the body.
In the study, 1,066 women with ovarian tumors were given anultrasound examination. Of these women, 809 provided bloodsamples before surgery to remove the ovarian tumors to beanalyzed for CA-125, which is overproduced by ovarian tumorcells.
The ultrasound examiners accurately gauged 93 percent ofthe tumors as either benign or malignant using a method calledpattern recognition, according to the study. The blood testsmeasuring CA-125 levels, in comparison, accurately determinedthe nature of 83 percent of the tumors, the researchers said.
"In light of our results, it is difficult to understand whymeasurement of CA-125 serum levels is such an entrenched partof the preoperative evaluation" of such tumors, they wrote inthe Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers noted that the accuracy of the ultrasoundmethod depends on the experience of the examiner.
"We hope our results will encourage responsible parties toexpend more effort and more resources to educate and trainthose who perform gynecologic ultrasound examinations, so thatthe potential of the ultrasound technique can be maximized,"they wrote.
Ovarian cancer is more common in women after age 50 but isvery difficult to detect early. Women with ovarian cancer oftenhave no symptoms or mild ones until it is in an advanced stageand tough to treat.
The American Cancer Society estimates that about 15,000women will die from ovarian cancer in the United States alonethis year, with 22,000 new cases seen. Worldwide there are morethan 190,000 new cases of ovarian cancer each year, accordingto the International Agency for Research on Cancer.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Eric Beech)
Occasional binge drinking may not harm fetus: study
Occasional binge drinking may not harm fetus: study
LONDON (Reuters) - Pregnant women who occasionallyoverindulge in a night of drinking may not be harming theirfetuses but more evidence is needed to determine whether thisis really the case, British researchers said on Wednesday.
A review of 14 studies also suggested children whosemothers binge drank throughout pregnancy may suffer learningproblems later in life, prompting a call for further researchto see if any links exist.
"Just because we haven't been able to find much evidencedoesn't mean there is no effect," said Ron Gray, a clinicalepidemiologist at the University of Oxford, who led the study."Our view is there needs to be more research."
A number of studies have linked heavy drinking on a regularbasis during pregnancy to stunted growth, birth defects andbrain development problems.
Less clear is the effect of occasional binge drinking,which amounted to about 5 drinks in one session in the studiesGray and his team reviewed.
The researchers initially identified more than 3,500scientific papers between 1970 and 2005 looking at pregnancyand alcohol, which they winnowed down to 14 focusing on bingedrinking.
LITTLE EVIDENCE
They found little substantive evidence binge drinking oncein a while caused problems such as miscarriage, stillbirth,abnormal birth weight, or birth defects such as fetal alcoholsyndrome.
But one study suggested binge drinking could damage braindevelopment resulting in reduced verbal IQ, learning problemsand poorer academic performance.
"However, this study only counted women as bingers if theybinged throughout pregnancy, not just on a single occasion,"the researchers wrote.
Animal studies have shown harmful effects from bingedrinking, which means pregnant women should still take care nomatter how much they consume, Gray said.
At the same time until researchers have more evidence,women who binge drink on occasion should not fret unnecessarilyabout potential harm they are causing to their fetuses, headded.
"When pregnant women report isolated episodes ofbinge-drinking in the absence of a consistently high dailyalcohol intake, as is often the case, it is important to avoidinducing unnecessary anxiety as, at present, the evidence ofrisk seems minimal," the researchers wrote.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn)
LONDON (Reuters) - Pregnant women who occasionallyoverindulge in a night of drinking may not be harming theirfetuses but more evidence is needed to determine whether thisis really the case, British researchers said on Wednesday.
A review of 14 studies also suggested children whosemothers binge drank throughout pregnancy may suffer learningproblems later in life, prompting a call for further researchto see if any links exist.
"Just because we haven't been able to find much evidencedoesn't mean there is no effect," said Ron Gray, a clinicalepidemiologist at the University of Oxford, who led the study."Our view is there needs to be more research."
A number of studies have linked heavy drinking on a regularbasis during pregnancy to stunted growth, birth defects andbrain development problems.
Less clear is the effect of occasional binge drinking,which amounted to about 5 drinks in one session in the studiesGray and his team reviewed.
The researchers initially identified more than 3,500scientific papers between 1970 and 2005 looking at pregnancyand alcohol, which they winnowed down to 14 focusing on bingedrinking.
LITTLE EVIDENCE
They found little substantive evidence binge drinking oncein a while caused problems such as miscarriage, stillbirth,abnormal birth weight, or birth defects such as fetal alcoholsyndrome.
But one study suggested binge drinking could damage braindevelopment resulting in reduced verbal IQ, learning problemsand poorer academic performance.
"However, this study only counted women as bingers if theybinged throughout pregnancy, not just on a single occasion,"the researchers wrote.
Animal studies have shown harmful effects from bingedrinking, which means pregnant women should still take care nomatter how much they consume, Gray said.
At the same time until researchers have more evidence,women who binge drink on occasion should not fret unnecessarilyabout potential harm they are causing to their fetuses, headded.
"When pregnant women report isolated episodes ofbinge-drinking in the absence of a consistently high dailyalcohol intake, as is often the case, it is important to avoidinducing unnecessary anxiety as, at present, the evidence ofrisk seems minimal," the researchers wrote.
(Reporting by Michael Kahn)
Lancet, BMJ studies sound concern over anti-obesity drug rimonabant
Lancet, BMJ studies sound concern over anti-obesity drug rimonabant
A woman stands outside a sandwich shop. Two overviews of trials of weight-loss drugs have added to concerns that the obesity treatment rimonabant may boost the risk of depression and anxiety.(AFP/File/Paul Ellis)PARIS (AFP) - Two overviews of trials of weight-loss drugs have added to concerns that the obesity treatment rimonabant may boost the risk of depression and anxiety.
The papers, published in Saturday's issue of The Lancet and online Friday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), follow a decision in June by an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that voted against marketing rimonabant in the United States on safety grounds.
Doctors led by Arne Astrup, a professor at the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, analysed four trials in which 4,105 patents were either given a 20mg daily dose of rimonabant or a dummy lookalike pill called a placebo.
Over one year, patients on rimonabant realised a weight loss that was 4.7 kilos (10.3 pounds) higher than counterparts in the placebo group.
But they were also 40 percent likelier to experience "adverse" or "serious adverse" events, according to Astrup's study, which appears in The Lancet.
Patients on rimonabant were two and a half times likelier to stop taking the drug because of depression than those on placebo, and three times likelier to discontinue the treatment because of anxiety.
The findings are significant because individuals with a history of depression -- a phenomenon common among the severely obese -- were specifically excluded from the trial, say the authors.
"We recommend increased alertness by physicians to these potentially severe psychiatric reactions," the Lancet paper says.
Meanwhile, a study published online Friday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said that rimonabant and two other anti-obesity drugs, orlistat and sibutramine, were of only limited effect in terms of weight loss over the long term.
Canadian researchers reviewed data from 30 trials in which obese volunteers -- average weight 100 kilos (220 pounds) -- took either anti-obesity drugs or a placebo for a year or more.
The three drugs reduced weight by less than five kilos (11 pounds), equivalent to a loss of less than five percent of total body weight.
The three drugs had various beneficial side effects but all had adverse effects, including, in rimonabant's case, an increase in depression and anxiety, they said.
The authors noted that no trials examined rates of death and disease as a result of taking anti-obesity pills and called for trials to looking into this aspect.
In June, all 14 experts on the FDA's Advisory Committee said rimonabant, which French maker Sanofi-Aventis had hoped would become a blockbuster drug under the brand name of Zimulti, voted against authorising the drug after they heard evidence that it was linked with an increased risk of suicide.
The European Union has approved rimonabant, locally marketed as Acomplia, as a support for diet and exercise for obese patients who have Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems associated with obesity.
However, labelling of the drug has been stepped up to warn against prescribing it to European patients with depression or those taking anti-depressants.
A trial among 1,047 volunteers, published in The Lancet in October 2006, found ribonant improved control over blood glucose and blood fats among people with Type 2 diabetes.
The drug was "generally well tolerated," the study said. Among those volunteers who dropped out of the trial, depression, nausea and dizziness were the most cited reasons among the rimonabant group.Rimonabant blocks endocannabinoid receptors in the brain that cause hunger.Global sales of anti-obesity drugs reached 1.2 billion dollars in 2005, the BMJ said.
A woman stands outside a sandwich shop. Two overviews of trials of weight-loss drugs have added to concerns that the obesity treatment rimonabant may boost the risk of depression and anxiety.(AFP/File/Paul Ellis)PARIS (AFP) - Two overviews of trials of weight-loss drugs have added to concerns that the obesity treatment rimonabant may boost the risk of depression and anxiety.
The papers, published in Saturday's issue of The Lancet and online Friday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ), follow a decision in June by an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that voted against marketing rimonabant in the United States on safety grounds.
Doctors led by Arne Astrup, a professor at the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, analysed four trials in which 4,105 patents were either given a 20mg daily dose of rimonabant or a dummy lookalike pill called a placebo.
Over one year, patients on rimonabant realised a weight loss that was 4.7 kilos (10.3 pounds) higher than counterparts in the placebo group.
But they were also 40 percent likelier to experience "adverse" or "serious adverse" events, according to Astrup's study, which appears in The Lancet.
Patients on rimonabant were two and a half times likelier to stop taking the drug because of depression than those on placebo, and three times likelier to discontinue the treatment because of anxiety.
The findings are significant because individuals with a history of depression -- a phenomenon common among the severely obese -- were specifically excluded from the trial, say the authors.
"We recommend increased alertness by physicians to these potentially severe psychiatric reactions," the Lancet paper says.
Meanwhile, a study published online Friday by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said that rimonabant and two other anti-obesity drugs, orlistat and sibutramine, were of only limited effect in terms of weight loss over the long term.
Canadian researchers reviewed data from 30 trials in which obese volunteers -- average weight 100 kilos (220 pounds) -- took either anti-obesity drugs or a placebo for a year or more.
The three drugs reduced weight by less than five kilos (11 pounds), equivalent to a loss of less than five percent of total body weight.
The three drugs had various beneficial side effects but all had adverse effects, including, in rimonabant's case, an increase in depression and anxiety, they said.
The authors noted that no trials examined rates of death and disease as a result of taking anti-obesity pills and called for trials to looking into this aspect.
In June, all 14 experts on the FDA's Advisory Committee said rimonabant, which French maker Sanofi-Aventis had hoped would become a blockbuster drug under the brand name of Zimulti, voted against authorising the drug after they heard evidence that it was linked with an increased risk of suicide.
The European Union has approved rimonabant, locally marketed as Acomplia, as a support for diet and exercise for obese patients who have Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular problems associated with obesity.
However, labelling of the drug has been stepped up to warn against prescribing it to European patients with depression or those taking anti-depressants.
A trial among 1,047 volunteers, published in The Lancet in October 2006, found ribonant improved control over blood glucose and blood fats among people with Type 2 diabetes.
The drug was "generally well tolerated," the study said. Among those volunteers who dropped out of the trial, depression, nausea and dizziness were the most cited reasons among the rimonabant group.Rimonabant blocks endocannabinoid receptors in the brain that cause hunger.Global sales of anti-obesity drugs reached 1.2 billion dollars in 2005, the BMJ said.
Ultrasound Beats Blood Test for Gauging Ovarian Cancers:Study
Ultrasound Beats Blood Test for Gauging Ovarian Cancers:Study
THURSDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Ultrasound exams are betterthan blood tests at identifying whether ovarian tumors are benign ormalignant, a team of international researchers reports.
Ultrasound correctly identified 93 percent of tumors as benign orcancerous, while the blood test was correct 83 percent of the time.
Results of the study, by the International Ovarian Tumor Analysiscollaboration group (IOTA), were published online Nov. 13 in theJournal of the National Cancer Institute.
"To my knowledge, the IOTA study is the first study that clearlydemonstrated that in experienced hands, ultrasound is significantly betterthan blood tests,'" said study leader Dr. Dirk Timmerman, a researcher atKatholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
An estimated 22,430 new cases of ovarian cancer are expected to bediagnosed in 2007 in the United States, according to the American CancerSociety, with about 15,280 deaths. The disease typically strikes womenover age 55. Symptoms include bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain,difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, or urinary symptoms such as afrequent need to urinate.
Because the symptoms are often similar to less serious conditions, onlyabout 20 percent of ovarian cancers are found at an early stage, thecancer society estimates. This makes the quest for the best techniques todetect the cancer early even more important.
For the IOTA study, Timmerman and his colleagues compared ultrasoundwith blood tests to decide if the ovarian masses discovered in 1,066 womenwere benign or malignant.
Experts examined patterns in ultrasound images, and then compared thoseresults with blood tests that detect an elevated level of the proteinCA-125, considered an indicator of whether an ovarian tumor is cancerousor benign.
The ultrasound exams, including transvaginal gray-scale and colorDoppler ultrasound exams, were given within 120 days of surgery to removethe tumors. Before surgery, 809 of the women gave blood, and the sampleswere analyzed later for CA-125 levels.
When the results from both methods were compared with the findings atsurgery, the researchers found that ultrasound correctly classified 93percent of tumors as cancerous or not, while the blood test was correct inonly 83 percent of cases.
"The IOTA study not only demonstrated that ultrasound is better thanblood tests but also that the blood tests do not give additional benefitin mathematical models developed to distinguish between benign andmalignant masses," Timmerman said.
Timmerman emphasized that the study only looked at the best method todecide if a tumor was cancerous after the mass had already beendiscovered. "Of course, this is different from screening," he said. "Inscreening studies, a healthy population is screened for a specificdisease, for example, ovarian cancer. In that setting, a blood test mightprove to be useful in the future." He noted that two large studiesexploring that issue are expected to conclude in about five years.
Dr. Robert Morgan, co-director of the gynecologic oncology/peritonealmalignancy program at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif.,said the study results confirm what doctors have known for a long time."CA-125 is only elevated in about 50 percent of early stage ovariancancer, and the data in this paper confirms that," he said.
The study's bottom line: Most of these cancers are being picked up withultrasound, not the blood test, Morgan said. "And, most of the time, when[the ultrasound] says it's not malignant, it's not," he said.
''C-125 tests are not cheap and, particularly when you do them in ahuge number of patients, the costs add up. And, apparently, they don'tseem to be adding anything to the diagnostic accuracy," he added.
Sherry Salway Black, executive director of the Ovarian Cancer NationalAlliance, called the new study results exciting. "It gives moreinformation, more evidence that a transvaginal ultrasound can be effectiveunder these circumstances."
Still, she said, the blood test might prove to have some benefit. "Itmay not be the best stand-alone diagnostic tool. This [study] appears tosay transvaginal ultrasound is definitely better." But the study authorsdid find that CA-125 levels in women found to have cancer were higher forpostmenopausal women than premenopausal women, for instance. And suchdetails, Black said, might prove valuable.
Meanwhile, a study from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital has foundthat regular consumption of foods containing the flavonoid kaempferol,including nonherbal tea and broccoli, was associated with a reduced riskof ovarian cancer. The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute andpublished in the Nov. 15 issue of the International Journal ofCancer, also found a decreased risk in women who consumed largeamounts of the flavonoid luteolin, found in carrots, peppers and cabbage.
"This is good news, because there are few lifestyle factors known toreduce a woman's risk of ovarian cancer," first author Margaret Gates, aresearch fellow at the hospital, said in a prepared statement. "Althoughadditional research is needed, these findings suggest that consuming adiet rich in flavonoids may be protective."
"Other flavonoid-rich foods, such as onions, beans and kale, may alsodecrease ovarian cancer risk, but the number of women who frequentlyconsumed these foods was not large enough to clearly evaluate theseassociations. More research is needed," concluded Gates, who is also aresearch fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.
THURSDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Ultrasound exams are betterthan blood tests at identifying whether ovarian tumors are benign ormalignant, a team of international researchers reports.
Ultrasound correctly identified 93 percent of tumors as benign orcancerous, while the blood test was correct 83 percent of the time.
Results of the study, by the International Ovarian Tumor Analysiscollaboration group (IOTA), were published online Nov. 13 in theJournal of the National Cancer Institute.
"To my knowledge, the IOTA study is the first study that clearlydemonstrated that in experienced hands, ultrasound is significantly betterthan blood tests,'" said study leader Dr. Dirk Timmerman, a researcher atKatholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
An estimated 22,430 new cases of ovarian cancer are expected to bediagnosed in 2007 in the United States, according to the American CancerSociety, with about 15,280 deaths. The disease typically strikes womenover age 55. Symptoms include bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain,difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, or urinary symptoms such as afrequent need to urinate.
Because the symptoms are often similar to less serious conditions, onlyabout 20 percent of ovarian cancers are found at an early stage, thecancer society estimates. This makes the quest for the best techniques todetect the cancer early even more important.
For the IOTA study, Timmerman and his colleagues compared ultrasoundwith blood tests to decide if the ovarian masses discovered in 1,066 womenwere benign or malignant.
Experts examined patterns in ultrasound images, and then compared thoseresults with blood tests that detect an elevated level of the proteinCA-125, considered an indicator of whether an ovarian tumor is cancerousor benign.
The ultrasound exams, including transvaginal gray-scale and colorDoppler ultrasound exams, were given within 120 days of surgery to removethe tumors. Before surgery, 809 of the women gave blood, and the sampleswere analyzed later for CA-125 levels.
When the results from both methods were compared with the findings atsurgery, the researchers found that ultrasound correctly classified 93percent of tumors as cancerous or not, while the blood test was correct inonly 83 percent of cases.
"The IOTA study not only demonstrated that ultrasound is better thanblood tests but also that the blood tests do not give additional benefitin mathematical models developed to distinguish between benign andmalignant masses," Timmerman said.
Timmerman emphasized that the study only looked at the best method todecide if a tumor was cancerous after the mass had already beendiscovered. "Of course, this is different from screening," he said. "Inscreening studies, a healthy population is screened for a specificdisease, for example, ovarian cancer. In that setting, a blood test mightprove to be useful in the future." He noted that two large studiesexploring that issue are expected to conclude in about five years.
Dr. Robert Morgan, co-director of the gynecologic oncology/peritonealmalignancy program at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif.,said the study results confirm what doctors have known for a long time."CA-125 is only elevated in about 50 percent of early stage ovariancancer, and the data in this paper confirms that," he said.
The study's bottom line: Most of these cancers are being picked up withultrasound, not the blood test, Morgan said. "And, most of the time, when[the ultrasound] says it's not malignant, it's not," he said.
''C-125 tests are not cheap and, particularly when you do them in ahuge number of patients, the costs add up. And, apparently, they don'tseem to be adding anything to the diagnostic accuracy," he added.
Sherry Salway Black, executive director of the Ovarian Cancer NationalAlliance, called the new study results exciting. "It gives moreinformation, more evidence that a transvaginal ultrasound can be effectiveunder these circumstances."
Still, she said, the blood test might prove to have some benefit. "Itmay not be the best stand-alone diagnostic tool. This [study] appears tosay transvaginal ultrasound is definitely better." But the study authorsdid find that CA-125 levels in women found to have cancer were higher forpostmenopausal women than premenopausal women, for instance. And suchdetails, Black said, might prove valuable.
Meanwhile, a study from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital has foundthat regular consumption of foods containing the flavonoid kaempferol,including nonherbal tea and broccoli, was associated with a reduced riskof ovarian cancer. The study, funded by the National Cancer Institute andpublished in the Nov. 15 issue of the International Journal ofCancer, also found a decreased risk in women who consumed largeamounts of the flavonoid luteolin, found in carrots, peppers and cabbage.
"This is good news, because there are few lifestyle factors known toreduce a woman's risk of ovarian cancer," first author Margaret Gates, aresearch fellow at the hospital, said in a prepared statement. "Althoughadditional research is needed, these findings suggest that consuming adiet rich in flavonoids may be protective."
"Other flavonoid-rich foods, such as onions, beans and kale, may alsodecrease ovarian cancer risk, but the number of women who frequentlyconsumed these foods was not large enough to clearly evaluate theseassociations. More research is needed," concluded Gates, who is also aresearch fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.
Vietnam Vets Study Links Asthma and PTSD
Vietnam Vets Study Links Asthma and PTSD
THURSDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A study of male twins who servedin Vietnam has uncovered a strong link between asthma and post-traumaticstress disorder (PTSD).
Columbia University researchers, reporting in the Nov. 15 issue of theAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, foundthat those who suffered the most from PTSD were more than twice as likelyto have asthma.
"This is very good data," said Keith A. Young, co-director of theCentral Texas Veterans Health Care System Neuropsychiatry ResearchProgram. "One of the things that is very clearly delineated by this studyis that there truly is an association. This association has been seen withother anxiety disorders before, and there were some hints with PTSD, butthis is the best. This kind of sets it in stone."
The challenge now is to find out whether this is a cause-and-effectrelationship.
Previous studies have indicated a more general link between anxietydisorders and asthma, but this study focused specifically on PTSD, adisorder that involves nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks linked to"triggers" that develop after exposure to combat or other extremelydisturbing events.
This study looked at 3,065 male twin pairs listed in the Vietnam EraTwin Registry.
The twins were either identical (meaning they shared all the samegenetic material) or fraternal (sharing only half their genetic material).Such twin studies are useful to science, because they can help tease outgenetic and environmental influences.
The twins in this study had all lived together as children and had allserved on active military duty in Vietnam. There were no significantdifferences in history of combat exposure or cigarette smoking. Theoverall prevalence of asthma was 6 percent and was about the same inidentical and fraternal twins.
Twins who suffered from the most PTSD symptoms were 2.3 times morelikely to have asthma when compared with those who suffered from the leastPTSD symptoms. The increased risk was about the same for both fraternaland identical twins, suggesting an environmental underpinning rather thana genetic one.
"If there had been a strong genetic component to the link betweenasthma and PTSD, the results between these two types of twins would havebeen different, but we didn't find any substantial differences between thetwo," lead researcher Renee D. Goodwin, an assistant professor ofepidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia Universityin New York City, said in a statement.
No one knows what the mechanisms are behind the association. It'spossible that some sort of traumatic stress could trigger both PTSD andasthma, or one condition could contribute to the other.
"In my mind, the most likely thing that would relate these two ischildhood stress," Young said. "It's very well-known that children who area under a lot of stresses can grow up to have a different mental healthoutcome than their twin."
According to the study authors, understanding the association bettermay help PTSD prevention efforts by suggesting ways to modifyenvironmental risk factors.
THURSDAY, Nov. 15 (HealthDay News) -- A study of male twins who servedin Vietnam has uncovered a strong link between asthma and post-traumaticstress disorder (PTSD).
Columbia University researchers, reporting in the Nov. 15 issue of theAmerican Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, foundthat those who suffered the most from PTSD were more than twice as likelyto have asthma.
"This is very good data," said Keith A. Young, co-director of theCentral Texas Veterans Health Care System Neuropsychiatry ResearchProgram. "One of the things that is very clearly delineated by this studyis that there truly is an association. This association has been seen withother anxiety disorders before, and there were some hints with PTSD, butthis is the best. This kind of sets it in stone."
The challenge now is to find out whether this is a cause-and-effectrelationship.
Previous studies have indicated a more general link between anxietydisorders and asthma, but this study focused specifically on PTSD, adisorder that involves nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks linked to"triggers" that develop after exposure to combat or other extremelydisturbing events.
This study looked at 3,065 male twin pairs listed in the Vietnam EraTwin Registry.
The twins were either identical (meaning they shared all the samegenetic material) or fraternal (sharing only half their genetic material).Such twin studies are useful to science, because they can help tease outgenetic and environmental influences.
The twins in this study had all lived together as children and had allserved on active military duty in Vietnam. There were no significantdifferences in history of combat exposure or cigarette smoking. Theoverall prevalence of asthma was 6 percent and was about the same inidentical and fraternal twins.
Twins who suffered from the most PTSD symptoms were 2.3 times morelikely to have asthma when compared with those who suffered from the leastPTSD symptoms. The increased risk was about the same for both fraternaland identical twins, suggesting an environmental underpinning rather thana genetic one.
"If there had been a strong genetic component to the link betweenasthma and PTSD, the results between these two types of twins would havebeen different, but we didn't find any substantial differences between thetwo," lead researcher Renee D. Goodwin, an assistant professor ofepidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia Universityin New York City, said in a statement.
No one knows what the mechanisms are behind the association. It'spossible that some sort of traumatic stress could trigger both PTSD andasthma, or one condition could contribute to the other.
"In my mind, the most likely thing that would relate these two ischildhood stress," Young said. "It's very well-known that children who area under a lot of stresses can grow up to have a different mental healthoutcome than their twin."
According to the study authors, understanding the association bettermay help PTSD prevention efforts by suggesting ways to modifyenvironmental risk factors.
Study warns on safety of Sanofi's Acomplia
Study warns on safety of Sanofi's Acomplia
A logo of pharmaceutical company Sanofi Aventis is seen in Ambares near Bordeaux, southwestern France, September 20, 2006. Patients taking the Sanofi-Aventis (Regis Duvignau/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - Patients taking the Sanofi-Aventisanti-obesity drug Acomplia have well over double the risk ofdepression and anxiety, researchers said, adding to the badnews for a drug already linked to suicidal thoughts.
Danish researchers reviewed four studies featuring 4,105patients and found that people taking 20 milligrams per day ofthe drug were 2.5 times more likely to discontinue treatmentdue to depressive disorders and three times more likely to stopbecause of anxiety than those who received a placebo.
The findings published in the Lancet journal follow a U.S.advisory panel decision in June that the drug should not beapproved in the world's largest drugs market because it mayincrease suicidal thoughts and depression.
"Taken together with the recent U.S. Food and DrugAdministration finding of increased risk of suicide duringtreatment with rimonabant, we recommend increased alertness byphysicians to these potentially severe psychiatric reactions,"Arne Astrup of the University of Copenhagen and colleagueswrote.
A study in the British Medical Journal on Friday also foundthat people taking anti-obesity drugs -- including Acomplia --would only see "modest" weight loss with many remainingsignificantly obese or overweight.
Salah Mahyahou, Sanofi's head of product communication,said caution raised about who should get Acomplia was in linewith the firm's efforts' to ensure the medicine is notprescribed to patients with severe depression or onanti-depressive treatment.
"We believe the meta analysis does not reveal any new dataor any new evidence beyond what is already known by physiciansor health authorities," he said by telephone.
SIDE EFFECTS
The researchers did not conduct the studies themselves butdid what is called a meta-analysis by reviewing four separatetrials of patients who received 20 gram doses of Acomplia andothers who took a placebo.
They also found that while patients given Sanofi's druglost nearly 5 kilograms more over a one-year period, the riskof serious side effects -- ranging from dry mouth to headachesto depression -- rose 40 percent.
Acomplia -- also known by the brand name Zimulti in theUnited States and generically as rimonabant -- is the first ina new class of drugs that switch off the same brain circuitsthat make people hungry when they smoke cannabis.
Its unique biochemical effect and ability to reduce severalrisk factors for cardiovascular disease initially led topredictions it would become a multibillion-dollar-a-yearblockbuster. It recorded sales of just 21 million euros ($31million) in the third quarter.
But the latest findings are bad news for the world's thirdbiggest drug maker after it announced in September it plannedto begin new clinical trials of the medicine as a treatment fortype 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity.
Other researchers called the Danish findings especiallystriking given that people with a history of serious depressionor other psychiatric illnesses had been excluded from thestudies.
"Their meta-analysis has raised major questions about thesafety of rimonabant in obese people, who are already at anincreased risk of depression," Philip Mitchell and MargaretMorris of the University of New South Wales in Australia wrotein a Lancet commentary.
(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
A logo of pharmaceutical company Sanofi Aventis is seen in Ambares near Bordeaux, southwestern France, September 20, 2006. Patients taking the Sanofi-Aventis (Regis Duvignau/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - Patients taking the Sanofi-Aventisanti-obesity drug Acomplia have well over double the risk ofdepression and anxiety, researchers said, adding to the badnews for a drug already linked to suicidal thoughts.
Danish researchers reviewed four studies featuring 4,105patients and found that people taking 20 milligrams per day ofthe drug were 2.5 times more likely to discontinue treatmentdue to depressive disorders and three times more likely to stopbecause of anxiety than those who received a placebo.
The findings published in the Lancet journal follow a U.S.advisory panel decision in June that the drug should not beapproved in the world's largest drugs market because it mayincrease suicidal thoughts and depression.
"Taken together with the recent U.S. Food and DrugAdministration finding of increased risk of suicide duringtreatment with rimonabant, we recommend increased alertness byphysicians to these potentially severe psychiatric reactions,"Arne Astrup of the University of Copenhagen and colleagueswrote.
A study in the British Medical Journal on Friday also foundthat people taking anti-obesity drugs -- including Acomplia --would only see "modest" weight loss with many remainingsignificantly obese or overweight.
Salah Mahyahou, Sanofi's head of product communication,said caution raised about who should get Acomplia was in linewith the firm's efforts' to ensure the medicine is notprescribed to patients with severe depression or onanti-depressive treatment.
"We believe the meta analysis does not reveal any new dataor any new evidence beyond what is already known by physiciansor health authorities," he said by telephone.
SIDE EFFECTS
The researchers did not conduct the studies themselves butdid what is called a meta-analysis by reviewing four separatetrials of patients who received 20 gram doses of Acomplia andothers who took a placebo.
They also found that while patients given Sanofi's druglost nearly 5 kilograms more over a one-year period, the riskof serious side effects -- ranging from dry mouth to headachesto depression -- rose 40 percent.
Acomplia -- also known by the brand name Zimulti in theUnited States and generically as rimonabant -- is the first ina new class of drugs that switch off the same brain circuitsthat make people hungry when they smoke cannabis.
Its unique biochemical effect and ability to reduce severalrisk factors for cardiovascular disease initially led topredictions it would become a multibillion-dollar-a-yearblockbuster. It recorded sales of just 21 million euros ($31million) in the third quarter.
But the latest findings are bad news for the world's thirdbiggest drug maker after it announced in September it plannedto begin new clinical trials of the medicine as a treatment fortype 2 diabetes, which is linked to obesity.
Other researchers called the Danish findings especiallystriking given that people with a history of serious depressionor other psychiatric illnesses had been excluded from thestudies.
"Their meta-analysis has raised major questions about thesafety of rimonabant in obese people, who are already at anincreased risk of depression," Philip Mitchell and MargaretMorris of the University of New South Wales in Australia wrotein a Lancet commentary.
(Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
Study shows how some AIDS vaccines may harm
Study shows how some AIDS vaccines may harm
A Chinese woman checks her mobile phone while passing an anti-AIDS poster in Beijing November 28, 2004. Some viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system by exhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines. (Claro Cortes/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some viruses being used inexperimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system byexhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in afinding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines.
They said vaccines using the viruses should not be testedon people until more studies are done. But other vaccineexperts said the findings, while scientifically interesting,were not a cause for immediate alarm.
The usually harmless viruses are used as so-called vectorsto carry genetic material from the AIDS virus into the body sothat the immune system can recognize and rally against it.
But the viruses, called adeno-associated viruses, maythemselves be doing harm, said Dr. Hildegund Ertl, director ofthe Wistar Institute Vaccine Center in Philadelphia.
In mice, the adeno-associated virus, or AAV vaccines,directly interfered with immune cells called CD8 T-cells,Ertl's team reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.These are the "killer" T-cells that a vaccine is supposed tomuster to fight HIV.
"The immune cells become exhausted," Ertl said in atelephone interview.
"It is simply a defense mechanism of T-cells -- if there istoo much antigen for too long a time they simply turnthemselves off."
Antigens are the proteins the immune system uses torecognize enemies such as bacteria and viruses. In the case ofHIV, turned-off T-cells could leave a person more vulnerablethan usual to infection.
"AAVs do not cause disease," Ertl's team wrote. They cannoteven replicate on their own, instead piggybacking ontoadenoviruses, which cause colds, or herpes viruses.
But they do persist in the body.
VULNERABLE TO HIV
Ertl said it was unclear whether her findings might castlight on the troubling developments in a trial of an AIDSvaccine that used another virus, an adenovirus.
Vaccine maker Merck & Co stopped that trial in Septemberand said last week it appeared that the adenovirus used in thevaccine may have somehow made patients more vulnerable to HIVinfections.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative or IAVI used anadeno-associated virus in a trial of an AIDS vaccine thatwrapped up in January in Belgium, Germany and India, andanother in South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
IAVI's Pat Fast said the group was not testing AAV vaccinesany more.
"While we find the AAV study by Dr. Ertl and her group ...very interesting and we'll consider whether it can inform ourfuture studies, their study was conducted in mice and there arefundamental differences between mice and humans in theirrespective immune responses, particularly with regard to theimmune response against HIV," Fast said in a statement.
"The dose given to these mice was equivalent, on the basisof body weight, to 3,000 to 4,000 times the highest dose givento humans in the ... study in India."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study should be taken"with a very heavy dose of caution."He noted that adenoviruses and adeno-associated viruses arevery different microbes, despite the similarity of their names."We may be dealing with apples and oranges," Fauci said ina telephone interview.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
A Chinese woman checks her mobile phone while passing an anti-AIDS poster in Beijing November 28, 2004. Some viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system by exhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines. (Claro Cortes/Reuters)WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some viruses being used inexperimental AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system byexhausting key cells, researchers reported on Thursday in afinding that may further cloud the field of HIV vaccines.
They said vaccines using the viruses should not be testedon people until more studies are done. But other vaccineexperts said the findings, while scientifically interesting,were not a cause for immediate alarm.
The usually harmless viruses are used as so-called vectorsto carry genetic material from the AIDS virus into the body sothat the immune system can recognize and rally against it.
But the viruses, called adeno-associated viruses, maythemselves be doing harm, said Dr. Hildegund Ertl, director ofthe Wistar Institute Vaccine Center in Philadelphia.
In mice, the adeno-associated virus, or AAV vaccines,directly interfered with immune cells called CD8 T-cells,Ertl's team reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.These are the "killer" T-cells that a vaccine is supposed tomuster to fight HIV.
"The immune cells become exhausted," Ertl said in atelephone interview.
"It is simply a defense mechanism of T-cells -- if there istoo much antigen for too long a time they simply turnthemselves off."
Antigens are the proteins the immune system uses torecognize enemies such as bacteria and viruses. In the case ofHIV, turned-off T-cells could leave a person more vulnerablethan usual to infection.
"AAVs do not cause disease," Ertl's team wrote. They cannoteven replicate on their own, instead piggybacking ontoadenoviruses, which cause colds, or herpes viruses.
But they do persist in the body.
VULNERABLE TO HIV
Ertl said it was unclear whether her findings might castlight on the troubling developments in a trial of an AIDSvaccine that used another virus, an adenovirus.
Vaccine maker Merck & Co stopped that trial in Septemberand said last week it appeared that the adenovirus used in thevaccine may have somehow made patients more vulnerable to HIVinfections.
The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative or IAVI used anadeno-associated virus in a trial of an AIDS vaccine thatwrapped up in January in Belgium, Germany and India, andanother in South Africa, Uganda and Zambia.
IAVI's Pat Fast said the group was not testing AAV vaccinesany more.
"While we find the AAV study by Dr. Ertl and her group ...very interesting and we'll consider whether it can inform ourfuture studies, their study was conducted in mice and there arefundamental differences between mice and humans in theirrespective immune responses, particularly with regard to theimmune response against HIV," Fast said in a statement.
"The dose given to these mice was equivalent, on the basisof body weight, to 3,000 to 4,000 times the highest dose givento humans in the ... study in India."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute ofAllergy and Infectious Diseases, said the study should be taken"with a very heavy dose of caution."He noted that adenoviruses and adeno-associated viruses arevery different microbes, despite the similarity of their names."We may be dealing with apples and oranges," Fauci said ina telephone interview.(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Major U.S. Autism Study Gets Under Way
Major U.S. Autism Study Gets Under Way
FRIDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- A large, five-year studylooking at the genetic and environmental factors that may cause autism, aswell as other developmental delays, has started enrolling 2,700 childrenand their families from six areas in the United States.
The Study to Explore Early Development -- which researchers called thelargest of its kind -- will include children with autism and otherdevelopmental delays, as well as children with normal development.
Family medical history, genetics, and sociodemographic, lifestyle andenvironmental factors will be among the areas of focus in the study.Information will be gathered through interviews, physical examinations,medical records and cheek swab, blood and hair samples.
"We hope this will help us learn more about the factors that may leadto autism and other developmental disabilities, and how genes and theenvironment may affect child development," Lisa A. Croen, principalinvestigator at a site in California, said in a prepared statement.
"The results may also contribute to better services and treatments foraffected children and to prevention strategies," said Croen, anepidemiologist with Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland,Calif.
It's not understood why, but the incidence of autism is increasing andnow affects about one in 150 children born in the U.S. The chronicdisorder affects the normal functioning of the brain and affectsdevelopment of communication and social skills.
FRIDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- A large, five-year studylooking at the genetic and environmental factors that may cause autism, aswell as other developmental delays, has started enrolling 2,700 childrenand their families from six areas in the United States.
The Study to Explore Early Development -- which researchers called thelargest of its kind -- will include children with autism and otherdevelopmental delays, as well as children with normal development.
Family medical history, genetics, and sociodemographic, lifestyle andenvironmental factors will be among the areas of focus in the study.Information will be gathered through interviews, physical examinations,medical records and cheek swab, blood and hair samples.
"We hope this will help us learn more about the factors that may leadto autism and other developmental disabilities, and how genes and theenvironment may affect child development," Lisa A. Croen, principalinvestigator at a site in California, said in a prepared statement.
"The results may also contribute to better services and treatments foraffected children and to prevention strategies," said Croen, anepidemiologist with Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland,Calif.
It's not understood why, but the incidence of autism is increasing andnow affects about one in 150 children born in the U.S. The chronicdisorder affects the normal functioning of the brain and affectsdevelopment of communication and social skills.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Removing tonsils may not be best for kids: study
Removing tonsils may not be best for kids: study
LONDON (Reuters) - Removing the tonsils of children withmild or moderate throat infections is more expensive and hasfewer health benefits than simply watching and waiting, Dutchresearchers said on Monday.
In a study involving 300 children aged 2 to 8 advised tohave their tonsils out, those who avoided surgery had fewerannual visits to doctors and lower resulting medical costs dueto fevers and throat infections.
Tonsils are masses of tissue at the back of the throat thattrap bacteria and viruses a person may breathe in.
"Surgery resulted in a significant increase in costswithout realizing relevant clinical benefit," Erik Buskens, anepidemiologist and colleagues at the University Medical CentreUtrecht in the Netherlands, wrote in the Archives ofOtolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
Tonsillectomy is one of the most frequently performedsurgical procedures for children. Young patients havetraditionally had their tonsils removed to relieve repeatedthroat infections and related fevers.
While doctors today carry out far fewer tonsil operationsthan in the past, the Dutch study provides evidence that manychildren who do have the procedure see little, if any benefit.
In their study conducted between 2002 and 2003, the teamexcluded children with frequent throat infections or those whohad their tonsils removed because of sleep apnea.
The researchers asked parents to track their children'srespiratory track symptoms, measure their temperatures dailyand record any costs related to their care.
They found that annual costs among the group which did nothave surgery was about 551 euro per year, about 46 percent lessthan the 803 euros for children who had their tonsils removed.The children who avoided surgery also had fewer fevers, throatinfections and respiratory illnesses.
The researchers did not take into account costs borne byparents in the form of missed days from work or other expensesrelated to their children's illnesses.
And because the surgery is cheaper in the Netherland thanin many other countries, the gap between costs and benefits inother Western nations is likely greater, they said.
"Compared with other Western countries, our cost estimatesmay be low," the researchers wrote. "In other settings, thecost-effectiveness would be further offset by more costlyprocedures."
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Michael Winfrey)
LONDON (Reuters) - Removing the tonsils of children withmild or moderate throat infections is more expensive and hasfewer health benefits than simply watching and waiting, Dutchresearchers said on Monday.
In a study involving 300 children aged 2 to 8 advised tohave their tonsils out, those who avoided surgery had fewerannual visits to doctors and lower resulting medical costs dueto fevers and throat infections.
Tonsils are masses of tissue at the back of the throat thattrap bacteria and viruses a person may breathe in.
"Surgery resulted in a significant increase in costswithout realizing relevant clinical benefit," Erik Buskens, anepidemiologist and colleagues at the University Medical CentreUtrecht in the Netherlands, wrote in the Archives ofOtolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery.
Tonsillectomy is one of the most frequently performedsurgical procedures for children. Young patients havetraditionally had their tonsils removed to relieve repeatedthroat infections and related fevers.
While doctors today carry out far fewer tonsil operationsthan in the past, the Dutch study provides evidence that manychildren who do have the procedure see little, if any benefit.
In their study conducted between 2002 and 2003, the teamexcluded children with frequent throat infections or those whohad their tonsils removed because of sleep apnea.
The researchers asked parents to track their children'srespiratory track symptoms, measure their temperatures dailyand record any costs related to their care.
They found that annual costs among the group which did nothave surgery was about 551 euro per year, about 46 percent lessthan the 803 euros for children who had their tonsils removed.The children who avoided surgery also had fewer fevers, throatinfections and respiratory illnesses.
The researchers did not take into account costs borne byparents in the form of missed days from work or other expensesrelated to their children's illnesses.
And because the surgery is cheaper in the Netherland thanin many other countries, the gap between costs and benefits inother Western nations is likely greater, they said.
"Compared with other Western countries, our cost estimatesmay be low," the researchers wrote. "In other settings, thecost-effectiveness would be further offset by more costlyprocedures."
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Michael Winfrey)
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Study urges stepped-up response at youth hospitals
Study urges stepped-up response at youth hospitals
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Deploying standby emergency responseteams in children's hospitals could have a dramatic impact ondeath rates, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Some experts have recommended such teams for patients notin intensive care in adult and children's hospitals; butstudies have been inconsistent on whether they actually cutdeath rates in juvenile settings, a team from Lucile PackardChildren's Hospital and the Stanford University School ofMedicine said.
Their report, published in this week's Journal of theAmerican Medical Association, found that adding a rapidresponse team to work outside of intensive care units producedan 18 percent drop in the death rate, and about a 70 percentdecline in the rate of cardiac and respiratory arrests.
"The potential implications of these findings on nationalmortality rates for children are dramatic," the report said.
"Future research should focus on replicating these findingsin other pediatric inpatient settings, including settings wherechildren are treated in predominantly adult-focused hospitals,"it added.
Such teams consist of medical personnel with intensive careunit training who are available around the clock to rush to theaid of patients in the general hospital population whoseconditions appear to be deteriorating.
"Even in the hospital, sick children can deteriorate soquickly," said Dr. Paul Sharek, who led the study. "They don'thave the energy reserves or muscle mass that most adultpatients have."
In the Stanford study the teams were made availablebeginning in 2005 to proactively respond at the first sign oftrouble rather than waiting for further observations or alife-threatening development.
Once a child's heart or breathing stops "the odds oflong-term survival are pretty small," Sharek said.
"However, there's often a period of about six to eighthours when a child who might later (have trouble) begins toshow subtle signs of distress. If we can intervene early inthis process, the child is far more likely to improve than ifwe simply monitor and maintain the same approach to treatment,"he added.
The researchers said some of the cases responded to weretriggered simply because the child's caretaker or a parent feltsomething was not quite right, rather than a change in anyvital sign measurement.
"Despite the fact that (response teams) had never beenshown to decrease mortality in hospitalized children, wedecided to take a chance on this," Sharek said, adding that histeam was "excited about the results."
(Reporting by Michael Conlon; Editing by Maggie Fox andDavid Wiessler)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Deploying standby emergency responseteams in children's hospitals could have a dramatic impact ondeath rates, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Some experts have recommended such teams for patients notin intensive care in adult and children's hospitals; butstudies have been inconsistent on whether they actually cutdeath rates in juvenile settings, a team from Lucile PackardChildren's Hospital and the Stanford University School ofMedicine said.
Their report, published in this week's Journal of theAmerican Medical Association, found that adding a rapidresponse team to work outside of intensive care units producedan 18 percent drop in the death rate, and about a 70 percentdecline in the rate of cardiac and respiratory arrests.
"The potential implications of these findings on nationalmortality rates for children are dramatic," the report said.
"Future research should focus on replicating these findingsin other pediatric inpatient settings, including settings wherechildren are treated in predominantly adult-focused hospitals,"it added.
Such teams consist of medical personnel with intensive careunit training who are available around the clock to rush to theaid of patients in the general hospital population whoseconditions appear to be deteriorating.
"Even in the hospital, sick children can deteriorate soquickly," said Dr. Paul Sharek, who led the study. "They don'thave the energy reserves or muscle mass that most adultpatients have."
In the Stanford study the teams were made availablebeginning in 2005 to proactively respond at the first sign oftrouble rather than waiting for further observations or alife-threatening development.
Once a child's heart or breathing stops "the odds oflong-term survival are pretty small," Sharek said.
"However, there's often a period of about six to eighthours when a child who might later (have trouble) begins toshow subtle signs of distress. If we can intervene early inthis process, the child is far more likely to improve than ifwe simply monitor and maintain the same approach to treatment,"he added.
The researchers said some of the cases responded to weretriggered simply because the child's caretaker or a parent feltsomething was not quite right, rather than a change in anyvital sign measurement.
"Despite the fact that (response teams) had never beenshown to decrease mortality in hospitalized children, wedecided to take a chance on this," Sharek said, adding that histeam was "excited about the results."
(Reporting by Michael Conlon; Editing by Maggie Fox andDavid Wiessler)
Lung transplants no help for cystic fibrosis: study
Lung transplants no help for cystic fibrosis: study
An empty operating theatre is seen at the University hospital in western German city of Bonn March 16, 2006. Children with severe cystic fibrosis are seldom helped by a lung transplant, researchers said on Wednesday in findings they said stunned them. (Ina Fassbender/Reuters)BOSTON (Reuters) - Children with severe cystic fibrosis areseldom helped by a lung transplant, researchers said onWednesday in findings they said stunned them.
Only five of the 514 U.S. children on the waiting list fora transplant from 1992 through 2002 lived longer as a clearresult of the expensive and complicated operation, Dr. TheodoreLiou of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and colleaguesfound.
"We were stunned, literally," Liou said in a telephoneinterview.
"We went into this thinking there would be a number ofpatients who would benefit and a number who would not, and itwould balance out. This study showed it wasn't close to beingequal," said Liou, whose findings were reported in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine.
Transplantation is an accepted treatment for severe casesof the fatal genetic disease, which affects about 70,000 peopleworldwide and creates an abnormally thick mucus that clogs thelungs and digestive system.
But few studies have assessed the effectiveness of lungtransplants for helping treat the incurable disease.
Although the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation says that 50percent of recipients are alive five years after surgery,complications from transplants are responsible for 12 percentof all deaths among people with CF.
"A basic tenet regarding lung transplantation is that itextends life," Dr. Julian Allen of Children's Hospital ofPhiladelphia and Dr. Gary Visner of Children's Hospital inBoston wrote in a commentary.
"Most workers in transplant centers have encounteredpatients in whom the results of transplantation seem nothingshort of miraculous," they wrote.
However there have been hints that the operation may not bebest for sufferers under 18. The five-year survival rate of 33percent for children is less than for adults or people who havereceived a transplant for another reason, Allen and Visnersaid.
But the duo also cautioned that because there has been achange in the rules that determine who gets a new set of lungs,waiting times for the sickest patients have shortened. Thus theLiou findings may no longer apply.
Liou disagreed. The new system of ranking patients will nothelp people who are unlikely to benefit from a transplant inthe first place, he said.
"I think it's going to make people think twice about lungtransplants," he said.
Because of improvements in treatment, children who mighthave died in their mid-teens in the 1970s now survive untiltheir mid-30s.
"The results underscore that sustained, multidisciplinarycare rather than lung transplantation is central to longevityin children with cystic fibrosis," the Liou team concluded.
(Reporting by Gene Emery; Editing by Maggie Fox and VickiAllen)
An empty operating theatre is seen at the University hospital in western German city of Bonn March 16, 2006. Children with severe cystic fibrosis are seldom helped by a lung transplant, researchers said on Wednesday in findings they said stunned them. (Ina Fassbender/Reuters)BOSTON (Reuters) - Children with severe cystic fibrosis areseldom helped by a lung transplant, researchers said onWednesday in findings they said stunned them.
Only five of the 514 U.S. children on the waiting list fora transplant from 1992 through 2002 lived longer as a clearresult of the expensive and complicated operation, Dr. TheodoreLiou of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and colleaguesfound.
"We were stunned, literally," Liou said in a telephoneinterview.
"We went into this thinking there would be a number ofpatients who would benefit and a number who would not, and itwould balance out. This study showed it wasn't close to beingequal," said Liou, whose findings were reported in the NewEngland Journal of Medicine.
Transplantation is an accepted treatment for severe casesof the fatal genetic disease, which affects about 70,000 peopleworldwide and creates an abnormally thick mucus that clogs thelungs and digestive system.
But few studies have assessed the effectiveness of lungtransplants for helping treat the incurable disease.
Although the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation says that 50percent of recipients are alive five years after surgery,complications from transplants are responsible for 12 percentof all deaths among people with CF.
"A basic tenet regarding lung transplantation is that itextends life," Dr. Julian Allen of Children's Hospital ofPhiladelphia and Dr. Gary Visner of Children's Hospital inBoston wrote in a commentary.
"Most workers in transplant centers have encounteredpatients in whom the results of transplantation seem nothingshort of miraculous," they wrote.
However there have been hints that the operation may not bebest for sufferers under 18. The five-year survival rate of 33percent for children is less than for adults or people who havereceived a transplant for another reason, Allen and Visnersaid.
But the duo also cautioned that because there has been achange in the rules that determine who gets a new set of lungs,waiting times for the sickest patients have shortened. Thus theLiou findings may no longer apply.
Liou disagreed. The new system of ranking patients will nothelp people who are unlikely to benefit from a transplant inthe first place, he said.
"I think it's going to make people think twice about lungtransplants," he said.
Because of improvements in treatment, children who mighthave died in their mid-teens in the 1970s now survive untiltheir mid-30s.
"The results underscore that sustained, multidisciplinarycare rather than lung transplantation is central to longevityin children with cystic fibrosis," the Liou team concluded.
(Reporting by Gene Emery; Editing by Maggie Fox and VickiAllen)
Magnetic pulses to brain can treat depression: study
Magnetic pulses to brain can treat depression: study
A patient is seen at a psychiatric hospital. Stimulating the brain with rapid bursts of magnetic energy is a safe and effectively treatment for major depression, a new large-scale study has found.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)CHICAGO (AFP) - Stimulating the brain with rapid bursts of magnetic energy is a safe and effectively treatment for major depression, a new large-scale study has found.
The finding offers a ray of hope to the 20 to 40 percent of patients who do not respond to antidepressants and psychotherapy and to those who do not wish to treat their illness with drugs.
"This study provides new support for the efficacy of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a 'stand alone' treatment for depression," said John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry which will publish the study on December 1.
"This finding could be particularly important for patients who do not tolerate antidepressant medications, for whom they are not safe, or who have not benefited from other alternative treatments."
The treatment works by sending very rapid bursts of magnetic energy into the brain through coils attached to the scalp.
These pulses cause the neurons in a small area of the brain to "fire off," said study co-author Philip Janicak, a psychiatry professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
"It also indirectly sends signals down to the deeper areas of the brain which controls the appetite and are linked to depression," he said in a telephone interview.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation has been used as an alternative to electroshock treatment since the mid 1980's but small-scale studies of its effectiveness have shown mixed results, Janicak said.
This is the first large-scale study of the technique and researchers also used much higher doses of the energy pulses.
Remission rates among those who received the treatment were twice as high as those receiving a "sham" treatment where a shield was placed on the coils.
They were also higher than average rates in antidepressant drug trials, Janicak said.
This is particular significant given that most of the patients in the study had failed to respond to antidepressants - a criteria which would have excluded them from most drug trials, he said.
Researchers in at 23 sites in Canada, the United States and Australian randomly assigned 325 patients suffering from major depressive disorder to nine weeks of magnetic stimulation or a sham treatment.
Neither the patients nor the researchers knew who received the sham treatments and there was a very low drop-out rate, indicating that the treatment was well-tolerated by patients.
Side effects included headaches and scalp discomfort.
A patient is seen at a psychiatric hospital. Stimulating the brain with rapid bursts of magnetic energy is a safe and effectively treatment for major depression, a new large-scale study has found.(AFP/File/Torsten Blackwood)CHICAGO (AFP) - Stimulating the brain with rapid bursts of magnetic energy is a safe and effectively treatment for major depression, a new large-scale study has found.
The finding offers a ray of hope to the 20 to 40 percent of patients who do not respond to antidepressants and psychotherapy and to those who do not wish to treat their illness with drugs.
"This study provides new support for the efficacy of TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) as a 'stand alone' treatment for depression," said John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry which will publish the study on December 1.
"This finding could be particularly important for patients who do not tolerate antidepressant medications, for whom they are not safe, or who have not benefited from other alternative treatments."
The treatment works by sending very rapid bursts of magnetic energy into the brain through coils attached to the scalp.
These pulses cause the neurons in a small area of the brain to "fire off," said study co-author Philip Janicak, a psychiatry professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
"It also indirectly sends signals down to the deeper areas of the brain which controls the appetite and are linked to depression," he said in a telephone interview.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation has been used as an alternative to electroshock treatment since the mid 1980's but small-scale studies of its effectiveness have shown mixed results, Janicak said.
This is the first large-scale study of the technique and researchers also used much higher doses of the energy pulses.
Remission rates among those who received the treatment were twice as high as those receiving a "sham" treatment where a shield was placed on the coils.
They were also higher than average rates in antidepressant drug trials, Janicak said.
This is particular significant given that most of the patients in the study had failed to respond to antidepressants - a criteria which would have excluded them from most drug trials, he said.
Researchers in at 23 sites in Canada, the United States and Australian randomly assigned 325 patients suffering from major depressive disorder to nine weeks of magnetic stimulation or a sham treatment.
Neither the patients nor the researchers knew who received the sham treatments and there was a very low drop-out rate, indicating that the treatment was well-tolerated by patients.
Side effects included headaches and scalp discomfort.
Active parents raise active kids: study
Active parents raise active kids: study
A child works out on an exercise ball. Active parents can, by their example, encourage their children to be physically active, but the effect is less than widely thought, according to a study of more than 5,000 10- and 11-year-olds published Friday.(AFP/File/Tim Sloan)PARIS (AFP) - Active parents can, by their example, encourage their children to be physically active, but the effect is less than widely thought, according to a study of more than 5,000 10- and 11-year-olds published Friday.
Its findings touch on strategies for reducing diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular conditions and diabetes that are growing at epidemic proportions due mainly to a couch-potato lifestyle.
A team of British and US researchers led by Calum Mattocks of the University of Bristol monitored 4,451 children for at least 10 hours a day over three days, tracking the intensity and frequency of their exercise with accelerometers attached to their ankles.
The children were also asked to record any time they swam or rode bicycles because the devices do not monitor these activities accurately.
The researchers then compared the results against statements provided by the parents on their level of physical activity in several categories.
These included maternal walking or swimming during pregnancy, parental exercise when the child was 21 months old, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and parental smoking at an early age.
Surprisingly, children of smoking parents tended to be slightly more active physically than kids whose parents were non-smokers.
"Few of the early life factors were associated with later physical activity in 10- to 11-year-olds, and for those that were, the association was modest," says the study, published in the British journal The Lancet.
But even the scarcity of links is important, the researchers said.
It can help health officials provide guidelines to parents which emphasise the factors -- however few -- that are known to work, they said.
A child works out on an exercise ball. Active parents can, by their example, encourage their children to be physically active, but the effect is less than widely thought, according to a study of more than 5,000 10- and 11-year-olds published Friday.(AFP/File/Tim Sloan)PARIS (AFP) - Active parents can, by their example, encourage their children to be physically active, but the effect is less than widely thought, according to a study of more than 5,000 10- and 11-year-olds published Friday.
Its findings touch on strategies for reducing diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular conditions and diabetes that are growing at epidemic proportions due mainly to a couch-potato lifestyle.
A team of British and US researchers led by Calum Mattocks of the University of Bristol monitored 4,451 children for at least 10 hours a day over three days, tracking the intensity and frequency of their exercise with accelerometers attached to their ankles.
The children were also asked to record any time they swam or rode bicycles because the devices do not monitor these activities accurately.
The researchers then compared the results against statements provided by the parents on their level of physical activity in several categories.
These included maternal walking or swimming during pregnancy, parental exercise when the child was 21 months old, maternal smoking during pregnancy, and parental smoking at an early age.
Surprisingly, children of smoking parents tended to be slightly more active physically than kids whose parents were non-smokers.
"Few of the early life factors were associated with later physical activity in 10- to 11-year-olds, and for those that were, the association was modest," says the study, published in the British journal The Lancet.
But even the scarcity of links is important, the researchers said.
It can help health officials provide guidelines to parents which emphasise the factors -- however few -- that are known to work, they said.
Glaxo rotavirus vaccine highly effective: study
Glaxo rotavirus vaccine highly effective: study
A staff member of a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) laboratory works in Singapore March 21, 2007. GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Rotarix vaccine given along with other routine infant shots is highly effective at protecting against rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhoea in young children, researchers said on Friday. (Nicky Loh/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Rotarix vaccinegiven along with other routine infant shots is highly effectiveat protecting against rotavirus, the most common cause ofsevere diarrhoea in young children, researchers said on Friday.
New data from a large European trial, published in theLancet journal, showed the oral vaccine worked against the fivemost commonly circulating rotavirus types -- G1, G2, G3, G4 andG9 -- responsible for 98 percent of rotavirus gastroenteritis.
The researchers found that after one dose of the vaccine,24 out of 2,572 infants given the vaccine had rotavirusgastroenteritis episodes of any severity compared to 94 out of1,302 given placebo, giving a vaccine efficacy of 87.1 percent.
Vaccine efficacy after two doses over two rotavirus seasonsremained high at 78.9 percent and was 90.4 percent againstsevere rotavirus gastroenteritis, Timo Vesikari of Finland'sUniversity of Tampere and colleagues reported.
"Our study findings show that, if integrated into routineinfant immunization schedules, vaccination with RIX4414(Rotarix) could result in significant reduction not only ofrotavirus disease burden but also of severe pediatricgastroenteritis during the first two years of life," they said.
Rotavirus kills an estimated 611,000 children worldwideevery year, the vast majority of them in Africa and Asia, andthe arrival of a new generation of oral vaccines against thedisease has been welcomed by healthcare workers.
But some experts caution against assuming that vaccineslike Glaxo's Rotarix and Merck & Co Inc's rival product RotaTeqwill work equally well in all countries.
In a commentary in the Lancet, Australian pediatric expertsKeith Grimwood and Julie Bines said virus diversity in Africaand Asia meant no global vaccination recommendations could bemade until vaccine trials were completed in these regions.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Cowell)
A staff member of a GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) laboratory works in Singapore March 21, 2007. GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Rotarix vaccine given along with other routine infant shots is highly effective at protecting against rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhoea in young children, researchers said on Friday. (Nicky Loh/Reuters)LONDON (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Rotarix vaccinegiven along with other routine infant shots is highly effectiveat protecting against rotavirus, the most common cause ofsevere diarrhoea in young children, researchers said on Friday.
New data from a large European trial, published in theLancet journal, showed the oral vaccine worked against the fivemost commonly circulating rotavirus types -- G1, G2, G3, G4 andG9 -- responsible for 98 percent of rotavirus gastroenteritis.
The researchers found that after one dose of the vaccine,24 out of 2,572 infants given the vaccine had rotavirusgastroenteritis episodes of any severity compared to 94 out of1,302 given placebo, giving a vaccine efficacy of 87.1 percent.
Vaccine efficacy after two doses over two rotavirus seasonsremained high at 78.9 percent and was 90.4 percent againstsevere rotavirus gastroenteritis, Timo Vesikari of Finland'sUniversity of Tampere and colleagues reported.
"Our study findings show that, if integrated into routineinfant immunization schedules, vaccination with RIX4414(Rotarix) could result in significant reduction not only ofrotavirus disease burden but also of severe pediatricgastroenteritis during the first two years of life," they said.
Rotavirus kills an estimated 611,000 children worldwideevery year, the vast majority of them in Africa and Asia, andthe arrival of a new generation of oral vaccines against thedisease has been welcomed by healthcare workers.
But some experts caution against assuming that vaccineslike Glaxo's Rotarix and Merck & Co Inc's rival product RotaTeqwill work equally well in all countries.
In a commentary in the Lancet, Australian pediatric expertsKeith Grimwood and Julie Bines said virus diversity in Africaand Asia meant no global vaccination recommendations could bemade until vaccine trials were completed in these regions.
(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Cowell)
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