July 14, 2010, 7:13 AM CT

Smoking influences gene function

In the largest study of its kind, scientists at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) have observed that exposure to cigarette smoke can alter gene expression -- the process by which a gene's information is converted into the structures and functions of a cell. These alterations in response to smoking appear to have a wide-ranging negative influence on the immune system, and a strong involvement in processes correlation to cancer, cell death and metabolism.

The researchers indentified 323 unique genes whose expression levels were significantly correlated with smoking behavior in their study of 1,240 people. The changes were detected by studying the activity of genes within white blood cells of study participants.

"Our results indicate that not only individual genes but entire networks of gene interaction are influenced by cigarette smoking," wrote main author Jac Charlesworth, Ph.D., in the July 15 issue of the open access journal BMC Medical Genomics Charlesworth, formerly at SFBR, is now a research fellow at the Menzies Research Institute at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Azar and Shepperd families of San Antonio, ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals and the AT&T Foundation. The study is part of SFBR's San Antonio Family Heart Study (SAFHS) which includes 40 families in the Mexican American community......... Posted by: Scott      Read more         Source

July 14, 2010, 7:11 AM CT

New vitamin D intake guidelines

New and updated guidelines on recommended vitamin D intake have been published this week in the online issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

Dr. David Hanley, professor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine, and member of Osteoporosis Canada's (OC) Scientific Advisory Council, is the main author of the paper on behalf of Osteoporosis Canada.

"OC's current recommendations on vitamin D intake for Canadians are more than 10 years old, and since then, there has been a lot of new and exciting research in this area," says Hanley, who is also a member of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health and the Calgary Institute for Population and Public Health (CIPPH) at the U of C. "Because of these research advances, we felt it was time to update OC's 2002 Clinical Practice Guidelines for the therapy and management of osteoporosis."

Vitamin D, often called the sunshine vitamin, is mainly obtained from sun exposure of our skin. However, Canadians are not getting enough. Supplements are necessary to obtain adequate levels because a person's diet has minimal impact. "Canadians are at risk of vitamin D deficiency from October to April because winter sunlight in northern latitudes does not allow for adequate vitamin D production," says Julie Foley, president & CEO of Osteoporosis Canada. "Also, because vitamin D requirements for an individual may vary considerably depending on a number of factors, it's very important to check with your doctor about how much vitamin D you should be taking."........ Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 13, 2010, 7:23 AM CT

How prostate cancer packs a punch

Some types of prostate tumors are more aggressive and more likely to metastasize than others. Nearly one-third of these aggressive tumors contain a small nest of particularly dangerous cells known as neuroendocrine-type cells. More rarely, some aggressive prostate tumors are made up entirely of neuroendocrine-type cells. The presence of neuroendocrine-type cancer cells is linked to a poor prognosis, but spotting these rare cells can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Now, as per a research findings reported in the July 13 issue of Cancer Cell, a team of researchers led by Ze'ev Ronai, Ph.D. at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) has identified a series of proteins that might make it easier for doctors to better diagnose the more metastatic forms of prostate cancer.

"In identifying this protein pathway, which determines the formation of neuroendocrine tumors, we've identified new markers that can be used to distinguish the dangerous cells and find new targets for treatment," said Dr. Ronai, associate director of Sanford-Burnham's National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center.

This study uncovers a protein named Siah2, which initiates a cascade of molecular events that turns a non-cancerous tumor into a metastatic neuroendocrine tumor. In collaboration with four other medical centers across the United States, Dr. Ronai and colleagues analyzed human prostate cancer samples and observed that Siah2 and the other proteins it triggers is detected more often in the aggressive neuroendocrine forms of prostate tumors than in other types. By acting as markers for especially aggressive prostate cancers, Siah2 and its partners could provide doctors with an early warning sign for tumors that are likely to metastasize......... Posted by: Mark      Read more         Source

July 13, 2010, 7:21 AM CT

New Approach For Diabetes Therapy

Nutrition experts at Oregon State University have essentially "cured" laboratory mice of mild, diet-induced diabetes by stimulating the production of a particular enzyme.

The findings could offer a new approach to diabetes treatment, experts say, particularly if a drug could be identified that would do the same thing, which in this case was accomplished with genetic manipulation.

Increased levels of this enzyme, called fatty acid elongase-5, restored normal function to diseased livers in mice, restored normal levels of blood glucose and insulin, and effectively corrected the risk factors incurred with diet-induced diabetes.

"This effect was fairly remarkable and not anticipated," said Donald Jump, a professor of nutrition and exercise sciences at Oregon State, where he is an expert on lipid metabolism and principal investigator with OSU's Linus Pauling Institute.

"It doesn't provide a treatment yet, but could be fairly important if we can find a drug to raise levels of this enzyme," Jump said. "There are already some drugs on the market that do this to a point, and further research in the field would be merited".

The studies were done on a family of enzymes called "fatty acid elongases," which have been known of for decades. Humans get essential fatty acids that they cannot naturally make from certain foods in their diet. These essential fatty acids are converted to longer and more unsaturated fatty acids. The fatty acid end products of these reactions are important for managing metabolism, inflammation, cognitive function, cardiovascular health, reproduction, vision and other metabolic roles......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 13, 2010, 7:02 AM CT

Could our minds be tricked into satisfying our stomachs?

Research to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, suggests that the key to losing weight could lie in manipulating our beliefs about how filling we think food will be before we eat it, suggesting that portion control is all a matter of perception.

Test subjects were more satisfied for longer periods of time after consuming varying quantities of food for which they were led to think that portion sizes were larger than they actually were.

Memories about how satisfying prior meals were also played a causal role in determining how long those meals staved off hunger. Together, these results suggest that expectations before eating and memory after eating play an important role in governing appetite and satiety.

In the first experiment, participants were shown the ingredients of a fruit smoothie. Half were shown a small portion of fruit and half were shown a large portion. They were then asked to assess the 'expected satiety' of the smoothie and to provide ratings before and three hours after consumption. Participants who were shown the large portion of fruit reported significantly greater fullness, even though all participants consumed the same smaller quantity of fruit......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 13, 2010, 6:51 AM CT

Men who are obese at age 20 two times risk of death

Stockholm, Sweden: Men who enter adult life obese face a life-long doubling of the risk of dying prematurely, new research has found.

In a study presented today (Tuesday) at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, scientists tracked more than 5,000 military conscripts starting at the age of 20 until up to the age of 80. They observed that at any given age, an obese man was twice as likely to die as a man who was not obese and that obesity at age 20 years had a constant effect on death up to 60 years later. They also observed that the chance of dying early increased by 10% for each BMI point above the threshold for a healthy weight and that this persisted throughout life, with the obese dying about eight years earlier than the non-obese.

"As the obesity epidemic is still progressing rapidly, particularly among children and adolescents, it is important to find out if obesity in early adulthood has lifelong mortality effects," said the study's leader, Esther Zimmermann, a researcher at the Institute of Preventive Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at University of Copenhagen in Denmark. "Prior studies have investigated obesity and mortality in middle-aged populations, which only tells us about the detrimental effects of obesity in middle age. Our study sheds light on how obesity at age 20 years affects obesity throughout adult life. It is the first study with such a long follow-up time and thus the first study to investigate the lifelong effect."........ Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 12, 2010, 6:49 AM CT

Many popular slimming supplements do not work

New research evaluating the effectiveness of a broad selection of popular slimming supplements sold in pharmacies and health food shops has found no evidence that any of them facilitate weight loss beyond the placebo effect.

Two studies presented today (Monday) at the International Congress on Obesity in Stockholm, Sweden, have found they were no more effective than the fake supplements they were compared with.

"There are scores of slimming supplements out there claiming weight-loss effects through all sorts of mechanisms of action. We have so-called fat magnets, mobilizers and dissolvers, as well as appetite tamers, metabolism boosters, carb blockers and so on. The market for these is huge, but unlike for regulated drugs, effectiveness does not have to be proven for these to be sold," said Dr. Thomas Ellrott, head of the Institute for Nutrition and Psychology at the University of Gttingen Medical School, Gera number of, who lead one of the studies. "Few of these supplements have been submitted to clinical trials and the landscape of products is always changing, so we need to put them through rigorous scientific assessment to determine whether they have any benefit."

Ellrott's group tested nine popular supplements against placebo pills in a randomized controlled trial. The supplements tested included L-Carnitine, polyglucosamine, cabbage powder, guarana seed powder, bean extract, Konjac extract, fibre pills, sodium alginate formulations and selected plant extracts......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

July 12, 2010, 6:45 AM CT

Quality of sleep in head and neck cancer patients

Head and neck cancer patients who reported poor sleep quality one year after diagnosis had more symptoms of chronic pain and complaints of dry mouth correlation to radiation therapys, as per a recent study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Because these side effects can be controlled or modified, the study suggests that reducing these factors in head and neck cancer patients appears to be warranted to improve sleep hygiene and enhance quality of life. Prior U-M studies have shown that head and neck cancer patients who reported lower physical quality of life were more likely to die from their disease.

"Sleep disturbances are a common complaint in head and neck cancer patients and have been shown to decrease quality of life, decrease mental health and serve as a predictor of other complications in the therapy of the cancer. They can also negatively affect the immune system and the ability to deal with stresses of the diagnosis," says senior study author Jeffrey Terrell, M.D., professor of otolaryngology at the U-M Medical School.

The study observed that a tracheotomy, depression and younger age also adversely affected sleep in patients.

"While cancer patients in general have been known to have decreased sleep quality, head and neck cancer patients may have unique issues such as facial disfigurements and side effects from therapys that can affect the mouth and throat. These problems may thereby contribute to breathing problems which can impede sleep," says study author Sonia A. Duffy, Ph.D., R.N., associate professor of nursing at the U-M School of Nursing and otolaryngology at the U-M Medical School and research scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System......... Posted by: Sue      Read more         Source

July 9, 2010, 7:29 AM CT

How to slow growth of malignant melanoma?

New Queen's University research has shown that the growth of melanoma, one of the most deadly forms of skin cancer, can be slowed when a little known gene called MicroRNA 193b is added.

Victor Tron, head of pathology and molecular medicine, focused on miR-193b when he discovered that it was deficient in melanoma tumors and because there were very few studies done about the gene. The miRNA-193b gene is found in people's DNA and was unknown until 10 years ago.

"Our experiment was a bit of a fishing expedition in the beginning. We thought 193b might be important but the fact we got such a tremendous reaction the melanoma really slowed down when we added 193b was really startling," says Dr. Tron, who worked with eight other Queen's researchers. "It's a totally new discovery".

In experiments, increased levels of miR-193b increased in melanoma cells led to lower levels of a well-known protein called cyclin D1, and decreased melanoma cell growth.

Lab experiments with tissue samples proved that miR-193b plays a role in the melanoma process. Further studies will be needed to find out what causes miR-193b levels to go up and down.

"This is the first step in a long road towards finding a melanoma cure," says Professor Tron.

Melanoma is one of the least common forms of skin cancer, yet causes 75 per cent of skin cancer deaths......... Posted by: Janet      Read more         Source

July 9, 2010, 7:22 AM CT

Happier youths are also healthier youths

Happier youths are also healthier youths, as per Emily Shaffer-Hudkins and her team, from the University of South Florida in the US. Adolescents' positive emotions and moods, as well as their satisfaction with life, could be more important than their anxiety or depression levels for predicting their physical health, they argue. Looking at teenagers' so-called 'subjective well-being' could help identify those likely to develop health problems in the future and target them with appropriate prevention strategies. Shaffer-Hudkins' work1 is published in Springer's journal Applied Research in Quality of Life.

To date, the majority of the research looking at the relationship between mental health and physical health in young people has focused primarily on how symptoms of poor mental health, or psychopathology, such as anxiety and depression, relate to physical functioning. This approach fails to take into account the potential influence of positive indicators of mental health, such as positive emotions and mood states and life satisfaction, known as subjective well-being.

Shaffer-Hudkins' study is the first to look at both positive and negative indicators of mental health in relation to physical health in a sample of 401 students in grades 6-8 from a suburban southeastern middle school in the United States. The teenagers rated their satisfaction with life, whether they had recently felt excited, strong and proud (positive affect) as well as lonely, guilty and sad (negative affect). They were also asked about feeling withdrawn, anxious and depressed and about delinquent and aggressive behavior (all indicators of psychopathology). Finally, they told scientists about their physical health......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source