Archive for May, 2010

As per a research conducted, in part, at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center, people suffering from cancer spreading to the brain could expect better quality of life and a prolonged life when they are treated with a combination of radiation techniques.

This is the first data highlighting the benefits of radiosurgery to treat brain metastases, as per Michael C. Schell, Ph.D., a study author and medical physicist with the Robert J. Flavin Shaped Beam Surgery Center at the Wilmot Cancer Center.

From News-medical.net:

“The prognosis for people with brain metastases is poor and any increase in survival rates is significant,” says Paul Okunieff, M.D., radiation chair at the Wilmot Cancer Center. The median survival for these patients is one or two months if they’re treated with steroids, or up to six months for patients who receive standard radiation therapy.

The National Cancer Institute-funded, Phase III clinical trail focused on 333 patients who had up to three brain metastases who received 15 whole-brain radiation therapy treatments with or without stereotactic radiosurgery between 1996 and 2001.

Data shows an increased survival rate, from 4.9 months to 6.5 months, for patients with a single tumor treated with the radiation and radiosurgery. Patients who had multiple brain metastases treated with both techniques did not show significant improvement in their survival rates, but they were more likely to experience a better quality of life.

The less-invasive technique offers more precision to the oncologists when it comes to reducing healthy tissue damage and destroying tumor cells.

Children suffering from asthma but making it a point to get themselves engage into physical fitness can exercise a better control on the disease besides improving the quality of life, as per a study published recently in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the official journal of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

The study results suggested aerobic training as effective to improve cardiopulmonary fitness and reduce daily use of inhaled steroids in children with asthma.

From Medicalnewstoday.com:

Asthmatic children, even with moderate to severe disease, showed significant improvements in their aerobic capacity after the training program and a reduction in exercise induced-bronchoconstriction, which induces breathlessness and is a characteristic response to exercise present in most patients. Daily doses of inhaled steroids were reduced in trained patients by 52 percent, but remained unchanged or increased in the control (untrained) group. When compared to controls, these children also reported a significant improvement in health-related quality of life.

The authors emphasize that training should be supervised and performed in children properly medicated, and the actual impact of physical training on clinical indicators of disease control is unknown. While these data suggest an adjunct role of physical conditioning on clinical management of patients with more advanced disease, additional research is warranted to discover the contribution of exercise on asthma symptoms and its manifestations.

Celso Carvalho, Ph.D., an author on the study, remarked that physical training could be a management strategy for symptoms of asthma in children.

In the world of professional sports including bodybuilding, Metribolone is considered to be one of the most potent anabolic steroids ever produced. Read on!

Metribolone, which is also known as Methyltrienolone, is commonly referred to as “Oral Tren” due to its resemblance to structure of Trenbolone. This potent and non-aromatizable androgen is highly effective even at low doses. It is believed by many that several athletes made use of this drug during the late 1990s and even cleared the doping tests successfully, suggesting its efficacy.

One will be surprised to note that Metribolone is stronger (milligram for milligram) than any active steroid sold in today’s commercial market and brings dramatic benefits even at low doses of 0.5-1.0 mg per day. However, Metribolone should not be used for a period exceeding four weeks at a stretch.

Metribolone and Bodybuilding

Metribolone is used by bodybuilders before the start of a competition. Since it does not lead to estrogen conversion and works best even at low doses (with no side effects), it is admired by one and all.

Medical Use

The strong anabolic/androgenic actions of Metribolone have been utilized by medical practitioners, over the years, to inhibit the local effects of endogenous estrogens for regressing tumor growth in incidents of advanced breast cancer.

Metribolone Abuse

Use of low-grade Metribolone or Metribolone abuse can lead to possible progesterone related side effects. It can also lead to side effects such as gynecomastia, fluid retention, acne, oily skin, and development of breasts in men.

Tips for Metribolone Use

For steroid users making use of Metribolone, antiestrogens such as Clomid and Nolvadex are highly recommended for restoring the natural production of testosterone after end of a steroid cycle.

We hope that you benefited from this piece of information on Metribolone.

A drug that was previously approved for treating non-Hodgkin’s B cell lymphoma and rheumatoid arthritis was identified by researchers in treating severe ANCA-associated vasculitis.

The drug, Rituxan, can treat severe ANCA-associated vasculitis as effectively as cyclophosphamide, the current standard therapy.

This news was presented at an annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology in Philadelphia.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In the current study, nine centers enrolled a total of 197 patients with severe Wegener’s granulomatosis or microscopic polyangiitis, two of the more common types of ANCA-associated vasculitis. Patients were given steroids and randomized to receive either the standard treatment with cyclophosphamide or Rituxan given at a dose of 375 mg/m2 weekly for four weeks. Investigators used the standard tools to assess disease status and remission. The study was rigorously designed and was double-blinded, meaning that neither patient nor doctor knew which drug individuals were getting.

At the time of the data analysis, 84 of the 99 (85%) patients in the Rituxan arm and 81 of the 98 patients (83%) in the cyclophosphamide arm had completed six months of follow-up. Investigators found that the treatments were equally effective in putting patients into remission and that, in fact, the treatment outcomes looked slightly better in patients receiving Rituxan (64% vs. 55%). This difference, however, was not considered statistically significant (P=0.21).

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (specifically the Immune Tolerance Network through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases).

Researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have identified an important genetic cause of a lethal kidney complication. This complication is the second leading cause of kidney failure among children as per The NephCure Foundation.

This study was published online by Nature Genetics study’s coauthors were Johannes Schlöndorff and Daniel Becker of HMS and Brigham and Women’s Renal Division, Hiroyasu Tsukaguchi, Andrea Uscinski of Brigham and Women’s Renal Division, Henry Higgs of Dartmouth Medical School, and Joel Henderson of Brigham and Women’s Department of Pathology, and is expected to offer insights for developing treatments concerned with the disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).

From Sciencedaily.com:

FSGS attacks the kidney’s filtering system, causing proteins to be lost into the urine and reducing the kidney’s ability to filter wastes from the blood. According to NephCure, which helped fund the study, 26 million Americans suffer from chronic kidney disease, of which FSGS is one of the most common forms.

Patients with FSGS are often treated with steroids, which are only partially effective and have very harsh side effects. In addition, they often face several trips a week to the hospital for dialysis, and many require a kidney transplant, along with lifelong treatment with powerful immunosuppressants to prevent organ rejection.

The study was supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, the Clinical Investigator Training Program: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Health Sciences and Technology, Pfizer Inc., Merck and Co., The NephCure Foundation, and the Cole Pasqualucci Nephrotic Syndrome and FSGS Research fund.

A researcher from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has developed a new way to halt and even reverse rheumatoid arthritis. Harris Perlman, the lead author and an associate professor of medicine at Feinberg, remarked that this new therapy inhibits the disease cold in 75 percent of the mice.

The finding is related to the development of an imitation of a suicide molecule that floats without being identified into overactive immune cells responsible for the disease.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Perlman discovered that immune cells in rheumatoid arthritis are low in a critical molecule called Bim, whose job is to order the cells to self-destruct. To correct that shortage, Perlman developed an imitation of the molecule, called BH3 mimetic. When Harris injected his drug into mice with rheumatoid arthritis, it floated ghostlike into their macrophages and bam!, the misbehaving immune cells self destructed.

In his research, Harris showed the molecule could prevent the development of rheumatoid arthritis as well as trigger a remission of existing disease. After the drug was injected in animals with the disease, joint swelling was reduced and bone destruction decreased.

Current treatments for rheumatoid arthritis include low-level chemotherapy and steroids. These are not always effective, however, and they are frequently accompanied by side effects. A newer class of therapy, which is sometimes used in combination with chemotherapy and steroids, is biologic response modifiers. These are antibodies or other proteins that reduce the inflammation produced by the hyperactive immune cells. These biologics don’t work for everyone, though, and can be associated with side effects including the risk of infection.

The study was published in the February issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

When it comes to powerful performance enhancing drugs in the worlds of bodybuilding and professional sports, IGF1 LR3 is an admired name. Read on!

IGF1 LR3, also known as Insulin like Growth Factor 1 Long R3, can be easily termed as a peptide that is similar in appearance as insulin.

IGF1 LR3 is an improved version of IGF-1 and it positively stimulates the entire human body including key body organs and systems such as nerves, kidney, lungs, cartilage, muscles, and skin. In addition to that, IGF-1 LR3 is also helpful in regulation of cell growth and development besides promoting a balanced cellular DNA synthesis.

In addition to all these benefits, IGF1 LR3 is also beneficial as burning fat and reducing protein breakdown are easy with it. It also promotes enhancements in the levels of transportation of amino acids to cells, glucose transportation, protein and RNA synthesis, and minimize protein degradation. It is also useful to regenerate nerve tissue and reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol. Furthermore, IGF1 LR3 is also useful to stimulate muscle growth and inhibiting insulin from getting transporting glucose across the cell membranes. IGF1 LR3 is also admired for its ability to alter the genetic abilities for enhancing the levels of muscle size and density.

The advised dose of IGF-1 LR3 is 20-130 mcg per day. When taken in an injectable form, the best time for injecting is in the morning or a few minutes after weight training. It is worth noting here that IGF-1 LR3 is best when administered via subcutaneous injections.

We hope that this piece of information on IGF-1 LR3 was useful to you in more than just a way.

If you want to know about Mannitol, an FDA-approved drug used as an osmotic diuretic and a mild renal vasodilator, this piece of information is just for you. Read on!

Mannitol is considered to be an exemplary osmotic diuretic and a mild renal vasodilator by medical practitioners all over the world. Available in oral as well as injectable (intravenous) form, it is effective for treating excessive intracranial pressure and oliguria.

Mannitol is also recommended for expansion of openings in the blood-brain barrier besides being used as a sweetening agent and laxative for people with diabetes and children, respectively. In addition to that, Mannitol is used in conjunction with other diuretics (e.g., furosemide, chlorothiazide) and/or IV fluid replacement for removing drugs and poisons such as aspirin, barbiturates, bromides, and carbon monoxide from the human body.

One of the greatest advantages with Mannitol is that it can easily raise osmolarity so that the body is better positioned to pass away more of water. This means that the volume of extracellular fluid can be reduced for relieving pressure. The drug is also effective in reducing the intake or curbing the habit of consuming methamphetamines, heroine, or other recreational drugs.

Mannitol is required to be administered only by an intravenous infusion. The usually recommended dose for adults is 50-200 g in a period of 24 hours.  Fliptop vials of Mannitol are required to be kept at a controlled room temperature, 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F).

We hope that you have benefited from this information on Mannitol.

According to German researchers, concentrations of testosterone in men and estrogen in women (sex hormones) can have a positive effect on the regenerative potential of cartilage tissue.

Hormone replacement in the joint fluid of men and women could be useful for treating late stages of human osteoarthritis (OA) by regenerating damaged tissue, according to the study.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Nicolai Miosge, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues from the August University in Goettingen, Germany examined the regenerative potential of chondrogenic progenitor cells (CPCs) that are present in arthritic tissue during the late stages of OA. The research team speculated that these CPCs might be influenced by sex steroids, and therefore hormone replacement therapy directed to the joint fluid could be beneficial in restoring damaged tissue. Tissue samples from 372 patients who underwent total knee replacement were analyzed. The mean age was 71 years of age for men and 72 years for women, with women representing 64.25% of participants.

Estrogens are known to influence bone metabolism and researchers found that 17β-estradiol (E2), which increases calcium deposition in both sexes, was present in the joint fluid of study participants. CPCs positive for estrogen receptors (ERα and ERβ) as well as androgen receptors were present in the OA tissue as well. Both estrogen and testosterone influenced the expression of all 3 receptor genes and the CPCs by regulating gene expression.

Details of this evidence-based study appeared in the April issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, which is a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

In an attempt to prevent avoidable secondary referral and expensive surgery, medical practitioners are recommending many forms of non-surgical option for otitis media with effusion (OME).

A recent study evaluated the cost effectiveness of topical intranasal steroids to treat otitis media with effusion (OME) in primary care from the perspective of the UK National Health Service. It highlighted that topical steroids are not a cost-effective option for treating OME in general practice.

From MedicalNewsToday.com:

Epidemiological studies of OME reveal that it affects 50-80% of children by the age of five. Without effective intervention, severe OME can cause significant hearing loss, which may result in linguistic, developmental, behavioural, motor and social impairment. Although many OME cases resolve spontaneously, referral rates from primary care remain high, with approximately 1-5 per 1000 children in the general population undergoing surgery (grommets) each year.

The study was led by Dr. Stavros Petrou from the University of Oxford.

Says Dr. Petrou: “This study demonstrates that the current use of topical steroids for OME is unlikely to represent an efficient use of scare public resources.”

This will be discussed in detail in Value in Health, the official journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and outcomes Research.

Value in Health (ISSN 1098-3015) publishes papers, concepts, and ideas that advance the field of pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research and help health care leaders to make decisions that are solidly evidence-based. The journal is published bi-monthly and has a regular readership of over 5,000 clinicians, decision-makers, and researchers worldwide.

The study was led by Dr. Stavros Petrou from the University of Oxford.