The Michael Phelps Diet brings in the gold medals
Well, what did you have for breakfast this morning? I know, you felt pretty good having had that plate of muesli, yoghurt and an apple, didn’t you? Well, while you were munching your healthy breakfast Michael Phelps was eating his breakfast and it wasn’t muesli oh no […]



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I was interested in an article by Kate Devlin in the Daily Telegraph last Wednesday 13th August. She says that a leading public health expert Professor David Hunter from Durham University believes that fatty foods should carry health warnings to help prevent the growing obesity problem in the UK. He feels that manufacturers should be […]



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Federal drug regulators Friday approved a medication to treat a major symptom of Huntington’s disease, marking the first time since the disorder was first described in a Long Island family 136 years ago that any kind of treatment has been available in the United States.

In Huntington’s, a rare, devastating condition, brain cells degenerate because of a genetic miscue easily passed from one generation to the next. The disorder results in jerky, involuntary movements known as chorea.

The drug tetrabenazine controls the chorea, which affects about 90 percent of people with the disease. It was approved under the Food and Drug Administration’s orphan products program, which is aimed at developing treatments for conditions affecting fewer than 200,000 people. Huntington’s disease affects 30,000 people nationwide.

“I think this is a big deal both in terms of having something to offer patients with Huntington’s disease and … because people have been trying to find something for Huntington’s patients for decades,” said Dr. Andrew Feigin, a Huntington’s researcher at the Feinstein Institute of Medical Research in Manhasset, part of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.

Feigin, who studied the drug in the clinical trial, added that tetrabenazine “has been around for many years and in other countries, and we knew that it improved chorea.”

“It was a matter of a company being interested in it″ and ultimately taking steps to get it to market, Feigin said.

Tetrabenazine is produced by Prestwick Pharmaceuticals in Washington, D.C.

Doctors have been aware of tetrabenazine since the late 1950s and have used it to treat other movement disorders. Regulators in Europe and Canada approved tetrabenazine in the 1990s for Huntington’s chorea.

In the U.S., advocates for patients say, major pharmaceutical companies show little interest in developing treatments for orphan diseases because they do not have millions of patients who can drive profits.

“It’s just wonderful to have a drug approved by the FDA,” said Dr. Fred Marshall of the University of Rochester, who led the clinical trials. “It’s also important symbolically for the patients and their families. They’ve suffered for so long. The big victory here is putting the drug on the map.”

He emphasized that tetrabenazine is not perfect, and too high a dose can lead to depression and suicidal thoughts and exacerbate chorea.

Huntington’s disease was first described in 1872 by Dr. George Huntington, of Columbia University, who studied an East Hampton family affected by the disease over several generations.

Source

Parkinson disease (PD) is a debilitating and lethal neurodegenerative disease, for which there is currently no cure. It is caused by the progressive loss of nerve cells that produce the chemical dopamine and is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal aggregates of a protein called alpha-syn in these dopaminergic nerve cells. Several previous studies have suggested that the alpha-syn aggregates contribute to PD pathology, so it is possible that an agent that inhibits and/or, better yet, reverses alpha-syn aggregation could be eventually used as a therapy for PD. Evidence to suggest that agents that disrupt alpha-syn aggregation might have beneficial effects in individuals with PD has now been provided by a team of researchers, at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, who studied a rat model of the disease.

In the study, it was found that a protein that yeast uses to protect itself from protein aggregation (there is no similar protein in mammals), called Hsp104, dramatically reduced both the formation of alpha-syn aggregates and the degeneration of neurons in the brain in a rat mdoel of PD. In vitro studies showed that Hsp104 not only inhibited alpha-syn aggregate formation, but also interacted with mammalian proteins to disassemble them. The authors therefore suggest that Hsp104 should be considered as a potential strategy for the treatment of individuals with PD, after further studies on the safety of introducing Hsp104 into the brain.

Source

Hikes risk of developing cancer to 50 percent

About one-third of colorectal cancers are inherited, but the genetic cause of most of these cancers is unknown. The genes linked to colorectal cancer account for less than 5 percent of all cases.

Scientists at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and colleagues have discovered a genetic trait that is present in 10 to 20 percent of patients with colorectal cancer. The findings strongly suggest that the trait is a major contributor to colorectal cancer risk and likely the most common cause of colorectal cancer to date.

If a person inherits this trait — which is dominant and clusters in families — the study found the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is 50 percent, compared to 6 percent for the general population. The study will be published August 14 in an advanced on-line report in the journal Science.

“This probably accounts for more colorectal cancers than all other gene mutations discovered thus far,” said Boris Pasche, M.D., a lead author of the paper and director of the Cancer Genetics Program at the Feinberg School and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Pasche also is a physician at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“The reasonable expectation is this finding will save some lives,” Pasche said. “We will be able to identify a larger number of individuals that are at risk of colorectal cancer and, in the long term, maybe decrease the cases of colorectal cancer and of people dying from it by being able to screen them more frequently.”

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.

The trait, which has been named TGFBR1 ASE, results in decreased production of a key receptor for TGF-beta, the most potent inhibitor of cell growth. With less of this vital protective substance to inhibit cell growth, colon cancer can more easily develop.

In 1998, Pasche and colleagues discovered the first mutation of this gene and in 1999 they showed that it was linked to a higher risk of colorectal cancer.

The results presented in this new study are the first to show that decreased production of this receptor for TGF-beta was present in 10 to 20 percent of patients with colorectal cancer. Decreased production of the same receptor was present in only 1 to 3 percent in healthy control groups.

The findings, which are based on a Caucasian population, need to be confirmed in other studies and may show strong variation between ethnic groups, Pasche said.

Pasche expects that a clinical test will soon be developed that could be offered to families with a history of colorectal cancer and other individuals to determine whether they carry this mutation.

When we talk about calories burning, usually the first thing that comes into our mind is “weight loss”. This is not 100% right. Burning more calories is not only immensely important for overweight men and women but also for everyone. It’s nonsense if you said you don’t need to burn any calories. Even supermodels always burn their calories everyday when they take exercises. More calories to be burnt means our body will be healthier than ever.

Sadly, not everyone remember that health is one of three most important aspects in our life. Even overweight people want to lose weight because they want to look better, not because they know obesity is not healthy. Try to change your goal and you’ll get everything you want. If you consider obesity as a disease and you want to lose weight simply because you want to get healthier life, you’ll lose all of your excess fat in long run. I know it.

OK, so what’s the first step to burn more calories and get healthier life? Stop food cravings. Yep, you read it. Food cravings sometimes can be really annoying for people who are dieting. You need to beat your desire to eat foods by eating more often. When you eat more often (called calorie shifting diet plan), your body will burn more calories and it’ll help you increase your metabolism.

The next step, you know it, is to take regular exercise. Let’s skip it. Everyone knows exercise is easy to be said but hard to be practiced. Third step is to try some drugs. Don’t be skeptical yet. I know 90% of drugs can be harmful so we need to find the remaining 10%. Personally I suggest you to try aloe vera pill. It’ll help your digestion and improve your general health. You can also learn how to use the best diet pills. Only some of them can really help while the others are simply scam.

A single injection that could cure rheumatoid arthritis is being developed by British scientists. The treatment works like a vaccine and could be available within five years. Cells would be taken from the body, altered, and injected back into the affected joint.

A team at Newcastle University will now test the vaccine on volunteers with the disease.

Scientists in the field are extremely excited about the development.

There are 350,000 people in the UK with rheumatoid arthritis, which is a condition where the body’s immune system attacks the joints, unlike oestoarthritis which is more like wear and tear of the joints.

Rheumatoid arthritis is difficult to treat because it is caused by a malfunctioning immune system, causing inflammation in the wrong places.

Prof Alan Silman, medical director of the charity Arthritis Research Campaign, which funded the research, said: “This is an important potential cure. It is possible one injection could switch off the abnormal immune response.

“If it works it could reverse the disease and stop further episodes.”

The Newcastle team will test the effectiveness of the new vaccine in eight volunteers with rheumatoid arthritis from the Freeman Hospital as part of a pilot study, which could then lead to larger trials.

The vaccine works by reprogramming the body’s own immune cells.

Using chemicals, steroids and Vitamin D, the team has devised a way to manipulate a patient’s white blood cells so they surpress, rather than activate, the immune system.

It is thought the cells will then act as a brake on the over-reacting immune system and stop it attacking its own joints.

Although a similar technique has been used in cancer research, this is the first time it has been adapted to rheumatoid arthritis.

John Isaacs, Professor of Clinical Rheumatology at Newcastle University’s Musculoskeletal Research Group, who is leading the team, said that although the work was in a very early, experimental stage it was “hugely exciting”.

“Based on previous laboratory research we would expect that this will specifically suppress or down regulate the auto-immune response,” he said.

Samples will be taken two weeks after the injection to establish whether it has induced the expected response.

The team also hope to find out if the vaccine is effective only in the joints it is injected into, or whether the new cells spread throughout the body.

Prof Silman said the treatment may prove expensive as each patient would have to have their own cells taken and manipulated rather than a drug which can be made in bulk and prescribed to all people with a condition.

He said it would be unlikely that the vaccine could be offered in normal local hospitals because of the expertise necessary to manipulate the cells in the laboratory.

It raises fears the vaccine would have to go through the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence cost effectiveness tests.

But if the vaccine did work with a one off injection and completely stop the disease it is likely to offer such a huge benefit to the patient that even a relatively large price may be deemed acceptable. Prof Silman said he expected the jab to cost less than £25,000.

The research is being funded by medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign, which is providing £216,000 over 18 months.

Source

I have to say that being British it is difficult for me to refer to football as soccer, but as beebleblog is read all over the world it is important that everyone understands that this is about soccer, so I will be good and bite my tongue and hope that other Brits will forgive me.
What […]



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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval for Viread for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, Gilead Sciences Inc. said reported late Monday.

Foster City-based Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) said Viread is a once-daily tablet that works by blocking HBV DNA polymerase, the enzyme that is necessary for the virus to replicate in liver cells.

Viread has been available in the United States as a treatment for HIV infection in adults since 2001.

Because chronic HBV infection can persist for years without causing any noticeable symptoms, many people are unaware they are infected and do not seek treatment, Gilead said, adding that the disease disproportionately affects Asian Americans.

The approval of Viread expands Gilead’s hepatic health franchise. The company’s first treatment for chronic hepatitis B, Hepsera, is currently the most widely prescribed oral agent for the disease in the United States. The company is also developing small-molecule compounds for the treatment of hepatitis C and a hepatoprotectant for multiple forms of hepatitis-related liver fibrosis, including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Viread was approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B in the European Union, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand earlier this year, and a marketing application is currently pending in Canada.

A report on GMTV this week showed that running is an excellent way to stay young and fit. Research over a period of twenty years by the University of California at Stanford has shown that elderly runners stay more active and healthy than non-runners and are half as likely to die prematurely.
Runners v. non-runners […]



This is just a summary of the article please visit www.beebleblog.com for the full article and other posts based on fitness, diet and health. I hope you enjoy them!