With national attention focused on the avian flu threat, other infections that could be transmitted from animals to people are also coming under scrutiny. People with work exposure to pigs, such as farmers, veterinarians and meat processing workers, are at heightened risk of contracting swine influenza, according to a study in the Jan. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, now available online.

Pigs’ physical makeup allows them to contract–and to spread–influenza viruses to and from other species, such as humans and birds. Due to their susceptibility to influenza virus infections from other species, pigs can also serve as “mixing vessel hosts” that can produce new influenza virus strains that could pose a risk to human health.

In Iowa, the state with the highest swine production, researchers examined farmers, veterinarians, meat processing workers and a control group of people who had no occupational contact with pigs. They discovered that, of the four groups, farmers were most likely to be seropositive–that is, to have antibodies in their blood against swine influenza, indicating previous infection with the virus. Veterinarians also had increased odds of seropositivity. Meat processing workers had elevated antibody levels as well, though the odds were not as high, perhaps due to the workers’ limited exposure to live pigs.

Despite the possibility for human infection with swine influenza, people shouldn’t panic, according to authors Gregory Gray, MD, and Kendall Myers, MS, of the University of Iowa. “While severe swine influenza virus infections in humans have been reported, we expect that the normal clinical course of swine influenza infections [in humans] is mild or without symptoms,” said Dr. Gray.

Pork consumption shouldn’t pose a problem, either. “There’s no evidence to suggest that swine influenza can be transmitted to humans through meat,” Ms. Myers said, so as long as people cook pork thoroughly and practice good handwashing, then pork chops, bacon and ham can stay on the menu.

Because pigs are susceptible to human infections, both the pork industry and swine workers could benefit from the establishment of a human influenza vaccination program. There is no human vaccine against swine influenza at this point, but increasing surveillance for influenza among swine workers is one key component of helping to prevent an epidemic. “Right now, [swine workers] are not included in the national pandemic plan, nor are they closely monitored for influenza,” Dr. Gray said. “Should pandemic influenza virus strains enter the United States and these workers not be given special attention, we think it could be a really big problem for Iowa.”

Founded in 1979, Clinical Infectious Diseases publishes clinical articles twice monthly in a variety of areas of infectious disease, and is one of the most highly regarded journals in this specialty. It is published under the auspices of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Based in Alexandria, Virginia, IDSA is a professional society representing about 8,000 physicians and scientists who specialize in infectious diseases. For more information, visit idsociety.

Steve Baragona
sbaragonaidsociety
703-299-0412
Infectious Diseases Society of America
idsociety
Further information on Swine Flu

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See our Mexico Swine Flu Blog

In the December issue of European Urology, Dr. Curtis Nickel and associates report on the evidence of a relationship between prostate inflammation and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in men enrolled in the REDUCE trial .

The REDUCE (Reduction by DUtasteride of prostate Cancer Events) trial is a 4-year, phase-III placebo-controlled study that evaluates whether dutasteride (a 5-alpha-reductase inhibitor, a drug which inhibits the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT); the latter may cause benign prostatic obstruction) decreases the risk of biopsy detectable prostate cancer.

The trial enrols men with a negative prostate biopsy and follows them for 4 years on either dutasteride or placebo.

Dr Curtis Nickel: “The data from the entrance biopsy have enabled additional investigations to be made, including examination of the relationship between prostate inflammation and LUTS.”

Eligible men were aged 50-75 years, with Prostate Specific Antigen ≥2.5 and ≤10ng/ml (ages 50-60) or ≥3 and ≤10ng/ml (age >60 years) and an IPSS

Paul G. Billings, American Lung Association Vice President of National Policy and Advocacy, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ announcement to partially reimburse state quitlines for tobacco cessation services provided by phone to Medicaid recipients:

“The American Lung Association is very pleased with today’s decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to allow state Medicaid programs to cover telephone counseling to help smokers quit, also known as quitlines. This will make it easier for states to provide evidence-based treatments to people on Medicaid who smoke. This is absolutely crucial because the smoking rate among Medicaid recipients is more than 60 percent higher than the rate in the general population.

“This important decision comes on the heels of the announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration earlier this week of the new graphic warning labels that will appear on cigarette packs starting in fall 2012. The 1-800-QUIT-NOW number that connects to every state’s quitline will appear on those new cigarette package warning labels, so this announcement is very timely. It is now essential for states to take action, and include tobacco cessation services by phone in their state Medicaid plans. Telephone counseling is an important element of comprehensive tobacco cessation coverage, which also includes group and individual counseling, and medications to help smokers quit.”

Source:

American Lung Association

Can eating a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet extend human life? Preliminary research suggests it might, so researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a long-term study to find out.

In an editorial in the April issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, Luigi Fontana, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Washington University and an investigator at the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome, Italy, says calorie-restricted diets point to possible mechanisms of aging and suggest ways to intervene and modify its effects.

In January, Fontana and colleagues found that after an average of six years on calorie restriction, people’s hearts functioned like the hearts of much younger people. And a team from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge is reporting that six months of calorie restriction reduces two key markers of aging: fasting insulin levels and body temperature.

More than a decade ago several researchers, including John O. Holloszy, M.D., professor of medicine at Washington University, demonstrated that stringent and consistent caloric restriction increased the maximum lifespan in mice and rats by about 30 percent and protected them against atherosclerosis and cancer.

Human study has been difficult because calorie restriction requires a very strict diet regimen, both to keep the total number of calories low and to insure that people consume the proper balance of nutrients. Some people from a group called the Calorie Restriction Society are devoted to limiting their caloric intake in hopes of improving their health and extending their lives. Society members, who call themselves CRONies (Calorie Restriction with Optimal Nutrition), have developed ways to eat low calorie/high nutrition diets.

Fontana has done extensive research with CRONies, most recently reporting in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that the hearts of people on calorie restriction appeared more elastic than those of age- and gender-matched control subjects. Their hearts were able to relax between beats in a way similar to the hearts of younger people.

The team from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center reports in the April issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association on a six-month study of men and women between 25 and 50 who were placed on a calorie restriction diet that lowered their daily caloric intake by about 25 percent. The researchers compared those on calorie restriction to subjects who either had not been on a diet, had cut calories by about 12.5 percent and increased the energy they burned through exercise by a like amount, or had spent six months on a standard low-calorie diet of about 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day until they had lost 15 percent of their body weight.

The study, called the Comprehensive Assessment of the Long Term effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE), found that all subjects who dieted or increased their exercise lost weight and body fat. But those on a calorie restriction diet ended the study with lower fasting insulin levels and lower core body temperatures. They also had less oxidative damage to their DNA, thought to be a marker of aging at the biochemical and cellular level.

“This study has laid the groundwork for future research into the long-term effects of calorie restriction in humans to see whether it really can extend lifespan,” Holloszy says. “It’s becoming clear from studies with the CRONies — and from this brief, prospective study — that calorie restriction does change some of the markers we associate with aging.”

Holloszy and Fontana are getting ready to launch a second phase of the CALERIE study, to look at the effects of calorie restriction over the course of two years.

“We know people on calorie restriction will lose weight,” says Fontana. “But this study isn’t a weight-loss study. We’re hoping to learn more about whether calorie restriction can alter the aging process.

Fontana says, for example, that low-grade, chronic inflammation seems to mediate aging. Overweight and obese people tend to have higher levels of inflammation than lean people, so it makes sense that losing weight might increase average lifespan by lowering the risks of some age-related diseases, such as diabetes and atherosclerosis. But in animal studies not only did more of the animals live longer, the maximum length of a rat’s or mouse’s life also increased. The CALERIE study hopes to get some clues about whether calorie restriction might do the same thing for humans.

“We want to learn whether calorie restriction can reverse some of these markers of aging in healthy young people,” Holloszy says. “It’s going to be many years before we know whether calorie restriction really lengthens life, but if we can demonstrate that it changes these markers of aging, such as DNA damage and inflammation, we’ll have a pretty good idea that it’s somehow influencing the aging process at the cellular level.”

Currently, Holloszy and Fontana are beginning to recruit volunteers for Phase II of the CALERIE study.

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Fontana L. Excessive adiposity, calorie restriction and aging in humans. Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 293:13, April 5, 2006.

Heilbron LK, de Jonge L, Frisard MI, DeLany JP, Enette D, Meyer L, Rood J, Nguyen T, Martin CK, Volaufova J, Most MM, Greenway FL, Smith SR, Williamson DA, Deutsch WA, Ravussin E. Effect of 6-month calorie restriction on biomarkers of aging, metabolic adaptation and oxidative stress in overweight subjects. Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 293:13, April 5, 2006.

Meyer TE, Kovacs SJ, Ehsani AA, Klein S, Holloszy JO, Fontana L. Long-term caloric restriction ameliorates the decline in diastolic function in humans. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, vol. 47:2, pp. 398-402, Jan. 17, 2006.

Contact: Jim Dryden
jdrydenwustl.edu
Washington University School of Medicine

Populations of wild animals face the challenge of surviving in a changing climate. Researchers at Imperial College London and Universite Claude Bernard Lyon have shown how a sheep population on a remote island off the west coast of Scotland responds to two consequences of climate change: altered food availability and the unpredictability of winter storms. Dr. Thomas Ezard, lead author of the study, revealed, “When times are good and food is plentiful, lambs contribute almost twice as much to changes in population size than when times are hard. On the flip side, the oldest sheep contribute most to population growth when conditions are harsh.” The work, published in the September issue of The American Naturalist, suggests that the dynamics of populations are influenced not only by the weather but also by the ability of individuals to respond to it.

New mathematical breakthroughs have made it possible to show how environmental change affects populations, like these sheep. The key is appreciating (1) how weather affects individual sheep and (2) how the weather changes from one year to the next. If consecutive years have similar weather, the dynamics of the population will be very different than if conditions are unrelated from one year to the next. Professor Tim Coulson concluded, “A thorough understanding of the likely effects of climate change on the ecology of wild populations requires linking populations to their environment. This demands application of innovative mathematical methods, as used here.”

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Thomas H. G. Ezard, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Michael J. Crawley, and Tim Coulson, “Habitat Dependence and Correlations between Elasticities of Long-Term Growth Rates.” American Naturalist (2008) 172:424-430.

Source: Patricia Morse

httUniversity of Chicago Press Journals

When it is quiet — “almost too quiet” — in movies, it is a sign that something is about to go wrong for the good guys. This holds true for the genes that protect against lung cancer, as researchers at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, have learned. They identified a panel of 15 genes that could serve to predict cancer; if enough of their collective activity becomes quiet — almost too quiet — it could mean they are being suppressed by other factors in the cell, a step that may lead to cancer.

According to lead researcher, James C. Willey, M.D., a test for these genes, in normal cells sampled via bronchoscopy, could serve as a technique to identify those individuals genetically at risk for lung cancer. In a study of 49 subjects, Dr. Willey and his colleagues were able to correctly identify the individuals with cancer 96 percent of the time. Dr. Willey presents the team’s findings today in Atlanta, Georgia at the American Association for Cancer Research’s second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.

“Smoking causes about 90 percent of all lung cancer cases, yet only about 10 to 15 percent of heavy smokers will develop lung cancer,” said Dr. Willey, an associate professor of medicine and molecular biology at the University of Toledo’s College of Medicine. “We are looking for new techniques that will allow us to pick out the 10 to 15 percent of individuals at highest risk for lung cancer from the enormous pool of current and former smokers.”

While advances in screening tools like high resolution coaxial tomography (HRCT) enable increasingly effective early detection of lung cancer, scanning all present or former heavy smokers is problematic and costly when, due to genetic makeup, 85 to 90 percent of them are at low risk despite smoking history, Dr. Willey said. Therefore, Willey believes that a screen to identify the 10 to 15 percent of high risk individuals should increase the accuracy of further HRCT screening. “In America alone, there are more than 40 million present or former heavy smoking individuals,” Dr. Willey said.

To determine which genes are active in lung cancer, Dr. Willey and his colleagues look for levels of messenger RNA transcripts — instructions copied from DNA that direct cells to create specific proteins. Previously, the researchers had published findings demonstrating that genes responsible for protecting lung cells from damage caused by cigarette smoke or environmental toxins are sub-optimally regulated in the normal lung cells of individuals who develop lung cancer. In this study, Dr. Willey and his colleagues put their theories to the clinical test by measuring transcript abundance (TA) of 15 genes that encode protective antioxidant and DNA repair proteins in lung airway cells taken from 25 people with lung cancer and 24 people without the disease.

Their previous research allowed them to determine the threshold levels of TA for each gene — the point at which the amount of mRNA transcripts would indicate a tendency toward cancer. In this study, they used the threshold levels as a basis to assign a value of one or zero to each of the targeted genes for an individual subject, with “zero” indicating normal TA.

If the sum total of a subject’s target genes was greater than or equal to seven, the genes could collectively serve as a biomarker for lung cancer, the researchers found. Their results yielded one false negative and seven false positives among the 49 individuals assessed. According to Dr. Willey, they believe that a positive result in a subject without lung cancer may not actually be false positive, but rather could mean that the person is at an increased risk for lung cancer, which might arise later.

These results justify a larger, prospective study to determine whether this biomarker will be useful in predicting risk for lung cancer in current and former smokers. “Overall, the study showed a high degree of accuracy for picking out lung cancer patients,” said Dr. Willey.

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This study was funded by the National Cancer Institute. University of Toledo graduate students Thomas Blomquist, Erin Crawford, Younsook Yoon, Jeffrey Hammersley, Dawn-Alita Hernandez, Jamey Ruiz, Mohammed Al-Baghdadi, D’Anna Mullins, and Sadik Khuder all contributed to this study.

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the world’s oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes nearly 26,000 basic, translational, and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and more than 70 other countries.

AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through high-quality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special Conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment, and patient care.

AACR publishes five major peer-reviewed journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Its most recent publication, CR, is a magazine for cancer survivors, patient advocates, their families, physicians, and scientists. It provides a forum for sharing essential, evidence-based information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship, and advocacy.

Source: Greg Lester

American Association for Cancer Research

“Environmentally friendly” is not a phrase normally used to describe a chemistry lab. But thanks to a groundbreaking discovery at Tel Aviv University, the chemical industry is a step closer to being green.

Prof. Arkadi Vigalok from the School of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University has discovered a way to use water to make certain steps of a complicated chain of chemical reactions more environmentally-friendly.

Prof. Vigalok’s solution replaces chemical solvents, which can pollute the environment, with water. Though chemists have long thought it possible, Prof. Vigalok’s approach has only rarely been even attempted. His discovery was recently reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, International Edition.

A Natural Solvent

“Ten to twenty chemical reactions may be done to make a single medicine, and in each step organic solvents are used,” Prof. Vigalok says. “If we can cut out their use by applying water instead, this could amount to a substantial advance.” Prof. Vigalok noted that 100 kilograms (about 220 pounds) of solvents and materials might be used to produce 1 kilogram (about 2 pounds) of medicine.

In his new approach, water is mixed with organic compounds called aldehydes. Prof. Vigalok discovered that an oxidation reaction needed to convert the materials to a new product, carboxylic acid, can be achieved without the use of solvents. Moreover, the oxygen for this reaction is consumed directly from air.

Walking on Water

Because aldehydes don’t mix with water, they effectively “float” on the surface, where the reaction takes place. This method can be applied to a few key stages in the reaction process. The used water can then be easily recycled.

Prof. Vigalok and his team at Tel Aviv University join a small but growing group of chemists around the world who are making the chemical industry less destructive to the environment. The field is now known as “Green Chemistry.”

“The plastics industry, the oil refinery business, every drug we take – they’re all parts of the chemical industry, the biggest industry in the world by far. In making certain steps of the chemical process greener, we may not have an enormous impact on the environment at present, but we certainly challenge chemists to rethink methods used in traditional chemistry,” says Prof. Vigalok.

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American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel’s largest and most comprehensive center of higher learning. It is ranked among the world’s top 100 universities in science, biomedical studies, and social science, and rated one of the world’s top 200 universities overall. Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research programs, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.

Source:
George Hunka
American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Mother’s day will be celebrated in style this year as the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra performs at the Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square, London.

Mothers and families everywhere are invited to this musical extravaganza in aid of The Stroke Association on Sunday 2 March which begins at 6pm.

Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra’s first concert of the New Year will be an all Beethoven programme, comprising Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5 ‘The Emperor’ and Beethoven’s Symphony No.5.

Classical Brit Award Winner (2005) Charles Owen will also make a guest appearance as soloist in Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ piano concerto. The concert will be conducted by Robin Browning.

Beverley Silke, Head of Events at The Stroke Association says: “We are delighted that the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra is helping to raise vital funds for The Stroke Association. Music is a great way of bringing people together and the event is also helping to raise awareness of stroke, the UK’s third biggest killer.”

Tickets are selling fast so for further information or to book your seat please contact 020 7566 0311.

Notes

1. Each year an estimated 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke. Of all people who suffer from a stroke, about a third are likely to die within the first 10 days, about a third are likely to make a recovery within one month and about a third are likely to be left disabled and needing rehabilitation. Stroke has a greater disability impact than any other medical condition. A quarter of a million people are living with long-term disability as a result of stroke in the UK.

2. The Stroke Association is the only national charity solely concerned with combating stroke in people of all ages. It funds research into prevention, treatment and better methods of rehabilitation and helps stroke patients and their families directly through its community services. These include dysphasia support, family support, information services, welfare grants, publications and leaflets. We also campaign, educate and inform to increase knowledge of stroke at all levels of society and we act as a voice for everyone affected by stroke.

3. A stroke happens when the blood supply to the brain is disrupted. Most strokes occur when a blood clot blocks the flow of blood to the brain. Some strokes are caused by bleeding in or around the brain from a burst blood vessel. When the blood supply is disrupted, parts of the brain become damaged or destroyed. Some strokes are fatal whist others can cause permanent or temporary paralysis to one side of the body and loss of the ability to speak, read or write. Recovery may be slow and can vary from person to person.

The Stroke Association

A pilot project to support armed services personnel experiencing mental health problems as a result of their service will be extended across Wales, Health Minister Edwina Hart announced.

The service, which has been trialled in the Cardiff and Vale and Cwm Taf Health Board areas, offered access to clinicians with expertise in veterans’ mental health to provide assessment and suitable treatment.

The two-year pilot was based at the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, funded by ВЈ135,000 from the Welsh Assembly Government and Ministry of Defence.

The new all-Wales service will be funded fully by the Assembly Government from April with an investment of ВЈ485,000 per year.

The new service will include:

- Veterans who experience mental health and well-being difficulties to have a comprehensive assessment to assess their psychological and social needs;
- Veterans and carers to be involved in the development of a management plan to meet their health and care needs; and,
- Veterans and carers to be given information on other services and support that they are entitled to in an effort to improve their health and quality of life.

Veterans in Wales already receive priority treatment on the NHS for a health condition related to their military service and the Health Minister has required Health Boards and NHS Trusts to designate an Armed Forces and Veterans’ Champion to drive forward improvements.

Mrs Hart said: “I am determined to improve the care for people who have experienced health problems as a result of their military service. We owe them a debt of gratitude and have a duty of care to them.

“I recognise the impact that military service has had on people’s mental health. I understand that people who have been supported by this pilot project under the leadership of Professor Jon Bisson have found it extremely beneficial. That is why I am acting quickly to fund the expansion of this service to maximise the benefits for individuals and their families across Wales.

“In addition, I am bringing together senior staff from the NHS, Assembly Government and Ministry of Defence at a workshop to look at how we can further strengthen care and support for members of the armed services and veterans.”

Professor Jon Bisson added: “This is excellent and very exciting news. Health Boards will now identify staff to deliver a service that will allow us to build on the success of the pilot project and ensure that veterans across Wales can access and benefit from a local service that is tailored to meet their needs.”

Source
Welsh Assembly Government

UK HealthCare, partnering with University of Kentucky colleges of Agriculture and Public Health and 40 community, equine and medical organizations, continues its five-year educational campaign, Saddle Up Safely, with the development of a horse-related injury brochure.

“As the official medical provider for the 2010 FEI Alltech World Equestrian Games, we have a passion for serving the horse community, and are grateful to have so many partners that believe in the campaign’s mission to raise awareness of horseback rider safety across the state and beyond,” said Dr. Julia Martin, associate professor of Emergency Medicine at UK HealthCare.

In a survey by John Mayberry and colleagues, riders with 50 hours or less of riding experience were found most likely to be injured. The study also recognized that the more advanced the rider, the greater the chance of serious injury, and the less likely the riders are to use a helmet.

In the fight to combat these statistics and survey results, the newly published booklet lists basic tips for horseback riders, check lists for extended trail rides, information about fitting a helmet correctly and safety tips for minor injuries, sprains and fractures, head injuries, and chest and abdominal injuries. Rehabilitation therapy and resources are also available.

Martin stressed that considering the recent UK HealthCare survey, finding 60 percent of Kentucky horseback riding respondents not wearing any safety apparel the last time they went riding, this educational campaign is more important now than ever before.

Source: University of Kentucky