Jerusalem hospital shows off vaccine that destroys cancer in 2 shots

Early human test results suggest a vaccine can train cancer patients' bodies to seek out and destroy tumour cells.

The therapy, which targets a molecule found in 90 per cent of cancers, eventually could provide an injection that would allow patients' immune systems to fight off common cancers including breast andprostate cancer.

The first results of trials in people, at the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem, suggest the vaccine can reduce levels of disease. The human work is so preliminary it has yet to be published in a scientific journal.

The scientists behind the vaccine hope to conduct more extensive trials to prove it can be effective against a range of cancers. They believe it could be used to fight small tumours if they are detected early or to help prevent the return and spread of disease in patients who have undergone conventional treatment.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

Gene discovery may soothe chronic pain

MCGILL/U. TORONTO (CAN) — The identification of a gene responsible for the pain receptor changes behind chronic pain could lead to individual treatments.

A major challenge for treating chronic pain is to understand why certain people develop pain while others, with apparently similar disorders or injuries, do not. An equally important challenge is to develop individualized therapies that will be effective in specific patient populations.

Research published online in Nature Medicine points to solutions to both challenges. A research team led by Jeffrey Mogil of McGill University and Michael Salter of The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), affiliated with the University of Toronto, has identified a major gene affecting chronic pain sensitivity. The findings also suggest a new approach to individualizing treatment of chronic pain.

The gene that the researchers identified encodes the pain receptor known as P2X7. Specifically, the scientists discovered that a single amino-acid change in P2X7 controls sensitivity to the two main causes of chronic pain: inflammation and nerve damage.

READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE.

How Much Do You Know About Alzheimer’s Disease?

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and that number could climb to 16 million by 2050. Women face a higher risk of developing it than men, and are also more likely to become caregivers. Take this quiz to see how much you know about Alzheimer’s.

Cancer Vaccine Could See Light In 2017

Vaxil BioTherapeutics, a biotechnical company based in Ness Ziona, near Tel Aviv, Israel has produced a ground-breaking therapeutic vaccine for cancer patients which could prevent about 90 percent of cancers from coming back.

Vaxil was founded in 2006 by Dr. Lior Carmon and the vaccine is now in clinical trials at the Hadassah University Medical Centre in Jerusalem. The vaccine could be available as early as 2017 to administer on a regular basis, not only to help treat cancer but in order to keep the disease from recurring.

READ MORE HERE.

New Blood Test Could Detect Cancer

Soroka hospital and Ben Gurion University in Be’er Sheva, Israel, are developing a unique method to detect various types of cancer through a simple blood test.

Researchers say that in a first trial conducted recently, they succeeded in detecting cancer in almost 90 percent of cancer patients tested.

READ MORE HERE.

What are "liver spots?"

Liver spots (also known as "Solar lentigo", "Lentigo senilis", "Old age spot," "Senile freckle" are blemishes on the skin associated with aging and exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun. They range in color from light brown to red or black and are located in areas most often exposed to the sun, particularly the hands, face, shoulders, arms and forehead, and the scalp if bald.

The spots derive their name from the fact that they were once incorrectly believed to be caused by liver problems, they are physiologically unrelated to the liver, save for a similar color. From the age of 40 onward the skin is less able to regenerate from sun exposure, and liver spots are very common in this age group, particularly in those who spend time in the sun.

In the vast majority of cases, liver spots pose no threat and require no treatment, though they occasionally have been known to obscure the detection of skin cancer. However, despite being a benign condition, liver spots are sometimes considered unsightly and some people choose to have them removed. This can be done by electrosurgery, laser treatment, cryotherapy and alternatively, many people claim to have success with simple remedies made with apple cider vinegar.

SOURCE

Alzheimer's disease: 7 things that raise your risk

Think Alzheimer's disease strikes out of the blue? Maybe not. A new study published in The Lancet Neurology shows that healthy living can help prevent Alzheimer's. The study found seven conditions in particular that account for up to half of the 35 million cases of Alzheimer's around the world and in the U.S. What are these behaviors? READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

New drug quickly reverses Alzheimer's symptoms

U.S. researchers have found that use of a drug in mice appears to quickly reverse the pathological, cognitive and memory deficits caused by the onset of Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published online in journal Science on Thursday.

The results point to the significant potential that the medication, bexarotene, has to help the roughly 5.4 million Americans suffering from the progressive brain disease, the researchers said.

Bexarotene has been approved for thetreatment of cancer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for more than a decade. These experiments explored whether the medication might also be used to help patients with Alzheimer's disease, and the results were more than promising.

Alzheimer's disease arises in large part from the body's inability to clear naturally-occurring amyloid beta from the brain. In 2008 Case Western Reserve University researcher Gary Landreth, professor of neurosciences at School of Medicine, discovered that the main cholesterol carrier in the brain, Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), facilitated the clearance of the amyloid beta proteins.

Landreth and his colleagues chose to explore the effectiveness of bexarotene for increasing ApoE expression. The elevation of brain ApoE levels, in turn, speeds the clearance of amyloid beta from the brain. Bexarotene acts by stimulating retinoid X receptors, which control how much ApoE is produced.

In particular, the researchers were struck by the speed with which bexarotene improved memory deficits and behavior even as it also acted to reverse the pathology of Alzheimer's disease.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Broken heart syndrome

On Valentine's Day, people who have been unlucky in love will be said to suffer from a "broken heart." It turns out that a broken heart is an actual medical condition. Broken heart syndrome occurs during highly stressful or emotional times, such as a painful breakup, the death of a spouse, the loss of a job or extreme anger, said Loyola University Health System cardiologist Dr. Binh An P. Phan.

Broken heart syndrome also is called stress cardiomyopathy.Symptoms are similar to those of a heart attack, including chest pain and difficulty breathing. The good news is that, over time, the symptoms go away. And unlike heart attackpatients, people with broken heart syndrome do not suffer lasting damage to their hearts, Phan said.

"Most people will get better in a few weeks without medical treatment," Phan said.

During an extremely stressful event, the heart can be overwhelmed with a surge of adrenalin and other stress hormones. This can cause a narrowing of the arteries that supply blood to the heart. It's similar to what happens during aheart attack, when a blood clot in a coronary artery restricts blood supply to heart muscle. But unlike a heart attack,broken heart syndrome is reversible, Phan said.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE.

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SENIOR ALERT: Adding Plavix to Aspirin for Preventing Small Strokes May Increase Death Risk

Study stopped early due to increased bleeding compared to aspirin alone

Feb. 6, 2012 - The anti-blood clot regimen that adds the drug Plavix (clopidogrel) to aspirin treatment is unlikely to prevent recurrent strokes and may increase the risk of bleeding and death in patients with subcortical stroke according to late-breaking research presented Friday at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2012.

Because of these preliminary results, researchers ended the anti-clotting part of the Secondary Prevention of Small Subcortical Strokes Trial (SPS3) in August 2011. The part of the study that examines the effect of high blood pressure treatments will continue.

The SPS3 trial is the first large-scale study of patients with subcortical strokes, which occur when small blood vessels deep in the middle of the brain are blocked, damaging small areas of brain tissue.

This type of stroke affects about 150,000 Americans each year, and is the most common cause of vascular dementia according to Oscar Benavente, M.D., lead author of the study and a professor of neurology at Canada’s University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia. Co-investigator is Robert G. Hart, M.D.

American Heart Association/American Stroke Association guidelines for preventing recurrent strokes recommend anti-clotting medications like aspirin, the customary treatment, or other clot preventives like clopidogrel(Plavix), but not the combination of aspirin plus clopidogrel.

Treatments have not been compared in patients with subcortical strokes specifically.

In the United States, stroke is the No. 4 killer and a leading cause of disability among adults.

READ MORE HERE.

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Israelis make headway in cure for Crohn's

Weizmann Institute scientists manage to trick immune systems of mice into targeting one of body's players in autoimmune process 

In diseases such as Crohn's and rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues.

But today, thanks to a group of Weizmann Institute scientists, the immune system is learning that “turnabout is fair play."

The Weizmann Institute of Science, located in Rehovot,Israel, is one of the world’s leading multidisciplinary research institutions.

The scientists at the Weizmann have managed to trick the immune systems of mice into targeting one of the body's players in the autoimmune process, an enzyme known as MMP9.

Prof. Irit Sagi of the Biological Regulation Department, along with her research group, has spent years looking for ways to block members of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzyme family.

But, when these proteins, which expedite wound-healing and offer other benefits, get out of control, they can actually help autoimmune disease and cancer metastasis. Blocking these proteins might lead to effective treatments for a number of diseases.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Younger onset Alzheimer's patients stay active

Keeping busy 'gives you a cognitive advantage,' physician says

Younger onset Alzheimer's is diagnosed in those younger than age 65 and strikes 250,000 Americans a year, according to the Alzheimer's Association. "More people are being diagnosed with younger onset," Kerwin said. "Typically, they're in their 50s, but we see them as young as their 30s and 40s."

The first hurdle is often a proper diagnosis, a process of elimination that can take years as doctors tell patients they are too young to have Alzheimer's. Pati Hoffman, 57, of Carol Stream, had to give up the corporate marketing job she loved after Alzheimer's struck her at age 55, but only after an excruciating period of medical tests and ambiguous findings.

She went to so many doctors and had so many tests that her diagnosis was a relief, she said. "They kept telling me it was just stress," said Hoffman, who is now an adviser for the Greater Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. "So at least I finally had an answer."

READ MORE HERE.

Thousands could be at risk from ‘toxic’ metal hip implants

Published on Sunday 29 January 2012 14:43

AN investigation into the safety of metal hips has been launched by medical regulators.

The move comes after fears that thousands of people are a risk from poisoning.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said most people with the implants are at “low risk developing any serious problems.”

But it added it had taken “prompt action” over the safety concerns.

The action comes as an investigation by the Sunday Telegraph found more than 30,000 British patients have received the “metal-on-metal” (MoM) hip replacements.

They are feared to be more dangerous than previously thought.

Problems occur with such devices when friction between the metal ball and cup causes tiny metal filings to break off and potentially seep into the blood. These fragments can also cause a soft tissue reaction, destroying muscle and bone.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE.

Free Medicare preventive services

Jan. 22, 2012 - Senior citizens have a better chance at a longer, healthier life this year, thanks to the many new preventive services now offered by Medicare. Many have been added by the health care reform law, called “Obamacare” by its critics, but officially named the Affordable Care Act. SeniorJournal.com is offering a free checklist to help you keep up with all the preventive services you are due.


LEARN MORE HERE.