HEALTH FROM TRUSTED SOURCES: April 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

New research shows how to tackle obesity

Sheffield: Study shows there are six different types of obese people. Treating individuals according to which ‘type’ could be more effective. One size does not fit all when it comes to tackling obesity, according to a new study by the University of Sheffield. Researchers looking at how to tackle the country’s obesity issue – which costs the NHS £6billion pounds every year – found that currently individuals are often treated the same regardless of how healthy they are, where they live or their behavioural characteristics.

Leeds: Achieving better glucose control in pregnant women with diabetes by using continuous glucose monitoring may help them give birth to healthier children, new research from the University of Leeds says.

Up to 50% of babies born to women with diabetes are born too large, which can lead to greater intervention and problems during childbirth and also increase the risk of the child developing diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease later in life.

Oxford: The brains of babies ‘light up’ in a very similar way to adults when exposed to the same painful stimulus, a pioneering Oxford University brain scanning study has discovered. It suggests that babies experience pain much like adults. The study looked at 10 healthy infants aged between one and six days old and 10 healthy adults aged 23-36 years. Infants were recruited from the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (UK) and adult volunteers were Oxford University staff or students.

Imperial College: Scientists have identified chemical markers in urine associated with body mass, providing insights into how obesity causes disease. Being overweight or obese is associated with higher risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer, but the mechanisms connecting body fat and disease are not well understood. The new study, led by Imperial College London, shows that obesity has a ‘metabolic signature’ detectable in urine samples, pointing to processes that could be targeted to mitigate its effects on health. The findings are published in Science Translational Medicine.

Cambridge: The first natural birth to a mother with diabetes who has been fitted with an artificial pancreas took place this week. The device has been developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge. The artificial pancreas is an exciting new technology that may help us to treat diabetes in pregnancy and create a group of healthier mothers and babies.

BMJ: Make calorie labels compulsory on all alcoholic drinks, says public health expert There is no reason why calories in alcohol should be treated any differently from those in food. Calorie counts should be mandatory on all alcoholic drinks as a matter of urgency, argues a leading public health doctor in The BMJ this week. Fiona Sim, Chair of the Royal Society for Public Health, says alcoholic drinks contribute to obesity and the law “should require restaurant menus and labels to make energy content explicit in addition to alcohol content.”

Nature: Molecule that triggers inflammation also seems to influence how mice sense bitter flavours. People who are ill often complain of changes in their sense of taste. Now, researchers report that this sensory shift may be caused by a protein that triggers inflammation. Mice that cannot produce the protein, called tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), are less sensitive to bitter flavours than normal mice, according to a study published on 21 April in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.

High-Dose Sodium Nitrite with Citric Acid Creams Better Than Placebo for Anogenital Warts

JAMA: A high-dose treatment of sodium nitrite, 6 percent, with citric acid, 9 percent, creams applied twice daily was more effective than placebo for treating the common sexually transmitted disease of anogenital warts, according to an article published online by JAMA Dermatology.

Cochrane: Laetrile is a word created from the first letters of laevorotatory and mandelonitrile and describes a semi-synthetic form of amygdalin. Amygdalin is a compound that can be isolated from the seeds of many fruits such as peaches, bitter almonds and apricots. Both laetrile and amygdalin have a common structural component, mandelonitrile, that contains cyanide.

Cochrane: Which treatments are effective for rosacea? Rosacea is a common skin condition causing flushing, redness, red pimples and pustules on the face, and should not be confused with acne. Dilated blood vessels may appear near the surface of the skin (telangiectasia). It can also cause inflammation of the eyes or eyelids, or both (ocular rosacea). Some people can develop a thickening of the skin, especially of the nose (rhinophyma). Although the cause of rosacea remains unclear, a wide variety of treatments are available for this persistent (chronic) and recurring and often distressing disease. These include medications applied directly to the skin (topical), oral medications and light-based therapies.

Cochrane: Up to 5% to 10% of women are hirsute (hair in areas where normally only men have hairs such as moustache, beard area, chest, belly, back etc). The most common cause is polycystic ovary syndrome. Hirsutism can lead to psychological distress, low self esteem, decreased self image, depression, feelings of shame and social difficulties. Which treatments (except laser and light-based therapies alone) work best for hirsutism?

TheConversation: Today most people do not get enough sleep. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called insufficient sleep an epidemic. While we are finally paying attention to the importance of sleep, the need for dark is still mostly ignored.
That’s right. Dark. Your body needs it too.
Being exposed to regular patterns of light and dark regulates our circadian rhythm. Disruption of this rhythm may increase the risk of developing some health conditions including obesity, diabetes and breast cancer

TheConversation: Keytruda® (pembrolizumab) is the latest drug to be registered in Australia for the treatment of widespread melanoma. This is the third class of drugs that improves survival in widespread melanoma to be registered since July 2011. Prior to this no chemotherapy drug prolonged survival once melanoma had spread.

TheConversation: Have you ever wondered what those food additive numbers in the ingredients list on your food packaging meant and what they were really doing to your body? A recent study suggests emulsifiers – detergent-like food additives found in a variety of processed foods – have the potential to damage the intestinal barrier, leading to inflammation and increasing our risk of chronic disease. The research was done on mice, so it’s too early to say humans should stop eating emulsifiers, but let’s examine the mechanisms involved.

TheConversation: There’s no reliable evidence that health conditions can be effectively treated with homeopathic medicine, according to a statement by the National Health and Medicine Research Council (NHMRC) released today. The study failed to find any evidence for homoepathy’s effectiveness for treating 68 conditions, which ranged from the common cough through to malaria. Only single studies were identified for 29 of the conditions, and all were deemed unreliable for either having too few participants for a meaningful result or being poorly designed. The statement is based on a summary of research on homeopathy’s effectiveness for treating health conditions. It aimed to provide people who use homeopathic remedies with information of their risks and benefits so they could make informed health decisions.

Scimex: Adelaide and Chinese scientists have made a ground breaking molecular discovery in their work to find a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. Prof Xin-Fu Zhou, says the discovery of one of the mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease opens the door to further research into potential treatments. "Currently, only a few drugs help with the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease and there is no cure," he says. Alzheimer's Disease accounts for nearly 70 per cent of all dementia cases. Dementia affects a staggering 44 million people around the world, with more than 342,000 Australians living with dementia. Without a medical breakthrough, the number of Australians with dementia is expected to be almost 900,000 by 2050.

Adelaide: A common gum disease may indicate a person’s risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis later in life, according to a University of Adelaide dental expert. Pr Mark Bartold, says multiple processes that occur in the body when someone develops periodontal (gum) disease serve as an indicator of possible development of rheumatoid arthritis later in life. “Periodontitis (the progressive loss of bone and tissue around teeth) is highly prevalent and is a major public health problem in both developed and developing countries, with up to 60% of adults suffering from the condition world-wide,” says Professor Bartold says.

Monash researchers, in collaboration with Italian coffee roasting company Illycaffè, have conducted the most comprehensive study to date on how free radicals and antioxidants behave during every stage of the coffee brewing process, from intact bean to coffee brew. The team observed the behaviour of free radicals - unstable molecules that seek electrons for stability and are known to cause cellular and DNA damage in the human body - in the coffee brewing process. For the first time they discovered that under certain conditions coffee can act as an antioxidant, a compound found in foods that helps stabilise free radicals.

UNSW: Child sexual abuse can have a profound impact on children’s wellbeing and development. Such abuse is associated with numerous adverse outcomes well into adulthood, making its prevention an important social and public health priority. We recently completed a Cochrane Systematic Review on how effective school programs are for preventing child sexual abuse. We found that the programs were moderately effective in arming children with knowledge and skills, and that these may help them avoid some potentially dangerous circumstances. They were also more likely to know where to turn if in trouble. However, it is unknown whether these gains in knowledge and skills actually decrease the likelihood of child sexual abuse.

Hanyang: Rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic inflammatory disorder that affects the joints, and can lead to their loss of function. It is an autoimmune disease, meaning that the body mistakenly perceives itself as a virus. The cause for the rheumatoid arthritis is largely genetic, with genetic factors responsible for more than 60 percent of its occurrence. The 40 percent of the cause can be traced for acquired factors, such as smoking and drinking. It can affect people of all ages, and it most commonly affects women aged between 40 and 50. Professor Sang Cheol Bae is one of the main authors of the research paper titled “High-density genotyping of immune loci in Koreans and Europeans identifies eight new rheumatoid arthritis risk lock,” which presented a further insight into the cure of the disease called rheumatoid arthritis.

Singapore: A study by researchers in Singapore has shown a new way that brown fat, a potential obesity-fighting target, is regulated in the body. This finding gives researchers and weight-loss companies a possible therapeutic target for obesity. In a Cell Metabolism article, Duke-NUS Assistant Professor Sun Lei and his team examined long non-coding RNA (Ribonucleic acid) in adipose (fat) tissue in mice. Long non-coding RNAs have recently become appreciated as important control elements for different biological functions in the body.

Kyoto: A group of scientists led by Professor Mineko Kengaku of the Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS) has discovered how nerve cells adjust to low energy environments during the brain's growth process. Their study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, may one day help find treatments for nerve cell damage and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

Understanding the World as Perceived by those with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Osaka: A group of researchers developed a head mounted display simulator for reproducing the perceptual experiences of individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Individuals with ASD have symptoms such as hyperesthesia and hypoesthesia which manifest as enhanced visual contrast and reduced contrast sensitivity, cause them to see images colored in grayscale gradients, and present acute sensitivity to noise.

How to Short-Circuit Hunger

Harvard: Artificially activating a neural link in mice can reduce eating without chronic hunger. Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows it’s no fun to feel hungry. In fact, gnawing hunger pangs can sabotage even the best-intentioned dieter. But how exactly is it that fasting creates these uncomfortable feelings—and consuming food takes them away? Working to unravel the complex wiring system that underlies this intense physiological state, Harvard Medical School investigators have identified a long-sought component of this complicated neural network.

American Chemical Society: Trans-Blood Brain Barrier Delivery of Dopamine Loaded Nanoparticles Reverses Functional Deficits in Parkinsonian Rats. As baby boomers age, the number of people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease is expected to increase. Patients who develop this disease usually start experiencing symptoms around age 60 or older. Currently, there’s no cure, but scientists are reporting a novel approach that reversed Parkinson's-like symptoms in rats. Their results, published in the journal ACS Nano, could one day lead to a new therapy for human patients.

MIT: Implantable device could allow doctors to test cancer drugs in patients before prescribing chemotherapy. More than 100 drugs have been approved to treat cancer, but predicting which ones will help a particular patient is an inexact science at best. A new device developed at MIT may change that. The implantable device, about the size of the grain of rice, can carry small doses of up to 30 different drugs. After implanting it in a tumor and letting the drugs diffuse into the tissue, researchers can measure how effectively each one kills the patient’s cancer cells. Such a device could eliminate much of the guesswork now involved in choosing cancer treatments, says Oliver Jonas, a postdoc at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and lead author of a paper describing the device in the April 22 online edition of Science Translational Medicine.

Vienna: Blocked blood vessels can quickly become dangerous. It is often necessary to replace a blood vessel – either by another vessel taken from the body or even by artificial vascular prostheses. Together, Vienna University of Technology and Vienna Medical University have developed artificial blood vessels made from a special elastomer material, which has excellent mechanical properties. Over time, these artificial blood vessels are replaced by endogenous material. At the end of this restorative process, a natural, fully functional vessel is once again in place. The method has already been used successfully in rats.

Vienna: Four per cent of the population which is about 320,000 Austrians and up to 250 million people worldwide suffer from food allergies. The majority of those affected suffer from gastrointestinal problems, including symptoms such as diarrhoea, sickness, or vomiting. The intestine not only serves for ingestion, but probably also is the organ where the development of a food allergy first occurs. 80 per cent of human immune cells are located in the intestine to protect the body – as a consequence, a healthy intestine as part of the immune system is crucial for developing tolerance for food components and harmless agents.

Vienna: Approximately 584,000 people worldwide die of malaria each year. The epidemic strongly associated with poverty claims most of its victims in Africa, where it particularly affects the weakest, children and pregnant women. Current therapies have to be taken over several days to be effective against malaria. "Due to supply bottlenecks, but also the quick reduction of symptoms, the administration of therapies over several days is often inadequate which can lead to treatment failure and ultimately represent a threat to the patients", so Michael Ramharter of the Infectiology and Tropical Medicine Division of the University for Internal Medicine I at MedUni Vienna on the occasion of the World Malaria Day. First results of a multicentre study with Ramharter as "Principal Investigator" now provide hope for the malaria therapy with just one dose.

The findings could lead to patients at risk of disease being identified earlier

Manchester: Arthritis Research UK-funded scientists at The University of Manchester have identified a new way in which genotyping can be used to predict disease outcomes among sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis. New studies have shown that certain genetic variants are associated with higher or lower risks of increased disease severity.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, (JAMA) could in future lead to those patients who are at risk of severe disease being identified early, and also predict who will respond best to treatment.

Manchester: Research from The University of Manchester is bringing scientists a step closer to developing new therapies for controlling the body’s response to allergies and parasitic worm infections. In a paper published in Nature Communications, Pr Andrew MacDonald discovered a new way that immune cells control inflammation during worm infection or an allergic response like asthma. It’s important to understand how this type of inflammation is controlled as it can be very damaging and in some cases lead to long term conditions.

Cambridge: Researchers have identified how proteins that play a key role in Alzheimer’s disease are linked in a pathway that controls its progression, and that drugs targeting this pathway may be a potential new way of treating the disease. Researchers have found that the proteins that control the progression of Alzheimer’s are linked in a pathway, and that drugs targeting this pathway may be a way of treating the disease, which affects 40 million people worldwide. The findings are published today (23 April) in the journal Cell Reports.

WHO: A staggering US$ 1.6 trillion is the economic cost of the approximate 600 000 premature deaths and of the diseases caused by air pollution in the WHO European Region in 2010, according to the first-ever study of these costs conducted for the Region. The amount is nearly equivalent to one tenth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire European Union in 2013. "Curbing the health effects of air pollution pays dividends. The evidence we have provides decision-makers across the whole of government with a compelling reason to act. If different sectors come together on this, we not only save more lives but also achieve results that are worth astounding amounts of money," says Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "Cross-sectoral work is the backbone of the environment and health process, which was initiated 26 years ago, and it is even more relevant today in the discussions taking place at this meeting in Haifa."

INSERM: Several years ago, INRA researchers in Jouy-en-Josas showed that levels of the gut bacterium Faecalibacterium prausnitzii tended to decline in the human gut at the onset of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Is this disappearance of F. prausnitzii one of the causes of inflammation, or is its disappearance a consequence of the disease? Today, the same INRA team, in collaboration with an American team (Berkeley), AgroParisTech, lnserm, AP-HP and UPMC, are answering these questions. Not only do their results show that F. prausnitzii plays an active role in protecting against intestinal inflammation, they also propose explanations regarding mechanisms of action. This research is published in the journal mBio on 21 April 2015.

New gene therapy success in a rare disease of the immune system: Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome

INSERM: French teams, and English teams demonstrated the efficacy of gene therapy treatment for Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome (WAS). Six children that were treated and followed for at least 9 months had their immune system restored and clinical condition improved. This work, which was published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), was carried out with support from the AFM-Telethon.

INSERM: Vasoproliferative ocular diseases are responsible for sight loss in millions of people in the industrialised countries. Many patients do not currently respond to the treatment offered, which targets a specific factor, VEGF. A team of Inserm researchers at the Vision Institute (Inserm/CNRS/Pierre and Marie Curie University), in association with a team from the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, have demonstrated in an animal model that blocking another protein, Slit2, prevents the pathological blood vessel development that causes these diseases. This work is published in Nature Medicine.

INSERM: Researchers at Inserm and Paris Descartes University have just taken an important step in research on stem cells and dental repair. They have managed to isolate dental stem cell lines and to describe the natural mechanism by which they repair lesions in the teeth. This fundamental discovery will make it possible to initiate unprecedented therapeutic strategies to mobilise the resident dental stem cells and magnify their natural capacity for repair. These results are published in the journal Stem Cells.

INSERM: Individuals with type 2 diabetes, who are resistant to insulin, have an excess blood glucose level, which they are now trying to reduce using a new class of diabetes drugs known as the gliflozins. These new drugs lower the sugar level but also produce a paradoxical effect, leading to the secretion of glucagon, a supplementary source of glucose. Joint research units 1190, “Translational Research for Diabetes,” (University of Lille, Inserm and Lille Regional University Hospital), directed by François Pattou, and 1011 “Nuclear Receptors, Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes,” directed by Bart Staels[1], describe a new mechanism that controls glucagon secretion in humans, making it possible to elucidate this phenomenon and suggesting a modification of this new type of treatment.

CNRS: A team at the CNRS/ Inserm has evidenced, at the atomic scale, the threedimensional structure of the complete human ribosome and the detailed interactions that occur within it. These findings, obtained using a technology that is unique in France, open the way to further exploring some of the adverse effects of antibiotics, and, in the longer term, to the treatment of diseases related to ribosomal dysfunctions and the deregulation of protein synthesis. This work is published in Nature on 22 April 2015.

Lund: A number of research studies have shown that coffee helps to protect against breast cancer. A new study led by Lund University, has confirmed that coffee inhibits the growth of tumours and reduces the risk of recurrence in women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with the drug tamoxifen.

Copenhagen: Danish researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Herlev Hospital have made a discovery that may change the principles for treating certain types of cancer. The discovery relates to the so-called telomeres that constitute the ends of human chromosomes. Short telomeres are related to unhealthy lifestyles, old age and the male gender – all of which are risk factors in terms of high mortality. Up until now, the assumption has been that short telomeres are related to ill health. The challenge for researchers worldwide has therefore been to find out whether or not the short telomeres were indeed a signifier or an indirect cause of increased mortality.

CDC: A new microneedle patch being developed by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) could make it easier to vaccinate people against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. The microneedle patch is designed to be administered by minimally trained workers and to simplify storage, distribution, and disposal compared with conventional vaccines.

FDA: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the first generic versions of Abilify (aripiprazole). Generic aripiprazole is an atypical antipsychotic drug approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Hetero Labs Ltd., Teva Pharmaceuticals and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. have received FDA approval to market generic aripiprazole in multiple strengths and dosage forms. “Having access to treatments is important for patients with long-term health conditions,” said John Peters, M.D., acting director of the Office of Generic Drugs in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Health care professionals and consumers can be assured that FDA-approved generic drugs have met the same rigorous standards as the brand-name drug.”

Scimex: Italian scientists have boosted a HIV-infected patient's immune system by using a vaccine, which contains a protein that helps the virus to reproduce, allowing them to fight off the virus more effectively. They say that the vaccine may help with virus control, where patients have trouble sticking to an antiretroviral therapy routine, while also simplifying treatment, and reducing transmission of the disease. A vaccine containing a protein necessary for virus replication can boost an HIV-infected patient's immune system, according to clinical research published in the open access journal Retrovirology. This boost can result in increased effectiveness of antiretroviral drugs.

University of Adelaide researchers have discovered key signs that children experiencing sleep difficulties continue to suffer health problems even during periods of so-called "normal" sleep. The same research has helped to show that surgical removal of adenoids and tonsils is effective at reversing these problems among children, and may lead to improvements in brain development and behaviour. Researchers in the University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering have analysed data collected in sleep studies from children who have been diagnosed with "sleep-disordered breathing", or sleep apnoea. This condition is linked with poor development of the brain, cognitive and behavioural issues among children.

The Conversation: Picture this scenario: Seven days ago you had a really bad attack of back pain. You can hardly get out of bed, and getting dressed and in and out of the car is slow and painful. It’s making life seem miserable. You’re middle-aged but, other than this pain, are well. When you visit your GP, after examining you, she says it appears to be “non-specific musculo-skeletal pain”, should settle with time, and that you should stay active. “Shouldn’t you order me an x-ray to find out what it is?” you ask. “It is really bad!” Not so long ago, getting an x-ray for acute back pain was the norm. Although it’s now known that they don’t help most cases, they are still used far more frequently than is necessary.

The Conversation: Most women get them. Some men get them. Few people welcome them. Stretch marks, or stria distensae as they are known medically, are scars that appear when the skin is stretched beyond its elastic limit. Physicists define the elastic limit as the maximum force that can be applied to solid material before the onset of permanent deformation. In dermatology, when stresses up to the elastic limit are removed, the skin resumes its original size and shape. When forces beyond the elastic limit are removed, the skin remains permanently stretch-marked. The younger you are, the firmer your skin. The firmer your skin, the lower your elastic limit and the more likely you are to develop stretch marks. Stretch marks occur most frequently during adolescent or pregnancy growth.

The Conversation: Everyone who has ever been camping or walking in the wild with friends can’t have failed to notice how insects seem to prefer some people’s flesh to others. Some unlucky souls are totally covered in itchy red blotches and others are miraculously spared. Sometimes only some family members are affected. My mother has never been bitten by a mosquito (though fleas like her) while my brother and I are often the targets. Previous observations have shown a higher mosquito preference for larger people (who produce more CO₂), beer drinkers and pregnant women, and although diet was often suspected as a factor, nothing in what we eat (even garlic) stood up to scrutiny.

The Conversation: A 21-year-old university student has died after taking a chemical she bought over the internet as a way to lose weight. Sadly Eloise Aimee Parry was the latest of a string of young people to fall victim to the chemical 2,4-dinitrophenol, known as DNP. It is a very dangerous chemical and scientists have been aware of this for nearly a century. During World War I, DNP was sometimes used to fill armour-piercing shells, as a mixture with picric acid, known as Shellite or Tridite. An explosion in a munitions factory at Rainham in Essex in 1916 was attributed to the chemical. Just like TNT it was found to be toxic to the munitions workers handling it. Many of them lost weight dramatically and some even died simply by absorbing it through their skin. The commercial use of DNP is as a pesticide or herbicide and, in 2009, 11 workers in a Chinese chemical factory – plus nine of their relatives – contracted DNP poisoning, their skins turned yellow or even black and two died.

The Conversation: For most of the common cancers, a major cause has been identified: smoking causes 90% of lung cancer worldwide, hepatitis viruses cause most liver cancer, H pylori bacteria causes stomach cancer, Human papillomavirus causes almost all cases of cervical cancer, colon cancer is largely explained by physical activity, diet and family history. But for breast cancer, there is no smoking gun. It is almost unique among the common cancers of the world in that there is not a known major cause; there is no consensus among experts that proof of a major cause has been identified.

The Conversation: Obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. The proportion of US adults who are obese – defined as a body mass index (BMI), a measure of body fat based on height and weight – of at least 30, has risen from 13% in 1960 to 35% in 2011-2012. Estimates of the annual costs of obesity include 112,000 lives lost and US$190 billion in medical expenses. Economists have been trying to pinpoint some of the economic factors that could have contributed to this rise in adult obesity for years. Some have examined the role of cheaper and more readily available food, as measured by grocery food prices, restaurant prices, access to restaurants, access to supercenters, or receipt of food stamps. Others have focused on incentives related to physical activity. For instance, cheaper gasoline may lead to more driving and less walking, while urban sprawl reduces community walkability.

The Conversation: The recent upsurge in HIV cases linked to injection drug use in southern Indiana has thrust the issue of syringe exchange programs (SEPs) into the headlines. While authorities are linking these cases of HIV infection directly to injecting drugs, it is unknown how many are caused by sexual activity with an infected drug user. Nearly all states prohibit possession of syringes other than for medical need through their drug paraphernalia laws. Syringe access laws that require ID and proof of medical need to purchase them from pharmacies also exist in the majority of states, including Indiana. Federal funding of syringe exchange programs is banned as well. To respond to the current outbreak, Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed a 30-day exception to the state’s restriction on needle exchange programs.

Melbourne: Infection with parasites changes the shape of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) resulting in cells becoming stuck in brain blood vessels. This finding may provide an alternative way to combat malaria that could lead to new drug targets to help RBCs resist being transformed during infection. Published in the PNAS today, Professor Leann Tilley said lifegiving RBCs are turned into potential killers upon invasion by malaria parasites.

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Thursday, April 30, 2015

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