Pharmacology

An oral vaccine can prevent mice from developing Prion disease. Prion diseases, which include scrapie, mad cow disease, and chronic wasting disease, are fatal and there is no treatment or cure. The disease spreads when an animal eats the body parts of other animals contaminated with prions. The disease causes dementia and abnormal limb movements. Prion is a protein that is also an infectious agent. The proteins are so similar to proteins found normally that the immune system does not fight them off. To develop a vaccine that would stimulate the mice's immune system, researchers attached…

Children of women who took the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy appear to be at a greater risk for lower IQ, according to research presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 – May 5, 2007. The study looked at IQ results for 187 two-year-old children of mothers who took the epilepsy drugs carbamazepine, lamotrigine, phenytoin, or valproate during pregnancy. According to the study, 24 percent of the children of mothers who took valproate showed an IQ in the mental retardation range, compared to 12 percent for carbamazepine, nine percent for…

With funding provided by the Wisconsin Partnership Fund for Health and the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation, Jennifer Eddy of UW Health's Eau Claire Family Medicine Clinic is currently conducting the first randomized, double-blind controlled trial of honey for diabetic ulcers. Eddy first successfully used honey therapy a few years ago with a patient who was facing amputation after all medical options had been exhausted. Experts believe that treating wounds with honey has tremendous potential for the approximately 200 million people in the world with diabetes, 15 percent of…

Research shows that when soy consumption goes up, weight goes down. A new University of Illinois study may help scientists understand exactly how that weight loss happens. "We wanted to compare the effects of soy protein hydrolysates and soy peptides with those of leptin because we hypothesized that soy might behave in the body in a similar way. Leptin is a hormone produced in our adipose tissue that interacts with receptors in the brain and signals us that we’re full so we stop eating," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I assistant professor of food science and human nutrition. The researchers…

Elderly men and women who consumed higher levels of calcium and vitamin D are significantly more likely to have greater volumes of brain lesions, regions of damage that can increase risk of cognitive impairment, dementia, depression and stroke. Duke University scientist Dr. Martha Payne reported this finding at Experimental Biology 2007, in Washington, DC. Dr. Payne and her co-investigators from Duke and the University of North Carolina examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 232 men and women (79 men, 153 women) between the ages of 60 and 86 (average age 71). All the subjects…

Increasing intake of antioxidant-rich cherries may help lower the risk of metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease, suggests a new study(1) presented today at the Experimental Biology annual meeting. Researchers say the animal study is encouraging and will lead to further clinical studies in humans. "Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of traits that can greatly increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes, so it's a serious condition that significantly affects public health," said study co-author Dr. Steven F. Bolling, a cardiac surgeon at the University of Michigan…

A new study shows that aspirin therapy for coronary artery disease is four times more likely to be ineffective in women compared to men with the same medical history. Historically, studies have shown that aspirin therapy is less effective in women than in men, but it has remained unclear how much less effective and whether this affects patient outcomes, said Michael Dorsch, clinical pharmacist and adjunct clinical instructor at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. Originally, Dorsch and his team set out to determine if patients with a history of heart attacks were more apt to be…

Green tea may help protect against autoimmune disease, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Researchers studied an animal model for type I diabetes and primary Sjogren's Syndrome, which damages the glands that produce tears and saliva. They found significantly less salivary gland damage in a group treated with green tea extract, suggesting a reduction of the Sjogren's symptom commonly referred to as dry mouth. Dry mouth can also be caused by certain drugs, radiation and other diseases. Approximately 30 percent of elderly Americans suffer from degrees of dry mouth, says Dr. Stephen…

In the U.S. more than $20 billion was spent on dietary supplements in 2005. Over $7 billion was spent on plant-based herbal dietary supplements such as grape seed extract, St. John's wort, ginseng and biloba extract. Researcher Dr. Susanne Mertens-Talcott of Texas A&M University is looking into how useful plant-based phytochemicals, including antioxidants and herbal supplements, can be in the promotion of health and prevention of chronic diseases. "My overall goal is to find out more about the safety and efficacy of phytochemical dietary supplements," she said. Because these items are…

A study of herbal kelp supplements led by UC Davis public health expert Marc Schenker concludes that its medicinal use may cause inadvertent arsenic poisoning and health dangers for consumers, especially when overused. Schenker and two researchers evaluated nine over-the-counter herbal kelp products and found higher than acceptable arsenic levels in eight of them. The new study, published in the April issue of Environmental Health Perspectives (http://www.ehponline.org/) was prompted by the case of a 54-year-old woman who was seen at the UC Davis Occupational Medicine Clinic following a two…