Enzyme that fights inflammation could be powerful basis for developing drugs

Your immune system can go crazy fighting against invaders and end up hurting you worse with the inflammation it creates. Now scientists have discovered an enzyme A20 that powerfully deters overproduction of inflammation. "'Finding one enzyme that can rein in two potent pathways of inflammation increases the potential benefits of developing drugs to enhance or restore A20' s effectiveness."

Inflammation is a factor in so many diseases that this seems like a very exciting discovery. Now for the early-morning, alpha-wave brain children on how to use this knowledge from our bioscience practitioners...

Alcohol and your heart

I couldn't resist this one. Cardiologists have been saying for a long time that red wine is good for your heart. Now here's proof in the form of animal studies that it also reduces the damage after you've had a heart attack. Newswise: "In subjects that were treated with the alcohol, the tissue affected by the low blood flow was much healthier and stronger than the untreated tissue."

The way it works is that once blood flow is restored to your damaged heart, that blood is carrying a bunch of white blood cells with it--we're used to thinking of them as the good guys. But in this case they cling to the sides of your damaged vessels and release toxic chemicals that kill more cells. Alcohol smooths out the surfaces so these nasty little carriers can't stick. And here's another article that describes how the white blood cells become enemies, producing inflammation when it's not needed--and make you even more susceptible to heart attacks.

So strange how many ways the good and the bad coexist in single elements in our bodies.

Okay, they don't say this means you should start drinking. They see a similar effect in capsaicin, the ingredient that makes Tabasco sting your throat and heat up your head.

Heart / pancreas / breasts -- it's all interrelated

A recent study says that 9 easily measurable factors are sure predictors of risk of heart attack. They are:"abnormal cholesterol, current smoking, abdominal obesity, depression and stress, high blood pressure and diabetes", surprise, surprise. But I had to keep looking because this business of "abdominal obesity" keeps coming up, as opposed to general obesity. Further research led me to see that abdominal weight is associated with insulin resistance, which is the precursor to diabetes. I keep wondering why one person gets it in the middle and another gets it all over. Then I saw another report that tried to demonstrate a link between early childhood weight and later insulin resistance (which seems to be the trigger for the heavy middle). So then I found a report from Tufts University that said danger levels of middle-area fat (which they think may metabolize differently than other fat) can be predicted by the waist-hip ratio (divide your waist by your hip measurement). For men anything over 1.0 is risky and for women it's .8. And another study showed that the insulin-resistance involved in middle fat contributes to greater risks of breast cancer in older women. Happily, in case you needed another reason to start exercising, a further study indicates that exercise, all by itself, can reduce the negative effects of that middle part, even if you don't lose much or even any weight.

Diabetes is spreading in Europe - is there a culprit?

It's not just Americans who are suffering increased rates of diabetes--a life-threatening disease that can also dramatically change the quality of a person's life. Attendees at the recent European Society of Cardiology meeting heard about a study that uncovered it in a significant percentage of people chosen to test a heart drug. "Of 43,500 people screened for inclusion into a major heart drug trial -- of whom only 20 percent already had cardiovascular disease -- approximately 1 in 5 had previously undiagnosed type 2 diabetes... Diabetes is linked not only to eye, kidney and nerve damage but also with much worse outcomes from heart problems and clogged arteries."

Why is this frightening disease apparently spreading so rapidly? Could corn have something to do with it? A local holistic healer in northeast Ohio is telling his patients that the corn industry is always successfully lobbying to keep corn syrup as an ingredient in nearly every processed food we buy--thus providing us with a hidden source of sugary calories that we're generally not even aware of consuming. Naturally, this can contribute to obesity, which is strongly linked to diabetes and its pre-cursor, impaired glucose tolerance.

Now that I think of it, don't they feed corn to cattle to make them fat?

Simple test kit for HIV and other killers reaches Vietnam - can't be bought here yet

Across-the-counter availability for a simple, quick test for some of the most lethal diseases in the world. It's a good idea. The story says Medical Services has started receiving orders and shipping VScan HIV test kits to Vietnam. "The VScan rapid test kit is a single use, easy to use, test for the screening of HIV1&2, Hepatitis B&C, Tuberculosis (TB), Dengue Fever, and West Nile." The kits have demonstrated in two tests the ability to accurately detect the presence of a disease by 99.7% and 100%. Vietnam and Singapore recently started experiencing severe outbreaks of Dengue Fever so the test, which takes ony 15 minutes, comes at an important time for those countries and will allow physicians to immediately begin fluid replacement therapy that will help minimize the damage the disease does.

The kits have undergone testing in the US, and application for approval will be filed in the fall. But they can't be sold in Canada. The Canadian process is so long and bureaucratic, according to Bill Whitehead, a Medical Services spokesperson, that the company (which is located in Canada) is not even thinking about trying to go through it at this time. "A market of 32 million people," he says. "So what?" is the attitude of the government. Whitehead says the approval process in the US is simpler than for a drug but not in Canada.

The Canadian government even refused to accept a test as a gift for a soldier in Afghanistan who was eventually diagnosed with Dengue Fever. "Thank God he was alright," Whitehead says, but the test could have detected the disease much earlier and the proper treament could have prevented the serious weight loss the soldier experienced.

What in the world would make a government so overly cautious in a case where a company can provide, with no demonstrated risk, early and possibly life-saving help to millions of people?

And we thought we had it tough...

Genetic connection to Parkinson's disease

Neurology

This is really complicated, but it looks like the researcher has the right idea for getting the point across. His comparison to a garbage dump truck is irresistible: New genetic research demonstrates possible cause of inherited form of Parkinson's disease. : The situation is like "a garbage truck stalling at the entrance to the town dump. 'If the truck breaks down right in front of the dump, not only does it fail to deliver its own garbage to the dump, but it blocks all the other garbage trucks and the town fills up with garbage.' "

Backing up at the protein disposal site--we seem to be hearing more and more about proteins, right along with genes. Maybe I'm crazy, but there seem to be some trends developing...

Enzyme helps Nitric Oxide fight TB - big time

Researchers wanted to know why an existing drug isoniazid works so well against tuberculosis. They found that nitric oxide--the same substance involved in inflammation (asthma, liver disease, etc.), pain and cardiac events is created when the drug is used to treat TB. "An enzyme only found inside the TB bacteria makes nitric oxide from the isoniazid that is taken inside the cell."

The University of Mexico College of Pharmacy and School of Medicine discovered the mechanism by which the nitric oxide is energized. They expect to use this piece of the puzzle to develop even better drugs.

Antibiotics can contribute to colitis--new test allows faster treatment

Antibiotics often cause diarrhea and colitis, especially in hospitals and nursing homes where the culprit bacterium (C. difficile) is common--and so is antibiotic therapy. The FDA has approved Meridian Bioscience's new ImmunoCard Toxins A&B, a rapid test for the diagnosis of a major cause of antibiotic-associated colitis"

Seems that as we learn to cure one thing, we contribute to the occurrence of other things. By the time we wipe out disease, some of us will be dying from the cures. This is one of the reasons bioscience is such a bursting source of new energy and economic growth.

It ain't never gonna go out of style.

Pharmaceutical giants collaborating with emerging companies -- hopeful sign

Given the complex roles that nitric oxide plays in so many different critical areas of medicine--like inflammation (which is a factor in a host of diseases like asthma, liver disease, etc.), pain and cardiovascular therapy, it's very exciting to hear that drug gian Pfizer has committed to a partnership with emerging French NicOx that's working on developing safer, more effective nitric-oxide-donating drugs. NicOx will synthesize nitric compounds that will be evaluated in preclinical screening and characterization tests. Once that's finished, Pfizer will choose certain products to support for further development and global commercialization.

Pfizer says it's going to continue to look for collaboration opportunities. This may be a good omen for those struggling to get started--or those just struggling--in the bioscience industry.

Nature holds both healing miracles and the seeds of destruction--sometimes in the same element

Just discovered this item that was first reported in the spring this year. Children with sickle cell disease experience pain when their veins begin to close up (an effect of the disease). I had some exposure to the potential effects--both positive and negative--of nitrix oxide when writing a white paper on asthma this year. So I was fascinated to hear about this study.

The Journal of the American Medical Association published results of a Preliminary Assessment of Inhaled Nitric Oxide for Acute Vaso-occlusive Crisis in Pediatric Patients With Sickle Cell Disease in which they gave kids hospitalized with pain from a vaso-occlusive event (veins closing up) and found that pain levels were lowered enough to warrant further investigation.

Nitric oxide is a strange substance. When it comes out of car exhausts, we think of it as bad. When it's exhaled from our bodies, we think of eliminating waste. But it also helps dilate bronchial tubes--and now veins. And it plays as-yet unknown parts in inflammation that occurs in the body's tissues.

Just as cancer cells are regular cells run amok, so many things that are natural to us can be both good and bad. What a conundrum for researchers.

Conference highlight: RNA safer than DNA for genetic engineering

The annual meeting is not a thing of the past, in spite of threats of terrorism and still-sluggish economic conditions. This one for the American Neurological Association (ANA) has some exciting presentations planned. They will feature topics like regenerating nerve fibers and cells in in the spinal cord and brain (traditionally not as self-healing as other tissue), and discussing how interfering with RNA is easier and safer than targeting DNA for genetic engineering. For those of us who are non-scientists, I wondered why using DNA is considered dangerous. So I scouted around and found this paper online (by a University of California, Berkeley professor) that gives one good reason. DNA can contain--and transfer over--"genetic material from bacteria, viruses and other genetic parasites that cause diseases as well as antibiotic resistance [sic] genes that make infectious diseases untreatable." Now I hope that we among the interested public won't have to wait until a report from the conference on why RNA is safer.

Drug offers improved short-term memory

In a recent study of memory disorders, some patients in a carefully organized and controlled setup showed improvement in short-term memory when treated with a drug that's used for Alzheimer's.

But here's the part I want to point out: those who received the drug reported nearly as many side effects as those in the placebo group (88% to 73%). But "Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abnormal dreams, insomnia and leg cramps occurred in greater than five percent and [at] twice the rate of placebo."

The dichotomy of medical research is that you must choose to ignore the suffering you create in the hope that what you learn will help others in the future. That's a tough load to carry every day.

Change your language--and maybe change your world

You know, I gotta tell you that to see this sort of statement, "relatively high-functioning community-dwelling women (mean age 66.3 years)" is astonishing.

There must be a lot of people out there who are very different from the people I know who are in their 60s to even occasion the use of the phrase "relatively high-functioning." I don't care what the scientific definition is; it's a reductionist approach to defining human beings.

You don't have to be a full-fledged subscriber to so-called New Age techniques (which, by the way, are gaining ever-increasing favor among traditional western medical practitioners--never mind if it's just about money) to understand that the way you talk about things--especially people--influences not only the way you're going to interpret your findings, but even the way your "subjects" will act and react in your studies.

What you believe is pretty much what you're going to find. So my advice is to stop referring to people you study as something less than the vibrant, whole, multi-faceted creatures they are.

Genetics discovery--helped by the Internet--holds key to many birth defects

Neurology
Clinical and basic scientist researchers at the University of Chicago followed a mysterious course of clues--and used the Internet to find patients to study--to identify the "first genetic cause of one of the most common birth defects of the brain, Dandy-Walker malformation (DWM). Infants with this disorder--about one in 10000 births--have a small, displaced cerebellum and other brain abnormalities that can reduce coordination, impair mental function and cause hydrocephalus."

This story is a fascinating one of how scientists used deduction to follow a trail from a single child who was found to have a missing piece of chromosome to make this discovery. Even more exciting is the fact that DWM seems to be genetically a more extreme form of the same kind of abnormalities that result in autism.

Leave it to a student, though. A female MD/PhD student who combed the Internet to find parent support groups for children with DWM and separately for parents of children with related chromosomal abnormalities. How brilliantly shines the beauty of what the Internet can do to help human beings accomplish great things.

Any FDA approval is positive--even if it's later taken back

In an unusual reversal of the FDA advisory group's decision a couple of months ago, the FDA refused to approve the use of Houston Cyberonics product (its only product) for depression. The device, approved for use with epilepsy, is a "small pacemaker-like device" that's implanted in the chest and uses thin wires to send pulses to the vagus nerve in the neck.

The study took advantage of having located a convenient group of people diagnosed with depression and already undergoing other kinds of treatments. They gave that group the device, and then they used another group for comparison who did not receive their device but were also being treated by other methods. While the panel saw positive results, the full FDA found fault with the fact that the chosen patients weren't randomly assigned to groups, as well as with the fact that other treatments were going on in both groups.

It looks as though this is just a blip for Cyberonics, though. After having its stock shoot up 80% when the panel approved the original request, last week Dallas-based Advanced Neuromodulation Systems bought a big chunk of Cyberonics shares and started talking about a potential merger.

Hospital equipment for obese patients a growing market

Obesity has always been an issue in America--but now the number of people over 300 pounds needing hospital treatment has created a growing market for special equipment, including patient lift devices.As baby boomers age, so does the average age of nursing staff--whose greatest incidence of injury is from lifting and moving large patients. A Texas-based hospital supply company said "its members bought $847,000 worth of patient lifts in 2001. Last year that number was up to $43 million." And with the increasing popularity of bariatric surgery to help obese patients lose weight, some hospitals are now buying whole suites of specially designed beds, walkers and commodes.

How ironic that as more and more health issues are connected with serious overweight, the occurrence of it is increasing so much. Perhaps it's just a case of numbers--there are more obese people now because there are just more people--all those baby boomers--hitting that age when losing weight becomes more and more difficult.

So even as holistic approaches to healing have begun to attract serious dollars in the marketplace--and some hospitals are followin the money by adding things like Reiki to treatment options for certain diseases--so now obesity cures are becoming serious revenue sources, too. It's not just for pill-hawkers anymore...

Relax -- for improved medical outcomes

Hypnosis is about becoming relaxed--all the way to your core. And because a calm state of mind is helpful for so many medical treatments, a researcher in Israel--where the procedure is very popular--decided to try it for in vitro fertilization.

Of course, in this study they had to choose women who were already good candidates to be hypnotized (they don't say what those specifications are, but a quick search indicates experts say it's basically anyone who's willing). The success rate (twice as many of the women who were hypnotized became pregnant in a single cycle of treatment) points up the power of a peaceful mind.

The hypnosis was introduced at a "crucial point of the treatment...the point in which the embryos comes in contact with the womb of the woman"--which is the most stressful part of the treatment. The stress is said to be so extreme that the uterus may begin having tiny contractions which would make it difficult for the embryo to attach itself--and might even expel it even as it's being introduced.

Mantras. Meditation. Massage. Deepak Chopra and an increasing number of other highly respected research scientists and medical practitioners recommend them all. Happily, the conjoining of medical wisdom from east and west grows ever closer.

Economic development guru highlights bio

Visit Don Iannone's ED Futures e-newsletter for an excellent list of bio news resources. Because of the tremendous potential the industry holds for improving economic development in regions, Iannone covers lots of interesting items that relate to biotech and biomed--they're on everyone's lips these days. Let's face it bio is the hottest industry in the world right now. And maybe, between that and nanotech, this will remain the future for a long time to come.

One of his recent entries gives extensive information about the bio industry from another excellent news sources you should check out: Bio.org This is essentially a lobbying group for the industry...as well as for researchers, many from small innovative companies. They're about making the climate in Washington favorable to those who are out there struggling to give birth to cutting-edge developments.

Hmmm. Looks like I'd better add that one to the resource list, too.

German government re-thinking ban on human cloning

Clearly recognizing that extreme differences in position still exist, the government has called for reconsidering its position on human cloning for purposes of stem cell research.Seeing that many other countries are changing their attitudes--including England's latest move to open research for a year--they are concerned about losing residents. "Simitis warned that a type of 'bio tourism' might develop within the EU and that German researchers would immigrate to Great Britain if Germany did not rethink its stance."

Just as women began shopping for the right cleric--meaning the cleric with the 'right' attitude about it--when birth control became easily available many years ago and yet was banned by the Catholic Church, this fear of people going elsewhere to get more advanced medical care is not unrealistic.

Biomed in Silicon Valley pulling big VC dollars

Biomed has surpassed software for the first time in attracting VC money--and it's filling the gap, at least partially, that the dot.com bust created. In the last year high-tech investors have switched to supporting biotechnology and medical device companies -- to the tune $241.7 billion in Silicon Valley alone. Biomedical companies create jobs and spending that can help smooth out a region's rough spots.

"The Bay Area's biomedical sector is getting one of every four venture capital dollars -- compared with one out of 16 in the year 2000's frenzy of high-tech investment."

The article goes on to say that rate of payback is speeding up, and bio investors don't have to quite so patient anymore. No wonder everybody's in such a race for bio-tech-med favor

Business use discovered for DNA analysis tool

Gotta post this here, too. I put in Blog for Business because it's such good news for business people. A technique for reading DNA has now been applied to reading and isolating spam emails.This is a sign of things to come.

"Instead of chains of characters representing DNA sequences, the research group fed the algorithm 65,000 examples of known spam. Each email was treated as a long, DNA-like chain of characters. Teiresias identified six million recurring patterns in this collection, such as 'Viagra.'
"Each pattern represented a common sequence of letters and numbers that had appeared in more than one unsolicited message. The researchers then ran a collection of known non-spam (dubbed "ham") through the same process, and removed the patterns that occurred in both groups."

Rate of error--deleting a genuine email--was 1 in 6000. How much time do you waste deleting emails? Is it worth that risk?

I'm sure that as scientists you have long noticed that patterns exist everywhere we look. Here's another illustration of how a technique from one discipline can have direct transferrability to another--if you only jog your thinking enough.

Cloning for mad-cow-disease-resistant calves gets funding in Korea

Using the in vivo technique which is conducted in natural environments (as opposed to in vitro which are done in labs) the Korean scientist who cloned the first human embryo from stem cells early this year has received big funding for the experiment using surrogate cow mothers, some of which he's reportedly hand picked. And there's more.

"The Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) yesterday said it would pour 7.7 billion won [if my calculations are correct that's about US$6.65 million] to build the Korea National Primate Research Center by next year. The center, which the KRIBB plans to complete midway through next year, will focus on studying stem cells to produce next-generation medicines based on advanced biotechnology.

Earlier last month, Kyonggi Province and the Ministry of Science and Technology decided to shell out 7.8 billion won to set up a facility for miniature pigs, which can provide human organs for transplants."

Hwang's successful cloning may have been the beginning of a new era--unrestricted research that uses stem cells to find treatments for many chronic diseases. I personally know two people who have overcome two different almost-always fatal varieties of cancer by having had stem cell implants using their own stem cells. My guess is investors all over the world are already dumping lots of money into this research--wherever it's being done.

Stem cell patches can grow new heart tissue

Using a patient's own stem cells, scientistis can replace certain areas of damaged heart tissue. Using bone marrow taken from the hip. doctors isolate stem cells, and in a new study, they plan to inject 30 million of them into one patient's heart (the 6th in the country to receive this treatment). Chief of Cardiology at the Texas Heart Institute says some of the stem cells become new blood vessels, some new heart muscle cells. "Other cells fuse, latch onto existent heart muscle cells in sort of a blob and they exchange nuclear material." Doctors believe this fusion process allows the injected cell to rescue the injured cell. In Tokyo researchers pulled stem cells from a leg muscle and grew a cardiac patch.

This is great news for potential heart transplant patients who may eventually not have to undergo the invasive procedure. But for those with other types of heart disease, such as problems with valves, this work gives hope that one day their own stem cells might help heal or even replace the dysfunctional parts.

Wow. This truly gives new meaning to the old admonition "Heal thyself"...

Indian experts say radiation from mobile phone towers is bad

Indian health officials declare waves and radiations from mobile phone towers potentially dangerous to the hearts and/or brains of those in the vicinity. Officials from India's Health Services %28DHS%29 and head of the Neurology Department at PGI%2C raised the safety issue at a public meeting that included, among others, the country's Air Force and its Department of Telecom %28DoT%29.

The neurologist said that the horizontal area within 30 meters (about 100 ft.) of the towers is not safe, and that protective gear must be worn by anyone going within 3 meters (about 10 feet). Some U.S. scientists disagree: Here's a report on ElectroMagnetic Fields and Human Health by a professor of Radiation Oncology at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Where does the truth lie? Like everything we discover and put to good use (who could live without cell phones nowadays?), there are often hidden costs against life that we a) don't catch at all, or b) seriously underestimate.

Walking the middle line and keeping the balance is all we can ask of our scientists, inventors and investigators.

Partnership a good model for entrepreneurs

Quinton Cardiology Systems will sell Cardiac Science's Professional Model AED Under Burdick Brand Name A company with a powerful distribution system agrees to sell another company's product--a good partnership idea. Mutually beneficial collaboration--rather than every entrepreneur for herself--is surely a strong way to lower costs, increase efficiency, and gain greater market share--all the stuff all companies want to do.

This new model, CardioVive DM(TM), lets medical professionals see the patient's heart rhythm on a built-in high resolution color electrocardiogram (ECG) display. Professional users can deliver defibrillation shocks either semi-automatically or manually if the patient has a sudden cardiac arrest. Other cool features include "continuous cardiac monitoring capability via an ECG patient cable, multiple rescue data storage, clear and comprehensive AED and CPR voice prompts, infrared data transfer and optional rechargeable battery."

Voice prompts--I like that--that's a trend, I'll wager. Tech writers in future will be writing scripts instead of long, stuffy sets of documentation.

Anemia predicts poor outcomes for heart interventions

"...having anemia was associated with a higher rate of major cardiac events within 30 days and a longer hospital stay. After considering factors that increase the mortality risk, such as kidney failure and diabete, anemia was still a significant predictor of 1-year mortality.Whether patients had a history of angina, chest pain or heart attack, anemia was still a culprit in worse survival rates. Conclusion: overall treatment strategy ought to take anemia into consideration, especially if it's severe.

Once again (see earlier post) it's good to know that scientists are focusing on research that will help people live longer, not just survive their heart attacks. Otherwise, what is the point, really?

Partners developing device to vaporize liquid for respiratory care

Vapore and PARI Partner to Develop Medical Device "Vapore has developed a new breakthrough method of liquid vaporization called the capillary force vaporizer (CFV), a compact, heat-powered disc that generates a powerful jet of pressurized vapor from un-pressurized liquid--with no moving parts. PARI's medical devices will integrate Vapore's CFV to provide a compact precision vapor generator." The CFV combines capillary force and phase transition--two 'natural phenomena'--to produce a controllable flow of vapor that's simple to deliver and doesn't rely on environmentally harmful aerosol propellants. (Never fear, you other non-scientific readers out there. I have a question in to an official medical source to find out what the heck "phase transition" means--and while I was at it I thought I'd ask what the technical meaning of capillary force is--we all know what capillaries are but it's not absolutely clear what the 'force' is about).

First, the hair care people figured out how to quit using those bad spray propellants a long time ago. And then the HVAC manufacturers got rid of freon in air conditioners quite a few years ago. It's really good news to hear that investigators have found a way to deliver medicine to a person's lungs that also doesn't offend the environment--or the person's lungs.

US/China Pharmaceutical parntership to develop Septic Shock Drug

Medinox and PUMC Pharmaceutical Company Agree to Collaborate on Developing NOX-100 Septic Shock Drug in China and South Korea: Estimated number of septic shock patients is 600,000 in the US and 2 million in China per year; half of those patients die.

"The results of this trial in patients with severe septic shock indicate a beneficial effect for NOX-100 with a possible survival advantage and an excellent safety profile." Using NO neutralizers to remove dangerously overproduced NO from inflamed tissues yet not affecting the low levels of NO needed for normal ongoing organ functions is a novel approach to therapy.

Just musing here. NO (nitric oxide) plays a big part in inflammation--yet it is an element we need in our bodies. This seems to be a profile for lots of human diseases. Something that's natural and necessary gets out of control. Actually that sounds like a formula that could fit dysfunction at several levels...physiological, mental and business-wise.

FDA Clears First Device for Removing Blood Clots in Ischemic Stroke Patients

Catheter introduces Concentric Medical's device into the brain which then captures and removes the blood clot that's causing the stroke.: "The FDA granted clearance after a thorough review of patient data obtained in a clinical study at 25 medical centers in the United States. The MERCI (Mechanical Embolus Removal in Cerebral Ischemia) Trial evaluated the device in 141 patients who were ineligible for a 'clot-busting' drug that can only be used within three hours of stroke onset."

This sounds like a true breakthrough. Congratulations to Concentric Medical--and to all the stroke patients, including many relatively young people, who may not have to go on to a lifetime of disability.

University of Kentucky cardiologist to run huge nationwide study

Cardiologist came to the University of Kentucky from the Clinic in response to big money. "The study will look at four drugs that work against platelets and other clotting agents, to prevent the formation of blood clots" and act like "super aspirins" to thin blood during stenting operations. The study involves $35 million, 8000 patients, and 200 hospitals.

Looks like the rush to be a star in the hospital cardiology game continues to heat up.

Investment industry struggles with how to handle animal-rights extremists in England

England is a land of extreme animal lovers. Now it appears some of them are taking extreme measures to stop animal experimentation--they're hitting companies where the money is. "Anti-vivisectionists have extended their campaign to cover shareholders and firms that do business with companies that conduct animal experimentation."

Leaving aside the moral rectitude of threatening, bullying and intimidating as a tactic, these extremists have found a powerful way to force compliance to their demands by targeting the money behind big pharmaceutical and bioscience companies like Glaxo SmithKline. So now business people have to learn to deal with terrorists, just as governments are doing.

While I can applaud the fact that some little guys are going to force a huge corporate giant to do something, the technique is off base. Terrorism and vigilantism are just that, no matter who is doing them and for what cause.

New technologies heat up competition for cardiac dollars

Technology reducing open-heart operations--and causing downturns in hospital revenues.: Several hospitals in the Nashville area are considering layoffs because competing hospitals are using new technologies to make angioplasty and stenting more effective. One technology involves a pair of 1000-pound "magnets to guide the placement of a catheter into patients' hearts. [The surgeon] uses a joystick to control the catheter once it is inserted into the leg of a patient...'"

The other technologies include robotic surgery (done remotely by the surgeon) and improved diagnostic procedures (use CT scanning instead of invasive catheterizations). As more and more hospitals establish cardiac centers, this trend will continue. Technology will give baby boomers hitting the heart disease age much better options...and cracking your sternum will become a thing of the past.

None too soon, I say.

Magnetic brain stimulation, stem cell work give hope for Parkinson's

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Helpful for Depression in PD: "Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is as effective as fluoxetine for the treatment of depression in patients with Parkinson's disease, according to the results of a placebo-controlled trial published in the August issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. "

Scientists have hope that using adult stem cells will lead to greater improvements in helping Parkinson's disease ( and many others). This from a Medscape article on potential uses of stem cells:

"Stem cells or cells with stem-like qualities have been isolated or
described in a number of tissues including neural, pancreatic, epidermal,
mesenchymal, hepatic, bone, muscle, and endothelial tissues.[9-18] Reports have
suggested that cells found in bone marrow are capable of giving rise to
endothelial precursors, brain tissue, skeletal and cardiac muscle, hepatic
cells, and mesenchymal progeny.[6,15,19-23] Other reports suggest that in
culture, stem cells of neural or muscle origin can give rise to hematopoietic
cells.[24,25] Therefore, there is emerging evidence for a greater than
expected."

These possibilities are astounding. I know personally at least two people who have had stem cell implants--a procedure they described as pretty horrific--and conquered diseases formerly thought to be invariably rapid death sentences .

Stem cell research controversy causes rifts even in high-profile families

The two sons of former President Ronald Reagan were given opportunities to address presidential conventions. One is in favor:: "Last month, Ron Reagan told Democratic Party loyalists to 'vote for embryonic stem cell research' in a speech that touted the unproven research," quotes this article from Lifenews.com. The other son will speak to the Republicans and insist that the former president would never have supported it--and that talk of using embryonic research to cure Alzheimer's is "junk science at its worst."

It's tough to see the anger and divisiveness this issue causes. It's tough to know that no matter how many people object--nor how violently--there will be no stopping this phenomenon. Other countries feel none of the compunctions that many in western countries feel about this. China has already announced (see earlier post) that they fully intend to take advantage of their edge in this area--and are already making big plans.

Birth control. Organ donations. How many other issues since the birth of modern bioscience have caused firestorms of controversy that eventually simply disappeared? How long before we surrender to the inevitable and start regulating the industry?

UK takes tentative, temporary step towards human stem cell research

England issues a possibly-first-official-in-Europe one-year license to clone human embryos to produce stem cells.: Newcastle Center for Life scientists will use the resulting stem cells to 'spawn' human embryos 'by inserting the nuclei from human skin or existing stem cells into human eggs, which have had their nuclei removed,' hoping that the process, called therapeutic cloning, will speed up the hunt for cures for some diseases.

Eventually scientists hope they'll be able to reprogram a skin cell from someone suffering from a disease so that it, when it's reinserted, it will cure the disease. England will experience nearly as great an outcry as the U.S. from those who oppose this experimentation using human cells. Proponents argue the embryos are completely incapable of independent existence; opponents will say that doesn't matter.

Meanwhile, China will be quietly creating miraculous cures from its stem cell research--without a wimper from the populace.

Which comes first? Higher brain activity or Alzheimer's

Reports on this study linking job-difficulty level with Alzheimer's are all over the news today. "Those with high levels of leisure activity had a 38 percent lower risk of developing dementia, even when controlling for other risk factors, including ethnic background. Leisure activities included reading, going to movies, taking walks and talking with friends."

But no account was taken in the study of whether the people might not have assumed more challenging job responsibilities as they grew older because they were already developing the beginning stages of the disease. An earlier study seemed to support the idea that a brain reserve could be built up (from formal education and other learning experiences) that might serve as a backup when the disease begins to manifest.

Clearly it can't hurt to exercise your brain as well as your body.

Hospital Wal-Mart raises ethical question

Sun Herald - 08/10/04: "Health Management Associates buys up hospitals in rural areas and upgrades the level of care so that local residents don't have to commute to major urban centers for high quality treatment. Their chairman once described HMA as the 'Wal-Mart of the hospital business,' according to the Hoover's Online"

In the same article we see a reference to a proposed class action suit that's been filed against HMA in Florida for supposedly price-gouging by charging more to non-insured patients than to those with insurance. Have heard the same accusations against Wal-Mart. The challenge of maintaining ethical standards in the midst of great financial success clearly isn't confined to any particular industry.

How much testing do you do for drug side effects?

Stains that lower cholesterol may cause muscle damage. Some patients complain of previously non-existent muscle pain after starting statin-containing drugs. Blood tests often reveal elevated levels of the enzyme creatine kinase, an indication of muscle damage.

No one is about to give any definitive answers yet, since the drugs work wonders for lowering cholesterol. But one physician said the risks are worth it for those who are trying to prevent a second heart attack. Maybe not, he said, under other circumstances.

The point is that many physicians are unaware of the connection--and that takes away the patient's right to make a fully informed choice. When you're testing a drug, where do you draw the line to determine where you stop testing for other issues?

Parkinson's drug linked to heart valve damage

Patients taking pergolide to help control movement in Parkinson's disease have a much greater incidence of heart valve damage. : Investigators are recommending switching to a nonergot agonist "until the safety of pergolide can be firmly established." says an article in Neurology magazine.

So many things we don't know all the consequences of. Sometimes it must seem to investigators that they're moving down a long narrow tunnel and can't see other branches of the tunnel until they fall down one...

Faster, stronger less-toxic disinfectant prevents Listeria food poisoning

It's good to know there's a better product out there to keep our hot dogs or ready-to-eat chicken slices from trying to kill us...

Axen30 said to kill Listeria in 30 Seconds instead of 10 minutes.: Inventor PURE Bioscience says they're responding to increasing "industry and consumer use of 'green' products... This new molecule, silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC), is an electrolytically generated source of stabilized ionic silver... SDC liquid is colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-caustic and formulates well with other compounds."

Ethical recall

Boston Scientific is voluntarily expanding its recall of drug-coated stents used in angioplasty.(washingtonpost.com): After finding that 3000 more stents had the same problem (on units manufactured in their Ireland plant the balloon used to hold open the blood vessel was sometimes failing to deflate properly), the company announced it was adding them to the 100,000 Taxus and Express 2 stents it had already recalled.

No telling how much this is costing Boston Scientific. How well does your insurance cover this kind of loss? From the MedMarc/the Hartford Company's online article about Risk Management for medical device professionals, here's a list of questions you should ask yourself when you're buying insurance:

• Is this kind of loss best addressed by insurance?
• Which insurance proposal offers the broadest coverage?
• Which offers the best price?
• What kind of service can the device company expect if it has a claim?
• How financially stable and solvent are these insurers?

Bioscience competitors working together

MSNBC - TGen draws top bioscience collaborators to Phoenix. Two-year old TGen is a magnet for collaboration--even between competitors. TGen first attracted the International Genomics Consortium to Phoenix. Recently they've been working collaboratively with organizations like the Mayo Clinic, Agilent and Affymetrix (the last two of which are competitors).

A few things they're working on together include identifying "regions of chromosomes that have been lost or multiplied in cancer cells, allowing tumors to escape normal growth controls." The technology--comparative genomic hybridization (CGH)--lets them analyze and compare gene expression and high-resolution CGH data to gain new insights into various kinds of cancers. They hope the data will also help them develop diagnostic and prognostic tools and target the most promising drugs for development.

What brings competitors together like this? It seems that in bioscience everything is connected--it's all about life, after all--and everyone's goals are similar, though aimed in slightly different directions. Since no one company can afford to do all the necessary research on every possible facet of their piece, and everyone understands that knowledge in any one area will expand much faster when the big picture is clearer, it seems to make more sense for bioscience companies to collaborate. And of course there's the scientific tradition of sharing (nice book chapter).

Although, it's well understood that human beings don't always do what makes sense... I just think that, unlike most business in general, there's a unifying force among those who study life. Working together to find answers to the big questions--like genetics--can mean that everyone can go back to their own labs sooner and apply what they've learned to their own piece of the pie.

Bacterin bioactive coatings will help save soldiers

Bacterin to Receive $1.4 Million From Defense Appropriation: The company will develop ways to "add bioactive coatings to temporary orthopedic fixation devices used to treat battlefield wounds. Anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, anti-coagulant, or pain relief properties embedded in a bioactive coating could significantly reduce the high rate of infection." They expect to be able to reduce the rate at which soldiers lose limbs--and even their lives--because of inadequate treatments that are applied on the battlefield to hold until the victim gets to a military hospital (70% of wounds get infected).

Thank you. If we must wage war, the women would really appreciate it if you could keep the men in one piece.

Why publish only part of your findings?

Digital Chosunilbo: Korea: PPA has long been known as a dangerous ingredient in cold medicines. Products containing PPA have been banned in the U.S. for a number of years.

This story says the Korean FDA at first only published a portion of its earlier report--and pretty much led people to believe that the connection to hemorrhagic stroke (ruptured blood vessel in the brain) wasn't clear. For some reason, they're now publishing the whole report--which states that the connection is very clear. In fact, the latest research indicates PPA is also a factor in causing ischemic stroke, the much more common type (blockage of a blood vessel in the brain).

Strange and seemingly unethical behavior. Did they just not want to give up making money from the distribution of those drugs?

What's a "fair" profit?

U.S. Won't Override AIDS Drug Patents (washingtonpost.com): Abbott Laboratories quintupled the price of its AIDS drug Norvir late last year--and NIH says it's okay. Patient groups and some members of Congress called the move price-gouging and "pushed the NIH to intervene by overriding Abbott's patents, since Norvir's discovery was partially funded by taxpayer dollars."

How does a reasonable person take sides on an ethical issue where the law says there's no problem with pricing that's drastically uneven (only the U.S. has the 5-times-the-price problem) and customers' lives are at stake? Maybe there's a middle road for both. The manufacturer could show a willingness to compromise; the government could offer legislative or other interventions to help the manufacturer make a fair profit while taking steps to make the drug more accessible.

If tax money helped develop it, why not use tax money to help get it to the people who need it?

German company says business is up in North America

Bloomberg.com: Germany: Lion Bioscience, which makes drug discovery software, sees business recovering in North America--meaning they expect more orders and more sales next fiscal year.

Good news. Business is better... How about you?

Kansas's State U. gets boost for research

Research partnership good for Pittsburg State 08/05/04 The new Kansas Bioscience Authority (see item below) means the college will be able to grow its research capabilities and be able to leverage the partnership it already has with giant food products manufacturer Cargill. They are conducting extensive research and development with soybeans.

They're happy they won't be getting all their funding from one place.

New medical clip helps surgeons

Gyrx to unveil new medical device: The company has developed a ligation clip technology called Visu-Loc. Doctors now have more options when planning a laparoscopic operation, including removing gall bladders. The potential for fewer complications and less pain sounds like a winning combination.

Scientists are looking at using the technique for permanent birth control for both sexes and for male incontinence.

And most women will be grateful that attention is being paid to the male side of birth control.

Patients gain respect with Internet information

"...more patients are taking control of their healthcare situations via the Internet. They are searching out information on cancer, heart disease, and other afflictions, and many times, when motivated by their own illness, are finding cutting-edge medical research online that their personal physician has not yet received. "

Scientists can learn faster from each other with the web. Doctors must learn faster from patients who are more invested in finding solutions for their own health. No one today can afford to sit back on their laurels and count on having prestige because of a medical or other degree--the world is simply moving too fast.

Terrorism threats advance bioscience again

So intimates a press release today. Protein vaccine protects mice from lethal aerosol attack with ricin toxin (from the castor plant), it says. Scientists have developed an"...experimental vaccine against ricin, a potential biological threat agent, which fully protected mice from aerosol challenge with lethal doses of the toxin. The study was performed at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). "

When inhaled, ricin causes severe respiratory symptoms that kill within 72 hours. Ingested, it can cause severe gastrointestinal symptoms that cause vascular collapse and death. It's readily available and highly toxic--especially used as an aerosol--and could be a significant agent of biological warfare or terrorism. No vaccine or therapy is currently available for human use.

Saw a not-so-outrageously-imaginative movie tonight about how science can implant control devices into human brains (The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington). The potential for good and evil is what makes bioscience so compelling a topic for most of us.

Reiki study gets funding

Non-traditional medicine is gaining a foothold in modern western circles. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (part of NIH) just awarded a $250,000 grant to The Cleveland Clinic for a two-year study on how Reiki can help prostate cancer patients. Reiki practitioners use a slow light touch to help heal pain, both physical and emotional.

Device can stop migraine headaches

Neurology
Inventors are working feverishly to perfect a gunlike device that stops electrical activity in the nervous system that's often a prelude to a migraine headache. Success rates in test subjects so far are 100% in the "aura" stage (before the headache actually starts) and 75% once the headache is underway.

Productivity in schools and workplaces is profoundly affected when individuals suffer from migraines. Being able to stop the migraines of the 24 million Americans between 10 and 40 who regularly suffer this serious type of headache could make a big difference.

Iowa joins the fray -- Battelle helps out

At 7 percent of employment, Iowa's bioscience sector is already bigger than the national average of 5.6 of the workforce. Hoping to achieve the report's prediction of 16,000 new jobs in the bioscience field, the state of Iowa is reviewing the report they asked technology research group Battelle to create on building bioscience muscle.

Recommendations include having the state invest $300 million, increasing support for commercialization efforts, selling bonds of about $175 million over ten years for recruiting faculty, supporting research and funding new technology.

Women in science -- What's too many?

The female president of the Royal College of Physicians in the U.K. has worried out loud whether the imminent preponderance of female researchers and physicians will result in the profession losing its status and its power. Senior level professors and execs in medical organizations are disagreeing, saying that women gravitate towards specialist areas other than, for instance, cardiology (which requires gruelingly long hours) because of their greater requirements for flexibility and for family-friendly work policies.

A report from a professor at the London Chest Hospital indicates that women are being "actively discouraged" from pursuing such specialist areas--but according to this article in Independent News Co, it seems to be guessing at the reasons: the need for more reasonable hours, family-friendly policies and for more flexible training options. The CEO of the Medical Research Council argues that those needs, when combined with the fact that the glass ceiling continues to keep women out of senior positions, is very likely to lead to a retention problem.

Comments from other medical science lights indicate that the need is huge (England's national health care system is in shambles for lack of doctors), that half of all those entering doctoral or research work are women, and that reforming the system so that neither sex has to work unrealistic hours and sacrifice a personal life is the answer.

Brain cancer treatment assigned new DRG

Now Medicare patients with brain cancer will be able to benefit from Guilford Pharmaceuticals' brain implant wafer. The government has created a new classification for it*--and that means hospitals will receive higher payments for using the GLIADEL(R) Wafer for Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed high-grade malignant glioma. The brain implant wafer is designed to be used in combination with surgery and radiation.

* DRG 543, Implantation of Chemotherapeutic Agents or Acute Complex Central Nervous System Principal Diagnosis

Hormone replacement therapy for guys

Endocrinology
A new method of treatment--a slow-dissolving tablet that stays in the mouth for 12 hours--has been approved by the FDA for replacing testosterone in males with a deficiency and/or hypogonadism. Signs and symptoms of hypogonadism can include decreased sexual desire, erectile dysfunction (ED), fatigue, depression, reduced muscle mass, and osteoporosis. The product is called Striant(R) (testosterone buccal system) mucoadhesive (CIII) and is manufactured by Columbia Laboratories. Read more about the safety concerns of using Striant when other conditions are present.

The safety of HRT for women has already been called into question. But for some people the effects of HRT may be powerful enough that they will choose to overlook safety concerns.

Maggots: One of Nature's long-abandoned medical devices

Yes, you read the headline right. Doctors are using maggots--extremely effectively--to clean out dead tissue from wounds that won't heal. Diabetic ulcers so severe that doctors had decided to amputate were healed with ten rounds of maggots set to feed on the dead tissue. Research indicates this therapy is twice as effective as traditional wound debriding (removing debris) for healing "hard to heal" wounds such as:

• when the patient is under nourished (malnutrition)
• cancer
• diabetes mellitus
• other chronic medical conditions (e.g. heart disease)
• infection (which may continue due to dead tissue or foreign material within the wound)
• poor blood supply

Traditional debriding techniques include:

• surgical (physically removing or cutting away debris)
• chemical (using chemicals to remove the debris)
• enzymatic (using natural proteins called enzymes to remove the debris)
• autolytic (enhancing the natural processes of the body by encouraging a moist wound environment)
• mechanical (washing the wound or adherent dressings*)

And now maggots (considered a bio-surgical technique). What might this mean for our world? A diabetic who doesn't have to lose a toe or a foot? I know a woman who began to get gangrene from an improperly inserted rod when she broke her shin and ended up losing her toes--and then her leg from the knee down. The cost of a maggot treatment is a mere few hundred dollars--the savings in unneeded surgeries and extensive followup could be huge. How many doctors know about this technique for preventing infection of wounds? This article says patients who feel squeamish will usually take maggot treatment over losing a piece of their bodies.

This treatment has been in use since the Civil War. Antibiotics replaced it--with varying degrees of success. Some of our "modern" discoveries have clearly contributed to the soaring cost of medical care. Read more about how other of nature's creatures supply us with healing capabilities.

Kansas fights for bioscience leadership

Naming a new controlling body the Kansas Bioscience Authority, Kansas's governor just named 9 prestigious members to this group that will be in charge of allocating tax revenue from bioscience companies into additional R&D (an expected $500 million to $600 million over the next 10 years.). Appointees are from a wide range of stations: from entrepreneurs to top names from research organizations and universities from Kansas and other states, and include former STERIS founder Bill Sanford, now of NanoMaterials in Manhattan and Victoria Franchetti Haynes, Ph.D., president and CEO of RTI International at the Research Triangle in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina.

High-powered lights of the industry coming together to help yet another state compete for dollars and prestige. The bioscience-hub race heats up.

Report/discover safety issues

The federal government has a nice neat web page where you can find out about the safety of various medical devices, drugs, tests and so on. Recent stories feature items like angioplasty balloons that failed to deflate, clinical tests that yielded false positives and led to unnecessary medical procedures, and FDA demands for warnings about possible increased suicidal feelings with certain well-known antidepressant drugs.

Whether you're a physician, an investigator or a consumer of medical services, this is a good site to check out before you undertake a new experiment, evaluate a new device to use in your work, or start taking a new prescription drug. It's also the place to go if you have an issue to report. I've added this as a permanent link in this site's Resources section.

Drosophila RNA library helps genetic research

Two bioscience companies together (Ambion and Cenix Bioscience) have just released a new RNA interference (RNAi) library based on the Drosophila genome. Laboratories that buy this library get more than 13,000 double-stranded RNA molecules (dsRNAs) that are ready for immediate use in experiments without having to do any other preparation.

RNAi is described in this press release as one of the "best new functional genomics screening tool to identify and validate new therapeutic drug targets."

If you don't happen to be a biologist, you may remember your high school biology class in which you learned that the Drosophila fly (the fruit fly and varieties) reproduces at an amazing rate. It's not surprising then that it's so useful for researching the behavior of genes. And how fascinating that they can now produce "libaries" of synthetic genetic material--they don't have to grow huge colonies of flies and manually extract the stuff. No wonder science is making such huge advances so much faster nowadays.

Killing germs in air ducts...

A system that can be used to zap airborne agents such as anthrax with ultraviolet light that works by destroying their DNA or making them unable to multiply? Yes, its being tested now by Bio-Defense Research Group, a startup in Columbai, MD. According to an article in today's Washington Post, the company's CEO said "the product has achieved a 100 percent neutralization rate for anthrax spores in tests using a government-approved bacterial stand-in for anthrax."

A lot of places where people are packed close together may be interested in this system (to be on sale by the end of this year) including hospitals, hotels, sports arenas, cruise ships, schools and more. The Defense department is a favorite target for sales efforts.

It will be interesting to see how much our fear of danger from outside inadvertently contributes to the advancement of bioscience--perhaps even faster than could have been hoped.

Bioshield legislation like a bad prospect

The federal government's new combination of laws called Bioshield looks like a classic case of the guy who's all gungho. He tells you "Oh, yes, I really want what you're offering. That's exactly what I'm looking for...but I'm not ready to buy it yet. Why don't you keep working on that. And by the way, here are the other features I'd like you to put in there... Money for development? No, don't be silly that's your job. Be your partner in taking the risks on this? No, no. That might cost me serious money or damage my reputation. You just go ahead and get that thing ready and we'll let you know when we're ready to move."

That's a quick and dirty impression gleaned from last week's Washington Post on this new legislation that for ten years authorizes the use of federal money for drugs and vaccines to counteract a range of pathogens. Health officials can sign a contract to buy drugs under development, but don't have to actually buy anything until tests prove the treatments work. The catch-22 is that no proof can be given that a certain drug effectively prevents or cures damage to human beings from any agent--because you can't use unproven drugs on real people.
But the Food and Drug Administration is allowed to use unapproved products in emergencies and the National Institutes of Health can speed up biodefense research.

But apparently the drug companies who develop the agents will be the ones to bear the brunt of any lawsuits filed in case the agents don't work. Talk about getting it both ways.