Fw: UT Southwestern News Release Dec. 16, 2002

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Subject: UT Southwestern News Release Dec. 16, 2002

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UT SOUTHWESTERN SCIENTISTS BEGIN NEW PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH

IN WORLD'S SECOND MAGNETIC SEIZURE THERAPY LABORATORY

DALLAS – Dec. 16, 2002 – Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical

Center at Dallas are using magnetic fields to treat diseases in the

world's second laboratory dedicated to magnetic seizure therapy (MST)

research.

The director of the new Neuro Stimulation Laboratory, Dr. Mustafa M.

Husain, and co-investigator Dr. Larry Thornton, associate professors of

psychiatry, hope this therapeutic tool at UT Southwestern will offer a

better option for patients suffering from neuropsychiatric diseases,

including major depression.

MST stimulates the brain by directing a diffused electrical current to

targeted areas but without the direct electrical stimulation used in

electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), or " shock therapy " said Dr.

Nestler, chairman of psychiatry. MST also doesn't seem to have the same

side effects as ECT.

" Magnetic seizure therapy is a new type of transcranial magnetic

stimulation somewhat akin to electroconvulsive therapy, but one we hope

will prove much superior, " said Nestler. " The power of MST is that it is

possible to induce highly focal seizures. As a result, the treatment

should be safer than ECT. Also, it should be possible to determine what

parts of the brain mediate seizure-induced improvements in depression. "

Researchers in UT Southwestern's new lab are targeting specific brain

areas for investigation, including " brain mapping, " a technique that

searches the organ's neural circuitry in different neuropsychiatric

disorders.

" We hope that MST will prove an effective treatment for major

depression, bipolar disorder, Parkinson's disease and other psychiatric

and neurological disorders, " said Husain.

MST works by passing electricity through a wire coil, generating an

electromagnetic field to be directed at specific brain areas, he said,

allowing for brain tissue stimulation without using electrical current.

ECT, on the other hand, uses direct electrical stimulation of the brain

tissue, which can lead to such side effects as confusion and memory

loss.

In MST, Husain explained, the electrical coils are contained in a

protective paddle-like device. Placed either against the side of or atop

the head, the coils are attached to power boosters to control

stimulation as well as to computers that run the research program and

acquire data.

When the magnetic fields reach their target, they cause changes in

brain circuitry, producing stimulation in the targeted area. The

electromagnetic fields, Husain said, can also be manipulated, much like

magnetic resonance imaging, to travel in a series of pulses, which makes

them more malleable in targeting.

Thornton will conduct treatment studies at Zale Lipshy University

Hospital with MST patients who suffer from treatment-resistant major

depression.

Patient research will be done in conjunction with a team at Columbia

University, the site of the first magnetic brain stimulation laboratory,

which opened earlier this year.

Other UT Southwestern researchers participating in the project are Dr.

Munro Cullum, acting chief of psychology; McClintock, research

assistant in psychiatry; Judy Shaw, psychiatry associate; Mendez,

research assistant in psychiatry; and Henson, research study

coordinator in psychiatry.

For information about MST studies for treatment-resistant depression,

call Henson at 214-648-8659.

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UT SOUTHWESTERN RESEARCHERS SAY OVERDOSES OF ACETAMINOPHEN

CAUSE MOST CASES OF ACUTE LIVER FAILURE

DALLAS – Dec. 17, 2002 – Unintentional acetaminophen overdose is

the most common cause of acute liver failure in the United States,

research from UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas shows.

The scientists' findings appear in today's issue of the ls of

Internal Medicine.

" This study is the first to prospectively characterize a large number

of patients with acute liver failure, " said Dr. M. Lee,

professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and the study's

principal investigator. " Until recently, only limited data have been

available on the causes and outcomes of acute liver failure because of

its rarity and a lack of centralized data registry. "

Earlier this year, a preliminary report based on the study prompted a

Food and Drug Administration advisory committee to recommend stronger

warning labels on over-the-counter pain medications and cold-and-cough

remedies containing acetaminophen, an analgesic with potency similar to

aspirin.

The study found that 39 percent of patients with acute liver failure, a

rapidly progressive and frequently fatal disease that annually affects

2,000 people in the United States, were from acetaminophen overdose.

" We observed a much higher frequency of presumed acetaminophen

overdose-related hepatotoxicity than previous reports, " Lee said.

" Unlike in the United Kingdom, more than half of our patients with

acetaminophen overdose were believed to have overdosed unintentionally,

rather than during a suicide attempt. "

Lee said a striking finding of the study was that 73 percent of the

patients were women.

" Whether women are innately more susceptible to acute liver failure or

are taking more kinds of prescription and nonprescription drugs, and are

therefore at a higher risk, remains to be determined, " Lee said.

The three-year study looked at 308 patients with acute liver failure

from 17 different liver care centers around the country. Lee and his

colleagues found that 39 percent of cases were from acetaminophen

overdose, and they also discovered that 13 percent were from

idiosyncratic drug reactions; 12 percent were from viral hepatitis A and

B; and 17 percent were of indeterminate cause.

" Acetaminophen is quite safe when taken accordingly to package

recommendations, " Lee said. " Eighty-three percent of our patients who

developed acute liver failure had exceeded the daily maximum recommended

dose of four grams. "

While 68 percent of patients with acute liver failure related to

acetaminophen overdose recovered with supportive care and 6 percent

required transplantation, only 25 percent of patients with idiosyncratic

drug reactions recovered and more than 50 percent required transplants

once their nervous systems were damaged by liver function failure.

In 1997, Lee formed a consortium of liver centers, called the Acute

Liver Failure Study Group, to increase research in this area. The

scientific collaboration has made it possible for investigators to study

the disease in greater depth.

Two former UT Southwestern researchers – Drs. Ostapowicz and

Schiodt – also contributed to the study. Other collaborators are

from Baylor University Medical Center; the Mayo Clinic; Gold Coast

Hospital in Southport, Australia; Northwestern University; and the

universities of Michigan, Washington, California-Los Angeles,

California-San Francisco, Nebraska, and Pittsburgh.

This study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of

Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

###

These news releases are available on our World Wide Web home page at

http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/home_pages/news/

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