Re: General Health News

[Guest guest]

I tried sending this yesterday, but for some reason, it did not appear on the

list. There may be a delay for other unexplained reasons, so I am re-sending

it. Sorry if there is a duplication, ( thanking goodness for cyber erasers),

but I know some of you have an interest in this as current news and for future

reference. Many of us have been attacked by MRSA and other drugs which can be

fatal to so called " healthy " people.

October 20, 2010 (I know some of you will welcome this news)..........

" Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate), an anticoagulant, has been approved in

capsule form for the prevention of blood clots and strokes in individuals with

atrial fibrillation by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). People with

atrial fibrillation - abnormal heart rhythm - are more susceptible to developing

blood clots which can lead to strokes. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205272.php

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October 20, 2010 (Something good is happening here in LA, Yeah!!!)

" Research conducted by scientists at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans

has found that two proteins in the brain act as valves to turn the hormone that

regulates water retention in the body on and off. Their findings may lead to

advances in treatment for diseases like high blood pressure, congestive heart

failure, and cirrhosis of the liver. The research is published in the November

1, 2010 issue of Endocrinology.

" Kapusta, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology at LSU Health Sciences Center

New Orleans, and Wainford, PhD, LSUHSC Instructor of Pharmacology,

report the role of these brain proteins, called Gaq and Gaz, in producing

elevated secretion of the hormone, vasopressin, and water retention in

salt-sensitive hypertension, a condition in which blood pressure becomes

elevated when salt is consumed. It is estimated that salt-sensitive hypertension

occurs in about 26% of Americans with normal blood pressure and in 58% of those

whose blood pressure is already high. Our findings are novel and provide

evidence that the Gaq sub-unit proteins in the hypothalamus act as a

molecular/cellular switch to control the level of vasopressin secretion, " says

Dr. Wainford. " There's more...................

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205650.php

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October 26, 2010 (Listeria has recently been found on celery and 4 children

have died as a result of the infection. Not so good for people with low or

compromised immune systems)

" Pathogenic listeria tricks intestinal cells into helping it pass through

those cells to make people ill, and, if that doesn't work, the bacteria simply

goes around the cells, according to a Purdue University study. Arun Bhunia, a

professor of food science, and Burkholder, a former Purdue graduate

student who is now a postdoctoral researcher in microbiology and immunology at

the University of Michigan Medical School, found that listeria, even in low

doses, somehow triggers intestinal cells to express a new protein, heat shock

protein 60, that acts as a receptor for listeria. This may allow the bacteria to

enter the cells in the intestinal wall and exit into a person's bloodstream.

Bhunia and Burkholder's findings were published in the early online version of

the journal Infection and Immunity. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205753.php

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October 26, 2010 (NEWS ON THE CANADIAN FRONT) (We are all waiting for this, we

need more of these compounds to take care of antibiotic

resistance.).....................

" Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem in hospitals

worldwide. Now, NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., based in Emeryville, CA, is

innovating a new class of drugs, known as Aganocide® compounds, that mimic the

body's natural defense against infection. The Aganocides could potentially equal

or exceed the utility of antibiotics and address the problem of antibiotic

resistance via their novel mechanism.

Fresh evidence of the effectiveness of Aganocides was on display in two poster

presentations made at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society

of America (IDSA), held October 21-24 in Vancouver, Canada. " Source:

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205703.php

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October 25, 2010 (This used to be my worst enemy when I was on

Sprycel)................

Intercell AG (VSE: ICLL) today announced results from a Phase II clinical

trial involving the company's investigational nosocomial vaccine candidate

(IC43) against infections with the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a leading

cause of hospital-acquired infections with increasing antibiotic resistance and

hence a very high unmet medical need. In the randomized, controlled Phase II

clinical trial (33 sites in 8 countries), about 400 mechanically ventilated

intensive care patients, who are at particular high risk of acquiring severe and

often life threatening forms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections, such as

Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP), sepsis or soft tissue infection were

vaccinated on days zero and seven in four treatment groups receiving 100 or

200mcg alum-adjuvanted vaccine, 100mcg non-adjuvanted vaccine or alum as placebo

control. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205691.php

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(FINDING NEW DRUGS FOR ALZHEIMER'S PATIENTS)........................

" Finding a drug that can cross the blood-brain barrier is the bane of drug

development for Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders of the

brain. A new Penn study, published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience, has

found and tested in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease a class of drug that

is able to enter the brain, where it stabilizes degenerating neurons and

improves memory and learning.

" In the normal brain, the protein tau plays an important role in stabilizing

structures called microtubules in nerve cells, which serve as tracks upon which

cellular material is transported. In Alzheimer's disease and related disorders,

tau becomes insoluble and forms clumps in the brain. One consequence of these

aggregates is a depletion of normal tau, resulting in destabilization of the

microtubule tracks that are critical for proper nerve-cell function.

'Senior authors Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD, director of the Center for

Neurodegenerative Disease Research (CNDR), and Trojanowski, MD, PhD,

director of the Institute on Aging and CNDR co-director, introduced the concept

of using microtubule-stabilizing drugs over 15 years ago to counteract tangles

of tau and compensate for the loss of normal tau function. Kurt Brunden, PhD,

director of Drug Discovery at CNDR and Bin Zhang, MD, PhD, senior research

investigator, are the first authors on this study from the University of

Pennsylvania School of Medicineand the School of Arts and Sciences. "

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/205082.php

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu