Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Simple drug holds promise for treating Alzheimer's

A simple anti-inflammatory drug could hold promise for treating Alzheimer's disease, according to new research at St. Louis University.

Dr. William Banks says his work supports the idea that Alzheimer's is caused by a buildup of amyloid beta protein in the brain. This buildup seems to be caused when a pump that removes the protein from the brain -- known as LRP -- breaks down.

"LRP malfunctions like a stop light stuck on red and keeps amyloid beta protein trapped in the brain," said Banks, a professor of geriatrics and pharmacological and physiological science.

And, why does LRP go haywire? Banks found that inflammation, caused by the body's natural immune response to disease and infection, may be the culprit.

"We induced inflammation in mice and found that it turned off the LRP pump," Banks said. "It also revved up an entrance pump that transports amyloid beta into the brain. Both of these actions would increase the amount of amyloid beta protein in the brain."

Banks then gave mice the anti-inflammatory drug indomethacin, which prevented inflammation from turning off the LRP pump. His says his findings, published in a recent issue of Brain Behavior and Immunity, help explain what doctors who are studying the use of indomethacin in Alzheimer's patients are seeing.

"Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, especially indomethacin, have been associated with protection against Alzheimer's," Banks said. "Our work could influence that debate and thinking at the patient-care level."...

Instead of using plastic and metal, doctors one day may be doing joint-replacement surgery with living tissue grown in the lab.

With the help of a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, researchers at the University of Missouri will expand their biological joint technology that uses living tissue. The new technology, which responds more like normal cartilage in a healthy joint, could prevent patients from having complications that result in repeat surgeries.

"A living biological implant may serve as a more permanent clinical option for joint replacement ... thereby revolutionizing the field of joint arthroplasty," said James Cook, a professor of veterinary medicine and surgery who is working with colleagues at Columbia University in New York.

In recent studies, the scientists have taken the lab-grown cartilage and molded it into new knees and hips for dogs. Such joints allow for all of the tissue in a normal joint to be grown together such that the different types of tissues can communicate with each other just as they do in the actual joint. ...

There's no cure yet for the common cold, but a physician like TV's kindly Dr. Welby sure might help.

In a new study at the University of Wisconsin, researchers found that patients treated by doctors who showed compassion recovered faster from the sniffles.

The study involved 350 patients who had one of three types of encounters with doctors: no interaction at all, a standard medical history and discussion of symptoms or an advanced interaction in which the doctor asked more questions and empathized with the patient's complaints.

The 84 patients who gave their doctors perfect scores recovered from their colds at least a day earlier than other patients. It wasn't just all in their minds, either: Measuring immune cells in nasal secretions, the scientists found that those who gave their doctors perfect scores had built up immunity to their cold within 48 hours after their visit with the doc.

"This shows if you perceive your doctor as empathetic, that might influence your immune system and help you recover faster from the common cold," said Dr. David Rakel, director of integrative medicine and lead author of the study, who says the school now is incorporating the findings into its doctor training.

"Out of everything that's been studied -- zinc, vitamin C, antiviral medications -- nothing has worked better at fighting a cold than being kind to people." ...

Nokia says it is working on technology that would enable a cell phone to remain charged by constantly drawing power from ambient radio waves.

Such ambient electromagnetic radiation is emitted continually from Wi-Fi transmitters, cell-phone antennas, TV masts and other sources. It could be converted into enough electrical current to keep a battery topped off, say scientists at the Nokia Research Centre in Cambridge, England.

Currently the goal is to develop a phone that can harvest up to 50 milliwatts of power, enough to slowly recharge a phone that is turned off. Right now, phones can harvest 3 to 5 milliwatts, but researchers hope to increase this by harvesting a wider range of frequencies. ...

Think those expensive organic fruits and vegetables are always better? Consider this: For the first time, scientists have found that the use of weed killers boosts the nutritional value of one of the country's most common food crops.

Dean Kopsell and his colleagues at the University of Tennessee exposed several varieties of sweet corn to the commonly used herbicides mesotrione and atrazine. They found that the corn exposed to the weed killers had up to 15 percent more lutein and zeaxanthin.

Corn is one of the few vegetables that is rich in these carotenoids, which have been linked to a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss in the elderly. The findings will be published in the July 22 issue of the American Chemical Society's Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.