disease

Video: Weight Watchers’ Kirchhoff Discusses Global Obesity

by on April 15, 2011

April 15 (Bloomberg) — David Kirchhoff, chief executive officer of Weight Watchers International Inc., talks about global obesity and factors contributing to the disease. Kirchhoff speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)

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Video: Weight Watchers’ Kirchhoff Discusses Global Obesity

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Mark W. Kline, M.D.: Fighting Sickle Cell Disease in Angola: Building Partnerships to Match the Challenge

by on March 22, 2011

Huffington Post…

Angola has one of the world’s highest rates of sickle cell disease, but lacked a formal, organized effort to fight it — until now. A history-making agreement was signed today in the capital of Luanda, initiating the West African nation’s first program to address a disease that likely affects some 6,000 babies born in Angola each year. Even though a fifth of Angola’s roughly 17 million people have the sickle cell trait, information on the number of children affected is sketchy, as only a fraction are diagnosed. Serious complications of the disease — including bacterial infections and stroke — mean that only about half of Angola’s affected children reach age 2. The disease is a major contributor to Angola’s child mortality rate, among the world’s highest. A staggering one in four Angolan children will die before they reach their fifth birthday. The good news is that we now have the tools to change this bleak outlook for African children born with sickle cell disease — in exactly the same way we now expect American children with the disease to live long and full lives. The key is early diagnosis and treatment. That’s the focus of a new public-private partnership of the Republic of Angola, the Baylor International Pediatrics AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) — a joint program of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital — and Chevron. Based on experience in the United States — which accounts for less than one percent of the estimated 300,000 to 500,000 global cases of sickle cell disease each year and where newborn screening is universal — the program’s pilot will begin with newborn screening and subsequent treatment at two large maternity hospitals in Luanda. The project, designed by leading global sickle cell disease expert Dr. Russell Ware in close coordination with BIPAI and medical experts in Angola, is comprehensive. Following the pilot, the goal will be to expand subsequent phases to Angola’s 18 provinces, simultaneously building Angola’s capacity to address the disease through public health policies, health training and the dissemination of clinical research. Why is Angola’s need so acute? Although rich in natural resources such as diamonds and oil – Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa and the 7th largest supplier to the U.S. — Angola is only eight years removed from a 27-year civil war that devastated its infrastructure, including its healthcare system, and severely impacted its socio-economic development. Why this particular partnership? To help its children, the Angolan government reached out to Chevron. Not only has Chevron operated in Angola for more than 50 years, it also has been a driver of the successful Angola Partnership Initiative, a multipartner, multiyear effort to rebuild Angola’s agricultural sector and promote small business [outside the oil industry]. Chevron, in turn, reached out to experts — in this disease, in pediatric medicine and, as in the case of Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, to organizations with a proven track record establishing medical capacity building programs. To make headway against such a disease, especially in a time of limited resources, the engagement of corporate partners is critical. Success depends on building smart partnerships — that include the core strengths of leading global companies — that match the size of the challenge. But why do Angola’s health issues concern business? Only with a healthy local workforce and a healthy local economy can a business, global or local, operate successfully over the long term. It’s in the interests of business to help address unmet basic human needs — health, education and economic development — that pose risks to any community. Chevron has learned that success depends on committed partners, with unique and complementary resources, who collaborate — the same ingredients at work in other partnerships Chevron engages in around the globe. Partners with strategically aligned strengths are even more effective vehicles for bringing focused action to diseases such HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. As with its other partnerships, Chevron’s $4 million investment in this new alliance comes with a hands-on commitment to achieve lasting results: the involvement of its employees and business partners. The agreement signed today is only the beginning of giving more of Angola’s children a greater chance at life .. and moving Angola one step closer to harnessing its vast national potential. We all have a stake in helping write history like that.

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Mark W. Kline, M.D.: Fighting Sickle Cell Disease in Angola: Building Partnerships to Match the Challenge

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Former-Deputy Surgeon General Canada Appointed President of Medizone International

February 28, 2011

Michael E. Shannon M.A., M.Sc., M.D. — One-Time Director General for the Laboratory Center for Disease Control and Deputy Surgeon General Canada, Accepts Presidential Role With Emerging Bio-Tech Star

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Anthony Tjan: Medical Entrepreneurship: A New Movement to Accelerate Cures

July 12, 2010

There is a new social entrepreneurial movement afoot, which seeks to find cures to some of the world’s most challenging diseases. Medical entrepreneurship is, in my view, the very best hope we have for accelerating the pace of finding medical cures. A good example and arguably the pioneer of this movement is Michael Milken’s Prostate Cancer Foundation. Milken has taken on a decidedly entrepreneurial approach to providing capital and human resources to accelerate the pace of research into cures for cancer, particularly that of the prostate. From 1999 to 2006 we have seen a 25% drop in the death rate for prostrate cancer. There is little doubt that Milken’s leadership has been one of the greatest catalysts in this improvement. Another leader in the movement is Henry McCance, who co-founded the not-for-profit Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, which I first wrote about last year. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is another example of a cure accelerator, an organization using a venture approach towards medical research. Out of full disclosure, I recently joined the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund’s advisory board. And while I care deeply about diseases such as Alzheimer’s, I am mostly fascinated and hopeful that a more maverick VC-like business model applied to the search for medical cures will be a better approach to solving some of the big medical challenges we have. The medical research model as we know it today is broken. Why? Three words: insufficient, inefficient, and ineffective. This is both the big problem and the big opportunity for medical entrepreneurship. Today’s model is insufficient because typically 1% or less of the amount spent each year on diseases goes towards cure research, with the balance going to caring for people with the disease. Alzheimer’s, for example, costs our country hundreds of millions of dollars each year, yet we spend just one cent out of every $4.00 available towards a cure. That is an astonishing 400x delta. The story is similar for diabetes and cystic fibrosis. While care is obviously critical, we need more dollars to go to finding the cure — or the country is at great risk of a healthcare-induced bankruptcy. Henry McCance and Professor Bill Sahlman of Harvard Business School recently gave an excellent overview of this at Venture Summit East and I draw on many elements of their talk in this blog post. The current research model is highly inefficient because researchers spend too much time writing grants. By our estimates at the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, the very best researchers in the field spend up to 30% of their time writing grants, and should they win the grant they may have to wait months or even a year to get the funding. As well-intended and needed are organizations such as NIH (National Institute of Health), there is an embedded trade-off between the robustness of review and the approval of grants to new and innovative projects. Imagine any venture capitalist going to Netscape or Yahoo to validate funding to Google or expecting an entrepreneur to spend a third of his time writing a business plan and then waiting a year for funding. This is the frustration that many of the best researchers in our country feel. Finally, the medical research model is ineffective because it is, by design, risk averse with regard to the projects it pursues. Grant proposals that win funding are usually those that seek out small, incremental discoveries — it is the very nature and policy of the grant making bodies to look for ideas that slowly build on existing knowledge. Breakout ideas are not able to happen under an incrementalist research model. Even worse, as we’ve heard anecdotally from some researchers, some people write grants for questions whose answers are already known. Pioneers of the medical entrepreneurship movement are taking bigger risks on researchers, asking them to focus their energies on the initiatives that have the largest potential impact as opposed to those that would get traditional grant funding. They are also doing so faster. Milken’s Prostate Cancer Foundation, for example, makes awards based on applications that are limited to five pages and has a 90-day turn-around time. FasterCures has become a think tank and resource-sharing center for this new approach. Focus on the big ideas that can lead to the big goal of curing a disease, eliminate bureaucracy, and give smart people more capital, faster, and you have a formula for change. What proof exists that the change is positive? Thousands of lives have been saved by the advances in prostate cancer understanding by medical innovators in that field. The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund was recognized last year by Time Magazine for one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of the year for work that identified over 100 genes associated with the disease. A number of other dynamic organizations, including the Harvard Stem Cell Initiative and the Myelin Foundation are making significant contributions to cures. Across multiple diseases, researchers have been conditioned to make progress with bond-like returns. While some of this is necessary, it cannot be sufficient. As in any portfolio, we cannot maximize returns if we hold all our eggs in one big conservative basket. We need to invest more behind higher risk initiatives that can yield equity-like returns, and hopefully real cures. This article first appeared on Harvard Business Publishing on July 7, 2010.

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Bowie & Jensen’s Matt Hjortsberg Named President of the Board for the Maryland Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

June 17, 2010

Hjortsberg’s Wife Lara Is a Survivor of the Disease

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Gonorrhea May Become Untreatable as Antibiotics Efficacy Wanes, WHO Says

April 29, 2010

By Simeon Bennett April 29 (Bloomberg) — Gonorrhea may become untreatable as the improper use of antibiotics reduces their ability to clear the sexually transmitted infection, the World Health Organization said. There is now “widespread resistance” to cheaper first- line antibiotics against the bacterium that causes gonorrhea, the WHO’s Western Pacific regional office said in a statement today. The agency said Australia, Hong Kong and Japan have reported treatment failures with cephalosporin, a class of antibiotics that’s the last line of defense against the disease. “We are dealing with a serious issue with the implication that gonorrhea may become untreatable,” Shin Young-soo , the WHO’s regional director for the Western Pacific, said in the statement. “This will have a major impact on our efforts to control the disease and will result in an increase in serious health-related complications,” Shin said. The WHO and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have developed an action plan to improve monitoring for drug- resistant gonorrhea and identify alternative treatments against the disease, the Geneva-based agency said. Left untreated, gonorrhea can result in infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, infections in newborn children and swelling of the scrotum, the WHO said. It also increases the likelihood of acquiring and transmitting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Alzheimer’s Theory on Brain Material May Shift by Benefit Found in Study

March 2, 2010

By Michelle Fay Cortez March 3 (Bloomberg) — Beta amyloid that builds up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease may go along with beneficial antimicrobial activity, researchers said. The findings from investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital raise the possibility that some cases of Alzheimer’s may stem from chronic, undetected brain infections. The results also cast doubt on the pharmaceutical industry’s efforts to find drugs to wipe out beta amyloid from the brain, one of the main methods now in development to fight the most common form of dementia in the elderly, the researchers said. Beta amyloid, or abeta, remains harmful in high concentrations, they said. “Most people think abeta is junk,” a toxic byproduct of other activity in the brain, said Rudolph Tanzi , director of genetics and aging at Massachusetts General’s Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease . “This says tread carefully. It may play a normal, essential role in the brain and be part of the way the brain protects itself.” Laboratory tests showed beta amyloid inhibited the growth of eight organisms, including the yeast Candida albicans , which can cause thrush, and bacteria such as Listeria, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, according to a report in the journal PLoS One . Tissue taken from the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease suppressed Candida, while samples from people without it didn’t, the researchers said. They theorize that beta amyloid is an antimicrobial peptide, a natural part of the innate immune system found in plants, animals and the human brain. Antimicrobial peptides are the first line of defense against pathogens in the immune system, which may go awry in Alzheimer’s patients, they said. ‘Big Question’ “The big question is what is most often triggering the innate immune system in the elderly that are the most at risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” Tanzi said in a telephone interview. “Perhaps as we age, there may be unnoticed low-grade infections that are triggering the innate immune system to produce beta amyloid.” Johnson & Johnson , based in New Brunswick, New Jersey, Merck & Co., based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, Ireland’s Elan Corp. , New York-based Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. of Indianapolis are working on Alzheimer’s disease drugs that target beta amyloid. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease that starts with mild forgetfulness and eventually robs patients of memories and independence. It afflicts 30 million people worldwide, a number that may exceed 100 million by 2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International, an advocacy group based in London. Short-Term Benefit Robert Moir , from Massachusetts General’s genetics and aging research unit and a senior author of the paper with Tanzi, compared beta amyloid to a fever. While both are bad for the patient, they are worse for bugs causing an infection, he said. A little bit is good for the patient, a lot of it may be helpful for a short period, while a lot of it for long periods is dangerous, he said in a telephone interview. “We really need to be thinking about what causes the amyloid beta to go up in the first place,” he said. “If it is a response to an infection, then by treating the infection you can treat the disease.” While the concept is surprising, it fits with existing knowledge, said Samuel Gandy , associate director of Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center in New York. It gives researchers a new angle to approach Alzheimer’s and should be easy to test in animal models, he said. Additional research is under way, Tanzi and Moir said. “In the field, the concept that amyloid beta isn’t just pathological is heretical,” Moir said. “It’s my hope that this study will start people thinking about this much more than they have, rather than just being obsessively focused on reducing amyloid beta.” To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Fay Cortez in London at mcortez@bloomberg.net

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Genetic Tests No Help Predicting Heart Disease Risks in Women, Study Says

February 16, 2010

By Nicole Ostrow Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — Genetic screening didn’t help doctors predict which women would develop heart disease in the first study assessing the effectiveness of the current gene markers for the disease, researchers said. Instead cholesterol levels, blood pressure and family history were better indicators for determining who is at risk for having a heart attack, stroke or dying from heart disease, research today in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed. More than 316,000 women died in the U.S. in 2006 from heart disease, the leading cause of death for American women, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 8 million women are currently living with heart disease , according to the Women’s Heart Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Trenton, New Jersey. As more heart disease genes are discovered, they may eventually play a role in determining who might develop the disease, lead study author Nina Paynter said. “These findings were a checking in to see if we know enough yet about genetics for our risk prediction tool kit. We don’t have a good enough picture,” Paynter, an instructor in medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said today in a telephone interview. “It’s definitely possible that at some point when we get a better sense of everything, we’d be able to have some sort of genetic score or a panel that will help us actually identify people at higher risk.” First Study Today’s study is the first to look at genetic markers available for heart disease to see if they may help more effectively predict who is at risk for developing the condition, Paynter said. The results apply only to women. The researchers included 19,313 white women in the Women’s Genome Health Study who were followed for more than 12 years. Researchers developed two genetic risk scores. One was based on 12 markers known to be linked to heart disease. The second was based on the 12 markers plus 89 more linked to risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels . Just using the genetic risk factors alone was the equivalent of a “coin flip” in classifying who has a higher risk of heart disease, Paynter said. Blood pressure, cholesterol levels, age, smoking status and family history were more helpful, the authors said. Helpful Predictor “Family history of heart disease was a useful predictor. There is this implication that at some point we may be able to tease out the genetic part of that since some of that is shared genes and get a genetic predictor that is a good risk stratification tool,” she said. Unlike diseases that are more directly related to genes, heart disease is “complicated” and can develop many different ways, Paynter said. Genetic testing seems to help indicate who may be at risk for certain breast cancers and cystic fibrosis, she said. “Understanding genetics and its role in chronic disease remains absolutely vital for developing new therapies and new approaches to treatment,” said study author Paul Ridker , director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in a statement. “Our data in no way undermine those efforts. However, it is sobering to find that the current body of genetic data adds little to our ability to predict cardiovascular disease.” The National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute are among the organizations that fund the Women’s Genome Health Study. Genotyping for the Women’s Genome Health Study was supported by Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen Inc. To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Ostrow in New York at nostrow1@bloomberg.net .

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Mumps Outbreak at New York Area Jewish Schools Expands to 1,521 Children

February 11, 2010

By Tom Randall Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) — An outbreak of mumps in Jewish schools in New York and New Jersey has sickened 1,521 students since June and isn’t subsiding, U.S. health officials said. There were 19 hospitalizations and no deaths in the biggest outbreak since 2006, when 6,500 college students were infected, according to a report today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The children getting mumps have high vaccination rates, and the spread of the disease may be due to large family size in Orthodox Jewish communities and prolonged exposure to fellow pupils in boys-only schools, the CDC said. Illness from the mumps virus, which causes fever and inflamed salivary glands under the jaw and in the cheeks, has declined to fewer than 500 cases a year on average since the vaccine was released in 1967, when 186,000 people were sickened. The two-dose vaccine, which doesn’t prevent all cases, has helped contain the New York-based outbreak, the CDC said. “We’re getting reports from all of the infected communities that people are still being diagnosed with mumps,” said Kathleen Gallagher, an epidemiologist at the Atlanta-based CDC and an author of the report. “It’s noteworthy that cases haven’t really spread outside the communities. That highlights that, for the most part, the vaccine policy is very effective.” The infected children were ages 7 to 18, with a median age of 15, according to the report. Combination vaccines that protect children against measles, mumps and rubella are made by Merck & Co. of Whitehouse, Station, New Jersey, London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Paris- based Sanofi- Aventis SA . Merck and Glaxo make combination vaccines that additionally protect against chicken pox. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net .

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Quitting Smoking May Raise Diabetes Risk Up to 80%, Hopkins Research Finds

January 4, 2010

By Simeon Bennett Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) — People who quit smoking were as much as 80 percent more likely to develop diabetes than those who never take up the habit, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers. Smokers shouldn’t use the study as an excuse to keep puffing, the authors said in an article published today in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine . The study adds to previous research showing a link between stopping smoking and developing diabetes. The increased risk could be related to the weight smokers sometimes add when they kick the habit, and doctors should help people who want to quit to manage their weight, said researchers led by Hsin-Chieh Yeh , an assistant professor of general internal medicine and epidemiology at the Baltimore-based university’s medical school. “The message is, don’t even start to smoke,” Yeh said in a statement. “If you smoke, give it up. That’s the right thing to do. But people have to also watch their weight.” Yeh and colleagues studied data from almost 11,000 people between the ages of 45 and 64 over a nine-year period. Those who quit smoking three to five years before the study began were 80 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who never smoked, and those who stopped within the first three years of the study starting were 73 percent more likely to get the disease, indicating the risk is highest in the first three years after quitting, the study showed. Decreasing Risk The danger decreased with time. People who stopped six to nine years prior to the study had a 54 percent higher chance of getting diabetes, and those who quit earlier than that were 16 percent more at risk. The risk was 26 percent higher for current smokers. Among men, those who were 60 years or older, smoked 20 cigarettes or more each day before quitting, and gained more than 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds) were 3.4 times more likely to get diabetes than those who never smoked, making them the highest risk group. For women, the highest risk for developing the disease was found among those who smoked fewer than 20 cigarettes a day before quitting and gained more than 4 kilograms. They were 2.7 times more likely to get diabetes than non-smoking women. Diabetes prevents people from breaking down sugar in their blood and can lead to complications including heart disease, kidney disease, vision loss and amputation of limbs. While some people have an inherited form of the condition, the majority of cases are linked to obesity. The study was funded by the U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Gene Linked to Asthma May Show Connection to Allergies, Way to Treatments

December 24, 2009

By Ellen Gibson Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — A gene linked to asthma susceptibility in children has been identified that may reveal the respiratory disease’s connection to allergies and lead to new treatment for 6 million U.S. child asthmatics, a study said. Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia analyzed the DNA of thousands of children to isolate the gene, called DENND1B, according to the study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine . The gene influences action on immune system cells involved in the body’s response to foreign material such as viruses, bacteria and allergens. This is the second gene found linked to asthma, a condition thought to be triggered by a combination of genetic and environmental causes, according to the study. Although the illness can be controlled by drugs, less than half of the 22 million asthmatics in the U.S. are properly managed, according to surveys from the American Lung Association . “You can use these findings to begin to tailor a new treatment approach for asthma,” said Norman Edelman , chief medical officer at the American Lung Association . “And with the huge asthma epidemic we’ve seen over the past 25 years, we certainly need a new approach.” The rate of asthma in the U.S. more than doubled to 7.1 percent of the population in 2004 from 3.1 percent in 1980, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an Atlanta-based agency. Airways Asthma occurs when narrow or inflamed airways cause wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath, according to the Mayo Clinic’s Web site . No cure exists for asthma, according to the National Institutes of Health , an agency in Bethesda, Maryland. It can be treated by inhaled steroids such as Symbicort, sold by London- based AstraZeneca Plc , and by Flonase from London-based GlaxoSmithKline Plc. Other researchers had found an asthma-susceptibility gene on chromosome 17 in 2007. In today’s study, researchers led by Hakon Hakonarson , the director of the Center for Applied Genomics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia , isolated the DENND1B gene on chromosome 1. The gene may prove to be “an extremely strong drug target for asthma,” Hakonarson said yesterday in a telephone interview. Gene Analysis The researchers initially analyzed the genomes, or complete gene sets, of 793 white North American children with asthma, compared with a control group of 1,988 healthy children. They confirmed the results in a separate group of about 2,400 Europeans and controls, then did further analyses on about 3,700 black children. The scientists were able to duplicate earlier findings of the chromosome-17 gene, and they discovered the new DENND1B location on chromosome 1 that was strongly associated with the disease in the white and black children. Several genes are most likely involved in predisposing people to asthma, according to the report. The DENND1B gene the researchers pinpointed acts on dendritic cells that regulate the body’s immune response to trigger inflammation. After a foreign particle enters 22the airways, the dendritic cells pick it up, process it, and present it to an immune cell that may attack it in an allergic reaction. Link to Allergies About 70 percent of people with asthma also have allergies, according to the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. Because this gene seems to play “a critical role” in how sensitized the body is to allergens, Hakonarson said, it could advance research into that area as well. In follow-up studies, the researchers have found that DENND1B is also implicated in other immune and inflammatory diseases, although they haven’t yet reported that data. “It’s showing up as a very powerful gene,” Hakonarson said in a Dec. 22 phone interview. Genes and environment contribute to asthma, according to the Washington-based American Lung Association. If one parent has asthma, a child is three times more likely to get the disease, according to the lung association. Common environmental triggers of asthma include air pollution, mold, cockroach dust, and cigarette smoke, according to the CDC. Jobs that involve inhaling harmful substances, such as wood dust or smelting fumes, cause 11 percent of asthma cases, according to the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency. Drug Treatments Drug treatments for asthma include bronchodilators, which relax the muscles around the airway, providing quick relief during an asthma attack, and inhaled steroids, which are used over time to prevent swelling. While steroids are effective at managing the disease long- term, many people don’t use them, according to Edelman. Surveys by the lung association have found that the disease is properly controlled in less than 40 percent of asthmatics. He attributes this to the high cost of the drugs, coupled with the fact that inhaled therapies are cumbersome to use. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the treatment of asthma,” said Edelman, “but we could really use another class of drugs.” To contact the reporters on this story: Ellen Gibson in New York at egibson9@bloomberg.net ;

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Autism Rates Surge In U.S. As Awareness of Childhood Disease Increases

December 18, 2009

By Tom Randall and Ellen Gibson Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) — Autism rates increased 57 percent from 2002 to 2006, part of a decade-long surge of cases as doctors and parents become more aware of the disorder. About 1 in every 110 8-year-olds in the U.S. had autism spectrum disorder in 2006, according to a report today released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. While more cases are being identified as people become aware of the disorder, a rise in the number of kids at risk “cannot be ruled out,” the CDC said. Autism is a brain disorder that muddles a person’s ability to communicate. Diagnoses have ballooned in the last few decades for the disease that was considered before 1980 to be a rare condition affecting 1 in 2,000 children, according to the CDC. That’s left parents frustrated by a condition with unknown causes and few treatments. “The prevalence is just shocking,” said Bob Wright, co- founder of Autism Speaks, a non-profit advocacy group in New York. “The good news is that the problems autism creates — the learning and communication disabilities — can be greatly helped in a large percentage of cases if a child gets early access to therapies.” Autism spectrum disorder encompasses three diagnoses: autistic disorder, unspecified pervasive development disorder and Asperger syndrome. The conditions vary in severity and symptoms, making diagnosis difficult. Patients have trouble making eye contact, comprehending facial expressions, and learning to share and follow instructions. They show compulsive interests or behaviors such as repeatedly stacking blocks or lining up rows of toys. Autism Rates Rates of autism ranged from 4.2 cases per 1,000 children in Florida to 12.1 cases per 1,000 in Arizona and Missouri, according to today’s report. Researchers culled autism rates from education and health records in a surveillance network spanning 11 states. The study looked at 8-year-olds, because most autism has been identified by that age, according to the report. “The economic and emotional burden placed on families is just incredible,” said Lee Grossman , chief executive officer of the Autism Society of America, an advocacy group in Bethesda, Maryland. The symptoms of autism are treated through speech and behavioral therapies. Some doctors use antipsychotic medicines to help control outbursts and focus attention to enable autistic children to remain in school. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co ., based in New York, received regulatory approval in November for its mood-stabilizing drug, Abilify, to treat irritability associated with autism. Abilify, to treat irritability associated with autism. In 2006, Johnson & Johnson, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was the first company to receive specific clearance for a drug, Risperdal, to treat autistic children. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net .

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Sickle Cell Breakthrough Allows Marrow Transplants in Adults, Study Finds

December 9, 2009

By Ellen Gibson Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — Sickle cell disease, which affects 70,000 Americans, was reversed in 9 of 10 patients given bone marrow transplants using a new technique, according to a study that may expand the therapy to adults. People with the disease have misshapen red blood cells. While doctors have long used transplants to replace those cells in children, the treatment has been too toxic for adults. A study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine found that replacing only a portion of the cells can work. Recipients were sickle cell-free 30 months later. None had a common reaction in which immune cells in the donor marrow attack the host’s body. The inherited blood disorder affects 1 in 500 black Americans, causing symptoms that include wheezing, pain, stroke and organ failure, researchers said. The new regimen should be used only when patients can’t be treated in other ways, said Matthew Hsieh, the lead author and a researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. “Sickle cell is a devastating illness that puts people in and out of hospitals their whole lives,” said Ira Bragg-Grant, executive director of the American Sickle Cell Anemia Association, in Cleveland. “For more adults to be freed of this chronic illness by transplants would be a phenomenal development.” Red blood cells are typically smooth and disk-shaped. In sickle-cell disease, they take the form of a crescent and clump together, causing blockages in the vessels that carry oxygen- rich blood to limbs and organs. A Better Regimen Hsieh and colleagues at the National Institutes primed patients with radiation. To weaken the patients’ immune systems so their bodies wouldn’t reject the incoming cells, the researchers gave them Campath, a drug made by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Genzyme Corp. that destroys certain white blood cells. Patients received bone marrow containing stem cells, to make healthy red blood cells, from a sibling. After the transplant, the study participants went on an immunosuppressive medication called sirolimus, sold as Rapamune by New York-based Pfizer Inc. ’s Wyeth unit. Hsieh’s goal was to get a favorable mix of donor cells and recipient ones. The study’s results suggest they have the right mix, he said. “Our study is important in two ways,” Hsieh said, “One, we were able to transplant adults and have them be sickle cell- free more than a year later. The other remarkable result was that none of the patients had graft-versus-host disease,” a common complication of bone marrow transplants. More Choices In stem-cell transplantation, the donor’s immune cells sometimes attack the organs in the patient’s body. These reactions are more common in adults than children. The high risk of graft-versus-host disease is one reason Hsieh sought to devise a less-toxic transplant regimen, he said. Currently adult patients with severe sickle cell disease have two treatment choices, said Stuart Orkin, a pediatrics professor at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. The first is hydroxyurea, an anti-tumor drug that is approved for treating pain in sickle cell disease. The problem with hydroxyurea, said Orkin, is that it doesn’t work in all patients. It can also cause infertility. The other is blood transfusions to suppress the production of sickle cells. The trouble is, some people develop iron overload that makes further transfusion impossible. No Cure “Unlike transplantation, these options are purely supportive,” Orkin said. “They don’t cure anything.” While stem-cell transplants are curative, doctors must weigh the risk of infection or even death, said Orkin. They must also consider the amount of existing organ damage and whether it’s reversible, he said. Highly damaged organs can complicate a transplant. On the other hand, people who have had a stroke or organ failure “have more to lose if you don’t act,” said Hsieh, the study author. According to Hsieh, the main drawback of transplantation is that it is hard to find a suitable donor. In his study, he was looking for patients who had siblings with matching white blood cells. Of the 112 eligible patients whose blood type was tested during recruitment, only 24 had qualifying siblings. Furthermore, when doctors go to a bone marrow registry to find compatible donors, it turns out “African Americans are much harder to match because they’re underrepresented,” said Eugene Orringer , a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 75,000 Hospitalizations People with sickle cell disease have about 75,000 hospitalizations a year, for a total cost of $475 million, according to data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics, a U.S. agency. The life expectancy can be as low as 42 years for males who inherit the sickle gene from both parents, according to a study out of the Harvard Medical School. While scientists say that someday soon gene therapy may knock out the disease, transplantation offers the possibility of an immediate cure. At this stage, Hsieh said he is reluctant to use the word “cured” to describe the patients in his study. Still, he is very encouraged by the number of them who are disease-free more than a year after their grafts. Said Hsieh: “We’ve had very good results so far. Our hope is that with more patients and longer follow-up, these patients will remain sickle cell-free.” To contact the reporters on this story: Ellen Gibson in New York at Egibson9@bloomberg.net ;

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Six Cups of Coffee a Day May Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk, Researchers Say

December 7, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Drinking coffee may lower the risk of developing the deadliest form of prostate cancer, according to a Harvard Medical School study. In research involving 50,000 men over 20 years, scientists led by Kathryn Wilson at Harvard’s Channing Laboratory found that the 5 percent of men who drank 6 or more cups a day had a 60 percent lower risk of developing the advanced form of the disease than those who didn’t consume any. There was a smaller effect among those who drank less coffee, and the link wasn’t seen in patients with an earlier stage of the disease. The study is the first to associate coffee with prostate cancer, contradicting previous research that’s found no link. The difference may be because Wilson and colleagues looked for the first time at the link between coffee and different stages of the disease, instead of grouping them all together. More research is needed to confirm the findings, she said. “People shouldn’t start changing their coffee consumption based on one study,” Wilson said in a phone interview on Dec. 5. “It could be chance, and we really need to see whether it pans out in other studies.” Prostate cancer struck almost 200,000 men in the U.S. this year and killed more than 27,000, making it the second-deadliest malignancy among American men after lung cancer, according to the American Cancer Society . The researchers aren’t sure which of the many components of coffee is responsible for the effect, though it probably isn’t caffeine because the same association was seen for decaffeinated coffee, Wilson said. Coffee lowers the risk of Type 2 diabetes by increasing the body’s ability to use insulin to convert blood sugar to energy, previous research has shown. Higher insulin levels have also been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, suggesting the hormone may be the link between coffee and the disease, Wilson said. The data were presented at an American Association for Cancer Research conference in Houston today. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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ChemGenex Says Drug Rids Leukemia From Blood of 86% of Patients

December 5, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Ltd., an unprofitable Australian drugmaker, said its experimental leukemia drug cleared the disease in 86 percent of patients, confirming results under review by U.S. and European regulators. In a company-funded study of 81 people with chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML, ChemGenex’s treatment Omapro also eradicated the disease from bone marrow in 18 percent of patients with an early stage of the blood cancer, potentially allowing them to receive marrow transplants and be cured of the disease. The results were presented today at the American Hematology Association’s conference in New Orleans. The drug is the first to treat the five percent of CML patients who have a gene mutation that makes them resistant to Novartis AG’s Gleevec, the standard therapy. The findings, in line with preliminary data reported in June, may help Omapro enter a market that may reach $500 million by 2020, according to Shane Storey , a Wilson HTM Investment Group analyst in Brisbane. “Omapro can provide clinical benefit to patients in this very difficult to treat sub-set of CML where there are no other approved treatment options,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Collier said in a statement. Geelong-based ChemGenex’s shares have more than doubled this year, compared with a 29 percent gain in the All Ordinaries Index of Australia’s biggest 494 companies by market value. The company has applied to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency to sell Omapro. ChemGenex has said it expects FDA approval by mid-2010. The company said it would announce a partner to market the drug in Europe by December Kareem Abdul-Jabaar Chronic myeloid leukemia is a slow-progressing disease in which a genetic flaw triggers a person’s bone marrow to produce too many white blood cells, which don’t mature and aren’t able to perform their normal infection-fighting role. About 4,830 people were diagnosed with the disease in the U.S. last year, with a median age of 67, according to the National Cancer Institute. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , the National Basketball Association’s all-time leading scorer, said last month he had the disease. Patients in the study injected themselves with Omapro twice a day for two weeks a month until their white blood cells returned to normal levels, then twice a day for one week a month to keep the disease at bay. The study showed the drug returned white blood cells to normal levels in 42 of 49 patients with the earliest stage of the disease, 6 of 17 people with a more advanced stage, and 7 of 15 with the most advanced stage, according to data presented at the conference today. War on Cancer Omapro is derived from the yew tree known as Cephalotaxus harringtonia. Its medicinal properties were probed in a U.S. National Cancer Institute screening program in the 1970s funded after former President Richard Nixon declared war on cancer. The same project uncovered Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s breast cancer drug, Taxol, derived from Pacific yew trees. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Measles Deaths Drop 78 Percent in Eight Years Under Global Vaccine Effort

December 3, 2009

By Tom Randall Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) — Measles deaths declined 78 percent in the last eight years as a global vaccination campaign inoculated 700 million children and saved 4.3 million lives. About 164,000 people died from measles last year, compared with 733,000 in 2000, according to a report released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization . While measles deaths dropped almost 17 percent in the last year alone, health officials said there are signs that progress in fighting the disease is slowing. Measles , the world’s leading cause of death in children, is a contagious respiratory illness spread through coughing and sneezing. The CDC and WHO worked with poor countries to increase use of a two-dose vaccine that costs about $1 to administer. India, which wasn’t a part of the collaboration, now accounts for about 75 percent of worldwide deaths from the virus. “Today’s news shows the power of vaccination,” CDC Director Thomas Frieden said in a conference call today. “India, where one-third of the world’s unvaccinated infants live, still has a ways to go.” The vaccine should be given to all children before their first birthday, with a second dose at 18 to 24 months, according to the American Red Cross . The agency is part of the collaboration, known as the Measles Initiative, which is a mix of governments, companies and aid organizations that help poor countries buy and distribute shots. Measles Initiative In regions with poor vaccination coverage, the initiative helps provide shots to all children ages 9 months to 15 years regardless of vaccination history. For some children it will be a second shot, for others their first. A single shot prevents the disease for the majority of children. India plans to start a two-dose vaccination campaign in about half the country’s states beginning next year. Measles symptoms include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and reddened, watery eyes. Some people also develop an ear infection, diarrhea, lung infection or brain inflammation. The disease kills as few as 1 in 1,000 children who are infected in developed countries and 15 percent or more of infected children in regions with malnutrition, the CDC’s Frieden said. The Measles Initiative is $59 million short of the fundraising goals needed to meet its goals next year, the group said in a statement. Health authorities from the CDC and WHO said they fear government complacency and a lack of funding may quickly reverse the progress made against measles, resulting in an additional 1.7 million deaths from 2010 to 2013. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net .

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Flu Doctor Visits Decline in U.S. for Fourth Week as Spread of H1N1 Slows

November 30, 2009

By Meg Tirrell Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) — Visits to U.S. doctors for influenza-like illnesses declined for a fourth straight week as swine flu retreated in 11 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Physician visits related to flu fell “sharply” in the week ended Nov. 21, extending a decline that followed a four- week increase, the Atlanta-based agency said on its Web site today. Thirty-two states reported widespread influenza activity, down from 43 the week before. Hospitalizations, deaths and doctor visits are still higher than expected at this time of year, the CDC said. Thirty-five flu-related deaths in children under age 18 were reported during the week, bringing the total to 234 since April of this year. “We wouldn’t be surprised to see another rise in activity later this year or early next year when schools are back in session after the Christmas break,” said Tom Skinner , a CDC spokesman, in a telephone interview today. “There’s still a lot of flu out there.” The CDC has been tracking all influenza activity in the U.S., showing that swine flu, or H1N1, is the dominant strain rather than seasonal flu. Swine flu spread across the globe at an unprecedented rate since it was first identified in April. More than 22 million people were infected and 3,900 died in the U.S. in the six months after the new strain emerged, according to CDC estimates. Risk Groups While most swine flu infections are no worse than seasonal flu, in rare cases the disease leads to severe illness and death in otherwise healthy people. The new pandemic strain of H1N1 influenza puts pregnant women, young people and those with chronic health conditions such as asthma and diabetes at greater risk, with about 90 percent of deaths occurring among those younger than 64, according to the CDC. By contrast, the majority of deaths from seasonal flu are among people older than 80. About 36,000 people die each year in the U.S. from seasonal flu, according to the CDC. From 5 percent to 20 percent of the population annually gets sick with the virus, leading to more than 200,000 hospitalizations. To contact the reporter on this story: Meg Tirrell in New York at mtirrell@bloomberg.net .

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Mummy Scans Show Clogged Arteries in Challenge to Notion of Modern Disease

November 17, 2009

By Pat Wechsler Nov. 17 (Bloomberg) — Lady Rai, nursemaid to Queen Amrose Nefertari, suffered from hardening of the arteries, as did other ancient Egyptians, even though they ate unprocessed food, got exercise and didn’t smoke, according to a study . Five of 16 mummies of priests, priestesses and members of various pharoahs’ courts showed “definite” atherosclerosis, detected by medical scans in a study by doctors from the U.S. and Egypt. Another four showed “probable” signs of the disease that can lead to heart attacks and stroke. Atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty substances build up in the lining of the arteries, can be caused by smoking, high cholesterol diets and lack of exercise, according to the Dallas-based heart association Web site . The findings challenge the notion that atherosclerosis is a disease of modern humans brought on by modern bad habits, researchers said. “Heart disease is as old as Moses,” said Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute of Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri and one of the study’s researchers , in an interview. “Even though their lifestyles were healthier — no processed foods, no smoking and they got more exercise — many still contracted the disease showing a certain genetic susceptibility.” The research was reported today at the American Heart Association meeting in Orlando, Florida. The scans of the 3,500- year-old Egyptian mummies showed signs of the kind of calcium deposits consistent with hardened arteries, Thompson said. Pharaohs Not Tested The team of researchers also described the findings in a research letter released today by the Journal of American Medical Association. The team worked with mummies housed in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo and were not given access to the remains of the pharaohs themselves, Thompson said. Those who died after the age of 45 were more likely to show hardening, with calcification in 7 of 8 tested, the JAMA letter reported. Two out of 8 under 45 at the age of death showed atherosclerosis, it said. Lady Rai was somewhere between 30 and 40 when she died, according to the letter. She died in about 1530 B.C.E. and was the most ancient mummy tested with signs of the disease, the letter said. Four out of 7 female mummies and 5 out of 9 male mummies tested positively. “The calcification lights up like a Christmas tree in the CAT scans,” Thompson said. “I use these facts to help people get past the questions about why me and the denial. Clearly it is part of the human condition.” To contact the reporter on this story: Pat Wechsler in New York at pwechsler@bloomberg.net .

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Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen Being Treated for Lymphoma, Spokesman Says

November 16, 2009

By Dina Bass Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Paul Allen , Microsoft Corp.’s co- founder, has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy. Allen is “feeling okay and remains upbeat,” his sister Jody Allen said in an e-mail to employees of Vulcan Inc., his investment group. He was diagnosed earlier this month and has diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which she said is a “relatively common form” of the disease. The 56-year-old Allen successfully fought off Hodgkin’s lymphoma more than 25 years ago, an illness that caused him to leave Microsoft. Since then, he has invested in technology companies, including the creation of St. Louis-based cable-TV provider Charter Communications Inc., which has filed for bankruptcy. Allen has no plans to change his role at Vulcan, said Jody Allen, the firm’s chief executive officer. While Paul Allen is working and plans to continue, his sister said “his health comes first.” Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a group of cancers that trigger white blood cells to grow uncontrollably and cause masses to form in the lymph nodes. Allen’s cancer, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, accounts for as much as 30 percent of newly diagnosed cases and is an aggressive, or fast-growing, lymphoma, according to the Lymphoma Research Foundation . It can arise in lymph nodes or outside the lymphatic system, in the gastrointestinal tract, testes, thyroid, skin, breast, bone or brain, the foundation said. 66,000 New Cases Almost 66,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year, and 19,500 people will die from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. Prognosis and treatment depend upon the stage and type of the disease. Vulcan has invested in cancer-drug developers including BiPar Sciences Inc. and Seattle Genetics Inc. Allen’s foundation has donated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Allen, the son of a librarian, founded Microsoft with Bill Gates , a classmate at the private Lakeside School in Seattle. “Melinda and I have Paul and his family in our thoughts and prayers,” Gates, now chairman of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, said in a statement. “Paul is among my closest friends and I know him to be a strong and resilient individual.” Among Allen’s holdings are the Seattle Seahawks football team and the Portland Trailblazers basketball team. Allen also backed a Seattle music and science-fiction museum housed in a multicolored Frank Gehry -designed building that anchored the redevelopment of Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood. Allen, who ranked No. 2 on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest Americans in 1999, with a $40 billion fortune, fell to No. 12 last year, with $16 billion. To contact the reporter on this story: Dina Bass in Seattle at dbass2@bloomberg.net .

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Yearly Mammograms Unneeded for Women in Their 40s, U.S. Panel Recommends

November 16, 2009

By David Olmos Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Annual mammograms are unnecessary for women in their 40s, and those in their 50s should only have them every two years, a panel of U.S. doctors said, drawing opposition from the American Cancer Society . The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force , a government-backed panel of doctors, said potential harm from annual screening, including false-positive results, cuts the test’s benefits. The panel’s recommendations, which do not cover women who carry a high risk for the disease, also urge that doctors stop showing women how to do self-examinations because there is little evidence it cuts cancer deaths. The new guidelines, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine , pit the task force against the Cancer Society, which said doctors should still advise women to get routine annual screening starting at age 40. An estimated 64 percent of women age 40 to 49 have had an X-ray of their breasts during the past two years, the panel’s report said. “This is not a blanket recommendation not to worry until age 50,” said Diana Petitti , a disease epidemiologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and vice chair of the panel. “It’s a recommendation to have a discussion with your physician to better understand the trade-offs between starting exams now and starting later.” General Electric Co. , based in Fairfield, Connecticut, Eastman Kodak Co. , of Rochester, N.Y. and Munich-based Siemens AG , make imaging machines for mammograms and related supplies. Insurer Coverage J. Leonard Lichtenfeld , the American Cancer Society’s deputy chief medical officer, said such a recommendation may affect screening payments. ‘Our hope is that insurers will not make any change in coverage,” Lichtenfeld said. Wellpoint Inc. , the top U.S. health insurer by enrollment with 34 million members, pays for annual mammograms for women age 40 in the majority of its health plans. The Indianapolis- based company periodically reviews its reimbursement policies and “doesn’t adhere to any one source” for guidance, said Jill Becher, a company spokeswoman in Milwaukee. Mammograms, self-breast examinations and clinical examinations are the three main forms of detecting breast cancer. The x-rays are used to check for breast cancer in women who have no signs or symptoms of the disease, and also to check for breast cancer after a lump or other signs of cancer has been found, according to the National Cancer Institute . Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of death among U.S. women, after lung cancer, killing 40,480 women in 2008, according to the task force report. Computer Simulations The task force analyzed published research and developed computer-simulation models to evaluate the likely health outcomes if mammograms were begun at certain ages and done every year or two years. The study confirmed earlier research that women who have mammograms die less frequently of breast cancer than those who don’t have the tests. About two deaths per 1,000 women are averted if women begin annual screenings rather than exams every two years starting at age 40, the task-force estimated. It also estimated that women who begin getting mammograms at age 40 will have about 60 percent more false positive results per 1,000 exams than women who start screenings at age 50. A false positive, in which an abnormality is seen that proves not to be cancer, typically leads to additional screenings and tissue biopsies, the researchers said. “We are reluctant to recommend changing a proven program that has helped to save lives,” the Cancer Society’s Lichtenfeld said. The society questions whether the task’s force computer modeling “is sufficiently sophisticated and accurate enough,” he said. No Change in Policy Susan G. Komen for the Cure , the Dallas-based breast cancer advocacy group, also said it won’t change its recommendation that women ages 40-49 get annual mammograms. “We would not want to see a change in policy or reimbursement for screening mammography at this time,” said Eric Winer, the group’s chief scientific adviser, in a statement. Researchers and physicians have known for years that results from the x-rays are not as reliable in younger women as in older women. Women in their 40s typically have denser breast tissue, making it more difficult for technicians to determine if an image is normal or cancerous. After women enter menopause, typically at about age 50, the breast tissue becomes less dense and more fat, and the x-rays can be more accurately interpreted, said Susan Love , president and medical director of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation in Santa Monica, California. ‘Long Overdue’ The panel’s suggestions for women ages 40 to 49 are “long overdue,” said Love in a phone interview. “Most countries in the world do not do mammography screening until age 50.” “There is a lot of anxiety created when someone tells you that there is something that showed up in a test,” said Karla Kerlikowske, an epidemiologist at University of California at San Francisco Medical Center who wrote an editorial accompanying the task force report. Subsequent exams expose women to more radiation, and although biopsies are “low risk,” some patients develop infections or experience pain and bruises, she said. Screening women ages 50 to 74 every two years “achieves most of the benefit of annual screening with less harm,” the task force said. Now women in the older age group get a mammogram, on average, every 14 months, according to the report. ‘Biggest Concern’ In forming its guidelines, the task force’s “biggest concern” was that women would be confused by conflicting advice from health experts or wrongly interpret the panel’s message as a blanket recommendation for those ages 40 to 49 to not ever get screened, Pettiti said. Instead, decisions by women below age 50, and their doctors, should be based on “the risk for breast cancer and preferences about the benefits and harms” the task force wrote in the study. Although the recommendations are “very clear and thoughtful,” women are likely to be confused by the different advice of health experts, Kerlilowske said. She and other physicians said it may be difficult to persuade many women in their 40s who have been told by their doctors for years that annual screenings are beneficial to accept the panel’s recommendations. “The task force is saying you can get 70 percent of the benefit if you get a mammogram every two years compared with every year,” said Lichtenfeld, of the American Cancer Society. “There will be women who say, ‘I want 100 percent of the benefit’.” To contact the reporter on this story: David Olmos in San Francisco at dolmos@bloomberg.net .

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Yearly Mammograms Unneeded for Women in Their 40s, U.S. Panel Recommends

November 16, 2009

By David Olmos Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Annual mammograms are unnecessary for women in their 40s, and those in their 50s should only have them every two years, a panel of U.S. doctors said, drawing opposition from the American Cancer Society . The U.S. Preventive Service Task Force , a government-backed panel of doctors, said potential harm from annual screening, including false-positive results, cuts the test’s benefits. The panel’s recommendations, which do not cover women who carry a high risk for the disease, also urge that doctors stop showing women how to do self-examinations because there is little evidence it cuts cancer deaths. The new guidelines, published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine , pit the task force against the Cancer Society, which said doctors should still advise women to get routine annual screening starting at age 40. An estimated 64 percent of women age 40 to 49 have had an X-ray of their breasts during the past two years, the panel’s report said. “This is not a blanket recommendation not to worry until age 50,” said Diana Petitti , a disease epidemiologist at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, and vice chair of the panel. “It’s a recommendation to have a discussion with your physician to better understand the trade-offs between starting exams now and starting later.” General Electric Co. , based in Fairfield, Connecticut, Eastman Kodak Co. , of Rochester, N.Y. and Munich-based Siemens AG , make imaging machines for mammograms and related supplies. Insurer Coverage J. Leonard Lichtenfeld , the American Cancer Society’s deputy chief medical officer, said such a recommendation may affect screening payments. ‘Our hope is that insurers will not make any change in coverage,” Lichtenfeld said. Wellpoint Inc. , the top U.S. health insurer by enrollment with 34 million members, pays for annual mammograms for women age 40 in the majority of its health plans. The Indianapolis- based company periodically reviews its reimbursement policies and “doesn’t adhere to any one source” for guidance, said Jill Becher, a company spokeswoman in Milwaukee. Mammograms, self-breast examinations and clinical examinations are the three main forms of detecting breast cancer. The x-rays are used to check for breast cancer in women who have no signs or symptoms of the disease, and also to check for breast cancer after a lump or other signs of cancer has been found, according to the National Cancer Institute . Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of death among U.S. women, after lung cancer, killing 40,480 women in 2008, according to the task force report. Computer Simulations The task force analyzed published research and developed computer-simulation models to evaluate the likely health outcomes if mammograms were begun at certain ages and done every year or two years. The study confirmed earlier research that women who have mammograms die less frequently of breast cancer than those who don’t have the tests. About two deaths per 1,000 women are averted if women begin annual screenings rather than exams every two years starting at age 40, the task-force estimated. It also estimated that women who begin getting mammograms at age 40 will have about 60 percent more false positive results per 1,000 exams than women who start screenings at age 50. A false positive, in which an abnormality is seen that proves not to be cancer, typically leads to additional screenings and tissue biopsies, the researchers said. “We are reluctant to recommend changing a proven program that has helped to save lives,” the Cancer Society’s Lichtenfeld said. The society questions whether the task’s force computer modeling “is sufficiently sophisticated and accurate enough,” he said. No Change in Policy Susan G. Komen for the Cure , the Dallas-based breast cancer advocacy group, also said it won’t change its recommendation that women ages 40-49 get annual mammograms. “We would not want to see a change in policy or reimbursement for screening mammography at this time,” said Eric Winer, the group’s chief scientific adviser, in a statement. Researchers and physicians have known for years that results from the x-rays are not as reliable in younger women as in older women. Women in their 40s typically have denser breast tissue, making it more difficult for technicians to determine if an image is normal or cancerous. After women enter menopause, typically at about age 50, the breast tissue becomes less dense and more fat, and the x-rays can be more accurately interpreted, said Susan Love , president and medical director of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation in Santa Monica, California. ‘Long Overdue’ The panel’s suggestions for women ages 40 to 49 are “long overdue,” said Love in a phone interview. “Most countries in the world do not do mammography screening until age 50.” “There is a lot of anxiety created when someone tells you that there is something that showed up in a test,” said Karla Kerlikowske, an epidemiologist at University of California at San Francisco Medical Center who wrote an editorial accompanying the task force report. Subsequent exams expose women to more radiation, and although biopsies are “low risk,” some patients develop infections or experience pain and bruises, she said. Screening women ages 50 to 74 every two years “achieves most of the benefit of annual screening with less harm,” the task force said. Now women in the older age group get a mammogram, on average, every 14 months, according to the report. ‘Biggest Concern’ In forming its guidelines, the task force’s “biggest concern” was that women would be confused by conflicting advice from health experts or wrongly interpret the panel’s message as a blanket recommendation for those ages 40 to 49 to not ever get screened, Pettiti said. Instead, decisions by women below age 50, and their doctors, should be based on “the risk for breast cancer and preferences about the benefits and harms” the task force wrote in the study. Although the recommendations are “very clear and thoughtful,” women are likely to be confused by the different advice of health experts, Kerlilowske said. She and other physicians said it may be difficult to persuade many women in their 40s who have been told by their doctors for years that annual screenings are beneficial to accept the panel’s recommendations. “The task force is saying you can get 70 percent of the benefit if you get a mammogram every two years compared with every year,” said Lichtenfeld, of the American Cancer Society. “There will be women who say, ‘I want 100 percent of the benefit’.” To contact the reporter on this story: David Olmos in San Francisco at dolmos@bloomberg.net .

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Demand for Swine Flu Vaccine Rises, Adding to U.S. Shortage, CDC Says

October 27, 2009

By Meg Tirrell Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) — The swine flu vaccine shortage is boosting demand from Americans concerned they won’t get the product in time to hold off the disease, said Thomas Frieden , director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The amount available to doctors and clinics starting this week will have risen to 22.4 million doses from about 14 million on Oct. 21, Frieden said today. The supply is still smaller than needed, he said. A U.S. health official has blamed the shortage on production delays at two drugmakers, and one manufacturer’s failure to gain regulatory approval for its product. President Barack Obama declared swine flu a national emergency Oct. 24. The disease, also known as H1N1 influenza, is widespread across the country and accounts for 411 confirmed deaths and more than 8,200 hospitalizations since Aug. 30, according to the Atlanta-based CDC. Frieden didn’t update the numbers of infected during today’s call. “We are currently in a situation where we have too little vaccine in the community,” Frieden said during a conference call with reporters. “It’s quite likely that too little vaccine is one of the things that’s making people more interested in getting vaccinated.” Health officials said last week the U.S. won’t get the 195 million doses it had planned for by the end of the year. Americans may get 42 million doses by mid-November, 8 million less than earlier U.S. estimates, said Nicole Lurie , Health and Human Services assistant secretary for preparedness and response, in an Oct. 23 telephone interview. Lurie linked the shortage to production delays. Greater Demand “When we have shortages we see an increase in demand,” Frieden said today. “In the next week or so, there will be a significant increase in the perceived and real availability of vaccine.” Frieden said medical authorities still recommend the vaccine be given first to people most at risk of severe infection from swine flu. Children and young adults ages 6 months to 24 years, pregnant women, those with underlying medical conditions and health-care workers are most at risk according to the CDC. ‘Many millions’ of H1N1 cases have occurred in the U.S. since the outbreak began in April, he said Oct. 23. “We wish we had better technology that could produce vaccine in weeks or months, rather than the six to nine months it takes with current, tried-and-true technology,” Frieden said. “It’s challenging with a limited amount of vaccine for a lot of people who want to get vaccinated.” Similar Symptoms While H1N1 produces similar symptoms and outcomes as seasonal flu in most cases, it targets a younger population and can lead to severe illness and death. The seasonal flu kills about 36,000 people a year in the U.S., though the majority of those deaths are in people over the age of 80. Ninety-five children have died from confirmed swine flu since April 2009, more than the pediatric toll for a typical year of influenza, the CDC said on its Web site, which tracks deaths from 28 states that provide data. To contact the reporter on this story: Meg Tirrell in New York at mtirrell@bloomberg.net .

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Dr. Richard Jacoby Named President of the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons

October 14, 2009

Medical Community Organization Promotes Research, Study, and Treatment for Extremity Nerve Disease

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Body’s Own Antioxidant May Slow Parkinson’s Patients’ Decline, Study Says

October 12, 2009

By Nicole Ostrow Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) — Higher concentrations of a natural antioxidant in the body may slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in patients with early stages of the illness, a study from Harvard researchers found. Those in the study with the highest amounts of antioxidant urate in their blood were 36 percent less likely to need treatment within two years for early Parkinson’s symptoms than those with the lowest levels, research online today in the Archives of Neurology showed. Raising the amount of urate is one of the “more promising” strategies in development, said senior study author Michael Schwarzschild . About one million Americans have Parkinson’s, which starts with trembling and stiffness that can eventually hamper walking and talking, according to the National Parkinson Foundation. Today’s study “suggests a new approach in slowing down the rate of the disease,” said Schwarzschild, an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, in an Oct. 9 telephone interview. “People live with Parkinson’s disease for decades. We want to make those decades much more manageable and keep people much more mobile.” Urate occurs naturally in the blood. Schwarzschild cautioned that people shouldn’t try to raise levels of the antioxidant on their own through diet or supplements because high amounts can lead to gout and kidney stones and may also contribute to heart disease. Testing Safety A trial testing the safety of raising urate in patients who were recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s is under way at 10 centers around the country, he said. Researchers are using the dietary supplement inosine, a precursor to urate, in the study. Antioxidants can protect against some cell damage that may contribute to the impairment or death of nerve cells that occur in Parkinson’s disease, according to the authors. In the U.S., about 60,000 new cases of Parkinson’s are diagnosed each year, according to the National Parkinson Foundation. Most of the time, the disease develops after age 65. Symptoms include shaking, slowness of movement, stiffness and difficulty with balance. The researchers, from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease and Harvard School of Public Health, first turned up evidence of urate’s potential of slowing down the progression of Parkinson’s in a study last year of 800 people that showed similar results. Older Data The researchers then looked at data on urate levels from early Parkinson’s patients who had been part of a two-year trial in the late 1980s. Blood urate levels were available on 774 patients and the scientists also were able to analyze the antioxidant levels in frozen spinal fluid from 713 patients. Overall, 369 people, or almost 48 percent of the 774 patients, had their disease progress enough to require drug therapy, the study said. The chance of needing medication decreased the higher their blood urate levels were, the authors said. Similar findings were seen for urate levels in spinal fluid. “These results were critically important,” said Alberto Ascherio , the study’s lead author and a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, in a statement. “Only now we can be reasonably sure that the slower rate of progression in patients with higher concentrations of urate is real and not a chance occurrence.” In the study, 162 people, or 39 men and 123 women, were in the lowest blood urate level group, while 158 people, or 138 men and 20 women, were in the highest blood urate level group. Other Factor Schwarzschild said the researchers are unsure if it’s the urate itself or some other factor that helps slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease. The study also found unexpectedly that higher urate levels didn’t slow the progression of Parkinson’s in study participants who were receiving vitamin E, another powerful antioxidant. Researchers said it wasn’t clear whether vitamin E at high doses might have a “pro-oxidant” rather than antioxidant effect. The study was sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Parkinson Disease Foundation and the Parkinson Study Group and others. To contact the reporter on this story: Nicole Ostrow in New York at nostrow1@bloomberg.net .

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Seasonal Flu Shot May Boost Defenses Against H1N1 Virus, Researchers Say

October 7, 2009

By Carey Sargent Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) — Vaccine prepared for the 2008-2009 flu season may provide some protection against the pandemic H1N1 virus and help fend off the most severe forms of the disease, research published in the British Medical Journal found. Of the 179 unvaccinated people in the Mexican study, 29 percent became infected with pandemic H1N1 virus, compared with just 13 percent of vaccinated patients. None of the swine flu patients who received the shot died, compared with 30 percent of those who were unvaccinated, the researchers found. Vaccines prepared for the seasonal flu include an H1N1 strain. The shot may provide some protection against swine flu because people who have been previously exposed to a similar virus have a heightened antibody response, said researchers led by Jose Luis Valdespino at the Laboratorios de Biologicos y Reactivos de Mexico. The study was limited by the number of patients and more research is needed, they said. “The results are to be considered cautiously and in no way indicate that seasonal vaccine should replace vaccination against pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009,” Valdespino said in the study. A study published in the journal Eurosurveillance in August looked at patients who tested positive for swine flu and their vaccination history and found no evidence of “significant protection” from the seasonal shot in any age group. Valdespino’s team studied 60 patients diagnosed with swine flu and 180 uninfected people. They found that those without the disease were significantly more likely to have been vaccinated. ‘Restricted Protection’ There may be some biases with the study because it was retrospective and involved only 240 people, said Menno de Jong, head of microbiology at the University of Amsterdam’s Academic Medical Center, who wrote an accompanying editorial on pandemic vaccination. “It suggests that if you were vaccinated, it might mitigate the disease” by boosting the immune response, de Jong said in a telephone interview. “It’s a restricted level of protection, though, and highlights the need for a specific vaccine against the novel H1N1 virus.” Companies including Novartis AG and Sanofi-Aventis SA have produced flu vaccine to specifically target the new H1N1 strain. H1N1 has infected at least 340,000 people and killed at least 4,100 globally as of Sept. 27, the World Health Organization said last week. The figures are based on laboratory-confirmed cases reported to the Geneva-based United Nations agency. The researchers received funding from the Mexican Ministry of Health. To contact the reporter on this story: Carey Sargent in Geneva at Csargent3@bloomberg.net

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AIDS Study Flushes Out Virus, Pointing to Possible Cure, Scientists Say

October 2, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) — Scientists, moving closer to a cure for AIDS, identified a way to find medicines that would help rid patients of the hardest-to-treat pockets of HIV. Current anti-HIV drugs reduce the virus to undetectable levels without eradicating it. The virus survives by lying dormant in immune-system cells, where the medicines don’t reach them. Scientists from Johns Hopkins University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute reported yesterday that they developed a way of luring out these cells in laboratory experiments, an achievement they said may lead to a cure if repeated in humans. In 2007, about 2.7 million people were newly infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and 2 million died of the disease, making it the world’s deadliest infectious malady, according to the Geneva-based World Health Organization , an arm of the United Nations. Scientists looking to stop HIV have turned to attacking so-called latent reservoirs of the virus after efforts to prevent infection, such as vaccines and gels, largely failed. “This is a way in which you could envision finding a drug that would, in conjunction with existing treatment, allow us to cure patients,” said Robert Siliciano , the professor who led the study at Johns Hopkins’s medical school in Baltimore. More research is needed, he said. For about 12 years, doctors have known that HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, can lie dormant in immune-system cells called resting CD4s found in the lymph nodes, spleen and blood. There the virus stops replicating, avoiding the drugs designed to kill it. Roaring Back Studies have shown latent HIV comes roaring back when treatment is interrupted, condemning patients to a lifetime on drugs such as Abbott Laboratories’ Kaletra that can cause side effects including nausea, liver damage and fat buildup. Eliminating the last vestiges of the virus could cure patients of the disease, allowing them to stop treatment. Siliciano’s team mimicked HIV latency in a lab dish using a gene called Bcl-2 to turn normal CD4s into resting cells capable of hosting the dormant form of HIV. The researchers used the model to test 2,400 chemicals, finding 17 that coaxed the virus out of hiding, kick-starting its normal process of replication. In a human, that would make the virus susceptible to drugs. The best performer was a compound called 5HN found in the leaves, bark and roots of the black walnut tree. ‘Key Thing’ “They’ve found a way to find drugs — that’s the key thing,” said Stephen Kent , a professor of immunology at the University of Melbourne, in a telephone interview yesterday. “We’ve really just been guessing up to this point about ways to get at this. Having a system for screening drugs is a big advance over what we’ve had so far.” The result was achieved without rousing non-infected CD4 cells, avoiding a potentially fatal scenario called a cytokine storm in which the body’s immune system overreacts. The study has limitations, Siliciano said. First, 5HN may be too toxic for use in humans, he said by phone. “It’s going to require additional research to find something that does the same thing but doesn’t have lots of other effects,” Siliciano said. “We’re pretty confident that we’ll find lots of compounds that work, but whether any of those will be sufficiently free of other effects — that’s not clear,” he said. Second, recent studies have pointed to another reservoir of latent HIV that has yet to be identified, Siliciano said. No Test “We may have to find another drug to target that reservoir,” he said. “First we have to identify what it is.” There’s no test for identifying whether a patient has latent HIV, meaning the only way to be sure a drug has polished off the virus is to cease treatment and see if it returns, the University of Melbourne’s Kent said. The findings are an advance that may allow researchers to come up with a drug they could start testing in humans, Kent said. “To get something like that into clinical trials is only a few short years — it’s not decades,” he said. “Then it’s got to work.” The study was published yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Investigation , a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland; the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York; and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase , Maryland. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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AIDS Cure Moves Closer as Study Shows How to Kill Hidden Virus

October 1, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Oct. 1 (Bloomberg) — Scientists in the U.S. moved closer to a cure for AIDS, identifying a way to find drugs that would help rid patients of the hardest-to-reach pockets of HIV that now defy treatment. Current anti-HIV drugs reduce the virus to undetectable levels without eradicating it. The virus survives by lying dormant in immune-system cells, where the medicines don’t reach them. Scientists from Johns Hopkins University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute reported today that they developed a way of luring out these cells in laboratory experiments, an achievement that they said may lead to a cure if repeated in humans. In 2007, about 2.7 million people were newly infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and 2 million died of the disease, making it the world’s deadliest infectious malady, according to the Geneva-based World Health Organization , an arm of the United Nations. Scientists looking to stop HIV have turned to attacking so-called latent reservoirs of the virus after efforts to prevent infection, such as vaccines and gels, largely failed. “This is a way in which you could envision finding a drug that would, in conjunction with existing treatment, allow us to cure patients,” said Robert Siliciano , the professor who led the study at Johns Hopkins’s medical school in Baltimore. More research is needed, he said. For about 12 years, doctors have known that HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, can lie dormant in immune-system cells called resting CD4s found in the lymph nodes, spleen and blood. There the virus stops replicating, avoiding the drugs designed to kill it. Roaring Back Studies have shown latent HIV comes roaring back when treatment is interrupted, condemning patients to a lifetime on drugs such as Abbott Laboratories’ Kaletra that can cause side effects including nausea, liver damage and fat buildup. Eliminating the last vestiges of the virus could cure patients of the disease, allowing them to stop treatment. Siliciano’s team mimicked HIV latency in a lab dish using a gene called Bcl-2 to turn normal CD4s into resting cells capable of hosting the dormant form of HIV. The researchers used the model to test 2,400 chemicals, finding 17 that coaxed the virus out of hiding, kick-starting its normal process of replication. In a human, that would make the virus susceptible to drugs. The best performer was a compound called 5HN found in the leaves, bark and roots of the black walnut tree. ‘Key Thing’ “They’ve found a way to find drugs — that’s the key thing,” said Stephen Kent , a professor of immunology at the University of Melbourne, in a telephone interview today. “We’ve really just been guessing up to this point about ways to get at this. Having a system for screening drugs is a big advance over what we’ve had so far.” The result was achieved without rousing non-infected CD4 cells, avoiding a potentially fatal scenario called a cytokine storm in which the body’s immune system overreacts. The study has limitations, Siliciano said. First, 5HN may be too toxic for use in humans, he said by phone. “It’s going to require additional research to find something that does the same thing but doesn’t have lots of other effects,” Siliciano said. “We’re pretty confident that we’ll find lots of compounds that work, but whether any of those will be sufficiently free of other effects — that’s not clear,” he said. Second, recent studies have pointed to another, as-yet- identified reservoir of latent HIV, Siliciano said. No Test “We may have to find another drug to target that reservoir,” he said. “First we have to identify what it is.” There’s no test for identifying whether a patient has latent HIV, meaning the only way to be sure a drug has polished off the virus is to cease treatment and see if it returns, the University of Melbourne’s Kent said. The findings are an advance that may allow researchers to come up with a drug they could start testing in humans, Kent said. “To get something like that into clinical trials is only a few short years — it’s not decades,” he said. “Then it’s got to work.” The study was published today in the Journal of Clinical Investigation , a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation, of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland; the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation in New York; and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. To contact the reporter on this story: Simeon Bennett in Singapore at sbennett9@bloomberg.net

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Obesity Increase in U.S. May Hurt Improvement in Breast Cancer Death Rates

September 30, 2009

By Pat Wechsler Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) — Declines in breast cancer death rates in the U.S. may be threatened by a trend among women toward obesity, a risk factor for the disease, according to a report by the Atlanta-based American Cancer Society . The mortality rate in the U.S. continued to drop 2 percent annually from 1996 to 2006, the most recent year with data available, according to the report released today. Women may accelerate that decline by maintaining a healthy body weight, engaging in regular physical activity and minimizing alcohol intake, said Ahmedin Jemal, an epidemiologist with the group and a report co-author. Failing to adopt that kind of lifestyle “could hurt progress in breast cancer death rates,” Jemal said in a telephone interview yesterday. “The obesity trend is going in the wrong direction.” About 30 percent of people in the U.S. are now obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . Women who gain 22 pounds or more after menopause face an 18 percent increase in risk for breast cancer, according to a study cited by the cancer society’s report. The chance of getting breast cancer within a decade for women age 50 is about 1 in 42 on average, according to the report. Fewer women may die from breast cancer if more effort were also made to get uninsured women to have yearly mammograms, Jemal said. While 70 percent of insured women over 40 years old have had a mammogram within the last two years, only 33 percent of uninsured females have had one, he said, citing the report’s statistics. Opportunity “We have a tremendous opportunity to improve the numbers if we increase access to mammograms in economically disadvantaged populations,” Jemal said. The mortality rate among African-American women is 38 percent higher than among Caucasian females, according to the report. Jemal said there is a 98 percent survival rate when the cancer is caught early with regular mammograms. The drop in mortality rates is attributable to early detection and improved treatment, he said. “From 1989 to 2006, there has been a 30 percent drop in the death rate from breast cancer,” he said. “If the rate remained the same, 130,000 more women would have died in these years. I think this progress is huge.” Overweight and obesity are generally measured by a ratio of height to weight known as the body-mass index. A 5-foot, 5-inch woman is considered overweight at 150 pounds (68 kilograms) and obese at 180 pounds. To contact the reporter on this story: Pat Wechsler in New York at pwechsler@bloomberg.net .

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CDC Plans Two New Office Buildings in Atlanta

August 3, 2009

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to build two new office buildings totaling more than 580,000 square feet at the agency’s Chamblee campus. The buildings are both earmarked for research support at the giant agency of the U.S. Department…

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Plague Death Toll Reaches Three in Northwestern China as Town Sealed Off

August 3, 2009

By Jason Gale and Simeon Bennett Aug.

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Pneumonic Plague Outbreak in China Unlikely to Cause Mass Deaths, WHO Says

August 2, 2009

By Simeon Bennett Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — An outbreak of pneumonic plague in China that killed two men is unlikely to cause the mass fatalities associated with historical outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization . While the disease can kill 60 percent of its victims if left unchecked, early diagnosis and treatment with generic antibiotics such as streptomycin and tetracycline cuts plague patients’ mortality rate to less than 15 percent, the WHO said on its Web site . Authorities in northwestern China quarantined the town of Ziketan in Qinghai province after two men died from pneumonic plague, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday

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Second Man Dies of Plague in China, Town Quarantined as 10 Others Infected

August 2, 2009

By Bloomberg News Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) — A second man died of pneumonic plague in northwestern China as authorities quarantined a town to stop the disease spreading. The 37-year-old man died yesterday in Ziketan in Qinghai province, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. He was a neighbor of a 32-year-old herdsman who was the first person in the town to die from the disease, according to the report

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Flu Rate in England, Wales Reaches Decade High as Pandemic Virus Spreads

July 23, 2009

By Jason Gale and Kristen Hallam July 23 (Bloomberg) — England and Wales are suffering the worst bout of flu in a decade, kindled by international travel and later school breaks than in the rest of Europe. Doctors reported 155 cases of flu-like illness per 100,000 people across the two countries in the week ended July 19, the Royal College of General Practitioners said today. The number of swine flu cases in the U.K

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Human Genome Says Novel Lupus Treatment Reduces Pain, Hair Loss in Trial

July 20, 2009

By David Olmos and Lisa Rapaport July 20 (Bloomberg) — Human Genome Sciences Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc said their experimental lupus drug reduced patients’ symptoms in a yearlong study, raising hope of the first new therapy in more than 50 years for the autoimmune disease.

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Fast-Moving Flu Pandemic May Strike U.S. Earlier Than Typical Flu Season

July 19, 2009

By Tom Randall July 17 (Bloomberg) — Swine flu has taken root across the globe faster than any previous influenza pandemic, and its full force may strike the U.S. earlier than the typical flu season, health officials said

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