The particularly lethal brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme is fast-growing, difficult to treat, and nearly always fatal; even with aggressive therapy, patients have a median survival time of less than two years. But scientists are pursuing new ways to attack this type of brain tumor, and one company may just be succeeding. NovoCure, a small startup founded in Israel in 2000, has developed a device that uses an electric field to disrupt the growth of cancer cells, and early results are promising. Out of ten patients who started using the device in combination with chemotherapy shortly after their initial diagnosis, seven are still alive more than four years later, and five of them show no signs of cancer progression.

Electrifying division: These images show skin melanoma cells at various stages of disrupted division. The process was fatally interrupted through the use of electrical fields. Credit: NovoCure

NovoCure's device consists of insulated electrode pairs placed on a patient's body near the tumors, attached by leads to a three-kilogram battery that the patient carries everywhere. The electrodes emit low-intensity electric fields that rapidly alternate to create a current that has no effect on any tissue in the body except dividing cells. Just before a dividing cell splits in two, it briefly forms an hourglass shape before the two daughter cells pinch off, and this shape is particularly vulnerable to electricity. The current gets concentrated at the cell's narrow waist, and at the very moment of division, the cell membrane is destroyed, and the cells disintegrate.

Previous trials showed promising early results, first in patients with recurrent glioblastoma who had exhausted their treatment options, and then in patients newly diagnosed with the disease. The new results are so promising that the company is now recruiting 283 newly diagnosed glioblastoma patients across the United States and in Europe to participate in a two-year pivotal clinical trial. (The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process for medical devices requires only two clinical trial phases, pilot and pivotal, as opposed to the three required for medications.) Recent results from a pilot lung-cancer trial show that the combination of electric fields plus traditional chemotherapy may also increase survival and decrease disease progression in patients with late-stage non-small cell lung cancer.

While chemotherapy and the electric field generated by the device both have an effect when used in isolation, when they're put together their properties are more than additive--the electric fields appear to make the cancer cells far more susceptible to chemotherapy without any additional increase in side effects and toxicity.

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"Practically all chemotherapies are designed to hit specific receptors on cancer cells, and they are usually targeted to very specific types or even subtypes of cancer," says physiologist Yoram Palti, the founder and director of NovoCure, who developed the therapy. In contrast, he says, radiation hits all types of cancers, but its ability to target cancer cells over other tissues is relatively low. "I was looking for a single modality that would be effective against most, if not all, types of cancer, without the negative effects of radiation," Palti says. The electric field appears to do just that. "In the lab, it's effective against all types of cancer cells we tested."

Typical glioblastoma treatment consists of surgery followed by simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation. After about four weeks, radiation stops and chemotherapy continues. But the reason glioblastoma is so deadly is that cancerous cells spread throughout the brain long before they can be picked up by MRI scans. "The horses are already out of the barn, so to speak," says Herbert Engelhard, chief of neuro-oncology in the neurosurgery division at the University of Illinois, Chicago. "NovoCure therapy has the potential of tracking down or affecting those cancer cells that are deep within the brain, because the [electric field] goes beyond what is seen on the MRI imaging of the brain tumor."

From NYTimes.com:

Call it the arrow of cancer. Like the arrow of time, it was supposed to point in one direction. Cancers grew and worsened.

But as a paper in The Journal of the American Medical Association noted last week, data from more than two decades of screening for breast and prostate cancer call that view into question. Besides finding tumors that would be lethal if left untreated, screening appears to be finding many small tumors that would not be a problem if they were left alone, undiscovered by screening. They were destined to stop growing on their own or shrink, or even, at least in the case of some breast cancers, disappear.

“The old view is that cancer is a linear process,” said Dr. Barnett Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the National Institutes of Health. “A cell acquired a mutation, and little by little it acquired more and more mutations. Mutations are not supposed to revert spontaneously.”

So, Dr. Kramer said, the image was “an arrow that moved in one direction.” But now, he added, it is becoming increasingly clear that cancers require more than mutations to progress. They need the cooperation of surrounding cells and even, he said, “the whole organism, the person,” whose immune system or hormone levels, for example, can squelch or fuel a tumor.

Cancer, Dr. Kramer said, is a dynamic process.

It was a view that was hard for some cancer doctors and researchers to accept. But some of the skeptics have changed their minds and decided that, contrary as it seems to everything they had thought, cancers can disappear on their own.

“At the end of the day, I’m not sure how certain I am about this, but I do believe it,” said Dr. Robert M. Kaplan, the chairman of the department of health services at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, adding, “The weight of the evidence suggests that there is reason to believe.”

Disappearing tumors are well known in testicular cancer. Dr. Jonathan Epstein at Johns Hopkins says it does not happen often, but it happens.

A young man may have a lump in his testicle, but when doctors remove the organ all they find is a big scar. The tumor that was there is gone. Or, they see a large scar and a tiny tumor because more than 95 percent of the tumor had disappeared on its own by the time the testicle was removed.

Or a young man will show up with a big tumor near his kidney. Doctors realize that it started somewhere else, so they look for its origin. Then they discover a scar in the man’s testicle, the only remnant of the original cancer because no tumor is left.

Testicular cancer is unusual; most others do not disappear. But there is growing evidence that cancers can go backward or stop, and researchers are being forced to reassess their notions of what cancer is and how it develops.

Of course, cancers do not routinely go away, and no one is suggesting that patients avoid treatment because of such occasional occurrences.

“Biologically, it is a rare phenomenon to have an advanced cancer go into remission,” said Dr. Martin Gleave, a professor of urology at the University of British Columbia.

But knowing more about how tumors develop and sometimes reverse course might help doctors decide which tumors can be left alone and which need to be treated, something that is now not known in most cases.

Cancer cells and precancerous cells are so common that nearly everyone by middle age or old age is riddled with them, said Thea Tlsty, a professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco. That was discovered in autopsy studies of people who died of other causes, with no idea that they had cancer cells or precancerous cells. They did not have large tumors or symptoms of cancer. “The really interesting question,” Dr. Tlsty said, “is not so much why do we get cancer as why don’t we get cancer?”

The earlier a cell is in its path toward an aggressive cancer, researchers say, the more likely it is to reverse course. So, for example, cells that are early precursors of cervical cancer are likely to revert. One study found that 60 percent of precancerous cervical cells, found with Pap tests, revert to normal within a year; 90 percent revert within three years.

And the dynamic process of cancer development appears to be the reason that screening for breast cancer or prostate cancer finds huge numbers of early cancers without a corresponding decline in late stage cancers.

If every one of those early cancers were destined to turn into an advanced cancer, then the total number of cancers should be the same after screening is introduced, but the increase in early cancers should be balanced by a decrease in advanced cancers.

That has not happened with screening for breast and prostate cancer. So the hypothesis is that many early cancers go nowhere. And, with breast cancer, there is indirect evidence that some actually disappear.

It is harder to document disappearing prostate cancers; researchers say they doubt it happens. Instead, they say, it seems as if many cancers start to grow then stop or grow very slowly, as has been shown in studies like one now being done at Johns Hopkins. When men have small tumors with cells that do not look terribly deranged, doctors at Johns Hopkins offer them an option of “active surveillance.” They can forgo having their prostates removed or destroyed and be followed with biopsies. If their cancer progresses, they can then have their prostates removed.

Almost no one agrees to such a plan. “Most men want it out,” Dr. Epstein said. But, still, the researchers have found about 450 men in the past four or five years who chose active surveillance. By contrast, 1,000 a year have their prostates removed at Johns Hopkins. From following those men who chose not to be treated, the investigators discovered that only about 20 percent to 30 percent of those small tumors progressed. And many that did progress still did not look particularly dangerous, although once the cancers started to grow the men had their prostates removed.

In Canada, researchers are doing a similar study with small kidney cancers, among the few cancers that are reported to regress occasionally, even when far advanced.

That was documented in a study, led by Dr. Gleave that compared an experimental treatment with a placebo in people with kidney cancer that had spread throughout their bodies.

As many as 6 percent who received a placebo had tumors that shrank or remained stable. The same thing happened in those who received the therapy, leading the researchers to conclude that the treatment did not improve outcomes.

The big unknown is the natural history of many small kidney tumors, many of which are early kidney cancers. How often do small tumors progress? Do they ever disappear? Do they all need surgical excision? At what stage do most kidney cancers reach a point of no return?

These days, Dr. Gleave said, more patients are having ultrasound or CT scans for other reasons and learning that there is a small lump on one of their kidneys. In the United States, the accepted practice is to take those tumors out. But, he asks, “Is that always necessary?”

His university is participating in a countrywide study of people with small kidney tumors, asking what happens when those tumors are routinely examined, with scans, to see if they grow. About 80 percent do not change or actually regress over the next three years.

With early detection, he said, “our net has become so fine that we are pulling in small fish as well as big fish.” Now, he said, “we have to identify which small fish we can let go.”

This is a very interesting article.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired oxidative-reduction activity, degeneration, and death in human neuronal and fetal cells induced by low-level exposure to thimerosal and other metal compounds

Authors: D. A. Geier ^a;  P. G. King ^b; M. R. Geier ^c

Affiliations:	a Institute of Chronic Illnesses, Inc., Maryland, USA
	b CoMeD, Inc., Maryland, USA
	c The Genetic Centers of America, Maryland, USA

DOI: 10.1080/02772240802246458

Publication Frequency: 8 issues per year

Published in: Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, Volume 91, Issue 4 June 2009 , pages 735 - 749

First Published: June 2009

Subjects: Chemistry; Environmental & Ecological Toxicology; Environmental Health; Environmental Sciences; Pollution;

Formats available: HTML (English) : PDF (English)

Previously published as: Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry Reviews (0092-9867) until 1980

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Abstract Thimerosal (ethylmercurithiosalicylic acid), an ethylmercury (EtHg)-releasing compound (49.55% mercury (Hg)), was used in a range of medical products for more than 70 years. Of particular recent concern, routine administering of Thimerosal-containing biologics/childhood vaccines have become significant sources of Hg exposure for some fetuses/infants. This study was undertaken to investigate cellular damage among in vitro human neuronal (SH-SY-5Y neuroblastoma and 1321N1 astrocytoma) and fetal (nontransformed) model systems using cell vitality assays and microscope-based digital image capture techniques to assess potential damage induced by Thimerosal and other metal compounds (aluminum (Al) sulfate, lead (Pb)(II) acetate, methylmercury (MeHg) hydroxide, and mercury (Hg)(II) chloride) where the cation was reported to exert adverse effects on developing cells. Thimerosal-associated cellular damage was also evaluated for similarity to pathophysiological findings observed in patients diagnosed with autistic disorders (ADs). Thimerosal-induced cellular damage as evidenced by concentration- and time-dependent mitochondrial damage, reduced oxidative-reduction activity, cellular degeneration, and cell death in the in vitro human neuronal and fetal model systems studied. Thimerosal at low nanomolar (nM) concentrations induced significant cellular toxicity in human neuronal and fetal cells. Thimerosal-induced cytoxicity is similar to that observed in AD pathophysiologic studies. Thimerosal was found to be significantly more toxic than the other metal compounds examined. Future studies need to be conducted to evaluate additional mechanisms underlying Thimerosal-induced cellular damage and assess potential co-exposures to other compounds that may increase or decrease Thimerosal-mediated toxicity.

Keywords: autism; glial; lead; mercury; mercuric; neurodevelopmental

I can't understand how some scientist say thimerosal doesn't cause Autism or childhood learning disorders. The mitochondria are the energy producers of our cells. If they are not working properly you will have cell death. Science is linking mitochondrial death to almost all of our health problems.

Induction of metallothionein in mouse cerebellum and cerebrum with low-dose thimerosal injection.

Minami T, Miyata E, Sakamoto Y, Yamazaki H, Ichida S.

Department of Life Sciences, School of Science & Engineering, Kinki University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashi-osaka, Osaka, 577-8502, Japan, minamita@life.kindai.ac.jp.

Thimerosal, an ethyl mercury compound, is used worldwide as a vaccine preservative. We previously observed that the mercury concentration in mouse brains did not increase with the clinical dose of thimerosal injection, but the concentration increased in the brain after the injection of thimerosal with lipopolysaccharide, even if a low dose of thimerosal was administered. Thimerosal may penetrate the brain, but is undetectable when a clinical dose of thimerosal is injected; therefore, the induction of metallothionein (MT) messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein was observed in the cerebellum and cerebrum of mice after thimerosal injection, as MT is an inducible protein. MT-1 mRNA was expressed at 6 and 9 h in both the cerebrum and cerebellum, but MT-1 mRNA expression in the cerebellum was three times higher than that in the cerebrum after the injection of 12 microg/kg thimerosal. MT-2 mRNA was not expressed until 24 h in both organs. MT-3 mRNA was expressed in the cerebellum from 6 to 15 h after the injection, but not in the cerebrum until 24 h. MT-1 and MT-3 mRNAs were expressed in the cerebellum in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, MT-1 protein was detected from 6 to 72 h in the cerebellum after 12 microg/kg of thimerosal was injected and peaked at 10 h. MT-2 was detected in the cerebellum only at 10 h. In the cerebrum, little MT-1 protein was detected at 10 and 24 h, and there were no peaks of MT-2 protein in the cerebrum. In conclusion, MT-1 and MT-3 mRNAs but not MT-2 mRNA are easily expressed in the cerebellum rather than in the cerebrum by the injection of low-dose thimerosal. It is thought that the cerebellum is a sensitive organ against thimerosal. As a result of the present findings, in combination with the brain pathology observed in patients diagnosed with autism, the present study helps to support the possible biological plausibility for how low-dose exposure to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines may be associated with autism.

The cerebellums are extremely important in cognitive development and in many different brain functions. Children with Autism, ADD, AD/HD, and learning disabilities are found to have cerebellar dysfunctions. Many of us in the regular population have cerebellar dysfunctions. The cerebellums are very important in helping us balance. Stand on one leg and than close your eyes. If you fall over quickly to the side your balancing on chances are your having trouble with that cerebellum. All of the flu vaccines contain thimerosal and some of the regular childhood vaccine still contain it.

I had a patient back in June who thought she had swine flu and went to her doctor to get checked. Her doctor told her the CDC sent a memo out to all doctors offices telling them not to test for swine flu unless the patient was admitted to the hospital.

From www.nytimes.com
A decline in aspirin use, exposure to household sprays and cleaners and lack of vitamin D may all help explain surging asthma rates in the past few decades.

For years the hygiene hypothesis has been used to explain stark differences in asthma rates around the world. In Western countries, asthma rates are about 50 times higher than in rural Africa, for instance. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that Westerners have less exposure to bacteria, viruses and parasites, altering the immune response and increasing risk for allergic diseases.

But Dr. Harold S. Nelson, professor of medicine at the asthma and allergy specialty hospital National Jewish Health in Denver, says the hygiene hypothesis doesn’t fully explain rising asthma rates in the United States and industrialized countries. The incidence of asthma has doubled in the United States since the 1980s.

In a recent talk at National Jewish Health’s annual Pulmonary and Allergy Update conference, Dr. Nelson noted that lower levels of vitamin D, exposure to spray cleaning compounds, and a wider use of acetaminophen in place of aspirin have contributed to the asthma epidemic.

The concern with household cleaners is that the spray mist can be inhaled and irritate the lungs, increasing risk for asthma. The biggest culprits appear to be glass cleaners and air fresheners. A major European study of cleaning product use in 10 countries found that people who used the cleaners four days a week faced double the risk of adult asthma. Weekly use increased risk by 50 percent. Australian researchers have also found a link with household cleaning sprays and asthma in children.

In a November 2007 article in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston reviewed the evidence showing a link between low vitamin D levels in mothers and childhood asthma. The authors wrote:

We hypothesize that as populations grow more prosperous, more time is spent indoors, and there is less exposure to sunlight, leading to decreased cutaneous vitamin D production. Coupled with inadequate intake from foods and supplements, this then leads to vitamin D deficiency, particularly in pregnant women, resulting in more asthma and allergy in their offspring.

Declining aspirin use may also help explain rising asthma rates. Young children should not be given aspirin because it increases risk for Reye’s syndrome. But a common alternative, acetaminophen, the ingredient in Tylenol, may increase a child’s risk for asthma when used in very young children or in high doses. The drug lowers levels of the antioxidant glutathione, which can help protect against lung damage caused by oxidants. In a study of more than 200,000 6- and 7-year-olds, use of acetaminophen in the first year of life was associated with a 46 percent increase in prevalence of asthma symptoms. Children using higher doses of acetaminophen had three times the risk of asthma.

Dr. Nelson notes that the research isn’t conclusive, but that people can take simple measures to lower their exposure to these new risk factors. Use liquid cleaners or pump sprays that don’t generate a fine mist. Eliminate use of spray air fresheners. Pregnant women and mothers should talk to their obstetricians and pediatricians about whether they should consider vitamin D supplements. And parents should discuss pain relievers with the pediatrician. Every pain reliever carries risks, and alternatives to Tylenol like ibuprofen can increase risk for gastrointestinal complaints. However, doctors may recommend switching between pain relievers or limiting exposure to acetaminophen in certain cases.

“There is a lot of supporting evidence for all three of these new risk factors,” Dr. Nelson said.

From LATimes.com:

If people would just do four things — engage in regular physical activity, eat a healthy diet, not smoke and avoid becoming obese — they could slash their risk of diabetes, heart attack, stroke or cancer by 80%, a new report has found.

But less than 10% of the 23,153 people in the multiyear study — published in Monday’s Archives of Internal Medicine — actually lived their lives this way.

“The study has such a simple straightforward focus on making the point that prevention works in preventing serious disease,” said Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

“What really has been difficult is trying to figure out how to get people to take notice of the message and engage in healthy behaviors.”

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in Germany examined the habits of German men and women ages 35 to 65 from 1994 and 1998. At the start of the study, the scientists measured participants’ heights and weights and asked them about their diseases, lifestyle habits and diets.

Healthy factors included never smoking; engaging in physical activity for at least 3 1/2 hours each week; eating a diet low in red meat and high in fruits and vegetables; and having a body mass index lower than 30. (A person with a BMI of 30 or above is classed as obese.)

About 9% of participants practiced all four healthy lifestyle choices.

Four percent practiced none.

Roughly 35% followed two of the healthy practices.

Researchers reviewed participants’ medical records about eight years later, on average, looking for diabetes, heart attacks, strokes or cancer. People who followed all four healthy practices were at far lower risk compared with people who followed none: 93% lower risk for diabetes, 81% for a heart attack, 50% for a stroke and 36% for cancer.

For people who had never smoked and who maintained a BMI under 30, the risk of chronic disease was reduced 72% — the most dramatic reduction of any dual combination of healthy factors.

The scientists also found that each healthy factor reduced chronic disease risk.

A BMI under 30 lowered overall disease risk most — particularly for diabetes.

Never smoking reduced heart attack risk the most of all four factors.

“All of them are important, and trying to pick one is like asking someone to pick their favorite child,” said study coauthor Dr. Earl S. Ford, a senior scientist in the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity.

Dr. Vyshali S. Rao, chairwoman of cardiology at Huntington Hospital in Pasadena and an American Heart Assn. spokeswoman, said the study underscores that shifting to a healthier diet helps the heart even if a person remains overweight.

However, she said, people who alter their diets often find they lose weight as a side benefit.

“Cardiologists try to stress to their patients more and more [that] cardiovascular disease is in hands of each individual patient to change,” Rao added.

The study’s findings, which are consistent with investigations that started in the late 1990s, are likely to apply to people living in the United States as well as those in Germany.

“The strongest reductions in risk for diabetes and [heart attack] are not surprising,” said Dr. Rachel Ballard-Barbash, associate director of the National Cancer Institute’s Applied Research program. “Even within a few years’ time, we can see changes in these diseases associated with these health behaviors,” such as lowered levels of LDL cholesterol and blood pressure.

“For stroke and cancer,” she added, “most studies would suggest it would take longer to see changes.”

Heart disease, cancer and strokes are the top three causes of death in the United States, killing an estimated 1,328,643 people every year, according to the CDC. Diabetes is the sixth cause of death, killing 72,449 annually. Many additional people live constrained lives in poor health because of these illnesses.

4 simple ways to prevent disease and sickness. How about adding this to the health care plan.

From Los Angeles Times

TED AX knows he should wear earplugs when he leans into the noisy engine compartment of an MG sports car. He’s been working among clanging metal and whirring power tools in garages for the last 15 years and has already developed tinnitus, a ringing in the ears that is one of the most common symptoms of hearing loss caused by excessive noise.

But between the need to pinpoint troubled engine sounds and listen out for the phone

and with his fingers forever covered in grease

the Denver man’s earplugs go unused.

“I have yet to come up with a real-world scenario where I can have hearing protection and do my job,” says the 42-year-old foreign-car mechanic.

Ax might soon have a more amenable option

a pill he could take before work that would help protect his ears from noise.

Ax is one of an estimated 30 million Americans who are exposed to hazardous levels of noise daily at work or at leisure, be it from the buzz of leaf-blowers and landscape equipment, the jangling of construction tools, the cacophony of a concert or the roar of a motorcycle engine. Until now, hearing protection for such people has consisted of using barrier devices such as earplugs or earmuffs and limiting the time a worker spends exposed to loud noises.

Recently, however, several groups have started testing various chemicals for their safety and effectiveness at preventing noise-induced hearing loss in people. If the tests go well and the drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, they would be the first of their kind.

Noise damages hearing by stressing out the inner-ear cells that convert sound waves into electrical signals that travel to the brain. These hair cells vibrate in response to sound and can be both physically and chemically destroyed by noise.

Most commonly, noise causes levels of toxic chemicals called free radicals inside the hair cell to rise beyond manageable levels, and the cell dies. Once a hair cell dies, the body cannot replace it.

Damage can occur from repeated exposure to noise at or above 85 decibels

the loudness of a busy city street or a vacuum cleaner

or from a short burst of a very intense noise such as gunfire.

If too many hair cells die, the inner ear can no longer detect sounds from certain frequencies

particularly, high-pitched sounds. Eventually, that hearing loss obscures conversation, dropping out sounds such as “ess” and “ch.”

“I compare it sometimes to playing Wheel of Fortune, when the vowels are up and you have to guess the word without the consonant sounds,” says Kathleen Campbell, director of audiology research at Southern Illinois University in Springfield.

So too can come an aggravating tinnitus, in which a person experiences a ringing, hissing or roaring in the ears, even when no external sound is present.

About 10 million Americans suffer from noise-induced hearing loss, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. The problem is particularly rampant in the military: In 2006, the Veterans Administration paid $1 billion in compensation to veterans for service-related hearing disabilities, the vast majority of which are noise-related.

“The military is really loud, for long periods of time,” says Cmdr. Ben Balough, chairman of otolaryngology at the Navy Medical Center in San Diego. If you are on a submarine, an aircraft carrier or in Iraq, you cannot escape the noise, Balough adds. Explosions and jet engine noise are so jarring that even wearing hearing protection is not always enough.

So it’s not surprising that three of the potentially protective chemicals

D-methionine, ebselen and N-acetylcysteine (NAC)

will be tested on military personnel first. All three give a boost to a natural antioxidant, glutathione, that’s found in hair cells and battles chemical stress. All three can be taken orally as pills or dissolved in water. And each has been shown to be relatively safe in preliminary human studies.

Balough and his colleagues tested NAC on 566 Marine Corps recruits during boot camp weapons training in San Diego in 2004, during which they were exposed to about 300 rounds of M-16 rifle fire. Half of the recruits drank NAC three times a day for the 15 days of training, while the other half received a placebo tablet. (All recruits wore foam insert earplugs during training, as is standard.) Researchers measured the recruits’ hearing before and after the noise exposure.

The results, reported April at a San Diego otolaryngology meeting, revealed that about one-third of recruits in the placebo group showed some hearing loss and that the NAC treatment reduced the number of people injured by the noise by about 25%. These results are not bad, but not spectacular, Balough says. More work is needed to determine if the drug really gives a protective benefit.

D-methionine, a naturally occurring chemical that can be found in cheese and yogurt, is also being tested. Campbell estimates that a person would have to eat 5 pounds of cheese to get the correct dose for hearing protection. She has formulated D-methionine into an orange-flavored syrup that can be diluted in a glass of water.

The chemical is currently being tested for its ability to protect cancer patients from hearing loss caused by certain chemotherapy drugs, such as cisplatin (results are still pending). And Campbell is seeking funding to test the compound in military trials for noise-induced hearing loss. In studies using the chinchilla

a desert rodent that has a hearing frequency range similar to humans

D-methionine protected against noise-induced hearing loss almost completely, with animals losing less than 10% of their hair cells compared with the 40% lost by animals that went unprotected.

Seattle-based drug company Sound Pharmaceuticals is developing the third compound, ebselen, a man-made compound. The drug mimics the action of an enzyme in the body that naturally recharges glutathione. Ebselen has been shown to protect against noise-induced hearing loss in rats and guinea pigs and at very low oral doses

something that is critical for developing a daily treatment, says Jonathan Kil, the company’s chief executive.

The company will test ebselen in two weapons-training trials this summer: at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside and Ft. Lewis in Tacoma, Wash. Soldiers will take an oral dose of ebselen twice daily for two weeks. Their hearing will be tested six hours after noise exposure to see if ebselen can protect against the temporary hearing loss experienced after loud noises. It will be tested again two and four weeks after the weapons training to see if ebselen protects against permanent hearing loss.

The developers of these drugs say a drug for noise-induced hearing loss will likely be approved in the next five to 10 years.

The possibility that sailors or soldiers could take a pill that would protect their ears appeals to Lt. Cmdr. Joel Bealer, head of occupational audiology at the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in Virginia. He oversees the hearing health of roughly 60,000 patients, many of whom work in the most deafening of noise environments, on aircraft carriers. To be practical, drugs will have to be “easily deliverable, palatable and have no side effects,” he says.

Bealer does see one potential downside to such pills

that soldiers might forgo wearing their earplugs. Drugs, he says, must be added to current protection practices, not replace them.

Whether these drugs will be picked up by other occupations or for recreational noise exposures such as hunting and concerts remains up in the air.

“Clearly there’s a tremendous need in the military, but I really doubt people are going to be swigging this stuff before going to a nightclub,” says William Martin, a hearing scientist at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Drugs, he says, usually come with expensive price tags and possible side effects.

But Kil of Sound Pharmaceuticals predicts that people would take a pill before mowing the lawn or heading out for a night on the town if it were available as a safe and effective way to save their hearing.

Ax, the Colorado mechanic, says he would have taken a drug if it could have safely prevented his hearing loss and the ringing sensation he now lives with daily.

“That,” he says, “would have been a no-brainer.”

–

(INFOBOX BELOW)

Turn down the volume

Protective drugs may be coming soon, but they’ll never be substitutes for good hearing health.

And it’s never been more important. Ten million Americans currently suffer from noise-induced hearing loss today. Today’s earbuds for cellphones and iPods put hearing at greater risk.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that more than 12% of children ages 6 to 19 already show symptoms of noise damage.

Fortunately, noise-induced hearing loss is preventable (go to http://www.dangerousdecibels.org , http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/noise and http://www.hearingconservation.org .) Here are some general tips.

A rule of thumb: If someone has to raise his or her voice to be heard by you, the noise level is probably above the 85-decibel danger line.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has set 85 decibels as the level of noise to which a worker can be safely exposed for up to eight hours. For every three decibels added above that, the safe exposure time is cut in half.

Leaf-blowers, snowmobiles, motorbikes, kitchen blenders and sporting events are all louder than 85 decibels. You can buy a noise meter that will tell you when you’ve reached the danger zone for any activity.

When you encounter dangerous noise levels, take steps to protect your hearing:

Turn down the volume. Most MP3 players can be safely listened to at 70% of the maximum volume for several hours. But more than 90 minutes at 80% volume is damaging.

Put distance between yourself and the noise. Sound pressure is cut in half when you double the distance from the source.

Plug your ears. Wearing earplugs, earmuffs or even sticking your fingers in your ears can save your hearing from noisy assaults.

I wish I had taken NAC when I was younger. Maybe I wouldn't have this tinnitus.

From printthis.clickability.com
Herbal tea containing hibiscus may modestly lower blood pressure in prehypertensive and mildly hypertensive patients, researchers found.

Hibiscus-based tea reduced systolic blood pressure by 7.2 mm Hg, on average, over six weeks of daily intake, a significant reduction compared with the 1.3-mm Hg decline with placebo (P0.03), Diane L. McKay, Ph.D., of Tufts University in Boston, and colleagues reported here at the American Heart Association meeting.

In the small, randomized trial, patients with blood pressure higher than 129 mm Hg had significantly greater benefits for systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure.
Even relatively small blood pressure changes like those seen in the study would likely have an impact on patient outcomes if maintained over time, Dr. McKay said.
Explain to interested patients that the study was relatively small and would need validation before hibiscus-containing tea could be recommended clinically.

Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented orally at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
To prove her point, she noted that a 3 mm Hg decline in systolic pressure reduced the relative risk of stroke mortality by 8%, coronary artery disease mortality by 5%, and all-cause mortality by 4% in a population-based study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2002.

“Whether this type of behavior can be sustained, whether the blood pressure effect can be sustained ultimately in outcomes studies is open to speculation,” said Robert H. Eckel, M.D., of the University of Colorado Denver, who moderated a press conference at which the findings were presented.

But, he said, the magnitude of the antihypertensive effect was similar to standard blood pressure medications.

The idea of hibiscus tea as a nutraceutical is worthy of validation and further study, Dr. Eckel said.

Hibiscus is one of the most common components of herbal teas, contributing a fruity, tart taste and red color, Dr. McKay said. It contains anthocyanins, flavones, flavonols, and phenolic acids and has been shown in animal studies to reduce atherosclerosis and blood pressure, she said.

So, her group conducted a placebo-controlled randomized trial to see whether these effects were significant in humans.

The study included 65 healthy men and women ages 30 to 70 who were prehypertensive or mildly hypertensive (systolic 120 to 150 mm Hg, diastolic 95 mm Hg or lower) and not taking any blood pressure medications.

Patients were randomized to three 8-oz cups of herbal tea a day, brewed with one tea bag for six minutes or to a placebo containing artificial hibiscus flavor and color. These could be consumed at any time of day, hot or cold, with sweetener or milk according to patient preference.

After six weeks of treatment, systolic blood pressure dropped 7.2 mm Hg with hibiscus tea (P0.01 versus baseline) compared with a 1.3 mm Hg reduction among placebo-treated patients from a mean of 129.4 and 129.8 mm Hg at baseline, respectively (P0.03).

Diastolic pressure also declined in the tea-treated patients, although the difference was significant only for change from baseline (-3.1 mm Hg, P0.01) and not in comparison with the 0.5 mm Hg decline seen in the placebo group.

The fall in mean arterial pressure with hibiscus tea tended toward significance as well (change from baseline -4.5 versus -0.8 mm Hg, P=0.054).

The effect increased over time for systolic but not diastolic pressure, and was greatest for those with higher blood pressures.

Among those with a systolic pressure greater than 129 mm Hg, the reduction was almost double that in the overall cohort and was significant compared with placebo for every measure of hypertension. These findings included:

A 13.2 mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure compared with a 1.3 mm Hg reduction with placebo (P0.01 versus baseline, P0.02 versus placebo)
A 6.4 mm Hg reduction in diastolic pressure compared with a 1.3 mm Hg increase with placebo (P0.01 versus baseline, P0.02 versus placebo)
An 8.7 mm Hg drop in mean arterial pressure compared with a 0.4 mm Hg increase with placebo (P0.01 versus baseline, P0.02 versus placebo)

While cautioning that the study was relatively small and would need validation, Dr. McKay suggested that incorporating hibiscus tea into the diet on a regular basis may help control blood pressure in people at risk of developing hypertension.

The study was funded by Celestial Seasonings of the Hain Celestial Group, which makes hibiscus-containing teas, and the Department of Agriculture under a cooperative agreement.

From ScienceDaily.com:

For the past century, changes in the Western diet have altered the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids (w6, found in meat and vegetable oils) compared with omega-3 fatty acids (w3, found in flax and fish oil). Many studies seem to indicate this shift has brought about an increased risk of inflammation (associated with autoimmunity and allergy), and now using a controlled diet study with human volunteers, researchers may have teased out a biological basis for these reported changes.

Anthropological evidence suggests that human ancestors maintained a 2:1 w6/w3 ratio for much of history, but in Western countries today the ratio has spiked to as high as 10:1. Since these omega fatty acids can be converted into inflammatory molecules, this dietary change is believed to also disrupt the proper balance of pro- and anti- inflammatory agents, resulting in increased systemic inflammation and a higher incidence of problems including asthma, allergies, diabetes, and arthritis.

Floyd Chilton and colleagues wanted to examine whether theses fatty acids might have other effects, and developed a dietary intervention strategy in which 27 healthy humans were fed a controlled diet mimicking the w6/w3 ratios of early humans over 5 weeks. They then looked at the gene levels of immune signals and cytokines (protein immune messengers), that impact autoimmunity and allergy in blood cells and found that many key signaling genes that promote inflammation were markedly reduced compared to a normal diet, including a signaling gene for a protein called PI3K, a critical early step in autoimmune and allergic inflammation responses.

This study demonstrates, for the first time in humans, that large changes in gene expression are likely an important mechanism by which these omega fatty acids exert their potent clinical effects

Some studies say our ratio of Omega6&9 to Omega 3 are 25:1 which makes most Americans diets highly inflammatory.