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American Health News and
Wellness Report Newsletter
Prevention is a Cure (c)
NOVEMBER 2012- Vol 13 Issue 89 |
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| Dear (Contact First Name), | |
Schedule
Saturday, November 24th 2012 9:00 a.m.to 10:30 a.m.
You're Never Alone After Bereavement: A 50 and over group
now in its 14th year.
Heritage Park West Library
5859 Via Flora, Delray Beach
561 361 9091 $1 Donation
Sponsored by the Senior Foundation
Collecting toys, Clothes & Dental supplies for children in war zones (& civil unrest) countries worldwide. Since 2003, initially in Iraq and now in 28 countries, American Military Organization has shipped 1.5 million packages to children throughout the globe including the United States because of hurricanes, tornadoes Etc. Sponsored by:The American Health Association & the American Military Organization
American Military Organization
c/o AMERICAN HEALTH SOCIETY
1181 South Rogers Circle, Suite 2
Boca Raton, FL. 33487
P 561 361 9091
F 561 368 7184
A 501 (c) 3 Charity made up of all volunteers for the public good |
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| Expensive arthritis treatment not worth it? | |
Expensive Arthritis Treatment Not Worth It?
(American Health Newswire) - Carpometacarpal (CMC) osteoarthritis, caused by regular wear and tear, is common in individuals over 60. It occurs in 80% of women who are 80 or older. Research now shows that just because a treatment is more expensive, it doesn't necessarily make it better.
A randomized, double blind clinical trial by researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery has revealed that corticosteroids are more effective than the more expensive treatment, hylan G-F 20 (Synvisc One, Genzyme Biosurgery), in providing pain relief to patients with thumb arthritis. The study also showed that both of these commonly used treatments provided clinically meaningful pain relief, but so did a placebo injection. The new study is the first large randomized clinical trial in patients with CMC osteoarthritis (thumb arthritis). The study compared a placebo, an injection of a local anesthetic called bupivacaine, with two commonly used injectable treatments: a corticosteroid called triamcinolone acentoide and hylan G-F 20, which is made from a natural substance that lubricates and decreases inflammation in the joints. The researchers enrolled 200 patients with thumb arthritis and randomized them to receive bupivacaine, hylan G-F 20, or triamcinolone. The average age of patients in the study was 66.5 and roughly 70% were female. Over the 26-week study, pain, as measured by the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), showed a statistically and clinically significant improvement in all treatment groups. Each group gained slightly more than an average of 10 points; an improvement in 10 points is clinically meaningful. Patients who received corticosteroids had slightly greater improvements in pain compared to patients who received Hylan G-F 20. No treatment arm had clinically meaningful improvements in function. "On average, each of the therapies resulted in clinically meaningful improvement in pain," Lisa Mandl, M.D., MPH, a rheumatologist at Hospital for Special Surgery was quoted saying. "What this study suggests is that a number of different injectable treatments might be effective for patients who have pain in their thumb and that the one that appeared to be the most effective was corticosteroids," Mandl continued. "Overall, this was a negative trial. If you compare the three treatments to each other, neither the steroid nor Synvisc provided better pain relief than bupivacaine. Bupivacaine shouldn't do anything. It should numb and wear out in 20 minutes, but even that seems to help some people. What this suggests is that maybe the injection itself is making people feel better," Mandl added. Researchers say that clinicians can consider trying any of the three treatments in their patients with CMC. They also point out that clinicians need to weigh the pros and cons of the different treatments. For example, Hylan G-F 20 is usually prescribed every six months and could be used repeatedly over time. Steroid injections, however, if given repeatedly, could end up damaging the joint further. Hylan G-F 20 costs in the ballpark of $600 for each treatment, whereas corticosteroids cost roughly $15 per treatment. Even patients with very severe osteoarthritis benefited from the treatments. Arthritis severity is measured by the amount of cartilage left in a joint; in Grade 4, there is no cartilage left and bone is grinding against bone. "Even if you have a patient with terrible arthritis, it is worth trying one of these therapies," Mandl concluded. Source: The Annual Meeting of the American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals, November 2012 |
| Filtering out high cholesterol | |
Filtering Out High Cholesterol
SAN DIEGO, CA (American Health Newswire) - 34 million Americans have a cholesterol level that puts them at risk for a heart attack or stroke. For some people, no matter how well they eat, or how much they exercise, they can't bring their levels down. We'll show you what's doing what other treatments can't do.
Sandra Miller likes to take old things, clean them up and make them new again.
"I like to do whatever i can to update them," Sandra told Ivanhoe.
Right now doctors are pretty much doing the same thing with her blood.
"She's someone who this procedure is very important for because it's going to prevent her heart disease from getting worse and perhaps reverse some of the plaque buildup that's already in her heart," Amber Sanchez, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor and Associate Medical Director at UC San Diego, told Ivanhoe.
While she exercises and eats right she's genetically prone to high LDL levels, the bad cholesterol in our bodies. The ideal level for people at high risk of heart disease is below 70; she's in the 300's. Now she's one of the first patients at UC San Diego to undergo LDL apheresis. This machine runs Sandra's blood through a filter that separates the plasma.
"The plasma portion is then run through a special filter that just absorbs bad cholesterol, returns all the good cholesterol back to the patient," Dr. Sanchez said.
Sandra's LDL levels drop from 350 to 67 during the three hour procedure! She will need to do this every two weeks for life!
"At the end of every two weeks, her LDL is back up in the 200's," Dr. Sanchez said.
For Sandra, to make her bad cholesterol good it's worth it.
Doctors say anything that brings the LDL levels down, even for a short time, will help prevent heart disease. The procedure is FDA approved, but so far just 60 centers across the country perform it to lower LDL levels. |
| Chronic inflammation causing cancer | |
Chronic Inflammation Causing Cancer
(American Health Newswire) -- A recent study shows for the first time how a substance made by the body to promote inflammation can cause an aggressive form of leukemia.
A hormone-like substance produced by the body to promote inflammation can cause an aggressive form of leukemia when present at high levels, according to a new study by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The study shows that high levels of interleukin-15 (IL-15) alone can cause large granular lymphocytic (LGL) leukemia, a rare and usually fatal form of cancer, in an animal model. The researchers also developed a treatment for the leukemia that showed no discernible side effects in the animal model. The findings show that IL-15 is also overexpressed in patients with LGL leukemia and that it causes similar cellular changes, suggesting that the treatment should also benefit people with the malignancy.
"We know that inflammation can cause cancer, but we don't know the exact mechanism," principal investigator Dr. Michael A. Caligiuri, CEO of The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, and director of Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center was quoted saying.
"Here, we show one way it can happen, and we used that information to potentially cure the cancer," Caligiuri continued.
Normally, the body releases IL-15 to stimulate the development, survival and proliferation of natural-killer cells, which are immune cells that destroy cancer and virus-infected cells. This research shows that when IL-15 is present in high amounts in the body for prolonged periods, such as during chronic inflammation, it can cause certain immune cells called large granular lymphocytes, or LGLs, to become cancerous.
This malignant transformation begins when IL-15 attaches to receptors on the surface of normal LGLs, an event that boosts levels of a cancer-causing protein called Myc (pronounced "mick") inside the cells. The high Myc levels, in turn, bring changes that cause chromosome instability and additional gene mutations. The high Myc levels also activate a process called DNA methylation, which turns off a variety of genes, including important genes that normally suppress cancer growth.
"We stand the best chance of curing cancer when we understand its causes," first author Anjali Mishra, a postdoctoral researcher in Caligiuri's laboratory was quoted saying.
"Once we understood how this inflammatory hormone causes this leukemia, we used that information to develop a treatment by interfering with the process," Mishra continued.
Caligiuri and Mishra were joined in this study by Dr. Guido Marcucci, associate director for Translational Research at the OSUCCC - James, Dr. Robert Lee, professor of pharmaceutics and pharmaceutical chemistry in Ohio State's College of Pharmacy and a group of collaborators. The investigators conducted the research using cells isolated from patients with LGL leukemia and a mouse model of the disease.
Key findings included: exposing normal, human, large granular lymphocytes to IL-15 caused cell proliferation, chromosomal instability and global DNA hypermethylation; excessive IL-15 activated the cancer-causing Myc oncogene in large granular lymphocytes, leading to genetic instability, DNA hypermethylation and malignant transformation; details of how Myc upregulation causes the genetic instability and hypermethylation; Lee developed a liposomal formulation of the proteosome inhibitor bortezomib that shuts down the cancer-causing pathway, potentially curing the malignancy. Leukemic mice treated with the liposomal bortezomib showed 100 percent survival at 130 days versus 100 percent mortality at 60-80 days for control animals.
"We now plan to develop this drug for clinical use," Marcucci concluded.
Source: Cancer Cell, November 2012 |
| It's ELF time |  The 2012 Elf Project Registration for the Fall -Winter 2012 Elf Campaign is on now. Call 561 361 9091 to start signing up as a potential elf. We Visit Hospitals & Nursing homes in Palm Beach & Broward Counties giving Christmas gifts to all. nursing home residents & hospital patients. Sponsored by The Senior Foundation & American Health Society |
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100% of every dollar goes to service the charities programs and services here in Palm Beach County and around the globe Not one cent in 8 years has ever gone to salaries, of any kind, to anyone. We are, from top to bottom all volunteers in service to the community. |
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MISSION STATEMENT
The American Health Society is a distinguished 13 year old multi-award winning preventative public health & wellness 501(c)(3) charity whose mission is in preventative healthcare, mental wellness, health education, literacy and advocacy aimed at preventing lifestyle based illnesses, diseases and the frailties of aging.
We have a strong "Social Green Philosophy" of Humanitarian Service through our American Volunteer Corps which has a global outreach in 46 countries with members in 37 US States.
J. Robert Gordon - CEO and Founder American Health Association
561-361-9091 |
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