TUMORS MIGHT GROW FASTER AT NIGHT

They emerge at night, while we sleep unaware, growing and spreading out as quickly as they can. And they are deadly. In a surprise finding that was recently published in Nature Communications, Weizmann Institute of Science researchers showed that nighttime is the right time for cancer to grow and spread in the body. Their findings suggest that administering certain treatments in time with the body's day-night cycle could boost their efficiency.

This finding arose out of an investigation into the relationships between different receptors in the cell -- a complex network that we still do not completely understand. The receptors -- protein molecules on the cell's surface or within cells -- take in biochemical messages secreted by other cells and pass them on into the cell's interior. The scientists, led by Dr. Mattia Lauriola, a postdoctoral fellow in the research group of Prof. Yosef Yarden of the Weizmann Institute's Biological Regulation Department, working together with Prof. Eytan Domany of the Physics of Complex Systems Department, focused on two particular receptors. The first, the epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR, promotes the growth and migration of cells, including cancer cells. The second binds to a steroid hormone called a glucocorticoid (GC). Glucocorticoids play a role in maintaining the body's energy levels during the day, as well as the metabolic exchange of materials. It is often called the stress hormone because its levels rise in stressful situations, rapidly bringing the body to a state of full alert.

With multiple receptors, the cell receives all sorts of messages at once, and some of these messages can take precedence over others. In the experiment, Lauriola and Yarden found that cell migration -- the activity promoted by the EGF receptor -- is suppressed when the GC receptor is bound to its steroid messenger.

Since the steroid levels peak during waking hours and drop off during sleep, the scientists asked how this might affect the second receptor -- EGFR. Checking the levels of this activity in mice, they found that there was a significant difference: This receptor is much more active during sleep and quiescent during waking hours.

How relevant are these findings for cancers, particularly those which use the EGF receptors to grow and spread? To find out, the scientists gave Lapatinib -- one of the new generation of cancer drugs -- to mouse models of cancer. This drug, used to treat breast cancer, is designed to inhibit EGFR, and thus to prevent the growth and migration of the cancer cells. In the experiment, they gave the mice the drug at different times of day. The results revealed significant differences between the sizes of tumors in the different groups of mice, depending on whether they had been given the drug during sleep or waking hours. The experimental findings suggest that it is indeed the rise and fall in the levels of the GC steroids over the course of 24 hours that hinder or enable the growth of the cancer.

The conclusion, say the scientists, is that it could be more efficient to administer certain anticancer drugs at night.

"It seems to be an issue of timing," says Yarden. "Cancer treatments are often administered in the daytime, just when the patient's body is suppressing the spread of the cancer on its own. What we propose is not a new treatment, but rather a new treatment schedule for some of the current drugs."

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COPPER ON THE BRAIN AT REST

In recent years it has been established that copper plays an essential role in the health of the human brain. Improper copper oxidation has been linked to several neurological disorders including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Menkes' and Wilson's. Copper has also been identified as a critical ingredient in the enzymes that activate the brain's neurotransmitters in response to stimuli. Now a new study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has shown that proper copper levels are also essential to the health of the brain at rest.

"Using new molecular imaging techniques, we've identified copper as a dynamic modulator of spontaneous activity of developing neural circuits, which is the baseline activity of neurons without active stimuli, kind of like when you sleep or daydream, that allows circuits to rest and adapt," says Chris Chang, a faculty chemist with Berkeley Lab's Chemical Sciences Division who led this study. "Traditionally, copper has been regarded as a static metabolic cofactor that must be buried within enzymes to protect against the generation of reactive oxygen species and subsequent free radical damage. We've shown that dynamic and loosely bound pools of copper can also modulate neural activity and are essential for the normal development of synapses and circuits."

Chang , who also holds appointments with the University of California (UC) Berkeley's Chemistry Department and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), is the corresponding author of a paper that describes this study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The paper is titled "Copper is an endogenous modulator of neural circuit spontaneous activity." Co-authors are Sheel Dodani, Alana Firl, Jefferson Chan, Christine Nam, Allegra Aron, Carl Onak, Karla Ramos-Torres, Jaeho Paek, Corey Webster and Marla Feller.

Although the human brain accounts for only two-percent of total body mass, it consumes 20-percent of the oxygen taken in through respiration. This high demand for oxygen and oxidative metabolism has resulted in the brain harboring the body's highest levels of copper, as well as iron and zinc. Over the past few years, Chang and his research group at UC Berkeley have developed a series of fluorescent probes for molecular imaging of copper in the brain.

"A lack of methods for monitoring dynamic changes in copper in whole living organisms has made it difficult to determine the complex relationships between copper status and various stages of health and disease," Chang said. "We've been designing fluorescent probes that can map the movement of copper in live cells, tissue or even model organisms, such as mice and zebra fish."

For this latest study, Chang and his group developed a fluorescent probe called Copper Fluor-3 (CF3) that can be used for one- and two-photon imaging of copper ions. This new probe allowed them to explore the potential contributions to cell signaling of loosely bound forms of copper in hippocampal neurons and retinal tissue.

"CF3 is a more hydrophilic probe compared to others we have made, so it gives more even staining and is suitable for both cells and tissue," Chang says. "It allows us to utilize both confocal and two-photon imaging methods when we use it along with a matching control dye (Ctrl-CF3) that lacks sensitivity to copper."

With the combination of CF3 and Ctrl-CF3, Chang and his group showed that neurons and neural tissue maintain stores of loosely bound copper that can be attenuated by chelation to create what is called a "labile copper pool." Targeted disruption of these labile copper pools by acute chelation or genetic knockdown of the copper ion channel known as CTR1 (for copper transporter 1) alters spontaneous neural activity in developing hippocampal and retinal circuits.

"We demonstrated that the addition of the copper chelator bathocuproine disulfonate (BCS) modulates copper signaling which translates into modulation of neural activity," Chang says. "Acute copper chelation as a result of additional BCS in dissociated hippocampal cultures and intact developing retinal tissue removed the copper which resulted in too much spontaneous activity."

The results of this study suggest that the mismanagement of copper in the brain that has been linked to Wilson's, Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders can also contribute to misregulation of signaling in cell−to-cell communications.

"Our results hold therapeutic implications in that whether a patient needs copper supplements or copper chelators depends on how much copper is present and where in the brain it is located," Chang says. "These findings also highlight the continuing need to develop molecular imaging probes as pilot screening tools to help uncover unique and unexplored metal biology in living systems."

HIGH SCHOOL SHOULD START AT 10 TO 11

A study by researchers from the University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School and the University of Nevada has found that current school and university start times are damaging the learning and health of students

Drawing on the latest sleep research, the authors conclude students start times should be 08:30 or later at age 10; 10:00 or later at 16; and 11:00 or later at 18. Implementing these start times should protect students from short sleep duration and chronic sleep deprivation, which are linked to poor learning and health problems.

These findings arise from a deeper understanding of circadian rhythms, better known as the body clock, and the genes associated with regulating this daily cycle every 24 hours.

It is during adolescence when the disparity between inherent circadian rhythms and the typical working day come about. Circadian rhythms determine our optimum hours of work and concentration, and in adolescence these shift almost 3 hours later. These genetic changes in sleeping patterns were used to determine start times that are designed to optimize learning and health.

The US Department of Health has also recently published an article in favor of changing the start times for Middle and High Schools.

Corresponding author Paul Kelley (Honorary Clinical Research Associate, Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, University of Oxford) will be presenting Time: the key to really understanding our lives at the British Science Festival on Tuesday 8 September.

HUMAN MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS AT THE TIME OF DEATH

The results of a four-year international study of 2060 cardiac arrest cases across 15 hospitals concludes the following. The themes relating to the experience of death appear far broader than what has been understood so far, or what has been described as so called near-death experiences. In some cases of cardiac arrest, memories of visual awareness compatible with so called out-of-body experiences may correspond with actual events. A higher proportion of people may have vivid death experiences, but do not recall them due to the effects of brain injury or sedative drugs on memory circuits. Widely used yet scientifically imprecise terms such as near-death and out-of-body experiences may not be sufficient to describe the actual experience of death.

Recollections in relation to death, so-called out-of-body experiences (OBEs) or near-death experiences (NDEs), are an often spoken about phenomenon which have frequently been considered hallucinatory or illusory in nature; however, objective studies on these experiences are limited.

In 2008, a large-scale study involving 2060 patients from 15 hospitals in the United Kingdom, United States and Austria was launched. The AWARE (AWAreness during REsuscitation) study, sponsored by the University of Southampton in the UK, examined the broad range of mental experiences in relation to death. Researchers also tested the validity of conscious experiences using objective markers for the first time in a large study to determine whether claims of awareness compatible with out-of-body experiences correspond with real or hallucinatory events.

Results of the study have been published in the journal Resuscitation.

Dr Sam Parnia, Assistant Professor of Critical Care Medicine and Director of Resuscitation Research at The State University of New York at Stony Brook, USA, and the study's lead author, explained: "Contrary to perception, death is not a specific moment but a potentially reversible process that occurs after any severe illness or accident causes the heart, lungs and brain to cease functioning. If attempts are made to reverse this process, it is referred to as 'cardiac arrest'; however, if these attempts do not succeed it is called 'death'. In this study we wanted to go beyond the emotionally charged yet poorly defined term of NDEs to explore objectively what happens when we die."

Thirty-nine per cent of patients who survived cardiac arrest and were able to undergo structured interviews described a perception of awareness, but interestingly did not have any explicit recall of events.

"This suggests more people may have mental activity initially but then lose their memories after recovery, either due to the effects of brain injury or sedative drugs on memory recall," explained Dr Parnia, who was an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Southampton when he started the AWARE study.

Among those who reported a perception of awareness and completed further interviews, 46 per cent experienced a broad range of mental recollections in relation to death that were not compatible with the commonly used term of NDE's. These included fearful and persecutory experiences. Only 9 per cent had experiences compatible with NDEs and 2 per cent exhibited full awareness compatible with OBE's with explicit recall of 'seeing' and 'hearing' events.

One case was validated and timed using auditory stimuli during cardiac arrest. Dr Parnia concluded: "This is significant, since it has often been assumed that experiences in relation to death are likely hallucinations or illusions, occurring either before the heart stops or after the heart has been successfully restarted, but not an experience corresponding with 'real' events when the heart isn't beating. In this case, consciousness and awareness appeared to occur during a three-minute period when there was no heartbeat. This is paradoxical, since the brain typically ceases functioning within 20-30 seconds of the heart stopping and doesn't resume again until the heart has been restarted. Furthermore, the detailed recollections of visual awareness in this case were consistent with verified events.

"Thus, while it was not possible to absolutely prove the reality or meaning of patients' experiences and claims of awareness, (due to the very low incidence (2 per cent) of explicit recall of visual awareness or so called OBE's), it was impossible to disclaim them either and more work is needed in this area. Clearly, the recalled experience surrounding death now merits further genuine investigation without prejudice."

Further studies are also needed to explore whether awareness (explicit or implicit) may lead to long term adverse psychological outcomes including post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr Jerry Nolan, Editor-in-Chief of Resuscitation, stated: "The AWARE study researchers are to be congratulated on the completion of a fascinating study that will open the door to more extensive research into what happens when we die."

Nails at your finger tips

Nails at your finger tips

NAILS – Nails at your finger tips

Each and Every one, especially females would like to have beautiful long sharp nails, since nails give beauty to the hands. In this modern sophisticated life, it is driven more cosmetically than for its real use, i.e., many would like to give a polish with different shapes and colours. Some people even go for painting on it. Some would develop the habit of nail bite. Some may use the nail as a tool or for entertainment with finger tapping.

Animals use their nails to hold the prey with firm grip, and also use them to attack the enemy with the piercing & scratching nature. They also get grip and stability from nails while walking or running. On evolution, man had outweighed all the risk of hunting and had started a sophisticated urban life, where the uses of nails are restricted only to fine works. So, humans cut their nails constantly or once in a while on growth, to avoid discomfort. It is just like shedding of dead skin cells.

ABOUT NAILS – Nails are glossy, hard and dense keratin (protein) material which supports finger tips in all its efforts. Even though, it appears as convex smooth surface externally, the inner portion remains concave in nature. Nails grow continuously through life. The colour, shape, smoothness, thickness and strength of the nails differ from one person to another and even differ from one finger to another in a same hand.

PARTS OF THE NAIL – The exposed hard and smooth surfaced nail is commonly called as Nail plate and the inner covered part as Nail bed or Nail root. Nails grow from Nail matrix which lies just beneath the Nail bed. The nail plate is made of hard dense keratin substance projected from the nail matrix. Nail plate safeguards Nail Bed and sensitive nerves in the finger tips. Nail matrix is the most important part for determining the shape and thickness of the nail. The front part of matrix can be noted as whitish half moons (lunula) in the nail plate, near the skin folds. Any damage to matrix will cause deformity to total loss of nail.

Colour – Normally, nails will be transparent, but look rosy in colour because of the blood supply

beneath it. So, in case of reduced blood supply or Anaemia, it becomes paler or white. Also when the nails grow away from nail bed, they will get more thick and more opaque.

Texture – Nails usually have a water content of 10 – 25%, which makes it slightly flexible. They will become brittle, if water content gets lowered – for example in ageing process and contracting diseases. They will also get splits, ridges / grooves, bending & peeling on losing texture.

Growth – It would be surprising to note how it is possible to produce such a hard nail from the smooth skin layer near the nail bed in a continuous manner. It is just a natural process like skin peeling or shedding as in other places, but the compressed and hardened layers of the keratin make the nail harder. Babies’ nails are initially soft in nature, as days/years pass, they become hard. Normally growth rate will be 2-3 mms depending upon the finger / toe. It will take 4-6 months to replace entire nail or in case of Malnutrition, poor blood circulation, serious medical illnesses, extreme low temperature exposures and medications, growth rate can slow down.

Uses – Many people, without knowing the importance of nails, usually think of nails as an item of cosmetic waste product like hair, but they both have their own job in our body, i.e. protection. Nails cover the sensitive nerves in the fingertips and also provide more strength and stability to the fingers / finger tips in doing any fine & strained work. The change in shape, colour, texture & stability gives more idea about our health.

Being faces of the fingers, Nails often speak about the quality and quantity of blood circulation. These ten commandments of hands can also give more idea about the body conditions i.e., anaemia, jaundice, cyanosis (bluish discolouration due to reduced oxygen supply), etc in case of diseases of lungs, heart and liver. Thus it is, that doctors always have a look at the patient’s nails before diagnosis.

CHANGES IN NAILS – The changes often noticed in nails are discolouration, ridges or grooves, clubbing & pitting. Nails commonly get damaged while closing doors of cars or house due to carelessness. But Nails can grow in normal fashion, even if plugged out completely without damaging the nail bed / matrix.

Nail discolouration – Commonly, nails get coloured from colouring agents like Mehandi, Nail polish, Hair dyes, etc. They may also get discoloured due to fungal infection, disease conditions or chemotherapy and heavy steroidal drugs.

• Pale or white nails – indicate Anaemia
• Yellow nails – indicate Jaundice
• Red nail – indicates fresh bleeding beneath the nail
• Purple nails – indicate contusion / stagnation of blood beneath the nail
• Black nails – indicate fungal / bacterial infection or melanoma
• Blue nails – indicate Cyanosis which may be due to lung or heart diseases
• White dots – indicate the presence of air in between the layers of nail. It is commonly seen in Malnutrition or vitamin loss.

Shape often gets altered in many disease conditions.

• Clubbing (roofing of nail near skin fold) – is seen in lung or heart disorders
  
• Splitting nails – in fungal / bacterial infection
• Thickening of nails – Psoriasis, fungal infection, ageing, etc
• Ridged nails – Ageing, eczema, rheumatoid arthritis, etc
• Spoon shaped nail & Nail Pitting – are common in thinning of nails which may be due to malnutrition and various wasting diseases.

Brittle nails – are more commonly seen in ageing, malnutrition, serious medical illnesses, constant use of nail polish removers, etc

Nail care and Preventing infection – are in our hands

Do’s

• Always keep fingers and nails dry and clean
• Clean nail pockets often if you have more free edges
• Cut / Shape / Trim nails at regular intervals

Care for nails in all hand work

Don’t

• Allow more free edges to protrude away from finger
  
• Do any strained hand work without wearing gloves
• Bite nails
• Use nail polish removers often

Avoid

• Working continuously in water
• Chemical contacts & strong soaps
• Ill-fitting shoes
• Exposure to extreme cold / hot temperatures
• Using unnecessary drugs

Using it as tool or screwdriver

Nail suffers an array of complaints starting from infection to deformities. The commonest are nail bed infection, in-growing nails and fungal infection. Each and every complaint should be taken care – then and there, or otherwise, left over infection will lead infections to adjacent bones lying beneath it. The common nail complaints are

• Absence / loss of Nail is medically termed as “Anonychia” & Infection of Nail bed is called “Onychia”
• Infection of surrounding part of Nail is called “Paronychia” (Whitlow)
• Atrophy of nail is called “Atrophia Ungium”
• Fungal infection of nail is called “Onychomycosis”
• Hypertrophy or excessive thick nail is called as “Onychauxis”

for new hope

Dr. S. Chidambaranathan, BHMS, MD (Homeo)

Laxmi Homeo Clinic

24 E. New Mahalipatti Road

Madurai, TN 625 001

India

Tel:  +91-452-233-8833 | +91-984-319-1011 (Mob)

Fax: +91-452-233-0196

E-mail:  drcheena@yahoo.com

www.drcheena.com / www.drcheena.in

(Disclaimer: The contents of this column are for informational purpose only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional healthcare advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of healthcare professional for any health problem or medical condition.)

AN AVOCADO A DAY MAY HELP KEEP BAD CHOLESTEROL AT BAY

Eating one avocado a day as part of a heart healthy, cholesterol-lowering moderate-fat diet can help improve bad cholesterol levels in overweight and obese individuals, according to new research published in theJournal of the American Heart Association.

Researchers evaluated the effect avocados had on traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors by replacing saturated fatty acids from an average American diet with unsaturated fatty acids from avocados.

Forty-five healthy, overweight or obese patients between the ages of 21 and 70 were put on three different cholesterol-lowering diets. Participants consumed an average American diet (consisting of 34 percent of calories from fat, 51 percent carbohydrates, and 16 percent protein) for two weeks prior to starting one of the following cholesterol lowering diets: lower fat diet without avocado, moderate-fat diet without avocado, and moderate-fat diet with one avocado per day. The two moderate fat diets both provided 34 percent of calories as fat (17 percent of calories from monounsaturated fatty acids/MUFAs), whereas the lower fat diet provided 24 percent of calories as fat (11 percent from MUFAs). Each participant consumed each of the three test diet for five weeks. Participants were randomly sequenced through each of the three diets.

Researchers found:

·         Compared to the baseline average American diet, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) -- the so called 'bad cholesterol' -- was 13.5 mg/dL lower after consuming the moderate fat diet that included an avocado. LDL was also lower on the moderate fat diet without the avocado (8.3 mg/dL lower) and the lower fat diet (7.4 mg/dL lower), though the results were not as striking as the avocado diet.

·         Several additional blood measurements were also more favorable after the avocado diet versus the other two cholesterol-lowering diets as well: total cholesterol, triglycerides, small dense LDL, non-HDL cholesterol, and others.

These measurements are all considered to be cardio-metabolic risk factors in ways that are independent of the heart-healthy fatty acid effects, said Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Ph.D., R.D., senior study author and Chair of the American Heart Association's Nutrition Committee and Distinguished Professor of Nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, in University Park, Pennsylvania.

"This was a controlled feeding study, but that is not the real-world -- so it is a proof-of-concept investigation. We need to focus on getting people to eat a heart-healthy diet that includes avocados and other nutrient-rich food sources of better fats," Kris-Etherton said.

"In the United States avocados are not a mainstream food yet, and they can be expensive, especially at certain times of the year. Also, most people do not really know how to incorporate them in their diet except for making guacamole. But guacamole is typically eaten with corn chips, which are high in calories and sodium. Avocados, however, can also be eaten with salads, vegetables, sandwiches, lean protein foods (like chicken or fish) or even whole."

For the study researchers used Hass avocados, the ones with bumpy green skin. In addition to MUFAs, avocados also provided other bioactive components that could have contributed to the findings such as fiber, phytosterols, and other compounds.

According to researchers, many heart-healthy diets recommend replacing saturated fatty acids with MUFAs or polyunsaturated fatty acids to reduce the risk of heart disease. This is because saturated fats can increase bad cholesterol levels and raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The Mediterranean diet, includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fatty fish, and foods rich in monounsaturated fatty acids--like extra-virgin olive oil and nuts. Like avocados, some research indicates that these not only contain better fats but also certain micronutrients and bioactive components that may play an important role in reducing risk of heart disease.

Neuropathy A Close Look At How The Nerves In The Foot Work

Today's video (11 minutes) comes from Dr Michael Graham DPM and is a fascinating look at how the nerves in the foot work and what the problems, causes and results of nerve damage are. It may leave you bewildered because of the amount of medical and scientific terms you've never met before but because of the series of clear images, it's not too difficult to follow. What it does show is how complex the nerve system and surrounding muscles and blood vessels in the foot are and how important it is to look after your feet, irrespective of whether you have neuropathy or not. Using the pause button at each new image may help you take in the information at your own pace.
(There is no sound track)




Uploaded on 1 Mar 2011

Nerves on the bottom of the foot have to make it through 2 tunnels in order to make it to the spine. Faulty foot mechanics and severely affect these nerves. Watch this video to learn more about this very condition and to find out about what additional factors can taken to help

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Printables, coloring pages, recipes, crafts, and more from your child's favorite Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. shows..TODAY Parents is the premiere destination for parenting news, advice community. Find the latest parenting trends and tips for your kids and family on TODAY.com..Pill nowadays is the most popular pregnancy termination option. Medical Pill - is a method of in early pregnancy 6-7 weeks .

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TODAY Parents is the premiere destination for parenting news, advice community. Find the latest parenting trends and tips for your kids and family on TODAY.com..Pill nowadays is the most popular pregnancy termination option. Medical Pill - is a method of in early pregnancy 6-7 weeks .Printables, coloring pages, recipes, crafts, and more from your child's favorite Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. shows..

ARE CHILDREN WHO PLAY VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AT GREATER RISK FOR DEPRESSION

While much attention has focused on the link between violent video game playing and aggression among youths, a new study finds significantly increased signs of depression among preteens with high daily exposure to violent video games. The details and implications of this important new study are described in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers

Susan R. Tortolero, PhD and coauthors from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health, RAND Corporation (Santa Monica, CA), The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA), and Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA) recorded significantly more depressive symptoms over the course of a year among fifth-graders from three U.S. cities who reported playing high-violence video games for 2 or more hours a day, compared to those who reported playing low-violence video games for less than 2 hours a day. This association was consistent across all racial/ethnic subgroups and among boys, according to the study results presented in the article "Daily Violent Video Game Playing and Depression in Preadolescent Youth."

"One of the strengths of this study is its large and ethnically diverse sample," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, PhD, MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium

The HIV Virus Itself Can Attack The Nervous System At An Early Stage

Today's post from the always reliable sciencedaily.com (see link below) reports something that will be of no surprise to people living with HIV across the world and that is that neuropathy very often appears from the early stages of infection. This gives proof to the theory that the virus itself attacks the nervous system. The accepted knowledge is that neuropathy in HIV is linked to older toxic HIV drugs and doctors are still continually surprised that people arrive in their surgeries with neuropathic symptoms, despite being on the most modern HIV medication combinations. The study mentioned here claims that the symptoms appear pre-medication treatment and generally disappear after treatment begins. However, there has to be some considerable doubt about this claim! Neuropathic symptoms don't disappear and nerve damage is, at the moment, generally irreversible. People living with HIV generally see a worsening of their symptoms over a period of time and end up on the treadmill of drugs designed to suppress the discomfort but not cure it. Perhaps the most relevant finding of the study is that after contracting HIV, many people will show signs of nerve damage, with all the symptoms that we're familiar with. The idea that this is linked to the older drug regimes is somewhat outdated but not totally incorrect and modern HIV drugs can cause nerve damage too. The problem is that it's clear that the HIV virus itself attacks nerve cells and especially mitochondria and although HIV medications (old or new) don't help, they're not exclusively responsible for neuropathy in HIV patients.

Neurologic symptoms common in early HIV infection
Much more extensive, though milder than previously thought 
Date:June 13, 2016 Source:University of California - San Francisco

A team led by researchers from UCSF and Yale has found that half of people newly infected with HIV experience neurologic issues. These neurologic findings are generally not severe and usually resolve after participants started anti-retroviral therapy.

"We were surprised that neurologic findings were so pervasive in participants diagnosed with very recent HIV infection," said study lead author, Joanna Hellmuth, MD, MHS, clinical fellow in UCSF's Department of Neurology. "While the findings were mild, it is clear that HIV affects the nervous system within days of infection. Since the majority of these neurologic issues were resolved with treatment, our study reinforces recommendations that people at risk for HIV test often and start antiretroviral treatment immediately if they are infected."

The research will be published in the June 10, 2016, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The team examined 139 participants in the RV254 Thai cohort who were recently infected with HIV. The time from infection to entry into the study ranged from 3 to 56 days with a median of 19 days. At this stage, participants would not test positive on the common antibody tests for HIV since they have not been infected long enough for a robust specific immune response to take place. Fifty-three percent had neurologic findings, with a third experiencing cognitive deficits, a quarter having motor issues, and nearly 20 percent experiencing neuropathy. Many experienced more than one symptom. One participant was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, the only severe case found in the cohort.

"In the early days of the epidemic in San Francisco, approximately 10 percent of patients with recent HIV infection presented with dramatic neurological disease. But that was likely due to patients coming in early because of the severity of symptoms they were experiencing. The Thai cohort has given us an opportunity to look at a broad range of newly infected patients, analyze their neurological functioning systematically and follow them over time. We are gaining deeper insights into the degree to which early HIV affects the nervous system," said study senior author, Serena Spudich, MD, Yale associate professor of neurology.

All participants were offered and commenced antiretroviral treatment at diagnosis. Ninety percent of the issues present at diagnosis were resolved after one month of treatment, but 9 percent of the participants had neurologic symptoms that were still not resolved six months after starting therapy. In addition, neurological symptoms were associated with higher levels of HIV found in participants' blood.

The study participants underwent extensive neurologic assessments. Self reported symptoms were correlated with objective neuropsychological testing. In addition, a quarter of participants opted to undergo a lumbar puncture and almost half of the patients agreed to undergo a MRI.

"This is one of the first comprehensive studies scrutinizing the involvement of the nervous system in early infection. Since we have been able to maintain the cohort for five years now, we will be able to study whether there are any persistent abnormalities that need to be addressed. Additionally, the ubiquity of symptoms in early infection found in this study reinforces the need for the brain to be considered as a compartment containing latent HIV as we design cure studies," said study co-author, Victor Valcour, MD, PhD, UCSF professor of neurology.

Story Source:

The above post is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - San Francisco. The original item was written by Jeff Sheehy. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Joanna Hellmuth, James L.K. Fletcher, Victor Valcour, Eugène Kroon, Jintanat Ananworanich, Jintana Intasan, Sukalaya Lerdlum, Jared Narvid, Mantana Pothisri, Isabel Allen, Shelly J. Krebs, Bonnie Slike, Peeriya Prueksakaew, Linda L. Jagodzinski, Suwanna Puttamaswin, Nittaya Phanuphak, Serena Spudich. Neurologic signs and symptoms frequently manifest in acute HIV infection. Neurology, 2016; 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002837 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002837

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160613105753.htm

PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS MAY BE AT INCREASED RISK OF DEVELOPING CANCER

Individuals with multiple sclerosis may have an increased risk of developing any type of cancer, with an especially high risk of developing breast cancer. That is the conclusion of a recent study published inEuropean Journal of Neurology. Because the findings contradict earlier studies, additional research is needed to determine whether a true link exists between multiple sclerosis and cancer

Previous research suggests that some individuals with autoimmune diseases may have an increased risk of developing cancer, but most studies have found no link between cancer and multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease that involves the central nervous system.

To investigate further, Li-Min Sun, MD, of the Zuoying Branch of Kaohsiung Armed Forces General Hospital in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and his colleagues assessed data from the National Health Insurance System of Taiwan, including information on 1292 patients who were diagnosed with multiple sclerosis between 1997 and 2010. Each patient was matched with four participants without the condition.

"Our study was a nationwide population-based cohort study, and it revealed unexpected findings," said Dr. Sun. Specifically, the team found that individuals with multiple sclerosis were 85% more likely to develop cancer than the controls. Their risk of developing breast cancer was especially high, with more than a 2-fold increased risk over controls.

The findings suggest that patients with multiple sclerosis patients may need to be monitored closely to ensure early detection of cancer. Dr. Sun notes that it is unclear why his team's results are not consistent with most other studies. "The underlying genetic and environmental factors in Taiwan, which differ from those of western countries, might play an undetermined role. Additional large-scale studies will help improve our understanding," he said.

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