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Researchers presented
findings showing that adding curcumin or resveratrol to
conventional chemotherapy could be effective in preventing the
growth of chemo-resistant colon cancer cells |
Published: Monday, 14-Apr-2008
Medical Studies/Trials.
"Patients with advanced colon cancer often have a cancer recurrence
resulting from cancer cells that survive chemotherapy. "Some day the
addition of curcumin or resveratrol could become a treatment
strategy for colon cancer patients and help prolong life. Currently,
despite advances in medicine, mortality rates remain unacceptably
high for late stage disease. Our work is helping to lay the ground
work for future clinical trials," added Dr. Patel.
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Health warning from Britain about vitamin supplements
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Published: Wednesday,
16-Apr-2008
Medical Studies/Trials.
Health authorities in Britain have issued a warning regarding Vitamin
supplements, they say they are probably ineffective and are possibly
harmful.
The advice from the Department of Health has been issued following a
large review of scientific evidence published last year and advises
caution over the use of Vitamin supplements.
Health officials say most people's nutritional needs are met by eating a
balanced, varied diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables, and
dietary supplements may do more harm than good.
The review involved trials on beta-carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin C,
Vitamin E and selenium, with
varying doses of each
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antioxidant. The review found no evidence that the
nutrition supplements extend life but found in fact that Vitamins A and
E and beta carotene appear to slightly increase premature death rates
among those taking them while Vitamin C and selenium have no effect. The
researchers say they found no evidence to support antioxidant
supplements for primary or secondary prevention and beta-carotene,
Vitamin A and Vitamin E given singly or combined with other antioxidant
supplements significantly increase mortality. The researchers say
current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in
the general healthy population or in patients with certain diseases. The
Health Department says caution should be used in the use of high doses
of purified supplements of Vitamins, including antioxidant Vitamins, and
minerals. |
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Elevated
levels of antioxidant urate may slow Parkinson's progression |
Tuesday, 15-Apr-2008
Medical Studies/Trials
Naturally elevated levels of the antioxidant urate may slow the
progression of Parkinson's disease in men. Researchers from the
MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) and
Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined data from an earlier
study and found that, among recently diagnosed Parkinson's patients,
those with the highest urate levels had a significantly slower rate
of disease progression during the two-year study period.
The report appears in the April 2008 Archives of Neurology and may
lead to urate-based therapies for the disorder.
Parkinson's disease - characterized by tremors, rigidity, difficulty
walking and other symptoms - is caused by the destruction of brain
cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. The results showed
that participants with the highest urate levels at the beginning of
the study had about half the risk of needing to start Parkinson's
treatment drugs as did those with the lowest levels.
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"These findings, combined with
prior knowledge of urate's protective properties in laboratory studies,
raise the possibility that urate-elevating strategies could be used to
slow the neurodegeneration of Parkinson's disease," says Michael
Schwarzschild, MD, PhD, of MGH-MIND, the study's lead author. "Potential
benefits of urate have to be tempered against the known risks of
elevated urate levels, which include gout and kidney stones. From what
we know now, urate elevation should only be attempted in the context of
a closely monitored clinical trial, in which potential benefits and
risks are carefully balanced."
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Restricted-calorie
diets limit development of epithelial cancers |
Published: Tuesday, 15-Apr-2008
Medical Studies/Trials
A restricted-calorie diet inhibited the development of precancerous
growths in a two-step model of skin cancer, reducing the activation of
two signaling pathways known to contribute to cancer growth and
development, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson
Cancer |
Center report
today at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting.
An obesity-inducing diet, by contrast, activated those pathways,.
Epithelial cancers arise in the epithelium - the tissue that lines the
surfaces and cavities of the body's organs. They comprise 80 percent of
all cancers.
"Calorie restriction, which we refer to as negative energy balance,
inhibits this signaling, and obesity, or positive energy balance,
enhances signaling through these pathways, leading to cell growth,
proliferation and survival," Moore said.
Dietary energy balance refers to the relationship between caloric intake
and energy expenditure. Previous research, both experimental and
epidemiological, suggests that chronic positive energy balance, which
can lead to obesity, increases the risk of developing a variety of
cancers, DiGiovanni said, while negative balance often decreases risk.
Those on the calorie restricted diets had statistically significant
inhibition of papilloma formation compared with the other two diets. |
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High blood pressure may play a role in protecting against
migraine |
Published: Tuesday, 15-Apr-2008
Medical Studies/Trials
People with high blood pressure appear to be less likely to have
migraine than those with low blood pressure.
Researchers say stiff arteries associated with high blood pressure may
play a role in protecting against migraine.
Tronvik says these results confirm previous studies which have found
that increasing blood pressure is linked to decreasing amounts of
chronic pain in all parts of the body.
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Exercise leads to significantly greater tumour growth in mouse
model |
Published: Monday, 14-Apr-2008
Medical Studies/Trials
Prostate tumours grew more quickly in mice who exercised than in those
who did not, leading to speculation that exercise may increase blood
flow to tumours, according to a new study .
"Our study showed that exercise led to significantly greater tumour
growth than a more sedentary lifestyle did, in this mouse model,""
"We found that among the mice |
that had the opportunity to voluntarily
exercise, tumors grew approximately twice as fast as they did among the
mice that did not have the opportunity to exercise," Jones said.
The researchers want to caution men against interpreting these findings
as an endorsement for not exercising for fear of getting or exacerbating
cancer.
"The findings were a bit surprising, but provide a very important and
exciting foundation upon which to build," he said. |
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