Testing It Up

Researchers from the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF) determined that a new gene test may improve the odds of survival of patients who have early-stage lung cancer.

The new molecular test can predict which tumors are more likely to be aggressive more accurately, when compared against current diagnostic procedures.

The study involved an analysis of data from the two largest clinical trials conducted on the molecular genetics of lung cancer. It included information from early-stage lung cancer patients from Northern California Kaiser hospitals, as well as from China.

The results of the study indicated that a 14-gene test, based on developments made originally at UCSF but created by a Mountain View Company, was able to determine the odds of death of a patient within five years of surgery more accurately, through an analysis of the biological make-up of the tumor. This held true, the researchers observed, for both trial groups.

Researchers shared that the results may potentially save lives, by becoming a basis for decisions regarding the next steps that a patient who has early-stage lung cancer should take after surgery. Such decisions may include whether or not one should undergo such additional treatment as chemotherapy or targeted radiation.

Dr. David Jablons, chief of the thoracic oncology program of the UCSF and one of the study authors, shared: “It can help enhance the chance of curing more patients, and this is not an insignificant problem… This is 50,000 patients in the U.S. alone or more a year and hundreds of thousands of patients a year worldwide.”

The study was published Thursday in the medical journal The Lancet.

A lawmaker in Vermont is calling for the legalization of the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

The bill to amend the medical marijuana law of Vermont was introduced earlier this month by state Rep. Jim Masland, who said that he did so in response to the request of a number of his constituents who have turned to medical marijuana in order to alleviate PTSD symptoms that they feel was caused by military service. These constituents, Masland said further, were Vets who served during the Vietnam War, as well as other wars fought by the United States over the last decade.

Rep. Masland shared: “I understand that these unnamed individuals, at least a couple, haven’t been able to find relief any other way or at least this is the best way for relief… So I would say they are quietly, surreptitiously using marijuana, but they would much rather do it legally.”

Michael Krawitz, executive director of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Use, shared that using marijuana for the treatment of PTSD in Veterans is increasingly being accepted across the country. Krawitz said: “The bottom line is we just don’t have a lot of treatments for post-traumatic stress that are that effective.”

The medical marijuana law in Vermont took effect in 2004, and currently has 411 patients and 68 caregivers in its registry. The Department of Veterans Affairs, on the other hand, allows its patients to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal, but does not allow its health care providers to provide Vets with documentation to get pot.

The celebrity circuit was abuzz with news that actress Demi Moore was rushed to the hospital on January 23, after suffering from an apparent seizure.

The actress’ friends told emergency workers that she had been doing “whip-its,” before experiencing seizure-like symptoms and becoming semi-unconscious.

“Whip-its,” also known as “whippets,” “whippits,” and “nossies,” are steel cylinders filled with nitrous oxide (NOX). NOX, also called “laughing gas,” is usually used by dentists prior to administering novocaine injections or performing dental procedures.

Dr. Harris Stratyner, regional vice president at New York’s Caron Treatment Center, shared that nitrous oxide can result in a euphoric, dissociated, and out-of-body experience for the people who inhale them. It is also found in whipped cream aerosol cans, which NOX abusers use by emptying the gas into a balloon, and then inhaling it. The gas is also used to boost engine power in race cars.

Inhalation of nitrous oxide may lead to a lack of oxygen, which may be fatal.

Dr. Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hospital in New York City, shared that abuse of whippets can cause the following side effects: nausea; vomiting; disorientation; and vitamin B-12 deficiency, which can cause numbness in the fingers and toes. Severe side effects of nitrous oxide abuse include lung collapse; blood vessel hemorrhage in the lungs; heart attack; seizure; and slipping into coma.

When asked whether “whippets” can be addictive, Stratyner responded that NOX can be psychologically addictive, but it was “not highly usual” for people to go to rehab because of it.

Recent reports revealed that actor Armie Hammer, who played the disgruntled Winklevoss twins in the movie The Social Network, was arrested in November for having pot cookies in his car.

Hammer’s mug shot was taken after he was arrested in Sierra Blanca, Texas. Arrest records indicated that Hammer had 0.02 ounces of marijuana on him, as well as three medicinal marijuana cookies and one brownie. He spent one day in jail and was released on $1,000 bond.

The discovery was made after a border patrol dog sniffed his way to a brown backpack between the driver and passenger seat. Hammer admitted to police that the bag and its contents were his. The district attorney in El Paso, however, decided not to prosecute the actor, as one needs to be in possession of more than four ounces of marijuana before he can be slapped with a felony charge. The case is going back to the local sheriff, and the county attorney may choose to pursue lesser charges.

To date, no charges have been presented against the actor, based on information provided by Kent Schaffer, lawyer for Mr. Hammer.

Other celebrities have also been caught with pot in Sierra Blanca. Earlier this month, Snoop Dogg was arrested after a sniffer dog led police to a marijuana stash that weighed a total of 0.13 lbs. Country star Willie Nelson was also arrested for possessing six ounces of marijuana.

Psychedelic mushrooms, or magic mushrooms, may eventually be used to treat depression, based on two small studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the British Journal of Psychiatry.

One study involved inserting psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, into the blood of 30 study participants, as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners measured changes in their brain activity.

For this study, it was observed that psilocybin lead to decreased activity in the “hub” regions of the brain – areas of the brain that are especially well-connected to other areas.

The second study, on the other hand, involved 10 healthy volunteers. The results indicated that psilocybin boosted the participants’ recall of personal memories and their emotional well-being for up to two weeks. What this may indicate, the researchers said, is that psilocybin may be useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

David Nutt of the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London served as senior author for both studies. He shared: “Psychedelics are thought of as ‘mind-expanding’ drugs, so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity, but surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas… These hubs constrain our experience of the world and keep it orderly. We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange.”

The researchers stressed, however, the need for further research as both studies only involved small groups of participants.

A study recently released in the Archives of Internal Medicine shared that drinking three cups of black tea a day may help lower blood pressure.

The research effort tested black tea against a placebo, in order to determine the effect of drinking the beverage over time on lowering the blood pressure of the study participants.

The study analyzed data from 95 study participants, who consisted of male and female subjects aged 35 to 75. The participants had systolic blood pressure readings that range from 115 to 150, and were randomly assigned to one of two groups.

One of the groups was asked to drink three cups of regular leaf tea containing 1,493 mg of powdered black tea solids, with 429 mg of polyphenols and 96 mg of caffeine. The participants in the second group were asked to drink a placebo, which had the same flavor and caffeine content, but did not contain tea solids.

The results of the study indicated that the group who drank tea with black tea solids experienced a drop of systolic and diastolic blood pressure over a period of six months. When compared against the placebo group, it was observed that the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of those who drank black tea dropped by two to three points.

According to the study authors, this drop translated to a 10 percent drop in the prevalence of high blood pressure, as well as a 7% to 10% decrease in the risk of cardiovascular disease.

A former professional wrestler from Ohio received a 32-year prison sentence on Monday, after being accused of hiding the fact that he had tested positive for HIV from women that he had sexual relations with.

Andre Davis, 29, who wrestled under the stage names Gangsta of Love and Sweet Sexy Sensation, had been convicted in November. He was sentenced in a court in Hamilton County on 14 counts of felonious assault.

Davis confessed to being a “sex addict” before the judge on Monday. He said further that is addiction worsened after he lost his dream of becoming a professional wrestler when he tested positive for HIV.

He also said that it was never his intention to hurt anyone; he did not reveal that he was HIV positive, he said, as he did not want his family to learn about his condition.

He described his sex addiction as “the worse addiction anyone could have. He said: “Drugs and alcohol are terrible, but sex is something everybody wants.”

Prosecutors said, however, that Davis was in violation of state law when he did not disclose his HIV status to a dozen sex partners, or lied to them.

During Davis’ trial, assistant prosecutor Amy Tranter argued that Davis should be imprisoned for a long time, as it was his responsibility to tell the women about his test results. Tranter described Davis on Monday as “a manipulative man and a liar.”

Greg Cohen, attorney for Andre Davis, revealed that they will file an appeal, saying that the constitutionality of the law “is probably going to be raised, and there are some legal issues regarding the admission of certain types of evidence.”

A study published online in the medical journal The Lancet indicated that the drug dutasteride could delay the progression of prostate cancer over a three-year period, among those who have been diagnosed with low-risk, localized prostate cancer.

The study, which received funding from GlaxoSmithKline, manufacturer of the brand-name version of dutasteride Avodart, consisted of a three-year clinical trial involving 302 men between the ages of 48 and 82.

The study participants have been diagnosed with low-risk, localized prostate cancer, and were undergoing a treatment option called “active surveillance,” which includes regular monitoring for clinical changes in their condition.

All of the study participants underwent biopsies at 18 months and three years, while half of them received placebo.  The results of the study indicated that the disease progressed for 48 percent of those who received placebo, compared against 38 percent to those who were given dutasteride.

In addition, biopsies conducted at the end of the study showed that study participants who received dutasteride were less likely to have cancer detected. Lead study author Dr. Neil Fleshner, head of the urology division at Toronto’s University Health Nework (UHN), shared that while this does not mean that the cancer has been cured completely, the fact that cancer is not detected means that it has “shrunk so small we can’t find it.”

Dr. Fleshner was also quoted as saying that the results of the study is good news for men who have been diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer, as such aggressive treatment as surgery and radiation “can have a major impact on their quality of life, with risks of impotence and incontinence.”

A new marijuana-based drug called Sativex may soon be sold at store shelves. GW Pharma, a British company, is now in advanced clinical trials for the drug, being touted as the first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana – as opposed to synthetic equivalents – in the world.

Sativex is a mouth spray that GW Pharma hopes to market in the United States as treatment for cancer pain. It contains delta 9-THC and cannabidiol, two of the best known components of marijuana.

The drug has received approval in Canada, New Zealand, and eight European countries for the relief of muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

Aron Lichtman, a Virginia Commonwealth University pharmacology professor and president of the International Cannabinoid Research Society, shared: “There is a real disconnect between what the public seems to be demanding and what the states have pushed for and what the market is providing… It seems to me a company with a great deal of vision would say, ‘If there is demand and need, we could develop a drug that will help people and we will make a lot of money.”

In addition to looking into new applications for Sativex, GW Pharma is developing drugs with various cannabis formulations. Mark Rogerson, spokesman for the company, shared: “We were the first ones to charge forward and a lot of people were watching to see what happened to us… I think we are clearly past that stage.”

Timothy Coetzee, chief research officer of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, shared: “The cannabinoids and marijuana will, eventually, likely be part of the clinician’s armamentarium, if they are shown to be clinically beneficial… The big unknown in my mind is whether they are clearly beneficial.”

Early disease detection is one of the things that may end up saving a patient’s life, especially for such life-threatening health conditions as cancer. With early detection, there is more time for a patient to undergo the appropriate treatment necessary to beat the disease.

Unfortunately, while early detection is an ideal, spending countless hours waiting at doctor’s lounges and hospitals to undergo screenings and get results is something that many people would rather not have to deal with. A team of researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has conducted work that just might do away with all that hassle.

The scientists, whose work was published in the German science journal Angewandte Chemie, found that touch screen technology may be used to detect biomolecular matter. Hyun-gyu Park, who led the study along with Byong-yeon Won, said: “It began from the idea that touch screens work by recognizing the electronic signs from the touch of the finger, and so the presence of specific proteins and DNA should be recognizable as well.”

The results of the study indicated that touch screens had the ability to recognize the presence and concentration of DNA molecules that are placed on them. This finding may be the first step towards utilizing touch screens for medical tests.

Park shared further: “We have confirmed that (touch screens) are able to recognize DNA molecules with nearly 100 percent accuracy just as large, conventional medical equipment can and we believe equal results are possible for proteins… There are proteins known in the medical world like the ones used to diagnose liver cancer, and we would be able to see the liver condition of the patient.”