Older women with frailty can get benefit with appetite-stimulating hormone

A hormone, ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, may be used as an effective treatment option for providing relief to older women with clinical frailty.

The finding was disclosed by a study presented by Penn Medicine researchers at ENDO, The Endocrine Society's 91st Annual Meeting.

Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome characterized by unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, and low levels of anabolic hormones prompting increase in risk of falls, hospitalizations, disability, and even death.

From Sciencedaily.com:

In the pilot study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and Penn's Institute on Aging, five frail women and five healthy women, all over the age of seventy, were randomized to receive an infusion of the hormone ghrelin or placebo. After a ghrelin transfusion, frail women in the study had a stronger, healthy appetite and increased anabolic hormone activity. The only side effect reported during the treatment was a transient sense of warmth that occurred in four women who received the ghrelin transfusion.
Now that safety and initial efficacy has been proven in this pilot study, larger follow-up studies will look at the potential therapeutic role of ghrelin or ghrelin mimetic agents in the frail population. At this time, these agents are only available for research use.

Anne Cappola, MD, ScM, Assistant Professor of Medicine in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine, remarked that efforts for identifying ways to treat or eliminate common geriatric conditions has become highly important today due to the associated severe health consequences.

Drug testimony leads to suspension of Ellenwood

The former Bethune-Cookman head track and field coach, Garfield Ellenwood, has accepted a two-year suspension. He was suspended by the United States Anti-Doping Agency and the suspension was announced on January 28, 2010.

This will mean that Ellenwood cannot coach in any meet that is governed by USA Track and Field. It also means that Ellenwood will not be able to involve himself with any national Olympic committee during the suspension period.

From News-Journalonline.com:

The suspension stems from Ellenwood's testimony in May 2008 at the perjury trial of track coach Trevor Graham relating to the federal BALCO probe. Ellenwood testified Graham introduced him to a steroids dealer and he used steroids for a short period as a track athlete.

"That was 12 years ago," Ellenwood said this week. "We live and learn. (Graham) was my track coach for six months in North Carolina. Since then I've dedicated myself to make sure kids don't make the same mistakes I made."

Ellenwood, who coached former B-CU hurdler Ronnie Ash to two national championships last year, was fired by the school Sept. 8, 2009, for "violations of university policy as well as (Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and NCAA rules," according to a statement released by the athletics department to announce the firing of Ellenwood and assistant coach Kia Davis.

Ellenwood said that this suspension by the USADA would not keep him away from imparting elite athletes or returning to college coaching.

Dexamethasone and Lenalidomide effective together for curing multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma, a dreaded form of cancer, can be effectively treated with a combination of dexamethasone and lenalidomide. This finding was noted in a study involving 353 patients with myeloma and conducted at 44 centers in the United States and Canada.

The study noted that multiple myeloma progression can be slowed down to a considered extent when a new thalidomide derivative is paired with a steroid. The pairing is also useful for prolonging patient life where there is a relapse after earlier treatments.

From News-Medical.Net:

"These trials highlight how large-scale cooperation in a team effort by myeloma investigators can quickly confirm benefits and introduce new active agents for patients with this disease," Weber says. "We also owe a debt to the willing patients who participated in this study."
Multiple myeloma is caused by formation of abnormal plasma cells, a type of white blood cell, in the bone marrow. These cells multiply rapidly, crowding out normal red and white blood cells and platelets. Tumors starting in the bone marrow may cause pain, and weaken bones predisposing them to fracture. In the United States about 20,000 people are diagnosed with multiple myeloma annually, and about 11,000 succumb to the disease each year.
Thalidomide, a breakthrough drug for multiple myeloma, is produced and marketed by Celgene Corporation as Thalomid(r). The company chemically altered thalidomide to make lenalidomide, known commercially as Revlimid(r), in hopes of reducing side effects and improving efficacy against the disease. The drugs attack both the malignant cells and the cellular environment that nurtures them.

Lead author Donna Weber, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Lymphoma and Myeloma at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, remarked that this combination looks effective as the complication may become immune to one therapy at times.

Puberty disorder promoting gene identified

Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia have been able to identify as chromodomain helicase DNA binding protein 7, or CHD7. This is a gene that is considered to be responsible for a large number of the complications linked with puberty.

It was found by the researchers that the gene is mutated in the CHARGE syndrome. The syndrome is a a multi-system complication characterized by many problems such as hearing loss and mental retardation. The two disorders were noted as idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) and Kallmann syndrome.

From News-Medical.Net:

Pubertal disorders, Dr. Layman says, often begin long before that chain of events begins.

He traces the defects to gestation, when neurons linked to reproduction and sense of smell fail to reach their destination together.

"While the discovery of additional genes involved in pubertal disorders is significant, we only know the cause for about one-third of all affected patients," says Hyung-Goo Kim, molecular geneticist in the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Genetics and the study's first author. "We know now that CHD7, only the second gene identified as a cause for IHH and Kallmann Syndrome, is a common culprit."

"There is still work to be done," says Dr. Layman, corresponding author. "But this work is important because it gives us cause for genetic counseling on patients with these mutations. And because these findings suggest that IHH and Kallmann Syndrome are mild variants of CHARGE, it also prompts us to look more carefully for heart problems, hearing loss and cleft lip/palate in patients with pubertal abnormalities."

The study also noted that CHARGE syndrome can have a possible impairment impact on the smell sense besides inhibiting sex steroid and hormone production.

Performance of city traders positively stimulated by hormone levels

According to a study, naturally produced steroids in the body, especially cortisol and testosterone, has the positive effect of influencing performance of city traders to a significant extent.

It was noted that high morning testosterone levels may help traders to earn more than just average profits, as per a research conducted at the University of Cambridge.

It was hypothesized that this performance improvement can be because testosterone is acclaimed for improving the appetite for confidence and risk - factors that can easily augment performance of financial traders.

From News-Medical.Net:

The researchers also speculated that if testosterone continued to rise or became chronically elevated, it could begin to have the opposite effect on a trader's profitability by increasing risk-taking to unprofitable levels. Previous studies have shown that administered testosterone can lead to irrational decision-making. They believe that this is because testosterone has also been found to lead to impulsivity and sensation seeking, to harmful risk taking, and in extreme cases (among users of anabolic steroids) to euphoria and mania.
Testosterone may therefore underlie a secondary consequence of the ‘winner effect' in which a previous win in the markets leads to increased, and eventually irrational, risk taking in the next round of trading.

It was also noted that this finding can also help in ascertaining how and why people caught in crashes often find it tedious to make a rational decision.

National guidelines for curing hoarseness released

The first national clinical practice guideline to assist healthcare practitioners in ascertaining and managing patients with hoarseness or dysphonia is scheduled to be released by the American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF).

From Sciencedaily.com:

Key features of the new guideline include:
* Most, but not all, hoarseness is the result of benign underlying or self-limiting factors; however, clinicians should consider the possibility of a serious underlying condition (growth or tumor of the larynx) or medication side effects as a cause.
* Laryngoscopy is an office procedure to visualize the larynx (voice box and vocal cords) that should be performed if hoarseness persists or if the cause is uncertain.
* Imaging studies, such as a CT or MRI scans, should not be obtained for a primary complaint of hoarseness prior to visualizing the larynx; laryngoscopy is the primary diagnostic modality and should be done first.
* Anti-reflux medicines should not be prescribed for hoarseness unless there are (a) signs or symptoms of gastroesophageal reflex disease (GERD), such as heartburn or regurgitation, or (b) signs of inflammation of the larynx seen during laryngoscopy.
* Steroids or antibiotics given by mouth are not recommended for hoarseness and should not be used routinely.
* Voice therapy is a well-established intervention for hoarseness that can be performed at any age. Laryngoscopy should be performed prior to voice therapy and results communicated to the speech-language pathologist. Therapy for hoarseness usually includes one to two sessions per week for four to eight weeks.
* Surgery is not the primary treatment for most hoarseness, but may be indicated for suspected cancer, other tumors or growths, abnormal movement of the vocal cords, or abnormal tone of the vocal cord muscles.
* The risk of hoarseness may be reduced by preventive measures such as staying well-hydrated, avoiding irritants (especially tobacco smoke), voice training, and amplification during heavy voice use.

The guideline was developed by a multidisciplinary panel that represented neurology, speech-language pathology, professional voice teaching, family medicine, pulmonology, geriatric medicine, nursing, internal medicine, otolaryngology – head and neck surgery, pediatric medicine, and consumers.

McGwire wants people to move ahead of baseball steroid tales

Mark McGwire, the recently appointed hitting coach of the Cardinals, wants every one to move ahead of baseball steroid tales.

During his first public appearance since coming clean, McGwire evaded all questions related to steroid use thrown at him and defended his decision to came clean and spoke honestly on Monday night on TV with Bob Costas.

From LATimes.com:

"I was being as honest as I (could), from the heart. I got it off my chest and it's something we can all move on from."
Asked several times about allegations from former Oakland teammate Jose Canseco that he wasn't telling the truth and whether he was familiar with specific names of steroids, this was his answer:
"Those names, yeah, I'm familiar with them but, like I said, I'm not going to go down that road with Jose," he said. "I'll take the high road with Jose."
He was also asked if he really had never told Tony La Russa of his steroid use. La Russa, his manager in Oakland and St. Louis, had said he believed McGwire was clean.
"Absolutely. Tony La Russa, I kept this to myself," he said.

Whatever may be the talks in the baseball world, one thing that can easily be said is that McGwire has relieved himself by confessing to using steroids.