IN BRIEF (Page 19)
Stem cell therapy for injury
An experimental spinal cord injury treatment may eliminate the need for drugs that suppress the immune system, Geron Corp, which is developing stem cell-based therapies, said on Monday.
The Menlo Park, California biotechnology company said its stem cell therapy, GRN0PC1, is not directly attacked by the immune system, thus requiring lower or fewer doses of drugs that suppress the immune system than are typically required with solid organ transplants.
Antibiotics boost risk
Children who took antibiotics as babies had a higher risk of developing asthma by age 7, Canadian researchers said on Monday. Antibiotics are commonly prescribed to children under age 1 for a host of conditions, but most often for lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia or upper respiratory tract infections like ear and sinus infections.
Targeting HIV without tests
A program targeting people most likely to be infected with HIV and offering counseling to prevent further infection would be far more effective than the government's recommendations for mass testing, US researchers said on Monday.
They said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendations for widespread HIV testing of those aged 13 to 64, regardless of risk, would cost $864 million a year.
Exercise for heart patients
In patients with heart failure, aerobic training can help the organ pump better, investigators report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. In contrast, Dr. Mark J. Haykowsky and colleagues observed that strength training, either alone or in combination with aerobic training, appeared to be of no benefit. These opposing findings may underline the inconsistent results of studies of exercise training in patients with heart failure.
Cholera vaccine
Japanese scientists have engineered an oral cholera vaccine encased in rice protein that has proved effective in mice, raising hopes it will offer humans better protection against the disease.
The vaccine in capsule form gives it an advantage over other oral cholera vaccines, the scientists said in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
New Alzheimer's drugs
Several new drugs showed early promise against Alzheimer's disease, but none had a dramatic effect, demonstrating that the battle against the brain-wasting illness will be long, researchers said on Monday.
One of the new drugs offers an alternative food source to damaged brain cells that can no longer make use of sugar, while another was originally developed as an antihistamine.
Aging with chronic distress
People who are prone to negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger, may be more vulnerable to the gradual mental decline that can come with age, a study published Monday finds.
The results, reported in the journal Neurology, suggest that chronic distress throughout life may in later years contribute to mild cognitive impairment - persistent memory difficulties, such as forgetting people's names or misplacing items, which can evolve into advanced dementia.
Diet helps cancer survival
Even if they remained obese, women who survived breast cancer cut their risk of dying from a recurrence of the disease if they had a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and exercised moderately, a study found on Friday.
Researchers said their study differed from many others by assessing the combined effects of diet and exercise on extending the lives of women who have survived breast cancer, rather than looking at them separately.
Agencies
(China Daily 06/13/2007 page19)
