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1. Three Little Words Diagnose Mild Dementia

Three little words, along with a simple drawing, can help diagnose mild cognitive impairment in three minutes. The new screening tool, called the Mini-Cog, was developed by researchers at Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center. Together with a functional Activities Questionnaire, the Mini-Cog can accurately diagnose mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and undiagnosed dementia, which are often the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

The three little words are penny, apple, and table. A tester recites the three words and then has the patient recall them. Patients were also given a piece of paper with a blank circle and asked to draw a clock that read ten minutes after eleven. The questionnaire was filled out by family members. They rated the patients’ performance on daily activities in four categories ranging from “normal” to “dependent.”

“Since current medications can only delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease but are not able to reverse its devastating effects, a test like this is key to helping individuals detect this devastating disease earlier and maintain a good quality of life for as long as possible,” said James Lah, M.D., lead investigator of the study.

According to Dr. Lah, screening for mild cognitive impairment is difficult and requires up to an hour of neuropsychological testing to achieve an accuracy rate of 80 percent. The new, three-minute test was 74 percent accurate in classifying people. “While this may not seem over impressive, it is quite remarkable for a three-minute test,” Lah said, adding that the test was “also extremely inexpensive, easy to administer and score, and requires no special training.”

Editor's Note:

Brain Surgeon Reveals How to Save Your Brain from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Other Diseases


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2. Simple Blood Test for Colon Cancer

People are often reluctant to undergo a routine but painful colonoscopy ― but the consequences can be fatal. According to the American Cancer Society, colon cancer is the third most common cancer found in American men and women and kills about 50,000 Americans every year.

“85% of those who develop colon cancer have no symptoms or family history,” says Prof. Nadir Arber, a professor of medicine and gastroenterology, at Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine. “Generally speaking, it’s much harder to get these people to comply with taking the test.”

To convince more people to undergo the potentially life-saving colonoscopy, Prof. Arber has developed a simple early-warning test that can detect colon cancer in the blood. Using biomarkers, it is the first test on the market that can detect cells of colon polyps, the precursors to colon cancer in the blood, with a very high degree of sensitivity and accuracy.

This painless, non-invasive and inexpensive test could very well be a breakthrough of the decade.

“If we can identify those who are prone to cancer through a less invasive test, we can convince them to do the colonoscopy,” leading to earlier detection and treatment, says Prof. Arber, who heads the Integrated Cancer Prevention Center at the Tel Aviv Souraski Medical Center.

Now being prepared for the market by Bio Mark Ltd., a subsidiary of Micromedic Technologies Ltd., Prof. Arber’s “CD24” test could begin to save thousands of Americans’ lives by as early as 2010. With the test, doctors can catch polyp growth in the colon in 80% of patients.

The American Cancer Society suggests that all Americans over the age of 50 receive periodic colonoscopies. With Prof. Arber’s test, doctors will be able to screen patients for colon cancer quickly and easily as part of a routine blood test. While not 100% accurate, it will provide a convincing argument for patients to undergo the colonoscopy, and then polyp removal, if necessary.

The novel invention is based on testing CD24, the oncogene for colorectal cancer. It utilizes the fact that polyps in the colon emit biomarkers, which can be detected in the blood at very low levels. Recent studies show that the test can correctly identify adenomas, the polyps that convert to colon cancer, at a success rate of more than 80%.

Some patients forego colonoscopy not just out of fear or distaste, but due to its high cost. Here, too, the breakthrough is significant. While traditional colonoscopies cost about about $1,500 per test, Prof. Arber’s procedure is expected to cost much less ― $50 to $100 per test.

Prof. Arber is also working on a drug that prevents the growth of polyps in the colon.

Editor's Note:

You Can Prevent Deadly Colon Cancer


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3. Pill as Good as Chemo for Lung Cancer

Some advanced lung cancer patients already treated with chemotherapy might be able to skip some of the bad side effects of another series of chemo by taking a pill instead, a study suggests. An international study showed patients on Iressa, an expensive, newer targeted treatment, survived about as long as those on another course of chemotherapy.

"This will provide us with another drug in our armory," said Dr. Michael Seckl, head of Cancer Research UK's Lung Cancer Group at Imperial College in London. Seckl was not connected to the research, which was published Friday in the Lancet medical journal.

Few treatments for lung cancer exist, and most patients die within a few years of diagnosis. Lung cancer kills about 1.4 million people every year.

Iressa, made by AstraZeneca PLC, is one of several new targeted drugs that attack specific growth receptors on cancer cells, doing less harm to patients. But Iressa costs thousands of dollars every month, much more than standard chemotherapy.

It is sold in the United States, but is not licensed in Europe, although it has been available on a limited compassionate use basis.

Two other lung cancer drugs, Tarceva and Avastin, made by Roche Holding AG, are already on the market in the United Kingdom, and Tarceva works similarly to Iressa.

In the study, paid for by AstraZeneca, researchers studied 1,433 advanced lung cancer patients in 24 countries, who had already gone through chemotherapy. Roughly half were given Iressa, or gefitinib, once a day. The other half were on docetaxel, a chemotherapy drug given intravenously every three weeks.

Patients on Iressa survived about 7.6 months while those on chemotherapy survived about 8 months. After one year, 32 percent of patients on Iressa were still alive, versus 34 percent of chemotherapy patients.

The most common side effects in Iressa patients were rash, acne and diarrhea. The patients on chemo most often suffered from fatigue, a higher risk for infections, and hair loss.

In the U.S., Iressa is approved for use in patients who failed chemotherapy. The drug tends to work better in patients who have never smoked, Asians, women and those with a certain genetic profile.

"In the patients that respond, it is very dramatic," said Seckl, who has seen patients live years on the drug. He did not work with AstraZeneca on Iressa, but has consulted with them on other drugs.

"Though the benefits of prolonging life are modest, patients on (Iressa) get a higher quality of life," said Chris Twelves, a professor of clinical cancer oncology at Leeds University. "That should swing the pendulum in its favor."

Copyright Reuters

Editor's Note:

Can Eating the Right Foods Prevent Cancer? Yes! Discover Details Here


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4. Heartburn or Heart Attack?

You know the drill: join the family for feasting on a high-fat, carbohydrate-filled meal followed by a generous slice of pumpkin pie. Regret—brought on by the growing storm in your stomach—begins before you even make your way to the couch.

While some people sleep off their heartburn, others are roused by alarming symptoms. The pain in their chest – is it heartburn or heart attack? The symptoms are similar, but the health consequences differ dramatically.

“We see people in the Emergency Room who think they are only having severe heartburn or experiencing the flu when they are actually having a heart attack,” said Nick Zenarosa, M.D., emergency medicine physician on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

If you think you are experiencing heartburn, Dr. Zenarosa recommends watching for the following symptoms which are not typical of heartburn and could indicate a heart attack:

- Breaking into a cold sweat

- Pain moving from the chest into the jaw, shoulder or arms

- Increased pain when you exert yourself

- Rapid onset of fatigue

- Shortness of breath

- Turning pale

- Slow or no response of symptoms to antacids

- Nausea and possible vomiting

Keep in mind that the signs of a heart attack can be subtle, particularly in women. If you are experiencing any of these signs, coupled with chest pain and/or pain that radiates through your jaw or down your arm, be sure to go to an Emergency Room.

Time is of essence when a person is having a heart attack. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, the sooner clot-busting drugs and other artery-opening treatments are started, the more good they will do, and the greater the chances are for survival and a full recovery.

Editor's Note:

Prevent Heart Attacks With Natural Remedies, Not Drugs


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5. Autumn Babies Have More Asthma

It is said that timing is everything, and that certainly appears to be true for autumn infants. Children who are born four months before the height of cold and flu season have a greater risk of developing childhood asthma than children born at any other time of year, according to new research.

The study analyzed the birth and medical records of more than 95,000 children and their mothers in Tennessee to determine whether date of birth in relationship to the peak in winter respiratory viruses posed a higher risk for developing early childhood asthma. They found that while having clinically significant bronchiolitis at any age during infancy was associated with an increased risk of childhood asthma, for autumn babies, that risk was the greatest.

“Infant age at the winter virus peak following birth independently predicts asthma development, with the highest risk being for infants born approximately four months prior to the peak, which is represented by birth in the fall months in the Northern hemisphere. Birth during this time conferred a nearly 30 percent increase in odds of developing asthma,” said Tina V. Hartert, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of medicine and director of the center for Asthma Research at Vanderbilt University, and principal investigator of the study.

The research was published in the first issue for December of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society.

The study demonstrated for the first time that timing of birth in relationship to the peak in winter virus activity independently predicts asthma development.

The researchers propose two non-mutually exclusive possible reasons for the link: One, that there is a genetic susceptibility common to both bronchiolitis and the development of asthma; and two, that an environmental exposure such as winter viral infection causes asthma.

“The risk of progressing from bronchiolitis to asthma is almost certainly influenced by genetic factors,” wrote Dr. Hartert. “However, if this association were due only to genetic factors, there would be a seasonal effect on infection but not on asthma…Instead we have shown that there is variation in the risk of developing asthma by the timing of birth in relationship to the winter virus peak for each year studied. This supports a causal relationship of childhood asthma with the winter virus peak after birth.”

Unfortunately, predicting the peak of winter virus season is difficult—it can vary by up to ten weeks a year, and Dr. Hartert notes that avoiding winter virus infection would be nearly impossible—70 percent of infants are infected in their first year of life—but that for families whose infants are at high risk for developing asthma, there are a number of ways to reduce the risks associated with birth timing, including avoiding infection through administration of a vaccine or immunoprophylaxis or timing of birth in the spring months. These strategies hold the hope for asthma prevention, however, these interventions first need to be studied.

“Prospective trials with antiviral strategies, including potential new vaccines targeting [respiratory viruses] in selected populations at risk should give us better understanding of the role of viral infections in early life in the causation of childhood asthma,” wrote Renato T. Stein, M.D., Ph.D., of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica in Porto Alegre, Brazil in the accompanying editorial.

Currently no effective primary and secondary asthma prevention measures exits, noted Dr. Hastert. “The next critical step is support for studies designed to determine whether prevention of the ubiquitous infections during infancy prevents childhood asthma.”

Editor's Note:

Are You the Victim of Hidden Allergies? Find Out Here


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Editor's Notes:

Brain Surgeon Reveals How to Save Your Brain from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Other Diseases
You Can Prevent Deadly Colon Cancer
Can Eating the Right Foods Prevent Cancer? Yes! Discover Details Here
Prevent Heart Attacks With Natural Remedies, Not Drugs
Are You the Victim of Hidden Allergies? Find Out Here
Eleven Key Strategies for Preventing Diabetes
You Could Be Getting the Wrong Tests – These Are the Ones You Really Need
Slow down the signs of aging including wrinkled skin, and memory loss
Special: Join Dr. Blaylock on a Cruise of the Mediterranean





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