Cancer gene carriers cut risk with ovarian surgery
Women who carry a gene mutation that increases their risk of breast cancer appear to be able to lower their risk of breast and gynecologic cancers by undergoing the removal of their ovaries, results of a 10-year follow-up study show.
Dr. Fatima Laki and colleagues at the Institut Curie in Paris analyzed the survival rates of 89 women with BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutations who has their ovaries removed, a procedure also referred to as salpingo-oophorectomy, between 1994 and 2004 at their institution.
Experimental gene therapy ‘abolishes’ arthritis pain and lessens joint damage
Early-stage research has found that a new gene therapy can nearly eliminate arthritis pain, and significantly reduce long-term damage to the affected joints, according to a study published today in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism. While the study was done in mice, they are the first genetically engineered to develop osteoarthritis like humans, with the same genetic predisposition that makes some more likely to develop the disease, the authors said. If all goes well with a follow-up study currently underway, researchers will apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for permission to begin human trials next year.
Nearly everyone aged 65 or older suffers from the pain, swelling and permanent joint damage of osteoarthritis. The most common form of arthritis, it develops over time following initial joint injuries or just as a result of aging. In the current study, researchers found that one injection of a newly designed gene therapy relieved 100 percent of osteoarthritic pain in the study model. In addition, researchers were surprised to find that the therapy also brought about a nearly 35 percent reduction in permanent structural to joints caused by round and after round of osteoarthritic inflammation.
Coffee consumption may lower blood uric acid levels—the precursor of gout
High uric acid levels in the blood are a precursor of gout, the most common inflammatory arthritis in adult men. It is believed that coffee and tea consumption may affect uric acid levels but only one study has been conducted to date. A new large-scale study published in the June 2007 issue of Arthritis Care & Research examined the relationship between coffee, tea, caffeine intake, and uric acid levels and found that coffee consumption is associated with lower uric acid levels but that this appears to be due to components other than caffeine.
Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world; more than 50 percent of Americans drink it at the average rate of 2 cups per day. Because of this widespread consumption, its potential effects have important implications for public and individual health.
Complications seen burdening type 2 diabetic kids
Children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes, like adults, are at risk for developing complications from the disease. However, these complications are expected to develop earlier in young patients, experts say.
Given the rise in childhood cases of diabetes because of the obesity epidemic, this finding suggests there’ll be “serious public-health challenges in the next few decades.”
