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Gene therapy for the unborn

Successful trials raise hopes for end to inherited human disorders. Scientists are on the verge of ridding inherited diseases from future generations with a new technique for swapping genes between unfertilised human eggs before the resulting IVF embryos are implanted into the womb.

The technique has been successfully tested on laboratory monkeys and researchers believe it is now safe enough to apply for clinical trials on the many thousands of women at risk of giving birth to babies with some of the most debilitating inherited disorders.

Such a procedure would break new ground and raise fresh ethical concerns over the direction of IVF research because it would lead to permanent changes to the genetic make-up of children that would be passed on to subsequent generations of the same families.

» The Independent UK [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Swine Flu Pandemic Paradox Kills Few, Overwhelms ICUs

“We have run out of bed space, we have run out of nurses,” Shaw, 47, said after working in the ICU and being on- call for 185 hours over 11 days. “There will be people who die because they were denied access to other treatments.”

Health officials call it the swine flu paradox. As the new H1N1 strain spreads, the majority of patients recover within days and the number of deaths is a fraction of the seasonal flu toll. Those statistics mask an alarming reality: the pandemic has strained intensive care units and a resurgence of the virus in the fall could bring a public health disaster, experts say.

» Bloomberg [ Contribute: submit link / submit article ]

Life Expectancy: World Health Statistics 2007

A boy born in San Marino, a tiny republic surrounded by Italy, will likely live to age 80, the world's longest male life expectancy, but newborn girls in Japan and 30 other countries have even better prospects. Females in Japan, who traditionally lead the world tables, have a life expectancy of 86 years, the same as last year's statistics. San Marino men, who tied with Japanese men last year at 79, added a year to get ahead.

Following San Marino on the male side were Australia, Iceland, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland at 79 years and then Canada, Israel, Italy, Monaco and Singapore at 78. France was tied for 12th place at 77 years with a group of countries including New Zealand and Britain. Germany was at 76 years. United States was among the countries that tied the U.S. for 33rd place at 75 years.

Countries with long-living women include Monaco, 85 years, and Andorra, Australia, France, Italy, San Marino, Spain and Switzerland at 84. Canada tied Iceland and Sweden at 83 years for women, and Germany was in a group at 82 years. Britain came in at 81 years. Costa Rica and Denmark tied the United States for 32nd place at 80 years.

» Database / Downloads [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

[ PDF ] View the ten global health highlights
[ PDF ] Review the indicator definitions and metadata

Team unearths genetic risk factors for diabetes

Scientists have discovered three unsuspected regions of human DNA that contain clear genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and another that is associated with elevated blood triglycerides.

Using this approach, the DGI team and their collaborators identified and confirmed three novel regions of the genome that influence the risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as a genomic region that is linked with blood triglyceride levels. Perhaps the most intriguing result involves a DNA region that lies far from any known annotated genes. Such genomic "outsiders" would have been incredibly difficult to find by traditional hypothesis-driven approaches.

» mit.edu / DGI [ Contribute: submit link / submit article / submit company ]

Common genetic variation is linked to substantial risk for heart attack

A common genetic variation on chromosome 9p21 is linked to a substantial increase in risk for heart attack, according to a new international research study. The findings are published in the online edition of Science, and will appear in an upcoming printed edition of the journal.

Researchers found individuals with the variation have a 1.64-fold greater risk of suffering a heart attack (myocardial infarction) and a 2.02-fold greater risk of suffering a heart attack early in life (before age 50 for men and before age 60 for women) than those without the variation. Approximately 21 percent of individuals of European descent carry two copies of the genetic variation (one from each parent), found on chromosome 9p21. The research project was led by the Icelandic genomics company deCODE Genetics, along with U.S. researchers at Emory University School of Medicine, Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

» Emory University

Tags: deCODE+Genetics, Emory+University, Genetic+Variation

Virulent New Strain of TB Raising Fears of Pandemic; Bug Is Resistant to Most Available Drugs

A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS.

Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication. Rather than being killed by the drugs, the microbe builds up resistance to them.

» washingtonpost.com

Unlocking the Secrets of Longevity Genes

Calorie restriction while maintaining nutrient levels has long been known to dramatically increase life spans. Very different lab animals, from worms to mice, live up to 50% longer (or even more) on the restricted diets. However, so far, nobody has been able to figure out how this works.

Scientists at the Salk Institute have found a specific gene in worms (there's a very similar one in people) that is directly involved in the longevity effect. That opens up the interesting possibility that doctors may someday be able to activate that gene directly and we can live long and prosper.

» news.bbc.co.uk

» Nature
» Scientific American

Adverse drug reactions / Drug reaction deaths

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) result in hundreds of deaths a year in the U.S. Whether these are reactions are from allergies, existing conditions, over-the-counter interactions or multiple drug interactions, is not quite known. And data for 2005 and 2006 is not yet available to help fill in the picture.

Stark warning about rising Medicare costs

Medicare trustees issued the first ever statutory warning over the long-term finances of the government-backed health programme for senior citizens on Monday.

The warning, required by law, came as new projections showed the share of Medicare costs paid out of general taxation would exceed 45 per cent by 2013. More realistic assumptions suggest this threshold could be breached as early as 2010.

“Today is a historic occasion and not a happy one,” Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary, said. He said he was frustrated at the lack of response to his efforts to generate a bipartisan initiative to tackle the problem of financing Medicare and the other main entitlement programmes, Medicaid and Social Security.

“There was a time when I was a bit more optimistic than I was today,” he said. “I am getting a little bit tired of playing solitaire.”

[ PDF ] 2007 Medicare Trustees Report

» HHS Press Release on the 2007 Medicare Trustees Report
» Financial Times

Why gene patents are bad / Michael Crichton op-ed

He begins with 'You, or someone you love, may die because of a gene patent that should never have been granted in the first place. Sound far-fetched? Unfortunately, it's only too real.' From there, he moves on to use logic, statistics, and his way with words to make his point. Arguing against the high costs of gene therapies thanks to related patents, he eventually offers hope that one day legislation will de-incentivize the hoarding of scientific knowledge. As he points out: 'When SARS was spreading across the globe, medical researchers hesitated to study it — because of patent concerns. There is no clearer indication that gene patents block innovation, inhibit research and put us all at risk.

» New York Times

The psychology of security / The reality of the risk

Security is both a feeling and a reality. And they're not the same.

Most of the time, when the perception of security doesn't match the reality of security, it's because the perception of the risk doesn't match the reality of the risk. We worry about the wrong things: paying too much attention to minor risks and not enough attention to major ones. We don't correctly assess the magnitude of different risks. A lot of this can be chalked up to bad information or bad mathematics, but there are some general pathologies that come up over and over again.

• People exaggerate spectacular but rare risks and downplay common risks.
• People have trouble estimating risks for anything not exactly like their normal situation.
• Personified risks are perceived to be greater than anonymous risks.
• People underestimate risks they willingly take and overestimate risks in situations they can't control.
• Last, people overestimate risks that are being talked about and remain an object of public scrutiny.

[ PDF ] view document » schneier.com

Big pharma calling journals' shots?

Money talks, and the drug industry's dollar talks loud and clear through the pages of leading medical journals. That's the conclusion of Peter Gøtzsche and his team at the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark, who compared reviews of drug studies funded by pharmaceutical companies with similar reviews done without industry support.
Via: New Scientist

Value of Cholesterol Targets Is Disputed

A provocative review paper published this month has raised questions about the aggressive cholesterol-lowering recommendations made two years ago by a government panel.

The panel, the National Cholesterol Education Program, urged patients at risk for heart disease to reduce sharply their harmful LDL cholesterol and to try to reach specific, very low levels. Though the authors of the new paper, published in the Oct. 3 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, endorse the use of cholesterol-lowering statins, they say there is not enough solid scientific evidence to support the target numbers for LDL cholesterol set forth by the government panel.

The authors’ argument challenges mainstream medical thinking and the consensus among most cardiologists that the lower the cholesterol is, the better.
Via: New York Times
Via: Annals of Internal Medicine

[Research] Mediterranean Diet and Alzheimer Disease

Dietary pattern analysis has recently received growing attention in relation to many diseases because individuals do not consume foods or nutrients in isolation but rather as components of their daily diet.
Via: USA Today
[PDF] Mediterranean Diet, Alzheimer Disease, and Vascular Mediation

[Report] U.S. Hospital Outcomes Vary Widely

Before you check into a hospital, it may be wise to check out the hospital's quality. That's because treatment outcomes at U.S. hospitals vary widely, depending on which state, city or individual hospital provides the care, a new report finds.

The report, HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study, found that patients have a 69 percent lower risk of dying at "5-star" hospitals compared with "1-star" institutions.
Via: Forbes
[PDF] The Ninth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study

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