Zark's

Searching for Compounds to Treat Alzheimer's Disease

Image Credit: National Institute on Aging

Discovering New Therapeutic Uses for Existing Molecules explains that on average, it is 13 years to advance a drug discovery to an approved product.  To shorten that delay, the National Institutes of Health is paying pharmaceutical companies to evaluate re-using known molecules for new treatments.

One of those molecules, will explore whether an investigational drug that blocks Fyn kinase, a type of protein, safely stops Alzheimer’s disease progression in humans.

For more information on Fyn kinase, see this report, Fyn Kinase Induces Synaptic and Cognitive Impairments in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Could Vaccines Cure Drug Addiction?

Mound of cocaine
Image Credit: National Institute on Drug Abuse

Mmm.  Despite some urban legends you might have heard as a youth, cocaine is not a byproduct of Coca Cola.  It is a powerful and addictive simulating drug made from the leaves of the cocoa plant.  It stimulates short bursts of energy, euphoria, and talkativeness.  Internally it elevates the heart rate and blood pressure.  Smoking or injecting cocaine produces a more intense high - 5 to 10 minutes.  Snorting cocaine creates a high lasting 15 to 30 minutes.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse explains that cocaine prevents dopamine from being recycled in the brain, causing excessive amounts to build up eventually disrupts normal brain communication.  Currently there is no pharma-assisted therapy for breaking cocaine addiction.

Cocaine vaccine stops cocaine in its tracks tells that researchers have developed a virus that coaxes the body's immune system to pounce on cocaine in the blood supply before it can enter the brain.  In their study, the scientists created a cold virus particle studded with cocaine-like molecules.  When injected into non-human primates, the virus tuned the immune system to pounce on cocaine in the bloodstream.  They were able to achieve the immune response for over four months.

 

 

Salmon for Omega-3s

Atlantic salmon is one of the major species grown in aquaculture.
Image Credit: USDA Agricultural Research Service

Almost 85 percent of the seafood consumed in the nation is imported.  About half of that is farm raised, or produced through aquaculture.

Two omega-3 fatty acids, EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), are abundant in oily fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, and herring. 

Although omega-3 fatty acids are associated with reduced heart-disease risk, some have fretted that baking salmon could reduce the good omega-3s, or even worse, produce harmful omega-3 byproducts.  The researchers discovered the key is to bake the fish to 145 degrees F and not overcook the fish.

Additional research showed that eating 6 ounces weekly resulted in desired healthy levels of EPA and DHA.

The only U.S. grown salmon is from the states of Washington and Maine. 

 

20% of Americans Visited ER Last Year

Image Credit: Amanda Mills, CDC

A surprising statistic from the CDC - One in five Americans report visiting emergency room at least once in the past year.

Associated with the report is the also surprising statistic that insured patients were more likely than uninsured to visit the emergency room.  I had expected ER visits to be heavily tilted toward patients that did not have access to conventional health services.  Only 8 percent of the population had multiple ER visits in the year.

For children, the most common visit was for cold symptoms.  For adults it was injuries. 

Only 16 percent of the visits required immediate hospitalization.  59 percent though, resulted in a drug prescription.  35 percent required an x-ray.

The complete report is available from the CDC. 

Something I considered interesting is the average cost per emergency room visit.  See the graphic below.  The data is a little old (2010), but it shows ER visits are costly medicine and should not be substituted for conventional healthcare.

Artificial sweeteners do more than fool sweet receptors

Glucose (top) and sucrose (bottom) are sugars made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.
Image Credit: National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Artificial sweeteners may do more than sweeten tells that the sweetener sucralose affects the body more than just taste sweet.  (Sucralose is the sweetener in Splenda.  Aspartame is a different sweetener.)

In a limited test, researchers studied the effects of the sweetener on severely obese patients who did not have diabetes and also did not consume artificial sweeteners. 

Surprisingly, when the test subjects drank products with sucralose prior to a glucose tolerance test, their blood sugar levels peaked at a higher level than with water. 

This could mean that when artificial sweeteners are consumed, the body is producing more insulin than required.  Too much insulin could result in resistance to insulin, which is the path to type 2 diabetes.

Prior to this study, it was believed that artificial sweeteners do not effect metabolism.  Researchers suspect there are other sweetness receptors in the body besides those in the mouth.  That would explain why the body produces the extra insulin. 

Much of this is speculation - it was a very limited test and additional research is required.

 

Suppressing CD33 - Help for Alzheimer's Disease?

Progression of Alzheimer's Disease
Image Credit: National Institute on Aging

Suppressing protein may stem Alzheimer's disease process explains the protein D33 is correlated with late-onset Alzheimer's by inhibiting helper cells from removing toxic plaques. 

CD-33 serves a useful function in the body - it regulates the immune system.  But apparently overproduction is harmful in the brain.  Researchers were aided by comparisons to people with a genetic variation of the CD33 gene.  This group had substantially less plaque accumulation in the brain.

The study is timely because research had almost taken a 180 degree turn to where researchers were accepting the plaques were a protective response mechanism of the brain, rather than the cause of Alzheimer's Disease.

It is difficult to administer CD-33 regulating drugs because the drug must cross the blood-brain barrier.  It is a race to discover some treatments before the baby boomers are afflicted in large numbers.  NIH-supported study finds U.S. dementia care costs as high as $215B in 2010 explains this number could double by 2040.  To date, there is no treatment available. 

Dementia costs are equivalent of cancer and heart disease, but within 30 years, it could dwarf everything else.

 

Keeping Polio Out

This 1960 historic photograph depicted a nurse caring for a victim of a Rhode Island polio epidemic, who was inside an Emerson respirator, also sometimes referred to as an “iron lung” machine.
Image Credit: CDC

A Polio-Free U.S. Thanks to Vaccine Efforts tells the U.S. has been polio-free since 1979.  In the early 1950s, polio struck 35,000 people annually. The CDC tells the disease seemed to peak during the summer, and parents were reluctant to allow their childrent to go outside.  Frequently there would be quarantines in cities and towns.

Polio is spread by a virus and is highly contagious.  Oddly, the body's autoimmune system will frequently handle the polio virus with only flu-like side effects.  But when not, there are different types of polio - one attacks the brain stem, requiring an iron lung for the patients to breathe.  Another attacks the spine, causing the victims to have loss of leg functions.

Recall that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was struck with polio that resulted in permanent paralysis from the waist down.  After leaving office, he helped found what is now called The March of Dimes. 

The removal of polio from the nation is credited upon: a) the development of an effective vaccine, b) health care professionals, and c) parents who diligently ensure their children are vaccinated.  The latter two are still missing in some countries today and if you travel to any of these, you should have a polio booster shot.

 

The Importance of Vitamin B-12

Cooking Demonstration, Circa 1930-1940
Image Credit: History of Medicine

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient essential for our blood and nerve cells.  It is also required by all cells for DNA replication.  For most of us, we obtain B12 in two steps.  In our stomach, hydrochloric acid separates vitamin B12 from the protein carrying the nutrient.  The stripped B12 is then combined with our own protein called intrinsic factor so that it can be absorbed by the body.  Intrinsic factor is a glycoprotein produced by the lining of our stomach. 

Somewhere between 1.5 and 15 percent of the general population have an inability to produce sufficient B12.  Adults over 50 frequently have the inability to produce B12 and require either oral supplements or B12 injections.  In our food supply, B12 only appears natively in animal protein.  Vegetarians and those with very light animal protein intake may also be B12 deficient.  (It is not present in unfortified plant foods.)

Vitamin B12 deficiency can result in tiredness, weakness, constipation, weight loss, heart disease, dementia, and other nervous problems.  Continued deficiency can permanently damage the nervous system - symptoms are tingling and numbness.

 

 

 

 

Sleep Quality Essential for Memories

Mulit-color image of whole brain
Image Credit: National Institute of Mental Health

How Snoozing Strengthens Memories explains that during the day, we create thousands and thousands of memories, although only a few are remembered.  But these newly formed memories are fragile.  During sleep, the brain searches through all those fragile memories and determines what to keep and what to discard.

After practicing on a new piano piece, I will play it better the next day after sleeping on it.  This is true of some other activities in our lives.  Memories are reinforced during deep sleep, not rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Also, see my blog, Exploring the Secrets of Sleep.

NIMH also explains that adults over 60 have up to 70 percent less deep sleep than younger adults.  As a consequence, older adults lose their ability to remember.  Researchers are attempting to improve deep sleep for older adults in hope of improving their memory. 

Besides reinforcing the things that we want to remember, the brain also eliminates clutter during sleep.  We have a finite number of neurons and in order to compose new memories, sleep discards the unimportant things we experienced so that we can efficiently learn the next day.  Hence, the key to memorization is good sleep before and good sleep afterwards.

 

Resetting the Brain After Addiction

Image Credit: National Institute on Drug Abuse

I like the NIDA's definition - "Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences."  Any questions?

People are complex, so the reasons drug addiction begins vary, but they can be categorized as: a) to feel good, b) to feel better, c) to do better, and d) curiosity and because 'others' are doing it.  Vulnerability to addiction differs from person to person and no single factor has been identified to determine whether an individual will become addicted.

NIH study sheds light on how to reset the addicted brain explains scientists have learned from cocaine-addicted rats.  Human studies have previously linked addiction with with deficits in the prefrontal cortex.  This describes compulsion despite damaging negative consequences such as destroying relationships or risking criminal prosecution.  In addicts, the prefrontal cells don't fire and warn the individual against damaging behavior.

By studying prefrontal cells in addicted and control rats, they compared nerve cell firings.  By exposing the addicted cells to light, they could coax the prefrontal cells to fire, and decrease the addictive compulsion. 

We are not yet ready to begin implanting light bulbs in the heads of addicts, but perhaps we have discovered new therapy that allows an person's brain to stop the damaging compulsion.  To understand the urgency, in 2011 there were over 1.4 million Americans addicted to cocaine.  But there is not a single medication approved for treatment of cocaine addiction.