Brain Tumour Can Now Be Treated Using A Non-Invasive Procedure

The engineers of Duke University have found out a novel way of providing treatment to brain tumour without actually operating on it. The scientists who worked on this have come up with an ultrasound catheter which can be fit into the large blood vessels present in the brain. These two catheters will perform two vital functions. These catheters which have been designed by the Duke University scientists also provide 3-D images which move in the real time. Yet another feature of these catheters is that they can generate localized temperature increases. The researchers feel that this system can be used along with chemotherapy drugs which are encased in the heat sensitive microbubbles known as the liposomes. The drugs which carry the lipososmes will be injected by the physicians into the blood stream of the patient and then one of the catheters will be inserted into the site of the brain tumour through one of the blood vessels. This information was given by Carl Herickhoff, who is a fourth year graduate student of Pratt School of Engineering at the Duke’s. He is also the first author the paper which will be published in the Ultrasonic Imaging journal. The ultrasound will be used by the catheter first for imaging the brain tumour. Then a higher power beam will be directed for generating heat at the location of the tumour. This will melt the liposomes and release the chemotherapy drugs. The experiments were done on animal models as well as simulated tissues and the researchers have shown that a very thin catheter which can be inserted in one of the vital blood vessels of the brain is possible. They also demonstrated that this will serve the dual purpose of visualisation and heating. By IndiaServer.com

Lower Thyroid Levels Indicate A Longer Life

Last Updated06-21-2009 16:32:03 According to a research conducted on the levels of thyroid, it has been proved that people who actually have lower levels of thyroid are actually the ones with a longer lifetime. According to the researchers from the Montefiore Medical Centre and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York the people who have low thyroid activity levels hold the keys to a longer life. Thyroid, which is located in the neck, is a type of master gland, which secretes those hormones which are related to the metabolism levels. The activity of the thyroid gland is normally checked by means of an indirect measure. The method takes the help of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. A high level of this particular hormone indicates that the thyroid gland is underactive. Such a condition is known medically as hypothyroidism. The overactive condition, known under hyperthyroidism, is indicated by low levels of TSH. People who have suffer from hypothyroidism gain weight, lose hair and are very sluggish where as hyperthyroidism leads to losing weight, racing of the hearts as well as trembling of the hands. The researchers had studied hundreds of people who had a lifespan of 100 years and above and found out that their thyroid levels were comparatively low. According to the study, about 15%to 20% of the people who are above the age of 60 have high TSH levels which indicated that the thyroid glands of these people were under active.

Drug Ipilimumab has cured prostate cancer victims

Drug Ipilimumab has cured prostate cancer victims Last Updated: 06-21-2009 Two men with prostate cancer that were at such an advanced stage they were considered inoperable, have "dramatically recovered" after being treated with an experimental drug, the Sunday Times reported. "Both are cancer-free and have returned to normal life," the newspaper said. It said the two men, Rodger Nelson and Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta, took part in US trials of a drug called Ipilimumab. "?Researchers were so excited by the men's recovery that they released details before completion of the tests, which involved 108 men in all," the paper reported. Eugene Kwon, who led the trial at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, said the two patients were not expected to survive, but "we were startled to see responses that far exceeded expectations". The patients received traditional hormone therapy to remove testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer. They then had one dose of Ipilimumab, an antibody that boosts the immune system's response. Both patients saw their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels drop to the point where they could have surgery. But when the surgeons made their incisions, urologist Michael Blute said: "The tumours had shrunk dramatically. I had a hard time finding the cancer." John Neate of the Prostate Cancer Charity in the UK told the Sunday Times: "If these early and small-scale results are replicated in larger trials, this represents a potentially very exciting development." By IndiaServer.com

FDA Approves Agent for Treatment of CAPS in Children and Adults

By Peggy Peck, Executive Editor, MedPage Today Published: June 19, 2009 WASHINGTON, June 19 -- The FDA has approved canakinumab (Ilaris) for treatment of rare, life-threatening inflammatory disorders characterized as cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome, or CAPS. In a press release, Novartis, which developed the drug, said canakinumab was the first "approved treatment for patients as young as four years old suffering from two forms of CAPS: familial cold autoinflammatory syndrome (FCAS) and Muckle-Wells syndrome (MWS)." CAPS is caused by a single gene mutation that leads to overproduction of interleukin-1 beta, which causes sustained inflammation and tissue damage. Canakinumab, previously known as ACZ885, is a fully human monoclonal antibody that rapidly and selectively blocks IL-1 beta. In addition to FCAS and MWS, a third disorder -- neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease or NOMID -- is grouped under the umbrella term CAPS. The FDA approval of canakinumab did not include its use for NOMID, but a clinical study is ongoing to evaluate the drug in that capacity. There are currently no approved therapies for the treatment of NOMID. Symptoms of CAPS include debilitating fatigue, rash, fever, headaches, joint pain, and conjunctivitis. Complications of the lifelong syndrome include deafness, bone and joint deformities, central nervous system damage leading to visual loss, and amyloidosis resulting in renal failure and early death. "Until now, treatments for CAPS patients have been limited to traditional inflammatory-disease medications that work by suppressing the entire immune system, and newer therapies that control the disease better but require more frequent injections," said Hal Hoffman, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at University of California, San Diego. Dr. Hoffman was involved in Novartis-funded clinical trials of canakinumab. Canakinumab was approved as an orphan drug, with only 300 known cases in the U.S. But in its statement, Novartis said diagnosis is difficult so the true incidence is probably higher. The FDA approval was based on a three-part, one-year phase 3 study involving 35 patients ages nine to 74 with varying degrees of disease severity. According to results published in June 4, 2009, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, "34 of the 35 patients (97%) had a complete response to canakinumab. Of these patients, 31 entered part 2, and all 15 patients receiving canakinumab remained in remission. Disease flares occurred in 13 of the 16 patients (81%) receiving placebo (P<0.001)." Twenty-eight of 31 patients who completed all three parts of the study had sustained remission until the end of the trial. Two serious adverse events occurred during treatment with canakinumab: one case of urosepsis and an episode of vertigo.