Traffic light test could provide early diagnosis of liver disease

A new traffic light test could help doctors diagnose liver disease earlier in high risk populations. The Southampton Traffic Light (STL) test, developed by Dr Nick Sheron and colleagues, at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, combines several different tests and clinical markers.

It is estimated one in five adults inEngland, some 10 million people regularly exceed Government advice on safe drinking. However because liver disease develops without symptoms, many people have no idea they have liver failure until it is too late.

The Department of Health states, “Men should not drink more than three to four units of alcohol a day and women should not regularly drink more than two to three units a day.”

The Royal College of Physicians also advises no more than 21 units per week for men and 14 units per week for women. An average pint of beer or lager contains roughly two units of alcohol. A small 125ml glass of ordinary strength wine has one and a half units, while a 25ml shot of a 40 per cent spirit has one unit.

The Southampton Traffic Light test combines different tests and indicators, to give a score showing the likelihood of a patient developing a problem. The researchers said, “The test can diagnose liver disease much earlier, enabling those at risk to change their drinking habits, which could save their lives.”

They also went on to say, “That while it should not be a substitute for clinical judgment or other tests, it could help GP’s determine the potential severity of liver disease, in high risk patients such as heavy drinkers, those with type 2 diabetes or the obese.”

Dr Nick Sheron, a consultant at Southampton General Hospital who led the study, and who published his work in the British Journal of General Practice, hopes the test will save lives. He said, “We are reliant on general practitioners detecting liver disease in the community, so they can intervene to prevent serious liver problems developing, but so far we haven’t been able to give them the tools they need to do this.”

Nurses could take blood from those doctors recommend to be tested one week, for them to return for the results the next. Like traffic lights, the scores are given in three colours. Red will mean the patient already has liver fibrosis and may have cirrhosis. Amber means there is at least a 50:50 chance of scarring, with a significant possibility of death within five years. In such cases patients should be advised to stop drinking, to reduce their chance of developing further diseases, whilst green means there is no cirrhosis.

It was given to more than 1,000 patients, and their progress carefully followed, in some cases over several years, to assess the ability of the test to predict the onset of liver fibrosis or cirrhosis.

After proving accurate in severe liver disease, it is hoped the test could help GPs accurately assess the potential severity, of liver disease in high risk patients, including heavy drinkers, those with type 2 diabetes, or  people. Dr Sheron said, “It is a powerful tool and a message for people. We find that for most patients this is a pretty good stimulus to stop drinking or at least to cut down to safe levels.”

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, said, “One of the challenges of liver disease, which is rising dramatically in this country, is the silent nature of the condition, which is that it is often too late to reverse the damage. This large study from Dr Sheron and colleagues in Southampton may prove really useful for guiding the right patients towards specialist care in a timely way.”

Heavy smokers are at risk of a fatal brain bleed

Medical Specialists Pharmacy has been the bearer of bad news for smokers numerous times this year already; with more and more compelling scientific evidence and studies to emerge that prove just how dangerous tobacco smoke is for your health. It is probably for these reasons that we are experiencing a massive demand for the smoking cessation medication Champix, and this shows no signs of slowing down in the future.

To add to the misery for smokers around the world, we must now report on more risks that come from lighting up a cigarette. In fact, smoking more than 20 of them each day may almost triple your chance of suffering a potentially deadly brain haemorrhage, research suggests.

Korean researchers led by Dr Chi Kyung Kim, from Seoul National University Hospital, studied 426 episodes of subarachnoid haemorrhage (brain bleeds)  from 33 different hospitals across Korea in a two year period, between 2002 and 2004.

A subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is usually a very sudden and painful headache caused by a burst in a weakened artery inside the brain. It is typically described as like ‘being hit on the head with a shovel’ by those unfortunate to experience one. They account for roughly one in 20 strokes in England and the main causes for them are thought to include smoking, long-term excessive alcohol intake and a family history of brain aneurysms. Chances of survival are limited at about 50%, but many patients are left with a varying degree of disability.

For the study at the Seoul National University Hospital, Dr Kim and his colleagues contrasted the 426 patients against the same number of people who had not suffered a brain bleed in those two years, with age and sex identical for each person. The average age for the subjects was 50 and the researchers analysed medical history, lifestyle and smoking habits for everybody.

Results of the study will no doubt raise many eyebrows and paint a further damning portrait into the damage that cigarettes do to the human body. In the group who had suffered from a brain bleed, the number of smokers was determined to be much greater, together with the proportions of those with a family history of stroke and blood pressure problems.

Nearly 38% of those in the brain bleed group were current smokers, compared with 25% in the other group. The researchers study suggests that by not smoking for at least five years results in a massive reduction in overall risk, dropping to 59%. However, those with a history of smoking over 20 cigarettes each day were still approximately 2.3 times more likely to suffer an SAH compared to people who have never smoked.

Dr Kim and his team presented their findings in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, and said, “We have demonstrated that cigarette smoking increases the risk of SAH, but smoking cessation decreases the risk in a time dependent manner, although this beneficial effect may be diminished in heavy smokers. To forestall tragic SAH events, our results call for more global and vigorous efforts for people to stop smoking.”

MHRA pull the plug on dangerous sports supplements

A popular sports supplement drink used for losing weight or as a pre-exercise boost agent for gym fanatics, has this week been banned from the UK market by The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after the Governmental agency deemed that Jack3D’s side effects were potentially dangerous. Their main concern was due to the product containing the stimulant known as DMAA (1, 3-dimethylamylamine).

Ingestion of DMAA has been shown to be connected to shortness of breath, narrowing of arteries, psychiatric disorders, vomiting, heart attacks and strokes.  Due to the safety concerns, the MHRA have long campaigned for any products that contain DMAA to be classified as unlicensed medicinal products and should be governed by strict medicine controls.

DMAA has already been banned in Australia by the Therapeutic Goods Association following the death of a man who had obtained a sports aid through the internet that had contained the lethal substance. In addition, there would have been no chance of any athletes taking it at the London Olympics earlier in the month, as DMAA is listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned substances.

Sports supplements with DMAA have long gotten away with such free public sale as a ‘medicinal product’ due to the potent herbal properties in them. However, as the dangers have become more and more apparent, action needed to be taken and this came in the form of the MHRA issuing eight ‘urgent notices’ ordering all retailers to immediately withdraw Jack3D and all other similar products  that have DMAA in them.

David Carter, the Manager of the MHRA’s Medicines Borderline Section, spoke on the risks about the drug and said, “People need to be aware when choosing their sports supplements. These products may claim to increase performance but contain powerful ingredients which can have serious side-effects. We recommend that people only use approved products and speak to a qualified medical practitioner if they have any concerns about any supplements they may be taking.”

Graham Arthur, Director of Legal at UK Anti-Doping, added to David Carter’s comments and he said, “This is a significant step forward for all competitive athletes as methylhexaneamine (DMAA) is a banned substance ‘in-competition’ that frequently appears in over the counter and internet bought products but not clearly on the label.  Athletes who use sports supplements need to choose reputable manufacturers who can justify their claims with scientific evidence, and have their products screened to minimise the risk of testing positive for a substance on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List. UK Anti-Doping continues to work closely with the MHRA to protect the health of athletes and to prevent doping in sport.”

Eating nuts whilst pregnant could stop children developing asthma

Eating nuts during pregnancy can reduce the risk of children developing asthma, according to research carried out by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Bostonand the Statens Serum Institute of Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researchers examined the relationship between nut intake during pregnancy, and allergic disease outcomes, in early and later childhood of their offspring. The study was published in the peer reviewed Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

In the past women had been advised to avoid eating peanuts during pregnancy and while breast feeding, if they or the father had a family history of allergic conditions. Parents were also recommended not to give peanuts to children, until they are at least three years old to avoid sensitisation.

But in 2008 the Food Safety Agency (FSA), recommended the advice be dropped, after increasing expert advice and scientific evidence, that avoiding peanuts in early life was making the allergy problem worse. The advice had been in place since 1998 and was partly blamed for the rise of nut hysteria, with parents and children becoming increasingly worried about exposure to peanuts.
Now the Department of Health says, “Women can choose to eat peanuts or food containing peanuts, as part of a healthy balanced diet, unless mothers are allergic to them, or they have been advised not to by their health professional.”

Between 1996 and 2002, Danish women were enrolled in the study during their first antenatal visit. This study included 61,908 women who had a single baby and who had completed all questionnaires.
A 360 item food frequency questionnaire was given at around 25 weeks of pregnancy. This asked about snack consumption in the past month, separately assessing peanut and pistachio intake and the intake of nuts and almonds. Women were questioned about childhood asthma when the child was 18 months and 7 years old.

At 18 months they were asked whether a diagnosis of childhood asthma had been confirmed by a doctor, whether there were wheeze symptoms, and the number of wheeze episodes since birth. At 7 years of age, asthma cases were defined as those who self-reported doctor diagnosed asthma, plus wheezing symptoms in the past 12 months. The presence of other allergies, such as hay fever, was also reported at 7 years of age.

The researchers then looked at the association between nut consumption and the development of asthma, wheezing, or other allergies. The results were that a total of 61% of women (37,323) reported no peanut and tree nut intake during pregnancy, 3% of women (1,639) consumed peanuts one or more times per week, and 9% consumed tree nuts one or more times per week.

The researchers found a general inverse relationship between peanut or tree nut consumption and asthma at 18 months. There was a trend that consumption of peanuts and tree nuts, once monthly and two to three times monthly, significantly reduced risk of asthma compared to no consumption.
In conclusion the researchers stated that, “the results do not suggest that women should decrease peanut and tree nut intake during pregnancy, and that consumption of peanuts and tree nuts during pregnancy, might even decrease the risk of allergic disease development in children.”

This conclusion was backed up by Malayka Rahman, research analysis and communications officer at Asthma UK, who said, “This study suggests that eating peanuts and tree nuts during pregnancy, might decrease the risk of children developing allergic conditions, including asthma.”

Spider bite won’t turn you into Spiderman, but could give you an erection

Would you willingly take a tablet that comprised of the venom from the world’s deadliest spider? As unthinkable as this thought may sound, it could be close to reality if the research from Brazilian and American scientists eventually comes to fruition in the near future. We’ve all seen the Spiderman films which depict Peter Parker succumbing to a spider bite, and subsequently adopting the traits of the insect; scaling walls and being able to create spider webs. Obviously this isn’t possible in real-life and a purely fictional account of what happens after being bitten, but there are other interesting side effects it seems!

After conducting a study involving aging rats with sexual dysfunction, the scientists now claim that a toxin from the venom of the highly dangerous Brazilian ‘wandering spider’ can bizarrely be used to help treat erectile dysfunction in men.

Also known as the ‘banana spider’, due to their common tendency to hide out in shipments of bananas and lurk within banana plants, the wandering spiders received their name due to their inclination to roam around the jungle floor at night. They emanate from South and Central America and are responsible for more fatalities than any other type of spider, with the venom often killing the victim within just one hour.

For a number of years, there have been many instances of certain males being bitten by this spider and fortunately managing to receive the urgent medical treatment they require, and thus surviving. Following this, a good number of these men then reported a boost in their erections and sex lives, and the Brazilian and American researchers wanted to know more.

Their research focused on elderly rats that had some degree of erectile dysfunction. The rats were injected with the PnTx2-6 toxin from the wandering spiders, which the scientists had successfully managed to isolate from the deadly venom. The PnTx2-6 was found to help trigger the release of nitric oxide, which aids in relaxing blood vessel walls and increasing efficient blood flow.

The abstract of the study written by Kenia P. Nunes and her colleagues, says, “Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity in aged and young cavernosal tissue was increased by incubation with PnTx2-6. Age-associated erectile dysfunction involves a decrease in nitric oxide availability and impaired relaxation. Decrease in erectile function associated with age was partially restored 15 to 20 minutes after injection with PnTx2-6.”

There are millions of men around the world who are suffering with erectile dysfunction, so the discoveries by the scientists may be fairly exciting. However, to say the findings are in the ‘early stages’ is a huge understatement. Many clinical trials will need to be conducted to fully determine the safeness of using toxins from known deadly spiders, any potential side effects and the risk groups to such chemicals. It may be several years before an erectile dysfunction tablet containing spider toxins is readily available and fit for public use. In the mean-time, it would be worthwhile for those with male impotence to read into the only available medications to treat the condition; Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.

New single dose Malaria drug in development

A recently discovered compound from the aminopyridine class, code named MMV390048 has shown potent activity against multiple points in the malaria parasite’s life cycle.

This means that it not only has the potential to become part of a single dose cure, but it might also be able to block transmission of the parasite from person to person. On this basis it was selected by the MMV Expert Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC), for further development, making it the first compound researched on African soil to enter pre-clinical development in partnership with MMV.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), each year between 149 million and 274 million people contract malaria, and about 655,000 people die from it. Here at Medical Specialists News we only reported earlier this month, on how many Britain’s are contracting malaria whilst abroad, due to not taking or not completing an anti-malarial course of medication.

The fact MMV390048 could be part of a single dose cure could prove effective, as current anti-malarial drugs need to be taken before, during and after entering a malaria zone. Malarone for example, needs to be taken two days before entering a malaria zone, for the duration of the holiday and then for seven days after returning home.

However other anti-malarial drugs need to be taken up to three weeks before travel and up to four weeks on return. This is where some Britain’s have slipped up and ended up suffering from malaria, because they have failed to start the course early enough or they have failed to finish the course. Obviously this is where a single dose cure such as MMV390048 could prove invaluable.

The aminopyridine series was initially identified by Griffith University scientists in Australia, as part of MMV’s extensive malaria screening campaign of around 6 million compounds. A team of scientists from the University of Cape Town’s Drug Discovery and Development Centre in South Africa, led by Professor Kelly Chibale, then scrutinised and explored the antimalarial potential of the series further.

With parasitological and pharmacological support from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute and Monash University, respectively, Professor Kelly’s team selected the most promising compounds from the series to be optimized and re-tested. In just 18 months the team had identified and developed a candidate, suitable for preclinical development.

Does coloured Kenesio tape worn by athletes really work?

Many of us, who watched the Olympics or have recently watched a football match, will have seen athletes and footballers, sporting strange brightly coloured tape on various parts of their body. Many will have also wondered what on earth they are and what they are wearing them for.

The brightly coloured tape is called Kinesio tape and far from being a new miracle treatment, it’s more than 30 years old and the invention of the Japanese chiropractor Dr Kenzo Kase. He claims: “the tape opens up the space between two layers of the skin, the outer one, the epidermis and the deeper one, the dermis, to allow blood to flow more easily to the injured area.”

However many people are skeptical and wonder how a thin, narrow strip of what amounts to sticky tape, can heal an injured muscle or protect a sore one, or why volleyball players wore fluorescent pink and blue tape over their buttocks and stomach muscles. Even more bizarrely, how crisscross strapping which covers almost the whole shoulder, could protect the body after rotator cuff surgery.

Despite all this however famous sports stars such as cyclist Lance Armstrong has sworn by it for years, footballers like David Beckham and Mario Balotelli use it regularly and tennis champ Serena Williams relies on it.

Dr Kase started with Sumo wrestlers who because of their size and weight, frequently sustain injuries to knees, ankles, shoulders, spine and hamstrings. Perhaps because the Japanese are more open and susceptible to alternative medicines, the tape took off.

However is there any science to back up the claims? Well it would seem very little, a study of people with shoulder problems suggested Kinesio tape can relieve pain. But pain is subjective and must be measured rigorously to hope to gain any accurate results.

So do the bright garish colours maybe have something to do with how Kenesio tape is supposed to work? Well maybe, there’s very good research that, for instance, red painkillers are more effective than white ones, even though they contain the same amount of the drug. Women seem to like the pink and blue, whereas men like red and black.

So it seems that in the lack of any hard scientific evidence to support Kenesio tape, that the main advantage it can offer is a psychological or placebo effect, which if it helps an athlete or footballer be in the right frame of mind to compete then it can’t be too bad a thing.

Taxpayers foot the bill for breast reduction surgery in teenage girls

More shocking news regarding the obesity crisis in Britain has come to light this week, which could force the government’s hand in devising more effective ways to tackle the rising epidemic. According to Department of Health (DOH) figures, obese young girls are receiving breast reduction surgeries through the National Health Service (NHS), all paid for by the taxpayer of course.

Stats show that the youngest person to be given one of these operations was aged just 11 years old incredibly. Also, in the previous five years there has been more than 100 girls aged 16 who have undergone the procedures, some of which can cost the taxpayer a hefty £5,000 an operation. The most common age group for women to undergo breast reduction surgery is between 35 to 55 according to the figures, with the oldest being 90, and in the last five years there have been 21,328 women (of all ages) to have the surgery.

Health officials say that the need for these types of operations could be down to the fact that children are generally a lot heavier than previous times, and this extra weight is causing massive strain on their backs.

Critics have hit out at the news though, arguing that the young girls should not be permitted to have breast reduction surgeries in their teenage years at a time when their bodies are still in the development stages. Not only this, but many have blasted that the NHS should be not drained of £5,000 an operation at a time when their budgets are already being stretched thin due to a seemingly never-ending recession. Moreover, there are a high number of patients with more life-threatening health conditions who are not receiving adequate treatment and medication due to spiralling waiting lists, so this news will no doubt cause outrage.

The Department of Health have reacted to the fury, and spoke to try and defend the numbers, stating that the operations were allocated purely for clinical reasons, and not for aesthetic purposes. The clinical reasons they put forth include hyperplastic abnormalities (excessive increase of breast tissue), juvenile gigantomastia (excessive increase of breast tissue during adolescence), or giant fibroadeoma (a non-cancerous lump).

In addition, Tam Fry, from the National Obesity Forum, said: “Obesity will enlarge the breast size so it is perhaps natural that women concerned about their appearance would want to reduce the size of their breasts. Obesity on top of large breast size would make the back pain worse. It all goes in unison, and the solution is not to get fat. It can be hard to know when assessing young girls whether it is actual fatness or their breasts, so I wouldn’t consider breast reduction in children.”

The alarming figures to be released by the DOH may now prompt the government into serious action. More work needs to be done to promote healthy eating and regular exercise. We are a nation of fast-food and computer game addicts, and it seems the rot is starting at a very early age. Parents would be advised to get their children involved in active past-times such as football, netball, rounders, swimming, etc. and make sure they themselves eat their nutritious ‘5-a-day’. There is a better chance that children will eat more fruit and vegetables if their parents are doing the same thing!

A healthy lifestyle could reduce high blood pressure as effectively as drugs

Whilst we all know that exercising regularly, keeping our weight down, drinking in moderation and eating plenty of vegetables can affect our blood pressure, new research suggests that it can reduce the risk of developing high blood pressure, by two thirds.

The impact of these measures on high blood pressure was much higher than expected, and in some cases could even be just as effective a way to treat sufferers as prescribing drugs. Just walking to work and restricting alcohol to two drinks a day can reduce the risk markedly, according to the study of more than 20,000 people.

Every day there are 350 preventable strokes or heart attacks in the UK caused by high blood pressure. In developed countries the lifetime risk of developing high blood pressure is now 90 per cent, and six million Britons take drugs to control it.

People with hypertension (the medical term for high blood pressure) are already routinely advised to make the lifestyle changes highlighted in the study, but the effect far surpassed expectations. The Finnish study followed 9,637 men and 11,430 women aged 25 to 74, who did not have hypertension.

Their adherence to healthy lifestyle factors was recorded, which included alcohol consumption of less than 50g per week (roughly six units), exercise at least three times per week, daily consumption of vegetables, and normal weight. During a follow-up period covering an average of 16 years, 709 of the men and 890 of the women developed hypertension.

Proffesor Pekka Jousilahti, ofFinland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare said: “The risk of hypertension was only one third among those having all four healthy lifestyle factors, compared with those having none. Even having one to three healthy lifestyle factors reduced the risk of hypertension remarkably.

For example, having two healthy lifestyle factors reduced the risk of hypertension by nearly 50 per cent in men, and by more than 30 per cent in women. Alcohol consumption, physical activity, daily consumption of vegetables and keeping normal weight are the four lifestyle factors that seem to have a remarkable effect on the development of hypertension.

Professor Jousilahti went on to add “people should drink a maximum of one to two drinks of alcohol a day and that even a relatively low amount of exercise was enough to make a difference.”  This was backed up by Professor Gareth Beevers, a trustee of the Blood Pressure Association UK charity, who said: “This study shows a big effect from simple changes in lifestyle. It’s surprising and more than you would expect.”

Professor Jousilahti concluded by saying: “that although participants were healthy at the start of the study, it was likely the findings would also help those who already have high blood pressure. Patients could reduce their blood pressure by modifying the four lifestyle factors alone, or by making these modifications while taking blood pressure-lowering medication.”

Enzyme research could help burn fat three times faster

Chemists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that enzymes involved in breaking down fat, can now be manipulated to work three times harder by turning on a molecular switch. Being able to control this chemical on/off button could have massive implications for curing diseases related to obesity including diabetes, cardio vascular disease, stroke and even skin problems like acne. But the implications may be wider.

The results suggest that the switch may be a common characteristic of many more enzymes. Since enzymes are miniscule worker molecules, that control a vast variety of functions in cells, if the switches are standard, it may well be one of the most important discoveries in enzymology.

According to Professor Dimitrios Stamou, who heads a multidisciplinary team of scientists at the Nano Science Center, and Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen: “If many enzymes turn out to be switched on in the same way as the ones we’ve studied, this opens a door to understanding and maybe curing, a wide range of diseases.”

The discovery of these enzyme switches contradicts previous ideas of how cells control the function of enzymes, such as the fat eating lipase used in the current study. Researchers used to think that these enzymes work continuously at varying levels of efficiency, but in fact they are quite lazy. They work at a fixed efficiency for a given amount of time (working hours), and then they rest. And that’s good news for enzyme designers. Using these new found enzyme switches resulted in tripling the working hours of fat eating lipase enzymes, from 15 percent of the time to 45 percent of the time.

Assistant Professor Nikos Hatzakis, who was deeply involved in the scrutiny of the enzymes explained: “In enzymes, function is decided by the shape of the molecule. So making them more efficient would have required a major reconstruction. In some cases so difficult that it is on the order of transforming a handsaw into a chainsaw. Changing the fundamental shape of a tool is always difficult, whether it’s a saw or an enzyme. But working longer hours with the same tool is infinitely easier. What we’ve achieved, is to make enzymes work longer hours.”

Observing that enzymes even have an on off switch may sound easy, but first the Bio Nano team had to devise a way to study individual enzyme molecules. These are so small, that there are trillions in just a drop of water. To perform their studies the researchers chose a fat degrading lipase enzyme. They used fat that would emit light each time the enzyme took a bite. This way they could monitor each and every single action of the enzyme.

Proffesor Dimitrios Stamou concluded by saying: “Now that we have understood how to switch enzymes on and off, we could use this knowledge in the future, for curing a wide range of diseases and conditions.”

CSI technology fiction becomes reality

Many of us have seen the popular television series CSI, CSI Miami and CSI New York. During the programmes we will have seen the forensic scientists using portable instruments to obtain instant fingerprint analysis, obtain DNA matches from blood samples and detect chemical traces from clothes.

Now whilst all of this can sometimes seem far fetched, as usually to do this sort of analysis you would need a room sized laboratory instrument, this may be set to change. As was reported in the March 25^th 2008 edition of Science Daily, there was a large gap between the fiction of CSI programmes and the reality of modern day technology.

Now however a scientific instrument featured on CSI for instant fingerprint analysis is forging another life in real world medicine, helping during brain surgery and ensuring that cancer patients get effective doses of chemotherapy, a scientist said in Philadelphia today.

The report on instruments that miniaturize room-size laboratory devices the size of a shoe box was part of the 244^th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

During the exposition Dr Graham Cooks, the lead researcher said: “With both of the instruments we developed, no sample preparation is needed, which reduces analysis time from as much as several hours per sample to just a few seconds. Rapid results are critical when a surgeon is operating on a brain tumour, or when chemotherapy patients are being treated with powerful drugs that must be administered at precise levels.”

The instrument called a desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometer, or DESI, was featured on both CSI and CSI: Miami as a tool to analyse fingerprints. However, this portable instrument can do so much more. It’s about the size of a shoe box and does not change or destroy the sample that is analysed.

The team used DESI to identify biomarkers for prostate cancer and to detect melamine, a potentially toxic substance that showed up in infant formulas inChinain 2008. In addition, DESI can detect explosives on luggage. Now, the team at Purdue University is teaming up with collaborators led by Nathalie Y. R. Agar, Ph.D., at Harvard University to test the instrument in the operating room during brain cancer surgery, comparing it with the gold standard, traditional analysis of tissue samples by pathologists.

“These pathology procedures are among the longest of all surgical operations, and this new technology offers the promise of reducing the time patients are under anaesthesia. DESI can analyse tissue samples and help determine the type of brain cancer, the stage and the concentration of tumour cells. It also can help surgeons identify the margins of the tumour to assure that they remove as much of the tumour as possible. These are early days, but the analysis looks promising.”

The other instrument under development is a Paper Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometer. The researchers are using this new device to monitor the levels of chemotherapy drugs in patient’s blood in real time. Many cancer drugs have relatively narrow therapeutic ranges, so they need to be in the blood at certain levels to work properly. However at present that information is not obtained in real time, so a patient could end up with too little or too much of the drug in his or her body.

Currently Cooks team is testing to see whether DESI can provide different information, compared to what pathologists can provide by looking at human tissues under a microscope. In addition, the researchers are testing Paper Spray on patient’s blood samples, though Cooks points out that the device also could measure the levels of drugs of abuse or pharmaceuticals, in urine or other body fluids.

So it maybe that next you watch an episode of CSI what you may be seeing is not some fancy, far fetched gadgetry of the future, but rather a modern piece of equipment that is being currently used to help both diagnose and treat serious medical conditions.

Coconuts: Natures sports drink!

Coconuts have been referred to as ‘the fluid of life’ and ‘mother nature’s sports drink’ and with good reason it would seem. It has long been known that coconuts have a very high nutritional value, but now new scientific analysis undertook by Dr Chhandashir Bhattacharya has backed these claims up.

“Coconut water is a natural drink that has everything your average sports drink has and more,” said Bhattacharya. “It has five times more potassium than Gatorade or Powerade. Whenever you get cramps in your muscles, potassium will help you to get rid of the cramps. It’s a healthy drink that replenishes the nutrients that your body has lost during a moderate workout.”

Dr Bhattacharya said that the potassium in coconut water also may benefit other people who do not exercise. The typical American diet is low in potassium and high in sodium, which is found in table salt. Other research has shown that such an imbalance is unhealthy. In one study, people who ate foods low in potassium and high in sodium had twice the risk of death from heart disease and a 50 percent higher risk of death from all causes. Other analyses indicate that a 12-ounce serving of coconut water has more potassium than a banana but equally important it has considerably less salt than common sports drinks such as Lucozade or Gatorade.

Bhattacharya’s team analyzed coconut water, Gatorade and Powerade and found that coconut water contained up to 1,500 mg/litre of potassium, compared to up to 300 mg/litre for Powerade and Gatorade. Coconut water, however, had 400 mg/litre of sodium compared to 600 for the other two drinks. It also contained considerably less sugar along with no artificial colours, preservatives or flavourings.

Coconut water is the clear liquid found most abundantly inside young green coconuts, which are fruits of the coconut palm. It long has been a popular drink in the tropics, where street and beach vendors sell green coconuts with a drinking straw in the top. Interestingly coconut water was used for its medicinal properties as far back as world war two, where it was used to give emergency plasma transfusions to wounded soldiers. This could be done because coconut water has the same level of electrolytic balance that we have in our blood. Coconut water has also been used as an emergency short term intravenous hydration fluid as the high levels of sugar and other salts make it possible to be used in the blood stream.

So it seems that we would be better off taking a coconut to the gym with us than our regular sports drink, however that would look a bit silly. Fortunately coconut water now is available in bottles, cans and other containers, and marketers have promoted it as a healthy beverage.

Tea or Coffee: which is best for you?

We all like a good brew in the morning, whether it be a good old fashioned cup of tea or a latte from our favourite coffee shop on the way into work. In fact in Britain we spend over £2 billion a year on coffee, and the coffee shop industry is one of the fastest growing industries, and that’s despite the harsh financial times we live in. As regards tea according to the UK Tea Council we drink 60.2 billion cups a year.

Whilst which one we drink is a matter of preference, is it worth considering the pros and cons of tea and coffee? Well considering we drink so much of them it would seem to be a good idea.

Tea

According to several studies tea has more health benefits than coffee. A ­recent one from­Harvard University has ­discovered the immune cells of people who drink tea in the morning ­responded five times faster to germs than coffee drinkers.

The scientists there think tea ­reduces stress levels, whereas other caffeinated drinks, like coffee, can raise them and over time can weaken your immune system.

Another study ­published in the health journal ­Nutrition Bulletin discovered that ­regularly drinking tea can reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes. It is also known that tea contributes to our daily fluid intake thus keeping us hydrated. However it is worth noting that whilst tea contains only half the caffeine content of coffee, it is recommended that we drink no more than five cups a day.

Coffee

Coffee contains double the caffeine found in tea and as we have reported in earlier articles, that can have positive or negative affects on our health depending on how much we drink. Interestingly coffee contains roughly the same amount of calories as tea (a tea or coffee with milk contains about 8 calories). The problem with coffee is the type of coffee we drink these days. As we mentioned at the beginning the meteoric rise of popular coffee shops such as Neros, Costa and Starbucks has led to us drinking a whole new kind of coffee, that brings with it a whole new set of health risks. Whilst at home we would drink maybe a black coffee with a small amount of milk added to it, the coffees we buy at coffee shops are usually milk based, are larger, and many of us add sugary syrups to them and add whipped cream to the top of them. Here is a list of the calorie content of the teas and coffee we drink.

Calories

Black tea with milk: 8 calories

Black coffee: 2 calories

Black coffee with milk: 8 calories

Starbucks medium sized latte: 223 calories

Costa medium sized latte: 206 calories

Starbucks medium sized (skinny) latte: 131 calories

Costa medium sized (skinny) latte: 115 calories

Whipped cream topping: 120 calories

One vanilla shot: 70 calories

Starbucks Strawberries & Cream Frappucino: 459 calories

Nero’s Double Chocolate Frappe: 483 calories

Clearly these coffees contain far more calories than a coffee we would drink at home, however it must also be noted that the skinny versions do contain just under half the calories. Another beverage that has started to grow in popularity is herbal or fruit teas which on average contain only 2 calories. According to Nutritionist and author of Health Eating Dr Carina Norris: “herbal teas are a fantastic addition to your diet, not only are they very low in calories they can also help improve your digestion, clear up your skin and help you sleep.”

Like many thing in life the advice from health professionals is to have such drinks in moderation. Dr Norris summed this up by saying: “a latte can contain between 200 and 300 calories, if you have two a day, that’s the equivalent of a full meal. Treat these drinks as you would a slice of cake, have them occasionally but don’t make a habit of them every day.”

New genetic baldness treatment offers hope

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania lead by Dr George Costarelis believe they may have found the reason why we go bald. Dr Costarelis and his dermatological team have discovered the enzyme Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) that is responsible for preventing hair follicles from maturing. The link between genetics and baldness has long been common knowledge but the cause has not.

When the team analysed the scalps of balding men, they found levels of PDG2 to be three times higher in areas in which the hair was thinning. The research suggests that PGD2 prevents the follicle cells from maturing, so blocking PGD2 would allow the hair to grow again.  Dr Costarelis found that bald men have cells capable of making hair, which adds weight to the argument that PGD2 is responsible for stopping otherwise healthy, capable cells of producing hair.

Back in March 2012 the journal Science Translational Medicine reported that in tests on mice the compound PGD2 stunted hair growth. Drugs that block this protein are already on the market as they are used to treat asthma and allergies, and that is good news according to Dr Costarelis: “The nice thing about dermatology and hair loss in general is that you can take compounds that maybe are being used as a pill, and put them into a topical formulation.”

Dr Costarelis went on to add: “We certainly think it would be good at preventing hair loss but we don’t know for sure that it would regrow”. Dr Costarelis has also announced this week that he is in talks with several pharmaceutical companies about developing a treatment that he says: “could be available in two years”.

Lab tests suggest the treatment may also help women who are losing their hair. Female hair loss carries an even greater stigma than the male condition, but is not as uncommon as many people believe. About 40 per cent of women suffer from some form of hair loss as a result of hormone changes during menopause.

For men this number is significantly higher, by the age of 50 nearly half of all men have some degree of male pattern baldness, a number which rockets to 70 per cent by the age of 70. It also seems that being famous or even royal doesn’t protect you from baldness. As we reported back in July 2012 Wayne Rooney and Louis Walsh have both undergone hair transplant procedures and in the news today Doctor Asim Shahmalak has predicted Prince William will be bald by the time he is 40.

While celebrities have undergone hair transplant procedures, these remain out of reach for most people due to their high price. In the meantime before this PGD2 blocker is released onto the market, there are licensed products on the market such as Propecia (Finasteride) and Regaine (Minoxydil) that have both been clinically proven to help with male hair loss.

The causes of Erectile Dysfunction and how to beat it

At Medical Specialists Pharmacy we have a constantly growing patient base spanning tens of thousands of people that are seeking our help from all across the globe.  Male and female hair loss, acne, hirsutism, and sexual health are just a few of the issues that we provide solutions for.

One very common problem that we provide help with is erectile dysfunction (ED). Also known as ‘male impotence’, it is the inability to achieve and maintain an erection that is sufficient for satisfactory sexual intercourse. More prominent that many would assume, it affects roughly four in ten men over the age of 40, and it is estimated that approximately 49% of men aged 70 are suffering with varying degrees of ED.

There are numerous causes that can all contribute in some way to a male slowly beginning to develop symptoms of ED. These include physical causes/diseases such as obesity, diabetes, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease and hormonal problems such as an underactive thyroid. In addition there are psychological impacts that can lead to ED and these include relationship problems, depression, low self-esteem, stress, anxiety and even the fear of sex or ‘sexual failure’; particularly common in new relationships when the couple have yet to have sexual intercourse.

So what are the treatments and prevention methods for men with ED? If you have the condition, your GP can analyse your lifestyle choices and risk factors for erection-hindering health issues such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and refer you to a screening for these. Your doctor may also ask questions about your home and working life, relationships etc. to determine what psychological factors may be causing the ED, and could even offer sexual counselling for those who could find the therapy advantageous. Speaking to a psychologist or counsellor may help to reduce your stress and worries, fully getting to the root of your problems so you can tackle them head-on.

There are also simple lifestyle alterations that you can make which can all help to decrease the chance of you experiencing erectile dysfunction. For example, quitting smoking is a major beneficial thing to consider doing as soon as possible as smoking impairs the arteries, resulting in a restriction of blood supply to the penis. Starting a regular exercise regime could work wonders and this will promote better cardiovascular health and get blood pumping around the body more efficiently. Moderating your level of alcohol consumption is also a definite must in regards to better erections. Not only does drinking alcohol cause the short-term problem commonly referred to as ‘brewer’s droop’, it is believed that prolonged alcohol abuse can contribute to irreversible sexual dysfunction for men in the long-term too due to its destructive nature on the nervous system.

For a lot of men suffering with impotence, the most standard and effective form of treatment remains with the popular medications Viagra, Cialis and Levitra. Since the ground-breaking Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Pfizer-manufactured Viagra in 1998 for the treatment of ED, sales of the medication sky-rocketed to astronomical levels and in 2008 its annual sales peaked at an enormous US$1,934 million. Five years after Viagra’s FDA approval, tadalafil (sold as Eli Lilly’s Cialis) and vardenafil (sold as Bayer’s Levitra) were both given the green light for commercial sale and have since taken a substantial slice of Pfizer’s market share.

The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has released a new erectile dysfunction drug called Viagra Chewable or Viagra Jet. It comes out as an alternative to regular Viagra tablets for those men who find it difficult to swallow Viagra tablets with water. Unfortunately though, if you are looking to buy Viagra Chewable online, they are not available in the UK as yet, but hopefully Medical Specialists Pharmacy will be one of the first Online Pharmacies in the UK to know when it does, so watch this space!

Cereal bars lambasted by consumer group Which

If there was still anybody out there who believed that ‘healthy’ cereal bars were nutritional and a better option than say a chocolate bar, perhaps more research that has just been published on them will finally shatter that belief.

Cereal and granola bars are often seen as a quick meal replacement for people, especially schoolchildren, who don’t seem to have the time to sit down and eat a proper, healthy breakfast. As a general rule of thumb, some believe that if they taste ‘bad’ then they will ironically probably be better and healthier for you. On the other hand, the ‘nicer’ they taste will more than likely be attributed to the bad qualities contained in them such as the fat, sugar and chocolate.

The popular choice of snacks have taken a battering in recent years in the media, with studies emerging that have portrayed them in a poor light, unearthing them to be just as damaging as chocolate bars in terms on sugar content, with many even being more unhealthy than a typical bowl of sugary cereal in this aspect too.

The new research into them comes in the form of a detailed analysis conducted by the consumer group Which?, who closely looked at 30 of the top selling cereal bars. To their shock, they found that all but one of these actually contained an alarmingly high amount of sugar. In addition, 16 of them comprised of more than 30% sugar.

One of the shocking discoveries was regarding the widely popular Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Elevenses Raisin Bake bar, which they found to be containing four teaspoons of sugar (18g). This is a higher sugar content than that of a small 150ml can of cola drink (15.9g) and is approximately 20% of the recommended daily intake.

Worryingly, it was found that six out of the seven cereal bars marketed for children that they studied, were high in saturated fat. A particularly unhealthy cereal bar was determined to be the Monster Puffs bar, advertised as ‘great for your lunchbox’. The evidence would suggest it is not so great however, with one bar containing a whopping 43.5% sugar, working out at around over two teaspoons of sugar.

Richard Lloyd, Executive Director of Which?, provided a scathing attack on the companies that are producing the worst offending cereal bars and he said, “People often choose cereal bars in the belief they’re healthier than chocolate or biscuits but our research shows this can be a myth. With high levels of sugar and saturated fat in some of these products they should be on the sweet counter not marketed as health foods. Manufacturers need to be much clearer about how much sugar, fat and calories are loaded in to each bar so people can make an informed choice. We want all foods to have traffic light colour coding system so people can see easily what they’re eating and giving to their children.”

A spokeswoman for Kellogg’s tried to deflect criticism however and argued that their Nutri-Grain Elevenses bars are not being viewed in their intended purpose. The spokeswoman said, “We’re confused as to why anyone would call a Nutri-Grain Elevenses snack a cereal bar. If you’ve eaten one you know it’s not. It’s a baked bar and looks and eats much more like a muffin or cake. We bake it like a cake and market it as a mid-morning snack. In fact, compared to other similar mid-morning snacks, it’s one of the choices that has slightly less sugar than the norm.”

Counterfeiters in Nigeria and America receive heavy punishment

Over the course of this calendar year, there has been an endless number of cases to emerge that involve the production and distribution of counterfeit medicines, and these are only the ones that authorities have managed to successfully shut down. There are illegal operations still active all across the globe, with criminals always trying to conjure up new methods of tricking the public into purchasing these dangerous medicines. However, their activities cannot and will not last forever, with Medical Specialists Pharmacy and many other organisations around the world determined to bring them to justice.

Therefore it brings us with great delight to report of two such instances to occur in the last few weeks of criminals finding their comeuppance. The first happened just 11 days ago in Nigeria and surprisingly did not involve erectile dysfunction medications, which seems to be a common type of counterfeited drug. Instead it was antimalarials such as Malarone and Paludrine that had found themselves being the source of imitation.

After receiving knowledge about the existence of the fake drugs, officers from The Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) swooped onto a market within the south-eastern city of Enugu. After the raid, authorities had amassed a haul of $15,000 worth of fake pharmaceuticals, which could have proved fatal if sold to the unsuspecting public of Nigeria. Fake drugs are often manufactured in dirty, unhygienic warehouses and sometimes can contain little or no of the genuine active ingredient, or remarkably harmful industrial compounds.

Udekpo Ekpo, acting head, south-east zone at NAFDAC, spoke of the capture of the drugs and said, “This exercise was actually necessitated by reports that there are some fake brands of antimalarial drugs in the market. Some of them are in the market without NAFDAC registration number.”

Just one week after this bust in Nigeria, 40 year old Gregory Bochter found out the hard way that dealing with counterfeit drugs does not pay. Bochter, of Volusia County, Florida, initially submitted a guilty plea back in May to the trafficking of the two popular counterfeit erectile dysfunction medications, Viagra and Cialis.

He had obtained the fake pills from China, one of the world’s biggest exporters of counterfeit drugs. Homeland Security investigators had managed to intervene and apprehend one of his shipments and discovered in excess of 1,300 prescription pills. The pills only comprised of just 30% of their active ingredient, thus meaning they would probably be ineffective to any unsuspecting men who bought them.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials claim that even after they had seized Bochter’s delivery of fake pills, he then brazenly continued to be involved in more illegal trafficking for another two months. Unfortunately for him, he has now been sentenced to eight months behind bars and is being forced to cough up a hefty $150,000 in restitution fees.  If this wasn’t bad enough for, Bochter faces three years of supervised release upon his return to society in 2020.

New male contraceptive, but could you trust a man to remember to take it?

Scientists in America have developed a new drug called JQ1 that claims to be the first new, non hormonal male contraceptive since the condom, which interestingly has been traced back to Egyptian times. With that in mind this could be the first major breakthrough in male birth control in thousands of years!

Numerous efforts have been made to develop a hormone based male contraceptive in the past, however none have proved to be successful and have been dogged by side effects such as hot flushes, mood swings and a low sex drive. The only other method besides the condom is the withdrawal method, which at best is completely unreliable as some semen can be released before ejaculation.

The development of this new drug is important as according to Dr James Bradner of the Dana-Farber Cancer Centre in Boston, who collaborated with scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston: “the lack of contraceptive alternatives for men is partially responsible for the high rate of unplanned pregnancies and contributes to the ethical, social and financial costs associated with abortions and deliveries to single mothers.”

Up until now the search for a reliable male contraceptive has been thwarted by the biology of the male body. Whereas a woman releases one egg per month, a healthy man makes 1,000 sperm with every heartbeat. If you bear in mind that it only takes one sperm to fertilize an egg, then it becomes clear that any male contraceptive that is not 100% effective at stopping sperm production could not be truly reliable.

Interestingly the drug JQ1 was originally designed to tackle cancer by Dr James Bradner at the Dana-Farber Cancer Centre, but it was found that JQ1 had an effect on sperm production. This is not the first time that a drug has been found to help with more than one condition as we reported earlier this month.

The new drug, JQ1 works by disrupting a crucial stage of sperm development and in tests on mice produced no side effects. In mice where JQ1 was administered, sperm production plummeted and what sperm were made were bad swimmers according to the medical journal Cell. The animals were still interested in sex but given the correct dose were unable to father pups, however, when they were taken off the drug their fertility quickly returned and they became father to normal sized, healthy litters.

Dr Bradner concluded: “Our findings demonstrate that when given to rodents, this compound produces a rapid and reversible decrease in sperm count and mobility with profound effects on fertility.” Dr Bradner has been given money from the US Government to carry out further research but cautions: “the need for extensive testing means any male pill is still a long way from the market.”

However it must be noted that despite the positive findings for JQ1 there are still issues that need to be addressed. Firstly, the fact that any male contraceptive needs to completely block sperm production to be reliable and avoid conception. Added to that is the fact that many women simply do not trust men to remember to take the pill on a regular basis. In a study carried out by Judith Eberhardt from the Teesside University in Newcastle, 380 people were asked if men could be trusted to take the pill. The men who numbered 140 thought the male pill was a good idea, however the 240 women surveyed didn’t think men could be trusted to remember to take the pill.

While this was a small survey it seems to represent the general view of women that men can’t be trusted to take the pill. This may mean that if JQ1 is approved, pharmaceutical companies will have to look at developing options such as monthly injections or an implant that could last for three years.

So while JQ1 has some hurdles to overcome it is certainly warrants further research, a viewpoint backed up by Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert at Sheffield University. Dr Pacey said: “The door is wide open for the development of a non hormonal pill. Although the study has only been performed on mice, it should be fairly easy to test out this approach on humans, and see whether it works equally well. This is impossible to predict in advance but it is certainly worth pursuing.