Good News About a Very Bad Cancer

Pancreatic carcinoma, or cancer of the pancreas, is one of the most deadly forms of cancer that has hit mankind, killing majority of it's victims within a few months of diagnosis. The pancreas is an organ that is involved in the creation and release of enzymes that enable the body to absorb nutrition for the body. The pancreas is also responsible for the production of insulin and glucagon. It is typically more common in women than in men and smokers versus non-smokers and the risk of getting pancreatic cancer also increases with age. The reason that this cancer is so deadly is because it involves co-opting leukocytes and instead of the WBC's attacking the cancerous cell, they enter it and "wall it off" from the ani-tumor aspects of the immune system.


Most commonly, pacreatic cancer is found in the form of a tumor and it may grow undetected without any kinds of symptoms at first. Because of this, when the cancer is discovered it is often in fairly advanced stages. Early symptoms may include; pain or discomfort in the belly/abdomen region, loss of appetite and weight, jaundice, dark urine, fatigue/weakness, and nausea and vomiting. The tests that are performed include MRI's, CT scans of the abdomen, Ultrasounds, and also a biopsy. Like previously mentioned, by the time the cancer is detected, little can be done in the way of removal of the tumor. A Whipple Procedure can be performed as well as radiation thereapy and chemothereapy may be recommended for patients. Although these treatments have showed some small success, scientists are now reporting that there is a new treatment that kick-starts a specific immune cell that extends the lives of a pancreatic patients by more than 30%.

Pancreatic cancer is extremely tricky especially since it uses the WBC's previously mentioned for it's own benefit however, the new thought that scientists have come upon is that they could activate CD40 which is a receptor protein used by defensive cells. Research shows that the activation of the CD40 is very necessary to the immune cells who are responsible for the attack on tumors in the body.

Scientists began dosing patients with a standard chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine, and an anitbody that turns on the CD40. Results of the tests reported that the tumor size had decreased or had ceased growth in almost 70% of the patients. In other patients the treatments seemed to have shrank metastatic tumors that had spread to other parts of the body. Patients that had previously only gotten the chemotherapy treatment lived on average only 5.7 months whereas the patients included in this research had survived 7.4 months which is still grimm but this treatment is leaving hope for a more promising future.

The expected response was that the CD40 would encourage a couterattack from the T cells in the body, but instead they found that it was really macrophages that were responsible for the results. These cells were able to get through the WBC blockade that the cancer cells had made and the macrophages started to eat away at the tumor cells. These results are extremely promising and this experiment has been greeted with a lot of enthusiasm and new hope.

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/03/good-news-about-a-very-bad-cance.html?ref=hp

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001283/

http://www.cancercenter.com/pancreatic-cancer.cfm?source=GOOGLEMW&channel=paid%20search&c=paid%20search:google:Google%20-%20Midwestern%20Core%20Terms%20New:Cancers:%20Pancreas:pancreas%20cancer:Broad&ef_id=ujlNj-7SswMAAMEv:20110328032154:s

Female Incontinence

We have all experienced that sudden urge to urinate and you have to do it now before it is too late. However, half of women aren’t so lucky and don’t realize they have to go until it is too late; the leakage has already occurred.

Urinary incontinence (UI) is that involuntary loss of urine. Many people will refrain from certain activities in order to avoid an embarrassing, public episode. Several types of UI exist; the most common type of UI is stress urinary incontinence which is the leaking of small amounts of urine because of physical activity such as coughing, sneezing, laughing, running, etc. Urge UI releases large amounts of urine unexpectedly because of sudden, uncontrollable contractions of bladder muscles. Overflow leakage occurs at random times because the bladder is so full that the sphincter cannot retain the urine. Transient leakage can also occur from infections or other temporary ailments. Finally, mixed UI can occur which combines certain types of UI but is usually a combination of stress and urge UI.

The cause behind incontinence lies with the muscles and nerves in the urinary system. In some cases, the muscles will contract out of nowhere. Another cause is when the sphincter muscles are not strong enough to hold the urethra shut allowing small amounts of urine to escape.

UI occurs twice as frequently in women than men due to the structure of their urinary tracts, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. Men and women can both get UI from: birth defects, strokes, multiple sclerosis, and certain problems that come with age. But have no fear, though this is an embarrassing condition, different treatments and cures exist to control the leaks.

Kegel exercises are the easiest way to try to control UI. They consist of contracting the bladder muscles repeatedly to strengthen them (especially the sphincter), which would hopefully help with the leakage in 3-6 weeks.

However, more cutting edge surgeries exist. Retropubic suspension uses sutures that will support the neck of the bladder that leads down to the urethra. An incision is made in the abdomen then sutures are attached to other ligaments in the pelvic region which will support the sphincter. Another surgery uses slings that can be inserted through a vaginal incision. The patient’s own tissue is used to support the bladder neck by attaching the other side to the pubic bone or just above it. Then midurethral slings are the newest, outpatient procedure that cures UI by using synthetic mesh tapes, either transvaginal tapes or transobturator slings, which are controlled through slits in the abdomen or vagina until the proper amount of support is given by the tape to the urethra. Studies show that two years after the surgeries two-thirds of women with a sling and half of women with a suspension were cured from stress UI.

Sources:

• htttp://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/uiwomen/

• http://news.health.com/2010/05/20/female-incontinence-surgeries-look-equally-effective/

• http://www.fibroid.com/sling/
  

New Drug for Lupus Patients

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the body’s immune system attacks its own cells. Women are more likely to experience this immune system disease, than males. Lupus is also most common in African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.  Other factors that can cause the onset of lupus are sunlight exposure, certain prescription medications, infection with the Epstein-Barr virus, and exposure to various chemicals. Symptoms include fatigue, pain, rashes, and damage to the kidneys, heart, lung, and brain. There are four types of Lupus, but the most common and deadly is systemic lupus erythematosus. Approximately 300,000 Americans, many young women, suffer from this disease. Although there is no cure for Lupus, individuals with this immune system disease may lead active lives with an effective combination of drugs. Lupus patients are treated based on the severity of their symptoms. For mild and moderate Lupus, NSAIDs, anti-malarial drugs, and corticosteroids are used. Aggressive forms of the disease are treated with high-doses of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs. Until just recently these drugs were the only option for Lupus patients, but a new drug, Benlysta, has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

Benlysta is the first drug in over 50 years to receive approval by the FDA, which provides Lupus patients with an alternative solution for treatment. The approval of Benlysta is an extreme success to the pharmaceutical industry due to the numerous setbacks that other Lupus drugs have suffered in clinical trials in the previous years. In the trials for Benlysta approximately 43.2% of patients experienced a reduction in symptoms after one year, whereas patients given a placebo experienced 33.8%. Although the percentages obtained in the trials of Benlysta produced effective results there was one factor that was not tested, race. As mentioned previously African Americans have a much higher incidence for Lupus than Caucasians, therefore the effect of Benlysta on African Americans in key to the drugs success. In the trials it was deemed that the African Americans observed did not respond to the drug, but this is due to the lack of an African American population in the study. The FDA stated more tests must be performed on a higher population of African Americans to fully obtain the success of Benlysta. 

Benlysta has offered patients the ability to reduce doses of steroids, thus reducing the occurrence of weight gain, bone-weakening, and other side effects. One young female from the study stated Benlysta relieved her fatigue and allowed her to quit taking steroids, which was the reason she was able to finish college, graduate school, and now have a job.  Benlysta is administrated to patients every 28 days through intravenous infusion (IV). This drug is a monoclonal antibody that hinders the immune system by inhibiting the B lymphocyte stimulator, which is a protein discovered by the Human Genome database. This makes Benlysta one of the first drugs to derive from the genetics revolution. 

Benlysta will provide Lupus patients with an alternative method for treatment. Not only does this new drug allow Lupus patients relief from their physical symptoms, but provides them with hope that other pharmaceutical companies will invest in Lupus drug research. Although there have been some setbacks in Lupus drug development, the discovery of Benlysta may provide Lupus patients with a new effective treatment.  

• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lupus/DS00115/DSECTION=symptoms 
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/lupus/DS00115/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs
• http://arthritis-symptom.com/lupus/lupus-cure.htm
• http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/health/10drug.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=lupus&st=cse
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_lupus_erythematosus