Vitamin D deficiency found to be common
MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A University of Minnesota study released Wednesday suggests people with persistent, non-specific musculoskeletal pain should suspect vitamin D deficiency.
Researchers found 93 percent of all subjects with non-specific musculoskeletal pain were vitamin D deficient. The study of 150 children and adults found 100 percent of African-American, East African, Hispanic, and Native American subjects were vitamin D deficient.
In addition, all study patients under age 30 were vitamin D deficient and of those, 55 percent were severely deficient. Five patients had no vitamin D at all.
Lead researcher Dr. Greg Plotnikoff, said: "These findings are remarkably different than what is taught in medical school. We would expect vitamin D deficiency in old persons or housebound persons. We found the worst vitamin D deficiency in young persons -- especially women of childbearing age.
"We were stunned to find no vitamin D at all in five patients who had been told their pain was 'all in their head.' "
Plotnikoff said vitamin D deficiency is associated with significant risks for osteoporosis, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis. It also is harmful for developing fetuses and causes rickets in children.
Chimp, human genomes aligned
BETHESDA, Md., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Maryland scientists have posted the first draft version of a chimpanzee's genome sequence and its alignment with the human genome on free public databases.
Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health deposited the initial assembly, which is based on four-fold sequence coverage of the chimp genome, into the NIH-run, public database, GenBank, (ncbi.nih.gov/Genbank).
In turn, Genbank will distribute the sequence data to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory's Nucleotide Sequence Database, EMBL-Bank (ebi.ac.uk/embl/index.html), and the DNA Data Bank of Japan, DDBJ (ddbj.nig.ac.jp).
To facilitate biomedical studies comparing regions of the chimp genome with similar regions of the human genome, the researchers also have aligned the draft version of the chimp sequence with the human sequence.
Those alignments can be scanned using the University of California, Santa Cruz's Genome Browser, (genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgGateway); the National Center for Biotechnology Information's Map Viewer, (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/mapview); and the European Bioinformatics Institute's Ensembl system, (ensembl.org/).
Vioxx does not prevent Alzheimer's
SAN JUAN, PR, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A study presented at the meeting of American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in San Juan, Puerto Rico, said Vioxx does not prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Vioxx and naproxen, an over-the-counter painkiller sold under several brand names including Aleve, was tested on 1,457 elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment, a group believed to be at risk of developing full-blown Alzheimer's disease. Half received the drug and half a placebo.
The results showed 6.4 percent of the patients receiving Vioxx developed Alzheimer's compared with 4.5 percent in the placebo group, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The numbers suggest Vioxx might actually increase the risk of developing Alzheimer's, however, the study's summary said analysis of other data about the cognitive abilities of the two treatment groups shows the drug was roughly the same as the placebo, the Journal said.
Study author, Dennis Choi, head of neuroscience at Merck, concludes that Cox-2 inhibitors -- which inhibits the Cox-2 enzyme that promotes inflammation -- "does not play a significant role" in Alzheimer's disease.
New rhythm method of contraception
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Researchers at Georgetown University in Washington have developed a new version of the rhythm method of contraception, using data from 7,500 menstrual cycles.
After massaging the data in a computer the university's Institute for Reproductive Health developed what it calls the Standard Days Method.
For $12.95 a woman gets color-coded beads to remind them which days they cannot have sex without protection, the Wall Street Journal reported.
During a regular menstrual cycle, there are 12 days during which women are considered fertile.
Since 12 days of abstinence may be considered burdensome, Victoria Jennings, director of the institute, said calculating a fail-safe time when women can have sex without fear of pregnancy will allow some to "reduce their reliance on condoms" or other unappealing contraceptives.
