DRUG MAY EASE DEPRESSION
Scientists from a dozen health-care centers have found the antidepressant therapy sertaline hydrochloride, or Zoloft, can help chronically depressed patients liver fuller lives. The findings also showed that discontinuing treatment can lead to relapse and loss of psychosocial skills, said Dr. John Rush, vice chairman of research in psychiatry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He said health maintenance organizations and insurance companies should take note of the study before denying long-term treatment for a disease that affects millions of Americans. The study is reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICINE CAN HELP BODY AND MIND
A study shows medication used to control high blood pressure can also preserve mental health in older blacks. Researchers at The Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine report antihypertensive medication reduced the odds of cognitive impairment by 38 percent. The five-year study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine., included 1,900 older black men and women. "We have a lot of medications that keep people alive longer, but few to maintain their memories," said Michael Murray, research scientist at The Regenstrief Institute, professor of pharmacy at Purdue University, adjunct professor of medicine at the IU School of Medicine and first author of the study. "We have now shown that antihypertensive medications can decrease the risk of cognitive impairment as well as lower the risk of stroke, myocardial infarction and end-stage renal disease."
DRUG SHOWS PROMISE AGAINST HEART DISEASE
The drug Atorvastatin has shown promise against heart disease and stroke in patients with hypertension and low cholesterol, according to a European study. Researchers said they stopped part of the trial earlier than expected because results already show a significant benefit to patients. The study found that among 10,297 patients with hypertension and cholesterol levels lower than currently recommended for treatment, those given the cholesterol-lowering drug Atorvastatin suffered significantly fewer heart attacks and strokes compared to those receiving the placebo treatment. The International Steering Committee of the independent Anglo-Scandinavian Cardiac Outcomes Trial stopped part of the trial and informed fellow investigators, their patients and the regulatory authorities about the new results. "The trial shows that patients with high blood pressure but low cholesterol benefit clearly from taking a statin. It is too early to quantify the precise size of the effect, but we expect to see a reduction in heart attacks of about one-third among those taking a statin," said study co-chairmen Björn Dahlöf from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Sweden.
NEW GENE THERAPY CUTS RISKS
Stanford University researchers have developed a gene therapy technique that appears to alleviate a major health risk of gene therapy. The strategy, reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology, eliminates the problematic need for viral vectors yet retains the ability to insert therapeutic DNA into specific sites in the chromosomes. "Our approach provides an alternative that didn't exist before," said Michele Calos, associate professor of genetics at the School of Medicine and lead author on the study. Gene therapy aims to insert a healthy copy of a gene into a cell where it can take over for a faulty version. Current approaches let genes integrate into the cells by using a viral vector to sneak the therapeutic DNA into the host cell, Calos said. But, the DNA inserts itself into the chromosome at random positions. In one recent French case, the randomly inserted DNA apparently activated a neighboring oncogene, causing a patient to develop leukemia. "That sort of puts another cloud over the existing gene therapy trials," Calos said. The new technique avoids the pitfalls of other gene therapy approaches by inserting DNA without using viral vectors, Calos said.
(EDITORS: For more information about DRUG, contact Ann Harrell 214-648-3404 or [email protected]; about BLOOD, contact Cindy Aisen, at 317-843 2276 or [email protected]; about HEART, contact Tony Stephenson at 44
20-7594-6712 or [email protected]; about GENE, contact Amy Adams at 650-723-3900 or [email protected].)
