all diseases and treatments stories

Elevated urate levels may slow progression of Parkinson's disease

404132862 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:22:55 -0400

Naturally elevated levels of the antioxidant urate may slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in men. Researchers from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MGH-MIND) and Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) examined data from an earlier study and found that, among recently diagnosed Parkinson’s patients, those with the highest urate levels had a significantly slower rate of disease progression during the two-year study period. The report appears in the online edition of read more

Chromosomal abnormality linked to autism disorders

404132862 — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:04:29 -0500

Researchers have fitted another piece into the complex genetic puzzle that is autism, finding DNA deletions and duplications on a specific chromosome that they say explains one to two percent of the 1.5 million cases of autism and related disorders in the United States today.

The genetic changes were discovered in DNA scans of more than 3,000 people, both with and without autism spectrum disorder, a category of developmental disability that includes autism disorder, Asperger’s syndrome, and a broad category called “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified.”

Too much water can be life-threatening for marathoners

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:43:55 -0400

Runners who consume too much water or sports drinks during a marathon can develop a life-threatening condition called exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH). Beyond drinking, however, researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital report in the May 2007 issue of the American Journal of Medicine that this complication during endurance exercise is also the result of a hormonal stress response, which decreases urine formation and prevents the excretion of excess water.

Researchers develop ALS mouse stem cell line

90581724 — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 14:54:20 -0400

A team of Harvard researchers has used embryonic stem cells, derived from mice carrying a human gene known to cause a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to create an in vitro model of the always-fatal neurodegenerative disease. Harvard Stem Cell Institute principal investigator Kevin Eggan and Tom Maniatis, the Thomas H. Lee Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, are the senior authors of the study published on-line April 15 by Nature Neuroscience.

Battling AIDS in Brazil: A message of hope

50443248 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:25:42 -0400

An upbeat conference on AIDS?

Hard to imagine, unless you'd attended "The Brazilian Response to AIDS" on March 22, sponsored by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.

True, Brazil has had its share of AIDS deaths, but they are far less than expected in the early days of the epidemic. In the early 1990s, the World Bank predicted that by the year 2000, there would be 1.2 million people in Brazil infected with HIV. But by 2005, there were only 600,000 infected, and the death rate from AIDS has been stabilized at 6.3 per 1,000. Moreover, people living with AIDS receive far more effective, compassionate, and consistent care in Brazil than in almost any other country in the developing world.

Indonesia's strategies to fight bird flu run afoul of reality

50443248 — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:50:11 -0400

If Indonesia is able to execute a comprehensive bird flu plan written by the government, it will take great strides toward controlling the outbreak in the sprawling island nation, a visiting professor who has studied the region said Friday (March 9).

Unfortunately, there's little chance of that happening.

"There's a level of rhetoric and a level of reality and an increasing gap between rhetoric and reality," said James Fox, visiting professor of Australian studies in Harvard's Anthropology Department.

Fox, visiting Harvard from Australian National University, delivered a grim assessment of the spread of bird flu throughout Indonesia, "The Course of Avian Flu in Indonesia: Implications and Possibilities," as part of the Asia Center's ongoing Modern Asia Series.

At Radcliffe, microbiologist explains 'biocomplexity'

50443248 — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:24:01 -0400

The scientist who revolutionized the study of cholera paid a visit to Harvard this week.

On March 6, microbiologist and oceanographer Rita R. Colwell, a Johns Hopkins University public health researcher, delivered the last in a series of science talks in the 2006-2007 Dean’s Lecture series at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

In three decades of research, Colwell has made major contributions to the understanding of cholera, an intestinal disease so ancient that its symptoms were first described in Sanskrit.

University's 'what-if' planning for bird flu in sync with new CDC guidelines

50443248 — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:21:04 -0400

Recently released U.S. government guidelines for combating a potential avian flu pandemic closely resemble response strategies that have been under development by Harvard planners since October 2005.

Both the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines - available online at http://www.pandemicflu.gov/plan/community/community_mitigation.pdf - and Harvard's ongoing "what-if" planning say that the best protection against a flu pandemic would be "social distancing," or limiting contact with people who are sick, and attending to personal hygiene, in particular, hand washing.

Past, present of flu pandemics examined

50443248 — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:25:53 -0400

The global response to bioterrorism and AIDS is increasing health system capacity in a way also useful if avian flu strikes, according to experts attending an interdisciplinary conference on Asian flus.

The bad news, however, is that vast disparities in health care systems still persist and, despite the expanding capacity in recent years, bird flu could still have a devastating impact.

"I think of what happens if avian flu comes to Lesotho. The mortality and morbidity would just be devastating," said Jim Kim, who heads Harvard Medical School's Department of Social Medicine and serves as the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights in the Harvard School of Public Health.

HSPH, Broad map malaria genetic diversity

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:46:55 -0400

Researchers have created the first map of genetic diversity of the malaria parasite, providing new insights in the fight against a public health scourge that kills one person every 30 seconds.

In work that focused on the most deadly of the four malaria parasites that infect humans, Plasmodium falciparum, researchers found nearly double the diversity they expected. They also identified genetic regions linked to resistance to two anti-malarial drugs.

The advance, by an international team led by researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), can rapidly translate to improvements on the ground, such as better diagnosis of specific malaria strains and monitoring for the emergence of drug resistance, according to Dyann Wirth, chair of the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, co-director of the Broad Institute's Infectious Disease Initiative, and the study's senior author.

"One of the immediate applications is that we should be able to develop a tool to detect the emergence of drug resistance in populations and map its spread," Wirth said.

The early detection of drug resistance is critical in better managing the disease. If doctors understand early on that a patient is infected with a strain resistant to a particular drug, they can use other medications and strategies to fight the disease, rather than a blind trial-and-error approach.

"This is a way for one to get ahead of the curve, instead of waiting for clinical failure," Wirth said.

The research represents a critical intersection of advancing technology and basic science aimed at understanding the human genome - pioneered under the leadership of Eric Lander at the Broad Institute - and their application to modern public health problems.

Popular hair-loss drug impedes prostate cancer detection in middle-aged men

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 15:53:42 -0400

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have found that the prostate specific antigen (PSA) cancer screening test is falsely lowered by a factor of two in middle-aged men who have taken Propecia (finasteride), a hair-loss drug used by more than 4 million men worldwide, for one year. These findings were published on Dec. 5, in Lancet Oncology online

"For these men, the PSA level needs to be corrected, or the detection of prostate cancer may not occur until it is more aggressive," said Anthony D'Amico, Harvard Medical School professor of radiation oncology, chief of genitourinary radiation oncology at BWH, and lead author of the study. "It is also important to note that because PSA becomes a more accurate indicator for cancer presence when taking finasteride-containing drugs like Propecia, changes in PSA as low as 0.3 ng/ml in one year have been used to recommend a prostate biopsy."

PSA is a protein produced by the prostate gland and is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer and other prostate disorders. A blood test to measure PSA is the most effective test available for the early detection of prostate cancer, and levels are reported as nanograms of PSA per milliliter of blood (ng/ml). Controversy exists as to what is considered a normal PSA level, but a high PSA level and the rise in PSA levels over time may indicate that cancer is present and a biopsy is necessary.

In this study, researchers aimed to determine whether Propecia, which is a 1 mg. formulation of finasteride, has a similar effect on PSA levels as Proscar, a 5 mg. formulation of the drug used in the treatment of enlarged prostate. Previous studies have shown Proscar to significantly decrease PSA levels. The researchers studied 355 men aged 40 to 60 years old for 48 weeks in a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study. Participants' PSA levels were obtained at the start of the study and once every 12 weeks for the duration of the study. Researchers found that for men who received 1mg/day of finasteride in an analogous fashion to Proscar, PSA levels dropped by a factor of two in one year. As a result of this decrease, researchers recommend that men between 40 and 60 years of age who take Propecia for hair loss have their PSA levels adjusted by a factor of 2 just as they would if they were taking Proscar.

$1M prize for the discovery of biomarker for ALS

50443248 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:09:58 -0400

Prize4Life Inc., the nonprofit organization founded by Harvard Business School (HBS) alumni Nathan Boaz and Andrea Marano and student Avi Kremer, announced earlier this month that it will award a $1 million prize for researchers who discover a biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

A biomarker is a distinctive biological indicator that can mark the presence or progression of a disease. Detecting biomarkers specific to a disease can help in identification, diagnosis, and treatment of those with the disease as well as those who might be at risk but are as yet asymptomatic. There are presently no known biomarkers for ALS for diagnosing or measuring the progression of the disease.

Research reveals how stem cells build a heart

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:11:35 -0400

Master cells that give rise to the three main cell types in a human heart have been discovered by Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists working independently at two Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Together they found that a single progenitor stem cell differentiates into cells that cause a heart to beat, that make up its internal surface, and form its blood vessels.

The master cells arise during an early stage of embryo growth. As-yet-undiscovered signals then stimulate them to form the main building blocks of the heart, the first identifiable organ in the development of human life. Once started, that life-sustaining muscular pump beats more than 2,500 million times during an average lifetime.

Scientists identify switch for brain's natural anti-oxidant defense

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:46:37 -0400

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report they have found how the brain turns on a system designed to protect its nerve cells from toxic "free radicals," a waste product of cell metabolism that has been implicated in some degenerative brain diseases, heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and aging.

Potentially, the researchers say, it may be possible to use drugs to strengthen the anti-oxidant system in the brain as a treatment for presently incurable diseases like Parkinson's, Huntington's, Alzheimer's, and possibly other maladies.

Study shows benefits of eating fish greatly outweigh risks

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:46:48 -0400

Many studies have shown the nutritional benefits of eating fish (finfish or shellfish). Fish is high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. But concerns have been raised in recent years about chemicals found in fish from environmental pollution, including mercury, PCBs and dioxins. That has led to confusion among the public - do the risks of eating fish outweigh the benefits?

Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) tackled that question by undertaking the single most comprehensive analysis to date of fish and health. In the first review to combine the evidence for major health effects of omega-3 fatty acids, major health risks of mercury, and major health risks of PCBs and dioxins in both adults and infants/ young children, the results show that the benefits of eating a modest amount of fish per week - about 3 ounces of farmed salmon or 6 ounces of mackerel - reduced the risk of death from coronary heart disease (CHD) by 36 percent.

Notably, by combining results of randomized clinical trials, the investigators also demonstrated that intake of fish or fish oil reduces total mortality - deaths from any causes - by 17 percent.

Included with the paper, which appears in the Oct. 18, 2006, issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (http:// jama.ama-assn.org/), is the first comprehensive summary of levels of omega-3 fatty acids, mercury, PCBs and dioxins in various species of fish and other foods, including chicken, beef, pork, butter and eggs.

The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health.