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Letter: Early access to care essential for brain injuries

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

Editor, Gazette-Journal: March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. A brain injury can happen anytime, anywhere, to anyone. Brain injuries do not discriminateit doesnt matter how old or young you are, what sex or race, or how rich or poor you are. More than 1.7 million people sustain a brain injury each year from a fall, a motor vehicle accident, a sports-related injury, or a medical event like a stroke. An injury that happens in an instant can bring a lifetime of physical, cognitive and behavior changes, but early and adequate access to care can greatly increase overall quality of life and make those challenges a little less difficult. The Brain Injury Association of Virginia is proud to join advocates across the country to recognize March as Brain Injury Awareness Month, honoring the millions of people with brain injury who, with proper acute care, therapeutic rehabilitation and adequate long-term supports, are living with the successes and challenges that each day brings. I encourage everyone to visit our agencys website, http://www.biav.net, to learn more about brain injury and what you can do to help the Brain Injury Association of Virginia continue to raise awareness of the impact of brain injury in our … Continue reading →

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Flu Drug Treats Brain Injury

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

NEW YORK, New York, United States (AP) - Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Severely injured patients in the US, Denmark, and Germany who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands, or use a spoon or hairbrush - things that few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 percent. "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and that's not been shown before," said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: "It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." Many doctors began using amantadine for brain injuries years ago, but until now there's never been a big study to show that it works. The results of the federally funded study appear in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. … Continue reading →

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Immunomedics Appoints Marcella LoCastro to Board of Directors

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

MORRIS PLAINS, N.J., March 7, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immunomedics, Inc. (Nasdaq:IMMU - News), a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on the development of monoclonal antibody-based products for the targeted treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases, today announced that Ms. Marcella LoCastro, CPA.CITP, has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors. Ms. LoCastro is the Chief Executive Officer of MLoCastro Consulting LLC, and provides Women's Leadership Training for public accounting and professional services firms, as well as the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants. Previously, she served as a Managing Partner at Tatum, LLC, a national professional services firm, Managing Director at SolomonEdwardsGroup, LLC, a national CFO services firm, and has held Partner roles with Deloitte LLP, JH Cohn LLP, Arthur Andersen LLP and Ernst & Young LLP. Ms. LoCastro currently serves on the Board and the Audit Committee of BioClinica, Inc. (Nasdaq:BIOC - News); as a Senior Advisor on an Industry Advisory Board for Alvarez and Marsal; and as a board member of several professional and educational organizations. The Board of Directors will recommend the election of Ms. LoCastro in the 2012 proxy, which is expected to be distributed at the end of October. "Marcella has … Continue reading →

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Pregnancy May Protect Against MS, Study Says

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

WEDNESDAY, March 7 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that pregnancy may decrease women's risk of developing multiple sclerosis. "Even one pregnancy was associated with nearly a halving of risk [of developing MS symptoms]," said study author Anne-Louise Ponsonby, head of the environmental and genetic epidemiology and research group at Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia. The team also found that women who were pregnant two or more times had only one-quarter of the risk of developing MS symptoms as those who were never pregnant. The study was published online March 7 in the journal Neurology. Previous research has found that pregnancy in women who already have MS -- an autoimmune disorder -- is linked with lower rates of relapse. Ponsonby's team found an association between pregnancy and a lower risk of MS symptoms, not a direct cause-and-effect link. They say, however, that this association may help explain why the incidence of MS in women has inched up over the past few decades, as more women delay pregnancy or have fewer babies or none at all. The researchers evaluated information on 282 Australian men and women, aged 18 to 59, who had MS symptoms -- which can include fatigue, … Continue reading →

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Estrogen-Only Therapy Reduces Breast Cancer Chances In Post-Menopausal Women

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

March 7, 2012 A new study published this week shows that women who used estrogen alone as hormone replacement therapy after menopause had a lower risk of developing breast cancer up to five years after they stopped taking it, reports Shari Roan for the Los Angeles Times. This discovery adds yet another twist to the ongoing story on hormone replacement therapy for treatment of hot flashes and poor sleep quality. The estrogen-only therapy appears to cut the risk of having breast cancer by about 20 percent and significantly reduces a womans risk of dying from the disease and the benefits appear to last for years after the therapy has concluded, reports Brenda Goodman, MA, for WebMD. Executive director of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), Margery Gass, MD, explained to Goodman: certainly for some women hormone therapy dramatically improves their quality of life. The report is a follow-up analysis of the landmark Womens Health Initiative, a clinical trial of tens of thousands of women that began in 1993. That study compared two hormone replacement therapies, estrogen plus progestin, which most women must take, and estrogen alone, taken by women who have had hysterectomies. The double-hormone arm of the study was … Continue reading →

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Estrogen After Menopause Lowers Breast Cancer Risk for Some Women

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

If one things clear about the data on the health effects of hormone replacement therapy after menopause, its that theyre confusing. But researchers are continually learning more about which women can safely use estrogen or progestin, and when. In the latest study, published in the journal Lancet Oncology, scientists once again mined data from the Womens Health Initiative (WHI) the large-scale trial begun in 1991 that first looked at the relationship between hormone replacement therapy and health risks such as breast cancer and heart disease. The study looked at the effects of both combination hormone therapy, including both estrogen and progestin, and estrogen-only treatment. In 2002, the combination-therapy arm of the study was halted when data revealed that women taking the hormone pills to treat the symptoms of menopause had a 24% increased risk of developing breast cancer. The results also showed that contrary to what doctors had thought, the hormones did not protect women from heart disease. That led doctors to change the way they prescribed estrogen and progestin therapy for postmenopausal women, limiting its use to short periods and only to help women manage the worst symptoms of hot flashes and night sweats. MORE: Making Sense of Hormone … Continue reading →

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Stem Cell-Seeded Cardiopatch Could Deliver Results for Damaged Hearts

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

Durham, NC (PRWEB) March 07, 2012 A new type of stem cell-seeded patch has shown promising results in promoting healing after a heart attack, according to a study released today in the journal STEM CELLS Translational Medicine. Ischemic heart disease, caused by vessel blockage, is a leading cause of death in many western countries. Studies have shown the potential of stem cells in regenerating heart tissue damaged during an attack. But even as the list of candidate cells for cardiac regeneration has expanded, none has emerged as the obvious choice, possibly because several cell types are needed to regenerate both the hearts muscles and its vascular components. Aside from the choice of the right cell source for tissue regeneration, the best way to deliver the stem cells is up for debate, too, as intravenous delivery and injections can be inefficient and possibly harmful. While embryonic stem cells have shown great promise for heart repairs due to their ability to differentiate into virtually any cell type, less than 10 percent of injected cells typically survive the engraftment and of that number generally only 2 percent actually colonize the heart. In order for this type of treatment is to be clinically effective, … Continue reading →

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Stem cell research allows for mismatched kidney transplants

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

Donating a kidney may save a person's life - but only if the conditions are precise. Kidney donors must be related and immunologically matched to their donors and even then, the recipient must take a lifetime of anti-rejection medications, which dont guarantee the organ won't be rejected. But a new clinical trial from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill. has shown how stem cells can be used to trick a recipients immune system into believing the new organ has been part of that persons body all along. The breakthrough has the potential to eliminate both the risks associated with kidney transplantation and the need for anti-rejection medications within one year after surgery. Its the holy grail of transplantation, said lead author Dr. Joseph Leventhal, transplant surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and associate professor of surgery and director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Ill. This notion of being able to achieve tolerance through donor derived cells has been around for more than 50 years, but its translation to the clinic has been quite elusive. This article details the first successful attempt of this in mismatched and unrelated kidney recipients. The research was … Continue reading →

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New England Journal of Medicine Publishes Data from Phase 2 Study of Asfotase Alfa in Life-Threatening Hypophosphatasia

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

CHESHIRE, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXN - News) today announced that asfotase alfa (formerly known as ENB-0040), a highly innovative investigational targeted enzyme replacement therapy, was shown to improve skeletal abnormalities, pulmonary and physical function, and cognitive development in a Phase 2 study of infants and young children with life-threatening hypophosphatasia (HPP). Alexion is developing asfotase alfa as a potential treatment for patients with HPP, an ultra-rare, genetic, life-threatening metabolic disease for which there are currently no approved or effective treatment options. Findings from the study are published in the March 8th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Due to a genetic enzyme deficiency, symptomatic patients with HPP face progressive damage to multiple vital organs including destruction and deformity of bones, profound muscle weakness, seizures, impaired renal function, and respiratory failure.1,2,3,4 About half of newborns with HPP do not survive past one year of age.1 This inborn error of metabolism can cause progressive skeletal deterioration and muscle weakness in severely affected infants and very young children with HPP, leading to respiratory insufficiency and significant mortality, said lead study author Michael P. Whyte, M.D., Medical-Scientific Director, Center for Metabolic Bone Disease and Molecular Research, Shriners Hospitals for … Continue reading →

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Alexion drug offers hope for rare, deadly disorder

Posted: Published on March 7th, 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An experimental therapy for a rare, often fatal genetic disorder appears to offer hope for infants and very young children with the condition, according to data from a small clinical trial reported in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday. The enzyme-replacement drug, asfotase alfa, acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc with its $610 million purchase of Canada-based Enobia Pharma, could become the first approved treatment for the metabolic disease hypophosphatasia, or HPP. The condition is a genetic enzyme deficiency that causes bone softening and muscle weakness and can lead to severe lung problems and damage to other vital organs. It affects about 1 in 100,000 newborns worldwide, according to the National Institutes of Health. About half of infants with a severe form of the disease do not survive beyond one year. In the study of 11 babies and toddlers under three with life-threatening HPP, treatment with asfotase alfa resulted in "striking" improvements in skeletal problems and dramatic improvements in lung function and mobility, researchers reported. "I'm thrilled to see babies who were really doomed responding to the treatment," Dr Michael Whyte, the study's lead investigator, said in a telephone interview. "The therapy is proving not … Continue reading →

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