Category Archives: Health

Health, Medical, Research, Science

Indigestion drugs linked to risk of heart attacks and strokes…

PROTON PUMP INHIBITORS (PPIs)

Common indigestion drugs used by millions of Britons could increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, according to research.

Scientists said the drugs, called proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs, can trigger a dangerous rise in chemicals in the body linked with heart disease.

Patients with existing heart problems, such as angina, are at most risk, but healthy adults with no history of such complaints could also be affected, the researchers said.

The number of prescriptions for PPIs such as lansoprazole and omeprazole – sold over the counter as Zanprol – has doubled in recent years to more than eight million a year, costing the NHS around £400 million a year. The exact number of patients on the drugs is not known because some buy them over the counter (OTC) at high street chemists.

PPIs work by blocking the action of cells called proton pumps, which produce stomach acid. Although very effective, they should only be used for a maximum of two months and preferably for between two and four weeks.

But many patients quickly find they cannot live without them and ask for repeat prescriptions from their GP or buy them at the chemist. Previous studies identified a potential link between the drugs and heart problems, although scientists conceded there was no obvious explanation for the connection.

Now experts at the Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston, Texas, believe they have uncovered the reason why.

After studying samples of human heart tissue, as well as carrying out experiments on mice, they found that PPIs triggered an increase in a chemical called asymmetric dimethylarginine, or ADMA, produced as the body’s cells make proteins.

It can hinder blood flow by blocking the release of nitric oxide, a gas which helps arteries to stay flexible and healthy. The latest findings, published in the journal Circulation, show PPI medicines increase ADMA levels by about 25 per cent and reduce the ability of blood vessel walls to relax by more than 30 per cent.

In a report on their findings, the researchers said that several studies have raised concern that the use of PPIs in patients with acute coronary syndrome (heart disease) may increase their risk of major adverse events.

Dr John Cooke, who heads the research group, says that whilst a plausible biological explanation has now been found to explain this, also added that the ‘surprising effect still needs further investigation’.

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Health, Medical, Research, Science

Liver grown in the laboratory raises real hope…

AN ALTERNATIVE TO TRANSPLANTS

Scientists have grown a tiny liver in experiments which has been hailed as ‘a huge step forward’ for desperately ill patients waiting for a transplant.

The technique that creates man-made tissue could be used to repair diseased and damaged organs – and one day end the agonising and sometimes hopeless wait for a donor.

These advances could also be used to test new medicines, ending the need for risky tests on humans, and to grow tissue for new kidneys, lungs and pancreases.

British scientists have welcomed the research in Japan as holding out ‘promise’ for an alternative to transplants.

More than 7,000 Britons are on the waiting list, including 154 children. Most need kidneys but nearly 500 need a liver and around 250 are waiting for healthy lungs.

Researchers used the three types of cell which generate the liver in a human embryo to grow a tiny piece of tissue in a dish.

It was grafted on to a mouse’s brain, where it linked up to the blood supply and could be monitored as it grew for at least two months. The tissue had many features of a human liver, including the ability to break down drugs.

It also extended the life of rodents with fatal liver disease. The findings were reported in the journal Nature.

Researcher Takanori Takebe said growing patches of liver holds ‘enormous therapeutic potential’.

Dr Dusko Ilic, a stem cell scientist from King’s College London, said: ‘The strategy is very promising and a huge step forward.’

Dr Mathew Smalley, of Cardiff University, said the technique may not be suitable for all transplant patients but still had ‘real promise’.

NHS Blood and Transplant, which is responsible for running the organ donor register, said the research was ‘very exciting’.

But it could take many years to offer ‘widespread, readily-available treatment’, the NHS body said. In the meantime, more organ donors are still needed to cut the number of patients who die waiting for a transplant.

It is hoped the first tests on people could start in a decade.

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Health, Medical, United States

A new study finds that HRT does not affect a woman’s memory…

Women taking hormone replacement therapy following the menopause are not at a higher risk of developing dementia, a new study has found.

HRT, which is used to treat menopausal symptoms, including hot flushes, has previously been linked with memory deterioration and a doubling of the risk of developing dementia.

Researchers followed a group of more than 1,300 women between the ages of 50 and 55 who were on HRT medication known as conjugated equine oestrogens (CEOs).

The researchers, based at the Women’s Health Centre of Excellence for Research at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, gave one set of women placebos and one the HRT treatment. The results were studied after seven years.

They found no overall differences in the brain function scores between women taking the HRT treatment and the placebos.

Dr Mark Espeland, a professor of biostatistics, led the research programme, and said it proved giving the hormones at an earlier age of the menopause provided more benefits than prescribing them at a later stage.

Dr Espeland said:

… Our findings provide reassurance that CEO-based therapies when administered to women earlier in the postmenopausal period do not seem to convey long-term adverse consequences for cognitive function.

The researchers did note some minor speech disturbances in some of the women taking CEOs longer-term. But they attributed that to ‘chance’ and reported that it was not statistically significant.

Around 1.5 million British women use HRT, which relives symptoms of the menopause including hot flushes and mood swings by replacing the body’s declining supply of the hormone oestrogen.

Previously, studies claimed the risk of suffering from mental decline could be doubled by taking hormone replacement therapy. A warning in 2003 was given by scientists in the United States who sought to determine if healthy women should turn to HRT to combat ill-health in later life, not just menopausal symptoms.

It is believed that fewer than 3 per cent of women in the UK aged 65 and over are on the therapy.

The research was published in the medical journal, JAMA Internal Medicine.

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