The use of tension-free mesh during the time of surgical repair of sports hernias in addition with an innovative rehab program can prove to be an effective solution for athletes to return back to the sporting arena after being kept down by injuries, with a success rate of as much as 93 percent.

The research at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis was presented at annual meeting of the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine, held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada by lead investigator L. Michael Brunt, M.D., professor of surgery.

Sports hernia is a considered to be a rare ailment among recreational athletes but it is somehow common with professional or college sportsmen and is often a result of changes in strength training modules.

From News-Medical.Net:

The surgery involves a two-inch incision to remove some of the damaged muscle tissue and instead of a primary repair with stitches, tension-free mesh is used to strengthen and reinforce the area. “We think the mesh provides considerable support to let the area heal,” Brunt says. “Because there’s no tension on the repair, this helps athletes return to full physical activity faster than surgery with a sutured repair alone.”

The rehabilitation protocol used in the study was developed by Ray Barile, an athletic trainer for the St. Louis Blues hockey team. The multistep, graduated program is more structured than others used to return athletes to activity after groin surgery. It starts with early walking and movement and gradually moves athletes to resistance and core muscle building before progressing to speed and functional activities. Athletic trainers, physical therapists and athletes appear to have the most success when they are given well-structured guidelines about what can and can’t be expected or allowed at each stage after hernia surgery, Brunt says.

These findings are considered to offer much-needed relief to athletes who have been let down by sports hernia by acting as a unique treatment methodology to reach the same level of body strength & performance prior to the injury.

According to a national survey published in the June issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, the use of steroids in girls is not merely restricted to competitive athletics but also extends to smoking and diet pills.

According to assessments made on anabolic steroids by Diane L. Elliot, M.D., of the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, and colleagues, the trends of steroid use in girls is on a rampant high as found by a study that involved 7,544 female students in grades nine through 12 completing the survey.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Adolescent girls reporting anabolic steroid use had significantly more other health-harming behaviors,” they continue. “They were much more likely to use other unhealthy substances, including past 30-day use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine.” Young female steroid users were also more likely to:

* have had sexual intercourse before age 13
* have been pregnant
* drink and drive or have ridden with a drinking driver
* carry a weapon
* have been in a fight on school property in the past year
* have feelings of sadness or hopelessness almost every day for at least two weeks
* have attempted suicide

More than two-thirds of the teen girls surveyed reported trying to change their weight. However, those who used steroids were more likely to turn to extreme weight-loss techniques, including vomiting and laxative use. “Anabolic steroids are body-shaping agents and cause a loss in body fat and an increase in lean tissue; therefore, their association with unhealthy weight loss practices was not surprising,” the authors write.

This study found that high-risk adolescent girls using anabolic steroids received less attention than adolescent boys suggesting that their actions may have been seen as more destructive on a personal front.

A randomized controlled trial comparing the benefits and effects of corticosteroids to combination therapy in patients with Bell’s palsy has been recently conducted by Dr. John K. Goudakos, MD, MSc and Dr. Konstaninos D. Markou, MD, PhD of the University of Thessaloniki in Greece. In the meta-analysis, 358 patients were identified as taking corticosteroids alone and 351 patients were identified as taking a combination of corticosteroid and antiviral agents. Three months after the start of the therapy, the complete recovery rate was not significantly different between the corticosteroid group and the combination group. Even the adverse effects between the two groups do not significantly differ from each other.

Bell’s palsy is a facial motor dysfunction which affects the facial nerve (cranial nerve VII). The degree varies from minor weakness to complete paralysis, depending on the amount of neural injury. Possible underlying causes include genetic factors, vascular ischemia, and inflammation due to viral infection or autoimmune disorders.

According to the authors of the study, corticosteroids have been established as a therapy of choice despite the fact that its benefits have not been fully established. Treatment decisions are still doubtful and remain a common problem in the treatment of Bell’s palsy.

According to Eureka Alert:

Adding an antiviral agent to corticosteroids for treatment of Bell’s palsy (a condition characterized by partial facial paralysis) is not associated with improved recovery of facial movement function, according to a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the June issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) reiterated its statements on hyponatremia and dehydration for endurance athletes during competitive events with an aim to clarify peculiar issues that are usually concerned with hydration of athletes.

Hyponatremia is a dangerous condition that occurs when an athlete consumes too much of sports drinks or water that lead to dilution or disruption of level of sodium in the body.

It was pointed out during the study by ACSM experts in sports medicine and exercise science that hydration is imperative for all active individuals. It was also noted that water and/or sports drinks, when used as per recommendations, do not lead to Hyponatremia, which is a rare condition and not commonly found in most athletes.

Larry Kenney, Ph.D., FACSM, referring to the Boston Marathon (18th April), said that athletes who participated in this marathon appeared to be properly hydrated and probably understood the message of effective hydration to gain better results.

From News-Medical.Net:

Appropriate fluid intake before, during and after exercise is important to help regulate body temperature and replace body fluids lost through sweating. “Runners should follow a hydration plan based on their sweat losses during training, and slow runners in particular should take care not to drink beyond that level during exercise,” said Kenney. He also advised runners to consume salty snacks before and after the race to replace any sodium lost during exercise. ACSM’s current hydration guidelines state that those exercising for more than one hour may benefit from sports drinks, which replace carbohydrates for energy.

Generally, says Kenney, persons participating in typical athletic or work environments should continue to heed current hydration guidelines. “There are dangers associated with both extremes of behavior—severe under-drinking and severe over-drinking. Not drinking at all is not a safe option for preventing hyponatremia.” The key, he said, is “drinking intelligently, not drinking maximally.”

Dehydration resulting from the failure to replace fluids during exercise can limit the body’s ability to regulate body temperature by sweating and/or skin blood flow, and may contribute to heat exhaustion, heat injury, and exertional heat stroke. To minimize the potential for thermal injury, ACSM experts recommend that athletes attempt to replace fluid losses by consuming fluids at a rate equal to the sweat rate. This can be accomplished by athletes weighing themselves before and after the exercise bout. Recommendations are based on scientific data and observation of athletes suffering from heat injury.

ACSM experts also said that all active individuals and not just athletes participating in endurance competitions must be mindful of the hydration factor during any activity in the heat and humidity.

Clomid, which is predominantly used in the medical world for treating female infertility, is now extending its reach to bodybuilders and professional athletes. The response of bodybuilders as well as non-bodybuilders to this wonder drug with amazing results has been exceptionally well.

Clomid, which is also known as Clomifene and Clomifert, provides great benefits to bodybuilders when it comes to the restoration of natural producing testosterone, the male sex hormone.

Its primary objective is to block the inhibition of estrogen and not the stimulation of hypothalamus or pituitary besides being useful in increasing the amount of fluid during ejaculation.

From Wikiepdia.org:

Clomifene acts by inhibiting the action of estrogen on the hypothalamus. Zuclomifene, the more active isomer (see below), binds to estrogen receptors and stays bound for long periods of time. This prevents normal receptor recycling and causes an effective reduction in hypothalamic estrogen receptor number. Since estrogen can no longer effectively feedback on the hypothalamus, GnRH secretion becomes more pulsatile, which results in increased pituitary gonadotropin (FSH, LH) release. Increased gonadotropin levels cause growth of the ovarian follicle, followed by follicular rupture, otherwise known as ovulation.

Clomifene can lead to multiple ovulation, and hence increasing the chance of twins (3-5% of births instead of normal ~1%). In comparison to purified FSH, the rate of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome is low. There may be an increased risk of ovarian cancer and weight gain.

Clomifene is commonly used by male anabolic steroid users to bind the estrogen receptors in their bodies, thereby blocking the effects of estrogen, i.e., gynecomastia. It also restores the body’s natural production of testosterone. It is commonly used as a “recovery drug” and taken toward the end of a steroid cycle.[citation needed] Some users report that taking Clomid increases the amount of fluid produced during ejaculation.

Recent medical studies have suggested that Clomid is an exceptionally useful steroid when taken at the end of a steroid cycle. This is primarily because of the fact that it considerably reduces the risk of risk of gynecomastia during a steroid cycle due to the employment of aromatizable steroids.

As per a new study, enzymes that are being used for steroid synthesis in snails, corals, and insects are not related to those used in humans.

The research team included French and American scientists, including Michael E. Baker, PhD, professor in UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology-Hypertension at the Université de Lyon, ENS Lyon. During the research, it was observed that the obtained findings are very helpful in attaining a clear insight into the evolution of steroid hormone signaling. The research team also studied on the relationship of steroid synthesis to enzymes that are known to detoxify many harmful chemicals in the environment.

Vincent Laudet, Professor in the Institute of Functional Genomics of Lyon, Division of Molecular Zoology, said that the effects of chemicals on snails and corals, however, continue to remain a cause of concern.

From Scienedaily.com:

Steroids hormones are key to many vital physiological responses in humans, ranging from anti-inflammatory agents to regulating events during pregnancy. They are also the target of many chemical pollutants, known as endocrine disruptors. As part of a program to understand the evolution of steroid hormone signaling, Laudet – along with Gabriel Markov, a student in the Institute of Functional Genomics, initially trained by Raquel Tavares at Université de Lyon, characterized the evolutionary relationships between proteins that synthesize steroids in animals. They traced the origin of such enzymes from vertebrates, insects, snails and jelly fish and interpreted these results through extensive discussions with Baker, Chantal Dauphin-Villemant at Université Paris 6, and Barbara Demeneix from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Through an analysis of several invertebrate genomes, the scientists discovered that snails and insects utilize steroid-synthesizing enzymes that are not vertebrate–related, but instead belong in an invertebrate family. Moreover, these invertebrate steroidogenic enzymes have a strong evolutionary connection to enzymes that detoxify chemicals (called xenobiotics).

This unexpected finding led them to hypothesize that these steroid-synthesizing enzymes arose independently from specific pathways used by snails and worms for detoxifying environmental chemicals.

Laudet went on to add that the findings truly emphasize on the need of more cross-disciplinary studies between endocrinologists, toxicologists, and zoologists.

Creatine is becoming more popular these days since it is widely used by both natural bodybuilders and those who use anabolic steroids (AAS). If you are a natural bodybuilder, its use should be automatic. You will definitely add pounds of water weight to your muscles. They will appear larger and fuller, and you will be able to lift more weights in the gym.

Creatine is the most used and most successful supplement in history. It aids in water retention and specifically draws water to your muscle bellies. It gives you more leverage to lift additional weight. It will also give you a feeling of being big as more water is retained throughout the body.

AAS provides useful effects such as muscle growth and increased red blood cell production. Steroids also provide you with a water bloat although it is a little bit different from the bloat given by creatine. On the other hand, not all steroids provide a bloat. Users of Anavar should certainly use creatine since it promotes no water retention, unless you wish to avoid the bloat. However, creatine is very useful in building muscle strength and size.

Creatine is used best while on-cycle to give you a few more pounds of “water muscle” and to continue using it until the start of the next cycle to maintain the water weight all year long.

From articles base:

A final recommendation plays the safe route. It probably is useful for those using gear, but is very likely useful for naturals, and those coming down from a steroid cycle. If you use steroids, creatine may be useful while on-cycle for a few more pounds of ‘water muscle’. When you complete a cycle, its use may be very useful, in helping you to maintain the water weight and some of the size. You can use it until you begin your next cycle, then ease back on its use for a few months. This allows you to keep the water weight (and corresponding strength gains) all year long, while still being able to give your body’s receptors a break from the steroids.

For many years, there have been numerous studies performed on steroids and its effect to the body. It has long been established that the following are the effects of steroids, it lowers body fat and increases strength and lean muscle mass, making it a favorite supplement of bodybuilders.

Aside from these, some negative effects were also found with steroid use. Males usually experience an acceleration in baldness, an overly enlarged pair of breast known as gynecomastia brought about by the increase in estrogen levels. Those steroid users over the age of forty may also experience prostate enlragement which is quite dangerous for males in their middle age. There is also the issue of fertility since the endocrine system stops producing testosterone from the testes due to the influx of artificial testosterone. It disrupts the body’s testosterone production levels and its quality.

A recent study, however, found an interesting revelation about an additional side effect caused by steroid and that is, memory loss. The body experiences something “ incredible” during the initial dose of testosterone. The brain functions are heightened. As soon as testosterone levels drop, this mental edge disappears. Symptoms include memory loss, lack of focus and other telltale signs that points to the decrease in mental strength as the body attempts to recover from the sudden drop in testosterone level.

From Dane Fletcher:

Keep in mind that everything in life – including steroid use - consists of ebbs and flows, highs and lows. Testosterone supplementation is no exception. Enjoy the mental highs, and expect and prepare for the mental and memory lapses, which may follow administration. Remember that just as the body will physically suffer when testosterone administration is halted, the brain will function with less efficiency when testosterone levels are dropped, even briefly.

Jim Rice, who will be one of the elite inductees to the Hall of Fame with Rickey Henderson on July 26, spoke on Friday against use of steroids and the bad vibes created by steroid using players and steroids in baseball. He was of the view that steroid-using baseball players namely Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, among others, just do not deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

In a conference call that was arranged by the Hall of Fame, Rice said that baseball players who used steroids to deliver dramatic performance on the field and hampered the spirit of the game do not deserve any place in the hall of fame.

From Sfgate.com:

“You can almost look at the same thing as Pete Rose,” Rice said on a conference call arranged by the Hall of Fame. “I think if they did something wrong to enhance the game of baseball or go against the game of baseball, they shouldn’t be in. That’s just me.”

Regarding steroids, Rice said of the players already enshrined, “You didn’t find anything that they did wrong. They’re in the Hall of Fame. All of a sudden, you pick someone who did something wrong, and they say, ‘Well, we’re going to overlook that because he was a Hall of Famer before that.’ Nah. Uh-uh. I don’t believe in that. If you’re going to be that way, you’ve got to be straight with everyone.”

Both Bonds, a seven-time MVP, and Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, elevated their games in their late 30s and early 40s and are targets of federal investigations into whether they lied about using steroids. Both were considered Hall of Fame worthy before their first link to performance-enhancing drugs.

“If they used steroids, it’s up to the writers to make the decision. As Hall of Famers, we have no vote,” Rice said. “You go back and ask, ‘Was he a Hall of Famer before they caught him using steroids?’ So you’re telling your kids, ‘Hey, you can use steroids now, don’t get caught.’ “

It is believed that many of the several players who have been included in the hall of fame expressed their disapproval of players who used steroids during their playing days, including Rich Gossage who was one of the inductees last year, who motivated young players to fess up with steroids.

An epidural steroid injection is a common procedure used to treat spinal nerve irritation caused by pressing of the adjacent tissues against it. Oftentimes, the root of the spinal nerve is irritated and compressed by an inflamed herniated intervertebral disc or its contents, directly touching the spinal nerve.

It is also most commonly used in situations of radicular pain. A radicular pain is a radiating pain transmitted away from the spine and it usually runs down from the lower back and down the leg.

Epidural steroid injections are also used to treat cervical radiculopathy, a nerve compression in the neck (cervical spine).

During epidural steroid injection, an inflamed nerve root is “bathed” in steroids, which is usually a potent anti-inflammatory medicine, in order to decrease the irritation of the nerve root.

The procedure is usually quick and simple. During an epidural steroid injection, a needle and syringe are used to deposit small amounts of long-lasting steroids within the epidural space of the inflamed spinal nerve. A viewing instrument using X-rays, called a fluoroscope, is used to visualize the local anatomy so that the needle can be placed accurately in the epidural space. The epidural steroid injection specifically targets the inflamed area, thereby minimizing exposure of the rest of the body to the steroids. The target area is then treated with maximal amount of steroids.

From Hubpages:

Your back or neck pain not getting better despite hot compresses or stretching exercises? Make an appointment to see a specialist. A compressed nerve might be the cause of your problem, and what you might need is a shot that we commonly associate with childbirth.

As per a new study, adults over 55 years fear Alzheimer’s disease more than the dreaded cancer, and with good reasons. The fact that there are no effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease only adds to their agony.

But now, there have been suggestions from the Georgetown University that spirostenols, which is a new class of Anti-Alzheimer’s disease, can prove to be effective for undoing characteristic pathophysiology of Alzheimer-affected brains. It was further suggested after more clinical tests that Caprospinol (SP-233), which is one such molecule, can actually reverse the course of an Alzheimer-like disease induced in rats.

From News-Medical.Net:

Buildup of beta-amyloid plaque in the brain has been recognized as a hallmark sign of Alzheimer’s for close to a century. Significant research points to this buildup as a causative factor in the development and progression of the disease. Until recently this hypothesis could not be tested definitively because of a lack of treatments that eliminate beta-amyloid plaques.

Samaritan Pharmaceutical scientists, working with leading researchers from Georgetown and McGill Universities, have demonstrated in a rat animal model, used to test new innovative drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, that Caprospinol clears amyloid plaque from the brain and restored memory. More impressively, treated rats perform as well or better in standardized behavioral tests than healthy control animals. In addition to eliminating plaque, Caprospinol appears to reverse the damage to memory and cognition that amyloid plaque causes.

Dr. Vassilios Papadopoulos, of McGill University Health Center, an adviser to Samaritan, and the discoverer of anti-Alzheimer’s spirostenols recently published a paper reviewing current development-stage approaches to treating Alzheimer’s disease (Recent Patents on CNS Drug Discovery, 2007, 2, 113-123). In this article, he identified amyloid plaque as a key target for therapy. The paper also summarized the research on acetylcholinesterase inhibitors as well as beta-amyloid aggregation inhibitors, of which Caprospinol is an example.

Caprospinol, which is a steroid, has now got the go-ahead from the FDA for testing on humans. It is believed to cause no unexpected interactions with other medications that may be taken by an Alzheimer patient.

Low doses of gabapentin may prove to be highly effective in the treatment of epileptic seizures as per North Central Cancer Treatment Group researchers based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Gabapentin is also considered to be an effective option for the treatment of nerve pain caused by shingles by minimizing hot flashes in patients who have underwent androgen-deprivation therapy or anti-hormonal treatment for prostate carcinoma.

Researchers involved in this study remarked that gabapentin can considerably reduce the frequency as well as intensity of hot flashes by as much as 46 percent in men who underwent androgen deprivation therapy. In addition to that, it was reported that men on gabapentin reported fewer side-effects than men who were on placebo tablets.

From News-Medical.Net:

Because gabapentin works on the central nervous system, its function may be similar to some antidepressants that are prescribed to reduce hot flashes in women entering menopause, he says. “But we don’t understand exactly how any of these drugs work to reduce hot flashes,” says Dr. Loprinzi.

Gabapentin (trade name Neurontin) was approved by the Food asnd Drug Administration to treat epileptic seizures in 1994, and pain from shingles in 2002.

The ability of gabapentin to reduce hot flashes was first detected when it was being used for other reasons. Since then, several clinical trials testing gabapentin in women found that a dose of about 900 milligrams a day decreased hot flashes by about half — the same dose and a similar degree of effectiveness discovered in Dr. Loprinzi’s clinical trial.

Men participating in this study had a mean age of 70, and suffered with hot flashes occurring at least 14 times a week. They were randomized into four groups. Over 28 days, one group was given placebo pills, another received a 300 mg/d (milligrams a day) tablet of gabapentin, a third group received an escalating dose of gabapentin that reached 600 mg/d, and the fourth group’s dose reached 900 mg/d. The study was blinded: physicians and patients did not know which pills contained the active agent.

Lead investigator of the study, Mayo Clinic oncologist Charles Loprinzi, M.D., remarked that he considers this study to be the first about nonhormonal treatment of hot flashes in men.

Some women who have been witnessed failed IVF treatments or suffering from repeated miscarriages can get benefit from steroid treatment. These facts were revealed during a conference in Liverpool in the United Kingdom.

Dr. Siobhan Quenby, of the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, said that it was found during a recent study that three quarters of women who previously failed to conceive get benefited from steroid treatment.

From News-Medical.Net:

Dr. Siobhan Quenby, of the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital, says that tests involving 120 women had identified natural killer cells as a cause of miscarriages and failed IVF embryo implants.

While such natural but potentially deadly cells are beneficial in most of the body because they can destroy infected or malignant cells, in the uterus they have been found to promote rapid growth of blood vessels when present in high numbers.

These blood vessels then transport additional oxygen-bearing blood which can cause miscarriages or prevent embryos implanting.

Steroids prescribed to 40 women, who had suffered multiple miscarriages, resulted in three quarters of them successfully giving birth.

The steroid treatment has been shown to reduce the level of natural killer cells in the uterus, and this is thought to increase the chances of an embryo going to full term.

Dr. Quenby says currently there is no treatment for the thousands of women around the world who are desperate because they keep miscarrying for no reason.

She says there is a massive and desperate need for a treatment and suggests that a third of miscarriages could be prevented.

It was also suggested that steroid treatment is beneficial even for reducing the level of natural killer cells in the uterus with an aim to enhance the chances of an embryo going to the full term.

As per a new research conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an anabolic steroid treatment therapy has the potential to improve surgical repair of massive and recurrent tears of rotator cuff tendons.

These kinds of injuries are commonly associated with high performance athletes, bodybuilders, and collegiate including golf and tennis players.

The study was led by Dr. Spero Karas, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery in UNC’s School of Medicine. A bioengineered tendon was developed by Dr. Albert J. Banes, professor of orthopedics and biomedical engineering at UNC, which predominantly figured during this study.

From News-Medical.Net:

“In this new study, supraspinatus tendon cells were harvested from my patients during rotator cuff surgery, isolated and then sent to Albert’s lab,” Karas said. “The cells were then grown in his culture media to coalesce and form this experimental tendon model, the bioartificial tendon.”

Prior to applying mechanical strain, the researchers treated some of the developing tissue with the anabolic steroid nandrolone decoanate. The steroid was administered directly into the lab dish via pipette, or dropper.

“We clearly found that when you looked at the bioartificial tendon matrices that were treated with anabolic steroid and then mechanical load or strain, we saw significant increases in their biomechanical properties,” Karas said.

“The tendons were smaller, more dense, stronger, more elastic and had better remodeling properties than tissue cells not treated with steroid or placed under strain,” he said. “They responded better to the load and formed a more normal appearing tendon, versus a more disorganized matrix we see in the untreated bioartificial tendon.”

Thus, said Karas, it appeared that load and anabolic steroid “act synergistically” to improve the characteristics of tendon.

Karas said the research had clinical applications, including the possibility of a day when bioartificial tendon matrices might literally help bridge the gap between deficient human tissue and the normal state – that is, to bridge the holes that remain following surgery for large rotator cuff tears.

Dr. Karas said that since the properties of steroids to build muscle mass and strength are well-known, he believed that it would be better if the same properties can be applied to the shoulder tissue also. He went on to remark that the bioartificial tendon provided by Banes could act as an appropriate model for testing.

Researchers found that taking inhaled corticosteroids may lower the risk of lung cancer among people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Inhaled corticosteroids reduce inflammation in the airways thereby improving symptoms associated with the disease.

Previous studies have shown that inhaled corticosteroids reduce markers of inflammation such as C-reactive protein and reduce airway inflammation.

From Bio-Medicine:

The study conducted by the University of Washington suggests people who took at least 1,200 micrograms per day of inhaled corticosteroids had a 61% lower risk of developing lung cancer than non-users.

Researchers followed a group of more than 10,000 mostly older male U.S. veterans with COPD who were treated in Veterans Affairs primary care clinics from 1996 to 2001. Of these, 517 were regular users of inhaled corticosteroids as determined by records of pharmacy refills and were included in the study’s analysis.

The results, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Medicine, suggested that compared with non-users of corticosteroids, those who took 1,200 micrograms or more per day of inhaled corticosteroids were 61% less likely to develop lung cancer.

The researchers note that this is an observational study that “cannot conclude that [inhaled corticosteroids] reduce lung cancer” and that the results need confirmation. They also say no drugs have been clinically proven to prevent lung cancer among those at risk, but several are under investigation.

Researchers said inflammation in the lungs is thought to play an important role in both COPD and lung cancer, and the results suggest that daily use of inhaled corticosteroids may help fight inflammation and prevent the progression from COPD to lung cancer.

Smoking is a primary cause of COPD, which includes two inflammatory lung diseases that interfere with breathing: chronic bronchitis and emphysema. An estimated 11 million adults suffer from COPD which could lead to lung cancer.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is an antibody that is removed from the plasma portion of blood and is concentrated for use as a medication. IVIG can regulate the immune/inflammatory system and has been shown to reduce inflammation in the lungs.

According to researchers, people with severe asthma who are insensitive to steroids need less of the medication, fewer bursts of it in emergencies and spend less time in the hospital when using intravenous immunoglobulin in conjunction with steroids.

From Bio-Medicine:

Researchers found that during the 6-month study, patients had fewer hospitalizations for asthma attacks than in the 6 months prior to the study, even though they used less glucocorticoids, known generally as steroids. IVIG also was as effective in people whose asthma can be treated with glucocorticoids, as it was in people whose asthma usually doesn’t respond to glucocorticoids, or who are “steroid-insensitive.” Researchers believe IVIG increases steroid sensitivity of the lungs to steroids, in part, by reducing lung inflammation.

“We saw patients whose asthma does very poorly and who needed high doses of steroids to control the disease,” said Erwin Gelfand, M.D., chair of the Department of Pediatrics at National Jewish Medical and Research Center.

While steroid-insensitive patients must take higher doses to achieve minimal control of their disease, they also may become dependent on the medication to breathe normally. Researchers found that by taking IVIG in conjunction with glucocorticoids, patients could use less glucocorticoids more efficiently.

“Compared to steroids, IVIG is not toxic at all,” Dr. Gelfand said. “In addition, lowering the amount of steroids a patient takes reduces side effects and the patient’s quality of life improves dramatically.”

IVIG treatments cost several thousand dollars each month for people with severe asthma, but many health insurance companies cover the cost. However, this is a practical approach since it lowers hospitalization costs

Conservative treatment for lupus includes topical creams, anti-malarial drugs, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). While more aggressive therapy for patients with severe disease often includes the use of high-dose steroids and other immunosuppressive and cytotoxic drugs, such as Imuran (azathioprine), Cytoxan (cyclophosphamide), methotrexate, and Cellcept (mycophenolate mofetil).

However, the health and survival of lupus patients have steadily improved over the past 35 years despite the fact that no new lupus treatments have been approved since 1970.

From Medpage today:

The average annual mortality rate for lupus during the period from 1997 to 2005 was 1.8%, down from 14% during the period 1970 to 1978, a highly significant (P<0.0001) decline.

They analyzed records from 1,184 lupus patients (representing 10,744 patient-years) who had been followed with clinical and laboratory evaluations every two to six months from 1970 to 2005. They found that survival rates in patients with lupus have been improving, and the overall level of disease activity seems to be improving as well.

He pointed out that there has been a sea change in the prognosis for lupus patients over the last 30 years. “We know people are not dying of lupus as early and signs seem to suggest that we are coming up with better algorithms for treatment,” he said.

Dr. Urowitz and his colleagues reviewed records form 228 lupus patients treated from 1970 to 1978; 363 patients treated 1979 to 1987; 260 treated from 1988 to 1996; and 333 patients treated from 1997 to 2005.

During the 35 years studied, steroid use was fairly constant but the cumulative doses of steroids decreased, while the use of immunosuppressives increased.

According to Dr. Murray Urowitz and colleagues, the credit for the steady improvement goes to three factors. These are aggressive treatment, more use of immunosuppressants, and a reduction in the cumulative dose of steroids.

As per a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Manchester, older women with breast carcinoma are more likely to get and feel neglected when compared to younger women with the same ailment.

During the study, it was found that older women with breast carcinoma (cancer) were less likely to be diagnosed via triple assessment and needle biopsy, less likely to undergo breast surgery, and receive radiotherapy than their younger counterparts. These are some of the reasons why the mortality rate is higher in older women with breast cancer.

These findings were presented by Dr Katrina Lavelle, who led the study at the University’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work.

From News-Medical.Net:

The highest incidence of breast cancer in England occurs in women aged 70 years and older. Older women also experience the worst survival – women aged 70-79 have a 76% five-year relative survival compared to 80% for all ages, and for women aged 80 plus this drops considerably to 61%, beyond what might be expected owing to an increase in age.

The team carried out a retrospective cohort study involving case note review based on the North Western Cancer Registry database of women aged 65 and over, resident in Greater Manchester with invasive breast cancer registered over a one year period. The results of the study, funded by an NHS R&D Training Fellowship, may be generalized nationally as variation in survival between regions is lower for breast cancer compared to other cancers.

The they found that, compared to women aged 65-69 years, women aged 80 plus with operable breast cancer have increased odds of not receiving triple assessment, not receiving primary surgery, not undergoing axillary node surgery and not undergoing steroid receptor tests (which indicate suitability for hormone therapy). Compared with her 65-69-year-old counterpart, the odds of a woman aged 80 or older not receiving triple assessment for operable breast cancer are five-and-a-half times higher, and the odds of her not receiving surgery are more than 40 times higher. Even women as young as 70-74 have over 7 times the odds of not receiving radiotherapy following breast conservation surgery compared to women aged 65-69 years.

In addition, the team discovered that the overall percentage of women in all the age groups not receiving steroid receptor tests was high at 41%, which resulted in treatment decisions being taken without this fundamental information. Three quarters of the patients who did not receive steroid receptor tests were given the hormone therapy, tamoxifen: that is, prescribed a treatment without evidence that it would work.

Dr. Lavelle also remarked that there seems to be a clear difference in approach of many clinicians when it comes to treating older women with breast cancer.

In a recently concluded study, it was revealed that children suffering from persistent asthma and under the age of 12 years need highly motivated parents in order to attain optimum benefits of regular steroid inhaler treatment therapy.

The study put light on the fact that parents of black asthmatic children rate the involved doctor lower than their white counterparts.

It was discovered that parents of asthmatic children who did not administer prescribed medication to children were known to have an existing war of words and ideology with the doctors, as per Kathryn L. Moseley, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the U-M Medical School.

From News-Medical.Net:

For the parents who did not give the medications as prescribed, we found specific characteristics of their experience with the doctor that were associated with less adherence,” says Kathryn L. Moseley, M.D., an assistant professor of pediatrics at the U-M Medical School.

The U-M results suggest that improved physicians’ relationships with these parents could help reduce the frequency of asthma attacks and hospitalizations among minority children.

One way to improve parents’ trust and confidence is for clinics to make sure that parents with children who have persistent asthma see the same doctor each time if possible, Moseley says. During office visits, doctors could make sure that parents feel that their questions and concerns are fully addressed, says Moseley. The study, which appears in the May issue of the Journal of the National Medical Association, also shows that parents who are not adhering to asthma treatments are in many cases not getting flu shots for their children.

Children who don’t get regular steroid inhaler treatments for their asthma are at higher risk of complications from influenza. So there’s an added reason for physicians to work to increase rapport with minority parents.

Insurers as well as physicians may want to act on the study results. Some insurers target messages to their clients to encourage better preventive care to save costs, Moseley says.

“They might want to create specific interventions to encourage parents to get flu shots for their children and also ask, ‘Any problems with giving the inhaler doses?’”

Study details Moseley and her colleagues interviewed 282 parents of children aged 2 through 12 who had asthma-related physician visits in 2004 and 2005. Parents were asked about their children’s use of steroid inhalers and about vaccination against influenza. The researchers also adapted a well-known questionnaire, the Primary Care Assessment Survey, to measure parents’ perceptions about their encounters with their child’s physician.

Black parents in the survey did not have some of the common obstacles to regular asthma care, such as lack of insurance or a family doctor.

The involved researchers of this study remarked that a better doctor-parent relationship can go a long way in treatment of asthma and reducing hospitalization among the minority child group.

An inflammatory condition known as Eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) mimics reflux and causes refusal to eat. This condition affects about 1 in 2000 children in the United States and the number of cases continuously to grow. Researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children report that treatment with oral or swallowed/sprayed steroids results in significant patient improvement, but if the treatment is stopped, symptoms relapse continues.

The study made by the team of Dr. Sandeep K. Gupta showed that oral, spray or systemic corticosteroids all provide significant improvement in the conditions of the patients. However, systemic corticosteroids showed faster effects and relief on the patients.

From Medical News Today:

The results of a randomized clinical trial which compared prednisone and another commonly prescribed medication appear in the February 2008 issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

“We are seeing increasing numbers of children with EE who can benefit from effective therapy. Our study found that while systemic corticosteroids provided better initial patient improvement compared to swallowed steroids, long term results were similar between the groups,” said Sandeep K. Gupta, M.D., IU School of Medicine associate professor of clinical pediatrics and a Riley Hospital pediatric gastroenterologist.

“A child will often continue to suffer in silence if this disease is left untreated. We are not sure why the number of cases is increasing, but we are seeing an average of two new cases every week at Riley Hospital. As we study treatment options, we are also investigating how and why food allergies and environmental factors appear to play a role in this disease,” said Dr. Gupta.

EE can be a serious condition and cause children to refuse to eat, to vomit, or to get food stuck as the esophagus narrows from inflammation. Boys are twice more susceptible to develop Eosinophilic esophagitis than girls.