Our weekly roundup of the latest developments in the world of health. This week we look at how signs of heart disease differ in women, at a potential future treatment for asthma, at using stem cells to treat severe lupus, and at how using the nicotine patch before you stop smoking may improve your chances of quitting.
Stay well.
This Issue:
Women and Heart Disease Asthma Treatment Stem Cells Fight Lupus Starting Nicotine Patch Early In the News:
Women and Heart Disease When it comes to heart disease, women and men may have different warning signs and symptoms. A government-funded study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests that standard diagnostic tests can miss many cases of heart disease in women. In the study, researchers found that in women, plaque tends to build up in smaller blood vessels, rather than in major arteries, as it does in men. Coronary angiograms, the standard diagnostic test for heart disease, detect blockages in major blood vessels, but often do not find these smaller blockages, The New York Times News Service reports. This means that women may get a clean bill of cardiovascular health when in fact they are at risk for heart attacks, the researchers say. In their study, the majority of women who had normal angiograms continued to experience symptoms and undergo repeated hospitalizations. The researchers say their findings suggest that cardiac symptoms in women should be taken seriously even if tests show no significant blockages. However, there are not currently many tests available that can detect blockages in smaller blood vessels, the researchers say.
Asthma Treatment
In the future, a two-drug combo could help asthma and chronic bronchitis patients breathe easier. A study published in the
Journal of Clinical Investigation focuses on the problem of mucus overproduction, which is not addressed by most asthma medications. In the study, researchers found that in mice and humans with some breathing disorders, certain cells lining the respiratory tract transform into mucus-producing cells, leading to excess mucus in the airways. The researchers say that combining two inhibitor drugs could prevent the cell transformation; the combination appeared to work when they tested it in mice and in cultured human cells in the lab, The Associated Press reports. However, the AP quotes other experts who point out that treatments effective in mice and in a lab setting won't necessarily be effective in human beings.
Stem Cells Fight Lupus
People with severe lupus may get some help from their own stem cells. A small study published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association reports success using immune stem cells to treat lupus patients who had not responded to any standard treatment. The study involved 48 people with lupus, a disorder in which the body's immune system attacks its own organs and tissue. Researchers extracted immune stem cells from the bone marrow of each patient. The patients were given powerful chemotherapy drugs that killed off their existing immune cells. Then, the immune stem cells were placed back in the patients' bone marrow where they could rebuild the faulty immune system. During an average of 2.5 years of follow up, many of the stem cell transplant patients appeared to be in disease-free remission, The New York Times News Service reports. Based on their findings, the researchers calculated a 50% chance of staying in remission for five years following a stem cell transplant.
Starting Nicotine Patch Early
Putting on the nicotine patch before you put away the cigarettes may improve your odds of quitting smoking. A study published in
Nicotine and Tobacco Research finds that people who start using nicotine patches a couple of weeks before they stop smoking have double the chance of successfully quitting. In the study, researchers looked at 96 smokers who were trying to quit. Half of the smokers started wearing a nicotine patch two weeks before quitting, while the others wore a placebo patch. After four weeks, 23% of the people who wore the fake patch had stopped smoking, compared to 50% of the people who wore a real patch, and that rate stayed the same for six months. People getting nicotine via the patch also had fewer withdrawal symptoms and smoked less before their target quit date, the researchers found. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved using the nicotine patches this way, out of concern that wearing the patch while smoking could cause adverse health effects. The researchers say they saw no adverse reactions in their study, The New York Times News Service reports.
Used with the permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. The above summaries are not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor are they intended to be a substitute for consultation with a physician.
