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Promising pilot trial for tumor vaccine

The University of Pennsylvania has conducted a promising clinical trial to devise a new type of vaccine for cancer. Although the clinical trial was of an initial stage, promising results have been meted out and researchers are hopeful of a breakthrough discovery.

The clinical trial was a joint collaboration between researchers of following medical schools, which are affiliated to the University of Pennsylvania: the Perelman School of Medicine and the Abramson Cancer Center. The vaccine is truly innovative in the sense that it corporates the immune cells of patients; the immune cells are directly exposed to the tumor cells of patients.

This experiment was carried out in a laboratory under simulated conditions. Following treatment, the immune cells are then injected into the patient to elicit a better immune response.This experimental clinical trial was performed on patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer at an advanced stage.

This was a pilot trial whose sole purpose was to determine the feasibility and safety of novel vaccine; however, the results were promising enough to ensure that is very effective in nature. Anti-tumor T-cell responses were elicited in more than half of the patients that participated in this clinical trial.

Patients that responded to this treatment had higher life expectancy despite tumor progression unlike patients who just did not elicit any response. In fact, one patient became “disease free” for five years after receiving being treated with this vaccine for two years. The promising results of this clinical trial have been published currently in the journal Science Translation Medicine.

The lead author of this study was Dr. Janos L. Tanyi, MD, who works as an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Penn Medicine. The researchers concluded that the novel vaccine was safe for clinical treatment of patients. This vaccine elicited a broad anti-tumor immunity; however, they have strongly recommended more clinical trials on a larger scale.

The other researchers who worked with the lead author at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania are as follows: Lana Kandalaft, PharmD, PhD, George Coukos, MD, PhD, and Alexandre Harari, PhD. The conventional treatment offered by cancer vaccines can be summarized as follows: A cell-surface receptor is a specific molecule that is mostly attacked by most cancer vaccines till date.

This molecule is generally found on cancerous cells in any kind of tumor. However, the team headed by Lausanne-Penn devised a far more aggressive approach. They developed a personalized vaccine that took into considered every individual cancer patients’ condition. For this purpose, they comprehensively analyzed the tumor system of each cancer patient.

The set of mutations are unique to each tumor, presenting a unique pathology of the impaired immune system. With this information, they developed a whole-tumor vaccine that elicited immune response and combated not just a single target in the tumor, but about hundreds or thousands. This is a truly innovative strategy that outshines the efficacy of conventional vaccines.

The basic objective of this clinical trial was to elicit a strong immune response that targets tumors comprehensively. They were successful in eliciting an immune response that hits all kinds of markers, including the markers that are unique to a particular tumor.

The formidable defenses of tumors were overcome by harnessing the T-cell immunity with the vaccine. To prepare a personalized vaccine for each patient, the researchers sifted through the mononuclear cells of peripheral blood, which was obtained from each patient.

They identified precursor cells that were suitable enough for use in this clinical experiment. These cells were grown into a culture in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. Thus, they produced a large number of dendritic cells. A T-cell immune response can be effectively elicited with the use of dendritic cells.

Infectious pathogens are engulfed by these T-cells; moreover, these T-cells also engulf tumor cells and anything that is considered “foreign”. Nevertheless, a specific response is elicited by the patients’ immune system when T-cells and other components of the immune system are again exposed to pieces of invader cells.

The patients’ tumor cells were obtained and a special extract was prepared from these tumor cells. Then, the extract of tumor cells was exposed to dendritic cells; the dendritic cells were activated by irradiating them with interferon gamma. Finally, the patients’ lymph nodes were injected with these activated dendritic cells and a T-cell response was generated.

The team of researchers successfully carried out this strategy on 25 patients in total. Every three weeks, each patient was administered a dose of dendritic cells; it is important to note that these dendritic cells were treated with tumor cells by a process described above.

The exposure of dendritic cells at periodic intervals was carried out for six months. A huge increase in the number of T-cells was reported in more than half of the patients included in this trial. What’s more fascinating is the fact that generated T-cells were specifically reactive to tumor cells. In other words, the personalized vaccine developed for combating cancer was hugely successful.

The patients that responded to this treatment showed 100 percent survival for a period of two years. The patients that failed to respond to this treatment showed an overall survival rate of just 25 percent over a two-year period.

In this experiment, researchers had a included a stage 4 ovarian cancer patient who was 46 years old. The prognosis of this patient is generally very poor with conventional treatment, which includes five courses of chemotherapy. Interestingly, this patient remained disease-free for five long years after receiving 28 doses of the personalized vaccine over a two year period.

In conclusion, the researchers hope that the efficacy of this personalized vaccine would be doubled if it is combined with chemotherapeutic drugs that strive to suppress anti-immune responses of the tumor.

 

 

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Effects of non-optimized medications

Although the prices of drugs have risen steeply in recent times, prescription drugs are in reality much costlier than what is priced in terms of dollars and cents in retail pharmacies. A recent study was conducted by pharmaceutical researchers at the University of California in San Diego, USA.

The impact of non-optimized medications is surely dangerous: it can leads to illness and death in patients. What is frightening to know that the gruesome impact of non-optimized medications has now translated into a parallel market of $528.4 billion annually. This implies that non-optimized medications cause a 16% increase in medical expenditure in the USA, as of latest industry reports in 2016.

In the journal Annals of Pharmacology, the analysis report was published online in March 2016. The news has created a ripple effect in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector in the USA. The research study was supervised by Dr. Jonathan Watanbe, PharmD. He is associate professor of clinical pharmacy at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy, which is affiliated to the University of San Diego in California. In an ideal situation, patients visit a doctor whenever they are sick or battling a chronic, progressive disease.

The healthcare professional prescribes medications, and patients feel better when they complete their due course of medication as per instructions. However, many a times the prescription dosage is not in agreement with the severity of your illness. This means the medication is not optimized to suit patients’ needs. Alternatively, a patient may not take the prescription drug as per indicated. In such scenarios, the patient would surely develop a adverse reaction or succumb to a new health problem.

The other collaborators in this path-breaking research study are as follows: Dr. Jan Hirsch, PhD, professor of clinical pharmacy at the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Terry McInnis, MD of Laboratory Corporation of America. These researchers have lucidly explained the impact of non-optimized medications with a real-life scenario: Suppose a patient is down with flu and visits the emergency department of the hospital in his or her locality. A doctor would normally prescribe Tamiflu, but the patient does not take up the requisite dosage as it is too expensive.

The patients’ symptoms worsen over a period of time and he or she ultimately lands up in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Now, this translates into a huge financial set-back to the patient and the hospital. If the patient has been paying regular premiums to the medical insurance company, then it can certainly lead to a huge financial drain to the company. Nonetheless, the patient still has to go through a lot of paperwork to receive medical reimbursement from the company. In other words, a small problem of improper dosage and expensive medications has now snow-balled into a big problem.

The problem of non-optimized medications is not just restricted to improper dosage of medications. Watanbe has also analyzed instances where a certain medication can cause other health issues. For example, a patient is administered a steroidal drug for two years to combat epileptic fits; however, the impact of steroid is detrimental to the patients’ health.

The patient develops diabetes due to the administration of steroidal drug. Similarly, an ACE inhibitor is the most preferred drug used to combat blood pressure in patients. However, the most common side-effect of this drug is frequent cough. The patient consumes an over-the-counter medication to combat cough-and-cold and this further causes a steep rise in blood pressure. Moreover, the patient feels drowsy during daytime and ultimately falls down.

In both the scenario, a particular drug treatment used to combat a chronic ailment further leads to more complications. The researchers have developed decision-outcome models to estimate the financial impact of these situations, which includes visits to emergency department, intensive care units, additional medications, long-term medical treatment, etc.

The consequences have been shocking enough to compel changes in medical interventions: non-optimized medications certainly cause other illnesses and its annual cost is in the range of 490 to 670 billion dollars. At an individual level, the annual cost can be as high as $2500. It is important to note that this encompasses just medical treatments and does not include transportation and loss of productivity due to illness.

The last estimates were presented in the year 2008 and they seem relatively demure at $290 billion annually. Thus, the impact of non-optimized medications was just 13 percent of the US healthcare system. This implies that a phenomenal rise has occurred within a duration of eight years at 2016.

With a capitalistic economy, healthcare costs are at an all-time high; however, under the ambit of Obama healthcare, more than 20 million people were brought under the umbrella of Affordable Care Act. Thus, more than 20 million people could now access prescription drugs, a scenario that was not visible in the year 2008.

Consequently, the instance of non-adherence to prescribed dosages has increased phenomenally, leading to secondary health issues that are caused by adverse effects of long-term medication. It is not just non-adherence of medications, but also instances where healthcare professionals fail to prescribe an accurate medication region in accordance with the presented symptoms.

Each case is different, so the doctors should take into account all factors in order to provide optimized dosages to each patient rather than just considering external symptoms. For example, a diabetic patient with an attack of flu may need a more aggressive treatment regimen as compared to a healthy patient. This is because the immunity levels of diabetic patients are at an all-time low even when it is well-controlled with medications.

To overcome all these disturbing trends, Watanbe and his associates have proposed a novel model that improves patient outcomes: currently, pharmacists do not play an important role in analyzing each patients’ case. The direct contact is between the patient, nurse, and a trained medical doctor.

They have proposed a comprehensive healthcare management plan in which trained pharmacists must work along with the trained doctor to analyze the illness of each patient. This is because pharmacists are more trained in medications and their adverse effects, while a trained medical doctor is more trained in pharmacology and human body analysis.

 

 

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Pancreatic stem cells can regenerate beta cells and respond to glucose

Within the human pancreas, scientists stimulated progenitor cells and developed them into beta cells that were responsive to glucose. These findings were published in the journal Cell Reports, which paved the way for developing novel cell therapies, which is an important breakthrough for type 1 diabetic patients. This addresses a major obstacle that blocks the way for discovering a complete cure for type 1 diabetes.

Pancreas contains progenitor cells and has the potential of regenerating islets. This hypothesis has been established since many decades, but it has not been proven conclusively. Scientists identified the exact location of stem cells anatomically. They validated their proliferative ability to transform into beta cells, which were responsive to glucose.

A detailed study of stem cells was conducted in the human pancreas, and the results were used to tap into the cell supply ‘bank’ of beta cells. These events occurred endogenously and were used for regeneration purposes. In the years to come, these stem cells could be used for therapeutic applications of type 1 diabetic patients..

In earlier studies, it was found that the bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP-7) could be used for clinical applications and to stimulate cells that resemble progenitors. These cells occur within the non-endocrine sections of the human pancreatic tissue. In previous studies, it was reported that BMP-7 is used to stimulate growth and to induce the transformation of stem cells into functional islets.

In a recent study, researchers further demonstrated that stem cells responding to BMP-7 reside within the network of ducts and glands of the human pancreas. Moreover, the expression of PDX1 and ALK3 is used to characterize these cells of the human pancreas. The protein PDX1 is required for the development of beta cells, whereas ALK3 is a receptor of cell surfaces and is used to regenerate several tissues.

With the help of “molecular fishing” techniques, researchers could selectively extract cells that expressed PDX1 and ALK3. A petri-dish was used to grow the cell culture, and they proliferated due to the expression of BMP-7. These cells were later differentiated into beta cells. The combined results of this study were used to develop regenerative cell therapies for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients.

In patients with type 1 diabetes, the cells that produce insulin in the pancreas are attacked and sabotaged by the immune system. Patients had to control their glucose levels in the blood with a daily regimen of insulin therapy. In patients with type 2 diabetes, insulin was produced to some extent but beta cells became dysfunctional over a period of time.

With islet transplantation, some type 1 diabetes patients could live without insulin injections. This is because donor cells were infused into these patients; however, enough cells are not there to treat several patients with type 1 diabetes.

Presently, research studies have primarily focused on synthesizing many pancreatic cells, which can be transplanted from embryonic (hESc), pluripotent (hPSc) and adult stem cells, and porcine (pig) islets. It would be better to regenerate insulin-producing cells in patients, which prevents the need to completely transplant donor tissue and eliminate roadblocks to other immune-related disorders.

Regenerative medicine strategies must be developed to restore insulin production in native pancreas. This would replace the need for pancreas transplantation or other cells that produce insulin. In patients with type 1 diabetes, autoimmunity abrogation must be stopped in order to prevent the destruction of immune system and newly produced insulin cells. For this purpose, efforts were made to converge immune tolerance induction that did not require anti-rejection drugs for a long period of time.

 

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The risks and advantages of phase I clinical trial in kids with cancer

On an average, one out of ten children with pediatric phase I cancer improve after being treated for the illness. But one out of fifty children succumb to drug-related complications. This was mentioned in a meta-analysis review published in PLOS Medicine. In phase I clinical trials, researchers determined how safe was the prescribed dosage of drugs used to fight cancer.

According to the guidelines of regulatory authorities in the US, limits on permissible risk were determined with respect to minors. Researchers systematically scoured the phase I clinical trials of pediatric patients, which were published from 2004 to 2015. They found that there were 170 studies related to pediatric cancer and they included a total of 4,604 patients. They objectively determined the rate of response by pediatric patients, and they graded their intensities as follows: 3, 4, or 5 (fatal). These events had led to an adverse reaction of drugs.

Among all clinical trials, the overall response rate was 10.29% (95% CI 8.33 to 12.25). The overall response rate for tumors in the solid state (3.17, 95% CI 2.62 to 3.72) was significantly greater than that for malignancies that occurred hematologically (27.90, 95% CI 20.53 to 35.27).

The overall rate of  adverse events of the grade 5 type was 2.09% (95% CI 1.45 to 2.72). An average response rate of 1.32 was reported for grades 3 and 4, which were adverse events related to drugs administered to each person. The response rates and adverse events were similar to those observed in adults that participated in the phase I clinical trials of cancer patients.

This study has following limitations: we evaluated cancers of the heterogeneous type and investigated the treatment provided in the included clinical trials; we relied on only published data. We also included the outcomes of clinical trials that were of low-quality or had incomplete reports.

The data was carefully combined with the findings of ethical analysis, providing an empirical platform for further investigation on the therapeutic value of phase 1 clinical trials in pediatric cancer patients. They provided evidences for improving the risk/advantages of phase I clinical trials and for identifying studies, which impose greater challenges for complying with the  standards of tolerable risk in children.

 

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A correlation between obesity and gut bacteria

According to a latest research study conducted at Sweden’s Lund University, there exists a connection between obesity and the bacteria found in the gut. The researchers found that specific amino acids, which were present in the human blood, were associated with obesity and the composition of gut bacteria. However, researchers have not yet been able to completely decipher the functions of gut bacteria in the human body.

Many research studies have been conducted on animals, but the findings of these studies may not be applicable to human beings. Gut flora of a healthy person may not necessarily be compatible with another person.Several research studies have reported that gut microbiota plays a significant role in maintaining the overall health of humans.

Gut microbiota governs the metabolism of humans, and it is associated with obesity,  diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases. Several researchers have proved that the concentration of small molecules or similar metabolites is different in the bloodstream of people with metabolic diseases.

The main aim of this research study was to determine which metabolites of the human blood are associated with obesity, especially in people with high BMI. These studies had to determine whether the bacterial composition of stool samples would be affected by these metabolites.

Researchers collected samples of plasma and stool from 674 participants. They identified the 19 metabolites that were linked to the BMI of an obese person. There was a strong connection between obesity and the following chemical compounds: glutamate and BCAA (branched-chain and aromatic amino acids).

The metabolites that were strongly linked to obesity were also found to be associated with four species of intestinal bacteria: blautia, dorea and ruminococcus in Lachnospiraceae family, and SHA98. The differences between the BMI of obese participants was largely related to the differences in the concentration of glutamate and BCAA. There were interactions between the gut bacteria and metabolites, but these interactions were not dependent on each other.

Glutamate is the most risky factor that triggers obesity in humans. This finding was compliant with the findings of previous studies. Moreover, BCAA predicts the onset of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases in near future.

Future studies have focused on how to modify the gut bacteria’s composition as this would minimize the risk of developing obesity, cardiovascular disorders, and metabolic diseases.

We need to have a proper understanding of the healthy flora in the gut of normal humans. This will further help us in determining the factors that affect the composition of gut bacteria. Therefore, population studies and intervention studies must be conducted on a large scale.

 

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Calcium linked with progression of Parkinson’s disease

In the cells of the human brain, toxic clusters may be formed by the excess deposition of calcium. The clusters are a major warning sign of Parkinson’s disease. At the University of Cambridge, researchers have discovered how calcium acts an intermediary between small membranous structures that interact with each other. These structures are present within nerve endings and regulate the signaling of neurons in the human brain.

The researchers found that a protein named alpha-synuclein is strongly related to the development of Parkinson’s disease. When the concentration of calcium or alpha-synuclein becomes abnormal in the human brain, a chain reaction is triggered and many brain cells die immediately.

In the scientific journal Nature, latest research studies present the vivid pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. In the UK, one out of every 350 adults  has Parkinson’s disease. As per global estimates, 145,000 are estimated to have developed this disease, which remains incurable till date.

Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative disease, which is caused under the following conditions: proteins that occur naturally get transformed into wrongly shaped molecules, and they stick with the remaining proteins.

They eventually form a thin structure that resembles a filament, and they are known as amyloid fibrils. These deposits of amyloid are basically aggregated forms of alpha-synuclein. They are also known as Lewy bodies. The appearance of Lewy bodies is considered to be one of the warning signs of Parkinson’s disease.

The exact role and function of alpha-synuclein in brain cells has not been understood till date. Alpha-synuclein is found to be play a pivotal role in various biological processes, ensuring that the chemical signals flow smoothly into the human brain and the molecules move in and out of the nerve endings; however, the exact behavior of these protein remains unclear till date.

The structure of the protein alpha-synuclein is very small, and its functional capacity depends on its interaction with other protein molecules or structures. Therefore, it is very difficult to investigate these protein structures.

The behavior of alpha-synuclein can be determined within brain cells by using the technique of super-resolution microscopy. For this purpose, researchers isolated synaptic vesicles that form a part of nerve cells, which store neurotransmitters and send signals to different nerve cells.

The release of neurotransmitters in neurons depends on the concentration of calcium levels. Calcium levels can increase in nerve cells, such as in neuronal signaling processes.

The protein alpha-synuclein would bind at multiple points of synaptic vesicles, and these vesicles could come into contact with each other. This indicates how alpha-synuclein ensures that information flows across nerve cells through the chemical transmission pathway.

Calcium regulates the pathways of alpha-synuclein protein, which has an interaction with synaptic vesicles. The protein alpha-synuclein acts like a calcium sensor. Owing to calcium, the structure of protein alpha-synuclein and its interaction with environment changes drastically. This seems to be very essential for the normal functioning of the protein alpha-synuclein.

Both calcium and the protein alpha-synuclein seem to  be perfectly balanced in the brain cells. Whenever the concentration of these exceeds normal levels, there is an imbalance and this leads to the process of aggregation. This leads to the development of Parkinson’s disease.

In this study, the researchers created an imbalance by genetically doubling the concentration of alpha-synuclein, which is a protein used for the duplication of genes. This slowing mechanism is related to ageing process, and excess protein molecules undergo a breakdown due to this process.

By increasing calcium levels in neurons, the researchers controlled the secretion of the protein alpha-synuclein. This protein is sensitive to the development of Parkinson’s disease. In these neurons, calcium does not really act as a buffer.

Scientists need to understand what role does alpha-synuclein play in various physiological or pathological processes. This will help them in developing new treatment methods for Parkinson’s disease can be developed strategically. Calcium levels can be blocked with the development of novel drug candidates, which are used in the pathogenesis of heart diseases. Moreover, they can also combat Parkinson’s disease.

 

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The onset of type 1 diabetes may be prevented with existing drug

According to researchers at the University of Colorado, a drug used to treat high blood pressure may also be used as a preventive medication for type 1 diabetes. This study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.  This seems to be an important breakthrough to combat type 1 diabetes. In the clinical investigating laboratory, this discovery was path-breaking on mice and humans with the aid of supercomputers.

In pregnant woman and children, the drug methyldopa was used to treat high blood pressure for the past 50 years. This drug was included in the list of essential drugs at the World Health Organization (WHO).

Many drugs may be used to treat a single condition; however, the path-breaking discovery was completely unrelated to current use of medication. The risk of developing type 1 diabetes increases manifold with the molecule D8, with about 60 percent people with type 1 diabetes being diagnosed with this molecule. Scientists believe that the onset of heart disease could be prevented if the molecule D8 can be blocked specifically.

Every allopathic medication has side-effects. Excessive consumption of acetaminophen can cause damage to liver. Every small molecule approved by FDA was taken into consideration and analyzed with a supercomputer to identify whether the linkage between HLA and DQ8 existed. Each drug exhibited more than thousand orientations. We identified the ones that were associated with DQ8 molecule.

Thousands of drugs were analyzed with a supercomputer. The drug methyldopa was found to block DQ8. Nevertheless, the immune function of remaining cells was not compromised in this case like the way other immunosuppressant drugs. These research studies were conducted over a period of 10 years, but the efficacy was proved in mice and in 20 patients who were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

These patients participated in the clinical trial that was conducted at the School of Medicine, University of Colorado. With this discovery, prediction of type 1 diabetes is possible. The ultimate aim of this study was either to delay or to prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes among the people who were at risk of developing diabetes.

The drug used to prevent type 1 diabetes can be administered orally, at least three times a day. The strategy of blocking the expression of a specific molecule can also be used to combat other diseases.This study showed significant improvement in people suffering from diabetes and other autoimmune diseases.

The same approach can also be used to treat other autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, systemic lupus, etc. To verify the implications of this disease, a larger clinical trial would be conducted at the National Institutes of Health in spring season. A very significant development would be the prevention of type 1 diabetes in people at risk of developing the illness.

 

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Old antibiotic compounds would be life-saving drugs

To combat  drug-resistant infections, scientists are scouring chemical compounds that were previously discarded to identify the ones that could be transformed into new antibiotics. In the mid-20th century, many different chemical compounds were examined to determine the ones that had antibacterial properties; however, only a small proportion of compounds was used for drug development.

In modern times, diseases have become highly resistant to existing drugs. At the University of Leeds, these old compounds are being re-examined by biologists and chemists by using advancements in science and technology. These compounds are being tested very precisely to determine if they could be developed into a drug in the near future.

Presently, more than 3,000 antibiotics have been discovered till date. Nevertheless, only a handful of compounds have been prescribed clinically till date. There may be several compounds with untapped potential.

Life-saving drugs may be produced by identifying compounds that have anti-bacterial properties; these compounds might have not been used in clinical practice earlier. With the mutation of bugs, scientists are clueless about tackling them with existing batches of antibiotics.

Potential new drug

According to latest research studies, a compound identified in 1940s was a realistic contender as a new antibiotic drug. Actinorhodins (ACT) constitute a family of compounds with some antibiotic properties; however, these compounds were not developed into life-saving drugs previously.

A promising new drug has been developed to combat bacterial infections.  Antibacterial activity was exhibited by two most important representatives of ESKAPE category of bacteria, which have the ability to ‘escape’ the action of existing drugs.

New drugs should be discovered and developed to tackle antibiotic resistance. Potentially useful drugs were identified from antibiotics, which were already to people.  The group of drugs belonging to ACT family showed weak antibiotic activity, so they could not be evaluated previously.

To discover new drugs, one needs to identify chemical compounds that were shelved out previously. New antibiotics have not been discovered in the past 25 years. Current strategy of considering chemical compounds that were shelved off previously is a nice way of combating the growing strain of drug-resistant bacteria.

 

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International Conference on Public Health in East Asia

Harrisco announces first international conference on past, present, and future of public health in east Asia. The role of public health is now very significant today as most people die today due to chronic ailments and accidents. In the past, most people died due to infectious diseases and nutritional ailments.

Date: February 22, 2018

Venue:  Ramada Plaza, Jeju Hotel, Jeju Island, South Korea

Website: http://www.ivnforum.org/

Public health implies a concept that aims at maintaining the well-being of a society, given the sophisticated segregation and morphology.  The community is the smallest unit of public health, and the fundamental unit of a community are local residents.

The purpose of public health is as follows:

  • Prevention of disease
  • Life-span extension
  • Improvement in the efficiency of physical and mental health

In East Asia, pandemic such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003 and Middle-Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronovirus (MERS-CoV) in 2015 could not be solved by a single country; therefore, our conference emphasizes on solving such problems.

The topics of the conference are as follows:

A. Hygiene History
B. Hygiene, sanitation
C. Health administration
D. Community health
E. Health Communication
F. Environmental Health
G. Health Education
H. Occupational Health
I. Medical Service
J. National Health Insurance
K. Health Literacy

In this international conference, papers will be presented on these topics. After a fair review, the selected papers would be published in Iranian Journal of Public Health, which is indexed (SSCI) journal.

Speakers from Konkuk University and Korea University are going to present research papers on public health at this conference.  The first session consists of lectures on public health and medicines in rural China, Japan, and Korea. Second session analyzes the impact of health following untold disasters in factories and industries. Academic papers presented would analyze following topics: Sewol Ferry Disaster, Cigarette smoking, MERS-CoV outbreak, Social Anxiety disorder, aging, obese and elderly population.

Third session would include papers on following topics: educational policies of martial arts and health, cultural and social aspects of drinking, oral health knowledge, and mental illness. Fourth session would include papers on following topics: daily sports participation, plyometric training of women, physical activity restriction of cancer patients, and TAS inflammatory factors and exercise.

 

 

 

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A new inclusive treatment guideline for stroke patients

American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has issued a new guideline for treating blood clots that cause strokes. As per this new treatment guideline, more patients would be eligible for receiving critical care and treatments.

The novel guideline was based on the most recent research study, and it was published in the journal Stroke. This novel guideline was presented at the International Stroke Conference 2018. This is an annual conference that invites globally renowned researchers and clinicians who are specialized in treating stroke.

According to this new recommendation, the window of time could be increased for selected patients provided blood clots can be mechanically removed from blood vessels that supply human brain. If blood clots block large blood vessels, then these clots can be removed mechanically.

According to this guideline, mechanical thrombectomy can be safely performed on large vessel strokes if patients receive treatment within 16 hours after a stroke. With advanced brain imaging, mechanical thrombectomy can be performed on some stroke patients even after 24 hours. The previous time-limit was six hours.

Mechanical thrombectomy is a procedure in which a physician places a device within a catheter, which is a thin tube threaded within an artery. The clot is then grabbed and removed with the device. The procedure is more effective as the risk of disability is limited. In particular, it is very useful to treat blockages in larger vessels, which lead to human brain.

The risk of disability from stroke would be minimized in most patients as the time-window is expanded for mechanical thrombectomy in appropriate patients Many people would benefit from this new treatment guideline, and the purview of acute stroke treatment has changed completely. Hospitals have now upgraded their rigorous standards for performing mechanical endovascular thrombectomy.

Alteplase is a clot-busting IV drug, which works as a tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). It is the only drug that is approved by FDA for treating clots caused by ischemic stroke. In previous studies, clot-busting treatment was not performed on patients with mild strokes, but the new treatment guideline suggests that these patients could be included in this new line of treatment.

According to this guideline, the risk and benefits depend on individual patients because if this new treatment modality is administered promptly and correctly, disability caused by the drug can be decreased. The number of people receiving intravenous treatment for clot busting increases consequently.

Whenever a patient shows signs of a stroke, the most important measure in saving the person’s life would be a treatment modality with immediate action. The risk of disability can be minimized in stroke patients if they receive treatment as soon as possible.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of death all over the world. Moreover, it is also a leading cause of disability in patients. Acute ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke as per new guidelines.

Such kind of stroke is caused whenever a blood clot blocks the artery that supplies blood to the brain, reducing blood flow. In the USA, a person suffers from stroke every 40 seconds and more than 133,000 people in the USA die of stroke each year. Of all the cases of stroke, more than 87% patients suffer from ischemic stroke.

The guideline was published after performing a systematic review of more than 400 research studies, which were published in peer-reviewed journals. A group of highly specialized experts in stroke treatment formulated these guidelines after carefully examining these studies. These are the most comprehensive guidelines for ischemic stroke treatment since 2013.

 

 

 

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