MEDI WATCH
Tests for Alzheimer's treatment
An experimental DNA-based vaccine for Alzheimer's disease being developed in Japan has significantly reduced so-called brain plaque associated with the dementia. Tests on mice by researchers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute for Neuroscience reduced deposits of the amyloid beta protein by as much as 38.5 per cent. The cause of Alzheimer's remains unknown, but the brains of sufferers are cluttered with a plaque made up of the Ab protein. There is no known cure, although some drugs slow the onset. Tests are now under way on monkeys, AP reports, with human trials possible within three years. Meanwhile, researchers at Georgetown University in the US are testing a compound derived from the Chinese club moss Huperzia serrata to see if it improves brain function in Alzheimer's patients and slows the disease. According to healthday.com, the Huperzine A compound is a naturally occurring inhibitor commonly used in China to treat Alzheimer's, apparently to good effect.
Vaccine for cervical cancer
The first vaccine to prevent often-fatal cervical cancer has been approved in the US for women up to the age of 26. It blocks types of human papillomavirus, a common sexually transmitted virus responsible for most cases of cervical cancer, which kills 300,000 women a year worldwide (mostly in developing countries), although it's treatable in the early stages. Tests are continuing on older women and men, who can carry the virus, which infects as many as one of every two sexually active adults at some stage in their lives and is usually harmless, Reuters reports. The vaccine is effective only when given before infection.
Tea gets the green light
The US Food and Drug Administration may not yet be convinced (Medi Watch, June 12), but there's growing evidence that green tea's high concentration of antioxidants offers a range of health benefits - and may be responsible for the so-called Asian paradox. Rates of heart disease and lung cancer, typically caused by smoking, are inexplicably low in many Asian countries where smoking is common. A report in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons by Yale University researchers says it may be linked to the consumption of green tea, which is less processed than black tea. In the US, for example, 348 out of every 100,000 men die from coronary heart disease (CHD) every year, compared with 186 in Japan - despite the latter's much higher smoking rate. Then again, China's death rate from CHD is higher than that of the US.
Pint-sized prostate protector
Hops, one of the main ingredients in beer, appear to reduce the risk of prostate cancer - but you'd have to down about 17 pints to get an effective dose. Researchers at Oregon University have had encouraging results using xanthohumol, a flavonoid found in hops, against cancerous cells. A boutique beer in Germany, marketed as being healthy, contains about 10 times as much xanthohumol as normal beer. But, according to AFP, the researchers say a pill would be a more reliable delivery method.
Coffee reduces cirrhosis risk
And for those with cirrhosis of the liver from alcohol ... how about a cup of coffee? A study of more than 125,000 people reported in Archives of Internal Medicine found that one cup of coffee a day cut the risk of alcoholic cirrhosis by 20 per cent - and four cups reduced it by 80 per cent. It's not clear what ingredient is beneficial, but tea does not appear to provide the same protection, AP reports. Not all heavy drinkers develop cirrhosis, all forms of which kill more than 27,000 Americans a year. Despite the encouraging results, team leader Arthur Klatsky, of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program in Oakland, says the best way to avoid cirrhosis is to lay off the alcohol.
