This will curry your favor

            LOS ANGELES - Newswise noted UCLA scientist found curcumin, a chemical found in curry and turmeric, may help the immune system clear the brain of amyloid beta, which form the plaques found in Alzheimer’s disease. In the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, the early laboratory findings may lead to an approach in treating Alzheimer’s by enhancing the natural function of the immune system using curcumin, known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Using blood samples from six Alzheimer’s patients and three healthy control patients, scientists isolated cells called macrophages, the immune system’s PacMen that travel through the brain and body, gobbling up waste products, including amyloid beta. The team treated the macrophages with a drug derived from curcumin for 24 hours in a cell culture and then introduced amyloid beta. Treated macrophages from three of six Alzheimer’s patients showed improved uptake or ingestion of the waste product versus the patients’ macrophages not treated with curcumin. Macrophages from healthy controls, which were already effectively clearing amyloid beta, showed no change when curcumin was added. “Curcumin improved ingestion of amyloid beta by immune cells in 50% of patients with Alzheimer’s. These initial findings demonstrate curcumin may help boost the immune system of specific Alzheimer’s patients,” said Dr. Milan Fiala, study author and a researcher with the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the VA Greater Los Angeles Health Care System.

            WASHINGTON - Monday Morning in Washington, DC noted qualified organizations may apply for the Education, Training and Enhanced Services to End Violence Against and Abuse of Women with Disabilities Call for Concept Papers. This program will provide training, consultation, and information on domestic and dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault against people with disabilities and enhance services to them. Papers that propose to provide services must include a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary response to domestic and dating violence, stalking, and sexual assault against the disabled. The Disability Grant Program focus is on creating multi-disciplinary, collaborative teams to address violence against the disabled. Each project may get up to $750,000 for a three-year period. Applications are due Jan. 19. Visit apply.grants.gov/opportunities/instructions/oppOVW-2007-1424-cfda16.529-instructions.rtf.

            ANN ARBOR, MI - MedPage Today noted the likelihood of urinary stone passage spontaneous can be increased significantly by treatment with calcium channel blockers or α blockers, according to pooled data on nearly 700 patients with urinary calculi. A nine-trial analysis found patients treated with calcium channel blockers or α blockers were 65% more likely to pass stones spontaneously, wrote Dr. John M. Hollingsworth, of the University of Michigan and the Veterans Affairs Center, and colleagues in The Lancet. In four studies in which patients were treated with the α blocker Flomax, the pooled risk ratio was 1.52. In three trials in which corticosteroids were added to calcium channel blockers, the pooled risk ratio was 1.90. The number of patients needed to treat in order to achieve one spontaneous stone expulsion with calcium channel blockers or α blockers was four. Although the authors included the caveat that a large confirmatory trial is needed, they concluded that "with the low- risk profile of these drugs and their wide therapeutic window, our results suggest that treating physicians should consider a new algorithm for the management of urolithiasis, in which treatment begins with a course of medical therapy, unless medically contraindicated." They pointed out that medical treatment costs just a fraction of the average cost of ureteroscopy ($2,645) or shock wave lithotripsy ($4,225). The estimated cost for medical treatment ranged from $10 to $74 for a 28-day course of Cardura (doxazosin) to $104 to $141 for a 42-day course of Flomax, the only non-generic drugs included in the meta-analysis.

            ROCKVILLE, MD - MedPage Today noted that with uncommon speed, the U.S. Food and Drub Administration approved Celebrex for the pain of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis - less than a month after an advisory committee recommended overwhelmingly that it do so. The panel voted 15 to one that the benefits of the Cox-2 inhibitor outweighed its risks in rheumatoid arthritis patients ages two and older. FDA noted Celebrex hasn’t been studied in patients under age two, patients under 22 pounds, or patients showing signs of systemic-onset JRA, a more serious type of the disease associated with high fever and rash. FDA said Celebrex should be used only with caution in patients with systemic-onset JRA due to the risk for serious reactions, including abnormal clotting tests, which can be associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation.

            MILAN , ITALY - MedPage Today reported a commonly-used antibiotic effectively treats lymphoma of the soft tissue, lachrymal glands, and conjunctiva of the eye, scientists state. In a prospective, non-randomized study, a three-week course of doxycycline at 100mg twice daily induced a complete or partial response in 48% of patients, found Dr. Andres Ferreri, of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute. The two-year failure-free rate, where failure was defined as either progression or relapse, was 66%, and 20 of the 27 patients hadn’t progressed, Dr. Ferreri and colleagues reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study was begun mainly because there was evidence of a link between ocular adnexal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas and the bacterium Chlamydia psittaci - a potentially causative link similar to that between gastric MALT lymphomas and Helicobacter pylori. Dr. Ferreri and colleagues found the antibiotic appeared to work regardless of whether the patients were infected with C. psittaci: Seven of 11 carrying bacterial DNA had tumor regression, while six of the 16 without evidence of infection saw lymphomas regress. The finding raises two possibilities, scientists said: either current methods of detecting the bacteria aren’t sensitive enough or there is some other bacterial cause of ocular MALT lymphoma that can be interrupted by doxycycline.