New data show that surgeons can use USGI Medical Inc.s (USGI) Incisionless Operating Platform(TM) (IOP) to durably reduce the size of the stomach pouch and stoma in RouxenY Gastric Bypass (RYGB) patients who are regaining weight because this portion of their anatomy has stretched since their original surgery.

On Friday, June 26 at the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgeons (ASMBS) Annual Meeting near Dallas, University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center surgeon Santiago Horgan, M.D. presented outcomes from 116 patients who underwent this incisionless procedure to reduce the size of their pouch and stoma.

“We believe this is the first data to confirm 12month durability for gastric folds created without incisions,” said Dr. Horgan, director of UCSDs Center for the Future of Surgery and Center for the Treatment of Obesity. “Invasive procedures to restore the anatomy to the original postsurgery proportions are too complicated for many patients. Surgeons have tried to perform restorative procedures through the mouth using other types of endoscopic instruments, however GI tissue is extremely resistant to change and its been difficult to show longterm durability of procedures utilizing endoscopic sutures or staples. USGIs Expandable Tissue Anchors have allowed us to achieve a desired amount of durable reduction in the pouch and stoma size without any significant adverse events, filling a significant unmet medical need in this patient population.”

To perform a Restorative Obesity Surgery, Endolumenally (ROSE), surgeons used USGIs IOP to grasp tissue and deploy Expandable Tissue Anchors to create multiple, circumferential tissue folds around the stoma and inside the pouch. The procedure is performed entirely through the patients mouth. An endoscope provides visualization.

Surgeons were able to place tissue folds in 112 of 116 (97%) patients. On average, surgeons placed six Expandable Tissue Anchor pairs in each of these 112 patients and reduced their mean stoma diameter by 50% and pouch length by 44%.

Dr. Horgan reported that twelvemonth postop endoscopies performed on 19 patients to date confirmed the durability of the procedure the tissue anchors remained and durable tissue folds were present. There were no significant complications associated with the procedure and most patients reported no or minimal pain.

About Incisionless Surgery

Incisionless Surgery is the next wave in minimally invasive surgery and is rapidly becoming an option demanded by patients, and healthcare providers for its potential to minimize pain, shorten hospital stays, lower treatment costs and eliminate visible external scars. Incisionless Surgery, which encompasses Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES), endolumenal and singleport techniques, can be applied to bariatric surgery, cholecystectomy, appendectomy, GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease), gastrointestinal cancer and urological and gynecological procedures.

About the USGI Incisionless Operating Platform(TM) (IOP)

USGI Medical designed the Incisionless Operating Platform(TM) (IOP) to enable Incisionless Surgery. Combining the flexibility of endoscopy with the therapeutic benefit of laparoscopy, the IOP offers a stable operating platform, access for multiple, robust, flexible surgical tools and durable tissue anchors to predictably approximate and permanently affix tissue important requirements for Incisionless Surgery that traditional endoscopes and endoscopic instruments do not provide. The IOP incorporates the TransPort(TM) Operating Platform and instruments for cutting, suturing and grasping tissue. The surgeon advances the TransPort into the body in its flexible state to conform to the patients anatomy, the surgeon uses an endscope and various tools though the TransPorts four operating channels to steer the end of the device to visualize a site, and perform surgery with control and efficiency.

Exercise and electroacupuncture treatments can reduce sympathetic nerve activity in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), according to a new study. The finding is important because women with PCOS often have elevated sympathetic nerve activity, which plays a role in hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, obesity and cardiovascular disease

The study also found that the electroacupuncture treatments led to more regular menstrual cycles, reduced testosterone levels and reduced waist circumference.

Exercise had no effect on the irregular or nonexistent menstrual cycles that are common among women with PCOS, nor did it reduce waist circumference. However, exercise did lead to reductions in weight and body mass index.

“The findings that lowfrequency electroacupuncture and exercise decrease sympathetic nerve activity in women with PCOS indicates a possible alternative nonpharmacologic approach to reduce cardiovascular risk in these patients,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Elisabet StenerVictorin of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The findings regarding menstrual cycles and decrease in testosterone levels in the lowfrequency electroacupuncture are also of interest, according to the researcher.

The study, “Lowfrequency electroacupuncture and physical exercise decrease high muscle sympathetic nerve activity in polycystic ovary syndrome” was conducted by Elisabet StenerVictorin, Elizabeth Jedel, Per Olof Janson and Vrsa Bergmann Sverrisdottir, all of the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden and the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. The study is in the online edition of the American Journal of PhysiologyRegulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, published by The American Physiological Society.

Common endocrine disorder

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders, affecting an estimated 10% of women of reproductive age. Among the problems associated with the condition are elevated levels of androgens (such as testosterone, the male hormone found in both sexes), ovarian cysts, irregular menstrual cycles and infertility.

PCOS is associated with increased sympathetic nerve activity in the blood vessels, part of the fight or flight response that results in blood vessel constriction. Chronic activation of the sympathetic nervous system increases the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke.

The Swedish researchers had previously found that PCOS is associated with increased sympathetic nerve activity and said it may arise from the elevated testosterone level that is characteristic of PCOS.

Three groups

The researchers wanted to find a longlasting treatment for PCOS that would have no adverse side effects, and so they looked at whether acupuncture or exercise could decrease the sympathetic nerve activity in women with PCOS. The study included 20 women, average age of 30 years, divided into the following groups

lowfrequency electroacupuncture (9)
exercise (5)
untreated controls, (6)

The acupuncture group underwent 14 treatments during the 16week study. Acupuncture points were located in abdominal muscles and back of the knee, points thought to be associated with the ovaries. The needles in the abdomen and leg were stimulated with a lowfrequency electrical charge, enough to produce muscle contraction but not enough to produce pain or discomfort.

The exercise group received pulse watches and were told to take up regular exercise brisk walking, cycling or any other aerobic exercise that was faster than walking but that they could sustain for at least 30 minutes. They exercised at least three days per week for 3045 minutes, maintaining a pulse frequency above 120 beats per minute.

The researchers instructed the control group in the importance of exercise and a healthy diet, the same instructions the experimental groups received, but were not specifically assigned to do anything differently.

Key Findings

The researchers measured the muscle sympathetic nerve activity before and after the 16week study. Following treatment, the study found the following

Both the acupuncture and exercise groups significantly decreased muscle sympathetic nerve activity compared to the control group.
The acupuncture group experienced a drop in waist size, but not a drop in body mass index or weight.
The exercise group experienced a drop in weight and body mass index but not in waist size.
The acupuncture group experienced fewer menstrual irregularities but the exercise groups irregularities did not change.
In the acupuncture group, there was a significant drop in testosterone. This is an important indicator because the strongest independent predictor of high sympathetic nerve activity in women is the level of testosterone.

“This is the first study to demonstrate that repeated lowfrequency electroacupuncture and physical exercise can reduce high sympathetic nerve activity seen in women with PCOS,” according to the authors. “Furthermore, both therapies decreased measures of obesity while only lowfrequency electroacupuncture improved menstrual bleeding pattern.”

The study has some limitations, including a small sample size, so further research is necessary, the authors wrote. To find the full study, go here.

Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, N.J., U.S.A.), which operates in many countries as Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agencys (EMEA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommending restricted first line use of Januvia (sitagliptin) for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. With this positive opinion, the CHMP recommends that sitagliptin be indicated to improve glycaemic control when diet and exercise alone do not provide adequate glycaemic control and when metformin is inappropriate due to contraindications or intolerance. If this opinion is accepted by the European Commission, sitagliptin will be the only diabetes treatment in the DPP4 inhibitor class to have a restricted first line indication.

The announcement follows the recent European Commission approval of both sitagliptin and the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin for use in combination with a PPARγ agonist (i.e., a thiazolidinedione) and metformin, when diet and exercise plus dual therapy with these agents do not provide adequate glycaemic control. The fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin is not currently available in some countries, such as the UK.

“Merck is committed to helping physicians and people with diabetes try to achieve target glycaemic levels and successfully manage their disease,” said Stefan Oschmann, president, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Canada, MSD. “We welcome the announcements from both the CHMP and European Commission, which further reinforce that sitagliptin and the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin can be used in combination therapy with a variety of diabetes treatments in appropriate patients.”

Sitagliptin is a highly selective, oncedaily DPP4 inhibitor that enhances a natural body system called the incretin system to help regulate blood sugar by increasing levels of active GLP1 and GIP hormones; it inhibits DPP4 over 24 hours. The fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin targets all three key defects of diabetes insulin deficiency from pancreatic beta cells, insulin resistance, and overproduction of glucose by the liver. Sitagliptin is the first approved medicine in the DPP4 inhibitor class of oral treatments. It has been approved in over 80 countries, and to date there have been more than 11 million prescriptions dispensed worldwide.

About sitagliptin

Sitagliptin is a member of a class of oral antihyperglycaemic agents called dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors and is licensed as an adjunct to diet and exercise for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in combination with either metformin and/or a sulphonylurea, or in combination with metformin and/or a PPARy agonist, when the other agent(s) do not provide adequate glycaemic control. The drug enhances the bodys own ability to lower blood sugar levels by increasing the levels of the bodys own active incretins, called GLP1 and GIP.

The recommended dose of sitagliptin is 100mg once daily, with or without food, for all approved indications.

Clinical experience with sitagliptin in patients with moderate to severe renal insufficiency is limited. Therefore sitagliptin is not recommended in this patient population. No dosage adjustment is needed for patients with mild to moderate hepatic insufficiency, and sitagliptin has not been studied in patients with severe hepatic insufficiency. Sitagliptin is contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity to the active substances or to any of the excipients. This medicine should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes or for the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis, or in woman who are lactating or pregnant.

In clinical studies, the adverse reactions reported, regardless of investigator assessment of causality, in >3% of patients treated with sitagliptin as monotherapy and in combination therapy with metformin or pioglitazone and more commonly than in patients treated with placebo, were upper respiratory tract infection, nasopharyngitis, and diarrhea.

About the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin

The fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin is indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycaemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin alone or those already being treated with the combination of sitagliptin and metformin. The fixed dose combination is also indicated for use in combination with a sulfonylurea (SU) or with a PPARy agonist as an adjunct to diet and exercise in patients inadequately controlled on metformin and an SU or metformin and a PPARy agonist. The dose of antihyperglycaemic therapy with fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin should be individualised on the basis of the patients current regimen, effectiveness, and tolerability while not exceeding the maximum recommended daily dose of 100mg sitagliptin.Initial therapy with sitagliptin or the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin is not currently licensed, and the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin is not currently available in some countries, such as the UK.

The fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin is contraindicated in patients with hypersensitivity to the active substances or to any of the excipients; diabetic ketoacidosis or diabetic precoma; moderate and severe renal impairment or abnormal creatinine clearance, acute conditions with the potential to alter renal function; acute or chronic disease which may cause tissue hypoxia; hepatic impairment; acute alcohol intoxication; alcoholism and lactation. This drug combination should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes.

Patients taking the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin with a sulfonylurea, a medication known to cause hypoglycaemia, may be at a higher risk of hypoglycaemia than those patients taking the fixed dose combination of sitagliptin and metformin alone. Therefore, a reduction in the dose of the sulfonylurea may be required.

In clinical studies, the most common adverse reactions reported, regardless of investigator assessment of causality, in ≥5% of patients and more commonly than in patients treated with placebo were as follows diarrhea, upper respiratory tract infection, and headache (for initial sitagliptin and metformin combination therapy); nasopharyngitis (for sitagliptin monotherapy); and diarrhea, nausea/vomiting, flatulence, abdominal discomfort, indigestion, asthenia, and headache (for metformin therapy).

The world is slowly losing the fight against hunger in the Horn of Africa, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which renewed its call for emergency food supplies, water and recovery activities to help about 2.5 million food insecure people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, Xinhua/CRIENGLISH.com reports. The IFRCs revised emergency appeal seeks $67 million to assist 2.5 million people over five years.

“The battle against persistent, chronic malnutrition and hunger is at risk of slowly being lost. Our message to the world is simple in the Horn of Africa, hunger, a result of chronic, major deficit in calorie intake, kills,” Asha Mohammed, head of IFRCs Eastern Africa zone, said in a statement issued in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday.

IFRC first highlighted the situation in 2008 and “has continued to assist more than 465,000 people in the four countries,” according to Xinhua/CRIENGLISH.com. The organization has used about $9.2 million from its own funds to combat hunger in the Horn of Africa, “last years emergency appeal only received a meagre 9 percent coverage,” the news agency writes.

IFRC said the coordinated work of authorities and the Red Cross Red Crescent in these regions has been complicated by outbreaks of acute watery diarrhoea and cholera. In addition, a lack of resources and inadequate assistance has already resulted in internal conflicts in Kenya.

However, food assistance is “only a fraction of the solution to peoples problems,” said Roger Bracke, who is leading IFRCs work in the Horn of Africa. “Foodaid is critical but its impact ends as soon as it gets digested,” Bracke said, adding, “This operation urgently needs more support to enable it to assist the worst affected to develop alternative and additional sources of income that will allow them to become selfsustainable without total reliance on animals or rains” (Xinhua/CRIENGLISH.com, 6/25).

Kenya Will Receive Most IFRC Funds

Business Daily reports on the “food crisis” in Kenya, which has been exacerbated due to “[u]npredictable rainfall patterns, low harvests and the displacement of people during last years postelection violence.”

“Most of the funds” requested in the IFRCs renewed appeal will “be used in Kenya where the agency said almost 3.5 million people had their food supplies interrupted, leading to food insecurity,” according to Business Daily. Inadequate rains, “extremely low” harvests, and an influx of refugees from Somalia, including the deteriorating situation at the Daadab refugee camp, have contributed to the situation.

According to the publication, the Kenya Red Cross Society aims to reach almost 1 million people through food distributions, and an additional 500,000 children through a schoolfeeding program. The IFRC said that emergency efforts will focus on providing food assistance, healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (Menya, Business Daily, 6/25).

Global Financial Situation Affecting Cost Of Food In Somalia; Hospital Patients Go Hungry

In Somalia, the global financial slowdown has cut remittances from Somalis living in other countries during a time of widespread displacement and significant food price inflation, Mark Bowden, a U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the country, said, Reuters reports. “The money that the diaspora sends, we know has gone down by 25 percent this year and remittances of at least $1 billion a year come into Somalia,” Bowden said.

Reuters writes, “An estimated 3.4 million Somalis depend on food aid, the country is facing its worst drought in a decade and an upsurge in violence … is making the situation worse.” Increasing insecurity and drought has boosted food price inflation to 300 percent in many parts of Somalia, Bowden said, adding, “There is a real danger that Somalia can become more dependent on humanitarian assistance than never before” (Nyakairu, Reuters, 6/23).

IRIN examines the situation in hospitals in Mogadishu, Somalia, where patients are “facing hunger.”

“Hospitals in Mogadishu have reportedly been overwhelmed by the number of the injured seeking treatment since fighting intensified in early May,” IRIN writes. “Patients are going hungry because we dont have the means to feed them,” Dahir Mohamed deputy director of Medina hospital, the largest in the city said.

He said relatives used to bring food to patients, “but now the relatives are either in hospital themselves or have fled the city to safer areas,” adding that entire families were now in hospitals “with no one out there to support them.” Mohamed called on aid agencies to provide “wet feeding in the hospitals… It is a very desperate situation and I hope someone will come to our aid” (IRIN, 6/22).

BBC Examines Nutrition Sachets To Combat Hunger

BBC examines the use of peanut flavored nutrition sachets to help children “on the brink of death from starvation around the world.”

The sachets “contain a highenergy food crammed with highprotein peanut, milk, sugar, oils and fortified with extra vitamins and minerals,” and “can be eaten directly from the packet, do not require refrigeration or mixing with clean water often in short supply and can be stored for years,” BBC writes.

The article includes information about the companies that create these type of products, food fortification and the effects of the economic recession (Anderson, BBC, 6/24).

UA scientists looking at the link between BMI over a lifetime and the risk of developing pancreatic cancer found that overweight and obese young adults are more likely to develop the disease, and also that older adults with pancreatic cancer who are obese have a lower overall survival rate.

The study was the work of first author Dr Donghui Li, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues and is published in the 24 June issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA.

Cancer of the pancreas is the fourth leading cause of death from cancer for American men and women, and since obesity began to rise steeply in the US in the last 20 years, there is increasing evidence that carrying too much weight is a risk factor for this disease.

But despite this trend, as the authors pointed out in their background information, we dont know very much about the link between excess body weight and risk of pancreatic cancer over a lifetime, nor do we know much about at which stages in that lifetime the key changes in weight occur that could affect the link.

So Li and colleagues investigated this further by looking at two groups of people one group was 841 patients with pancreatic cancer and the other was a group of 754 healthy people matched to the first group by age, race and sex.

For these groups, height, body weight and other medical histories had already been collected in personal interviews that started at ages 14 to 19 years and then at 10year intervals thereafter until 12 months before enrolling on the study.

Li and colleagues then explored the links between body mass index (BMI) over a lifetime and three things the risk of pancreatic cancer, the age the cancer started, and overall patient survival.

A Body Mass Index (the ratio of a persons weight in kilos to the square of their height in metres) of 25 to 29.9 is classed as overweight and a BMI of 30 or more is classed as obese.

Their results showed thatParticipants who were overweight from age 14 to 39 or obese from age 20 to 49 were at higher risk of pancreatic cancer regardless of whether they developed diabetes or not.
The link between average BMI (for every increase of 5 units) and risk of pancreatic cancer was stronger in men that in women.
The link was statistically significant for each age group from age 14 to 69 in men but only from 14 to 39 in women.
Ever smokers had a slightly stronger link between average BMI (for every 5 unit increase) and pancreatic cancer risk than never smokers.
Among never smokers the chances of pancreatic cancer being linked to being overweight or obese at an early age before diagnosis was estimated at 10.3 per cent.
Among ever smokers this figure rose to 21.3 per cent.
Pancreatic cancer was diagnosed some 2 to 6 years earlier in participants who were overweight or obese from 20 to 49 years of age.
The median (midpoint of the range) age when cancer was diagnosed was 64 for normal weight participants, 61 for for those who were overweight and 59 for those who were obese.
Participants who were overweight or obese from age 30 to 79 or up to a year before being enrolled in the study had an overall reduced survival rate for pancreatic cancer, regardless of the stage of the disease and whether the tumor had been operated on.The authors concluded that

“Overweight or obesity during early adulthood was associated with a greater risk of pancreatic cancer and a younger age of disease onset. Obesity at an older age was associated with a lower overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer.”

“While our observations require confirmation, they provide support for a role of excess body weight in the development and progression of pancreatic cancer,” they added.

“Body Mass Index and Risk, Age of Onset, and Survival in Patients With Pancreatic Cancer.”
Donghui Li; Jeffrey S. Morris; Jun Liu; Manal M. Hassan; R. Sue Day; Melissa L. Bondy; James L. Abbruzzese.
JAMA. 2009;301(24)25532562.
Vol. 301 No. 24, June 24, 2009

Written by Catharine Paddock, PhD

The European diabetes diagnostics market is poised for expansion with segments such as selfmonitoring and pointofcare (POC) tests offering tremendous growth potential. Heightened efforts to generate awareness about diabetes and related diagnostic tests are a key driver in market development. For instance, limited awareness about HbA1C tests is restraining the laboratory market. However, this challenge will be curtailed with more education about the test.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (drugdiscovery.frost.com) European Diabetes Diagnostics Market, finds that the market earned revenues of $3.6 billion in 2008 and estimates this to reach $10.6 billion in 2015. The following segments are covered in this research laboratory HbA1C testing, selfmonitoring blood glucose (SMBG) and POC diabetes testing.

“The increasing prevalence of diabetes along with the demand for more rapid tests drives the market, especially for the SMBG segment,” notes Frost & Sullivan Programme Leader Arun A.K. “Efforts are being undertaken to popularise HbA1C tests and enhance the adoption rate in POC settings.”

Type2 diabetes is asymptomatic in nature; therefore, emphasis is placed on early diagnosis of the disease. Along with early diagnosis, patients are recommended to use selftest meters at home. The rising interest in selftesting has opened opportunities for emerging technologies such as minimally invasive and noninvasive blood glucose meters.

Low awareness and poor communication between manufacturers and physicians is a challenge for the HbA1C market. Different laboratories have varied methods of measuring HbA1C, leading to inconsistency in results.

“Manufacturers must diversify into other segments in order to maintain growth momentum in the diabetes diagnostics market,” explains Arun. “Improved coordination between physicians and the patient community is the best way to produce customised solutions in the market.”

In addition to highquality products, market participants must provide additional support to end users. Roundtheclock customer service and exceptional technical support are essential to succeed in this fiercely competitive market.

“Manufacturers must create awareness about the importance of diabetes diagnostics tests,” says Arun.” Resources need to be allocated exclusively for marketing and distribution services.”

European Diabetes Diagnostics Market is part of the Drug Discovery & Clinical Diagnostics Growth Partnership Service programme, which also includes research in the following markets European POC Connectivity Market, Strategic Analysis of the European Autoimmune Diagnostics Market, European Cancer IVD Market and Western European IVD Market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

Source

According to the CDC, 46 million Americans were told by a doctor they have arthritis, the leading cause of disability in the United States. Flexcin International, Inc., a natural supplement company offering the only joint pain remedy products with CM8™, offers arthritis and bursitis treatment for anyone suffering from painrelated disease and injuries.

The CDC also reports that the most commonly identified limitations among adults reporting a disability include walking three blocks and climbing a flight of stairs. Given the aging of “baby boomers,” the number of adults with joint pain and arthritis is likely to increase dramatically over the next 15 years. Flexcin with CM8 works as an arthritis remedy for hip pain, hand or foot pain, and muscle pain. The patented formula of CM8 is clinically proven to promote optimal joint health by helping to stimulate the lubricating fluid in the joints, support stronger cartilage and increase total mobility.

“Arthritis and joint pain can be extremely uncomfortable for people at any age and, worse, can disrupt our lives in many unfortunate ways,” said Tamer Elsafy, CEO and founder of Flexcin. “Flexcin with CM8 helps remove this harsh pain from your life without any unwanted or dangerous side affects. We invite anyone in search of an arthritis remedy to take the Flexcin challenge so we can show them what life is like pain free.”

People living with arthritis and joint pain can take the Flexcin challenge, a threemonth supply of Flexcin with CM8 that comes with a moneyback guarantee.

Source

What

Physician leaders from McAllen, Texas, and other border communities discuss the challenges of providing health care to patients at news conference. The physicians are calling upon President Obama to visit their communities to learn firsthand the struggles physicians face in delivering health care to the poorest and unhealthiest population in the nation. The region rates among the highest in the nation for residents who are living in poverty, uninsured, obese, and diabetic. The demand for health care is great. However, the region also has one of the lowest rates of physicians per capita to care for its poor and sick and to promote healthy behaviors and prevention of disease.

When

Tuesday, June 23, at 230 pm

Where

Longworth Building, 6th Floor, Room1629, Washington, D.C.

Who

Physicians leaders who care for Texas border patients.

Carlos Cardenas, MD, McAllen gastroenterologist Chair, Board for Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in McAllen, Texas; and member, Texas Medical Association (TMA) Board of Trustees

James Stewart, MD, McAllen internist President, HidalgoStarr County Medical Society, and member, TMA Council on Health Promotion and Border Health Caucus

Manny Acosta, MD, El Paso surgeon Chair, Border Health Caucus, and consultant, TMA Council on LegislationE. Linda Villarreal, MD, Edinburg internist Member, TMA Council on Legislation; delegate, Texas Delegation to the American Medical Association (AMA); district chair, TMA Political Action Committee; and member, Border Health Caucus

Advocates of abstinenceonly sex education “[w]ell aware that their cause is in trouble and unpopular” are “revamping their image to appear more mainstream,” Jessica Valenti, author of “The Purity Myth How Americas Obsession With Virginity Is Hurting Young Women” and editor of the blog Feministing, writes in an opinion piece in The Nation. She writes that “high on the list of priorities” for abstinenceonly proponents is “developing a strategy for continuing to receive federal dollars.” Although President Obama “has brought some measure of sanity to public health policy” by reducing funding for abstinenceonly programs in his fiscal year 2010 budget proposal, “with Obamas faithbased initiative lending an ear” to abstinenceonly proponents, their strategy “might just work,” according to Valenti.

Valenti writes that abstinenceonly proponents have launched what she terms a “virginity movement.” Backers of this movement included “antifeminist think tanks,” such as the Independent Womens Forum and Concerned Women for America, as well as abstinenceonly groups, religious leaders and certain conservative lawmakers, Valenti says. She adds that the movement “is much more than the same old sexism; its a targeted and wellfunded backlash hellbent on rolling back womens rights using modernized notions of purity, morality and sexuality.”

Valenti continues that the groups effort includes “appropriating the language and tools of comprehensive sex education and its advocates,” while also “attempting to legitimize its message by rebranding itself as sciencebased.” For example, Valerie Huber, executive director of the National Abstinence Education Association, said during a recent Capitol Hill briefing that abstinenceonly “talks about contraception” and offers “medically accurate information.” In reality, “the only time abstinenceonly classes will talk about contraception is when they discuss failure rates often exaggerating those rates or spreading misinformation about the dangers of contraception,” Valenti writes.

The “good news in all of this” is that most funding for abstinenceonly education would be redirected to “teen pregnancy prevention programs” under Obamas budget plan, Valenti writes. However, the “bad news” is that onequarter of the money allocated for teen pregnancy prevention in the proposal would be available to abstinenceonly programs, and “the language in the budget doesnt make room for initiatives to curb sexually transmitted infections,” she continues. “So while the virginity movement reevaluates its image and messaging, progressives have to be just as prepared to battle back with renewed energy, with any eye toward legislative and policy gains and toward assuring that these groups dont regain their cultural footing,” Valenti writes.

The issue is “about a lot more than badfaith messages about condoms and pregnancy,” she writes. It is “about stopping a movement committed to the regression of womens rights, enforcing gender norms and teaching Americas youth especially young women that sexuality is wrong, dirty and dangerous,” according to Valenti. She concludes, “Now that there is a new administration in Washington, we need to ensure not only that we hold our leaders accountable but that we direct the national conversation about sex, gender and health” (Valenti, The Nation, 6/17).

Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Womens Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Womens Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.

According to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds in green tea demonstrated a significant reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression.

“The investigational agent used in the trial, Polyphenon E (provided by Polyphenon Pharma) may have the potential to lower the incidence and slow the progression of prostate cancer,” said James A. Cardelli, Ph.D., professor and director of basic and translational research in the FeistWeiller Cancer Center, LSU Health Sciences CenterShreveport.

Green tea is the second most popular drink in the world, and some epidemiological studies have shown health benefits with green tea, including a reduced incidence of prostate cancer, according to Cardelli. However, some human trials have found contradictory results. The few trials conducted to date have evaluated the clinical efficacy of green tea consumption and few studies have evaluated the change in biomarkers, which might predict disease progression.

Cardelli and colleagues conducted this openlabel, singlearm, phase II clinical trial to determine the effects of shortterm supplementation with green teas active compounds on serum biomarkers in patients with prostate cancer. The biomarkers include hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and prostate specific antigen (PSA). HGF and VEGF are good prognostic indicators of metastatic disease.

The study included 26 men, aged 41 to 72 years, diagnosed with prostate cancer and scheduled for radical prostatectomy. Patients consumed four capsules containing Polyphenon E until the day before surgery four capsules are equivalent to about 12 cups of normally brewed concentrated green tea, according to Cardelli. The time of study for 25 of the 26 patients ranged from 12 days to 73 days, with a median time of 34.5 days.

Findings showed a significant reduction in serum levels of HGF, VEGF and PSA after treatment, with some patients demonstrating reductions in levels of greater than 30 percent, according to the researchers.

Cardelli and colleagues found that other biomarkers were also positively affected. There were only a few reported side effects associated with this study, and liver function remained normal.

Results of a recent yearlong clinical trial conduced by researchers in Italy demonstrated that consumption of green tea polyphenols reduced the risk of developing prostate cancer in men with highgrade prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (HGPIN).

“These studies are just the beginning and a lot of work remains to be done, however, we think that the use of tea polyphenols alone or in combination with other compounds currently used for cancer therapy should be explored as an approach to prevent cancer progression and recurrence,” Cardelli said.

William G. Nelson, V., M.D., Ph.D., professor of oncology, urology and pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, believes the reduced serum biomarkers of prostate cancer may be attributable to some sort of benefit relating to green tea components.

“Unfortunately, this trial was not a randomized trial, which would have been needed to be more sure that the observed changes were truly attributable to the green tea components and not to some other lifestyle change (better diet, taking vitamins, etc.) men undertook in preparation for surgery,” added Nelson, who is also a senior editor for Cancer Prevention Research. However, “this trial is provocative enough to consider a more substantial randomized trial.”

In collaboration with Columbia University in New York City, the researchers are currently conducting a comparable trial among patients with breast cancer. They also plan to conduct further studies to identify the factors that could explain why some patients responded more dramatically to Polyphenon E than others. Cardelli suggested that additional controlled clinical trials should be done to see if combinations of different plant polyphenols were more effective than Polyphenon E alone.

“There is reasonably good evidence that many cancers are preventable, and our studies using plantderived substances support the idea that plant compounds found in a healthy diet can play a role in preventing cancer development and progression,” said Cardelli.

The mission of the American Association for Cancer Research is to prevent and cure cancer. Founded in 1907, AACR is the worlds oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research. The membership includes more than 28,000 basic, translational and clinical researchers; health care professionals; and cancer survivors and advocates in the United States and nearly 90 other countries. The AACR marshals the full spectrum of expertise from the cancer community to accelerate progress in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer through highquality scientific and educational programs. It funds innovative, meritorious research grants. The AACR Annual Meeting attracts more than 17,000 participants who share the latest discoveries and developments in the field. Special conferences throughout the year present novel data across a wide variety of topics in cancer research, treatment and patient care. The AACR publishes six major peerreviewed journals Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention; and Cancer Prevention Research. The AACR also publishes CR, a magazine for cancer survivors and their families, patient advocates, physicians and scientists. CR provides a forum for sharing essential, evidencebased information and perspectives on progress in cancer research, survivorship and advocacy.