Alcohol Abuse May Lead To Depression Risk, Rather Than Vice Versa

A number of epidemiological studies have shown that alcohol abuse or dependence is associated with major depression, according to background information in the article. However, it has previously been unclear whether one disorder causes the other, or whether a common underlying genetic or environmental risk factor increases risk for both.

Using data gathered from a 25-year study of health and development in New Zealand, David M. Fergusson, Ph.D., and colleagues at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand, examined the associations between alcohol abuse and depression. A sample of 1,055 participants born in 1977 were assessed for both conditions at ages 17 to 18, 20 to 21 and 24 to 25 years and also asked questions about lifestyle and demographic factors.

At ages 17 to 18, 19.4 percent of the participants met criteria for alcohol problems and 18.2 percent for major depression; at ages 20 to 21, 22.4 percent had alcohol disorders and 18.2 percent major depression; and at age 24 to 25, 13.6 percent met alcohol disorder criteria and 13.8 percent had major depression. At all ages, alcohol abuse or dependence was associated with an increased risk of major depression—those who fulfilled criteria for alcohol abuse or dependence were 1.9 times more likely to also fulfill criteria for major depression.

Three models were tested to fit the data—one in which major depression and alcohol abuse disorders had a reciprocal association within time, a second in which alcohol disorders caused major depression and a third in which major depression caused alcohol disorders. "This analysis suggested that the best-fitting model was one in which there was a unidirectional association from alcohol abuse or dependence to major depression but no reverse effect from major depression to alcohol abuse or dependence," the authors write.

"The underlying mechanisms that give rise to such an association are unclear; however, it has been proposed that this link may arise from genetic processes in which the use of alcohol acts to trigger genetic markers that increase the risk of major depression," they continue. "In addition, further research suggests that alcohol's depressant characteristics may lead to periods of depressed affect among those with alcohol abuse or dependence."

The causal links also may include an increased risk of depression due to stressful life circumstances brought by alcohol problems, including social, financial and legal issues. "However, further research is required to elucidate the nature of the possible links between alcohol use and major depression," the authors conclude.

This work was supported by grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the National Child Health Research Foundation, the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation and the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board.

Arthritis Hinders Physical Activity For Adults With Heart Disease

According to the Arthritis Foundation, the study underscores the importance of physical activity in effective management for adults with both arthritis and heart disease.

The study is one of the first of its kind to look at the relationship between arthritis and heart disease, and the probable effect of arthritis on physical activity among those with heart disease. The study found that arthritis affected 57 percent of adults with heart disease. Further, people with both diseases were more likely to be physically inactive (29 percent), in contrast to those with heart disease alone (21 percent). Adults with heart disease who are sedentary due to arthritis pain are not benefiting from physical activity that has been shown to help manage both diseases.

“People with arthritis often fear physical activity will worsen their pain – and that’s a major myth,” said Patience White, MD, MA, chief public health officer for the Arthritis Foundation. “However, just 30 minutes of daily physical activity has been shown to reduce arthritis pain and disability and help manage heart disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.”

Arthritis is not only a common comorbidity for adults with heart disease. A recent study released by the CDC in May 2008 found that more than half of adults with diagnosed diabetes also had arthritis, and those affected by both had higher levels of physical inactivity that hindered the successful management of both diseases.

“Engaging in regular physical activity can help reduce arthritis pain and improve joint function, which in turn can help people get more active and better manage co-existing conditions like heart disease and diabetes,” said Chad Helmick, MD, a CDC medical epidemiologist and coauthor on the study.

Taking Action

As the nation’s most common cause of disability, arthritis affects one in every five Americans.

Arthritis currently costs the U.S. economy more than $128 billion annually and limits activity for 19 million Americans. With the aging of the baby boomer population, the prevalence of arthritis is expected to rise significantly from 46 million Americans now to 67 million Americans by 2030.

The Arthritis Foundation is working to help address this ever-growing problem through the proposal of legislation introduced this week. The Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act proposes to strengthen arthritis public health initiatives, which would ensure that more people are diagnosed early to avoid pain and permanent disability.

“People are unaware of the seriousness of arthritis and its impact on other diseases,” said White. “We want them to know that the Arthritis Foundation offers several safe and effective joint-friendly programs that may help them be more physically active and thereby help manage conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.”

The Arthritis Foundation offers the following programs in communities across the country:

• The Arthritis Foundation Aquatic Program – A program that incorporates gentle movements in a heated pool to help relieve arthritis pain and stiffness, while increasing joint flexibility and range of motion.
• The Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program – A low-impact, joint-safe land exercise program that helps decrease arthritis pain and relieve stiffness.
• The Arthritis Foundation Self-Help Program – A self-management course that teaches people with arthritis how to manage the pain and challenges that arthritis imposes. The course has been shown to lead to a 40 percent reduction in pain.
• Let’s Move Together – A nationwide movement led by the Arthritis Foundation that encourages daily physical activity for better health. Visit www.letsmovetogether.org for creative exercise tips, uplifting stories, information about local Arthritis Walk events, and a physical activity tracker to help keep you moving all year.

Arthritis Hinders Physical Activity For Adults With Heart Disease

According to the Arthritis Foundation, the study underscores the importance of physical activity in effective management for adults with both arthritis and heart disease.

The study is one of the first of its kind to look at the relationship between arthritis and heart disease, and the probable effect of arthritis on physical activity among those with heart disease. The study found that arthritis affected 57 percent of adults with heart disease. Further, people with both diseases were more likely to be physically inactive (29 percent), in contrast to those with heart disease alone (21 percent). Adults with heart disease who are sedentary due to arthritis pain are not benefiting from physical activity that has been shown to help manage both diseases.

“People with arthritis often fear physical activity will worsen their pain – and that’s a major myth,” said Patience White, MD, MA, chief public health officer for the Arthritis Foundation. “However, just 30 minutes of daily physical activity has been shown to reduce arthritis pain and disability and help manage heart disease by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol.”

Arthritis is not only a common comorbidity for adults with heart disease. A recent study released by the CDC in May 2008 found that more than half of adults with diagnosed diabetes also had arthritis, and those affected by both had higher levels of physical inactivity that hindered the successful management of both diseases.

“Engaging in regular physical activity can help reduce arthritis pain and improve joint function, which in turn can help people get more active and better manage co-existing conditions like heart disease and diabetes,” said Chad Helmick, MD, a CDC medical epidemiologist and coauthor on the study.

Taking Action

As the nation’s most common cause of disability, arthritis affects one in every five Americans.

Arthritis currently costs the U.S. economy more than $128 billion annually and limits activity for 19 million Americans. With the aging of the baby boomer population, the prevalence of arthritis is expected to rise significantly from 46 million Americans now to 67 million Americans by 2030.

The Arthritis Foundation is working to help address this ever-growing problem through the proposal of legislation introduced this week. The Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act proposes to strengthen arthritis public health initiatives, which would ensure that more people are diagnosed early to avoid pain and permanent disability.

“People are unaware of the seriousness of arthritis and its impact on other diseases,” said White. “We want them to know that the Arthritis Foundation offers several safe and effective joint-friendly programs that may help them be more physically active and thereby help manage conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.”

The Arthritis Foundation offers the following programs in communities across the country:

• The Arthritis Foundation Aquatic Program – A program that incorporates gentle movements in a heated pool to help relieve arthritis pain and stiffness, while increasing joint flexibility and range of motion.
• The Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program – A low-impact, joint-safe land exercise program that helps decrease arthritis pain and relieve stiffness.
• The Arthritis Foundation Self-Help Program – A self-management course that teaches people with arthritis how to manage the pain and challenges that arthritis imposes. The course has been shown to lead to a 40 percent reduction in pain.
• Let’s Move Together – A nationwide movement led by the Arthritis Foundation that encourages daily physical activity for better health. Visit www.letsmovetogether.org for creative exercise tips, uplifting stories, information about local Arthritis Walk events, and a physical activity tracker to help keep you moving all year.

Smokers Putting Their Loved Ones At Risk Of Heart Attacks

However, despite the number of non-smoking men at risk having fallen, half of those who still had a high cotinine level (above 0.7 ng/ml) in 1998-2000 lived with a partner who smoked. Non-smoking men who had a partner who smoked had average cotinine levels of 1.39ng/mL, almost twice the level associated with an increased risk of a heart attack. Their cotinine levels were nearly eight times higher than the cotinine levels of men whose partner did not smoke.

During the period the study looked at, national data shows that the prevalence of smoking amongst adults across the UK declined from 40% to 27% and the number of cigarettes consumed by smokers fell from 114 to 97 per week. Restrictions on smoking in public spaces and workplaces were also introduced, although the study period was before the national legislative bans on smoking in public places introduced between 2006 and 2007.

Dr Barbara Jefferis, from University College London who led the research, said: "The decline in smoking together with restrictions on smoking in public places has created an environment where people are exposed to far less tobacco smoke. This has resulted in the dramatic fall in the number of non-smokers at an increased risk of a heart attack.

"However, we can clearly see that living with someone who smokes puts you at a heightened risk. If we are going to reduce people's exposure to tobacco smoke further then we will need to focus efforts on reducing smoking in the home."

Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the BHF, said: "This research shows that a great deal of progress has been made in reducing exposure to potentially damaging environmental tobacco smoke over the past 20 years. Importantly, it also shows that people are now more at risk of exposure in their own homes than in public places.

"We cannot stop people smoking in their own home, but we would urge smokers to think of the risk they're exposing their non smoking friends and relatives to when they have a cigarette in the house."

"The BHF are calling for a proper plan to reduce the harm from smoking including measures in the NHS Bill that will put an end to point of sale displays and prohibit cigarette vending machines, which are disproportionately used by underage smokers."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211101714.htm

Mixed Population Provides Insights Into Human Genetic Makeup

"We wanted to get to a strategy to predict what a face will look like," said Mark D. Shriver, associate professor of biological anthropology. "We want to understand the path of evolution that leads to that part of the selection process."

To pinpoint genes that influence the shape of the human face and head, Shriver began with an online database of genes linked to disease -- Online Mendelian Inheritance of Man. If the symptoms of the disease involved the face or skull the gene implicated in the disease became a candidate for those facial traits.

This approach works because although Shriver looked at genes implicated in disease, those same genes in a healthy person may also influence the same physical trait -- length, width, shape, size -- but within the range normal for healthy individuals. Facial traits vary among humans, but do tend to group by population. For example, in general, West Africans have wider faces than Europeans and Europeans have longer faces than West Africans.

"There is a strong relationship between genetic ancestry and facial traits," said Shriver. "Using individuals of combined ancestry, European and African, we can see how the target genes alter facial traits," he told attendees at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The researchers looked at a combined sample of African Americans with West African and European ancestry whose genetic makeup was known through DNA testing. To make it simpler, anyone with Native American ancestry was eliminated so that only two genetic pools were represented -- West African and European. The researchers reported on a sample of 254 individuals using three-dimensional imaging and measured the distances between specific portions of the face. Each individual had provided a DNA sample.

"We started with 22 landmarks on the faces that could be accurately located in all the images," said Shriver.

These landmarks might be the tip of the nose, the tip of the chin, the outer corner of the eye or other repeatable locations. They then recorded the distances between all the points in all directions, so they had a distance map of each of the faces.

From their DNA profiles, Shriver could determine the admixture percentages of each individual, how much of their genetic make up came from each group. He could then compare the genetically determined admixture to the facial feature differences and determine the relative differences from the parental populations.

"This type of study, done on admixed populations shows that each person is a composite of their ancestors and that the range of facial features is a continuum," says Shriver.

Shriver found that there was a very strong statistical correlation between the amounts of admixture and the facial traits.

"We chose to look at African Americans because they were a large enough and available admixed population," said Shriver. "We are trying to solidify our understanding of the origins of humans and the evolutionary processes. Looking at admixed populations shows us the influence genes have and how they relate to physical features."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090214162756.htm

Radioimmunotherapy: Promising Treatment For HIV Infection And Viral Cancers

The talk, part of the AAAS Topical Lecture Series, was delivered by Ekaterina Dadachova, Ph.D., a leading RIT researcher at Einstein. Dr. Dadachova is the Olnick Faculty Scholar in Cancer Research, as well as an associate professor of nuclear medicine and of microbiology & immunology at the College of Medicine.

RIT, which is currently used in cancer treatment, capitalizes on the fact that each type of antibody is programmed to seek out just one type of antigen in the body. Thus, by attaching radioactive material to a particular antibody, radiation can be targeted at specific cells that express the corresponding antigen, minimizing collateral damage to other tissues. This level of specificity is not possible with existing forms of radiation therapy.

RIT was originally developed as a therapy for cancer treatment and has been the most successful so far in treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that originates in cells of the immune system. Over the last few years, in collaboration with Dr. Arturo Casadevall, Chair and Forchheimer Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Einstein, Dr. Dadachova has adapted the technique for fighting fungal, bacterial, and viral infections. Drs. Dadachova and Casadevall performed these studies in conjunction with scientists at Einstein and NYU, and at the European Commission Joint Research Centre; the latter of which supplied some of the important radionuclides for arming the antibodies.

Since viruses are quite different from cancer cells, devising radioimmunotherapy for HIV posed significant challenges. Viruses are tiny bits of DNA or RNA wrapped in a thin protein coat. Simple, tough, and resilient, viruses easily shrug off radiation directed at them and can readily repair any damage that might occur. Complicating matters, HIV can hide in immune cells keeping the virus beyond the reach of antibodies.

"Our approach is not to target the virus particles themselves, but rather lymphocytes that harbor the virus," says Dr. Dadachova. "Fortunately, lymphocytes are among the most radiosensitive cells in the body."

The RIT devised by Einstein researchers consists of an antibody for glycoprotein 41 (gp41) and a radioactive isotope called Bismuth-213, bound together with a special molecule known as a ligand. The gp41 antibody was selected because its corresponding gp41 antigen is reliably expressed on the surface of cells infected with HIV. In addition, unlike other HIV-related glycoproteins, gp41 antigen usually is not shed into the bloodstream, which would lead many of radioactive-labeled antibodies to miss their target. Bismuth-213 was chosen because of several characteristics, including a half-life, or decay rate, of 46 minutes. Such a short half-life rate allows just enough time for the treatment to be administered and for the radioactive antibodies to do their job. After four hours, Bismuth-213 radioactivity falls to negligible levels.

Drs. Dadachova and Casadevall and their colleagues have demonstrated that the treatment can effectively eliminate HIV-infected human cells in both laboratory and animal studies, the latter involving two different models of mice with HIV. The team is now conducting pre-clinical testing of the therapy's efficacy and safety in preparation for a Phase I clinical trial in HIV-infected patients.

RIT also has potential as a therapy for cancers that are preceded by viral infections, such as cervical cancer (certain forms of which are associated with human papilloma virus) and hepatocellular carcinoma (associated with hepatitis B virus). Such cancers account for almost a quarter of all cancers. "Many virus-associated cancer cells continue to express viral antigens," Dr. Dadachova explains. "As these antigens are not found anywhere else in the body, RIT of viral cancers promises exquisite specificity of treatment and very low toxicity to the patient."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090214162804.htm

Molecules Self-assemble To Provide New Therapeutic Treatments

At the core of the research are peptide amphiphiles (PA), small synthetic molecules that Stupp first developed seven years ago, which have been essential in his work on regenerative medicine. By tailoring these molecules and combining them with others, the researchers can make a wide variety of structures that may provide new treatments for medical issues including spinal cord injuries, diabetes and Parkinson's disease.

Ramille M. Capito, a research assistant professor in Stupp's lab, shared an overview of this work in a presentation titled "Exploration of Novel Materials and Nanotubes in Stem Cell Therapy," as part of the "Adult Stem Cells: From Scientific Process to Patient Benefit" symposium on Feb. 14, at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Chicago.

As a postdoctoral fellow in Stupp's group, Capito recently discovered that combining the PA molecules with hyaluronic acid (HA), a biopolymer readily found in the human body in places like joints and cartilage, resulted in an instant membrane structure in the form of self-assembling sacs. The sac membrane was found to have hierarchical order from the nanoscale to microscale giving it unique physical properties. These findings were first published last year in the journal Science (Capito et al, Science 2008; 319:1812-6).

In creating a sac, Capito took advantage of the fact that HA molecules are larger and heavier than the smaller PA molecules. In a deep vial, she pipetted the PA solution and onto that injected the HA solution. As the heavier molecules sank, the lighter molecules engulfed them, creating a closed sac with the HA solution trapped inside the membrane.

Having formed the sacs, Capito next studied human stem cells engulfed by the self-assembly process inside sacs that she placed in culture. She found that the cells remained viable for up to four weeks, that a large protein -- a growth factor important in the signaling of stem cells -- could cross the membrane, and that the stem cells were able to differentiate.

In a clever demonstration of self-repair, if the sac's membrane had a hole (from a needle injection, for example), Capito simply placed a drop of the PA solution on the tear, which interacted with the HA inside, resulting in self-assembly and a sealed hole.

While the underlying, highly ordered structures of the sacs and membranes have dimensions on the nanoscale, the sacs and membranes themselves can be of any dimension and are visible to the naked eye.

These sacs can be tailored to include bioactive regions, allowing researchers to incorporate a variety of designs into one sac structure. This capability opens the door to the creation of new methods for stem cell delivery. Stem cells can be loaded in the sac, which can be tailored to release the cells at the point of injury.

Previous work has shown that the PA molecules can be dissolved to form fibril structures with diameters of 5 to 8 nanometers. These gel structures can be used for regenerative medicine, and the research group has in vivo data for spinal cord repair, angiogenesis and bone and cartilage regeneration.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090214162751.htm

Climate Change May Alter Malaria Patterns

"We need higher resolution environmental and biological data to understand how climate change will affect the spread of the malaria parasite," says Matthew Thomas, professor of entomology. "We need to understand temperature from the point of view of the mosquito."

Female Anopheles mosquitoes spread malaria by biting infected humans and ingesting the malaria parasites along with the blood they need to reproduce other mosquitoes. In the mosquito's gut, the parasites are implanted in the gut wall where they develop into cyst-like structures and multiply. Once mature, the cysts burst releasing thousands of parasites, which migrate to the mosquito's salivary glands. The next time the mosquito bites a human, the parasites enter the human along with mosquito saliva. Except through blood transfusions, humans cannot directly spread malaria to other humans.

Temperature plays a key role in the development of malaria parasites in the mosquito. Adult female Anopheles mosquitoes can live up to eight weeks but most die within two or three weeks, so malaria parasites must complete their development before the last time a female feeds to infect humans. Scientists have known for a long time that temperature influences the speed at which malaria parasites develop in mosquitoes, but temperature's effects are more complicated than previously thought.

"A day in the tropics may vary from something like 65 degrees Fahrenheit at night to 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the day, even though the daily average may be 77 degrees Fahrenheit, " Thomas told attendees at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Feb. 14 in Chicago. "Our research suggests this fluctuation matters because it alters the parasite incubation period in the mosquito, which is the most important factor in the spread of malaria. Small changes in incubation can lead to big changes in transmission."

The cooler the ambient temperature, the slower the malaria parasite develops. The warmer the ambient temperature, the faster the malaria parasite develops. If the incubation period takes longer than the life of the mosquito, the parasite will never infect a human. In some places, especially at higher elevations, malaria does not exist or is seasonal because, with cooler temperatures the mosquitoes die before the parasites are mature. While other factors such as how often a mosquito bites and the fertility of the mosquitoes remain important, the development of the parasite is the key to infection.

A daily mean temperature of 77 degrees Fahrenheit can indicate that the temperature was 77 degrees for 24 hours, or that it dipped to 59 degrees Fahrenheit and rose to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and still had a mean of 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Depending on how long the temperature stays cool and how long it is warm, the malaria parasite's time to maturity changes and the effects can be complex because fluctuation around cooler average temperatures has the opposite effect to fluctuation around warmer average temperatures.

"Daily temperature fluctuation can increase or decrease malaria risk, depending on background conditions," said Thomas.

Day-long fluctuations are not the only thing that influences the development of the malaria parasite. According to Thomas, during the first 12 hours of parasite development, temperature fluctuations can be fatal. Most mosquitoes bite to feed on blood in the evening or at night. If they bite in the early evening, the temperature will remain cool for at least 12 hours. Some mosquitoes may feed much closer to morning. If the morning feeders then face rapidly rising daytime temperatures reaching 88 to 90 degrees before 12 hours elapse, then the malaria parasite development can be stopped.

"If climate change increases the frequency of days when the temperature quickly exceeds the threshold temperature, then entire cohorts of mosquitoes could fail to develop the parasite," says Thomas.

In the developed world, the key to eradicating malaria, which once existed in parts of the U.S. and Europe, was an infrastructure that included good healthcare, mosquito control and habitat management. Future changes in temperature and rainfall are not likely to bring endemic malaria back to the U.S. or Europe. However, in parts of the world where these malaria preventing approaches do not exist, climate change may well lead to changes in malaria dynamics; whether this will be an increase in malaria or a decrease in malaria will depend not only on changes in mean conditions, but also changes in the daily temperature fluctuations.

The control of malaria depends on the environment of a small bodied, cold blooded insect -- the mosquito. A complete understanding of the temperature regime where they live as both larvae and adults is important to understand disease risk.

"Unfortunately, the areas where we need to get more sensitive temperature readings are also sometimes the most difficult places to obtain data," said Thomas. "But, this is the basic biology we need."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090214162631.htm