$5-$17 can help kick smoking Cytisine

A pill developed in Bulgaria during the Soviet era shows promise for helping millions of smokers cheaply and safely kick the habit, the first big study of it shows.

It could become a new weapon to combat smoking in poor countries, but it is unclear whether it will ever reach the market in the U.S. or Western Europe.

The drug, cytisine, is now used just in Eastern Europe, where smokers usually take the pill for three or four weeks. Generic versions cost as little as $5 to $17 a month, compared with about $100 for an eight-week supply of nicotine patches or about $300 for a 12-week supply of Pfizer Inc.’s Chantix pill — common treatments in rich countries to help smokers quit.

Cytisine “is so cheap that even in developing countries, if you can afford to smoke, you can afford to stop,” said Dr. Robert West of University College London. He led the study, published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Ref and Read more: http://enidnews.com/state/x1190852731/Soviet-era-pill-from-Bulgaria-helps-smokers-quit

Human and mouse brains are found to be alike thus paving path for testing new therapies

UCLA scientists have created a mouse model for autism that opens a window into the biological mechanisms that underlie the disease.

The researchers found that autistic mice share similar symptoms and behaviors with people on the autism spectrum, suggesting that mouse brains and human brains are wired surprisingly alike. If so, the model offers a promising way to test new therapies that may one day help people with autism.

The study is published in the Sept. 30 edition of the journal Cell.

"Though many genes have been linked to autism, it remains unclear what goes awry to increase a person's susceptibility to the disorder. We developed a mouse model to observe how a gene variant commonly linked to human autism reveals itself in mice," said. Dr. Daniel Geschwind, who holds UCLA's Gordon and Virginia MacDonald Distinguished Chair in Human Genetics and is a professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the Center for Autism Research and Treatment at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.

Ref and Read more: http://www.healthcanal.com/genetics-birth-defects/21361-UCLA-geneticists-develop-promising-mouse-model-for-testing-new-autism-therapies.html

Mapping a fat cell to understand its functionality

For the first time, Australian scientists have detailed the proteins, or functional molecules, inside and around the ‘plasma membrane’ of a fat cell, the permeable barrier between the cell’s inner workings and the rest of the body.

Mapping a healthy fat cell at a basal level, or in a ‘pure’ state unaffected by its environment, allows us to understand exactly how it responds when exposed to hormones and other substances that blood carries around the body.

Why a fat cell? Because it plays a central role in metabolism, and its dysfunction is one of the factors that leads to the complex lifestyle-related illness we call Type 2 diabetes.

Professor David James, Leader of the Diabetes Program at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, along with Drs Matthew Prior and Mark Larance from his lab, focused particularly on how fat cells respond to insulin, the hormone that facilitates movement of fats and sugars from the blood to the cell interior, where they can be burned for energy.

Ref and Read more: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20112909-22675.html

Nigeria to be the 1st African country to get AIDS vaccine

Nigeria will be the first African country to access the benefit of a new protective vaccine that will stop people from developing the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS as indication yesterday emerged that Cornell Micheal Nelson, one of the scientists who discovered the vaccine will be in Nigeria next month.

In a telephone chat with Vanguard, Director General of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA, Professor John Idoko disclosed that Cornell Micheal Nelson, will be in Nigeria by October 12, to attend a symposium, where he would be presenting a keynote addrees on the newly discovered vaccine.

The choice of Nigeria for this landmark event, is not unconnected with the country’s large population and notable contribution to the fight against the HIV virus. With the discovery of the vaccine, the world may be on the verge of finally overcoming the threat posed by HIV and AIDS.

However, indications from the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, revealed that Nigerian Scientists are excited over the vaccine which shows great potential to reduce the burden of HIV across the world.

Ref and Read more: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2011/09/nigeria-to-benefit-from-new-hivaids-vaccine/

Cost of diabetes cure to be high in next decade as poor too will join the diabetics says ICMR report

Diabetes will soon be no longer a rich man’s disease and poor in India will become vulnerable to it in next 10 years, warned an expert. Noted diabetologist Dr V Mohan told Express that the country is going through a transformation phase and in the next 10 years it will emulate the West where diabetes has become a poor man’s disease.

The study by Indian Council for Medical Research has highlighted that rural population too have diabetes. In Tamil Nadu, it is 7.8 per cent while Maharashtra has 6.5 per cent. Similarly in Jharkhand, it is three per cent while in Chandigarh it is 8.3 per cent.

Citing an example in Chennai, where diabetes is prevalent in slums, he said after a decade poor will be vulnerable as the cost of cure will be quite high.

“While rich and the middle class can afford the cost of healthy food, the poor will have to live on junk food resulting in more obesity,” he observed.

He said a new startling fact has also emerged from the study conducted in Jharkhand where there is no prevalence of diabetes in some areas.

Dr V Mohan said this is due to the fact that people in the area are undernourished and have low body mass index.

Ref and Read more: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/%E2%80%98Poor-will-also-be-vulnerable-to-diabetes/319038.html

Cost of diabetes cure to be high in next decade as poor too will join the diabetics says ICMR report

Diabetes will soon be no longer a rich man’s disease and poor in India will become vulnerable to it in next 10 years, warned an expert. Noted diabetologist Dr V Mohan told Express that the country is going through a transformation phase and in the next 10 years it will emulate the West where diabetes has become a poor man’s disease.

The study by Indian Council for Medical Research has highlighted that rural population too have diabetes. In Tamil Nadu, it is 7.8 per cent while Maharashtra has 6.5 per cent. Similarly in Jharkhand, it is three per cent while in Chandigarh it is 8.3 per cent.

Citing an example in Chennai, where diabetes is prevalent in slums, he said after a decade poor will be vulnerable as the cost of cure will be quite high.

“While rich and the middle class can afford the cost of healthy food, the poor will have to live on junk food resulting in more obesity,” he observed.

He said a new startling fact has also emerged from the study conducted in Jharkhand where there is no prevalence of diabetes in some areas.

Dr V Mohan said this is due to the fact that people in the area are undernourished and have low body mass index.

Ref and Read more: http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/%E2%80%98Poor-will-also-be-vulnerable-to-diabetes/319038.html

4,50,000 deaths in US due to smoking

Most folks recognize cigarette smoking is the largest preventable cause of death in the United States. Specifically, smoking contributes to roughly 450,000 deaths each year. Explicit warnings on tobacco products include death as a possible risk.

Smoking is regarded as an individual choice, but tobacco poses a risk to the families of smokers, not just the smokers themselves. Over recent years, awareness of second hand smoke hazards has increased. Medical research shows children living with a smoker suffer greater respiratory complications like asthma and respiratory infection. The offspring of mothers who smoke during pregnancy have a higher percentage of children with lower birth weights and behavioral problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The good news is that the majority of current smokers want to quit.

October 6 is the Great American Smokeout. Here is a terrific opportunity to support a smoker who wants to stop. Use this date to learn more about the free resources to assist with smoking cessation. If you do, chances are you and the ones you love will breathe more easily - because you cared enough to take action.

Ref and Read more: http://www.charleston.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123273835