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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Phil Mickelson Adopts Vegetarian Diet Due to Arthritis

14 Aug, 2010 - source: www.emaxhealth.com

At a press conference at the 2010 PGA Championship this week, Masters winner and number 2 ranked golfer in the world Phil Mickelson has publicly announced that he is being treated for psoriatic arthritis and has adopted a healthier lifestyle to deal with the symptoms, including following a vegetarian diet.

Arthritis itself means “inflammation of the joints”, although the cause can come from several factors. Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an autoimmune disease that affects between 6 and 42% of people with psoriasis, a skin disease that causes itchy or sore patches of thick, red skin with silvery scales.

According to reports, Mickelson first developed symptoms right before the US Open. He says that he woke up in so much pain he could not walk and the symptoms continued to progress. “It was (in) my Achilles and my piriformis muscle
, my left index finger was sprained and I couldn’t bend it, and my right wrist was sprained; and there was no injury and it got worse.”

Phil began a weekly treatment with the injectable medication Enbrel (etanercept), prescribed to relieve the symptoms by blocking the activity of a body substance that causes inflammation. In addition, he has begun a regular exercise program to improve muscle strength and joint mobility.

The biggest change in the golfer’s lifestyle was the adoption of a vegetarian diet seven weeks ago. He reports that he eats a “lot of fruits and vegetables and some whole grain wheat and pastas and stuff.” He admits the change has been difficult, but “if it will somehow keep this (arthritis) in remission or stop it from coming back, yeah, I’ll be able to do it.”

Most research linking the vegetarian diet and the relief of arthritic symptoms has been conducted on patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Although psoriatic arthritis is different than rheumatoid arthritis, both are autoimmune and inflammatory disorders and the same benefits may exists, though not well studied.

There are several ways that a vegetarian diet can benefit patients with autoimmune-related arthritis. First, many vegetarian diets are low-calorie and appear to be helpful in maintaining a healthy body weight. Obese adults face a higher risk of psoriatic arthritis, according to a recent study conducted at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Second, vegetarian diets are low in saturated fat and cholesterol, which may help reduce inflammation in the body. Red meat in particular has been linked with increased inflammation. Third, vegetarian diets that are well planned and include lots of fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants that block inflammation.

It appears that Phil Mickelson’s arthritis was diagnosed early before significant joint damage has occurred. He is very optimistic about his health. At the end of the second round, he was tied for 34th place in the 2010 PGA Championship at -2.

Arthritis detection kits’ approval aids Axis-Shield

Mark Smith - 14 Aug 2010

Shares in Axis-Shield climbed more than 4% yesterday after the Scottish-Norwegian maker of medical diagnostic kits said its early detection test for rheumatoid arthritis had been given formal approval by US and European expert groups.

The Dundee and Oslo-headquartered firm said it welcomed the publication of new classification criteria for rheumatoid arthritis in the September edition of the Arthritis and Rheumatism journal, in which its anti-CCP test was validated by the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism.

Axis-Shield has said its test for antibodies to cyclic citrullinated peptides, or anti-CCP, – one of the cornerstones of the group’s technology – was widely regarded by experts as the most significant recent development in the early diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

The test has the potential to alleviate the suffering of millions of people and is considered more accurate than rival early-diagnostic tests for the disease.

Rheumatoid arthritis, which occurs in about one in 100 people, is a chronic autoimmune disease characterised by inflammation of the lining of the joints, causing pain and disability. Axis-Shield’s test can detect the disease before it becomes debilitating.

The disease often begins in middle ages and is particularly prevalent in older people, although it can also develop in children and young adults.

Shares in Axis Shield yesterday rose 4.1%, or 10.75p, to 275.5p after announcing the news to the City.

The company said the new classification criteria set for rheumatoid arthritis follows recommendations at the American College of Rheumatology Congress in 2009, and will allow clinicians to focus on the important need for earlier diagnosis and more effective early therapeutic intervention.

Ian Gilham, Axis-Shield’s chief executive, said: “Anti-CCP is a key marker for Axis-Shield’s laboratory division and this inclusion reinforces the importance of protecting our intellectual property on anti- CCP testing.”

Axis-Shield, which employs 120 of its 500 staff at its Scottish laboratory division, was formed in 1999 through the merger of Dundee-based Shield Diagnostics and Axis.
source: www.heraldscotland.com

New surgical procedure for shoulder arthritis

Saturday, Aug 14, 2010 - An orthopedic surgeonhere has successfully performed what is claimed to be India's first ever Reverse Shoulder Replacement (RSP) operation which could offer relief to patients suffering from shoulder arthritis.

The RSP is a newly approved implant that has been used successfully in Europe and America. It is designed specifically for use in shoulders that have arthritis, a deficient rotator cuff or complex fractures.

A 73-year-old woman, suffering from severe pain due to shoulder arthritis restricting her movements, underwent the RSP at Deenanath Mangeshkar hospital here recently with a satisfactory post-operative results, according to Dr Ashish Babhulkar, the surgeon who performed the operation.

At a media interaction in the hospital on Thursday, where the patient was presented, Dr Babhulkar said "we used French prosthesis for the replacement which is recently approved by FDA and the surgery was performed free of cost under the guidance of a team of French surgeons who are leaders in the field of RSP."

The woman --- Suman Darekar-said that after years of agonising pain in the shoulder, she was now able to move her arm freely and even " comb hair", lifting it up and backward.

Dr Babhulkar said the patient who hails from Pune, had been suffering from shoulder arthritis for a long time.

"She was miserable when she came to the hospital as no medication or treatment could relieve the severe pain, restricting her shoulder movement.".

He said one more woman, aged 66--- Uma Mishra hailing from Bilaspur---was subsequently operated by him in the absence of the French surgeons and both the patients were doing "fine" with restoration of normal movement of the arm and shoulder.

Explaining the new technique, Dr Babhulkar said the RSP is specially designed for a problem called "rotator cuff tear occurring in patients with shoulder arthritis" where the traditional surgical options "do not work".

In a traditional shoulder replacement, the ball on top of the arm bone is replaced with a metal ball and the socket of the shoulder blade with a plastic socket."

"In RSP, a ball-and-socket joint is used but the ball is placed on the shoulder blade and the socket is placed on top of the arm bone in a reverse of the normal anatomy," he said.



source; www.dnaindia.com

New way to classify rheumatoid arthritis

By Moira Dower
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Dr Sheena Meredith

13th August - A new way of classifying rheumatoid arthritis (RA) could lead to earlier identification of the disease and enable patients to be treated much earlier, which will help prevent the disabling effects of the disease. If diagnosed early, disease-modifying antirheumatic medicines can prevent the destructive and disabling joint damage which is a hallmark of late-stage RA.

The revised classification, jointly announced by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), will also allow researchers to recruit patients for clinical trials earlier in the disease process.

Immediate adoption into UK clinical practice

“It’s been very hard to get the message across that rheumatoid arthritis is almost a medical emergency and should be treated immediately,” and these new criteria will enable this, says Professor Paul Emory, president of EULAR. They will be adopted into clinical practice immediately in the UK and will have a “profound effect on outcomes for patients”, he adds. Many UK rheumatologists are already using this approach to diagnose patients with RA at an earlier stage, recognising that the old criteria were not working for these patients, Emery explains .

Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive autoimmune inflammatory disease, which affects mainly the joints. If untreated, it leads to damage of bone and cartilage, joint deformities and disability. The condition affects approximately 350,000 people in the UK and occurs more frequently in women than men. It is most common after the age of 40, but it can affect people of any age. Late-stage rheumatoid arthritis has also been linked to a higher risk of serious heart disease and premature death.

Early diagnosis complicated

Early diagnosis of RA is complicated by the fact that its symptoms mimic those of other common conditions including osteoarthritis, gout, lupus and infection-related joint inflammation.

It has been almost 25 years since the classification criteria for RA have been updated. Since that time, much has been learned about the disease and new treatments have been introduced that can prevent the joint damage and bone erosion characteristic of advanced RA.

Under the old classification system many patients did not meet the definition for RA until joint damage was evident. “The 1987 criteria actually posed a major barrier to the study of treatments designed to prevent joint damage in RA,” explains Dr Gillian Hawker, senior author of the new criteria.

The new criteria appear in the September issues of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, published by the BMJ Group, and Arthritis & Rheumatism, the journal of the American College of Rheumatology.

10-point analysis

Under the new system, patients with inflamed joint linings with no other obvious cause will be evaluated for RA using a 10-point analysis that includes such factors as symptom duration and the number, site and size of the joints involved. A score of 6 or more out of 10 is needed for a classification of “definite RA”.

The new classification system includes a blood test for specific RA antibodies which is now widely used in clinical practice but did not exist when the old system was adopted.

Eliminated from the revised criteria is morning stiffness in the joints that lasts for at least one hour. “Morning stiffness is seen in inflammatory arthritis, but it is not specific for RA,” says Dr Tuhina Neogi, one of the co-authors. “It is not particularly helpful for predicting whether or not someone will end up with that diagnosis.”

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source: www.webmd.boots.com

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Arthritis patients 'may benefit from weight training'

A regular weight training regime may help treat rheumatoid arthritis, research suggests.

A study of 28 patients funded by Arthritis Research UK found those who pumped iron saw improvements in basic physical function, such as walking.

Researchers at Bangor and Gwynedd Hospital said such high intensity exercising could play a key role alongside drug treatment.

Experts said the exercise regime would not be appropriate for all patients.

RA is mainly a disease affecting the joints, but a less well known symptom is that it also severely reduces muscle mass and strength and this occurs even among patients whose disease is well managed.

Those with the condition are often given mild home exercises to do to stop their joints stiffening and becoming painful.

Weight training

To test how effective the weight training was the researchers split the 28 participants into two groups, the Arthritis Care and Research journal reported.

One did regular weight training for 24 weeks, while the others did the less strenuous standard home exercise regimes.

They found physical function improved by between 20% to 30% in the group doing weight training. Strength also increased by nearly 120%.

The high intensity training was found to increase the levels of an insulin-like growth factor (1GF-1) and insulin-like growth binding protein 3 - both of which promote the growth of muscles, bone and cartilage.

Study leader Dr Andrew Lemmey said muscle loss was a major contribution to the disability associated with the condition.

"Lifting, carrying, walking, climbing stairs are impaired.

"It is logical that if you can restore muscle, that strength and consequently functional capacity will also be restored. And this is what we have found."

He said the patients, who were mainly women in their 50s and had the disease for up to a decade, had responded well.

"In fact, the improvements in function were so significant that following training these patients with established RA were performing as well as or better than healthy individuals of the same age and sex."

He said he would like to see this sort of high intensity treatment funded along with drug therapies, but said that a multi-centre trial would be needed before this could be agreed and that they had received no funding for this.

Benefits were thought to be lost four to eight months after training ended.

A spokesman for Arthritis Research UK said: "Weight-training, especially at this level, is not for everyone with rheumatoid arthritis, but for those who are very well-motivated and physically able, we have proved that it can dramatically improve muscle strength and tone."

A spokesman for the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society agreed, but urged caution.

"Of course RA can affect different people in very different ways so pumping iron may not be appropriate for everyone. People should discuss [this] with their physio."

source; www.bbc.co.uk

IPO Market on the 'Horizon'? Another Firm Files to Go Public

Published August 5, 2010

While bankers and other Wall Street observers debate whether the initial public offering window really has opened for the industry, specialty pharma firm Horizon Pharma Inc. stepped up with its own filing for a proposed $86 million IPO.

Horizon's move came only a day after Trius Therapeutics Inc. managed to squeeze through the window – albeit with fewer shares and a lower price than originally hoped – netting about $45.6 million to support its late-stage antibacterial program. A day after its debut, Trius' stock (NASDAQ:TSRX) gained 9.4 percent, or 47 cents, closing Wednesday at $5.47.

And NuPathe Inc., of Conshohocken, Pa., is expected to price its offering of 5 million shares this week. That firm, which anticipates using proceeds on commercialization activities related to its transdermal sumatriptan product, Zelrix, recently set a price range between $14 and $16 per share. (See BioWorld Today, May 18, 2010.)

So far this year, eight companies have succeeded in pricing IPOs, starting with Ironwood Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s February offering – hailed as a major victory among biotech circles following the IPO desert of 2008 and most of 2009. Though Ironwood wasn't exactly followed by a flood of newly listed firms, there has been a steady trickle, with even a few more true biotechs with development-stage programs such as Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc., AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Tengion Inc. hitting the public markets. (See BioWorld Today, March 2, 2010, March 15, 2010, and April 12, 2010.)

While Horizon falls more on the specialty pharma side, it's still not looking at its first FDA approval until early next year at the earliest. The Northbrook, Ill.-based firm, which has not yet disclosed the number of shares or share price for its proposed IPO, is hoping to use those proceeds for regulatory and commercial activities related to its gastrointestinal-friendly pain products.

HZT-501, a combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen plus famotidine, is under FDA review, with a PDUFA date of Jan. 21, 2011. That drug is designed to treat mild to moderate pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis pain while reducing the risk of NSAID-induced upper GI ulcers.

Horizon isn't the only firm to work on safer NSAIDs. Earlier this year, Pozen Inc. and partner AstraZeneca plc won approval for their combination naproxen-esomeprazole arthritis drug Vimovo. Another naproxen-based drug, naproxcinod from NicOx SA, however, failed to get the FDA's OK last month. (See BioWorld Today, May 3, 2010, and July 23, 2010.)

Earlier in its pipeline, Horizon also is working on a naproxen combo drug, HZN-602, which is in Phase I testing for mild to moderate pain and arthritis pain.

But shortly behind HZT-501, Horizon has Lodotra, a programmed-release formulation of low-dose prednisone acquired in the April merger with Merck KGaA spinout firm Nitec Pharma AG, of Reinach, Switzerland. That program yielded positive Phase III data, and the company anticipates a fourth quarter new drug submission. (See BioWorld Today, April 2, 2010.)

Horizon, which was founded in 2005, had about $28.5 million in cash as of March 31. As of June 30, the firm had about 29.8 million shares outstanding.

Jefferies & Co. Inc. and Piper Jaffray & Co. are acting as joint book-running managers, while JMP Securities LLC and Lazard Capital Markets LLC are serving as co-managers for the offering.

If successful, Horizon plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker "HZNP."

In other financings news:

• ALDA Pharmaceuticals Corp., of Vancouver, British Columbia, is seeking an extension of the exercise period of an aggregate of 6 million outstanding share purchase warrants issued as part of the nonbrokered private placement of common share units which closed Sept. 16, 2009. It would extend the exercise price for one more year, until Sept. 16, 2011, though the warrant exercise price of 40 cents per share will remain the same.

• Gemin X Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Malvern, Pa., completed an $8 million Series E round, with participation from preferred stockholders Caxton Advantage Life Sciences Fund LP and Sanderling Venture Partners. The firm is exploring strategic opportunities for lead candidate obatoclax, a pan Bcl-2 inhibitor that recently showed promising Phase IIb data in small-cell lung cancer.


source; www.bioworld.com

Scientists discover new drug target for immune diseases

Scientists have found a new mechanism that explains how certain immune cells are activated to create protective antibodies against infections or pathological antibodies such as those present in autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Led by Dr. Andrea Cerutti, MD, Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, researchers studied human tissue and immune cells from people with mutations of TACI and MyD88, two proteins required to activate the immune system.

MyD88 is a signaling protein that alerts the so-called innate immune system. TACI is a receptor protein used to activate immune cells in the so-called adaptive immune system.

"Our research shows that TACI and MyD88 are part of an immune circuit that bridges the innate and adaptive immune systems. This circuit makes our immune response more flexible, allowing a more effective generation of protective antibodies during infections.

Genetic defects of TACI and MyD88 cause immunodeficiencies characterized by recurrent, life-threatening infections. On the other hand, an abnormally strong TACI-MyD88 interaction may exacerbate autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis," said Dr. Cerutti, lead investigator of the study.

"Previous studies had suggested an involvement of TACI and MyD88 in lupus. Now that we have identified this interaction, we can figure out a way to inhibit it and prevent these diseases from getting worse."

Autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis are characterized by exaggerated production of molecules that activate the adaptive immune system and abnormal antibodies, which attack normal cells causing inflammation and tissue damage. This exaggerated production may occur partly as a result of abnormally strong signaling from TACI via MyD88.

By analyzing cells and tissues from immunodeficient patients and genetically engineered mice, Dr. Cerutti's team found a previously unknown interaction between TACI and MyD88 that is important for the production of antibodies against infectious agents. Yet, the same interaction may cause the exaggerated immune response in people with autoimmune diseases.

"Our discovery provides a novel specific target, the signaling pathway between TACI and MyD88, to block the overreaction of the immune system and tissue damage in individuals with autoimmune disorders," said Dr. Cerutti. "We look forward to studying this discovery further and developing therapeutic targets that will inhibit the interaction between TACI and MyD88, preventing autoimmune diseases from progressing with fewer side effects than currently prescribed treatments."

The research is published online in the September issue of Nature Immunology. (ANI)

source; www.dnaindia.com

ARTHRITIS Get Moving (Gently) to Help Ease, Prevent Pain

Alcohol offers protection, relief from rheumatoid arthritis

Drinking alcohol regularly may not be too bad for the health, at least for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers or those at high risk of acquiring the painful condition.

A study by British researchers showed that non-drinkers were more prone to developing the debilitating condition than those who drank alcohol more than 10 days per month.

The study by researchers in Sheffield, England published recently in the U.K. journal Rheumatology also indicate that alcohol alleviates the symptoms of RA.

The research involved the comparison of 873 rheumatoid arthritis patients with 1,004 non-RA sufferers. All participants underwent blood tests and X-ray and joint examination. They also answered a questionnaire on alcohol use.

Results of the exams showed that the drinkers had less damage to their joints, low levels of inflammation of joints, and lesser joint pain, swelling and disability compared to the non-drinkers, according to James Maxwell, a rheumatologist at the Rotherham Foundation NHS Trust and author of the study.

The less severe RA symptoms among drinkers were attributed to the alcohol's blunting effect on the immune system, though the study emphasized that this suspicion is still subject to confirmation through more research.

An autoimmune disease, the immune system of an RA sufferer attacks the tissues lining the joints or synovium causing inflammation and tissue overgrowth. The condition is untreatable and symptoms can only be alleviated through nutrition, drug therapy, supplements, and exercise.

There are an estimated 21 million people who suffer from RA worldwide.