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Tuesday 26, Oct 2010

  Low dose contraceptive pill controls severe premenstrual disorder

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Low dose contraceptive pill controls severe premenstrual disorderAccording to a recently concluded study, low doses of oral contraceptive demonstrate as much efficacy as the present-day standard treatment for premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Kimberly Yonkers, M.D., associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology and Public Health and lead author of the study remarked that PMDD patients often experience cyclical mood, behavioral, and physical symptoms that are triggered possibly by changes in steroid hormone levels.

From News-medical.net:

In this multi-center, double-blind, randomized clinical trial, 450 women ages 18 to 40, from 64 medical centers across the country with symptoms of PMDD, were given either the oral contraceptive or a placebo.

It was found that the women who were given the oral contraceptive had significantly greater improvement, over 48 percent compared to 36 percent, of women on the placebo.

They experienced greater enjoyment of hobbies, social activities, and interpersonal relationships, and greater symptom reduction.

It seems that forty-four women from both groups withdrew from the study due to adverse effects such as nausea and intermenstrual bleeding.

The low dose oral contraceptive contained drospirenone, a new progestin, and ethinyl estradiol.

In the study it was taken for 24 days followed by four days of inactive pills, which differs from traditional courses of therapy which have seven days of inactive pills.

Yale School of Medicine researchers said that a low dose oral contraceptive with a unique progestin and dosing regimen shows efficacy to treat PMDD along with suppression of the ovarian activity.

Wednesday 06, Oct 2010

  Bangladeshi sex workers face new danger

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Bangladeshi sex workers face new danger  Sex workers from Bangladesh at Faridpur brothel are chhukri, or bonded sex workers, sold by their families to a woman in return for two or three years in which the brothel-owner can pocket all their earnings are being forced to take Oradexon in order to look fairer.

The drug, Oradexon, is identical to one used for fattening cattle and is now a common thing with brothels throughout Bangladesh and young girls taking the pill face severe complications while making use of steroids to ‘plump up’ for clients

From Guardian.co.uk:

Dr Bashirul Islam, head of healthcare services in Faridpur, is working with ActionAid. He says Oradexon can be extremely dangerous for healthy young women. “It’s a life-saving drug for very serious problems [the drug is also a steroid hormone, used to treat inflammatory disorders]. Taken by these girls, it impairs the kidneys, increases the blood pressure and interferes with normal hormone production. It also causes widespread oedema, or swelling, throughout the body. There are also severe problems with coming off the drug, because it’s highly addictive. So if the girls stop taking it, they need a lot of help – they get bad stomach aches, they are sick, they get headaches.”

As to where it comes from, Oradexon is easily available from the quacks, or unqualified pharmacists who operate widely throughout Bangladesh, says Islam. “There should be better regulation to stop them selling the drug, but there is not,” he says.

Some women in the ‘red light area’ think that use of Oradexon makes them look good and they do not find any troubles but the problem is that indiscriminate or long-term use of Oradexon can lead to obesity and other health complications. The dangers of Oradexon are all before Bangladeshi sex workers and there just don’t seem to any respite.

Monday 04, Oct 2010

  Severe premenstrual disorder controlled by contraceptive pills

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Severe premenstrual disorder controlled by contraceptive pillsA low dose of oral contraceptive is as effective as the treatment for the most severe form of premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), as per a study.

Individuals afflicted with this complication often face quite debilitating disorder experience cyclical mood, behavioral and physical symptoms. Changes in steroid hormone levels appear to be a trigger for symptoms to appear, according to Kimberly Yonkers, M.D., associate professor in the departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology and Public Health, and lead author of the study.

From News-medical.net:

In this multi-center, double-blind, randomized clinical trial, 450 women ages 18 to 40, from 64 medical centers across the country with symptoms of PMDD, were given either the oral contraceptive or a placebo.

It was found that the women who were given the oral contraceptive had significantly greater improvement, over 48 percent compared to 36 percent, of women on the placebo.

They experienced greater enjoyment of hobbies, social activities, and interpersonal relationships, and greater symptom reduction.

It seems that forty-four women from both groups withdrew from the study due to adverse effects such as nausea and intermenstrual bleeding.

The low dose oral contraceptive contained drospirenone, a new progestin, and ethinyl estradiol.

In the study it was taken for 24 days followed by four days of inactive pills, which differs from traditional courses of therapy which have seven days of inactive pills.

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine remarked that a low dose oral contraceptive with a unique progestin and dosing regimen is effective for the treatment of PMDD besides suppressing ovarian activity.

Sunday 03, Oct 2010

  Sigma’s portfolio has anti-anxiety medication and steroid hormone replacements

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Sigma's portfolio has anti-anxiety medication and steroid hormone replacementsSIGMA Pharmaceuticals said that it had agreed to purchase a portfolio of drug brands and a plant from Bristol-Myers Squibb for $60 million cash, and will be raising $297m to fund the acquisition and pay down debt.

Sigma has grown significantly by adding new generic drugs to its product suite that has coincided with an improving preference for lower-cost generic drugs by consumers.

From Theaustralian.com.au:

The purchase includes the right to make and distribute 15 brands in Australia and New Zealand, such as cholesterol treatments Lipostat and Pravachol, and a manufacturing plant in Noble Park in Victoria, Sigma said.

Sigma also announced a 1-for-3 fully underwritten share entitlement, which it will use to help fund the acquisition and cut its net debt to net-debt plus equity gearing to 29 per cent, from 41 per cent.

Also today, Sigma said its preliminary fiscal first-half net profit rose 4.9 per cent to $32.2 million, compared with results from 12 months ago. Sales gained 3.5 per cent to $1.54 billion and pre-tax earnings in the six months ended July 31 fell 4 per cent to $99.1m, from a year earlier.

Other drugs included in the portfolio are hypertensive treatments, anti-anxiety medication, steroid hormone replacements, and anti-fungal agents.

Saturday 27, Feb 2010

  Protein modifier SUMO helps in differentiating between males and females

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Protein modifier SUMO helps in differentiating between males and femalesWalter Wahli and colleagues at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, have been able to identify a new mechanism that underlies the differential expression of proteins in male and female mice.

The difference is in relation to expression of liver proteins controlling a large number of whole-body processes such as energy generation and steroid hormone production.

From Sciencedaily.com:

The protein PPAR-alpha is able to enter the nucleus, where it acts to control the expression of a large number of genes. In the study, PPAR-alpha was found to repress the expression of many liver genes responsible for making proteins involved in immunity and steroid production and turnover only in female mice. One of the genes most strongly repressed in female mice by PPAR-alpha was Cyp7b1, which generates a protein involved in drug breakdown and the generation of cholesterol, steroids, and other fats. Detailed analysis revealed the mechanism by which PPAR-alpha repressed Cyp7b1 expression, it was modified by a process known as sumoylation.

Importantly, this only occurred in female mice. As PPAR-alpha–mediated repression protected female mice from estrogen-induced intrahepatic cholestasis, the most common liver disease during pregnancy, the authors suggest that PPAR-alpha agonists might provide a new approach to prevent this disease.

The research appeared in the Sept. 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Monday 08, Feb 2010

  Levels of hormones affect financial traders’ performance

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levels-of-hormones-affect-financial-traders-performanceHigh morning levels of testosterone can help city traders to make more than just average profits, as per a research conducted at the University of Cambridge.

The involved scientists hypothesized that the improvement in terms of performance can be attributed to the fact that testosterone is known for increasing the appetite for risk and confidence – two factors that are good enough for augmenting the performance of a trader.

From News-Medical.Net:

The researchers also speculated that if testosterone continued to rise or became chronically elevated, it could begin to have the opposite effect on a trader’s profitability by increasing risk-taking to unprofitable levels. Previous studies have shown that administered testosterone can lead to irrational decision-making. They believe that this is because testosterone has also been found to lead to impulsivity and sensation seeking, to harmful risk taking, and in extreme cases (among users of anabolic steroids) to euphoria and mania.

Testosterone may therefore underlie a secondary consequence of the ‘winner effect’ in which a previous win in the markets leads to increased, and eventually irrational, risk taking in the next round of trading.

The study noted that naturally produced steroids in the body, especially cortisol and testosterone, can have a positive influence when it comes to finding as to how and why people caught in crashes often find it tedious to make a rational decision.

Tuesday 08, Dec 2009

  Toxic chemicals influence steroid hormones differently in humans and invertebrates

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Toxic chemicals influence steroid hormones differently in humans and invertebratesA team of French and American scientists, including Michael E. Baker, PhD, professor in UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology-Hypertension, have found that enzymes used for steroid synthesis in snails, corals, octopuses, and insects are unrelated to those used in human beings.

The research was led by a team at the Université de Lyon, ENS Lyon and offered invaluable insight on evolution of steroid hormone signaling along with relationship of steroid synthesis to enzymes capable of detoxifying chemicals in the environment.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Steroids hormones are key to many vital physiological responses in humans, ranging from anti-inflammatory agents to regulating events during pregnancy. They are also the target of many chemical pollutants, known as endocrine disruptors. As part of a program to understand the evolution of steroid hormone signaling, Laudet – along with Gabriel Markov, a student in the Institute of Functional Genomics, initially trained by Raquel Tavares at Université de Lyon, characterized the evolutionary relationships between proteins that synthesize steroids in animals. They traced the origin of such enzymes from vertebrates, insects, snails and jelly fish and interpreted these results through extensive discussions with Baker, Chantal Dauphin-Villemant at Université Paris 6, and Barbara Demeneix from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

Through an analysis of several invertebrate genomes, the scientists discovered that snails and insects utilize steroid-synthesizing enzymes that are not vertebrate–related, but instead belong in an invertebrate family. Moreover, these invertebrate steroidogenic enzymes have a strong evolutionary connection to enzymes that detoxify chemicals (called xenobiotics).

It is considered that the results of this study would have critical consequences for future studies on effect of toxic chemicals in living beings.

Monday 09, Nov 2009

  Performance of financial traders affected by hormone levels

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Performance of financial traders affected by hormone levelsAccording to a new research conducted at the University of Cambridge, City traders are likely to make more than average profits when they have high morning testosterone levels.

It was hypothesized by the involved scientists that this improved performance may be because of the fact that testosterone is known to increase appetite for risk and confidence – two qualities that can easily augment the performance of any trader.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone that controls competitive encounters and sexual behavior.

From News-Medical.Net:

The researchers also speculated that if testosterone continued to rise or became chronically elevated, it could begin to have the opposite effect on a trader’s profitability by increasing risk-taking to unprofitable levels. Previous studies have shown that administered testosterone can lead to irrational decision-making. They believe that this is because testosterone has also been found to lead to impulsivity and sensation seeking, to harmful risk taking, and in extreme cases (among users of anabolic steroids) to euphoria and mania.

Testosterone may therefore underlie a secondary consequence of the ‘winner effect‘ in which a previous win in the markets leads to increased, and eventually irrational, risk taking in the next round of trading.

It was concluded that the influence of naturally produced steroids in the body, especially cortisol and testosterone, can provide insights into how and why people caught in crashes often find it tedious to make a rational decision.


Monday 19, Oct 2009

  Steroid Hormones get affected differently in Humans and Invertebrates

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Steroid Hormones get affected differently in Humans and InvertebratesAccording to a team of American and French scientists, including Michael E. Baker, PhD, professor in UC San Diego’s Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology-Hypertension, enzymes that are used for steroid synthesis in snails, insects, corals, and octopuses are not related to those used in human beings.

This finding is expected to provide a new insight for studies on the effects of chemicals on response of steroids in humans.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Through an analysis of several invertebrate genomes, the scientists discovered that snails and insects utilize steroid-synthesizing enzymes that are not vertebrate–related, but instead belong in an invertebrate family. Moreover, these invertebrate steroidogenic enzymes have a strong evolutionary connection to enzymes that detoxify chemicals (called xenobiotics).

This unexpected finding led them to hypothesize that these steroid-synthesizing enzymes arose independently from specific pathways used by snails and worms for detoxifying environmental chemicals.

“This finding shows that, if we want to really understand the effects of environmental chemicals on steroid synthesis in snails, worms, octopuses and such animals, we must switch from a human-centered viewpoint to snail-centered viewpoint. This is the best way to accumulate knowledge that could be useful to human health,” said Laudet, adding that this emphasizes the need for more cross-disciplinary studies between toxicologists, endocrinologists and zoologists.

In short, the research was successful in concluding that the method through which toxic chemicals effect the steroid hormone signaling of corals, snails, insects, and other invertebrates cannot be extrapolated to human ailments.

Tuesday 18, Aug 2009

  Combination of dexamethasone, Velcade, and lenalidomide effective for multiple myeloma

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Combination of dexamethasone, Velcade, and lenalidomide effective for multiple myelomaAccording to a team headed by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, a new combo of Velcade with dexamethasone and lenalidomide can prove to be effective for patients who have been recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma.

The combination of these three drugs is effective for treating multiple myeloma patients who have relapsed after failing to respond to standard treatment therapies or after successful treatment.

From News-Medical.Net:

The three-pronged regimen of Velcade, lenalidomide (Revlimid) and dexamethasone – referred to as Rev/Vel/Dex – has achieved an overall response rate of 98 percent in 42 patients evaluated thus far in a Phase 1-2 trial, said Paul Richardson, MD, of Dana-Farber and the study’s principal investigator. He added that 52 percent of the patients had high quality responses (very good partial response or better), with 30 percent achieving complete response to date.

“These may be some of the best response rates we’ve seen to date with up-front therapies, and although these are preliminary results, they are extremely promising,” Richardson said. The patients were previously untreated when they received the Rev/Vel/Dex combination.

Velcade is a “smart” drug known as a proteasome inhibitor that blocks the myeloma cells’ waste disposal system, creating an accumulation of toxic compounds that poison the cell. Revlimid is a chemical relative of thalidomide that affects several pathways in cancer cells, including immune mechanisms and blood vessel growth to tumors. Dexamethasone is a steroid hormone that counters inflammation and is used to treat hematologic malignancies such as myeloma. Studies leading to the trial of the three drugs in combination were carried out at Dana-Farber.

The findings are expected to offer much-awaited relief to patients with multiple myeloma, who have been expecting an effective treatment methodology for the last many years.

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