“…having anemia was associated with a higher rate of major cardiac events within 30 days and a longer hospital stay. After considering factors that increase the mortality risk, such as kidney failure and diabete, anemia was still a significant predictor of 1-year mortality.Whether patients had a history of angina, chest pain or heart attack, anemia was still a culprit in worse survival rates. Conclusion: overall treatment strategy ought to take anemia into consideration, especially if it’s severe.

Once again (see earlier post) it’s good to know that scientists are focusing on research that will help people live longer, not just survive their heart attacks. Otherwise, what is the point, really?

Vapore and PARI Partner to Develop Medical Device “Vapore has developed a new breakthrough method of liquid vaporization called the capillary force vaporizer (CFV), a compact, heat-powered disc that generates a powerful jet of pressurized vapor from un-pressurized liquid–with no moving parts. PARI’s medical devices will integrate Vapore’s CFV to provide a compact precision vapor generator.” The CFV combines capillary force and phase transition–two ‘natural phenomena’–to produce a controllable flow of vapor that’s simple to deliver and doesn’t rely on environmentally harmful aerosol propellants. (Never fear, you other non-scientific readers out there. I have a question in to an official medical source to find out what the heck “phase transition” means–and while I was at it I thought I’d ask what the technical meaning of capillary force is–we all know what capillaries are but it’s not absolutely clear what the ‘force’ is about).

First, the hair care people figured out how to quit using those bad spray propellants a long time ago. And then the HVAC manufacturers got rid of freon in air conditioners quite a few years ago. It’s really good news to hear that investigators have found a way to deliver medicine to a person’s lungs that also doesn’t offend the environment–or the person’s lungs.

Medinox and PUMC Pharmaceutical Company Agree to Collaborate on Developing NOX-100 Septic Shock Drug in China and South Korea: Estimated number of septic shock patients is 600,000 in the US and 2 million in China per year; half of those patients die.

“The results of this trial in patients with severe septic shock indicate a beneficial effect for NOX-100 with a possible survival advantage and an excellent safety profile.” Using NO neutralizers to remove dangerously overproduced NO from inflamed tissues yet not affecting the low levels of NO needed for normal ongoing organ functions is a novel approach to therapy.

Just musing here. NO (nitric oxide) plays a big part in inflammation–yet it is an element we need in our bodies. This seems to be a profile for lots of human diseases. Something that’s natural and necessary gets out of control. Actually that sounds like a formula that could fit dysfunction at several levels…physiological, mental and business-wise.

Catheter introduces Concentric Medical’s device into the brain which then captures and removes the blood clot that’s causing the stroke.: “The FDA granted clearance after a thorough review of patient data obtained in a clinical study at 25 medical centers in the United States. The MERCI (Mechanical Embolus Removal in Cerebral Ischemia) Trial evaluated the device in 141 patients who were ineligible for a ‘clot-busting’ drug that can only be used within three hours of stroke onset.”

This sounds like a true breakthrough. Congratulations to Concentric Medical–and to all the stroke patients, including many relatively young people, who may not have to go on to a lifetime of disability.

Cardiologist came to the University of Kentucky from the Clinic in response to big money. “The study will look at four drugs that work against platelets and other clotting agents, to prevent the formation of blood clots” and act like “super aspirins” to thin blood during stenting operations. The study involves $35 million, 8000 patients, and 200 hospitals.

Looks like the rush to be a star in the hospital cardiology game continues to heat up.

England is a land of extreme animal lovers. Now it appears some of them are taking extreme measures to stop animal experimentation–they’re hitting companies where the money is. “Anti-vivisectionists have extended their campaign to cover shareholders and firms that do business with companies that conduct animal experimentation.”

Leaving aside the moral rectitude of threatening, bullying and intimidating as a tactic, these extremists have found a powerful way to force compliance to their demands by targeting the money behind big pharmaceutical and bioscience companies like Glaxo SmithKline. So now business people have to learn to deal with terrorists, just as governments are doing.

While I can applaud the fact that some little guys are going to force a huge corporate giant to do something, the technique is off base. Terrorism and vigilantism are just that, no matter who is doing them and for what cause.

Technology reducing open-heart operations–and causing downturns in hospital revenues.: Several hospitals in the Nashville area are considering layoffs because competing hospitals are using new technologies to make angioplasty and stenting more effective. One technology involves a pair of 1000-pound “magnets to guide the placement of a catheter into patients’ hearts. [The surgeon] uses a joystick to control the catheter once it is inserted into the leg of a patient…'”

The other technologies include robotic surgery (done remotely by the surgeon) and improved diagnostic procedures (use CT scanning instead of invasive catheterizations). As more and more hospitals establish cardiac centers, this trend will continue. Technology will give baby boomers hitting the heart disease age much better options…and cracking your sternum will become a thing of the past.

None too soon, I say.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Helpful for Depression in PD: “Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is as effective as fluoxetine for the treatment of depression in patients with Parkinson’s disease, according to the results of a placebo-controlled trial published in the August issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. ”

Scientists have hope that using adult stem cells will lead to greater improvements in helping Parkinson’s disease ( and many others). This from a Medscape article on potential uses of stem cells:

“Stem cells or cells with stem-like qualities have been isolated or

described in a number of tissues including neural, pancreatic, epidermal,

mesenchymal, hepatic, bone, muscle, and endothelial tissues.[9-18] Reports have

suggested that cells found in bone marrow are capable of giving rise to

endothelial precursors, brain tissue, skeletal and cardiac muscle, hepatic

cells, and mesenchymal progeny.[6,15,19-23] Other reports suggest that in

culture, stem cells of neural or muscle origin can give rise to hematopoietic

cells.[24,25] Therefore, there is emerging evidence for a greater than

expected.”

These possibilities are astounding. I know personally at least two people who have had stem cell implants–a procedure they described as pretty horrific–and conquered diseases formerly thought to be invariably rapid death sentences .

The two sons of former President Ronald Reagan were given opportunities to address presidential conventions. One is in favor:: “Last month, Ron Reagan told Democratic Party loyalists to ‘vote for embryonic stem cell research’ in a speech that touted the unproven research,” quotes this article from Lifenews.com. The other son will speak to the Republicans and insist that the former president would never have supported it–and that talk of using embryonic research to cure Alzheimer’s is “junk science at its worst.”

It’s tough to see the anger and divisiveness this issue causes. It’s tough to know that no matter how many people object–nor how violently–there will be no stopping this phenomenon. Other countries feel none of the compunctions that many in western countries feel about this. China has already announced (see earlier post) that they fully intend to take advantage of their edge in this area–and are already making big plans.

Birth control. Organ donations. How many other issues since the birth of modern bioscience have caused firestorms of controversy that eventually simply disappeared? How long before we surrender to the inevitable and start regulating the industry?

England issues a possibly-first-official-in-Europe one-year license to clone human embryos to produce stem cells.: Newcastle Center for Life scientists will use the resulting stem cells to ‘spawn’ human embryos ‘by inserting the nuclei from human skin or existing stem cells into human eggs, which have had their nuclei removed,’ hoping that the process, called therapeutic cloning, will speed up the hunt for cures for some diseases.

Eventually scientists hope they’ll be able to reprogram a skin cell from someone suffering from a disease so that it, when it’s reinserted, it will cure the disease. England will experience nearly as great an outcry as the U.S. from those who oppose this experimentation using human cells. Proponents argue the embryos are completely incapable of independent existence; opponents will say that doesn’t matter.

Meanwhile, China will be quietly creating miraculous cures from its stem cell research–without a wimper from the populace.