Para conducir de noche, gafas amarillas

Las estadísticas no mienten. La proporción de accidentes mortales durante la noche se incrementa en un 4´5% con respecto al día. La agudeza visual se reduce hasta en un 70% y el sentido de profundidad es hasta siete veces menor cuando se conduce en la caretera. Por ello los especialistas aconsejan a los conductores usar unas gafas con lentes amarillas que filtran la luz azul, violeta y verde. Con ello se mejora el contraste de la visión y hace menos peligrosa la conducción.

Segunda edición del libro "El ictus en la persona mayor"

Se ha lanzado la segunda edición del libro "El ictus en la persona mayor", un trabajo que analiza esta enfermedad vascular desde un punto de vista epideomiológico e intentando explicar lo que ocurre después cuando el afectado es una persona mayor. Escrito por Jaime Gállego y Eduardo Martínez-Vila se indice en una patología que se ha situado como la segunda causa de muerte global y la primera en la mujere en España. Resulta terrible el dato de una muerte por ictus en nuestro país cada quince minutos.

El ictus se ha situado en la causa más importante de invalidez o discapacidad a largo plazo en el adulto y la segunda causa de demencia. Trasladadas estas cifras a la pura economía su tratamiento y atención significa casi el 4% del total del gasto sanitario en España.

El libro está editado por Línea de Comunicación.

Hidratarse es lo mejor opara conducir en carretera

Las estadísticas indican que la fatiga es la cuarta causa de siniestralidad con víctimas en las carreteras españolas. En este sentido, el RACE, la ANFABRA( Asociación de Refrescos) y la Dirección General de Tráfico recomiendan parar cada 200 kilómetros o dos horas, estirar y beber un refresco para hidratarse y aportar glucosa al organismo.

Durante cada verano el 75% de los conductores sufre episodios de sueño mientras conduce. Además, un 60% pierde la concentración y un 49% padece picor de ojos y visión borrosa, síntomas que significan cansancio según el manual elaborado por el Real Automóvil Club de España( RACE).

Takeda and Orexigen sign $1 billion obesity pact

The deal, which covers rights to Contrave (sustained-release naltrexone/bupropion) in the USA, Canada and Mexico, will see Orexigen get an upfront fee of $50 million from Takeda, and it will be eligible to receive payments of over $1 billion upon achieving certain regulatory and sales-based milestones. The Japanese firm will also pay tiered double-digit royalty payments on net sales.
The Contrave combo is "believed to address both biological and behavioural drivers of obesity", the new partners noted, "controlling the balance of food intake and metabolism, and regulating reward-based eating". It will go in front of a US Drug and Administration advisory panel on December 7 and has a Prescription Drug User Fee Act action date of January 31, 2011.
Shinji Honda, head of Takeda in North America, said his firm has "deep experience in providing important medicines to treat chronic disease and Contrave will help us provide a full spectrum of treatment to patients for the management of obesity." Orexigen chief executive Michael Narachi said that "this is a great strategic partnership to enable our goal of a strong market entry for Contrave, if approved".
He added that "it has been our belief that getting a partner involved early would be critical to a high-quality launch of Contrave, and with this partnership now in place, we are tightly focused on the regulatory review process and securing approval".
This are interesting times in terms of new obesity drugs and Orexigen is one of a trio of companies looking to impress the US Food and Drug Administration. In July, the agency's Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted against backing Vivus' Qnexa (phentermine/topiramate) over long-term safety concerns, while Arena Pharmaceuticals’ lorcaserin is due to go in front of an FDA panel on September 16. Interestingly, Arena has also partnered with a Japanese drugmaker, Eisai.

-Links
http://www.takeda.com/

http://www.orexigen.com/

**Published in "Pharma Times"

Bone medicines may increase risk of esophageal tumours, researchers find

A group of drugs used to prevent bone loss in osteoporosis patients may increase the risk of contracting cancer of the esophagus, a new study found. Patients who took the medicines, known as bisphosphonates, for five years or filled at least 10 prescriptions were twice as likely to be diagnosed with the cancer as those who didn’t, said the study, published today in the British Medical Journal. Drugs in the class of bisphosphonates help maintain bone strength and include Novartis AG’s Reclast, Roche Holding AG’s Boniva and Merck & Co.’s Fosamax. Use of the medicines is associated with inflammation of the esophagus, as well as nausea and heartburn.

The overall risk of cancer is still low, Jane Green, an epidemiologist and the study’s lead author, said in an accompanying statement. “The increased risks we found were in people who used oral bisphosphonates for about five years,” said Green, who works at the University of Oxford’s Cancer Epidemiology unit. “Even if our results are confirmed, few people taking bisphosphonates are likely to develop cancer as a result of taking these drugs.”
The study, which used Britain’s General Practice Research Database, included more than 15,000 cancer patients that it followed for an average of 8 years. The researchers compared prescriptions and patient records. They found that at least one prescription for oral bisphosphonates increased the risk of esophageal cancer by 30 percent and 10 or more prescriptions almost doubled the risk.

The scientists also found no increased risk for cancers of the stomach or colorectum. No Patient Interviews The study contradicts one published last month, which found no connection between the medicines and tumors of the esophagus. This discrepancy may be explained by the longer follow-up period in today’s study and larger control groups, Green said. Because both studies did not interview patients or doctors, they did not validate diagnoses with medical records or check whether drugs were taken according to directions, the researchers said. This year, 16,640 Americans will be diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, and 14,500 patients will die of the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. The cancer is treatable, but can rarely be cured, according to the Institute.

**Published by Bloomberg

Sports, Recreation Often Behind Children's Injuries During Holidays

Holidays can pose a safety risk to young people, but most injuries aren’t related to the festivities. Sports and recreational activities, home structures, and furnishings are the most common culprits, researchers say.
The finding comes from a study of holiday-related injuries to 5.7 million youths aged 19 and younger who were treated in emergency rooms between 1997 and 2006.
The most dangerous holiday in terms of injuries is the five-day period surrounding Labor Day, followed by Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Halloween.
Not surprisingly, injuries from fireworks were more likely to occur on the Fourth of July than on other holidays, although fireworks accounted for just 2.9% of July 4 emergency room visits.
The authors say public health officials and the media traditionally stress prevention that is holiday specific but that parents should be on guard for routine causes, too.

Other study findings:
Children under 5 had more injuries than other age groups.
The face, finger, hand, and head were the most commonly injured body parts.
The most commonly diagnosed injuries were cuts, bruises, abrasions, fractures, sprains, and strains.
The majority of holiday injuries were linked to sports and recreation.
Injuries related to home structures and furnishings were prevalent.
Many studies have focused on holiday-specific injuries, such as cuts while children are carving Halloween pumpkins or fireworks burns on July 4. This study, however, was the first to compare injuries suffered on a five day period associated with each of eight common holidays -- New Year’s, Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
“Parents should be aware that holidays present a risk not only for holiday-specific injuries but also for more general, ‘everyday’ injuries,” the authors write.

Other interesting findings:
Holiday injuries to youths 19 and under decreased from 1997 to 2006.
Christmas was the holiday with the fewest injuries.
Fourth of July injuries decreased significantly in the period studied.
Boys accounted for 62.4% of injuries.
29.2% of injuries involved cuts, 18.3% bruises/abrasions, 15.1% fractures, and 13% sprains/strains.
65.9% of injuries to the face involved cuts.
For head injuries, 33.1% involved cuts, 32.3% internal, 17.6% bruises/abrasions, and 10.3% concussions.
Children younger than 5 sustained a greater proportion of head injuries (21.9%) than children 5 and over (9.7%).
The most commonly injured body part among kids 10-14 and 15-19 was the finger or hand.
In 96.8% of holiday injuries during the period studied, patients were treated and released from emergency departments and only 1.7% required hospitalization.
An estimated 0.03% of injuries during holiday periods resulted in deaths. The most common causes of death were submersion/drowning and cardiac/respiratory arrest. Twenty-nine of 60 deaths occurred among children under 5. The greatest number of deaths, 13, occurred on the Fourth of July, followed by 9 on the New Year’s holiday period.
The researchers conclude that “holiday injury prevention efforts that focus on general risk factors in addition to holiday-specific risks could be expected to have a greater impact on decreasing pediatric injury rates in the United States.”
Future injury prevention efforts should target Labor Day and Memorial Day, the researchers say, because those have the highest rates of injury of all holidays.

**Published in Web MD

Los ácidos grasos omega-3 poseen también propiedades inflamatorias

Investigadores de la Escuela de Medicina de San Diego (Estados Unidos) han identificado el mecanismo molecular que convierte a los ácidos grasos omega-3 tan eficaces para reducir la inflamación crónica y la resistencia a la insulina. Los resultados del trabajo se publica en la revista 'Cell'. El descubrimiento podría conducir al desarrollo de un remedio dietético simple para los pacientes de diabetes y otros trastornos.
Los científicos identificaron un receptor clave en los macrófagos de forma abundante en la grasa corporal obesa. La obesidad y la diabetes están estrechamente correlacionadas. Los científicos dicen que los ácidos grasos omega-3 activan este receptor de macrófagos, lo que da lugar a amplios efectos anti-inflamatorios y una mejor sensibilidad sistémica a la insulina.
Los macrófagos son glóbulos blancos especializados que engullen y digieren restos celulares y patógenos. Parte de esta respuesta del sistema inmune implica que los macrófagos segreguen citoquinas y otras proteínas que causan inflamación, un método para destruir células y objetos que se perciben como dañinos. El tejido graso obeso contiene muchos de estos macrófagos que producen muchas citoquinas. El resultado puede ser inflamación crónica y una creciente resistencia a la insulina en las células vecinas expuestas en exceso a las citoquinas.
La resistencia a la insulina es la condición física en la que la hormona natural insulina se vuelve menos eficaz en la regulación de los niveles de azúcar en sangre en el organismo, conduciendo a una miriada de problemas de salud, a menudo graves, sobre todo la diabetes mellitas tipo 2.
Los investigadores examinaron los receptores celulares que se sabe responden a los ácidos grasos. Se centraron finalmente en el receptor GPR120, de una familia de moléculas de señalización que participan en numerosas funciones celulares. El receptor GPR120 se encuentra sólo en los macrófagos pro-inflamatorios en las células grasas maduras.
Cuando el receptor se desactiva, el macrófago produce efectos inflamatorios. Pero expuesto a los ácidos grasos omega 3, en concreto el ácido docosahexaenoico (DHA) y el ácido eicosapentaenoico (EPA), el receptor GPR120 se activa y genera un efecto anti-inflamatorio fuerte. Según explica Jerrold Olefsky, "es un efecto increíblemente potente, los ácidos grasos omega-3 activan el receptor, eliminando la respuesta inflamatoria".

Los científicos realizaron su investigación utilizando cultivos celulares y ratones, algunos de ellos modificados genéticamente para carecer del receptor GPR120. Todos los ratones fueron alimentados con una dieta alta en grasas con o sin suplementos de ácidos grasos omega 3. El tratamiento de suplementación inhibió la inflamación y mejoró la sensibilidad a la insulina en los ratones obesos ordinarios en ratones obesos ordinarios pero sin efecto en los ratones con GPR120 desactivado. Un agonista químico de los ácidos grasos omega-3 produjo resultados similares.
"El receptor evolucionó para responder a un producto natural, ácidos grasos omega3, por lo que el proceso inflamatorio puede controlarse. Nuestro trabajo muestra cómo los aceites de pescado produce esto de forma segura y sugiere una posible vía para tratar los problemas serios de inflamación en obesidad y en condiciones como la diabetes, el cáncer y la enfermedad cardiovascular a través de una suplementación dietética simple", añade Olefsky.

Sin embargo, los investigadores indican que será necesaria más investigación ya que sigue sin estar claro la cantidad de aceite de pescado que constituye una dosis segura y efectiva. El consumo elevado de aceite de pescado se ha vinculado a un mayor riesgo de hemorragia e ictus en algunas personas.
Sobre si los aceites de pescado podrían no ser prácticos como agentes terapéuticos, Olefsky señala que la identificación del receptor GPR120 significa que los investigadores pueden dirigir su investigación al desarrollo de un fármaco alternativo que imite las acciones de DHA y EPA y proporcione los mismos efectos anti-inflamatorios.

**Foto Wikimedia Commons