Success of IVF varies with season of the year

The success of an assisted reproduction procedure may depend on the season. This is the finding of new work presented at the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility, in Munich, Germany.

Scientists have long noted that there are seasonal variations in the number of natural human births. No firm explanation has been put forward for this, but speculation is that human reproduction is linked to temperature and season. Now new research indicates that even Assisted Reproduction may be more effective at certain times of year.

A team led by Dr Daniela Braga (Sao Paolo, Brazil) looked at the cytological and biochemical parameters of 1932 patients undergoing egg retrieval for intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)*, during different seasons of the year. All patients came from a single fertility center, the Assisted Fertilization Center in Sao Paulo – Brazil.

They looked at 435 patients in winter (representing 22.5% of the total sample), 444 in spring (23.0%), 469 in summer (24.2%), and 584 in autumn (30.3%).

They found that the percentage of developing eggs (MII oocytes), high-quality embryos, implantation, and pregnancy rates did not differ among the groups. Nevertheless the fertilization rate was significantly higher during the spring than during any other season (winter: 67.9; spring: 73.5%, summer: 68.7% and autumn: 69.0%). In fact they report a
1.45-fold increase in the fertilization rate during the spring**.

The team also measured the levels of different hormones, and found that 17-β estradiol*** levels were significantly higher in the spring.

Dr Braga said “This work shows that IVF cycles may have a better outcome during the Spring. Our results show a significant difference in spring fertilization rate, with the fertilization rate in the spring being almost one and a half-times that of other seasons. In practical terms this may mean that if you are having real difficulty in conceiving, it may be better to have an assisted reproduction cycle during this season.

It is possible that what we are seeing is the effect of changing light on neurons in the brain which produce gonadotrophin-releasing hormones (GnRH). These neurons regulate the secretion of gonadotrophin hormones****, which in turn control the secretion of estradiol from the ovaries. We found higher 17-β estradiol levels in the spring; in assisted reproduction, adequate estradiol levels are important for egg maturation and other reproductive processes including fertilization and embryo development.

Our next step is to check if there is any difference in the ICSI outcomes in different regions in Brazil. Brazil of course is a very large country, and we have different day lengths in different regions, so we may see differences from region to region depending on the latitude ”.

Un estudio afirma que los pacientes operados por cáncer de próstata sufren peor calidad de vida

Los pacientes con cáncer de próstata sometidos a una operación quirúrgica para extirpar el tumor son los que sufren una peor calidad de vida a los tres años de la intervención, por los mayores efectos secundarios que adolecen, frente a los pacientes tratados con radioterapia de alta precisión y braquiterapia.
Así lo constata el estudio del Grupo Español Multicéntrico del Cáncer de Próstata Clínicamente Localizado, presentado este lunes por el jefe del Servicio de Oncología Radioterápica del Instituto Catalán de Oncología (ICO), Ferran Guedea, en el inicio del XIX Congreso de la Sociedad Europea de Radiología Terapéutica y Oncología (Estro, en sus siglas en inglés) que se celebra hasta el viernes en Barcelona con casi 6.000 oncólogos y científicos de todo el mundo.
La investigación compara las tres opciones terapéuticas más comunes a la hora de atacar un cáncer de próstata y es concluyente a la hora de aseverar los mayores efectos negativos posteriores que supone la cirugía radical de la próstata, que Guedea ha admitido que es la más extendida. En la mente de algunos profesionales y de muchos pacientes persiste la idea de que la cirugía del tumor es la herramienta más eficaz para tratar un cáncer. No obstante, Guedea ha insistido en que el resto de terapias, conocidas como conservacionistas, logran exactamente la misma eficacia.
Así, el estudio -iniciado en 2000-- compara la calidad de vida de 435 pacientes tratados con prostatectomía -cirugía--, braquiterapia -semillas de yodo 125-- y radioterapia de alta precisión a través de tres entrevistas telefónicas de 45 minutos efectuadas antes del tratamiento y al primer mes, el tercero y el sexto, al año, a los dos y a los tres años después del tratamiento.
El trabajo es concluyente a la hora de señalar que los pacientes operados sufrieron significativamente más problemas de incontinencia urinaria a los tres años y más disfunciones sexuales. La braquiterapia y la radioterapia causaron moderados síntomas urinarios irritadores obstructivos y también afectaron a la función sexual, pero en menor grado.
Guedea ha remarcado las "grandes diferencias" existentes, ya ha lamentado que "muchas veces los pacientes escogen tratamientos que causan más efectos secundarios" guiados por su percepción.
En el estudio, han participado una decena de centros españoles: el ICO, el Hospital de Bellvitge, el Instituto Municipal de Investigación Médica-Hospital del Mar, la Fundació Puigvert, el Hospital Sant Pau de Barcelona, el Instituto Oncológico de Guipúzcoa San Sebastián, el Hospital Carlos Haya de Málaga, el Hospital Ramón y Cajal de Madrid, el Hospital General de Cataluña, en Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona), el Centro Oncológico de Galicia, en A Coruña, y el Hospital Virgen del Rocío de Sevilla.

La Universidad de Salamanca

Los investigadores del Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular del Instituto de Neurociencias de la Universidad de Salamanca, los doctores Erica Polo, Alejandro G. García, Arantxa Tabernero y José M. Medina han participado en un estudio sobre la localización cerebral donde el ácido oleico ejerce su efecto neurotrófico en relación con la albúmina, una proteína del plasma sanguíneo.

Ésta es una de las aportaciones del trabajo publicado en el 'Journal of Neurochemistry', en el que ha participado el doctor De Castro, investigador principal del Grupo de Neurobiología del Desarrollo del centro sanitario toledano, junto con el investigador del Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos de Toledo Fernando de Castro, según informa la Junta castellanomanchega en nota de prensa.

La albúmina es la sustancia responsable de que se sintetice el ácido oleico, componente fundamental del aceite de oliva. Esta proteína regula indirectamente la supervivencia, crecimiento o diferenciación de las neuronas. Los investigadores han localizado, en experimentos con roedores, este mecanismo en la base del cerebro y en la parte externa de cada uno de sus ventrículos laterales, conocida como cuerpo estriado.

El grupo de los doctores Medina y Tabernero lleva años trabajando en los efectos del ácido oleico en el sistema nervioso, campo en el que son pioneros en el mundo. Los trabajos previos de este grupo han mostrado, por ejemplo, que el ácido oleico, sintetizado 'in vitro' por los astrocitos en respuesta a los niveles de albúmina, se comporta como un factor neurotrófico.
Aunque el mecanismo molecular de este proceso es bastante conocido, no había pruebas sobre la localización física donde se sintetiza el ácido oleico en el sistema nervioso central. Precisamente en este estudio se muestra cómo la enzima que regula la síntesis de ácido oleico, llamada SCD-1 (esteroil-Coenzima-A desaturasa-1), se encuentra en la zona periventricular del cerebro de ratas recién nacidas. Asimismo, han identificado los procesos que promueven la síntesis del ácido oleico al encontrar que la albúmina regula SCD-1 y estimula una proteína llamada GAP-43 que tiene mucho que ver con el crecimiento de los axones.

El ácido oleico ya es famoso por sus efectos beneficiosos sobre la salud cardiovascular y hepática. Según está demostrado científicamente aumenta el llamado colesterol bueno (HDL) y reduce el colesterol malo (LDL) en sangre, por lo que ejerce una acción beneficiosa sobre el sistema vascular y el corazón, reduciendo así el riesgo de padecer enfermedades cardiovasculares.
En los últimos años los neurocientíficos están investigando sobre las posibilidades de que el ácido oleico o alguno de sus derivados puedan utilizarse para prevenir las enfermedades neurodegenerativas y usarse en terapias neuroregeneradoras.

El ácido oleico se encuentra en la mayoría de las grasas y aceites naturales, aproximadamente en las siguientes proporciones: en el aceite de oliva de 70 a 75 %; en el aguacate, 70%; en el aceite de semilla de uvas, de 15-20%; en el aceite de girasol "alto-oleico", en un 80 % y en de girasol convencional, en un 35 %. También se encuentra en una proporción aproximada del 38%o en la carne de cerdo.

Gilead's Quad drug reduces virus levels in 48 week mid-stage study

Gilead Sciences on Monday announced new study data suggesting that its Quad pill reduced HIV virus counts to undetectable levels in 90 percent of patients after 48 weeks, compared with 83 percent of patients given the company's Atripla. Calling the data "very strong, very robust," Steve Chuck, vice president of HIV therapies at Gilead said "the 48-week data confirmed and extended the results that we saw at 24 weeks."

Reference Articles
Gilead quad HIV pill tops best-selling Atripla in 48-week study - (Bloomberg)
Gilead says Quad pill suppresses HIV at 48 weeks - (FinanzNachrichten)
Gilead's single-tablet "Quad" HIV regimen maintains high viral suppression through 48 weeks in Phase II study - (Gilead Sciences)

**Published by "First Word"

Cell Therapeutics Begs for Survival

Cell Therapeutics(CTIC) CEO Jim Bianco is being forced to beg for his job from the one group of people he has hurt the most over his career -- his own company's shareholders.
With cash dwindling and currently authorized shares almost depleted, Cell Therapeutics is in danger of bankruptcy unless a majority of shareholders vote to allow the small, money-losing biotech firm to increase the number of company shares to 1.2 billion from its present level of 800 million.
The shareholder vote will be tallied at Cell Therapeutics' annual shareholder meeting on Thursday, Sept. 16. Before that, Cell Therapeutics is scheduled to present at the Rodman & Renshaw investment conference on Tues. Sept. 14.
Since 2005, Cell Therapeutics shares have plunged more than 99.9%, hit again and again by clinical trial blowups and drug approval rejections. The stock closed Friday at 38 cents. The only biotech firms that have caused greater shareholder losses over this time period are no longer in business. The fact that Cell Therapeutics is still alive is somewhat of an unexplainable phenomenon but may be a testament to the quicksilver tongue and wily fund-raising ability of the company's chief executive.
Yet Bianco has run out of tricks. He can sell no more stock because the company has no more stock to sell. If Bianco is going to keep the lights on at Cell Therapeutics and continue to pull down his customary multi-million dollar package of salary, bonus, stock options and executive perks, he needs the help of shareholders.
Which is why the company is now groveling for the mercy of its shareholders, pleading with them to approve the share-boosting plan:
"We all have family or friends who have been struck down by cancer. At CTI, we believe we can make cancer more treatable for many cancer patients by advancing the products in our development pipeline – that is our mission," says a letter signed by Cell Therapeutics' CFO Louis Bianco, the brother of CEO Jim Bianco, and sent to shareholders recently.
"We are committed to bringing our drugs to cancer patients, but CTI needs your support," the letter continues. "Your vote can help us make a difference in the potential success of these drugs and in the lives of the patients who could someday benefit from them. Without your voting support, CTI may not be able to continue this research."

**Published in "The Street"

Cholesterol medicine cuts risk of catching pneumonia, according to study

Patients taking AstraZeneca Plc’s cholesterol-lowering medicine Crestor in a study were less likely to develop pneumonia, a finding that potentially will broaden use of such drugs.
The result supports earlier research suggesting drugs in this class, called statins, prevent deaths from pneumonia. The latest study, an analysis of a 17,000-person clinical trial that ended in 2008, was presented today, in Boston, at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents & Chemotherapy.
Cholesterol drugs, led by Pfizer Inc.’s Lipitor, were the world’s second-best-selling category of medicines last year, with $35.3 billion in sales, according to IMS Health Inc., a health research company in Norwalk, Connecticut. Only cancer drugs exceeded that tally. The latest Crestor finding justifies further research into giving statins to patients with lung disease, scientists said.
“These data are consistent with the hypotheses that statin therapy may reduce incident pneumonia,” supporting further study of the drugs to treat pulmonary disease, the researchers wrote.
Statins work by blocking an enzyme involved in cholesterol production in the liver. Results from a separate study in 2008 showed that people hospitalized with pneumonia were less likely to die if they took a statin. There is also evidence the drugs may help reduce inflammation, the formation of blood clots, and the immune system’s inappropriate attacks on healthy tissue.
Side-Effect Reports
The results released today come from an analysis of a study called Jupiter designed to show whether Crestor was more effective than a placebo at reducing cholesterol levels. Since the original study didn’t set out to measure the effect on pneumonia, researchers went back and examined reports collected during the trial to compare rates of pneumonia and other infections among those getting Crestor and those on a placebo.
The analysis found that 257 patients taking a placebo developed pneumonia compared with 214 patients taking Crestor, researchers said. Patients taking Crestor were also less likely to develop fungal, soft tissue or gynecological infections.
Crestor generated $4.5 billion in revenue last year for London-based AstraZeneca; Lipitor had sales of $11.4 billion.
Pneumonia kills about 52,000 people a year in the U.S., with the elderly and infants being most at risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based in Atlanta.

**Published by "Bloomberg"

FDA mulls pulling diet pill linked to heart attack

Almost a year after studies showed the diet pill Meridia increases heart attack and stroke risk, U.S. health regulators announced they will consider pulling the Abbott Laboratories' drug off the market. Meridia has been sold since 1997, but data released in November showed patients with heart disease taking the drug had a more than 11 percent risk of cardiovascular risks compared with 10 percent of those taking a placebo. European regulators pulled the product off the market in January.
However, the FDA said Monday that it is considering a range of options for the drug, including simply adding more warning labels.
A 170-page FDA review posted online contains analyses by half a dozen agency scientists, at least two of whom seem to favor withdrawing the drug. One reviewer points out that the weight reduction benefits of Meridia, known generically as sibutramine, have not been significant -- with patients losing an average of 4 percent of their original weight.
"Given the modest decrease in body weight associated with sibutramine and the potentially substantial weight regain with discontinuation of therapy, even a small increase in cardiovascular risk seems unwarranted," states Dr. Simone Pinheiro, of the agency's epidemiology division.
In a public hearing Wednesday, an outside panel of experts will weigh in on the course of action FDA should take. The agency is not required to follow the group's advice, although it often does.
Meridia has drawn criticism from public safety advocates for years, and earlier this month the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine called on the FDA to withdraw the pill.
"It is difficult to discern a credible rationale for keeping this medication on the market," the journal's editorial concluded.
Meridia was approved against the majority opinion of FDA's outside advisers, who highlighted the potential for heart problems. The drug later won approval in Europe, though regulators there called on Abbott to study the drug's effect on pre-existing heart conditions.
The research involved about 10,700 overweight or obese people 55 or older who had heart disease, diabetes or both and were treated for about 3 1/2 years. According to results issued late last year, patients taking Meridia had a slightly higher risk of heart attack, stroke or other fatal heart problems than those taking placebo.
European regulators withdrew the drug from the market on the results, while the FDA bolstered the drug's warning label, underscoring the risks to patients with heart problems. In the U.S. the drug is contraindicated for patients with a history of heart disease, though prescribers do not always follow such guidelines.
A large portion of the FDA's analysis issued Monday analyzes data from the 10,000-patient study. Since trial enrollees already had a history of heart disease, several scientists said it was difficult to parse out which heart problems were caused by the drug.
But another FDA reviewer points out that deaths continue to be reported with the drug in young patients with no history of heart problems.
"Young people without known risk factors, aside from obesity, have died shortly after initiating sibutramine therapy," states the review from the FDA's office of surveillance, which monitors adverse events reported with drugs.
Meridia use in the U.S. has been steadily declining in recent years, according to prescription data firm IMS Health. About 283,000 prescriptions for it were filled last year, just more than half the number of prescriptions in 2005.
Abbott doesn't actively promote Meridia in the U.S., according to a company spokesman. The company expects global sales this year to be less than $100 million, including less than $30 million in the U.S., he said.
With U.S. obesity rates nearing 35 percent of the adult population, doctors and patients say new pharmaceutical treatments are needed.
But weight loss drugs have long been plagued by negative side effects -- particularly heart problems. In the same year Meridia was approved, Wyeth's diet pill-drug combination, fen-phen, was pulled off the market because of links to heart-valve damage and lung problems.
The FDA is reviewing a new generation of diet pills. On Thursday, the same FDA panel will review a new weight loss pill from Arena Pharmaceuticals. Studies of the drug, lorcaserin, have been free of the heart problems seen with older drugs.