Medical and Health News: Degeneration

Showing posts with label Degeneration. Show all posts

Friday, April 8, 2011

Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acid Intake Associated With Reduced Risk Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration In Women

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet; Preventive Medicine; Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 14 Mar 2011 - 13:00 PDT window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId: 'aa16a4bf93f23f07eb33109d5f1134d3', status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true, channelUrl: 'http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/scripts/facebooklike.html'}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }());

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Regular consumption of fish and omega-3 fatty acids found in fish is associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing age-related macular degeneration in women, according to a report posted online today that will appear in the June issue of Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

"An estimated nine million U.S. adults aged 40 years and older show signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD)," the authors write as background information in the article. "An additional 7.3 million persons have early age-related macular degeneration, which is usually associated with moderate or no vision loss but does increase the risk of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration."

Using the Women's Health Study, William G. Christen, Sc.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues collected data on 38,022 women who had not been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration. Information on women's eating habits was obtained via questionnaire at the beginning of the study and included information on intake of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) [Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish], and arachidonic acid and linoleic acid (omega-6 fatty acids). During ten years of follow-up, additional questionnaires tracked the women's eye health, with specific focus on diagnosis of age-related macular degeneration.

Over the course of follow-up, 235 cases of age-related macular degeneration were reported. In analyses that adjusted for age and treatment assignment, women who consumed the most DHA compared with women who consumed the lowest amount had a 38 percent lower risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. Similar results were observed for higher intake of EPA and for higher consumption of both types of acid together.

Results for fish intake showed that consumption of one or more servings of fish per week, when compared to less than one per month, was associated with a 42 percent lower risk of age-related macular degeneration. "This lower risk appeared to be due primarily to consumption of canned tuna fish and dark-meat fish."

For omega-6 fatty acids, higher intake of linoleic acid but not arachidonic acid was associated with an increased risk of age-related macular degeneration, however this association was non-significant after adjustment for other risk factors and fats.

"In summary, these prospective data from a large population of women with no prior diagnosis of AMD indicate that regular consumption of DHA and EPA and fish significantly reduced the risk of incident AMD," the authors conclude.

Arch Ophthalmol . Published online March 14, 2011. doi:10.1001/archophthalmol.2011.34.

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posted by Matthew on 16 Mar 2011 at 6:26 am

If Inuit’s could live on a diet exclusively of fish for thousands of years without suffering any form of malnutrition, or AMD, it seems pretty obvious that fish provide every form of vitamin and nutrient that our bodies require. However, the Inuit’s eat all of the fish, not just the meaty part, including the liver, head and eyes. In fact the liver contains as much vitamin D as our bodies require.

So why does not common sense prevail. If we all eat fish, including the liver and other less appetizing parts, we would not suffer from many of the conditions that seem so prevalent today.

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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Potential Stem Cell Therapy For Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Main Category: Eye Health / Blindness
Also Included In: Seniors / Aging; Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 24 Mar 2011 - 5:00 PDT window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId: 'aa16a4bf93f23f07eb33109d5f1134d3', status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true, channelUrl: 'http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/scripts/facebooklike.html'}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }());

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The notion of transplanting adult stem cells to treat or even cure age-related macular degeneration has taken a significant step toward becoming a reality. In a study published today in Stem Cells, Georgetown University Medical Center researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, the ability to create retinal cells derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells that mimic the eye cells that die and cause loss of sight.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of visual impairment and blindness in older Americans and worldwide. AMD gradually destroys sharp, central vision needed for seeing objects clearly and for common daily tasks such as reading and driving. AMD progresses with death of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), a dark color layer of cells which nourishes the visual cells in the retina.

While some treatments can help slow its progression, there is no cure. The discovery of human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells has opened a new avenue for the treatment of degenerative diseases, like AMD, by using a patient's own stem cells to generate tissues and cells for transplantation.

For transplantation to be viable in age-related macular degeneration, researchers have to first figure out how to program the naïve hiPS cells to function and possess the characteristics of the native retinal pigment epithelium, RPE, the cells that die off and lead to AMD.

The research conducted by the Georgetown scientists shows that this critical step in regenerative medicine for AMD has greatly progressed.

"This is the first time that hiPS-RPE cells have been produced with the characteristics and functioning of the RPE cells in the eye. That makes these cells promising candidates for retinal regeneration therapies in age-related macular degeneration," says the study's lead author Nady Golestaneh, Ph.D., assistant professor in GUMC's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology.

Using an established laboratory stem cell line, Golestaneh and her colleagues show that RPE generated from hiPS cells under defined conditions exhibit ion transport, membrane potential, polarized VEGF secretion and gene expression profile similar to those of a normal eye's RPE.

"This isn't ready for prime time though. We also identified some issues that need to be worked out before these cells are ready for transplantation but overall, this is a tremendous step forward in regenerative medicine," Golestaneh adds.

She explains that the hiPS-derived RPE cells show rapid telomere shortening, DNA chromosomal damage and increased p21 expression that cause cell growth arrest. This might be due to the random integration of viruses in the genome of skin fibroblasts during the reprogramming of iPS cells. Therefore, generation of viral-free iPS cells and their differentiation into RPE will be a necessary step towards implementation of these cells in clinical application, Golestaneh says.

"The next step in this research is to focus on a generation of 'safe' as well as viable hiPS-derived somatic cells," Golestaneh concludes.

Notes:

Other authors on the paper include first author Maria Kokkinaki, Ph.D., Department of Biochemistry and Molecular &Cellular Biology, and Niaz Sahibzada, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacology at GUMC.

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The authors report no personal financial interests related to this study.

Source:
Karen Mallet
Georgetown University Medical Center

posted by Gary Serrani on 24 Mar 2011 at 7:20 am

60 minutes had a special on CNBC on Medical Tourism.

Thank God the United States is catching up to what the rest of the world is already doing with Stem Cells.

Let's pray it helps many already suffering and prevent those at risk.