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Caffeic Acid Inhibits Colitis In A Mouse Model
Researchers at Iowa State University have found that increased expression of a form of cytochrome P-450 (CYP4B1) is a key marker of inhibition of colitis in mice by caffeic acid, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant compound widely distributed in foods. The results, which appear in the June 2009 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, implicate CYP4B1, a form of cytochrome P450 previously found to be associated with resolution of allergic inflammation in another model. The normalization of CYP4B1 by caffeic acid treatment was associated with significant lessening of colitic damage, assessed by examining colon histopathology. In comparison with rutin, an anti-inflammatory flavonoid and hypoxoside extract, a botanical known as African potato previously shown to protect against colitis, all three compounds had anti-inflammatory effects, suppressing myeloperoxidase, IL-17 and iNOS and increasing IL-4, known factors associated with inflammation responses. But only caffeic acid protected against the dextran sulfate sodium induced colitis. Its novel mechanism related to CYP4B1 is being studied further. The research team, Zhong Ye, a graduate student in Toxicology, along with Microbiology graduate students Zhiping Liu and Abigail Henderson, Visiting Scientist Kwangwon Lee, Korea University, Dr. Michael Wannemuehler, Veterinary Microbiology, Dr. Jesse Hostetter, a veterinary pathologist, and Dr. Suzanne Hendrich, Toxicologist and Nutritionist, performed studies in 8 week old mice fed the various dietary components and then exposed to dextran sulfate sodium in a mildly irritating dose to induce colitis. Dr. Hendrich noted that "this study of caffeic acid will help us to advance studies of botanicals and plant foods with respect to their ability and mechanisms of inhibiting colitis, and perhaps colon cancer, because colitis increases risk for this disease".

National Health Service Leaflets On Sex Among Teenagers, Elderly Spark Controversy In U.K.
Two leaflets from Britain"s National Health Service have provoked controversy over government messages on sexuality among teenagers and the elderly, the Washington Post reports. According to the Post, the leaflet for teens, titled "Pleasure," says that daily sex "keeps the doctor away." It also states, "Health promotion experts advocate five portions of fruit and [vegetables] a day and 30 minutes physical activity three times a week." It suggests that some form of sexual activity "twice a week" could have health benefits as well. The leaflet was issued by NHS in Sheffield, England, and is available to parents, youth workers and teachers nationwide. The leaflet for the elderly says that it is "never too late to experiment" sexually and offers information on dating services and contraception. The leaflet is available online, and 2,000 copies have been distributed to doctors" offices, health centers and libraries.Britain has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Western Europe, and the government has prioritized prevention-related policy measures by spending millions of dollars on awareness and contraception campaigns, the Post reports. The country also plans to make sex education mandatory in all public schools starting in 2010.After the teen leaflet appeared, "dismayed parents lit up message boards," and some educators argued that it "encouraged promiscuity," the Post reports. However, others said the leaflets are a welcome departure from traditional forms of sex education that focus on biology and disease prevention, rather than personal relationships. Hilary Pannack, CEO of the teen pregnancy not-for-profit Straight Talking, said that talking with teens about sexual pleasure "should be done with extreme caution" but that, in general, the leaflet is a "big turnaround for Britain." She added, "British people are very, very embarrassed talking to kids about sex."Steve Slack, the director of NHS" Center for HIV and Sexual Health in Sheffield and a co-author of the leaflet, said one of the objectives was to encourage teens to delay intercourse until they are ready and feel that they will enjoy it. He added that some of the leaflet"s ideas were inspired by the Netherlands, a country that is frequently referenced in British sex education debates because of its liberal attitudes toward discussing sex and its low teen pregnancy rates (Adam, Washington Post, 7/23).
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Global Public Health Threat Continues From Lead-Based Consumer Paint
Although lead content in paint has been restricted in the United States since 1978, University of Cincinnati (UC) environmental health researchers say in major countries from three continents there is still widespread failure to acknowledge its danger and companies continue to sell consumer paints that contain dangerous levels of lead.
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Measuring Brain's Memory Centers May Help Predict Alzheimer's

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have shown that a fully automated procedure called Volumetric MRI which measures the "memory centers" of the brain and compares them to expected size is effective in predicting the progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer"s disease. The procedure can be readily used in clinics to measure brain atrophy, and may help physicians to predict decline in MCI patients. Their study has been published in the June issue of the journal Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders. "Use of this procedure is like bringing the experience of an expert neuro-radiologist to any clinic that has the right software," said James Brewer, MD, PhD, assistant professor in UC San Diego"s Departments of Radiology and Neurosciences. "These fully automated and rapid methods of measuring medial temporal lobe volumes may help clinicians predict cognitive decline in their patients, and have the potential to influence how neurology is practiced." Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered a transitional stage between the forgetfulness associated with normal aging and Alzheimer"s disease. Yet, many patients with MCI do not progress to Alzheimer"s, and these individuals don"t need treatments targeted to prevent or slow down neuro-degeneration. Therefore, objective measures are necessarily to distinguish MCI patients who will clinically decline from those who will remain stable. "Our goal was to find neuroimaging measures of change that reflected more than merely a person"s advancing age, but instead correlated tightly with how a person"s cognitive status worsens over time," said co-author Michael Rafii, MD, PhD, assistant professor of neurosciences at UC San Diego. "It"s too early to draw a definitive comparison, but it appears that these early changes especially shrinking of the hippocampus may offer a robust biological marker for change." Medial temporal lobe atrophy has been associated with increased risk for conversion of MCI to Alzheimer"s disease. However, until now, studies have focused only on measurements of the brain"s hippocampus. The extent to which volumes of the amygdala the section of the brain associated with emotions and the nearby temporal horn could predict cognitive decline was unknown. In addition, methods to measure these parts of the brain relied on subjective assessments of MRIs using a "tracing technique" that literally required a drawing of these portions of the brain a technique that isn"t practical or possible in most clinical settings. For more than a year, researchers at the Memory Disorders Clinic at UC San Diego Medical Center have been successfully using a fully computerized procedure that takes images from the MRI scanner and translates them into quantitative values, according to Rafii, the clinic"s director. UC San Diego was the first clinic site to use this technology, which is now starting to be used in other clinical settings throughout the country. The study looked at the fully automated volume measures of 269 MCI patients over a six-month interval. Baseline volume measurements of the hippocampus, amygdala and temporal horn were evaluated as predictors of cognitive change as measured by two commonly used instruments for screening cognitive function and dementia. Patients with smaller volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala showed more rapid clinical decline on these tests. "These values objectively measure the hippocampus and amydala, and early data confirm previous findings that these brain areas may atrophy early in Alzheimer"s disease and can offer a clinical marker for change," said Rafii. The fluid-filled temporal horn increases as the hippocampus shrinks, and these complementary measurements may correlate closely with how a patient"s cognitive status worsens over time, he added. The study is part of the Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), the largest Alzheimer"s disease study ever funded by the National Institutes of Health. Announced in October 2004 and set to run until 2010, this public-private consortium has engaged 59 research centers in the U.S. and Canada in a massive effort to follow 821 research volunteers for three years. One of its main goals is to develop biomarkers that can ultimately be approved by the FDA to substitute for cognitive measures in Alzheimer"s disease clinical trials. Sanja Kovacevic, PhD, UC San Diego Department of Radiology, also contributed to this study, which was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Alzheimer"s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the Food and Drug Administration. Principle investigator of ADNI is Michael W. Weiner, MD, VA Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco. Scanner images were processed using the NeuroQuant software package produced by CorTechs Labs, Inc. of La Jolla, California. Images were downloaded from the ADNI image depository at the Laboratory of Neuroimaging at UCLA. University of California, San Diego


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