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June 29, 2007
Drug trials: If you pay, it's a good drug
The effectiveness of a drug is usually established by a trial, often one that also uses a placebo, or sugar pill, or another drug from the same family. These trials are expensive, and they’re invariably funded by the drug’s manufacturer.And guess what? When the drug company is paying, the results are 20 times more likely to be favourable. Even better, the researchers are 35 times more likely to give their conclusions a favourable spin.The effectiveness of the drug over a sugar pill seems to disappear if the funding is from an independent source.Researchers from the University of California uncovered the ‘research for hire’ practice when they investigated 192 published trials for cholesterol-lowering statin drugs. Of those, just half were upfront about the trial’s sponsors.The drug trial is a very worthwhile investment for the drug company. Once its drug has received a favourable review in a so-called ‘scientific’ trial, it’s well on the road to millions of dollars of sales.(Source: PLos Medicine, June 7, 2007, published online).
Original text: Drug trials: If you pay, it's a good drug What Doctors Don't Tell You - London, UK (21 June 2007)
Original text: Drug trials: If you pay, it's a good drug What Doctors Don't Tell You - London, UK (21 June 2007)
Labels: Cholesterol and AD
posted by Dr.Koudinov @ 29.6.07
0 comments
February 28, 2007
Cholesterol May Play Part in Alzheimer's Disease
But role of cholesterol in Alzheimer's disease still unclear, reports the Harvard Men’s Health Watch.
It sounds simple: The lower your cholesterol, the better your heart health. But a man’s heart and his head don’t always agree.
In fact, the relationships among cholesterol levels, psychological function, and neurologic disorders are complex and sometimes controversial, reports the March 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch.
There are two major forms of dementia: vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Vascular dementia results when blood vessel damage deprives the brain of oxygen. Brain cells die as a result, and mental function suffers.
Some studies link high cholesterol levels to an increased risk of cognitive impairment, but others report the opposite. More research is needed to sort this out, but even now, investigations of HDL (good) cholesterol and mental function have consistently reported that high HDL levels appear to help preserve mental function in older people.
The connection between Alzheimer’s disease and cholesterol is even more complex. Scientists have learned much of the damage of Alzheimer’s comes from deposits of a sticky protein, called beta-amyloid, in vital areas of the brain.
In some studies, high cholesterol levels appear to accelerate the formation of beta-amyloid plaques. People with the genetic trait that increases the level of a particular cholesterol transport protein have a greatly increased risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s.
The urgent question is whether cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as statins, can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In the most recent studies, people who took statins did not appear to be at lower risk for the disease. Additional research is under way.
For an in-depth information on the role of lipids in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, please see major subject journal Neurobiology of Lipids.
Source: Cholesterol May Play Part in Alzheimer's Disease. Toronto Daily News (25 Feb 2007) [FullText]
It sounds simple: The lower your cholesterol, the better your heart health. But a man’s heart and his head don’t always agree.
In fact, the relationships among cholesterol levels, psychological function, and neurologic disorders are complex and sometimes controversial, reports the March 2007 issue of Harvard Men’s Health Watch.
There are two major forms of dementia: vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Vascular dementia results when blood vessel damage deprives the brain of oxygen. Brain cells die as a result, and mental function suffers.
Some studies link high cholesterol levels to an increased risk of cognitive impairment, but others report the opposite. More research is needed to sort this out, but even now, investigations of HDL (good) cholesterol and mental function have consistently reported that high HDL levels appear to help preserve mental function in older people.
The connection between Alzheimer’s disease and cholesterol is even more complex. Scientists have learned much of the damage of Alzheimer’s comes from deposits of a sticky protein, called beta-amyloid, in vital areas of the brain.
In some studies, high cholesterol levels appear to accelerate the formation of beta-amyloid plaques. People with the genetic trait that increases the level of a particular cholesterol transport protein have a greatly increased risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s.
The urgent question is whether cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as statins, can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In the most recent studies, people who took statins did not appear to be at lower risk for the disease. Additional research is under way.
For an in-depth information on the role of lipids in Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases, please see major subject journal Neurobiology of Lipids.
Source: Cholesterol May Play Part in Alzheimer's Disease. Toronto Daily News (25 Feb 2007) [FullText]
Labels: Cholesterol and AD
posted by Dr.Koudinov @ 28.2.07
0 comments
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