Internally displaced people in South Sudan are at great risk of disease outbreaks

31 December 2013 | Juba - The humanitarian situation in South Sudan has further deteriorated in the past 2 weeks. Since the outbreak of violence in South Sudan on 15 December 2013, the humanitarian needs have quickly been growing with a total of 195 416 persons have been displaced from the 4 states of South Sudan, namely; Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile, and 75 171 of them taking shelter in the UN peace keeping bases in Juba, Bor, Malakal, Bentiu, while an estimated 58 000 others are displaced in Aweriel County Lakes state.

As a result of this population displacement, there is a looming risk of disease outbreaks especially for water borne diseases, warns WHO. “The poor water, sanitation and hygiene conditions in the camps, coupled with a shortage of health workers\healthcare providers, poses health risks to thousands of displaced persons in the UN camp bases,” says Dr Abdi Aden Mohammed, the WHO Country Representative in South Sudan.

“Even with the tremendous efforts made by health partners, sanitation conditions are still inadequate largely due to the large number of people sheltering in UN bases which have insufficient space to house these numbers. Coupled with poor water and sanitation conditions, overcrowding in the camps may create conditions ripe for disease outbreaks,” added Dr Abdi.

In order to minimize the risks of potential outbreaks, WHO is working closely with health authorities and other health partners including the UNMISS medical team, to identify health workers in the displaced camps who can provide primary health care services, as well as support health education and promotion to all displaced persons.

To immediately respond to the ongoing crisis, WHO has provided trauma management and emergency health kits to the UNMISS clinics and to other partners engaged in management of trauma cases in the four states. WHO has also provided essential drugs and medical supplies to UNMISS clinics to help them in the management of common illnesses. Over 894 wounded people have been treated at Bor, Malakal and Unity UNMISS clinics and other major referral hospitals in the past two weeks. Besides trauma, diarrhoea and malaria are the most common illnesses reported from the IDP camps.

A shortage of health care workers in states affected by conflict makes provision of quality primary health care a challenge. Many health care workers and NGO partners supporting health services have fled their homes for safety. For example Bor State Hospital in Jonglei State is closed\non functional due to insecurity and displacement of all health workers. There is now a significant gap in health service delivery for communities in conflict areas especially for those patients requiring acute care for their survival, such as trauma patients, pregnant women, young, children\under five and the elderly. WHO is working hard to cover the existing gaps in collaboration with health cluster partners including UNMISS medical teams. The agency calls for more health partners to deploy and support the displaced and needy persons in South Sudan.

WHO also calls on donor agencies to provide more financial resources to health partners to ensure that all vulnerable populations in the Republic of South Sudan can live in a safe and healthy environment and continue to receive lifesaving health care services.

For more information, please contact:

Dr Abdi Aden Mohammed
The WHO Country Representative, South Sudan
Email : mohameda@who.int

Ms Pauline Ajello
Communication and Advocacy Officer
WHO, Republic of South Sudan
Email : ajellopa@who.int
Tel : +211955873055

View the original article here

Everolimus slows disease progression in advanced kidney cancer patients

Sep. 27, 2013 — The first Phase II study to investigate the use of the anti-cancer drug, everolimus, for the initial treatment of advanced papillary kidney cancer has shown that it is successful in slowing or preventing the spread of the disease, according to research to be presented at the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013).

Dr Bernard Escudier, Head of the French Group of Immunotherapy and chairman of the Genitourinary tumour board at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France will say: "Our results showed that for 59% of patients who received everolimus as their first-line treatment, their disease did not get worse and remained stable. These findings are important and indicate that more than half of these cancer patients are getting some kind of benefit from everolimus treatment.

"Advanced papillary kidney cancer is a very difficult cancer to treat, and because there is no standard of care, there is disagreement amongst experts regarding the best treatment option for these patients. Our clinical findings are encouraging and suggest that everolimus may represent a new treatment option."

Papillary kidney cancer is the second most frequent type of kidney cancer and accounts for approximately 15% of all kidney cancer cases; it is five times more common in men than in women. When the cancer is confined to one location, surgical removal is usually associated with an excellent prognosis. However, when it spreads to other parts of the body, therapies are ineffective. There are two types of papillary cancer, based on cell appearance (histology), known as type I and type II. Type I are more common and grow slowly, whereas type II papillary kidney cancers are much more aggressive and have a poor prognosis.

Everolimus is an anti-cancer drug known as an mTOR inhibitor; mTOR stands for "mammalian target of rapamycin" and it is a protein that regulates vital cell growth processes, including cell metabolism, growth and proliferation. Its failure to function correctly is involved in the development of several cancers.

Dr Escudier and his colleagues in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and the UK recruited 92 patients into the RAPTOR (RAD001 in Advanced Papillary Tumor Program in Europe) study, which started in July 2009. The patients, who had never received systemic treatment, were instructed to take the drug orally, once a day, at a dose of 10 mg for as long as they could tolerate it.

Of the 92 enrolled patients, 83 were included in the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis and 63 were included in the per-protocol (PP) analysis. An ITT analysis examines the study results based on the treatment to which a group of patients is assigned, rather than the treatment received, and reflects real clinical practice. The PP analysis determines the real biological effect of the new drug as it only includes patients who were compliant with the treatment to which they were assigned, and who also adhered to the clinical study instructions. All of the 92 enrolled patients were included in the safety analysis of the data. Tissue samples were analysed by pathologists in the local hospitals to check whether or not the cancer had spread, and the samples were also checked centrally by an independent, expert group of pathologists.

According to the PP analysis carried out by the local investigators, disease was stable and had not progressed after six months in 59% of patients, while the central review confirmed this in 35% of patients. The local investigators found that the time that elapsed before the cancer spread or worsened (progression-free survival) was 7.8 months, while the central pathology review found it was 3.9 months. At least half of the patients were alive at 20 months.

Dr Escudier will say: "Similar results were seen in the ITT analysis and strongly confirm the overall study findings. According to assessments by the local investigators, progression-free survival was 7.6 months, according to the central review it was 3.7 months, and more than half of the patients were alive at 21 months.

"These results underline the differences that are often observed between local investigator assessment and central review according to the established set of rules used to evaluate anti-cancer drugs.

"As far as we know, this study is unique as it was the first study of an mTOR inhibitor to only include patients with advanced papillary kidney cancer and diagnosis was also confirmed by an independent group of pathologists experienced in the classification of kidney cancer to prevent any tumours being classified incorrectly.

"Everolimus represents another interesting treatment option for advanced papillary kidney cancer patients as it seems to extend their survival and time without the disease progressing."

Adverse side-effects were generally well tolerated. They included weakness, tiredness and anemia; 27% of patients discontinued everolimus due to these side-effects. "The typical patient being treated for advanced papillary kidney cancer is middle-aged, active and still working, and the impact of side-effects may be more important to them," he will say.

"While the results from this Phase II study are encouraging, a Phase III trial would need to be done to fully characterise the efficacy and safety profile of everolimus in this patient population," he will conclude.

President of ECCO, Professor Cornelis van de Velde, commented: "Papillary tumours have been excluded from many of the targeted therapy trials. This study on targeting the mTOR pathway in patients with advanced papillary kidney cancer provides a basis for a Phase III trial and is potentially practice changing. It also emphasises the need for expert pathology, since central review gave markedly different results than local review."

ESMO spokesperson, Professor Manuela Schmidinger, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Oncology at the University of Vienna, Austria, commented: "Treatment strategies for metastatic renal cell cancer (RCC) have dramatically improved within the last few years. However, these achievements have been mostly restricted to patients with clear-cell (cc)-RCC. Patients with non-cc-RCC are usually underrepresented in clinical trials, thus the benefits of novel targeted agents remains unclear in this population. So far, attempts to investigate the impact of new drugs in the non-cc-RCC-population have resulted in inconsistent but mostly modest results. This is also due to the fact that studies included different types of non-cc-RCCs; however, these are tumours of different epithelial origin, with different genetic background and different clinical behaviour. RAPTOR is the first prospective study that investigated the impact of a targeted agent, everolimus, in patients with papillary RCC. In this study, Escudier et al demonstrated that everolimus provides a promising median average overall survival in this patient setting. A strength of this trial in contrast to other non-cc-RCC -studies is that only patients with papillary subtypes I and II were included, rather than all different types of non-cc-RCC."

View the original article here

'Bottled mucus' may help gut disease

26 September 2013 Last updated at 18:07 ET

The shiny layer of mucus in the small intestine calms the immune system

Bottled mucus may one day play a role in some gut diseases, according to US researchers.

A study of the slimy lining of the bowels, published in the journal Science, showed mucus had a role in calming the immune system.

The team at Mount Sinai Hospital, in New York, believe it may be useful in diseases in which inflammation runs rampant in the intestines.

The human body naturally produces around a litre of mucus every day.

Researchers at the hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine were investigating why the lining of the bowel does not react to the trillions of bacteria which call the human intestines home. Elsewhere in the body, the immune system would launch a brutal attack against such invaders.

The team investigated the interaction between the mucus produced by the intestines and the immune system.

They showed that a mucus was not only acting as barrier between bacteria and immune system, but a component of the mucus, called MUC2, was also calming the immune response.

Lead researcher Dr Andrea Cerutti told the BBC: "We were able to show its ability to dampen the immune reaction in a specific type of immune cell, a dendritic cell, which orchestrates the immune response.

"But these are just initial studies; we know very, very little about mucus."

Mucus treatments?

One area the team think mucus could help in is some bowel problems.

Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel disease and ulcerative colitis are all poorly understood diseases, but do have inflammation, a part of the immune response, as a common feature.

Dr Cerutti said mucus was often disrupted in these patients and suggested that it may be possible to use mucus as a treatment.

One vision is to artificially synthesise mucus, although this is not currently possible, or a drug which can stimulate the same effect in the lining of the gut.

Whether such approaches to boost the mucus layer of the guts would help patients with bowel disorders is still unknown.

Mucus is not unique to the digestive system. It lines the lungs and streams out of the nose during a cold.

There is speculation that it could be producing similar immune-calming effects in the respiratory system and may be playing a role in allergies and asthma.

Dr Cerutti said even cancer may be affected by mucus: "Several aggressive tumours, such as colon, ovarian, and breast cancers produce mucus, including MUC2.

"Mucus produced by malignant cells may prevent protective immune responses against the malignant cells."

View the original article here

Single mild blast exposure can cause brain injuries similar to Alzheimer’s disease

Sep. 24, 2013 — A new study published in the September issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease reports that even a single mild explosion can cause changes in the brain that have similarities to those found in diseases like Alzheimer's disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Flying debris or getting thrown against other objects are not the only things that make explosions so dangerous. The primary shock waves that emanate from explosions also can kill a person if they are intense enough. However, most blast survivors experience less powerful shock waves that cause less severe immediate symptoms, such as temporary disorientation or headaches, but on the surface leave victims apparently unscathed. Scientists are especially concerned when these mild blast exposures happen repeatedly--likening them to the repetitive hits endured by boxers and other athletes.

"Some of the big questions in mild traumatic brain injury are about a molecule called tau" said Dr. David Cook of VA Puget Sound Health Care System and University of Washington. "In many brain diseases, tau gets chemically modified to create something called 'phospho-tau'. Phospho-tau is important because it is the starting building block of 'tau tangles', which can build up over time and damage brain cells."

The Seattle team used a rodent laboratory model to study brain changes caused by mild blast exposure. Dr. Cook noted, "We were a bit surprised to find that after only a single mild blast, phospho-tau remained elevated for at least a month."

"Tau pathology is part of end-stage TBI," said Dr. Iboja Cernak of the University of Alberta, Canada and a co-author on this report, "so, it is very interesting to discover that persistent phospho-tau increases also appear to be part of earlier phases of blast-induced neurotrauma."

These new findings raise the possibility that early-intervention with tau-based treatments may someday prove valuable in treating blast-induced neurotrauma.

View the original article here

New insights into the ribosome; important implications for disease

Sep. 19, 2013 — In molecular biology, the ribosome represents the machinery necessary to assemble proteins, the building blocks of life. In this process, information encoded in the genome's DNA is first transcribed to messenger RNA in the nucleus, then transported to the ribosome where protein-assembly instructions are put in motion to translate the code into actual proteins.

But in recent years, it has been demonstrated that the ribosome is far more than just a processing unit; indeed, current research points to an important role for this complex structure in actively regulating biological processes.

Now, in a first-of-its-kind study that broadly examines the composition of the riboproteome, a scientific team led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) reveals previously unappreciated components of the ribosome, uncovering a large and dynamic structure that, among other things, can be altered in cancer. Published in today's on-line issue of the journal Cell Reports, the study additionally describes the development of an analytic platform that can be widely applied to numerous biological systems to highlight the functional roles of possible disease genes associated with the riboproteome.

"A primary goal of our lab is to gain a better understanding of translation and its impact on cancer," explains senior author Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD, PhD, Scientific Director of the Cancer Center at BIDMC and George C. Reisman Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). "So a key focus of our work has been the role of the ribosome. While the conventional wisdom has been that ribosome composition is absolutely fixed, we have recently pursued the hypothesis that it is, in fact, flexible and dynamic. Moreover, it has become apparent during the course of our investigations that the functional deregulation of the ribosome is implicated in disease initiation and progression, and could serve as a potential target for therapeutic intervention."

In this new study, a scientific team led by Pandolfi lab members John Clohessy, PhD, and Markus Reschke, PhD, examined the ribosome on a large scale to get a clearer picture of the relationship and interactions between ribosomes and the associated proteins required for efficient and correct translation of messenger RNA (mRNA).

"We wanted to find out what was happening in the ribosome on a global scale," explains Clohessy. "So we incorporated into our analysis those proteins that associate with either the ribosome itself or with the mRNA being translated, and which could represent important regulators of translation."

Until recently a lack of high-throughput ribosomal analysis has limited researchers' abilities to characterize the ribosomal proteome, which consists of the ribosome itself and a host of other proteins that interact with this cellular machine to regulate translation. In this new study, the scientists optimized and adapted a SILAC-based mass spectrometry approach to probe this complex microscopic structure through the analysis of far more data than was ever available before.

An acronym for stable isotopic labeling by amino acids in cell culture, SILAC utilizes non-radioactive isotope labeling to detect quantitative differences in protein abundance among cell samples. "A SILAC-based approach offers an elegant way of comparing two different cellular populations," explains Reschke. "The metabolic incorporation into the proteins of amino acids that have been differentially labeled with carbon and nitrogen isotopes results in a mass shift of the corresponding peptides, and it is this shift that can be detected by a mass spectrometer.

"The beauty of this system is that you're keeping the cells in their natural environment, you're simply substituting one amino acid with another," he adds. "This enables you to conduct a direct comparison without other chemical modifications."

Using a panel of cell lines, as well as genetic and pharmacological perturbations, the team embarked on their characterization of the prostate riboproteome. "Mass spectrometry enabled us to look at thousands of proteins at the same time," explains Clohessy. Through SILAC-based mass spec, the investigators were able to gain the first comprehensive overview of proteins within this space and examine how the riboproteome is altered in disease.

"We compared a number of different things," adds Clohessy. "We compared different cancer cell lines. We looked at changes to the riboproteome within a single specific cell line, both with and without use of a pharmacological inhibitor. And, we looked at a cell line in the context of genetic alteration. We essentially got a clear snapshot of which proteins were in this space at any particular time, and saw how they responded to cellular signals and stresses."

The authors then carried out a computational analysis on this extensive dataset to determine if there were specific protein networks or pathways that were highly represented in the data. Their survey revealed a number of exciting and surprising findings -- with important therapeutic implications.

"Among other things, our analysis uncovered a high incidence of genetic alterations to the riboproteome components in cancer, with a distinct bias towards genetic amplification, [whereby cells accumulate multiple copies of genes which can support cancer growth and survival]" explains Reschke, adding that it also revealed the presence of a significant population of RNA binding proteins (RBPs), important regulators of mRNA translation, some of which are also associated with disease.

"Changes in ribosome amounts have been shown to be associated with cancer for more than a century," notes Nahum Sonenberg, PhD, James McGill Professor of Biochemistry at McGill University. "However, the mechanism that links ribosomes and cancer is not well understood. This paper from the Pandolfi laboratory is a very important step towards the understanding of the full gamut of functions of the ribosome and its associated translation mRNA machinery in cancer."

This novel method additionally opens up a new direction in terms of how to study the ribosome in the context of both disease and therapy. "By now, we know a lot about the genes and pathways that converge on translation, and many of them are well-known oncogenes, including MYC and PI3K," explains Pandolfi. 'But the translational dimension we are now describing offers a new perspective on yet another layer of proteins that seem to be amplified in cancer. These findings provide us with a completely new set of proteins that may be used to better understand the process of translation in cancer, and help identify new targets for therapeutic intervention."

View the original article here

Bacteria responsible for gum disease facilitates rheumatoid arthritis

Sep. 12, 2013 — Does gum disease indicate future joint problems? Although researchers and clinicians have long known about an association between two prevalent chronic inflammatory diseases -- periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) -- the microbiological mechanisms have remained unclear.

In an article published today in PLoS Pathogens, University of Louisville School of Dentistry Oral Health and Systemic Diseases group researcher Jan Potempa, PhD, DSc, and an international team of scientists from the European Union's Gums and Joints project have uncovered how the bacterium responsible for periodontal disease, Porphyromonas gingivalisworsens RA by leading to earlier onset, faster progression and greater severity of the disease, including increased bone and cartilage destruction.

The scientists found that P. gingivalis produces a unique enzyme, peptidylarginine deiminanse (PAD) which then enhances collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a form of arthritis similar to RA produced in the lab. PAD changes residues of certain proteins into citrulline, and the body recognizes citullinated proteins as intruders, leading to an immune attack. In RA patients, the subsequent result is chronic inflammation responsible for bone and cartilage destruction within the joints.

Potempa and his team studied another oral bacterium, Prevotella intermedia for the same affect, but learned it did not produce PAD, and did not affect CIA.

"Taken together, our results suggest that bacterial PAD may constitute the mechanistic link between P. gingivalis periodontal infection and rheumatoid arthritis, but this ground-breaking conclusion will need to be verified with further research," he said.

Potempa said he is hopeful these findings will shed new light on the treatment and prevention of RA.

Studies indicate that compared to the general population, people with periodontal disease have an increased prevalence of RA and, periodontal disease is at least two times more prevalent in RA patients. Other research has shown that a P. gingivalis infection in the mouth will precede RA, and the bacterium is the likely culprit for onset and continuation of the autoimmune inflammatory responses that occur in the disease.

View the original article here

Get touchy feely with plants: Gently rubbing them with your fingers can make them less susceptible to disease

Sep. 12, 2013 — Forget talking to plants to help them grow, gently rubbing them with your fingers can make them less susceptible to disease, a paper in the open access journal BMC Plant Biology reveals.

Gently rubbing the leaves of thale cress plants (Arabidsopsis thaliana) between thumb and forefinger activates an innate defense mechanism, Floriane L'Haridon and colleagues report. Within minutes, biochemical changes occur, causing the plant to become more resistant to Botrytis cinerea, the fungus that causes grey mould.

Rubbing the leaves is a form of mechanical stress. Plants frequently have to deal with mechanical stress, be it caused by rain, wind, animals or even other plants. Trees growing on windy shorelines, for example, sometimes respond by developing shorter, thicker trunks.

But plants also respond to more delicate forms of mechanical stress, such as touch. Some responses are obvious -- the snapping shut of a Venus fly trap, the folding leaflets of a touched touch-me-not plant (Mimosa pudica) -- whilst some are more discrete. Plants also launch an arsenal of 'invisible' responses to mechanical stress, including changes at the molecular and biochemical level.

Rubbing the thale cress leaves triggered a host of internal changes. Genes related to mechanical stress were activated. Levels of reactive oxygen species increased. And the protective outer layer of the leaf became more permeable, presumably to aid the escape of various biologically active molecules that were detected and which are thought to contribute to the observed immune response. This data could also suggest that the mechanical stress is perceived by mechano-sensors that subsequently initiate resistance.

Similar effects occur when plants are physically wounded. Team members previously showed how physically wounding thale cress increases levels of reactive oxygen species, also triggering a strong, transient immunity to the grey mould fungus. Here they show basically the same thing, but in response to an extremely gentle form of wounding -- mechanical stimulation by touch -- that unlike wounding, leaves cells intact.

Wounding and rubbing exemplify how plants can react to a situation that in principle could cause them to become more vulnerable. Instead, they react to touch by deploying a carefully-orchestrated defence response, an evolutionary skill that that presumably boosts survival.

View the original article here

Statins being overprescribed for kidney disease patients

Sep. 10, 2013 — A new analysis concludes that large numbers of patients in advanced stages of kidney disease are inappropriately being prescribed statins to lower their cholesterol -- drugs that offer them no benefit and may increase other health risks such as diabetes, dementia or muscle pain.

The findings, which were published in the American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs as a review of multiple studies, raise serious questions about the value of cholesterol-lowering therapies in kidney disease.

The issue is important, the researchers say, because the incidence of chronic kidney disease is rising in the United States at what they called "an alarming rate." Also, kidney disease patients are 23 times more likely to get cardiovascular disease, and for them it's the leading cause of death.

But for these patients, the frequent decision to prescribe statin drugs to lower cholesterol in order to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease is not supported by the wider body of research, experts say.

"There is very little benefit to statin drugs for patients in the early stages of kidney disease, and no benefit or possible toxicity for patients in later stages," said Ali Olyaei, a professor of pharmacotherapy in the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University, and lead author on the new report.

"I believe the evidence shows that the majority of people with chronic kidney disease are taking statins inappropriately," Olyaei said. "They may help a little in early-stage disease, but those people are not the ones who generally die from cardiovascular diseases. And by the end stages the risks outweigh any benefit. More drugs are not always better."

Some of the particular risks posed by statin use, especially at higher doses, include severe muscle pain known as rhabdomyolysis, an increase in dementia and a significant increase in the risk of developing diabetes. The body of research also shows that statins do nothing to slow the progression of kidney disease, contrary to some reports that it might.

The impetus to use statin drugs -- some of the most widely prescribed medications in the world to lower cholesterol -- is obvious in end-stage kidney disease, because those patients have a mortality rate from coronary heart disease 15 times that of the general population. Unfortunately, evidence shows the drugs do not help prevent mortality in that situation. There is also no proven efficacy of the value of statins in patients using dialysis, researchers said.

If statins are prescribed in early-stage kidney disease, the study concluded that low dosages are more appropriate.

View the original article here

Could Compound in Artificial Sweeteners Worsen Crohn's Disease?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

MONDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- The food additive maltodextrin, commonly used in some artificial sweeteners, may worsen Crohn's disease by encouraging the growth of E. coli bacteria in the small intestine, a new study suggests.

However, researchers stressed that the findings are preliminary and the tests were conducted in the lab, not in people, so it's too soon to advise those with the inflammatory bowel disease to avoid maltodextrin.

Maltodextrin is a white powder used in many processed foods as a thickener or a filler, including the artificial sweeteners Splenda and Equal, along with cereal, canned fruits, packaged desserts, instant pudding, sauces and salad dressings. Maltodextrin, typically derived from corn or wheat starch, is also used in some medication coatings.

In the study, researchers placed Equal, Splenda and another sweetener, Stevia, in a dish along with E. coli bacteria taken from people with Crohn's disease. While E. coli is commonly found in the digestive tract of humans, it's usually found in the large intestine, explained senior study author Christine McDonald, assistant staff in the pathobiology department at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute. Prior research has found that people with Crohn's tend to have E. coli in their small intestine.

Though the precise role that E. coli plays in Crohn's is unknown, it's thought that the bacteria may contribute to the inflammation that marks the condition.

When grown in the dish with the Equal (which contains aspartame, dextrose and maltodextrin) and the Splenda (which contains sucralose, dextrose and maltodextrin), the E. coli grew stickier, forming a thick biofilm, according to the researchers. The same didn't happen with the Stevia, which is made from the leaves of a South American plant and does not contain maltodextrin.

Researchers then repeated the experiments, culturing E. coli with maltodextrin alone, and the same sticky biofilm formed.

"In the lab, the E. coli becomes stickier, and it sticks to intestinal cells," said McDonald, who conducted the research with graduate student Kourtney Nickerson. "But we haven't tested this in animals to see if there is a particular amount you need to eat to have this effect. It may be that in people who have other risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease, this may tip them over the edge."

The study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was to be presented Monday at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in San Diego.

Crohn's disease is an inflammation of the digestive tract that can lead to swelling, pain and ulcers. Although the disease can affect any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, the most common spot is the small intestine.

It's unknown what causes the disease, although it's believed that microbes -- along with genetics and other environmental factors -- play a role, said Dr. Jerrold Turner, an associate chair in the department of pathology at the University of Chicago.

A healthy gut contains a multitude of bacteria that aid in the digestion of food and extraction of nutrients from foods. A healthy intestine has a layer of mucus that keeps the bacteria away from the lining of the intestine itself. Prior studies have found that, in people with Crohn's, the thickness of that mucus layer decreases, meaning there are more bacteria directly on the cells lining the intestine, possibly leading to inflammation, Turner explained.

The sticky biofilm may also mean there are more bacteria on the lining of the intestines, McDonald said.

No specific diet has been shown to prevent or treat Crohn's disease, according to the U.S. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. However, the incidence of Crohn's has been rising in the United States in recent decades, leading researchers to suspect that something about the modern American diet is contributing.

In addition, many people with the disease notice that certain foods or types of foods seem to make their symptoms worse.

McDonald said people with Crohn's may want to try avoiding maltodextrin and see if their symptoms improve, but she and Turner both said more needs to be learned before they recommend that people with Crohn's or a susceptibility to Crohn's avoid the additive.

"It's a very interesting and provocative finding, and [it] may tell us something about the bacteria and what is happening in the intestines, but it's really too preliminary to make any recommendations," Turner said.

A group representing the artificial sweetener industry said the finding was too preliminary to prompt any changes in how artificial sweeteners are made or sold.

"This study was done on cells in petri dishes, therefore it is not possible to apply these findings to humans," the Calorie Control Council said in a statement released Monday. "Even the researcher has stated that it is too early to conclude that maltodextrin promotes disease. Further research is needed before any human nutrition recommendations can be made."

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse has more on Crohn's.

Copyright c 2012?HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Georgia woman with flesh-eating disease in "critical" condition

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

(Reuters) - A Georgia woman fighting a flesh-eating bacterial infection was in critical condition at Augusta Hospital on Saturday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said she could not comment on whether Aimee Copeland had undergone surgery to remove her hands and right foot, amputations that Copeland's father had said were pending on Friday. Surgeons had amputated the 24-year-old's left leg at the hip.

"All I can say is Aimee is still in critical condition," hospital spokeswoman Barclay Bishop said.

Prayers and messages of support have poured in for Copeland on a Facebook page where her father, Andy Copeland, has chronicled her struggle.

There were no updates on the site on Saturday. The Atlanta Journal Constitution newspaper said the family had been overwhelmed by public interest and had asked for privacy.

Copeland suffered a huge gash in her leg in a zip-line accident and fell into the Little Tallapoosa River near Carrollton, Georgia, on May 1. She developed necrotizing fasciitis, a bacterial infection that destroys soft tissue.

Necrotizing or "flesh-eating" soft-tissue infections are a broad category of infections with many causes, although Group A Streptococcus is the most common culprit. Doctors blamed Copeland's infection on the Aeromonos hydrophila bacteria, which are found in fresh or brackish water and may have entered the wound when she fell into the river.

With media attention focused on Copeland's struggle, additional cases of necrotizing fasciitis have been reported in Georgia and South Carolina. Health experts say the disease is not communicable.

A 1996 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated there were 500 to 1,500 cases of necrotizing fasciitis annually in the United States, with about 20 percent of them fatal. The National Necrotizing Fasciitis Foundation says on its website that the case number estimate is probably low.

(Reporting By Jane Sutton; Editing by Greg McCune and Jackie Frank)

Health Tip: Help Prevent Heart Disease

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

(HealthDay News) -- You can't control all risk factors for heart disease, but living a healthy lifestyle and taking medication prescribed by your doctor can help prevent many of its dangerous risk factors.

The Womenshealth.gov website suggests these steps to help reduce your risk of heart disease:

Maintain healthy cholesterol and blood pressure.Quit or avoid smoking and drinking too much alcohol.Take steps to control diabetes.Maintain a healthy body weight.Get plenty of regular exercise and adhere to a regular sleep schedule.Control conditions such as sleep apnea and metabolic syndrome.

Copyright c 2012?HealthDay. All rights reserved.