Chlamydia Increases Cervical Cancer Risk
Human papilloma virus is known to be the leading cause of cervical cancer, but chlamydia infections also increase cervical cancer risk, according to Scandinavian researchers.
Chlamydia is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the United States, with between 4 million and 8 million new cases each year. The infections can be cured with antibiotics, but many cases produce no symptoms. Untreated, chlamydia can cause pelvic disease and infertility.
A team headed by Dr. Tarja Anttila of Finland’s National Public Health Institute studied 128 women with advanced cervical cancer, all of whom had blood samples taken at least a year before the cancer was diagnosed. The team reported in the Jan. 3 Journal of the American Medical Assn. that women who had a chlamydia infection were at higher risk of cervical cancer and that those with a specific strain known as serotype G had the highest risk, 6.5 times normal, independent of whether the woman was co-infected with human papilloma virus. The researchers do not know how the bacterium increases risk.
Hair Testing Appears to Be Ineffective
Hair analysis is worthless for diagnosing nutritional problems and exposure to environmental toxins, according to researchers at the California Department of Health Services.
The team sent the same hair sample to the six largest U.S. laboratories that perform hair analyses commercially. It said in the Jan. 3 Journal of the American Medical Assn. that the labs reported widely varying and inconsistent, often contradictory, results. One lab, for example, said the patient should abstain from taking vitamin A while another recommended vitamin A supplements.
According to DHS, an average of 225,000 hair mineral tests costing nearly $10 million are performed in the United States each year. Although the tests are sometimes recommended by physicians, most patients seek them out on their own.
Heart Medicine May Prevent Migraines
The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor lisinopril shows promise in preventing migraine headaches, according to Norwegian researchers. Lisinopril, trade-named Zestril and Prinivil, is widely prescribed for various cardiovascular conditions and has few side effects.
Dr. Harald Schrader and his colleagues at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim enrolled 60 migraine patients, 47 of whom completed the 31-week study. All had two to six migraine episodes per month before entering the study. The patients received either lisinopril or a placebo for a 12-week period, no drugs for two weeks, then the opposite treatment for another 12 weeks.
The team reported in the Jan. 6 British Medical Journal that 14 of the patients had at least 50% fewer days with migraine while receiving the drug. Overall, the hours of headache, days of headache and headache severity were each reduced by about 20%. The researchers do not know how the drug works, but some other heart medications have similar effects.
Pesticides Can Cause Parkinson’s Symptoms
Two widely used agricultural pesticides can cause the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease when consumed together, according to researchers from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. A broad variety of epidemiological evidence has suggested that Parkinson’s might be triggered by pesticides and other chemicals in the environment. Just two months ago, researchers at Emory University reported that feeding the pesticide rotenone to rats produced Parkinson’s symptoms. The new study by environmental medicine specialist Deborah Cory-Slechta and her colleagues, reported in the Dec. 15 Journal of Neuroscience, is the first to look at two such chemicals used together.
In the study, a combination of the herbicide paraquat and the fungicide maneb caused Parkinson’s symptoms in mice, but neither produced the symptoms when consumed alone. It is also notable, the authors said, that the concentrations used were much lower than those in the rotenone study.
Drug Not Beneficial for Fatigue Syndrome
Many patients with chronic fatigue syndrome find that standing for long periods makes them lightheaded or even faint. Eventually, their blood pressure drops so low that they cannot stand upright, a condition known as neurally mediated hypotension (low blood pressure). Such patients are commonly prescribed the steroid drug fludrocortisone, but a new study shows that it provides no benefit.
A team headed by Dr. Peter Rowe of Johns Hopkins University--who originally advocated the fludrocortisone treatment--enrolled 100 patients who were shown to have neurally mediated hypotension. Half were given daily fludrocortisone for nine weeks and half a placebo. The team reported in the Jan. 3 Journal of the American Medical Assn. that 14% of those treated with fludrocortisone showed an overall improvement in well-being compared with 10% of those in the placebo group--an insignificant difference.
Scientists Trying to Curb Hair Loss From Chemo
Researchers are hot on the trail of drugs that can block hair loss during cancer chemotherapy. “After nausea and vomiting, one of the harder side effects of chemotherapy is loss of image” associated with loss of hair, according to cancer researcher Stephen Friend of Rosetta Inpharmatics in Kirkland, Wash. Many companies are thus looking for ways to block that loss.
Hair loss occurs because cancer drugs target cells that are rapidly dividing. That includes not only the cancer cells themselves, but also cells in hair follicles and those in the lining of the stomach and intestines--which is why the drugs also produce nausea and vomiting.
Researchers at Glaxo Wellcome Research and Development in Research Triangle Park, N.C., have developed a potential drug that temporarily halts hair growth by blocking a crucial enzyme called cyclin-dependent kinase 2. They reported in the Jan. 5 Science that they rubbed the drug on the heads of mice before administering the cancer drug etoposide. They found that the drug completely prevented hair loss at the application site in 50% of the animals and partially prevented it in another 20%.
Researchers predicted it would be at least another couple of years before human trials could begin. A similar approach might also eventually be used to prevent nausea.
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Medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II can be reached at thomas.maugh@latimes.com.
