MEMORY LOSS   ^{BACK TO TOP}

Not all memory loss is related to Alzheimer's disease.  Some is due to stress and certain drug therapies.  TARGET HEALTH's  Ph.D. neurobiologist Anita Islam (CUNY) teams with our data manager, Vanessa Hays (Neuroscience, Oberlin) to create a strong group in Neuroscience.  Two study reports are being completed by TARGET HEALTH in the area of depression in the elderly.

In a study published in the journal Nature, it was reported that memory loss in rats  during stressful situations can be blamed on an elevated level of the adrenal hormone, corticosterone.  When the release of corticosterone is triggered in large amounts by stress and anxiety, it can block retrieval of information stored in long-term memory.  Elevated levels of corticosterone, triggered by a small electric shock, crippled the ability of rats to find their way back to a designated target. The rats' memory was impaired most when hormone levels were at their highest -- about 30 minutes to an hour after the shock.  Next time you need to remember who you are and where you are, slow down your adrenal gland, take a deep breath and relax.

HEART DISEASE   ^{BACK TO TOP}

TARGET HEALTH initiates, monitors and closes out clinical trials.  A recent Phase 3 study in the dental area has been completed with a successful independent audit by the sponsor.

A major study, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, has concluded that beta blockers  are so effective at saving lives that virtually every heart attack survivor should take them, regardless of their medical history. The clinical study found that the benefits of beta blocker therapy appears to far outweigh any possible risks. The study was based on the medical records of 201,752 Medicare patients, where over a two-year period, death rates were about 40 percent lower.  Most cardiologists agree that beta blockers are used too little after heart attacks, in part because they are cheap and not heavily promoted by drug companies. While physicians appear to prescribe beta blockers to about one-third of heart attack victims, they are also often leery of giving beta blockers to those who have other medical conditions such as diabetes and asthma. The drugs have not been rigorously tested in these people, and many fear they could do more harm than good.

Beta blockers reduce the heart's work load and have been in use since the 1960s, often to treat chest pain and high blood pressure.  A month's supply costs less than $5.

In an other report in  the Journal of the American Medical Association, it was found that  in a group of 115,015 heart attack victims on Medicare, only half of those with no contraindications were sent home from the hospital with beta blockers. Nevertheless, the death rate two years after hospital discharge was strikingly lower for all patients who got beta blockers. In those with diabetes, beta blockers appeared to lower the risk from 27% to 17%; lung disease, from 28% to 17%; and congestive heart failure, from 25% to 15%.

CLIMATE AND DISEASE   ^{BACK TO TOP}

Last week ON TARGET reported concerns about the impact of potential changes in climate on disease.  The following elaborates on the problem.  TARGET HEALTH is pleased to announce that it has collaborated with Dr. Ray Dattwyler and one of our clients on the preparation and submission of  510(k) on a new diagnostic for Lyme Disease.

Mild and wet weather earlier this year has helped to spawn outbreaks of several illnesses in popular vacation spots this summer. With lush vegetation for food and shelter, rodents are proliferating, according to public health experts, and so are the diseases that they spread. Hantavirus, a deadly infection, has returned to the Southwest, and tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease are spreading in most states.   No parks or other travel destinations have closed, and travel doctors have not been advising vacationers to cancel their plans. Travelers might want to be extra cautious this year and should learn about the illnesses that are common or emerging in their destinations. To help, the CDC, the National Park Service   and some state health departments have brochures and postings on their Web sites.

Hantavirus in Southwest

Anyone traveling to rural areas of the Southwest should take precautions against hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, an incurable virus that can kill within hours of infection. The CDC. has counted 106 cases, including 35 deaths since 1994. There have been three deaths in Colorado and New Mexico this year.  All of the infections occurred in rural areas where the deer mice, which harbor the virus, live. People become infected when they inhale dust contaminated with mouse urine or feces. Travelers can guard against hantavirus by staying away from the rodents, as well as their burrows.  It is recommended that campers use a tent with a floor and lock food in a cooler. If you camp in a cabin, open the doors and windows half an hour before going inside. Doing so will clear the air of the rodents' urine spray and kill the viruses.

Recurrence of Plague

The same weather that has promoted hantavirus has caused a rise in plague in the Southwest. Though people tend to think of plague as a disease from the history books, there are usually about 10 to 20 cases a year, mainly in New Mexico and Arizona.   Plague bacteria are carried by fleas and spread from rodents, rabbits and domestic animals to people. The number of people with plague has held steady this year so far, but public health officials are seeing a sharp increase in the number of rodents and domestic cats with the disease, which they fear could foretell an increase in human infections. Plague is curable if it is treated promptly. Symptoms include sudden fever, chills, headache and extremely swollen and tender lymph nodes.

New Tick-Borne Infections

Infections spread by ticks appear to be on the rise this summer. By far the most prevalent one is Lyme disease, with nearly 13,000 cases reported to the CDC. last year. Deer ticks, which transmit Lyme disease, are more abundant this summer in established trouble spots, like Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the shoreline from Connecticut to Massachusetts, as well as in the Midwest.  In addition, ticks are spreading to new areas, including upstate New York, Florida and California. As with all tick-borne illnesses, the earlier Lyme disease is treated, the more easily it can be cured. Symptoms include a rash that looks like a red dot and then expands, as well as headache, fever and muscle aches.

Though far less common than Lyme disease, with just a few hundred cases a year, several other tick-borne illnesses are more dangerous.  Ehrlichiosis occurs in the same areas as Lyme disease. Babesiosis is found mainly on the East Coast from Maryland to Maine and in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Like Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis and babesiosis are transmitted by deer ticks. However, the infections are harder to identify because there is no rash, and they can be fatal if they are not treated.  Ehrlichiosis symptoms include severe headache, chills, vomiting and high fever.  Babesiosis symptoms are a spiking fever and sweats that come and go. These are fairly new diseases; there are no diagnostic tests and many doctors do not know about them.

Another potentially deadly tick-borne illness is Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which occurs in most states, chiefly in the South and Southeast. Several hundred people are infected each year, and the chance of dying is 25 percent without early treatment. The first symptoms include fever, loss of appetite and a mild headache followed two to six days later by small pink spots on the wrists and ankles, which spread across the body. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is transmitted by the lone star tick and the American dog tick.

The best defense against tick-borne infections is to examine yourself and your children after being outdoors.  It takes 36 to 48 hours from the time a tick attaches itself to the body until it can transmit Lyme disease, 24 to 48 hours to transmit ehrlichiosis or babesiosis and 3 to 24 hours to transmit Rocky Mountain fever.  Routine tick checks and quick removal can markedly reduce the chance of infection.

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