An adequate amount of Vitamin D is known to improve bone density, but the impact goes much further than bone strength; Vitamin D deficiency can impact nearly all of the body’s functions. This topic will be investigated at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 17th Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress, on Thursday, May 15, 2008, at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando.

“Vitamin D plays an important role in most of the body’s tissues,” Robert P. Heaney, FACP, FACN said. “Despite its vast importance in the human body, most people don’t receive enough.”

Vitamin D deficiency can manifest itself in a variety of different forms, depending on a person’s genetic makeup. It can result in impaired bone mineralization, and leads to bone softening diseases like rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults, and is a possible contributor to osteoporosis.

Although many are familiar with the importance of Vitamin D in bones, evidence shows that Vitamin D may be associated with diabetes, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, infectious diseases, and even cancer.

American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists

The amount of oxygen available to a baby in the womb can affect their susceptibility to developing particular diseases later in life. Research presented at the annual Society for Endocrinology BES meeting in Harrogate shows that your risk of developing cardiovascular disease can be predetermined before birth, not only by your genes, but also by their interaction with the quality of the environment you experience in the womb.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge, led by Dr Dino Giussani, examined the role that oxygen availability in the womb plays in programming your susceptibility to different diseases. His group found that babies that don’t receive enough oxygen in the womb (e.g. due to pre-eclampsia or placental insufficiency) are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease when they are adult. A reduction of oxygen levels in the womb can lead to reduced growth rates in the baby and to changes in the way that their cardiovascular, metabolic and endocrine systems develop. Combined, these alterations to the development of key systems in the body can leave the baby more prone to developing cardiovascular disease later in life.

Dr Giussani’s research also indicates methods by which we can potentially combat this problem. The detrimental effects of low oxygen levels on the development of the unborn’s cardiovascular system appear to be due to the generation of oxidative stress. Treatment with antioxidants in animal pregnancies complicated by low oxygenation can reverse these effects on the developing cardiovascular system and this could form the basis for new therapeutic techniques to prevent the early origin of heart disease in complicated human pregnancy.

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the UK, accounting for 4 in every 10 deaths. Almost 2.6 million people are affected by heart and circulatory conditions in the UK, with someone having a heart attack every 2 seconds.

Scientist Dr Dino Giussani said:

“We have known for a while that changes in maternal nutrition can affect fetal development and influence disease susceptibility later in life, but relatively little work has investigated how low oxygen levels in the womb may affect infant development. Our research shows that changes to the amount of oxygen available in the womb can have a profound influence on the development of the fetus in both the short- and long- term, and trigger an early origin of heart disease.

Interestingly, the adverse effects on the developing heart and circulation of poor fetal oxygenation are due to oxidative stress. This gives us the opportunity to combat prenatal origins of heart disease by fetal exposure to antioxidant therapy. This may halt the development of heart disease at its very origin, bringing preventative medicine back into the womb.”

Notes

The paper will be presented at the Society for Endocrinology BES meeting at 08:45 on Tuesday 8 April 2008. The abstract for this work is reproduced below: see here. This work was funded by the British Heart Foundation, The Royal Society, The Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine, the BBSRC and the Isaac Newton Trust.

The Society for Endocrinology BES 2008 is Britain’s biggest scientific meeting on hormones, and is taking place at the Harrogate International Centre, Harrogate, from 7-10 April 2008. For the full programme, please see here.

Please mention the Society for Endocrinology BES 2008 in any story.

The Society for Endocrinology is Britain’s national organisation promoting endocrinology and hormone awareness.

Society for Endocrinology

Parion Sciences, Inc., a privately-held, development-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to treating diseases resulting from the failure of the body’s mucosal defenses, announced preliminary results from a Phase I clinical safety study of a novel sodium channel blocker, P-552-02, as a topical therapy for dry mouth associated with primary Sjogren’s syndrome. The preliminary results of the study showed that P-552-02 was safe and well tolerated, both locally in the oral cavity and systemically. No side effects or other safety issues were reported in the study. The results were reported on April 4 by Athena Papas, DMD, Ph.D., Professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research.

The trial was a 28-day, 30-patient, randomized, double-blind, placebo- controlled, crossover study designed to assess the effect of a six-time daily oral rinse formulation of P-552-02 versus placebo on oral and systemic safety parameters and the symptoms of dry mouth. The primary efficacy endpoint, a global improvement in the “feeling of dry mouth” as determined by a single retrospective “recall” report at day 28, was not met. However, an assessment of “global change in dry mouth” as determined by the change in visual analog scale (VAS) measurements 12 hours after dosing at day 7 and day 28 revealed significant improvement in the global dry mouth scores. VAS scores that measured the change at day 28 in mouth dryness, tongue dryness and ability to sleep also indicated that subjects improved on P-552-02 compared to placebo. The work was funded by Parion Sciences under a clinical study agreement with Tufts University.

“We are very encouraged with the outcome of this study. The improvements seen in this safety study, with the low dose and small sample size, demonstrate the potential of this drug candidate to bring relief to a quality of life issue faced daily by these patients,” said M. Ross Johnson, Parion Chief Executive Officer. “Based on these results, we plan to proceed with a Phase I/IIA study designed to test the efficacy of higher concentrations of P-552-02 delivered in a spray formulation and dosing at different intervals, and to pursue other potential indications.”

Epithelial sodium channel blockers, such as P-552-02, are unique therapeutic agents that stimulate and maintain hydration on the body’s mucosal surfaces, including those on the lung, mouth, nose, eye and gastrointestinal tract. Restoring the hydration of mucosal surfaces in the mouth addresses the fundamental problem that causes the extreme dryness of Sjogren’s syndrome.

Sjogren’s syndrome is a chronic disorder that occurs when a person’s normally protective immune system attacks and destroys moisture-producing glands, including the salivary and tear glands. There are currently no specific topical pharmaceutical medications to alleviate the symptoms of dry mouth associated with Sjogren’s syndrome, which can cause difficulty with chewing and swallowing, decreased sense of taste, hoarseness, coughing and an increase in dental cavities.

About Parion Sciences

Based in Durham, NC, Parion Sciences is a privately-held, development- stage pharmaceutical company that is leveraging its proprietary small molecule chemistry and epithelial biology expertise to discover and develop an innovative pipeline of therapies for diseases resulting from the failure of the body’s mucosal defenses, including Sjogren’s syndrome, dry eye, certain pulmonary diseases, and diverticulitis and other gastrointestinal diseases, as well as biodefense applications. Parion’s lead product candidate, P-552-02, has completed a Phase I clinical trial in Sjogren’s syndrome and a Phase II clinical trial in cystic fibrosis. In August 2007, Parion announced a collaboration with Gilead Sciences focused on developing drug candidates for pulmonary diseases utilizing Parion’s expertise in epithelial sodium channel blockers. Parion was founded based on technology from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC-CH). For more information, please visit http://www.parion.com

Parion Sciences, Inc.
http://www.parion.com

Even small increases in serum creatinine levels during hospitalization raise the risk of end stage renal disease and mortality of elderly patients over the long term, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study in the March issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The 10-year retrospective study, led by UAB nephrologist Britt Newsome, M.D, is the first systematic description of creatinine increase and longer-term end stage renal disease and mortality risk. Previous studies showed a relationship between reductions in kidney function during hospitalization and higher mortality rates.

“Previous studies have shown that a rise in serum creatinine level of 0.3 milligrams per deciliter or more during hospitalization is associated with higher in-hospital mortality, longer stays and higher costs,” Newsome said. “However, little was known about the long-term risks of subsequent end-stage renal disease and mortality in this population. The long-term risks we observed suggest that even the least severe category of kidney injury may indicate a worse prognosis.”

The study looked at 87,094 Medicare beneficiaries admitted to 4,473 hospitals across the country suffering from a heart attack, or acute myocardial infarction. They studied changes in creatinine levels of those patients from 0.1 to 3.0 milligrams per deciliter. The mean age of the patients was 77.1 years old.

Incidences of end stage renal disease and death were greatest among patients with larger changes in creatinine level, and all levels of serum creatinine increase were associated with a greater risk of end stage renal disease and death.

“We chose to examine a population of Medicare beneficiaries because the incidence of acute kidney injury has been increasing in this population for the past 10 years,” Newsome said. “Further, patients with cardiovascular disease are at a particularly high risk of chronic kidney disease as well as acute kidney injury.

In future studies we will want to determine if this relationship exists in patients admitted to the hospital for other conditions.”

With these findings, the study calls for clinicians to closely monitor and aggressively treat patients experiencing increases in creatinine levels.

“The study also shows that giving patients beta blockers and aspirin can help treat these patients and possibly prevent death in the long term, regardless of creatinine change during hospitalization,” Newsome said.

Other UAB authors on the paper were Jeroan J. Allison, M.D.; David Warnock, M.D.; and Catarina I. Kiefe, M.D., Ph.D.

Additional authors are William M. McClellan, M.D., Emory University School of Medicine; Charles A. Herzog, M.D., Cardiovascular Special Studies Center, U.S. Renal Data System, Minneapolis, Minn.; and Paul W. Eggers, Ph.D., the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

University of Alabama at Birmingham
701 20th St. S., AB 1320
Birmingham, AL 35294-0113
United States
http://main.uab.edu

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston Medical Center (BMC) and collaborators nationwide have found that decreased sexual satisfaction in postmenopausal women, is not clearly associated with cardiovascular disease. This study appears in the April 2008 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

Female sexual dysfunction is a common condition and has been linked to a higher burden of medical illnesses that can cause cardiovascular disease. In men, erectile dysfunction is clearly linked to the development of cardiovascular disease. Many of the same mechanisms known to be risk factors for cardiovascular disease are thought to be responsible for sexual dysfunction in postmenopausal women, but this association has not been previously examined using prospective data.

Researchers examined data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. Participants were sexually active postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 years, recruited at 40 clinical centers throughout the United States and followed for 8-12 years. Based on responses to a baseline survey, subjects were classified as sexually satisfied or dissatisfied.

Researchers identified cardiovascular disease at baseline and over the follow-up period. The presence of cardiovascular disease was defined as a self-reported history of acute myocardial infarction, stroke, or coronary revascularization procedure. Related cardiovascular problems, including congestive heart failure, peripheral arterial disease and angina were also examined.

According to researchers, there was a modest association between being dissatisfied with sexual activity and having peripheral arterial disease, and angina was decreased among those dissatisfied with sexual activity. However, there was no association between sexual dissatisfaction and the presence of any other form of cardiovascular disease including heart attack or stroke. More importantly, there was no association between sexual dissatisfaction at baseline and the development of cardiovascular disease in the future.

“In men, erectile dysfunction is a manifestation of cardiovascular disease, and can predict the development of adverse cardiovascular outcomes such as heart attack,” said lead author Jennifer McCall-Hosenfeld, MD, MSc, a fellow in the Department of General Internal Medicine at BMC and Women’s Health at BUSM. “In our study, we used decreased sexual satisfaction as a proxy measure for sexual dysfunction, and controlled for lifestyle issues and other factors that might impact sexual satisfaction. We did not find that sexual satisfaction predicted cardiovascular disease in the future.

“Our study of sexually active postmenopausal women found dissatisfaction with sexual activity was not predictive of incident cardiovascular disease which may be due to physiological differences in sexual functioning between men and women, or to difficulty measuring sexual dysfunction in women,” added McCall-Hosenfeld.

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The Women’s Health Initiative program was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Jennifer McCall-Hosenfeld was supported by a Department of Veterans Affairs Special Fellowship in the Health Issues of Women Veterans.

Source: Gina DiGravio
Boston University

Roche Diagnostics announced the launch of the first fully-automated immunoassay for the determination of autoantibodies to the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) receptor for the differential diagnosis of Graves’ disease. The assay has been CE approved for use on the Elecsys / cobas e electrochemiluminescence immunoassay systems.

Graves` disease, which is also known as Basedow’s disease, represents the leading type of autoimmune thyroid disease and is associated with hyperthyroidism and ophthalmopathy. The incidence is about 40 cases per 100.000 population per year. The TSH receptor antibody (TRAb) is the major pathogenic factor in Graves’ disease, which, like TSH, binds the receptor and has a stimulatory effect with resulting hyperthyroidism. Measurement of the TSH receptor antibody is recommended in the diagnosis of Graves’ disease and differentiation from diffuse thyroid autonomy. Additionally, TRAb measurement can be useful to monitor antithyroid drug treatment.

“The new TRAb assay provides the opportunity to perform differential diagnosis of thyroid autoimmune diseases with new levels of accuracy, speed and degree of automation”, said Dirk Ehlers, Head of Roche Professional Diagnostics. “This assay will further strengthen Roche’s comprehensive test menu in thyroid diseases and endocrinology.”

The Elecsys TSH receptor antibody assay is based on intellectual property owned by RSR Limited, UK. Roche has concluded a license agreement with RSR in this field. RSR Limited is a developer and manufacturer of medical diagnostics with particular emphasis on research activities in the field of autoimmune diseases (http://www.rsrltd.com).

About the test

The newly developed third-generation Elecsys Anti-TSHR assay has been shown to meet the diagnostic requirements with excellent sensitivity and specificity. A further advantage of the assay is the short total test time of 27 minutes which is significantly faster than existing methods. The Anti-TSHR assay complements Roche Diagnostics broad immunoassay menu on Elecsys and cobas e platforms which permit the use of both routine and special assays.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007. Worldwide, the Group employs about 79,000 people.

http://www.roche.com

The winners of the 2007 BioMed Central Research Awards were announced at an awards ceremony at the Royal Society of Medicine. The event was attended by shortlisted authors, eminent researchers from around the world, open access advocates and science journalists.

The Research Awards, now in their second year, recognize excellence in research which has been made universally accessible by open access publication. The Awards celebrate the best medical and biological research published in any of BioMed Central’s open access journals in the last year.

The Medicine and Biology awards, sponsored by Microsoft Research, were won by the following research articles:

Medicine Award - Xioalong Meng and Thomas Ichim
Endometrial regenerative cells: A novel stem cell population
Journal of Translational Medicine

Biology Award - Markus Rasler
Dynamic rerouting of the carbohydrate flux is key to counteracting oxidative stress
Journal of Biology.

Also in attendance was Ken Wood, the Deputy Managing Director of Microsoft Research - Cambridge, who commented, “Microsoft is extremely pleased to sponsor these open access research awards. They support the recognition and acknowledgment of the highest-quality scientific research that is broadly available to the entire scientific community, and in which Microsoft Research has a direct interest. This is an important annual event and Microsoft is very proud to be involved in this endeavor. “

This year, a new Award was introduced - The Journal of Medical Case Reports Award. The winning entry for this inaugural award was:

JMCR Award - Phuong Mai
‘A possible new syndrome with growth-hormone secreting pituitary adenoma, colonic polyposis, lipomatosis, lentigines and renal carcinoma in association with familial testicular germ cell malignancy: A case report’Journal of Medical Case Reports

BioMed Central Publisher Matthew Cockerill said “We are delighted with the diversity and quality of this year’s award nominees and would like to congratulate the winners, and those shortlisted, on their exceptional research. We would also like to thank our sponsors, Microsoft Research and Pfizer, whose support made the awards possible.”

Guests at the event were treated to an entertaining talk on the Galapagos Islands from Henry Nicholls, journalist and writer. As part of their commitment to open access, Pfizer were proud to be the sponsor the Research Awards Dinner.

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The winning articles

All articles are open access.

Medicine
Endometrial regenerative cells: A novel stem cell population
Meng X, Ichim TE, Zhong J, Rogers A, Yin Z, Jackson J, Wang H, Ge W, Bogin V, Chan KW, Thébaud B, Riordan NH
Journal of Translational Medicine 2007, 5:57 (15 November 2007)
http://www.translational-medicine.com/content/5/1/57

Biology
Dynamic rerouting of the carbohydrate flux is key to counteracting oxidative stress
Ralser M, Wamelink MM, Kowald A, Gerisch B, Heeren G, Struys EA, Klipp E, Jakobs C, Breitenbach M, Lehrach H, Krobitsch S
Journal of Biology 2007, 6:10 (21 December 2007)
http://jbiol.com/content/6/4/10

Case Report
A possible new syndrome with growth-hormone secreting pituitary adenoma, colonic polyposis, lipomatosis, lentigines and renal carcinoma in association with familial testicular germ cell malignancy: A case report
Mai PL, Korde L, Kramer J, Peters J, Mueller CM, Pfeiffer S, Stratakis CA, Pinto PA, Bratslavsky G, Merino M, Choyke P, Linehan WM, Greene MH
Journal of Medical Case Reports 1:9 (28 March 2007)
http://www.jmedicalcasereports.com/content/1/1/9

BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science.

Microsoft Research, founded in 1991, is dedicated to conducting both basic and applied research in computer science and software engineering. Its goals are to enhance the user experience on computing devices, reduce the cost of writing and maintaining software, and invent novel computing technologies. Researchers focus on more than 55 areas of computing and collaborate with leading academic, government and industry researchers to advance the state of the art in such areas as graphics, speech recognition, user-interface research, natural language processing, programming tools and methodologies, operating systems and networking, and the mathematical sciences. Microsoft Research employs more than 700 people in five labs located in Redmond, Wash.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; , China; and Bangalore, India. Microsoft Research collaborates openly with colleges and universities worldwide to enhance the teaching and learning experience, inspire technological innovation, and broadly advance the field of computer science. More information can be found at http://www.research.microsoft.com/.

Source: Charlotte Webber
BioMed Central

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are two serious and debilitating diseases with no confirmed cause and limited treatment options. However, results of a new comprehensive literature study propose a simplified treatment process that could help alleviate symptoms for patients suffering from these diseases.

Kent Holtorf, M.D., medical director of the Holtorf Medical Group Center for Endocrine, Neurological and Infection related illness Torrance, Calif., is advising a simplified treatment process that may help alleviate CFS and FM symptoms. From an extensive review of more than 50 published studies that assessed adrenal function in CFS and FM patients, Dr. Holtorf found that that the majority of CFS and FM patients displayed abnormal adrenal function due to hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction. The comprehensive review also showed that the majority of patients could be treated for this adrenal dysfunction. Dr. Holtorf’s analysis, recently published in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, demonstrated that patients that were given cortisol as part of a multi-system treatment experienced significant improvement in their symptoms.

“My review of existing studies suggests that a treatment protocol of early administration of cortisol may help improve and reduce the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia,” said Dr. Holtorf. “This research provides a new understanding that treating the known causes of illness in CFS and FM can improve the symptoms and quality-of-life of patients who suffer from these conditions.”

CFS and FM primarily affect women in their 30s and 40s. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than one million Americans suffer from CFS while it is estimate that FM affects about 2 percent of the U.S. population. Unfortunately, both of these diseases are poorly understood by many physicians and there is no generally accepted test to accurately detect them. In addition, many CFS and FM patients express frustration because there is no clear treatment path for their conditions.

Dr. Holtorf’s research was further confirmed in an observational study following the conditions of 500 patients from his clinic, where of the patients given cortisol as part of their treatment protocol:

* 94 percent showed improvement by the fourth visit;

* 75 percent noted significant improvement;

* 62 percent reported substantial improvement; and

* Energy levels and a general sense of well-being for patients doubled by the fourth visit.

The effectiveness of this multi-system treatment was further confirmed through the analysis of the cumulative findings of over 40 independent physicians and over 5,000 patients.

As shown in the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome study, cortisol doses of 5-to-15mg a day have been shown to be safe, with little or no associated risk while having the potential for significant benefit for CFS and FM patients.

“Cortisol treatment carries significantly less risk and a greater potential for benefit than treatments considered to be the standard of care for both conditions,” Dr. Holtorf explains.

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What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

Chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS, is a debilitating and complex disease characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity. Persons with CFS most often function at a substantially lower level of activity than they were capable of before the onset of illness. In addition, patients report various symptoms, such as weakness, muscle pain, impaired memory and/or mental concentration, insomnia, and post-exertional fatigue lasting more than 24 hours. In some cases, CFS can persist for years. The cause or causes of CFS have not been identified and no specific diagnostic tests are available.

What is Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia or FM is a chronic pain condition characterized by generalized muscular pain and fatigue. Fibromyalgia typically involves pain in the muscles, ligaments and tendons and related sleep and quality of life disturbances. This condition is often referred to as a “syndrome” because it is a set of signs and symptoms that occur together. The disease is often misunderstood because its symptoms are quite common; however, medical studies have proven that fibromyalgia does indeed exist.

Kent Holtorf, M.D.

Kent Holtorf, M.D. is an expert in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, complex endocrine dysfunction and chronic infections (including EBV, HHV6 and Lyme disease). Dr. Holtorf received his doctorate of medicine from St. Louis University with residency training at UCLA. He has personally trained numerous physicians across the country to effectively treat chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and chronic infectious diseases. Additionally, Dr. Holtorf was the founding medical director and developed the protocols for Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers and other centers across the country.

Source: Julian Teixeira
Edelman Public Relations

A new study by researchers in the US found that contrary to what many people may assume, scientific evidence does not support claims that human growth hormone (HGH) increases strength or athletic performance.

The study was the work of Dr Hau Liu of the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, and Stanford University, California, and colleagues, and is published in the early online issue of the May 20th print edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Liu and colleagues reviewed randomized controlled trials comparing HGH with non-HGH treatment in physically fit, healthy people aged 13 to 45 and found that while growth hormone increased lean body mass it did not increase strength and the capacity to exercise.

They also found that people who took GH had more frequent tissue swelling and experienced fatigue more often than people who did not take the substance.

The researchers concluded that the available scientific evidence does not support claims that GH improves physical performance. In fact while lean body mass may increase, strength does not and GH may even diminish exercise capacity and lead to other adverse side effects.

The safety and effectiveness of HGH is poorly understood, even though it is reportedly used to enhance athletic performance, said Liu and colleagues in their background to the study.

They decided to investigate all the published randomized controlled trials they could find that compared HGH with non-HGH treatments in healthy community dwelling people between 13 and 45 years of age. They searched a number of databases and found 44 articles of which 27 met their inclusion criteria.

When pooled together, the results showed that:

• 303 participants received HGH, equivalent to 13.3 person-years of treatment.
• The participants were young (mean age was 27 years), lean (mean BMI of 24), and physically fit (maximum O2 uptake was 51 mL per kilo of bodyweight per min).
• HGH dosage (mean of 36 micrograms per kg per day) and treatment duration (mean of 20 days) for studies where participants took HGH for more than a day varied.
• Lean body mass went up in participants taking HGH compared with those who did not (increase 2.1 kg, range 1.3 to 2.9), but strength and exercise capacity did not appear to increase.
• Lactate levels during exercise were significantly higher in 2 of the 3 studies that measured them.
• Participants who took HGH had soft tissue edema (swelling) and fatigue more often than non-HGH participants.

Liu and colleagues concluded that:

“Claims that growth hormone enhances physical performance are not supported by the scientific literature.”

“Although the limited available evidence suggests that growth hormone increases lean body mass, it may not improve strength; in addition, it may worsen exercise capacity and increase adverse events,” they added.

However, they said more research was needed to confirm these conclusions, and the study was limited by the fact that the dosages examined may not reflect what happens in real life.

HGH to improve athletic performance is often called sports doping, a practice that is banned by most professional sports organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, Major League Baseball, and the National Football League, said the researchers in their background information.

One of the reasons HGH is alleged to be so popular is because it is difficult to detect. It does not show in urine tests for example.

Last December, the 400-page Mitchell Report of former US Senator George Mitchell’s 20-month investigation into illegal use of performance drugs in Major League Baseball, named 89 major baseball players who allegedly used performance drugs, some of whom have since admitted to using HGH, said Liu and colleagues.

“Systematic Review: The Effects of Growth Hormone on Athletic Performance.”
H. Liu, D. M. Bravata, I. Olkin, A. Friedlander, V. Liu, B. Roberts, E. Bendavid, O. Saynina, S. R. Salpeter, A. M. Garber and A. R. Hoffman.
Ann Intern Med 2008; 60520-215.
20 May 2008, Volume 148 Issue 10

Click here for Article.

Click here for the Mitchell Report (PDF).

Sources: Annals of Internal Medicine press statement, journal article.

Written by: Catharine Paddock
Copyright: Medical News Today

Tests on the influence that a stress-related hormone has on learning in ground squirrels could have an impact on understanding how it influences human learning, according to a University of Chicago researcher.

Jill Mateo, Assistant Professor in Comparative Human Development, has found that when they perform normal survival tasks, ground squirrels learn more quickly if they have a modest amount of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress, than those with either high or low levels of cortisol.

In humans, cortisol production is also related to stress and is known to have an impact on learning, but that impact is not well understood, Mateo said. The research on ground squirrels could point to additional avenues of research.

In order to survive, ground squirrels must adapt quickly and learn how to navigate the dangers of their environment so they can find their way back to their burrows. Ground squirrel pups typically emerge from their burrows about the time they’re weaned, at four weeks of age.

“Two hundred can emerge at the same time, providing a feast for predators,” said Mateo, who studies Belding ground squirrels, native to high elevations in the western United States. In nature, about 30 percent of pups do not survive.

Modest levels of cortisol are apparently linked to their survival, Mateo reports in the article, “Inverted-U shape relationship between cortisol and learning in ground squirrels,” published in an on-line posting of the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. The “inverted U” is the shape data forms on a chart. Animals with low levels of cortisol are at the left of the inverted U, and those with high levels are at the right, while those with modest levels and higher learning are in the middle.

In order to test whether animals with low levels have difficulty learning, Mateo simulated a natural setting with a maze and connected it with a box that contained a nest of squirrel pups. She noninvasively altered the amount of coritsol in the pups’ systems and found that those with both high and low cortisol levels took an average of 13 to 14 trials before they navigated the maze, while a control group of non-treated pups with a modest amount of cortisol needed just nine.

She tested the animals’ response to danger by throwing a Frisbee over the maze and also by sounding a bird call to see how quickly the pups responded. High and low amounts of cortisol reduced the animals’ ability to learn how to respond to danger.

Among humans, what research that has been done on cortisol and learning has been inconclusive. Unlike animals, researchers cannot moderate cortisol levels in humans to study its impact. However, scholars are aware of situations in which cortisol levels change due to unusual interventions and events.

For instance, in order to help women at risk of pre-term birth deliver healthy babies, doctors sometimes treat them with synthetic glucocorticoids, which raise cortisol levels. The glucocorticoids facilitate fetal lung development.

“We know almost nothing about the neurobiological implications of these treatments on cognitive development of children,” she said. Animal studies have shown that these treatments can have negative effects on brain development, she said.

Additionally, little is known about the impact of low cortisol on learning among humans. Pregnant women who are exposed to stress, such as those tested after directly experiencing the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11, developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and had significantly lower cortisol two years later, as did their babies.

The animal tests also help to understand the potential human impact of low cortisol on learning, she said.

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Source: William Harms
University of Chicago