( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A specific form of Vitamin E can improve the most severe form of fatty liver disease in some children.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – is the most common chronic liver disease among US children. It ranges in severity from steatosis – to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH -.

The symptoms of NAFLD and NASH are identical. They are very bland and non-specific. They can occur at any adult age and, in children, usually appear after 10 years of age.

Fatty liver increases a child’s risk of developing heart disease and liver cirrhosis. The only way to distinguish NASH from other forms of fatty liver disease is with a liver biopsy.

Using liver biopsies, researchers found that after 96 weeks of treatment, 58 percent of the children on Vitamin E no longer had NASH, compared to 41 percent of the children on metformin -, and 28 percent on placebo.

Vitamin E was better than placebo because it significantly reduced enlargement and death of liver cells, reports the Journal of the American Medical Association.

‘These results suggest that Vitamin E improves or resolves NASH in at least half of children, which we previously showed to be true in adults,’ said Stephen P. James, director of the digestive diseases at National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases -, which funded the study.

Weight loss may reverse the disease in some children, but other than dietary advice, there are no specific treatments. Excess fat in the liver is believed to cause injury by increasing levels of oxidants, compounds that damage cells, according to an NIDDK statement.

The Treatment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children – trial studied whether Vitamin E – or metformin could improve fatty liver disease.

Most children with fatty liver disease are overweight and resistant to insulin, a critical hormone that regulates energy. Boys are more likely to be affected than girls.

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BOSTON — Terry Strom, MD, Co-director of the Transplant Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and a leader in the field of immune tolerance research, was awarded the 2011 Alfred Newton Richards Award from the International Society of Nephrology during a program held earlier this month as part of the World Congress of Nephrology 2011 in Vancouver, Canada.

The award, which recognizes outstanding basic research in fields relevant to nephrology, is named in honor of Alfred Newton Richards, a renowned physiologist known for the development of the micropuncture procedure.

A Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Strom’s career spans more than 30 years. To date, he has published more than 700 manuscripts in the fields of immunbiology and transplantation and has conducted pioneering investigations of the cellular and molecular bases of immune tolerance, the immune system’s ability to recognize and tolerate the body’s own cells and molecules in order to prevent organ rejection.

Dr. Strom’s groundbreaking work in understanding the basic mechanisms underlying immunosuppressive agents has evolved to include the design of new therapeutics and the development of immune-tolerance therapies for patient care, notes BIDMC Chief Academic Officer Vikas Sukhatme, MD, PhD. His contributions have provided the field of nephrology with a critically important foundation in the biology of immune cells and tolerance, and his work is a tremendous example of how translational science can successfully move basic laboratory discoveries into promising new patient therapies.

Strom has elucidated the basic mechanisms of action of immunosuppressives and has designed new therapeutics, work leading to the development of anti-CD25 monoclonal antibodies. Two new therapies created in the Strom laboratory will soon enter human clinical trials, and his inquiries into the molecular signature of allograft rejection are under development for individualized patient care. Using newly developed molecular and imaging tools, the Strom laboratory is now revealing interactions between the adaptive and innate immune systems that are of both scientific and clinical importance.

A founding member and past president of both the American Society of Transplantation and the Clinical Immunology Society, Strom has trained over 90 doctoral and post-doctoral students who now hold prominent positions in academia and industry throughout the world. At BIDMC’s Transplant Institute, which Strom co-directs with Laurence Turka, MD, PhD, he continues to guide and mentor 55 full-time investigators.

Strom was educated as an Illinois State Scholar, and went on to receive an NIH Career Development Award and was honored as Lilly Lecturer of the Royal College of Physicians.. Throughout his prolific career, Strom has been honored with numerous awards, including the 1997 Sandoz Transplant Established Investigator Award of the American Society of Transplant Physicians, the 2001 Roche American Society of Transplantation Distinguished Achievement Award and the Homer Smith Award from the American Society of Nephrology. He has served on the U.S. Senate-appointed Task Force on Transplantation.

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Agra, April 29 – As activists continued protests against quacks and the administration kept up raids on illegally-running nursing homes with unqualified personnel, a 29-year-old woman died here Friday – a fortnight after a botched abortion led to complications and eventually removal of her intestines.

Manisha died in the ICU of S.N. Medical College Friday morning. Her husband Bhoori Singh sold his land and all the valuables for her treatment but to no avail, as doctors could do nothing to save her.

The woman was admitted to a local nursing home in the trans-Yamuna area for an abortion. After her case got complicated, family members took her to at least three other nursing homes and a private hospital before she ended up at the medical college, but without any hope of survival.

As her condition deteriorated, Manisha was transferred to Shringar Nursing Home, where Dr K.P.Singh and nurse Reena carried out an operation for abortion and in the process, damaged her intestines and womb. To save her life, her intestines were taken out.

When her blood loss could not be stopped, she was transferred to Vidhyawati Nursing Home and from there to Krishna Nursing Home and from there to Pushpanjali Hospital, before finally landing at the medical college.

But even the doctors there had no idea how to treat a patient who had no intestines. ‘How would she ever survive without intestines? Drip is a temporary solution,’ the doctors told senior police and administrative officials.

A police investigation in the sequence of events is on and the whole city has been fuming with anger against doctors. The doctor and nurse, who allegedly carried out the botched abortion, are on the run and untraced.

Women’s groups in the city have been holding demonstrations for the past one week. The state health department has carried out extensive checks and some nursing homes have been sealed, while a large number of quacks have locked their shops and disappeared.

The Agra chapter of the Indian Medical Association has asked for stringent measures against quacks.

‘Due to the greed of a few, the whole profession gets a bad name,’ lamented a retired professor of the medical college.

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 29 – Children as young as 12 are using diet pills, fat burners and are resorting to fasting and self-induced vomiting in a bid to stay fit and look good, reveals a recent study conducted among youngsters in Indian cities.

The survey, conducted by ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation – interacted with around 2,500 youngsters aged between 12-25 years in 10 major cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore.

‘Kids as young as 12 years are resorting to severe dieting, consuming fat burners and protein shakes, thereby developing serious eating disorders, especially females, as they suffer from eating disorder and psychological problems like distorted body image, insecurity and low self-esteem owing to fear of rejection,’ said the study.

While Mumbai topped the chart with around 55 percent of the youth admitting to dieting three days a week and 35 percent dieting daily, Delhi youth were second with 40 percent dieting thrice a week and 30 percent dieting daily, revealed the study.

‘Youngsters in urban India feel the need to diet as they aspire to be thin and beautiful as cine stars, models, celebrities and feel that they will be popular if they are able to attain that ‘ideal body image’,’ observed ASSOCHAM Secretary General D.S. Rawat.

‘Parents tend to overlook the strange eating habits of their kids without realizing that this is robbing them off their childhood,’ added Rawat.

According to the survey, majority of respondents who admitted to dieting severely were ignorant of the harms.

Besides, the study also revealed that some of those obsessed with dieting become anorexic and are prone to diseases like depression, anxiety, insomnia.

The respondents admitted they felt worthless on being overweight, that’s the reason they starve themselves to attain a lean look.

Majority of them said they exercised compulsively, often to the point of exhaustion to compensate for the calorie intake, said the survey.

( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 28 – The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs – Thursday approved an intensified malaria control project at an estimated cost of Rs.417.22 crore – for seven northeast states in the country.

The CCEA cleared the health ministry proposal for Intensified Malaria Control Project-II – for seven northeast states – under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme – with support from Global Fund for AIDS, TB and malaria.

The aim of the project is to reduce malaria-related mortality and morbidity in project states by at least 30 percent by 2015 as compared to 2008-levels, said an official statement.

‘The approval envisages continuance of erstwhile Global Fund Supported Intensified Malaria Control Project – for the year 2005-10 with revised geographical focus in high endemic seven northeast states for accelerated control of malaria,’ it said.

The main components of the proposal are human resource development, procurement and distribution of commodities and drugs, Information, Education and Communication -/ Behaviour Change Communication – activities and planning, monitoring and evaluation.

It also includes measures for improving behaviour change communication, vector and parasite surveillance, partnership development and capacity building. The project covers the period from Oct 1, 2010 to Sep 30, 2015.