The use of Avastin alone can be considered as an effective form of treatment when it comes to treating a subgroup of recurrent Grade 3 brain tumors in terms of delaying tumor progression, as per a retrospective study of 22 patients conducted by a researcher at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

Avastin, known generically as bevacizumab, is the first approved therapy designed for inhibiting angiogenesis that is a process in which new blood vessels develop and transport important nutrients to a tumor.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Chamberlain said he expects that patients treated with the drug will have a marked improvement in their quality of life because the use of steroids, a common treatment that has significant side effects, can be greatly reduced or even eliminated.

“While treatment with Avastin does dramatically improve survival time, the time that patients have left is of better quality and less about living with the disease itself,” Chamberlain said. In this study, the patients, ages 24-60, received an infusion of bevacizumab every two weeks for an average of 14.5 cycles (range was two to 39 cycles). Fourteen (64 percent) patients showed a partial response to the medicine as shown on radiographic scans. Two patients had stable disease and six had progressive disease. Progression-free survival ranged from three to 18 months and survival for the entire group of patients was three to 19 months.

Bevacizumab has the potential of being the best palliative treatment, as per Marc Chamberlain, M.D., author of this study that was published in the April 15 edition of the journal Cancer and director of the Neuro-oncology Program at the SCCA and a professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine.

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Individuals suffering from mild, persistent asthma and being administered with twice-daily use of inhaled steroids are likely to make lesser use of inhalers or find it easy to switch to a new pill.

It was remarked by Stephen P. Peters, M.D., Ph.D., lead author and a professor of pediatrics, internal medicine-pulmonary and associate director of the Center for Human Genomics, that this is good news for asthmatic patients because it offers them more choices in terms of asthma management.

From News-Medical.Net:

The study, involving 500 children and adults with mild asthma, was conducted by the American Lung Association’s Asthma Clinical Research Centers. Its goal was to determine if patients whose symptoms are well controlled on twice daily inhaled corticosteroid can “step down” their medication use. The results are reported in the May 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Asthma is considered mild, but persistent, when symptoms occur more than two times a week or cause the patient to awaken during the night more than twice a month. The standard treatment for mild-persistent asthma is twice-daily use of an inhaled steroid to prevent symptoms. Patients may also take additional drugs such as the inhaler albuterol, known as “rescue” therapy, to treat symptoms. A majority of people with asthma have mild disease, according to Peters.

The study involved patients whose asthma was treated with twice-daily inhaled fluticasone propionate (Flovent Discus), a commonly prescribed synthetic steroid. This drug is designed to suppress inflammation within the airways that can cause narrowing.

It was further remarked by Peters that asthmatic patients treated with twice a day inhaled corticosteroid doses and seeking other options must talk to their doctors before finalizing a decision.

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Bodybuilders and strength athletes making use of anabolic steroids for delivering dramatic on-field performances may end up destroying their kidney. This previously unrecognized finding was revealed by a paper presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, CA.

The paper indicated that habitual use of anabolic steroids can lead to severe health complications, including severe kidney dysfunction.

From News-Medical.Net:

Reports of professional athletes who abuse anabolic steroids are increasingly common. Most people know that using steroids is not good for your health, but until now, their effects on the kidneys have not been known. Leal Herlitz, MD (Columbia University Medical Center) and her colleagues recently conducted the first study describing injury to the kidneys following long-term abuse of anabolic steroids. The investigators studied a group of 10 bodybuilders who used steroids for many years and developed protein leakage into the urine and severe reductions in kidney function. Kidney tests revealed that nine of the ten bodybuilders developed a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a type of scarring within the kidneys. This disease typically occurs when the kidneys are overworked. The kidney damage in the bodybuilders has similarities to that seen in morbidly obese patients, but appears to be even more severe.

This study was conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Vivette D’Agati, MD at Columbia Univeristy Medical Center. The list of study co-authors included Glen Markowitz, MD, Joshua Schwimmer, MD, Michael Stokes, MD, Cheryl Kunis, MD, Vivette D’Agati, MD, (Columbia University Medical Center); Alton Farris, MD, and Robert Colvin, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital).

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Surgical repair of massive or recurrent tears of the shoulder’s rotator cuff tendons can be improved with anabolic steroids, as per a research from the UNC’s School of Medicine.

The study was led by Dr. Spero Karas, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery in UNC’s School of Medicine and appeared in an issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine.

From News-Medical.Net:

Anabolic steroids benefit millions of people a year, said Karas, including those with deficiencies in sex hormones and burn victims who need to build up their metabolism to repair musculoskeletal tissue. They also are FDA-approved for treating anemia for their ability to help the body rebuild blood.

As it’s widely known that anabolic steroids can build muscle mass and strength, Karas said he thought these properties might apply to shoulder tissue and that Banes’ bioartificial tendon might provide the appropriate model for testing.

“In this new study, supraspinatus tendon cells were harvested from my patients during rotator cuff surgery, isolated and then sent to Albert’s lab,” Karas said. “The cells were then grown in his culture media to coalesce and form this experimental tendon model, the bioartificial tendon.”

It was further remarked by Karas that there were significant improvements in the biomechanical properties of the bioartificial tendon matrices when they were initially treated with anabolic steroid and then mechanical load or strain.

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