Ostomyland's Wicked Wiki: Articles about new Inflammatory Bowel Disease drugs, treatment methods etc.

Most recent edit on 2007-11-23 06:29:25 by KathyFromEngland

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~*Prestigious NIH Award for Psychiatrist at Children's Hospital Of Pittsburgh
Prestigious NIH Award for Psychiatrist at Children's Hospital Of Pittsburgh
Article Date: 20 Sep 2007 - 9:00 PDT

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC psychiatrist Eva M. Szigethy, MD, PhD, is among a select group of researchers who have been chosen by the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to receive a prestigious New Innovator Award.
NIH director Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, has announced that 41 researchers from across the country -- many of them in the early stages of their careers, including Dr. Szigethy -- will receive five-year grants totaling more than $105 million. Dr. Szigethy is one of only 29 recipients of the NIH Director's New Innovator Award (selected from more than 2,100 applicants), and there are 12 recipients of the Pioneer Award.
Pioneer Awards support scientists at any career stage, while New Innovator Awards are reserved for new investigators who have not received an NIH regular research or similar grant. This is the first group of New Innovator Awards and the fourth group of Pioneer Awards. Both programs are part of an NIH Roadmap for Medical Research initiative that tests new approaches to supporting novel research.
Dr. Szigethy is the medical director of the Coping Clinic, part of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Center at Children's Hospital. She also is an assistant professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. By working with young patients who have been diagnosed with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis, Dr. Szigethy is investigating the interactions among the brain, gut and immune system in how adolescents cope with chronic disease. She will work with Robert Noll, PhD, chief of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Children's, and Ronald Dahl, MD, the Staunton Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh to coordinate this multi-faceted research effort.
"Novel ideas and new investigators are essential ingredients for scientific progress, and the creative scientists we recognize with NIH Director's Pioneer Awards and NIH Director's New Innovator Awards are well-positioned to make significant -- and potentially transformative -- discoveries in a variety of areas," Dr. Zerhouni said in announcing the award recipients.
Dr. Szigethy's NIH award will allow her to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to study regions of the brain responsible for emotional and cognitive processing in patients with IBD with and without depression. She also will study the relationship between depressive symptoms and brain, immune and gastrointestinal functioning, as well as the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating patients with IBD who are depressed. The integration of behavioral health into comprehensive medical care represents a paradigm shift within medicine in treating children with chronic physical illness.
"The early identification and treatment of depression in children and adolescents with chronic physical illness such as IBD is an understudied area. Given the significant risk of emotional and physical harm to physically ill adolescents who are depressed, the development and implementation of effective preventive interventions is crucial," she said. "The early data from our research examining the effects of a cognitive behavioral therapy shows promising effects in improving depressive symptoms in adolescents with IBD."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/83143.php∞

Edited on 2007-11-23 06:25:52 by KathyFromEngland

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~*AlphaRx Announces Selection Of ARX828, A Novel INOS Inhibitor, For Advanced Preclinical Development
AlphaRx Announces Selection Of ARX828, A Novel INOS Inhibitor, For Advanced Preclinical Development
Article Date: 14 Sep 2007 - 0:00 PDT
AlphaRx Inc. (OTC BB: ALRX), a specialty pharmaceutical company announced that its ARX828, an orally-administered, potent and selective inhibitor of iNOS (Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase), is advancing to preclinical studies to support an investigational new drug (IND) application in 2008.
In animal models of inflammation, the anti-inflammatory activity of ARX828 is significantly higher than Indomethacin and as effective as Dexamethasone (a steroidal drug), but without the side-effects associated with either of these drugs.
The Company has initiated two pivotal animal studies for ARX828 and expects to receive results from these studies for analysis, by end of November. The Company's goal is to develop ARX828 for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/82482.php∞

Edited on 2007-11-22 13:56:26 by KathyFromEngland

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~*Effective Strategy In IBD Patients Found To Be Infliximab Scheduled Treatment

Effective Strategy In IBD Patients Found To Be Infliximab Scheduled Treatment
Article Date: 26 Oct 2007 - 5:00 PDT
Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are chronic-relapsing diseases, the clinical courses of which are characterized by periods of remission and periods of acute flare up, determining clinical symptoms which have a strong impact on the quality of life for patients. For many years, corticosteroids have represented the cornerstone of therapy for induction of remission in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD); however, the side-effects emerging with long-term use exceeded the clinical benefits. Recently, Infliximab (IFX) has become an alternative choice in the treatment strategies for CD and UC. Some safety issues are associated with IFX use, mostly related to the development of adverse events (e.g. opportunistic infections, autoimmune disorders and infusion reactions). Major concerns are related to the reactivation of latent tuberculosis and development of malignancy, even if there is no clear evidence the use of IFX increases the incidence of solid cancers. The research published in issue 39 of World Journal of Gastroenterology and led by Renato Caviglia at University Campus Biomedico in Italy aimed to retrospectively evaluate the safety and efficacy of long-term therapy with IFX, reviewing the medical charts of 41 IBD patients who received, after a loading dose of 3 IFX infusions, scheduled retreatment every 8 weeks as maintenance protocol.
Results of this retrospective study confirm current data on the efficacy of IFX in inducing a rapid clinical response in CD and UC, and support the finding, emerging from uncontrolled study data, of prolonged clinical efficacy in maintaining long-lasting remission beyond 1 year of treatment. The steroid-sparing effect of IFX was another important finding emerging from our study, which confirmed the efficacy of a scheduled treatment regimen in avoiding the well-known morbidity associated with long-term corticosteroid therapy. Interestingly, long-term IFX therapy in IBD has been demonstrated to potentially modify the course of the disease. Indeed, 9 out of the 29 CD and 4 out of the 9 UC patients, who discontinued IFX scheduled treatment, were still relapse-free after a median of 16 (range, 5-30) and 6.5 (range, 4-16) months since the last IFX infusion, respectively.
A note of caution is mandatory when considering the possible risk of malignancy associated with the use of anti-TNF-alpha therapy. Further studies on larger scales are needed to further clarify these important aspects.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/86827.php?nfid=30587∞

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~*Title 2

Edited on 2007-03-28 12:59:26 by KathyFromEngland

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~*Unacceptable Variation In Care For People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease - Royal College Of Physicians Of London

Unacceptable Variation In Care For People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease - Royal College Of Physicians Of London

28 Mar 2007
The first national audit of the care of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the UK has shown marked variation in the resources and quality of care. The UK IBD Audit is the first UK-wide audit in gastroenterology and is a collaborative partnership between gastroenterologists (the British Society of Gastroenterology and the Royal College of Physicians), colorectal surgeons (the Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland) and patients (the National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease). It is funded by a grant from the Health Foundation.
Inflammatory Bowel Disease affects about 1 in 400 people in the UK. The two main types of IBD are Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD) - different disorders, but with a considerable overlap in terms of disability and health service care. Both UC and CD commonly present in adolescence or early adulthood. At least 80% of people with CD and 25% with UC require surgery at some time. There are about 30,000 admissions to hospital per year with exacerbations of IBD and these are associated with some mortality and considerable morbidity. Many deaths occur around the time of surgery.
Seventy five percent of acute hospitals in the UK participated, auditing their resources and individual patient care.
The audit revealed:
-- 44% of sites in the UK do not have an IBD clinical nurse specialist
-- Very poor provision of dietetic services not just for IBD but for gastroenterology as a whole
-- Lack of adequate toilet provision in hospitals (for a condition with diarrhoea as a major feature) with a median 4.5 beds per toilet
-- Less than 1 in 5 hospitals are able to refer patients directly for psychological support
-- Crucial aspects of care are suboptimal; for example only 42% of patients with IBD having a stool sample sent for standard culture and for CDT (clostridium difficile toxin). Only 52% of patients admitted with CD (a disease often associated with weight loss and malnutrition) were weighed and only 37% were seen by a dietitian
-- Many patients with CD are receiving inappropriately prolonged courses of steroids (46% on continuous oral therapy for more than 3 months). Prolonged use of steroid therapy is of no benefit in maintaining remission in CD, increases the risk of septic complications and is associated with an increased mortality
-- There is inadequate prophylactic bone protection therapy given for patients on systemic steroids and inadequate screening for osteoporosis
-- There seems to be very infrequent participation in clinical research in IBD in the UK
The audit identified good working relationships between medical and surgical teams, and that operations are generally performed by an appropriately experienced specialist surgeon.
Keith Leiper, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Clinical Lead of the IBD Audit said:
"I am very impressed with the IBD community's engagement with the UK IBD Audit. There are clear deficits and unacceptable variation in care throughout the UK- both resources and in individual patient management. An expansion in clinical nurse specialists together with improved dietetic services are urgently required together with improved performance in key clinical aspects. There are huge opportunities to improve the care for people with IBD throughout the UK."
Richard Driscoll, Director of National Association for Colitis and Crohn's Disease, said:
"People who have Colitis and Crohn's disease have to accept that there is no cure for their illness and live with symptoms of pain, urgent diarrhoea and severe fatigue that can flare-up unpredictably at any time throughout their life. It is essential that they have ongoing support from and quick access to a gastroenterology team that is both experienced in managing these Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and is properly resourced. This national Audit of IBD services is a very important first step in ensuring that services of appropriate quality are available to patients throughout the UK."
Jonathan Potter, Clinical Director of the RCP's Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit, said:
"Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn's Disease (CD) are not currently "headline" conditions included in Government targets, National Service Frameworks or national guidelines. The Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation Unit is particularly pleased, therefore, to be involved in carrying out a national audit of these serious and disabling conditions to ensure that quality of care does not get overlooked. While it is of concern that there are marked variations in the quality of care provided, this exciting project aims to facilitate change and enhance care provision."
Asha Senapati, Consultant Surgeon and ACPGBI representative on the IBD Audit said:
"An audit of care jointly provided by physicians and surgeons is unique and highly commendable. It has shown a high level of collaboration between the different specialities and most surgery is done by senior surgeons with the appropriate level of experience. However some of the complex operations, in particular ileoanal pouch surgery, is performed in small numbers in some centres raising the question of whether such surgery should be centralized."
Wendy Buckley, Assistant Director at The Health Foundation, the independent charity which funded the IBD Audit, said:
"An audit of this national scale was urgently needed. The results have revealed some very worrying trends for both patients living with IBD and the healthcare professionals delivering their care. It now gives us a clear and robust view of where the gaps lie between current and best practice. The Health Foundation will continue to support the collaborative partnership. We hope to see real improvements to the quality of clinical care delivered to patients."
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=66359∞

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~*Title 1

Edited on 2007-03-18 06:24:07 by KathyFromEngland

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~*Title 1

*Title 2

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~*Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

*Scientists Show How Immune System Chooses Best Way To Fight Infection

Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

11 Jul 2006
Centenary scientist Associate Professor Barbara Fazekas de St. Groth, a leader in inflammatory bowel disease research, has demonstrated for the first time the important role of T cells in the prevention of autoimmune diseases in humans.
In a study involving 38 patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and 43 healthy controls, Assoc Prof Fazekas and colleagues found that healthy individuals have up to twice the number of disease-fighting regulatory T cells compared with IBD patients at the onset of disease.
"It is important to have more regulatory T cells, especially when you are young, as individuals with a deficiency are more susceptible to disease and frequency of disease is higher in the young," says Assoc Prof Fazekas.
"Our results also indicate that the activity of these cells is increased in IBD patients during the later stages of disease in an attempt to fight it."
IBD is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. It affects 1 in 200 people and an estimated 100,000 Australians and there is no cure.
"Regulatory T cells have previously been difficult to quantify in humans and conventional methods could identify fewer than a third of the total number. The blood test we have developed allows us for the first time to accurately count the number of regulatory T cells in the body," says Assoc Prof Fazekas.
The highly accurate identification and isolation of regulatory T cells was made possible using sophisticated flow cytometry equipment at the Centenary Institute.
The machines use laser beams and advanced optics and electronics to analyse and purify many kinds of cells at a rate of over 25,000 cells every second. This technology is able to produce results that cannot be obtained by any other method as it allows every cell to be identified and sorted on an individual basis.
"The ability to detect regulatory T cell deficits in inflammatory diseases such as IBD means that we can now identify individuals at risk of developing disease. The test can also be used to assess the effect of new preventative treatments in the future."
The researchers are using the test to study regulatory T cell levels in autoimmune, inflammatory and allergic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and eczema, to determine the risk of disease in patients and their families.
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46860∞
Scientists Show How Immune System Chooses Best Way To Fight Infection

18 Nov 2006
A new study has suggested a novel way of combating diseases related to the immune system, including cancer and autoimmune diseases such as type I diabetes and arthritis. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, appears online in the journal Nature.
T cells are produced by the body to fight infection. Scientists previously identified two types of T cell, both produced in the thymus: "effector T cells", which attack infected cells, and "regulatory T cells", which suppress the immune system, protecting the body from inflammatory damage during infection. Regulatory T cells, if given to individuals receiving transplants, may help suppress the rejection response.
Now, a team of researchers has discovered a novel mechanism determining whether a maturing T cell is likely to emerge from the thymus as an effector cell or a regulatory cell. The research suggests that new treatments could be developed to deliberately affect the type of T cells produced, allowing scientists to tackle a number of diseases which are influenced by these different types of T cells.
"Our team has shown that a process known as 'trans-conditioning', which we knew to be involved in T cell development, actually has a profound influence on whether a T cell becomes an effector or a regulatory cell," explains Professor Adrian Hayday of King's College London. "This may be clinically significant; if we can find a way to influence this process, it may be possible to make the body produce effector T cells in a cancer patient or regulatory T cells in someone suffering from autoimmune disease, both of which are caused by the immune system malfunctioning."
Professor Hayday and his team believe that the findings may also answer one of medical research's mysteries: why autoimmune diseases in women commonly go into remission in pregnancy.
"We believe that trans-conditioning is less active during pregnancy," says Professor Hayday. "This means that most T cells emerging at that time will be regulatory. Regulatory T cells prevent an over-active immune system from causing inflammatory damage to the body. This may be one of the key steps in preventing the mother from rejecting the foetus growing inside her."
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=56692∞
Note by Kathy - many women report that their symptoms subside during pregnancy, only to re-appear once the baby is born. Others have first symptoms following a pregnancy. Maybe this starts to explain why.

Edited on 2006-11-19 19:35:22 by KathyFromEngland

Additions:
~*Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

*Scientists Show How Immune System Chooses Best Way To Fight Infection

Scientists Show How Immune System Chooses Best Way To Fight Infection
18 Nov 2006
A new study has suggested a novel way of combating diseases related to the immune system, including cancer and autoimmune diseases such as type I diabetes and arthritis. The study, funded by the Wellcome Trust, appears online in the journal Nature.
T cells are produced by the body to fight infection. Scientists previously identified two types of T cell, both produced in the thymus: "effector T cells", which attack infected cells, and "regulatory T cells", which suppress the immune system, protecting the body from inflammatory damage during infection. Regulatory T cells, if given to individuals receiving transplants, may help suppress the rejection response.
Now, a team of researchers has discovered a novel mechanism determining whether a maturing T cell is likely to emerge from the thymus as an effector cell or a regulatory cell. The research suggests that new treatments could be developed to deliberately affect the type of T cells produced, allowing scientists to tackle a number of diseases which are influenced by these different types of T cells.
"Our team has shown that a process known as 'trans-conditioning', which we knew to be involved in T cell development, actually has a profound influence on whether a T cell becomes an effector or a regulatory cell," explains Professor Adrian Hayday of King's College London. "This may be clinically significant; if we can find a way to influence this process, it may be possible to make the body produce effector T cells in a cancer patient or regulatory T cells in someone suffering from autoimmune disease, both of which are caused by the immune system malfunctioning."
Professor Hayday and his team believe that the findings may also answer one of medical research's mysteries: why autoimmune diseases in women commonly go into remission in pregnancy.
"We believe that trans-conditioning is less active during pregnancy," says Professor Hayday. "This means that most T cells emerging at that time will be regulatory. Regulatory T cells prevent an over-active immune system from causing inflammatory damage to the body. This may be one of the key steps in preventing the mother from rejecting the foetus growing inside her."
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=56692∞
Note by Kathy - many women report that their symptoms subside during pregnancy, only to re-appear once the baby is born. Others have first symptoms following a pregnancy. Maybe this starts to explain why.

Deletions:
~*Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

Edited on 2006-07-27 13:20:33 by KathyFromEngland

Additions:

Articles about new Inflammatory Bowel Disease drugs, treatment methods etc.

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*Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

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Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

Oldest known version of this page was edited on 2006-07-27 13:18:19 by KathyFromEngland []

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Prevention Is Better Than Cure: Fighting Autoimmune Diseases

11 Jul 2006

Centenary scientist Associate Professor Barbara Fazekas de St. Groth, a leader in inflammatory bowel disease research, has demonstrated for the first time the important role of T cells in the prevention of autoimmune diseases in humans.

In a study involving 38 patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two common forms of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and 43 healthy controls, Assoc Prof Fazekas and colleagues found that healthy individuals have up to twice the number of disease-fighting regulatory T cells compared with IBD patients at the onset of disease.

"It is important to have more regulatory T cells, especially when you are young, as individuals with a deficiency are more susceptible to disease and frequency of disease is higher in the young," says Assoc Prof Fazekas.

"Our results also indicate that the activity of these cells is increased in IBD patients during the later stages of disease in an attempt to fight it."

IBD is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. It affects 1 in 200 people and an estimated 100,000 Australians and there is no cure.

"Regulatory T cells have previously been difficult to quantify in humans and conventional methods could identify fewer than a third of the total number. The blood test we have developed allows us for the first time to accurately count the number of regulatory T cells in the body," says Assoc Prof Fazekas.

The highly accurate identification and isolation of regulatory T cells was made possible using sophisticated flow cytometry equipment at the Centenary Institute.

The machines use laser beams and advanced optics and electronics to analyse and purify many kinds of cells at a rate of over 25,000 cells every second. This technology is able to produce results that cannot be obtained by any other method as it allows every cell to be identified and sorted on an individual basis.

"The ability to detect regulatory T cell deficits in inflammatory diseases such as IBD means that we can now identify individuals at risk of developing disease. The test can also be used to assess the effect of new preventative treatments in the future."

The researchers are using the test to study regulatory T cell levels in autoimmune, inflammatory and allergic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and eczema, to determine the risk of disease in patients and their families.
http://www.medilexicon.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46860∞

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