Degeneration
Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) recently discovered that a specific form of estrogen can prevent degeneration (a process by which a tissue deteriorates, loses functional activity, and may become converted into or replaced by other kinds of tissue) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) without increasing their risks of developing estrogen-induced cancers. Although there are numerous anti-inflammatory drugs on the market that help prevent MS flare-ups and physical symptoms such as loss of coordination and numbness, there are none that specifically combat degeneration of the brain and spinal cord.
In a recent article published in UCLA Today, Seema Tiwari-Woodruff, an assistant professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine who worked on the study said, “Antiinflammatory agents can protect the brain from degeneration caused by inflammation, but there are no drugs that combat brain degeneration directly that assist the neurons in survival. A principal goal is to be neuroprotective. That’s what is lacking in the field.”
Researchers are optimistic that these findings will lead to the development of a “designer estrogen” that could safely be prescribed in higher doses and be combined with standard MS anti-inflammatory treatment. This form of estrogen could possibly be used to combat other degenerative disorders in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Lou Gehrig’s diseases; spinal cord injuries; and normal aging. Men may also be able to use it without fear of developing the feminine side effects often produced by standard estrogen treatments.
For more information please visit www.today.ucla.edu/news/070828_estrogen_multiple-sclerosis/.
Obesity Increases Risk of Having Children With Spina Bifida
A recent issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine reports that women with obesity have an increased risk of giving birth to children within spina bifida and other disorders including heart defects. The findings come from the first large scale population- based study to examine prepregnancy obesity and a range of structural birth defects. Study results suggest a weak to moderate positive association of maternal obesity with 7 of 16 categories of birth defects and a strong inverse association with gastroschisis (a birth defect in which an infant’s intestines stick out of the body through a defect on one side of the umbilical cord). The mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet understood but may be related to undiagnosed diabetes.
“The dramatic increase in the prevalence of overweight and obese women of childbearing age is of great public health concern because they are at increased risk for chronic disease, infertility, menstrual irregularities, pregnancy complications, and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including birth defects,” writes D. Kim Waller, PhD, from the University of Texas in Houston, and colleagues from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS). “A strong association has been demonstrated between a woman’s prepregnancy BMI [body mass index] and risk for offspring with certain birth defects, particularly anencephaly and spina bifida. The potential relation between obesity and other birth defects remains less certain, as those studies that have examined a range of different birth defects did not have sufficient numbers of cases to generate precise odds ratios.”
For more information, please visit archpedi.ama-assn.org.
