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LE Magazine July 2002
Dramatic
evidence shows omega-3 fatty acids
reduce risk of heart attack
A growing body of research indicates that omega-3 fatty
acids, found in certain types of fish and fish oil
supplements, may reduce the risk of heart disease and sudden
death due to heart-related causes.
A study published in the April 9, 2002 issue of Circulation found that 1000 mg a
day of a fish oil concentrate reduced the risk of sudden death
from heart-related causes by 45% in patients who had suffered
a heart attack within the previous three months. A second
study, published in the April 10, 2002 issue of JAMA, revealed that women who
consumed a minimum of five servings of fish per week over a
16-year period lowered their risk of coronary heart disease
(CHD) by more than a third, and reduced their risk of fatal
heart attack by half. Even subjects who consumed fish only one
to three times per month lowered their risk by 20%. A third
study reported in the April 11, 2002 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine determined that men without heart disease
were 81% less likely to experience sudden death due to fatal
arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) when their blood levels of
omega-3 fatty acids were high regardless of their age, smoking
habits or amount of other types of fatty acids in their
blood.
Despite consensus that omega-3 fatty acids can reduce heart
disease and sudden death due to heart-related causes, medical
experts report conflicting messages on how best to reap these
rewards. Life Extension has long advocated that people eat
cold-water fish and supplement with omega-3 fatty acids from
fish, flax or Perilla oils.
—Elizabeth Heubeck
Stem cell
therapy for Parkinson's disease
Since the advent of stem cell research, Parkinson’s
researchers have worked to create and implant
dopamine-producing cells into the brains of patients, hoping
to renew the substantia nigra’s natural ability to make
this neurotransmitter. A research team at CelMed Biosciences
in Montreal, Quebec has successfully employed this stem cell
biotechnology to dramatically reduce symptoms of
Parkinson’s. They presented their research at the annual
meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons
(AANS) in Chicago, Illinois.
Neurosurgeon Michel Levesque, M.D., CelMed’s Vice
President of Medical Affairs, and Toomas Neuman, M.D.,
CelMed’s Program Director of Neurodifferentiation,
harvested stem cells from the brain of a Parkinson’s
disease patient. These cells were then cultured to yield
several million cells, 20% of which produced dopamine. In
March 1999, these cells were microinjected into the
patient’s brain at six different locations.
Evaluations of the patient’s symptoms were performed
at three, six, nine and 12 months following the procedure, by
neurologists who were not aware that the patient had received
the stem cell transplant. While still on Parkinson’s
medications, the patient’s motor skill scores improved by
37%, and a year post-transplant, the overall Unified
Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) showed an 83%
improvement without medications.
PET (Positron Electron Transmission) scans performed at
three months and one year revealed a 55.6% improvement in
dopamine uptake, followed by a return of dopamine uptake to
pre-implantation levels by the study’s end. The fact that
symptom measurements improved despite the continued decline in
dopamine uptake suggests that the therapy’s benefit is
the result of factors other than increased dopamine uptake.
Dr. Levesque believes that some other element present in the
implanted cells may be responsible for the dramatic
improvements seen in this patient.
Autologous stem cell therapy, where stem cells from the
patient’s own body are extracted, cultured and
re-implanted, is a highly promising research avenue for other
disorders that are currently incurable, including juvenile
diabetes and spinal cord injury, as well as the neurological
damage done by strokes and brain tumors. With the use of stem
cells drawn from the patient, common problems of rejection and
infection—as well as the ethical and legal concerns
inherent in the use of embryonic stem cells—can be
avoided. Stem cell research involves the use of
undifferentiated cells to grow specific types of body cells
that can no longer perform their necessary functions.
—Melissa Block
Hypothermia
for cardiac arrest
Two studies appearing in the February 21, 2002 issue of
New England Journal of
Medicine have demonstrated favorable outcomes for the
use of hypothermia in patients experiencing cardiac arrest. In
the first study, conducted by the Hypothermia after Cardiac
Arrest Study Group at several centers over a five year period,
136 patients who had been resuscitated after cardiac arrest
were cooled to a body temperature of 32 to 34 degrees Celsius
for 24 hours followed by an approximately eight hour rewarming
period. This group was compared to a control group of 138
patients who received standard care after cardiac
resuscitation. In the hypothermia group, 59% of the patients
were alive after six months, whereas 45% remained in the group
not receiving it. Of the group receiving the hypothermia
treatment, 55% experienced a favorable neurologic outcome,
compared to 39% in the group who did not receive the
treatment.
In the second study, comatose survivors of cardiac arrest
out of the hospital were randomized to receive cooling as soon
as admitted to a participating hospital or to receive
treatment without cooling. Of the group treated with
hypothermia, 49% survived and were discharged to their homes
or to rehabilitation facilities. Only 26% of the group not
receiving hypothermia experienced similar outcomes.
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An editorial in the same issue of the journal notes that
therapeutic hypothermia has been in use since the 1950s. In
the 1990s, hypothermia provided positive outcomes for dogs
experiencing a lack of blood flow for 10 to 12 minutes. The
editorialists, Peter J. Safar, M.D. and Patrick M. Kochanek,
M.D., wrote, “The dismal outcomes after cardiac arrest
call for novel therapeutic approaches,” and they
“recommend the use of mild hypothermia in survivors of
cardiac arrest as early as possible and for at least 12
hours.” Life Extension Foundation has been on the
forefront in funding hypothermia research and these new
studies substantiate that this technology will save human
lives.
—Dayna
Dye
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