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6700. arkymalarky - 10/7/2006 12:03:34 AM That's good news for all these aging Baby Boomers. 6701. Magoseph - 11/1/2006 12:38:56 AM The following from Forbes magazine:
Marijuana-Like Compound May Slow Alzheimer's
10.18.06, 12:00 AM ET
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A new U.S. study finds that marijuana may help slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, while a second report suggests the "club drug" Ecstasy could yield insights into Parkinson's disease.
Both findings were presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, in Atlanta.
In the first presentation, researchers from Ohio State University in Columbus found that marijuana may contain compounds that can slow memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease.
In their study involving rats, a team led by psychology professor Gary Wenk searched for ways to reduce Alzheimer's-linked brain inflammation.
Wenk was already familiar with data that found that long-term marijuana users had lower rates of Alzheimer's disease than the general population. His team sought to find a compound that might reduce disease-linked brain inflammation but avoid the drug's psychoactive effects.
"We are using a component of marijuana that stimulates the same centers in the brain that marijuana does," Wenk said. The synthetic compound, which is very similar in composition to marijuana, is called WIN-55212-2 (WIN).
Experiments conducted on young and old rats revealed that WIN is "a very effective anti-inflammatory, it reduces brain inflammation," Wenk said.
What makes this discovery special is that this compound can cross the blood-brain barrier, Wenk explained. The results of a special rat "maze test" suggested that WIN "also reversed the memory impairment in the older rats," he said.
Brain inflammation is characteristic of many diseases other than Alzheimer's, including multiple sclerosis, ALS, AIDS, Huntington's and Parkinson's, Wenk noted. "We are beginning to notice that brain inflammation is always in the background as people get older," he said. "Inflammation doesn't cause the disease, it contributes to the pathology," he said.
WIN is not appropriate for use in humans because it still contains substances that may trigger a "high." However, Wenk hopes that some form of this compound might be used to benefit people with neurological diseases.
"We have the added advantage that millions of doses [of marijuana] have been taken by millions of people over the past centuries," he said. "We already know a lot about its actions in the body and its toxicity, or lack of toxicity. The only problem we have is that it's illegal."
Wenk is not suggesting that Alzheimer's patients start using marijuana. "Patients would have to be so careful not to get too much," he said. "That would only worsen the symptoms of their dementia."
The challenge is to find a dose that has an anti-inflammatory effect but does not make patients high, Wenk said. "It's hopeful," he said, "but it's not a therapy until we find a way to make it work in humans."
One expert believes it may be possible to derive therapeutic benefits from marijuana without inducing other effects that could be harmful to Alzheimer's patients.
"These are still early days for thinking about drugs derived from cannabis," said Dr. Samuel Gandy, director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.
"Still, we know the structure of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) [the active ingredient in cannabis] in detail, and it is not inconceivable that helpful THC-based drugs could be created chemically that benefit brain function but lack the 'high' that currently stigmatizes the compound," Gandy added.
In the second report, researchers from the University of Cincinnati found that, in rats, MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine) -- more commonly known as the illegal drug Ecstasy -- increases the survival of dopamine-releasing cells in the brain during fetal development.
"The club drug Ecstasy can cause dopamine neurons to grow and prevent them from dying off," explained lead researcher Jack Lipton, a professor of psychiatry.
Dopamine cells are critical to the regulation of voluntary movement. This discovery might lead to better therapies for neurological diseases such as Parkinson's, the researchers said.
Ecstasy, as is, is not beneficial for Parkinson's patients, Lipton cautioned. But a part of MDMA may be.
The trick now is to find the components of MDMA that have this effect on dopamine cells and develop ways to use it to help Parkinson's patients, Lipton said. It could also be used as an adjunct to stem cell transplantation, something that's now being studied in Parkinson's patients.
"It could help transplants take better and have more cells survive," Lipton said.
6702. Ulgine Barrows - 11/1/2006 6:07:37 AM 6701. Magoseph
Ever been to a chiro?
Wondering, Ulgine 6703. Magoseph - 11/1/2006 8:04:55 AM No, almost married one, though. 6704. thoughtful - 11/10/2006 10:58:56 PM The Purina Diet
I have a Golden retriever & I was buying a large bag of Purina dog food at
Wal-Mart. A woman behind me in line asked if I had a dog. (Here's your
Stupid sign!)
On impulse, I told her that no, I was starting The Purina Diet again,
although I probably shouldn't because I'd ended up in the hospital last
time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care
ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IV's in both arms.
I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it
works is to load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one
or two every time you feel hungry & that the food is nutritionally complete
so I was going to try it again.
I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now
enthralled with my story, particularly a guy who was behind us.
Horrified, she asked if I'd ended up in the hospital in that condition
because I had been poisoned. I told her no; it was because I'd been
sitting in the street licking my butt and a car hit me. 6705. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 11:05:16 PM Lol! 6706. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/15/2006 5:31:55 PM
From an Email I just received:
Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure you read all the way past the list of the drugs. The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal Washington, DC offices.
Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United State s contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of the most popular drugs sold in America
The data below speaks for itself.
Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $ 0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%
Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%
Keflex: 250 mg
Cons umer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%
Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%
Norvasc: 10 mg
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%
Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%
Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%
Prilosec : 20 mg
C onsumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%
Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%
Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%
Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%
Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%
Zestril: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809
Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%
Zocor: /B 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%
Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%
Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit , did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!
At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.
I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.
I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.
I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (This is true.)
I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.
Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov
6707. wabbit - 11/15/2006 6:04:56 PM Costco Pharmacy 6708. wonkers2 - 11/15/2006 9:17:09 PM The "ethical" pharmaceutical industry is hardly ethical. They bribe our doctors to prescribe their drugs and they bribe our legislators as well. 6709. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 11:47:50 PM Tissue Engineering at a Crossroads 6710. prolph - 11/17/2006 8:54:56 AM good news for dry macular degrnration, PRESIVISION works, I have been treated at the Shiley eye center which is a treatmebnt center as well
as a reserch. Shiley keeps track of all of us and advises us when the have a trial that has proven to work. I now have better vision than last check.
My sister also has the problem and has gone back about two years in
sight. She is with an HMO where the doctors were amazed at her better sight, Kind of irritates me beccause if i hadn't told her she would have not known the regimen, One presivision gel morning and night and a
lutein gel capsule ar lunch All to be takne with meals, Be careful though
some are sold together so read labels,
There are people who can be helped who haven't heard about the help that is out there which i think is seriously wrong. oh.,both are over the counter I won't go into health care (aaargh) but I will not go to any hospital that is not a teaching hospital . Sister is now able to get her driving license back and i am able to the crawls at the bottom of a tv screen
,, 6711. alistairconnor - 11/17/2006 12:57:50 PM That's first-rate news Patsy... I hope to read you more often on the Mote! 6712. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 3:43:12 PM That's wonderful news...I'll be sure to pass it along. Husband of a friend of mine has mac degen, but I'm not sure if it's wet or dry...may be wet. 6713. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 3:51:03 PM I hope it continues to work, Patsy. I can only imagine what it would be like not to be able to read easily. 6714. prolph - 11/17/2006 10:44:54 PM Thougtful-there is a cure now for wet md.
Also your purina diet has chuckling every time i feed the cats,Thanks 6715. arkymalarky - 11/18/2006 1:38:08 AM That's absolutely fantastic, Patsy!! 6716. robertjayb - 12/2/2006 4:21:37 AM New breast cancer detection method...
CHICAGO — An experimental ultrasound technique that measures how easily breast lumps compress and bounce back could enable doctors to determine instantly whether a woman has cancer without doing a biopsy.
In a small study of 80 women, the technique — called "elastography" — distinguished harmless lumps from malignant ones with nearly 100 percent accuracy.
If the results hold up in a larger study, elastography could save thousands of women from the waiting, cost, discomfort and anxiety of a biopsy, in which cells are removed from the breast — sometimes with a needle, sometimes with a scalpel — and examined under a microscope.
6717. thoughtful - 1/9/2007 10:47:42 PM Hallelujah! They're finally starting to catch on!
Now repeat after me: fats not bad...sugar bad.
The Cure for Diabetes
6718. CharlieL - 1/9/2007 11:33:07 PM That's a great article. 6719. arkymalarky - 1/9/2007 11:56:42 PM CHARLIE!!!!! Great to see you! Hope your holidays were good!
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