The Alternative Medicine Blog

Man’s Best Friend Just Became Better: Cancer Sniffing Dogs

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The following abstract from an Ehman et al. (2011) describes promising research that sniffing out volatile organic compounds (VOC) in human breath can be a tool for early cancer detection. Scientists are training dogs to do just that, breath analyses to detect metabolic disorders, amongst them cancer (Seyfried & Shelton, 2010).

I found a paper by an Austro-Polish research team as an excellent starting point in the realm of breath analyses to serve as a biomarker for disease. The paper is titled “Human exhaled air analytics: biomarkers of disease.” In it Buszewski, Kęsy, Ligor, & Amann (2007) elaborate on the chemistry of VOCs, first discovered by Linus Pauling in the ‘70s.

Looking to human breath to detect disease is nothing new and dates back to the very early history of medicine. A perfect example is the smell of acetone in uncontrolled diabetes (Buszewski et al., 2007).

Back to cancer and breath analyses. Here is the abstract from Ehman et al. (2011).

Human Cancer Gene Gets Green Light for Patent

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In a 2:1 decision handed down by Judge Lourie, the United States Court of appeals of the Federal Circuit ruled that “On the merits, we reverse the district court’s decision that Myriad’s composition claims to ‘isolated’ DNA molecules cover patent-ineligible products of nature under § 101 since molecules as claimed do not exist in nature” (Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, 2011, p. 8).

The ruling further states that, “We also reverse the district court’s decision that Myriad’s method claim to screening potential cancer therapeutics via changes in cell growth rates is directed to a patent-ineligible scientific principle” (Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, 2011, p. 8).

The court acknowledged that one plaintiff had a standing challenge to the validity of Myriad’s patents due to the fact that he would like to start research on the BRCA 1/ BRCA 2 genes immediately, but couldn’t because of the patent protection of the genes.

Eight Week Yoga Class Improves Pain, Psychological Functioning and Cortisol Levels in Women with Fibromyalgia

We know very little of Fibromyalgia (FM) which is depicted by musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, depression, and hypocortisolism  (decreased levels of cortisol). In this study Curtis, Osadchuk, & Katz (2011) recruited 22 participants to partake in a 75 minute yoga class (twice weekly, eight weeks).

Besides measuring cortisol levels, Curtis et. al (2011) handed out questionnaires pertaining to pain (intensity, unpleasantness, quality, sum of local areas of pain, catastrophizing, acceptance and disability), anxiety depression, and mindfulness. Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire before, after 4 weeks and after the 8 week yoga class.

Hatha yoga is a 15^th century Indian Mind-Body practice that consists of yoga postures in order to get the mind ready for meditation.

The cortisol (salivary) was collected 3x a day for each of 2 days, before and after the yoga class. Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced and released in the adrenal gland and is integral in the function of the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis. I wrote about the stress response some time ago in the “How the Mind and Body Communicate” series. More specifically parts three, four, six, seven, eight, and XXVII.

Here are the results. (I kept them reader friendly by omitting statistical data. Because this article is from an open source publication, I’ll link to the whole article at the bottom.)

Results: Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that mean standard deviation (SD) scores improved significantly from pre- to post-intervention for continuous pain, pain catastrophizing, pain acceptance, and mindfulness. Intention-to-treat analysis showed that median AUC (area under the curve) for post-intervention cortisol was significantly higher than median AUC for pre-intervention levels. Mediation analysis revealed that mid-intervention mindful- ness scores significantly mediated the relationship between pre- and post-intervention pain catastrophizing scores.

The results by Curtis et. al (2011) are encouraging as they suggest that participating in a Hatha yoga class can reduce reduce pain and catastrophizing, increase acceptance and mindfulness, and alter total cortisol levels in women with FM.

Because HPA axis imbalance (hypocortisolism) in FM is one of several diagnostic markers, increased cortisol output is a desirable outcome in FM patients.

As with all studies, there are certain limitations. Absence of a control group is one, small sample size is another one, and because all participants were women, the study’s findings can’t be generalized.

Nonetheless, this study suggests that an eihgt-week yoga program could help improve psychological and pain related variables in women with FM. Curtis et. al (2011) have shown that a randomized controlled trial with a larger number of participants in order to get a better picture of Hatha yoga as an intervention for FM.

Reference: Curtis, K., Osadchuk, & Katz, J. (2011). An eight-week yoga intervention is associated with improvements in pain, psychological functioning and mindfulness, and changes in cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia. Journal of Pain Research, 189. doi:10.2147/JPR.S22761

Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

Now Available: Werner's FREE Mind-Body Research Newsletter

Syndrome X

Syndrome X also known as metabolic syndrome is a condition that has at its center insulin resistance and at least 3 of the other 5 diagnostic criteria. These other criteria according to Steinbaum (2004) are:

Can Pesticide Use Increase Birth Defects?

According to recent research by Winchester (2009), conceiving a baby in spring and early summer might increase the risk of various birth defects such as spina bifida, cleft palate, and Down syndrome.

The reason for this, Winchester (2009) argues, might be high pesticide levels in ground water in spring and summer due to crop dusting. This of course is not only a local phenomena but the research suggest that pesticide use might play a role in birth defects nationwide.

Vitamin B3 (Niacin) & High Cholesterol

Health care providers have been prescribing Vitamin B3, more specifically, the nicotinic acid form of vitamin B3 since the mid 50's [1].

The Coronary Drug Project (CDP) followed over 8,000 men who had at least one heart attack for six years. When researchers compared findings with placebo, they found that 3g of nicotinic acid per day was responsible for [2]:

10% reduction in total serum cholesterol (nicotinic acid significantly increased HDL cholesterol {the good}, while decreasing LDL cholesterol {the bad}),
26% reduction in triglycerides,
27% reduction in recurrent nonfatal heart attacks
26% reduction in strokes and transient ischemic attacks.

Pancreatic Cancer Surgical Options

x-ray fluorescence had a comment on my Pancreatic Cancer post.

"Hi, Can anyone please let me know ..how much there will be expenses there for Pancreatic Tumor Operation?"

The answer to that is not quite as simple as it should be. Here is why. There are several surgical options that are available here in the US. I imagine each of these come with a different price tag attached to them. The first thing I would do is check with my insurance company if any of these procedures are covered and to what extend. Now to the technical information of the surgeries.

The procedures could be divided into two categories:

1. Surgery before the cancer has metastasized

2. Palliative surgery if cancer already has metastasized to other tissues.

All in all there are six surgeries performed, three in each category...

Heart Disease is now Accepted to be an Inflammatory Condition

Heart disease is now accepted to be an inflammatory condition and not due to excess cholesterol.

There is a growing consensus that CRP (c-reactive protein) levels, which can be measured via blood tests, are an indicator of inflammation bearing a risk of increased risk for heart disease. C-reactive protein is elevated after injury, fever, and infection. Continued high CRP levels may cause a chain reaction as seen in atherosclerosis i.e. coronary plaque, narrowing of the vessel’s lumen, thrombus formation, decreasing blood flow to the heart causing a hear attack [1].

A new liposomal formulation of Gemcitabine is active in an orthotopic mouse model of pancreatic cancer accessible to bioluminescence imaging

It seems there is slowly but surely a certain target area of searches on the Alternative Medicine Blog emerging. The area of most interest seems to be in response to my post dealing with Pancreatic Cancer. Just recently Dinora posted a comment that was very heart warming and brought back memories of my dad's struggle with cancer. Here it is. "I definitely agree with you, we need to become more educated. My husband has Pancreatic Ca and this only helps me reinforce my thoughts of both western and alternative medicine. It is nice for someone like me that is 24-7 by my husband's bedside in the hospital and out to try to research on a lot of different alternatives. However, I know it needs to be done,but your article will give me a jump start. Thank you."

It seems that Dinora is doing the right thing in researching everything there is to know about her husband's disease. On the other hand, it encouraged me to hone in on the subject of pancreatic cancer in coming posts, to help Dinora and other's to find answers to pressing questions. Such as:

Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase Deficiency

I am intrigued by the intermediary of glucose, Glucose-6-phosphate. After tearing out my hairs dealing with this sucker last week it becomes pretty obvious how important G6P is.

Having a major role in 5 metabolic pathways, it follows than that it is very common in cells. Following along this line of thought, it should also come as no surprise that the most common enzyme deficiency on this planet has to do with G6P. About 400 million people are affected by Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency which can cause hemolytic anemia. [1]

The enzyme Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase plays a role in the oxidative stage of the Pentose Phosphate Pathway, converting glucose-6-phosphate to 6-phosphoglucono-d-lactone. Not only does this enzyme catalyze the above conversion, a by-product of this conversion is none other than the ever so important NADPH. The whole step uses NADP+ and Mg2+ to produce before mentioned NADPH + H+.[2]

Deficiency of this enzyme causes accumulation of glucose, and a reduction of NADPH. It is suggested that the deficiency of G6PD might be directly related to the high prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 2 and hypertension in African Americans.[3]

It seems that the only treatments for G6PD deficiency are:[4]

* Prevention: avoidance of foods and drugs that may cause hemolysis
* Blood transfusions, dialysis
* Splenectomy (removal of the spleen)
* Folic acid supplementation

When one considers the magnitude of G6PD deficiency as it might be the cause of not only hemolytic anemia, but also hypertension and diabetes mellitus type 2, it comes as a surprise that the only four options for treatment should be a radical surgery, nutritional steps for prevention, or blood transfusions/ dialysis.

I can't help but wonder how come that there are no other treatments available? Is it too big of a problem to solve?

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose-6-phosphate_dehydrogenase_deficiency
2. http://www.biochem.arizona.edu/classes/bioc462/462b/glycolysis.html
3. Gaskin RS, Estwick D, Peddi R (2001). "G6PD deficiency: its role in the high prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus". Ethnicity & disease 11 (4): 749–54
4. Treatment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose-6-phosphate_dehydrogenase_deficiency