Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Treatment with VX-661 and Ivacaftor in a Phase 2 Study Resulted in Statistically Significant Improvements in Lung Function in People with Cystic Fibrosis Who Have Two Copies of the F508del Mutation

Excerpt from: Vertex (click for full article)

 

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced data from a Phase 2 study of VX-661 and ivacaftor that showed statistically significant improvements in lung function among adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) who have two copies (homozygous) of the most common mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, known as F508del. The study evaluated four dose levels of VX-661 (10, 30, 100 and 150 mg) dosed once daily for 28 days in combination with ivacaftor (150 mg) dosed twice daily. The study also evaluated a separate group of patients who received VX-661 (10, 30, 100 and 150 mg) dosed without ivacaftor for 28 days. Dose-dependent, mean relative improvements in lung function (percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second; FEV₁), both within group and versus placebo, were observed across the combination dosing groups. Patients in the 100 and 150 mg combination dose groups showed statistically significant mean relative improvements in lung function, versus placebo, of 9.0 percent (p=0.01) and 7.5 percent (p=0.02), respectively, at Day 28. In contrast, patients who received placebo showed a 0.03 percent mean relative change in lung function at Day 28 (within-group). The mean relative FEV₁ across the combination dose groups returned toward baseline during the post-treatment 28-day washout period. VX-661 was generally well-tolerated, both as monotherapy and in combination with ivacaftor, and most adverse events were mild to moderate in severity and similar between the treatment groups and those who received placebo. Vertex plans to conduct additional studies of VX-661 to further evaluate its potential for late-stage development, pending regulatory discussions.

Antibiotic May Improve Behavior, Anxiety, Study Finds

Excerpt from: Disability Scoop

 

New research suggests that a readily-available antibiotic can bring about improvements in behavior and anxiety for those with the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability.

In a small study published this week, researchers found “modest” but meaningful gains in those with fragile X syndrome taking the drug minocycline as compared to a placebo.

The finding is significant, researchers say, because the medication — which is commonly used to treat severe acne — is currently available by prescription.

For the study, 66 children with fragile X ages 3 to 16 were divided into two groups, one receiving minocycline and the other group given a placebo. After three months, the groups switched treatments. All the while, both parents and doctors were not aware who was receiving the real drug versus the placebo.

It's Different for Girls with ADHD

Excerpt from: The Atlantic Wire (click for full article)

 

The idea that young adults, particularly women, actually have ADHD routinely evokes skepticism. As a fairly driven adult female who had found the strength to sit through biology lectures and avoid major academic or social failures, I, too, was initially perplexed by my diagnosis. My peers were also confused, and rather certain my psychiatrist was misguided. “Of course you don’t have ADHD. You’re smart,” a friend told me, definitively, before switching to the far more compelling topic: medication. “So are you going to take Adderall and become super skinny?” “Are you going to sell it?” “Are you going to snort it?”

The answer to all of those questions was no. I would be taking Concerta, a relative of Ritalin. Dr. Ellen Littman, author of Understanding Girls with ADHD, has studied high IQ adults and adolescents with the disorder for more than 25 years. She attributes the under-diagnosis of girls and women—estimated to be around 4 million who are not diagnosed, or half to three-quarters of all women with ADHD—and the misunderstandings that have ensued about the disorder as it manifests in females, to the early clinical studies of ADHD in the 1970s. “These studies were based on really hyperactive young white boys who were taken to clinics,” Littman says. “The diagnostic criteria were developed based on those studies. As a result, those criteria over-represent the symptoms you see in young boys, making it difficult for girls to be diagnosed unless they behave like hyperactive boys.”

ADHD does not look the same in boys and girls. Women with the disorder tend to be less hyperactive and impulsive, more disorganized, scattered, forgetful, and introverted. “They’ve alternately been anxious or depressed for years,” Littman says. “It’s this sense of not being able to hold everything together.”

More about Prenatal Folic Acid and Autism

Excerpt from: Autism Speaks (click for full article)

 

Last month, Autism Speaks reported on a study that found reduced risk of autism in Norwegian children whose mothers took folic acid supplements around the time they became pregnant. (See our news story here and the full study here.)

Norway doesn’t require folic acid to be added to food, so prenatal vitamins are the only source of extra folic acid for many pregnant Norwegian women. By contrast, in the United States and Canada, flour and cereal have been fortified with folic acid since 1998.

Therefore, it’s reasonable to wonder whether prenatal folic acid supplements would have a similar effect here. It also raises the question of why autism rates have continued to increase in North America in the years since folic acid fortification of flour and cereals began.

Alzheimer's drug add-on brings some memory improvement

Excerpt from: Los Angeles Times (click for full article)

 

In patients with moderate Alzheimer's disease, an experimental drug that alters the brain's "fight or flight" impulse succeeded in improving memory modestly when it was added to at least one of the medications already in wide use to treat the memory-robbing disease.

Compared with subjects taking the drug memantine and a placebo, subjects supplementing their customary drug regimen for three months with the experimental drug--ORM-12741--scored more highly on two measures of memory. One of those tested the quality of patients' memory overall; the other tested the quality of patients' "episodic memory"--the ability to recall events and experiences from one's own past.

In subjects taking the lower of the two doses tested, researchers at Finnish drug developer Orion Pharmaceuticals found a slight improvement in working memory--the ability to hold several items in memory for a minute or two. But the benefits were too small to be reliably attributed to the drug.

Ambien and craving for food

Excerpt from: Borderline Personality Disorder (click for full article)

 

My doctor gave me a prescription for Zolpidem (brand name: Ambien) years ago to treat my chronic insomnia. Amebin works for me really well, but if I dont't take the meds right before I go to bed, I start experiencing some high feelings and start doing weird things. For me, I tend to walk to the kitchen and eat snacks, candies, ice cream, leftovers..I've put on a lot of weight because I eat food at 11, 12 and even later on the weekend. Sometimes I don't even remember about the food but when I get up in the morning, I feel sick.

There are numerous scary Ambien-relatd report.  Some people text, call, cook, and even go behind the vheel and start driving under ambien influene. The scariest thing is that people get arrested for driving under the influence of Ambien, and they don't really recall driving a car later on.
That measns you were driving a car while asleep. Ambien does weird things but these are the datas and some people don't have any side effects and for those people, Ambien becomes a life savior so I understand.

But if you are suffering from insomnia, your doctor may prescribe you ambien because she determined that the benefits of this medication far exeed the side effects commonly caused by this medication.  

Best Treatment for Childhood Trauma Remains Elusive

Excerpt from: Education Week (click for full article)

 

While many children and teens experience trauma, it's unclear what are the best ways to help them move on from the events, a new review of the research finds.

As a result, the researchers said, their work is a "call to action" to better understand how to help children heal and prevent the lingering effects of trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

"The body of evidence provides little insight into how interventions to treat children exposed to trauma might influence healthy, long-term development," they write.

Should Medicare Pay For Alzheimer's Scans?

Excerpt from: NPR (click for full article)

 

Though increasingly common, Alzheimer's disease still isn't all that easy to diagnose, especially in its early stages.

Since last year there's been a new drug to help. The Food and Drug Administration approved a radioactive tracer called Amyvid for use in PET scans to identify clumps of proteins in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers have embraced the drug as a tool to gauge these so-called amyloid plaques in the brain. They've already found that amyloid shows up years before people start having problems with memory or thinking.

But is the test appropriate for widespread clinical use? A panel of advisers grappled with that question Wednesday at a public meeting to consider whether Medicare should pay for the test.

Ft. Worth Chiropractor Showcases Website Video Series About MS Treatment Options

Excerpt from: Globe Newswire (click for full article)

 

Back to Health Family Chiropractic in Fort Worth, TX announced that the practice has had significant success using chiropractic care to help manage and significantly lessen the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). To better educate individuals about the benefits of spinal adjustments, the practice is offering a free video series on its website, http://backtohealthtexas.com. The videos include testimonials from patients about how the ways spinal adjustments have helped alleviate their symptoms including tingling, muscle weakness, numbness and back pain.

Ft. Worth chiropractor Dr. Chris Michlin is expanding access to free online information about the benefits of chiropractic care for MS symptoms.

"Chiropractic care is often an effective alternative to or partner with medication in the treatment of MS," said Dr. Michlin. "Our online video series is designed to educate patients and their families about how spinal adjustments work and why they can make a difference for managing MS."

Grapefruit Is a Culprit in More Drug Reactions

Excerpt from: New York Times (click for full article)

 

“The culprit was grapefruit juice,” said Dr. Unni Pillai, a nephrologist in St. Louis, Mo., who treated the woman several years ago and later published a case report. “She loved grapefruit juice, and she had such a bad migraine, with nausea and vomiting, that she could not tolerate anything else.”

The previous week, she had been subsisting mainly on grapefruit juice. Then she took verapamil, one of dozens of drugs whose potency is dramatically increased if taken with grapefruit. In her case, the interaction was life-threatening.

Last month, Dr. David Bailey, a Canadian researcher who first described this interaction more than two decades ago, released an updated list of medications affected by grapefruit. There are now 85 such drugs on the market, he noted, including common cholesterol-lowering drugs, new anticancer agents, and some synthetic opiates and psychiatric drugs, as well as certain immunosuppressant medications taken by organ transplant patients, some AIDS medications, and some birth control pills and estrogen treatments. (The full list is online.)