University Of Alabama At Birmingham

Viagra may cause hearing loss

May 19, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 19 (ANI): Researchers have found a link between hearing loss and the use of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.

Gerald McGwin, a professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health in the University of Alabama at Birmingham claims use of Viagra can result in long-term hearing loss. Also, use of other phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE-5i) drugs such as Cialis and Levitra can be harmful for the ear, but results on those drugs are inconclusive.

Study author Gerald McGwin, a professor of epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health, said: “It appears from these findings that the current government warning regarding hearing loss and the use of PDE-5i medications is warranted.

“Though there are limitations to this study, it is prudent that patients using these medications be warned about the signs and symptoms of hearing impairment and be encouraged to seek immediate medical attention to potentially forestall permanent damage.”

In 2007, following the report of several case studies potentially linking PDE-5i use and sudden hearing loss, the Food and Drug Administration announced labeling changes for PDE-5i medications so that the risk of hearing problems was more prominently displayed. McGwin said this is the first epidemiologic study to evaluate the relationship between PDE-5i drugs and long-term hearing loss.

McGwin examined data on 11,525 men over 40 years of age gathered by the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, a survey conducted by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality between 2003 and 2006. Men who reported use of PDE-5i medications were twice as likely to also report hearing loss as were men who had not used the drugs.

McGwin said the relationship was strongest for men reporting use of sildenafil (Viagra) over those who used tadalafil (Cialis) or vardenafil (Levitra), a finding he attributed in part to a small sample size for both of the latter drugs. McGwin said the findings indicated an elevated but not statistically significant increase in hearing loss for users of tadalafil and vardenafil.

PDE-5i drugs were originally designed to treat pulmonary hypertension and are now used extensively in the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). McGwin said one important consideration in evaluating the nature of the relationship between the drugs and hearing is the existence of a plausible biological mechanism of how these drugs might cause hearing loss.

McGwin said: “PDE-5i medications work in ED patients by their ability to increase blood flow to certain tissues in the body. It has been hypothesized that they may have a similar effect on similar tissues in the ear, where an increase of blood flow could potentially cause damage leading to hearing loss.”

McGwin acknowledged limitations in the study, including the limited sample size for tadalafil and vardenafil, concerns over under-reporting of use of PDE-5i medications and confounding factors such as pre-existing conditions that might also contribute to hearing loss. He suggested that additional research regarding the risk from PDE-5i is necessary due to the largely irreversible nature of hearing loss and its impact on quality of life.

McGwin concluded: “The results of the current study in conjunction with a plausible biologic mechanism lend support to the FDA”s decision to warn patients about the potential risk posed by PDE-5i use”.

The study has been published in Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. (ANI)

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Viagra may cause hearing loss

May 19, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, May 19 (ANI): Researchers have found a link between hearing loss and the use of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.

The study has been published in Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. (ANI)

‘Eat breakfast like a king’ the best way to prevent metabolic syndrome

March 31, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 31 (ANI): Higher fat at breakfast may be healthier than you think, concludes a new University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) study.

According to researchers, the adage “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper” can be the best advice to follow to prevent metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, insulin resistance and other cardiovascular disease-risk factors.

The study has been published online March 30 in the International Journal of Obesity.

To reach the conclusion, boffins examined the influence exerted by the type of foods and specific timing of intake on the development of metabolic syndrome characteristics in mice.

The UAB research revealed that mice fed a meal higher in fat after waking had normal metabolic profiles. In contrast, mice that ate a more carbohydrate-rich diet in the morning and consumed a high-fat meal at the end of the day saw increased weight gain, adiposity, glucose intolerance and other markers of the metabolic syndrome.

“Studies have looked at the type and quantity of food intake, but nobody has undertaken the question of whether the timing of what you eat and when you eat it influences body weight, even though we know sleep and altered circadian rhythms influence body weight,” said the study”s lead author Molly Bray, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology in the UAB School of Public Health.

Bray said the research team found that fat intake at the time of waking seems to turn on fat metabolism very efficiently and also turns on the animal”s ability to respond to different types of food later in the day. When the animals were fed carbohydrates upon waking, carbohydrate metabolism was turned on and seemed to stay on even when the animal was eating different kinds of food later in the day.

“The first meal you have appears to program your metabolism for the rest of the day,” said study senior author Martin Young, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease. “This study suggests that if you ate a carbohydrate-rich breakfast it would promote carbohydrate utilization throughout the rest of the day, whereas, if you have a fat-rich breakfast, you have metabolic plasticity to transfer your energy utilization between carbohydrate and fat.” (ANI)

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First biomarker for multiple sclerosis found

March 29, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

London, March 29 (ANI): Scientists have discovered the first biomarker for multiple sclerosis (MS) that might predict which patients will respond to a standard therapy and which will not.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), along with researchers at Stanford University, found that patients with a particular type of T helper immune cells responded well to interferon-ß, the usual first-line therapy for the disease, while those with a different T helper immune-cell type either did not respond or experienced worsening symptoms.

“Interferon-ß is typically the first therapeutic choice for most MS patients, but there is a subset of about 30 percent of patients for whom it does not work and may make the patient worse,” said Chander Raman, associate professor in the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology and lead investigator of the study.

“Our findings, in both animal and human models, indicate that the type of T helper cell present is the determining factor in predicting whether interferon-ß will be effective,” Raman added.

Raman suggests this might be another rung on the ladder leading to personalized medicine, in which therapies are based on an individual’s physiology and genetic makeup and the nature of disease.

“When our findings are verified in an expanded human trial, a simple blood test could be used to determine which type of T helper cell is predominantly responsible for the disease in an MS patient, enabling clinicians to provide the proper therapy from the beginning of treatment and eliminate the guesswork,” Raman said.

The researchers examined T helper Type 1 cells and T helper Type 17 cells in an animal model for multiple sclerosis. Both Th1 and Th17 cells are major initiators of MS and important in disease severity. The researchers found that interferon-ß was effective in mice with disease initiated by Th1 cells, but worsened disease initiated by Th17 cells.

The findings were replicated with striking consistency in analysis of human-patient serum with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, the most common form of the disease.

“This research reinforces the concept that diseases have certain signatures that help define their origin and give us glimpses of how they manifest in our bodies. The more we understand these signatures, the more likely we will be able to intervene at a critical junction and design and provide therapies that lessen or cure disease,” said Raman.

The findings have been published online March 28 in Nature Medicine. (ANI)

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Study links high BP to memory problems in middle age

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 25 (ANI): A new study has shown that high blood pressure is associated with memory problems in people over 45.

In the study, scientists found that people with high diastolic blood pressure, which is the bottom number of a blood pressure reading, were more likely to have cognitive impairment, or problems with their memory and thinking skills, than people with normal diastolic readings.

For every 10-point increase in the reading,the odds of a person having cognitive problems was seven percent higher.

The results were valid after adjusting for other factors that could affect cognitive abilities, such as age, smoking status, exercise level, education, diabetes or high cholesterol.

The study involved nearly 20,000 people age 45 and older across the country had never had a stroke or mini-stroke.

A total of 1,505 of the participants, or 7.6 percent, had cognitive problems, and 9,844, or 49.6 percent, were taking medication for high blood pressure.

High blood pressure is defined as a reading equal to or higher than 140/90 or taking medication for high blood pressure.

“It’s possible that by preventing or treating high blood pressure, we could potentially prevent cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to dementia,” said study author Georgios Tsivgoulis, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

Research has shown that high diastolic blood pressure leads to weakening of small arteries in the brain, which can result in the development of small areas of brain damage.

Tsivgoulis said more research is needed to confirm the relationship between high blood pressure and cognitive impairment.

The study has been published in the August 25, 2009, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. (ANI)

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Lack of sunlight can cause ‘brain drain’ in depressed people

July 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 28 (ANI): Depressed people are less able to think clearly when there’s a short-term lack of sunlight, a new study has found.

Writing in BioMed Central’s open access journal Environmental Health, researchers used weather data from NASA satellites to measure sunlight exposure across the United States and linked this information to the prevalence of cognitive impairment in depressed people.

The team of US researchers, which was led by Shia Kent, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, used cross-sectional data from 14,474 people in the NIH-NINDS-funded REGARDS study, a longitudinal study investigating stroke incidence and risk factors, to study associations between depression, cognitive function and sunlight.

He said, “We found that among participants with depression, low exposure to sunlight was associated with a significantly higher predicted probability of cognitive impairment. This relationship remained significant after adjustment for season.

“This new finding that weather may not only affect mood, but also cognition, has significant implications for the treatment of depression, particularly seasonal affective disorder”.

Kent and his colleagues speculate that the physiological mechanisms that give rise to seasonal depression may also be involved in sunlight’s effect on cognitive function in the context of depressive symptoms.

Cognitive function was assessed by measurement of short-term recall and temporal orientation. As well as regulating the hormones serotonin and melatonin, light has been shown to also affect brain blood flow, which has in turn been linked with cognitive functions.

The researchers write, “Discovering the environment’s impact on cognitive functioning within the context of seasonal disorders may lead not only to better understanding of the disorders, but also to the development of targeted interventions to enhance everyday functioning and quality of life.” (ANI)

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Jacko death probe spam a threat to bank account numbers, passwords

July 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 4 (ANI): Beware of any emails regarding the investigation into King of Pop Michael Jackson’s death, for they may be spam messages that infect computers with a virus able to steal bank account numbers and passwords.

Expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have revealed that they began tracking the celebrity-focused spam early on June 30.

“We’ve been tracking the cyber criminals behind this spam and the associated virus for many weeks, but it is just today that they have shifted their strategy by embedding their virus into an e-mail that claims to link you to a Web site that will reveal Michael Jackson’s killer,” said Gary Warner, UAB’s director of research in computer forensics.

“The spam related to this virus has taken many forms, including e-cards, shipment tracking links and, most recently, a fake update to Microsoft Outlook, but with the high interest in Michael Jackson’s death the cyber criminals decided to change their delivery method to capitalize on that,” he added.

The message in the Jackson virus spam reads “Michael Jackson was killed … but who killed Michael Jackson.”

Warner said that anyone who clicks on the message won’t find an answer to the question.

“If you click on that e-mail and go to the page the cyber criminals have linked to the message, your computer is immediately infected with malware,” he said.

He warned that the malware is capable of stealing bank account information and passwords from computer hard drives.

The virus also will redirect certain Google searches performed on an infected computer, meaning the malware inserts links to other virus-infected pages into the top positions of search results.

That, according to Warner, means that search results that unsuspecting users would otherwise think valid are actually portals to other virus programs and malware. (ANI)

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China home to 70 pct of world’s spam

June 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, June 27 (ANI): China has links to about 70 percent of the web sites advertised in computer spam, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) computer forensics expert.

Gary Warner, UAB’s director of research in computer forensics, has dubbed the trend as “spam crisis in China”.

“China has become a safe haven for Web site operators that use spam to promote their products because of the willingness of some Chinese Web-hosting companies to ignore spam complaints about those sites, which are hosted on their servers for a fee. The hosting companies don’t create the spam, but rather declare themselves bullet-proof hosting sites – meaning that regardless of the illegal activities being reported, they will not terminate their customer’s spam-related Web sites or domains,” said Warner.

Computer spam refers to unsolicited commercial advertisements distributed online via e-mail, which can sometimes carry viruses and other programs that harm computers.

To date, the UAB Spam Data Mine has reviewed millions of spam e-mails this year, and successfully connected the hundreds of thousands of advertised Web sites in the spam to 69,117 unique hosting domains.

Warner revealed that 70 percent of the domains reviewed during the study had Internet domains – or addresses – that ended in the Chinese country code “.cn”.

In addition, 48,331, 70 percent, of the sites were hosted on Chinese computers.

Further encouraging the Chinese spam epidemic is the widespread availability of cheap domain names.

Domain names based in China can cost as little as one yuan, or 15 cents in U.S. currency, and thus the low domain rates in China encourage Web page operators to buy numerous domains, leading to a continuous stream of spam promoting those various sites.

“Not only is it cheap to operate spam-promoted Web sites through the Chinese technology infrastructure, there is not enough revenue being generated to pay for the creation of programs or entities that could prevent such abuses from taking place,” said Warner.

He claimed that although only a very few companies in China are behind the propagation of the illegal spam activity; it could harm the reputation of their entire nation’s Internet presence. (ANI)

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Cottonseed-based drug may help treat severe brain cancer

May 29, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 29 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) say that an experimental drug derived from cottonseeds appears to be efficacious in treating the recurrence of glioblastoma multiforme, which is considered to be the most lethal brain cancer.

The researchers came to this conclusion following the results of a Phase II clinical trial of AT-101, a pill manufactured from a potent compound in cottonseeds that overcomes the abnormal growth patterns of tumour cells.

Glioblastomas are more common in adults, and are considered fast-growing brain tumours that are very difficult to treat.

Research leader Dr. John Fiveash, an associate professor in the UAB Department of Radiation Oncology, said that the cottonseed-based agent was found to halt the cancer’s progression in many of the 56 patients.

He revealed that despite undergoing other treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, the trial patients’ brain cancer had begun to grow again prior to starting AT-101 treatments.

The trial-monitored patients took only AT-101 daily for three out of four weeks.

“After getting this drug some of these patients went many months without any new growth in their tumours. We are able to do that with a well-tolerated oral medication, and that is a major benefit,” Fiveash said.

He believes that the drug would likely work best in combination with radiation and chemotherapy to boost the cancer-fighting properties of those treatments.

Fiveash and his colleagues are also trying to determine which patients are most likely to benefit from AT-101.

The initial results of the drug trial would be presented on May 30, during the poster discussion of central nervous system tumours at the American Society for Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. (ANI)

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Scientists analysing tears to study contact lenses’ risks, benefits

May 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 7 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Optometry are studying the risks and benefits of using contact lenses by analysing tears.

The researchers say that biological changes in the eye can be measured through minor fluctuations in the level of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, which are present in the tear film.

Cytokines are strong indicators of overall eye health, especially in contact wearers.

During a study, UAB doctoral student Lucy Kehinde prescribed volunteers to wear a type of contact lens called silicone hydrogels daily or for a 30-day schedule.

Her early tear-research results show that even minor changes in eye biology can inform lens-wear prescribing and patient preference.

“It is helping us to understand and get a clearer picture of eye health during the course of a month, which is the length of time some people choose to keep in their extended-wear contacts. The choice between lenses should be taken seriously in terms of reducing the risk of eye infections and other sight problems,” she said.

Presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) annual meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the study included 80 volunteers who collected their tears in ultra-thin glass tubes smaller than a coffee stirrer.

The participants were trained to hold the collection end of the tube very close to the ocular surface without touching the eye.

Kehinde says that study tears must be non-stimulated since cytokine levels are skewed by stimulated or emotional tears.

According to her, the research is helping narrow down the cytokine markers important to eye-disease prevention and treatment.

“We may be able to use this data to develop new diagnostic tools that would identify good candidates for extended-wear lenses, or find those who are better suited for daily-wear lenses,” she said. (ANI)

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Inmates with social support likely to maintain religious conversions

May 4, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 2 (ANI): Prisoners who have support from positive social networks, such as mentors or family members, are more likely to keep their religious conversions, a new study has revealed.

According to lead author Kent R. Kerley, Assistant Professor of Justice Sciences, Ph.D., University of Alabama at Birmingham, convicts often undergo religious conversions and those with social support are the ones who maintain it.

In the study, Kerley and co-author J. Heith Copes, Ph.D, UAB Associate Professor of Justice Sciences, found the conversion was preserved through different ways such as having close connection with their gurus, chaplains or religious family members.

Keeping distance from those bearing negative influences along with active religious participation in jail, and sharing their faith with others also helped the inmates from being distracted from their religious path.

The study found that a staggering majority further engaged in prayer and meditation on a daily basis.

The article was published in the April issue of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. (ANI)

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Happy consumers more likely to overlook suspicions of sales

April 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, April 11 (ANI): Happy consumers are likely to overlook their suspicions or concerns related to sales people’s product pitches, if researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Business are to be believed.

Dr. Thomas DeCarlo, who led the study in collaboration with Dr. Michael Barone of the University of Louisville, points out that a previous study had shown that shoppers in a neutral mood, who are naturally suspicious of sales agents’ motives, reacted negatively to heavy-handed or one-sided product pitches and therefore were less likely to buy as compared to consumers that received a more balanced pitch.

He said that the new study went a step further by exposing consumers to humorous or happy situations before surveying their responses to persuasive sales offers.

“There is a significant catalog of prior research that suggests an even-minded consumer’s suspicion of a sales pitch does adversely affect the response to that pitch and the sales agent behind it,” DeCarlo said.

“What we wanted to know is what happens if the consumer considers a sales pitch when not in a neutral mood but a positive one,” he added.

DeCarlo used two separate experiments to demonstrate a positive mood’s ability to neutralize the effects of suspicion on persuasion.

He said that both experiments showed happy consumers to be more accepting of one-sided sales pitches, while seeming to suppress any negative or suspicious feelings toward sales agents.

“What is fascinating about this study is the crucial influence of mood on consumer action,” DeCarlo said.

“While more research in this area is needed to verify the trend, it is becoming clearer that a shopper’s level of happiness or positive feelings could be more important to selling than sales prices, sales people and the pitches they make,” he added.

The study has been published in Elsevier’s Journal of Consumer Psychology. (ANI)

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Blink often to keep computer-related eye woes at bay

March 11, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar 11 (ANI): Blinking frequently while sitting in front of the computer helps reduce the risk of dry eyes from prolonged use, say researchers.

Keshia Sims Elder, assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry, has revealed the blinking frequently helps keeps the front surface of the eye moist.

“Many work in front of a computer all day and this can leave vision vulnerable to problems like dry eyes, eyestrain and other problems that may signal computer vision syndrome,” said Elder.

There are other ways to protect sight and avoid computer vision syndrome, Elder said.

Undergoing a regular comprehensive eye exam eyes and wearing correct eyeglass or contact-lens can help avoid computer-related eye woes.

Just 20 seconds of rest to eyes can help prevent dry eyes. Even using a humidifier will help boost eye moisture.

“Special glasses and computer screen filters are available to help reduce glare and discomfort,” Elder said.

Pre-existing, uncorrected vision problems like farsightedness, astigmatism and age-related eye conditions may also contribute to computer vision syndrome. (ANI)

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Women less likely to suffer stroke after mini-stroke

February 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 24 (ANI): Women are less likely than men to have a stroke after mini-stroke, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Yale University said that their findings underscore the need to continue researching gender differences in disease prevention and follow-up care.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is called mini-stroke because it produces stroke-like symptoms but rarely causes lasting damage.

The researchers said that their study found that 30 days after a TIA, women are 30 percent less likely to have a stroke, 14 percent less likely to have heart-related problems and 26 percent less likely to die than men of the same age.

“We know that many TIA patients show up at medical centers with heart problems within a month of the first event, and even more show up within a year,” said Virginia Howard, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UAB School of Public Health and a study co-author.

“Now we’re seeing that warning signal may mean differing things for different people depending on gender, age and many other factors,” Howard added.

Apart from the post-30-day period, the researchers analyzed the one-year-period after TIA and found women were 15 percent less likely to have a stroke, 19 percent less likely to have a cardiac event and 22 percent less likely to die than men.

Researchers reviewed the records of more than 122,000 patients aged 65 and older who were hospitalized for a TIA in 2002.

Judith H. Lichtman, Ph.D., an associate professor at Yale School of Public Health and the study’s lead author, said that while additional research is needed to better understand the reasons for the gender-related difference in health outcomes, the findings could help improve prevention and heart-related care for both men and women.

The study appears online in the journal Stroke and was presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in San Diego. (ANI)

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Women less likely to suffer stroke after mini-stroke

February 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 24 (ANI): Women are less likely than men to have a stroke after mini-stroke, according to a new study.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is called mini-stroke because it produces stroke-like symptoms but rarely causes lasting damage.

“Now we’re seeing that warning signal may mean differing things for different people depending on gender, age and many other factors,” Howard added.

Researchers reviewed the records of more than 122,000 patients aged 65 and older who were hospitalized for a TIA in 2002.

The study appears online in the journal Stroke and was presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in San Diego. (ANI)

Women less likely to suffer stroke after mini-stroke

February 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 24 (ANI): Women are less likely than men to have a stroke after mini-stroke, according to a new study.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is called mini-stroke because it produces stroke-like symptoms but rarely causes lasting damage.

“Now we’re seeing that warning signal may mean differing things for different people depending on gender, age and many other factors,” Howard added.

Researchers reviewed the records of more than 122,000 patients aged 65 and older who were hospitalized for a TIA in 2002.

The study appears online in the journal Stroke and was presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in San Diego. (ANI)

Women less likely to suffer stroke after mini-stroke

February 24, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 24 (ANI): Women are less likely than men to have a stroke after mini-stroke, according to a new study.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) is called mini-stroke because it produces stroke-like symptoms but rarely causes lasting damage.

“Now we’re seeing that warning signal may mean differing things for different people depending on gender, age and many other factors,” Howard added.

Researchers reviewed the records of more than 122,000 patients aged 65 and older who were hospitalized for a TIA in 2002.

The study appears online in the journal Stroke and was presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in San Diego. (ANI)

Ultrasound-tPA combo more effective for stroke

February 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, February 20 (ANI): Scientists presenting a study at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in San Diego revealed that an experimental therapy using tiny bubbles activated by transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound, combined with the clot busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), might prove more effective than tPA alone in treating patients suffering from ischemic stroke.

Dr. Andrei Alexandrov, director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Stroke Center, and Dr. Carlos Molina, of the Vall d’Hebron Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, have discovered that patients can be treated safely with TCD in combination with a specific dose of the bubbles, called microspheres, and tPA.

The microspheres, developed by ImaRx Therapeutics, are tiny gas-filled lipid structures that cavitate (rapidly expand and collapse) when exposed to ultrasound waves, helping to reopen blocked arteries and restore blood flow.

“These findings demonstrate that ultrasound combined with microspheres and tPA can be tested further in a pivotal clinical trial with the goal of providing a more effective treatment option for stroke patients by promoting faster clearing of blocked blood vessels as well as improved patient outcomes. It’s very promising to see such results, which support the potential of this therapy as a more effective and expansive therapy for stroke patients,” said Alexandrov, UAB professor of neurology.

During two trial phases, two different doses of ImaRx’s MRX-801 microspheres were tested on 35 patients.

Cohort I and cohort II patients received 1.4 mL and 2.8 mL of microspheres respectively, while control patients received the standard dose of tPA alone.

The research team observed that complete recanalization was achieved in 120 minutes in 67 percent of cohort I patients, in 46 percent of cohort II patients, and 33 percent of control patients.

According to them, significant clinical recovery was observed in 45 percent of cohort I, 10 percent of cohort II, and 27 percent of controls.

Besides that, the researchers also saw clinical improvement after 90 days in 75 percent of cohort I, 50 percent of cohort II, and 36 percent of controls. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: american stroke association, andrei alexandrov, barcelona spain, carlos molina, comprehensive stroke center, control patients, experimental therapy, imarx therapeutics, international stroke conference, ischemic stroke, lipid structures, microspheres, pivotal clinical trial, recanalization, stroke patients, tiny bubbles, tissue plasminogen activator, transcranial doppler tcd, ultrasound waves, university of alabama at birmingham

Ultrasound-tPA combo more effective for stroke

February 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

During two trial phases, two different doses of ImaRx’s MRX-801 microspheres were tested on 35 patients.

Cohort I and cohort II patients received 1.4 mL and 2.8 mL of microspheres respectively, while control patients received the standard dose of tPA alone.

The research team observed that complete recanalization was achieved in 120 minutes in 67 percent of cohort I patients, in 46 percent of cohort II patients, and 33 percent of control patients.

According to them, significant clinical recovery was observed in 45 percent of cohort I, 10 percent of cohort II, and 27 percent of controls.

Besides that, the researchers also saw clinical improvement after 90 days in 75 percent of cohort I, 50 percent of cohort II, and 36 percent of controls. (ANI)

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Ultrasound-tPA combo more effective for stroke

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