Common Anti-Diarrhea Drug Found to Kill Brain Cancer Cells

Sometimes, finding a treatment for previously incurable health conditions doesn’t require the invention of new medications at all. There are those rare cases when existing medications are found to be effective in treating other seemingly unrelated conditions. This is exactly what had happened in the case of loperamide, better known under its commercial name Imodium, a common diarrhea medication.

According to a German research group from the Institute of Experimental Cancer Research in Paediatrics at Goethe University, this affordable and widely-accessible drug can kill the cells of glioblastoma tumors, the most aggressive type of brain cancer.

According to Mayo Clinic, glioblastoma is “an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord. Glioblastoma forms from cells called astrocytes that support nerve cells”. Although glioblastoma can occur at any age, it is more widespread in older adults, and it is sometimes confused with a stroke since often the first symptoms of the condition are worsening headaches, nausea, vomiting, and seizures.

These dangerous brain tumors are infamous for being resistant to treatment and practically incurable. So often, the only way doctors can help a patient with glioblastoma is by reducing the disease's signs and symptoms. Thus, effective alternative treatments are urgently required, and the German research team led by Dr. Sjoerd van Wijk believes they have found one. According to a study published in the Autophagy journal at the end of October 2020, researchers started injecting loperamide into glioblastoma cells and found that it induces the cells' death.

Furthermore, the researchers also discovered why the drug is effective: introducing loperamide in the cell causes a stress response in the part of the cell called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), an organelle that synthesizes the building blocks of cells - proteins. As a result, the cancer cells start to degrade and ultimately go into self-destruction mode. 

 

This specific mechanism of self-induced cancer cell death is known as autophagy-dependent cell death, from the Ancient Greek autóphagos meaning "self-devouring". To some extent, autophagy is a normal part of a cell’s life cycle that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components from the cell. But when cancer cells were exposed to loperamide, it caused a process of self-degradation in the membrane of the ER and ultimately the entire cell. “Our experiments with cell lines show that autophagy could support the treatment of glioblastoma brain tumors,” stated van Wijk. 

 

Moreover, the researchers point out that the drug may be a feasible option for other difficult-to-treat neurological disorders or even dementia. At this point, the German research team is working on making a stronger customized version of loperamide that would be used specifically in the brain and ways to safely deliver the medication into the tumor without harming the healthy surrounding brain tissues. You see, simply taking the drug as you would normally to treat diarrhea would not help, as loperamide is actually not absorbed into the blood at all. 

 

Of course, we’ll keep you updated on any further developments of this new exciting treatment.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

 

Common Anti-Diarrhea Drug Found to Kill Brain Cancer Cells

Sometimes, finding a treatment for previously incurable health conditions doesn’t require the invention of new medications at all. There are those rare cases when existing medications are found to be effective in treating other seemingly unrelated conditions. This is exactly what had happened in the case of loperamide, better known under its commercial name Imodium, a common diarrhea medication.

According to a German research group from the Institute of Experimental Cancer Research in Paediatrics at Goethe University, this affordable and widely-accessible drug can kill the cells of glioblastoma tumors, the most aggressive type of brain cancer.

According to Mayo Clinic, glioblastoma is “an aggressive type of cancer that can occur in the brain or spinal cord. Glioblastoma forms from cells called astrocytes that support nerve cells”. Although glioblastoma can occur at any age, it is more widespread in older adults, and it is sometimes confused with a stroke since often the first symptoms of the condition are worsening headaches, nausea, vomiting, and seizures. 

 

These dangerous brain tumors are infamous for being resistant to treatment and practically incurable. So often, the only way doctors can help a patient with glioblastoma is by reducing the disease's signs and symptoms. Thus, effective alternative treatments are urgently required, and the German research team led by Dr. Sjoerd van Wijk believes they have found one. According to a study published in the Autophagy journal at the end of October 2020, researchers started injecting loperamide into glioblastoma cells and found that it induces the cells' death.

Furthermore, the researchers also discovered why the drug is effective: introducing loperamide in the cell causes a stress response in the part of the cell called the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), an organelle that synthesizes the building blocks of cells - proteins. As a result, the cancer cells start to degrade and ultimately go into self-destruction mode. 

 

This specific mechanism of self-induced cancer cell death is known as autophagy-dependent cell death, from the Ancient Greek autóphagos meaning "self-devouring". To some extent, autophagy is a normal part of a cell’s life cycle that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components from the cell. But when cancer cells were exposed to loperamide, it caused a process of self-degradation in the membrane of the ER and ultimately the entire cell. “Our experiments with cell lines show that autophagy could support the treatment of glioblastoma brain tumors,” stated van Wijk. 

 

Moreover, the researchers point out that the drug may be a feasible option for other difficult-to-treat neurological disorders or even dementia. At this point, the German research team is working on making a stronger customized version of loperamide that would be used specifically in the brain and ways to safely deliver the medication into the tumor without harming the healthy surrounding brain tissues. You see, simply taking the drug as you would normally to treat diarrhea would not help, as loperamide is actually not absorbed into the blood at all.

 

Of course, we’ll keep you updated on any further developments of this new exciting treatment.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Israeli disinfectant kills 100% of viruses, bacteria

A state-of-the-art disinfectant developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research and distributed by Tera Novel is capable of killing 100% of bacteria, viruses, molds and some fungi, including the novel coronavirus.

“Our disinfectant works in a very different way from many others,” Tera Novel chairwoman Karen Cohen Khazon told The Jerusalem Post. “We also use hypochlorite, but in a very high [concentration] and we add some [additional ingredients] so that anywhere the disinfectant is sprayed, it becomes a very white film of gel which keeps the [material] on the surface for a while.”

A state-of-the-art disinfectant developed by the Israel Institute for Biological Research and distributed by Tera Novel is capable of killing 100% of bacteria, viruses, molds and some fungi, including the novel coronavirus.

“Our disinfectant works in a very different way from many others,” Tera Novel chairwoman Karen Cohen Khazon told The Jerusalem Post. “We also use hypochlorite, but in a very high [concentration] and we add some [additional ingredients] so that anywhere the disinfectant is sprayed, it becomes a very white film of gel which keeps the [material] on the surface for a while.”

The technology was originally developed for and used by the IDF and Israel’s security forces, and was later transferred for use by the US army, as well. It is, for the most part, kept in emergency warehouses until the need arises: a need much like the coronavirus pandemic.

Tera Novel plans on continuing to provide the disinfectant to other organizations in the public arena such as “hospitals spas, mikvaot, [retirement homes] and others that are contaminated by nature,” Khazon said.

A pilot was already in effect in an Israeli hospital, she told the Post, and will move into retirement homes soon. They are also working on a deal with Israeli gyms.

“It’s an Israeli state-of-the-art technology to disinfect and terminate all the environmental infections and today, when we need to get rid of the coronavirus and other viruses, it’s very good that Israel and the Israel Biological Institute with Tera Novel could take this product and move it from defense and army and security development to civilian life,” Khazon told the Post. “It can help people go back to normal life.”

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
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Why Does the Coronavirus Kill More Men Than Women? We Asked Experts

Back in February, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published the largest and most comprehensive study of coronavirus cases to date. One of the findings shows a disparity between men and women—although both sexes have been infected in roughly equal numbers, the death rate among men was higher. Of the 72,314 cases studied, 2.8% of infected men died, compared to 1.7% of women.

Although we don’t have as much COVID-19 data to go on in the US, more than a dozen states and cities that report deaths by sex, such as New York City, Michigan, and Washington, have found a similar disparity. Slightly more women are getting infected with the new coronavirus, but the majority of fatal cases are in men.

The difference between male and female fatalities mirrors findings following analysis of the SARS and MERS outbreaks, which were also caused by coronaviruses. And during the influenza pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated 50 million people, adult men were more likely to die than women.


Clearly, there’s precedent here. But nobody knows exactly why COVID-19 is killing more men than women.

“The sex differences that we see in mortality from COVID-19 reflects one of the many things we still don’t fully understand about this disease,” Ryan Steele, DO, an assistant professor of clinical medicine in rheumatology, allergy and immunology at Yale School of Medicine, tells Health. “In general, males tend to have a larger number of conditions that are associated with poorer outcomes in COVID-19 such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”

However, the increased prevalence of these diseases in men may only be part of the answer. “We see that even among individuals without known health issues and in children, males have worse outcomes,” Dr. Steele says. “This would indicate that the underlying differences in the immune response among genders may play a larger role than we have appreciated so far.”

Females tend to have a more robust immune response than men in fighting infectious diseases, Dr. Steele says. And it’s possible that hormones play a part. While the male sex hormone testosterone suppresses inflammation, the female sex hormone estrogen can activate the cells involved in antiviral responses. In a 2016 study published in American Journal of Physiology, nasal cells were treated with estrogen-like compounds before being exposed to the influenza virus. Only the cells from females responded to the hormones and fought off the virus.

 Another theory is that men are more at risk—both of infection and death—because rates of smoking are higher in men than in women, Bhanu Sud, MD, an infectious disease specialist with St. Jude Medical Center in Orange County, California, tells Health.


Notably, nearly 50% of men smoke in China, but less than 3% of women do, according to a 2019 article published in Translational Lung Cancer Research.

There’s no shortage of data showing that people who smoke are more likely to develop chronic lung and heart diseases, which automatically puts them in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s “high risk” group for COVID-19. The CDC also says that smoking is one of the conditions that cause a person to become immunocompromised, which means their immune defenses are weakened.

Another study from China, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on February 28, found that smokers made up about 26% of those who ended up in intensive care or died of the new coronavirus. When it comes to contracting the virus in the first place, it’s possible that smokers are at a greater risk because of regular hand-to-mouth contact. Plus, they may share contaminated cigarettes.

Dr. Sud points out that immunity is a complex issue, with many factors. “A person’s immunity is based on age, whether they smoke, drink alcohol, or take drugs, as well as other medical issues and what medications they are taking,” he says. “For example, if someone is on chemotherapy, they are more prone to infection—any infection, not just the new coronavirus.”

Genetics also plays a role, says Dr. Sud, but there is “a lot more analysis to do.”

Scientists may not have all the answers to the multitude of questions surrounding the new coronavirus, but the data that’s coming in is helping to form a clearer picture.

“We are now beginning to understand that a lot of the complications of COVID-19 are from an exaggerated inflammatory response that follows the initial damage after infection,” says Dr. Steele. “This delicate balance of clearing the infection and modulating the immune response to prevent further damage, taking into account underlying health conditions and biologic differences such as gender, will likely prove crucial in developing effective treatments for COVID-19.”

The information in this story is accurate as of press time. However, as the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to evolve, it's possible that some data have changed since publication. While Health is trying to keep our stories as up-to-date as possible, we also encourage readers to stay informed on news and recommendations for their own communities by using the CDC, WHO, and their local public health department as resources.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement