Features

Eczema & Heart Risk !  

New Drug !

Weight Loss & Skin Cancer !

Gut Bacteria & Immunity !

Schizophrenia !

Breast Cancer !

New Products of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

EDITORIAL TEAM

OMAR AKRAMUR RAB

MBBS, FCGP, FIAGP,

P G Dip. Business Management

MAHFUZUR RAHMAN

MBBS, MBA

MD. SAIFUL ALAM

MBBS, MPH

EDITORIAL

Hope that you are enjoying this online healthcare bulletin.

Our current issue focused on some interesting features like -

"Eczema & Heart Risk !", "New Drug !", "Weight Loss & Skin Cancer !", "Gut Bacteria & Immunity !",  "Schizophrenia !", "Breast Cancer !".

In our regular feature, we have some new products information of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd. as well.

We will appreciate your feedback !

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Yours sincerely,

Editorial Team

Reply Mode      : e-square@squaregroup.com

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of its editor or SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Weight loss reduces skin cancer risk

Obesity is a known risk factor for many cancers. A recent study, involving over 2,000 bariatric surgery patients, asks whether losing weight could reduce the risk of melanoma. In the United States, skin cancer is the most common form of cancer. In 2014 alone, there were almost 80,000 new cases, and by the end of 2018, it is estimated that there will be more than 90,000. Understanding the risk factors behind every type of cancer is important in our effort to minimize the population's risk at large. And, obesity has already been confirmed as a risk factor for a number of cancers, including endometrial, liver, kidney, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer. The most obvious risk factor for skin cancer is unprotected sun exposure. However, according to earlier studies, obesity may also play a role. Recently, researchers set out to further investigate obesity's role in the risk of melanoma, a quick-growing form of skin cancer. Previous work has concluded that obesity increases both the risk and the growth rate of melanoma. To examine the link between obesity, weight loss, and melanoma, they took data from a project set up to monitor the outcomes of bariatric surgery compared against individuals using conventional obesity treatments. Participants were more than 2,000 individuals who had undergone obesity surgery and a similar number of control participants who were matched for a range of parameters, including age, sex, body measurements, personality traits, and cardiovascular risk factors. Their analysis demonstrated that those who had undergone surgery had a significantly lower risk of developing melanoma in the following 18 years. In fact, compared with the control group, individuals in the surgery group saw a 61 percent drop in their risk of developing malignant melanoma, and a 42 percent reduced risk of all types of skin cancer. The lead researcher said in this long-term study, bariatric surgery reduced the risk of malignant melanoma. This finding supports the idea that obesity is a melanoma risk factor, and indicates that weight loss in individuals with obesity can reduce the risk of a deadly form of cancer that has increased steadily in many countries over several decades. The link between skin cancer and obesity is somewhat surprising, and more work will be needed to uncover exactly why this is so. The findings mark yet another worrying health risk associated with obesity but also offer a potential route to reducing the dangers.

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                                                                Scientists find cell types behind schizophrenia

The biology of schizophrenia is difficult to study, since hundreds of genes are implicated in the disease. But now, scientists have identified the few cell types behind the disease. Schizophrenia is a severe and disabling long-term mental illness that affects more than 21 million individuals worldwide. The disease impairs behavior and human attributes that many unaffected people might take for granted, such as perception, thinking, language, emotions, and having a sense of self. Common symptoms include: hallucinations, in which voices are heard and things are seen that others say are not there; and delusions, or holding onto beliefs that are false. Medical treatment and psychological support can be effective, but even with this help, managing one's way in the world with such a disabling burden can make it very hard to gain qualifications, hold down a job, and lead a productive life. Schizophrenia's causes are proving hard to pin down. Scientists believe that several factors may be involved, including interactions between genes and environment, such as problems during birth and exposure to viruses. Significant progress has been made in identifying the genetic factors, if we take into consideration the hundreds of genes that studies have now linked to schizophrenia. However, since each gene exerts but a small effect, this makes it very difficult to decide which ones to focus on in research experiments and treatment development. The focus of this recent study is on how cell types which can be characterized by gene maps relate to disease. Such lines of investigation are now possible thanks to a new tool called single-cell transcriptomics. Single-cell transcriptomics is transforming understanding of biology by allowing scientists to quantify levels of gene expression in single cells. For the new study, the researchers created gene expression maps for each cell type in the brain and compared them with the detailed list of the hundreds of schizophrenia-related genes. This helped them to identify the specific cell types that likely contribute most to the disorder, as well as those that are likely to contribute least.

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                                                       Breast cancer: A low-fat diet may improve survivors' outlook

New research now suggests that consuming less dietary fat after being diagnosed with breast cancer may significantly improve a person's survival rate. Maintaining a low-fat diet over a long period of time could significantly improve the outlook for breast cancer survivors. Estimates show that around 1 in 8 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer at one point in their lives. If the cancer is found only in the breast and has not spread to other parts of the body, 99 percent of the people who receive such a diagnosis go on to live cancer-free lives for a minimum of 5 years. And, if the cancer has spread to the surrounding lymph nodes, 85 percent of patients with breast cancer have the same 5-year survival rate. However, this rate drops to 27 percent if the cancer has traveled to distant parts of the body. But what are some of the factors that influence the survivors' outlook? Some studies have revealed that being obese, for example, raises the risk of breast cancer recurrence, even death, by 35–40 percent. The lead researcher set out to re-examine the results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) randomized clinical trial, which showed a preliminary association between better overall survival and low-fat diet following a breast cancer diagnosis. The WHI trial then investigated 48,835 postmenopausal women who enrolled in the study between 1993 and 1998. At the time, however, the trial did not offer insights as to whether the improved outlook was due to the eating habits that the women had before developing breast cancer. Also, there was the possibility that a low-fat diet improved other health outcomes that are unrelated to breast cancer. Therefore, the longer lifespans could have been due to these other outcomes. Specifically, the lead researcher examined 19,541 women diagnosed with breast cancer who reduced their dietary fat intake by 20 percent and upped the amount of fruits and vegetables that they consumed. The lead researcher also examined a control group of 29,294 breast cancer patients who continued their usual diets. The dietary interventions lasted for 8.5 years, on average, while the analysis carried out by the researchers took place 11.5 years after their diagnosis, on average. The study revealed that breast cancer overall survival was significantly greater for women in the dietary intervention group than in the usual-diet comparison group. In fact, the 10-year survival rate for the women who consumed less fat was 82 percent, compared with 78 percent in the control group. Additionally, far fewer deaths were registered in the group that consumed less fat, compared with the usual-diet group. Specifically, 120 women died in the control group, compared with only 68 in the intervention group.

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(20 mg +10 mg +2.5 mg)/5 ml

Deflazacort