Copyright 2000 The Seattle Times Company
The
Seattle Times
March 2, 2000, Thursday Night Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A9
LENGTH: 621 words
HEADLINE:
Medical digest
Marijuana-like compounds ease nerve disorder, researchers say
BODY:
Marijuana-like compounds ease tremors in mice
with a condition similar to multiple sclerosis, researchers reported today.
The compounds apparently hit the right buttons in the nervous system,
the British researchers reported in the journal Nature.
The compounds
tested were synthetic but included the chemical equivalent of THC, the main
ingredient in marijuana. Five of the six compounds tested reduced tremors and
spasticity.
"This lends credence to the anecdotal reports that some
people with MS have said that cannabis can help control these distressing
symptoms," said Lorna Layward, one of the study's authors, who heads the
research arm of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland.
Study: Survival rate increases for kidney-transplant
patients
Survival rates for people who have undergone kidney
transplants have increased substantially, according to a study reported
yesterday, but despite the good news, more people die waiting for kidneys than
do those who actually get them.
Thanks to improved anti-rejection drugs
and better medical management of transplant patients, researchers at the Medical
College of Wisconsin say, more people are enjoying productive lives after a
transplant.
The team studied how patients throughout the United States
fared between 1988 and 1996, examining 94,000 kidney transplants. The
investigation is reported in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine.
"The general belief had been that there wasn't much improvement for
patients after one year," with a transplanted kidney, said Dr. Sundaram
Hariharan, the study's lead investigator. "But we did see an enhancement.
Chronic rejection decreased."
Between 1988 and 1996, the one-year
survival of transplants from living donors increased from 88.8 percent to 93.9
percent. For patients who received a kidney from a cadaver, the one-year
survival rate increased from 75.7 percent to 87.7 percent.
Four
drug companies donate vaccines for Africans' use
WASHINGTON -
Heeding a White House call, four major drug companies donated millions of doses
of vaccines to fight malaria, hepatitis B, polio and other diseases in Africa
and other troubled regions of the world.
"Today we're beginning a
partnership to eradicate the leading infectious killers of our time," President
Clinton said after meeting with leaders of pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies, public-health foundations and international organizations.
The donations, valued at more than $150 million, aimed
to accelerate the development of vaccines for troubled countries in Africa,
Asia, the Caribbean and elsewhere.
Clinton said meeting participants
will emphasize "speeding the delivery of existing vaccines" and to address the
"lack of incentive for private industry to invest in new vaccines for people who
simply can't afford to buy them."
The four companies also pledged to
step up research and development on vaccines for HIV and
malaria. Clinton has proposed a $1 billion tax
credit over 10 years to encourage the development of such
vaccines.
Gene replacement tested for
hemophiliacs' clotting
An experimental gene-replacement
procedure appears to improve blood clotting in hemophiliacs without triggering
complications, according to a new report.
Researchers at Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia and Stanford University cautioned that their success in
treating hemophilia B, a relatively rare form of the illness, was preliminary.
Just three patients were injected with a healthy gene to stimulate production of
a blood-clotting protein. An expanded trial with more patients and higher doses
is under way.
Results of the study were published in the March issue of
Nature Genetics.
LOAD-DATE: March 4, 2000
