Cancer therapy is more potent when it hits 2 targets

Simultaneous targeting of two different molecules in cancer is an effective way to shrink tumors, block invasion, and stop metastasis, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found—work that may improve the effectiveness of combination treatments that include drugs like Avastin.

The two-target approach, tested in mice with a type of cancer known as neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors, may have broad application for treating a wide variety of cancers, the UCSF team said. The drugs used in the tests belong to classes of pharmaceuticals that are either on the market or under development in clinical trials.

Clinical trials also are already underway to gauge effectiveness of the approach in humans with prostate cancer, breast cancer, and other tumor types. The UCSF study, described in the journal Cancer Discovery this week, is the first to show how the drug combination works in the laboratory. Continue reading below…

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The results are promising, said Donald McDonald, MD, PhD, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Cardiovascular Research Institute and professor of anatomy, who led the research.

In the study, treating mice with the dual-target approach turned aggressive tumors with invasive fingers penetrating surrounding tissues and many metastases into tiny balls with few or no metastases.

“It’s the combination of approaches—there’s a synergy between the two,” McDonald said. “You add two and two, and you get 10.”

HOW EACH TARGET WORKS

The two targets are both proteins that scientists have known for years are involved in cancer. Both play important roles in malignant tumors.

The first, called c-MET, is involved in two processes associated with the most deadly cancers. A clinical marker of cancer aggressiveness, c-MET drives tumor invasion into surrounding tissues. It is also involved in metastasis—the spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body where they can establish new tumors.

The second target is a protein known as vascular endothelial cell growth factor (VEGF). VEGF is a protein that promotes the growth of new blood vessels. Growing tumors hijack this process to expand their network of blood vessels to provide nutrients. Drugs blocking VEGF have been developed based on the simple assumption that tumors cannot grow if you choke off their blood supply.

Drugs that target these molecules are in development, and a few are already on the market. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first of these in 2004 to treat metastatic colon cancer. That drug, called Avastin, is manufactured by the South San Francisco-based company Genentech. Avastin was approved for metastatic breast cancer in 2008 under the FDA’s accelerated approval program.

The FDA revoked approval of Avastin for breast cancer last year after further assessing the relative risks and benefits to women taking it. Blocking VEGF seemed to slow tumor growth for awhile, but the FDA determined that it did not significantly improve or extend the lives of most women taking it.

“It was not clear why some tumors responded and others did not. It was also unclear why some tumors would respond initially and then would stop responding,” said McDonald, who has studied blood vessels in tumors and the effect of cancer drugs for years in his UCSF laboratory.

This is Donald McDonald, M.D., Ph.D.

Two years ago former UCSF professor Douglas Hanahan and colleagues found in laboratory experiments that Avastin-like drugs would shrink tumors but unexpectedly did something else as well. The drugs also morphed tumors from roundish blobs into highly irregular growths with tendrils that penetrated surrounding tissues and even spread to other organs—suggesting that the VEGF blockade could also make tumors more aggressive, invasive and metastatic.

McDonald’s group confirmed Hanahan’s findings and discovered that c-MET was involved. In their latest research, Barbara Sennino, PhD, with other investigators in his group set out to determine whether c-MET drove tumor aggressiveness during anti-VEGF therapy. What their paper shows is that blocking c-MET and VEGF together in mice is more powerful than blocking either alone because it not only slows tumor growth but also reduces invasion and metastasis.

They tested two inhibitors of VEGF—a neutralizing antibody and sunitinib—and three inhibitors of c-MET—crizotinib, PF-04217903, and cabozantinib (XL184). Unlike the other agents, cabozantinib simultaneously inhibits both c-MET and VEGF. Inhibition of c-MET and VEGF together with a drug combination or with cabozantinib had more profound effects on tumors than any of the agents that blocked only one of the targets.

These promising laboratory results still need more tests of safety and effectiveness in the clinic, McDonald said, and it may be a year or more before the drugs are routinely available to patients.

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The article, “Suppression of Tumor Invasion and Metastasis by Concurrent Inhibition of c-Met and VEGF Signaling in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors” by Barbara Sennino, Toshina Ishiguro-Oonuma, Ying Wei, Ryan M. Naylor, Casey W. Williamson, Vikash Bhagwandin, Sebastien P. Tabruyn, Weon-Kyoo You, Harold A. Chapman, James G. Christensen, Dana T. Aftab, and Donald M. McDonald appears in the March 1 issue of Cancer Discovery. After Feb. 24, the article will be available at http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/

Scientists Uncover Inflammatory Circuit That Triggers Breast Cancer

 by Biomechanism 

“Findings Point to Potentially Effective New Therapeutic Target for Cancer Treatment and Prevention” 

Although it’s widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.

The study, led by Jun-Li Luo, an assistant professor at Scripps Florida, was published online before print by the journal Molecular Cell on February 23, 2012. Continue reading below…

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The scientists’ discovery points to the activation of a self-sustaining signaling circuit that inhibits a specific RNA, a well-known tumor suppressor that helps limit the spread of cancer (metastasis). Therapies that disable this circuit and halt this miRNA repression could have the potential to treat cancer.

The Spark that Ignites Trouble

Jun-Li Luo, an assistant professor at Scripps Florida

In the new study, scientists identified the specific pathways that transform breast epithelial cells into active cancer cells.

The researchers found immune/inflammatory cells ignite the transient activation of MEK/ERK and IKK/NF-kB pathways; the MEK/ERK pathway then directs a consistent activation of a signaling circuit in transformed cells. This consistent signaling circuit maintains the malignant state of the tumor cells.

Luo compares this process to starting a car—a car battery starts the engine much like the transient signal activation turns on the consistent signal circuit. Once the engine is started, it no longer needs the battery.

The scientists go on to show that the initial activation of these pathways also activates IL6, a cytokine involved in a number of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including cancer. IL6 acts as a tumor initiator, sparking the self-sustaining circuit in normal breast cells necessary for the initiation and maintenance of their transformed malignant state.

In establishing that self-sustaining signal circuit, IL6 represses the action of microRNA-200c, which is responsible for holding down inflammation and cell transformation. Since enhanced microRNA-200c expression impairs the growth of existing cancer cells and increases their sensitivity to anti-tumor drugs, compounds that disable microRNA-200c repression have the potential to act as a broad-spectrum therapeutic.

Interestingly, the new findings dovetail with the “multiple-hits theory” of tumor formation, which posits that once normal cells in the human body accumulate enough pre-cancerous mutations, they are at high-risk for transformation into tumor cells. While the newly described initial pathway activation is momentary and not enough to cause any lasting changes in cell behavior, it may be just enough to tip the cell’s transformation to cancer, especially if it comes on top of an accumulation of other cellular changes.

The first author of the study, “IL6-Mediated Suppression of Mir-200c Directs Constitutive Activation of an Inflammatory Signaling Circuit That Drives Transformation and Tumorigenesis,” is Matjaz Rokavec of Scripps Research. Other authors include Weilin Wu, also of Scripps Research.

The study was supported by the National Institute of Health, the United States Department of Defense, the Florida Department of Health, and Frenchman’s Creek Women for Cancer Research.

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Courtesy Scripps Research Institute, one of the world’s largest independent, non-profit biomedical research organizations. 

Ritalin takers more aware of mistakes

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

A single dose of Ritalin can cause a significantly greater acvitiy in the brain's error monitoring network. Image: Mordolff/iStockphoto People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes, a University of Melbourne study has found. The study, by Dr Rob Hester from the Department of Psychological Sciences and colleagues at the Queensland Brain Institute, investigated how the brain monitors ongoing behaviour for performance errors – specifically failures of impulse control.  It found that a single dose of methylphenidate (Ritalin) results in significantly greater activity in the brain’s error monitoring network and improved volunteers’ awareness of their mistakes. Diminished awareness of performance errors limits the extent to which humans correct their behaviour and has been linked to loss of insight in a number of clinical syndromes, including Alzheimer's Disease, Schizophrenia and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The findings demonstrate that activity within those parts of the brain that deal with human error, including the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) differs depending on whether participants are aware of their performance errors.  Critically, researchers showed that a single, clinically relevant dose of methylphenidate, which works by increasing the levels of catecholamines in the brain, dramatically improved error awareness in healthy adults. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that methylphenidate could promote the conscious awareness of performance errors by strengthening activation differences within the dACC and IPL for errors made with and without awareness, compared to placebo and other comparison drugs. While the study provided only a single dose of methylphenidate to healthy participants and needed to be replicated in people using standard clinical doses, the data highlights the potential of pharmacotherapy in addressing awareness and insight problems that feature in a range of neurologic and psychiatric conditions.  Dr Hester said failure to recognise errors was related to poor insight into a person’s clinical condition, impairing treatment.  “For example, in conditions such as Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s Disease, poor error awareness has been associated with delusions, and paranoia and has been the cause of considerable distress to patients,” he said.  “Failing to recognise your own error at the time can account for the difference between your recollection and the reality that confronts you. Understanding the brain mechanisms that underlie how we become conscious of our mistakes is an important first step in improving error awareness, and potentially reducing these symptoms.” Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

இங்கிலாந்தின் முதலாவது போர் விமானத்தின் பெயர் யாழ்ப்பாணம்!

இங்கிலாந்தின் முதலாவது போர் விமானத்தின் பெயர் யாழ்ப்பாணம் என்பது ஆகும்.

இப்போர் விமானத்தை உருவாக்குகின்றமைக்கு யாழ்ப்பாண தமிழர்கள் வழங்கி இருந்த நிதிப் பங்களிப்புக் காரணமாகவே இப்பெயர் சூட்டப்பட்டு இருக்கின்றது.

இப்போர் விமானம் குறித்த தகவல்கள் மிகவும் சுவாரஷியமானவை.

முன்னைய கால விமானங்கள் 100 குதிரை வலு என்ஜின்களுடன் இயங்கி வந்தன. இவை மரம், துணி, வயர்கள் போன்றவற்றால் ஆக்கப்பட்டு இருந்தன.

முதலாம் உலகப் போர் இடம்பெற்ற காலம். எதிரிகளை வேவு பார்ப்பதற்கும், குண்டு வீசுவதற்கும் சிறந்த பொறியாக விமானம் கண்டு கொள்ளப்பட்டது. ஆனால் மேற்சொன்ன ரக விமானங்கள் அவற்றின் வடிவமைப்புக் காரணமாக எளிதில் தாக்குதல்களுக்கு உள்ளாகின.

போர் விமானத்தை உருவாக்க தீர்மானித்தது இங்கிலாந்து அரசு. ஆனால் இதை உருவாக்குவதற்கான பணம் இன்றி திணறியது. இந்நிலையில் காலனித்துவ நாடுகளுக்கு இச்செய்தி அனுப்பியது.

மலேசியாவை அப்போது நிர்வகித்து வந்தவர் டாக்டர் அல்மா பேக்கர். வரிகள் மூலம் தேவையான பணத்தை பெற முடியாது என்று உணர்ந்து இருந்தார். வித்தியாசமான பிரசார உத்தி ஒன்றை தொடங்கினார். போர் விமானத்துக்கு உதவி செய் என்பது இப்பிரசாரம். அதிக பணம் தருகின்றவர்கள் முன்மொழிகின்ற பெயர் இவ்விமானத்துக்கு சூட்டப்படும் என்று உறுதிமொழி வழங்கி இருந்தார்.

யாழ். மல்லாகத்தை பூர்வீகமாக கொண்ட சுப்பிரமணியம் என்பவர் மலேசியாவில் உயர் தொழில் வகித்து வந்தார். இவரை இப்பிரசாரம் மிகவும் கவர்ந்தது. மலேசியாவில் குடியேறி இருந்த யாழ்ப்பாணத்தார்களிடம் இருந்து நிதி சேகரித்து F.E.2b ரக விமானம் ஒன்றை பரிசாக இங்கிலாந்து அரசுக்கு வழங்கினார். அன்றைய நாளில் 2250 ஸ்ரேர்லிங் பவுண்டு வரை பணம் சேர்க்கப்பட்டு இருந்தது.

இவ்விமானம் இரட்டைச் சிறகுகள் கொண்டிருந்தது. இரண்டு பயணிகளை கொண்டு செல்லக் கூடியதாகவும், குண்டு வீசவும், துப்பாக்கிச் சமரில் ஈடுபடவும் வேண்டிய வசதிகளை கொண்டதாகவும் இருந்தது. பிரித்தானிய அரச விமான தொழில்சாலையில் தயாரிக்கப்பட்டது. ஜேர்மனியர்களின் குண்டு மழைகளுக்குள் தீவிரமாக நுழைந்து பேரழிவுகளை ஏற்படுத்தியது. முதலாவது உலக மகாயுத்தத்தின்பின் அருங்காட்சி அகத்தில் வைக்கப்பட்டு உள்ளது.

Study improves menopause prediction

THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

The researchers were able to classify women according to different profiles for each group of (menopause) symptoms. Image: suesmith2/iStockphoto Doctors could soon be able to predict the type and duration of menopausal symptoms an individual woman is likely to experience thanks to new findings from The University of Queensland (UQ). Working in collaboration with the UK Medical Research Council, the UQ research team expects the discoveries will allow doctors to give patients more details on the symptoms they experience leading up to menopause, as well as an idea of their likely duration after menopause. The research team, led by Professor Gita Mishra from UQ's School of Population Health, found that the severity and range of health symptoms experienced through midlife formed into groups and distinct patterns, but only some of these, such as vasomotor symptoms (hot flushes and cold or night sweats) were related to the timing of the menopause. “Women who experienced only minimal symptoms before their last period were unlikely to develop severe symptoms later, while for others the timing of symptoms relative to menopause was key to understanding the likely duration of their symptoms,” Professor Mishra said. The UK study used annual surveys from more than 600 women with natural menopause to identify four groups of symptoms: psychological (eg. anxiety and depression), somatic (eg.headaches and joint pain), vasomotor (eg. hot flushes and night sweats), and sexual discomfort. Women who had undergone hormone treatment or hysterectomies were excluded from the study. Researchers found that by examining the timing and severity of symptoms, they were able to classify women according to different profiles for each group of symptoms. For instance, with some women the severity of vasomotor symptoms increased leading up to menopause and then tended to decline, while for others whose vasomotor symptoms started and peaked later, symptoms were likely to last four years or more into postmenopause. The UK study also found that women with higher education levels and social class were less likely to experience vasomotor symptoms than other women. The UQ study was based on multiple surveys of mid-age women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Professor Mishra said that she was reassured that, in spite of differences in the surveys used, both studies had identified similar groups and profiles for the severity of symptoms experienced through the menopausal transition. “While we would still like to see findings from other studies, we do think that symptom profiles are part of a move towards a more tailored approach – where health professionals can make a clearer assessment of what women can expect based on their history of symptoms – and this may be worthwhile not only in terms of reassurance but in selecting treatment options.” More details on the Medical Research Council National Survey of Health and Development used in the UK study can be found at www.nshd.mrc.ac.uk. The UK study is published in the BMJ (GD Mishra, Kuh D. ‘Health symptoms during midlife in relation to menopausal transition: British prospective cohort study. 344:e402). Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

NEEDNT food list fights obesity

UNIVERSITY OF OTAGO

The list is aimed at differentiating nutritious foods from those that are just high in calories. Image: alexskopje/iStockphoto Researchers at the University of Otago, Christchurch have developed a new list of 49 ‘NEEDNT’ foods as part of a treatment research programme for obesity. The list, published in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal, has been developed primarily to help obese people more clearly identify those foods that are best avoided in a healthy diet and only eaten from time to time as a treat, or in some cases avoided altogether. The researchers describe NEEDNT foods (see list below) as those which are energy (calorie) dense or high in fat and/or added sugars, foods that are prepared using a high fat cooking method, such as frying or roasting, or those foods which have a large amount of energy relative to their essential nutrient (vitamin and/or mineral) content. “This list of 49 common foods is designed as a therapeutic intervention to be used by health professionals with obese or overweight people wanting to lose weight. It’s aimed at differentiating nutritious foods from those that are just high in calories,” says lead researcher and dietitian Dr Jane Elmslie. “Many people struggle to know what to eat if they have a weight problem. The advice out there is often complicated and contradictory. It can be quite difficult to understand the relevance of health-related product endorsements and the information on food labels.” Dr Elmslie stresses this is not just another list of high calorie foods. “The foods on this list are high in calories, and they are also low in essential nutrients (vitamins and minerals), or are able to be replaced by lower calorie more nutritious alternatives.” The list of 49 foods was compiled using the National Heart Foundation and Diabetes New Zealand’s ‘Foods to Avoid’, ‘Stop Eating’ and ‘Optional Foods’ lists, as well as the Canterbury District Health Board’s ‘Supermarket Shopping Guide’. The list names the generic food, and suggests a healthier replacement or none at all. For instance some of the foods where there is no easy low energy replacement according to the NEEDNT list are: muesli bars, ice cream, cakes, chocolate, doughnuts, jam, honey, pies and pastries. “Muesli bars are a classic example of how overweight people can be misled into thinking they’re eating healthy food. In fact most muesli bars are high in calories, and fat and sugar, with minimal nutritional value. Essentially they are just another form of biscuit,” says Dr Elmslie. Dr Ria Schroder points out that, “simply avoiding NEEDNT foods is unlikely to be an effective weight reduction strategy on its own. However knowing which foods to make individual rules for, can help people think more carefully about whether what they are eating is nutritious and necessary, or just random recreational grazing.” The authors say that with 63% of New Zealanders now either obese or overweight there is an urgent need for new strategies or guidelines to deal with this growing health issue, and the NEEDNT list is one possible approach. The authors intend carrying out further research to examine the impact of the NEEDNT list on overweight or obese adults who want to lose weight. Editor's note: Click here to access the full list. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

New insights into understanding brain performance

(Medical Xpress) -- People who take Ritalin are far more aware of their mistakes, a University of Melbourne study has found.

The study, by Dr Rob Hester from the Department of Psychological Sciences and colleagues at the Queensland Brain Institute, investigated how the brain monitors ongoing behaviour for performance errors – specifically failures of impulse control. 

It found that a single dose of methylphenidate (Ritalin) results in significantly greater activity in the brain’s error monitoring network and improved volunteers’ awareness of their mistakes.

Diminished awareness of performance errors limits the extent to which humans correct their behaviour and has been linked to loss of insight in a number of clinical syndromes, including Alzheimer's Disease, Schizophrenia and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The findings demonstrate that activity within those parts of the brain that deal with human error, including the dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC) and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) differs depending on whether participants are aware of their performance errors.  Critically, researchers showed that a single, clinically relevant dose of methylphenidate, which works by increasing the levels of catecholamines in the brain, dramatically improved error awareness in healthy adults.

Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to show that methylphenidate was able to promote the conscious awareness of performance errors by strengthening activation differences within the dACC and IPL for errors made with and without awareness, compared to placebo and other comparison drugs.

While the study provided only a single dose of methylphenidate to healthy participants, and needed to be replicated in people using standard clinical doses, the data highlights the potential of pharmacotherapy in addressing problems of awareness and insight that features in a range of neurologic and psychiatric conditions.

 Dr Hester said failure to recognise errors was related to poor insight into a person’s clinical condition, which can impair treatment. 

“For example, in conditions such as Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s Disease, poor error awareness has been associated with delusions, paranoia and has been the cause of considerable distress to patients,” he said. 

“Failing to recognise your own error at the time can account for the difference between your recollection and the reality that confronts you. Understanding the brain mechanisms that underlie how we become conscious of our mistakes is an important first step in improving error awareness, and potentially reducing these symptoms.” 

Provided by University of Melbourne

"New insights into understanding brain performance." February 24th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-insights-brain.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Characteristics of fathers with depressive symptoms

Voluminous research literature attests to the multiple negative consequences of maternal depression and depressive symptoms for the health and development of children. In contrast, there is a profound paucity of information about depressive symptoms in fathers according to a follow up study by NYU School of Medicine researchers in the February 23rd online edition of Maternal and Child Health Journal.

In late 2011 lead investigator, Michael Weitzman, MD, professor of Pediatrics and Environmental Medicine and his co-authors identified, for the first time ever, in a large and nationally representative sample, increased rates of mental health problems of children whose fathers had depressive symptoms. In that paper, 6% of children with neither a mother or a father with depressive symptoms, 15% of those with a father, 20% of those with a mother, and 25% of children with both a mother and a father with depressive symptoms had evidence of emotional or behavioral problems.

"While the finding of increased rates of mental health problems among children whose fathers had depressive symptoms was not surprising in our earlier study, the fact that no prior large scale studies had investigated this issue is truly remarkable, as is the finding that one out of every four children with both a mother and a father with symptoms of depression have mental health problems" said Weitzman. He also noted that the findings highlighted "the urgent need to recognize the roles of fathers in the lives of children and families in clinical and public policy formulation and implementation, to further explore ways in which the mental health of fathers influence the health and function of our nation's children, and to structure our health and human services so as to identify and effectively treat fathers who are depressed or suffering from other mental health problems. A first step is to identify which of our nation's fathers are at increased risk for depression, which is the main reason that we undertook the current study"

The current paper, again using a large and nationally representative sample of households in the USA (7,247 households in which mothers, fathers and children lived), is the first paper to investigate characteristics of fathers that are independently associated with increased rates of depressive symptoms. Overall, 6% of all fathers had scores suggesting that they were suffering from depressive symptoms.

Using previously widely used measures of fathers', mothers' and children's physical and mental health, as well as numerous other family and child characteristics, such as maternal and paternal age, race, marital status, and educational attainment, as well as child age, these data demonstrate the following factors being independently associated with increased rates of fathers' depressive symptoms: living in poverty (1.5 times as common as not living in poverty); living with a child with special health care needs (1.4 times as common); living with a mother with depressive symptoms (5.75 times as common); poor paternal physical health (3.31 times as common) and paternal unemployment (6.50 times as common).

While the findings of poverty, having a child with special health care needs, and living with a mother with depressive symptoms are not unexpected, the fact that fathers' unemployment is by far the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms is a brand new, and unique finding with profound implications for the health and development of children in this time of extremely high rates of unemployment.

"The findings reported in the current paper demonstrate factors that could help identify fathers who might benefit from clinical screening for depression, and we believe the results are particularly salient given the current financial crisis and concurrent increase in unemployment in the USA" said Dr. Weitzman. "Also of serious concern is the fact that living with a mother who herself has depressive symptoms is almost associated with almost as large an increased rate of paternal depressive symptoms as is paternal unemployment. Fathers play profoundly important roles in the lives of children and families, and are all too often forgotten in our efforts to help children. These new findings, we hope, will be useful to much needed efforts to develop strategies to identify and treat the very large number of fathers with depression."

Provided by New York University School of Medicine

"Characteristics of fathers with depressive symptoms." February 24th, 2012.http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-characteristics-fathers-depressive-symptoms.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Statins linked with lower depression risk in heart patients

This is Mary Whooley, M.D. Credit: UCSF

Patients with heart disease who took cholesterol-lowering statins were significantly less likely to develop depression than those who did not, in a study by Mary Whooley, MD, a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

The study was published electronically in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry(February 21, 2012).

Whooley and her research team evaluated 965 heart disease patients for depression. They found that the patients who were on statins were significantly less likely to be clinically depressed than those who were not. They then followed the 776 patients who were not depressed – 520 who were using statins and 256 who were not – for an additional six years. Of those taking statins, 18.5 per cent developed depression, compared with 28 per cent of those not on the drugs. Put another way, the patients who took statins were 38 per cent less likely to develop depression than those who did not.

As the study went on, said Whooley, the difference between the two groups became more pronounced, with the patients on statins becoming less likely to develop depression and the patients not on statins becoming more depressed over time.

"This would suggest that statins may have some kind of long-term protective effect against depression, perhaps by helping to prevent atherosclerosis in the brain, which can contribute to depressive symptoms," Whooley said.

She also noted that statins positively affect the endothelium – the inner lining of the blood vessels – keeping blood vessels less rigid and better able to adapt to the body's changing needs. "The exact mechanism is unknown, however, and requires further study," she said.

Whooley cautioned that it is possible that patients who take statins "are just healthier overall than those who don't, and somehow we're not accounting for that in our analysis, even though we adjusted for factors such as smoking, physical activity and cholesterol levels."

If statins are definitively proven to protect against depression, said Whooley, they could reduce the burden of depressive symptoms in patients with heart disease and, by extension, improve cardiovascular outcomes in depressed patients. Whooley has shown in previous studies that heart disease patients with depression are less likely to exercise and take medication, thus increasing their risk for heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular events.

Statins are the most commonly-prescribed medication in the world, according to the study authors. "They are relatively safe and generally well-tolerated," said Whooley.

Provided by the University of California, San Francisco

"Statins linked with lower depression risk in heart patients." February 24th, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-statins-linked-depression-heart-patients.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

FIVE WAYS TO MOTIVATE YOUR EMPLOYEES

If you are struggling to keep your employees excited about their work on a daily basis, try using these tips. These five strategies will revolutionize your work environment! Get the information here!

Entrepreneur suggests…

1. Hire right. Start down the road to motivated employees by hiring the right person for the right job. Too often, time-strapped entrepreneurs will hire a neighbor or acquaintance because they don’t want to sift through a big stack of resumes. Instead, take the time to properly vet candidates. Then, hire someone who is qualified for the job and, more importantly, is a fit with your company’s culture.

1. Offer clear goals. Do your workers know what their top priorities are, and what needs to be done by what deadline? Vagueness is a big motivation-killer.

1. Manage by walking around. The owner of a successful southern California regional hardware chain once shared with me that he constantly popped in at his various store locations, with no set schedule. Productivity stayed high, as workers never knew when he’d be back. “Workers do what you inspect,” he explained to me. “Not what you expect.”

1. Share your finances. I know several entrepreneurs who have an “open book” policy at their company, where they share revenue, expenses and other financial figures with workers. This transparency can be a big win — workers feel they’re privy to inside information, and they understand exactly how much business they need to get in the door for the company to grow. This makes profit-sharing programs really work, as employees know exactly what it takes to hit the profit point. Owners fear releasing this information, but as one owner of a cabinetry business recently discovered, sharing company financials including his own salary can be a positive step.

1. Do incentives right. Incentive programs can backfire if they are a way to entice workers to do something that makes them uncomfortable or that they feel is not achievable. Set realistic benchmarks and make sure they are relevant and enticing to your staff, or the program may just lead to more lethargy and inaction.

Get more great tips at Entrepreneur!