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Portrazza Approved for Advanced Lung Cancer

Portrazza (necitumumab), in combination with two other chemotherapy drugs, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer, the agency said Tuesday in a news release.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States. More than 221,000 cases are expected to be diagnosed in the U.S. this year, and more than 158,000 people are projected to die from the disease, the FDA said.

Portrazza, approved for people who haven’t had a previous therapy for squamous NSCLC, is designed to block a protein that’s frequently found on such tumors, the agency explained.

The drug was evaluated in combination with two other drugs, gemcitabine and cisplatin. Those who took the three-drug combination lived for an average of 11.5 months, compared to 9.9 months among those who took the other two drugs without Portrazza.

Portrazza’s most common side effects include skin rash and magnesium deficiency. The drug’s label includes a boxed warning that the latter can cause deadly complications on its own, including seizures and irregular heartbeat, the FDA said.

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Breast-Feeding May Cut Risk of Type 2 Diabetes for Some Women

New research suggests another potential benefit for moms who breast-feed — a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

The study found that breast-feeding for more than two months was linked to around a 50 percent reduction in the odds of developing type 2 diabetes for mothers who had already experienced gestational diabetes in the past. And the longer women breast-fed, the lower the odds of type 2 diabetes, the study said.

“The main policy implication is that we need to focus our breast-feeding promotion efforts to high-risk women, those who are obese or have a pregnancy with gestational diabetes,” said study author Erica Gunderson, a senior research scientist with Kaiser Permanente Northern California.

However, this study did not show that breast-feeding caused a lower risk of type 2 diabetes; it only found an association between these factors.

The results were published online Nov. 23 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Gunderson’s team followed more than 900 women two years after they had gestational diabetes during pregnancy and gave birth. During this time, 12 percent of them developed type 2 diabetes, the study reported.

How the women fed their babies was categorized into five groups: exclusive breast-feeding, exclusive formula feeding, mostly breast-feeding (less than 6 ounces of daily formula), mostly formula (more than 17 ounces of daily formula) and mixed feeding (7 to 17 daily ounces of formula).

Moms who exclusively breast-fed their babies had a 54 percent lower risk of developing diabetes compared to moms who only used formula, the study noted. Women who fed their babies a mixture of formula and breast milk or even mostly used formula reduced the odds of type 2 diabetes by more than a third compared to formula-feeding alone, researchers found.

The length of breast-feeding also appeared related to type 2 diabetes risk, the study showed.

Breast-feeding for more than 10 months was linked to the mother’s reduced risk of diabetes by 57 percent compared to breast-feeding two months or less. Moms who breast-fed their babies somewhere between two months and 10 months had about half the risk of developing diabetes compared to those who breast-fed less than two months, according to the study.

So how might breast-feeding help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes? In several ways, Gunderson said.

“Lactation gives the insulin-producing cells in the body a rest because they don’t have to make so much insulin to lower blood glucose,” Gunderson said. “Breast-feeding uses up glucose and fat in the blood because those nutrients are transferred from the bloodstream into the breast tissue for milk production.”

Gunderson described breast-feeding as giving the body a recovery period after pregnancy, when the body must go into overdrive with insulin production to keep blood sugar levels under control. Several other physiological mechanisms also might also explain how lactation reduces diabetes risk, she said.

Breast-feeding seems to reset the body’s metabolism after the metabolic chaos of pregnancy, said Dr. Alison Stuebe, an assistant professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

The results held even with adjustments for a wide range of other factors. These factors included maternal and newborn health, lifestyle behaviors, and changes in mothers’ postpartum weight, Gunderson said.

But “this is not about weight loss,” because not all women who breast-feed lose weight, Gunderson noted. “There’s a lot of variability in how women respond to pregnancy and lactation and in terms of what their body does,” she said.

Dr. Aaron Caughey, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine in Portland, said, “Women with higher rates of pregnancy complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus, are less likely to breast-feed.

“We think the chaos of having a pregnancy complication may lead to decreased attention to focus on breast-feeding,” he said.

Women with gestational diabetes often have other complications that make breast-feeding challenging, added Dr. Sherry Ross, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center, in Santa Monica, Calif.

“Creating strategies to reduce the risk of diabetes should begin during pregnancy and continue once the baby is born,” Ross said.

“In addition to breast-feeding, other lifestyle behaviors such as weight loss, dietary changes and increasing physical activity all reduce future risk of diabetes,” she said.

And Stuebe noted that new mothers may need more support for breast-feeding.

“If we made it easier for moms to do this, it would be good for moms and babies,” Stuebe said

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Study Finds Caffeine in Pregnancy May Not Harm Babys IQ,

Moderate amounts of caffeine during pregnancy don’t appear to be linked to a child’s risk for lower IQ or behavior problems, a new study suggests.

The research included nearly 2,200 women in the United States whose caffeine intake was measured during pregnancy. The pregnancies occurred between 1959 and 1974, a period of time when coffee consumption during pregnancy was more common, according to researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Children born to these women had IQ and behavioral assessments when they were 4 and 7 years old. The researchers found no evidence that mom’s caffeine consumption during pregnancy had any effect on children.41

In a previous analysis of data from the same group of women, the researchers also found that higher amounts of caffeine consumption during pregnancy was not linked to children’s risk of obesity.

“Taken as a whole, we consider our results to be reassuring for pregnant women who consume moderate amounts of caffeine or the equivalent to one or two cups of coffee per day,” said study author Dr. Mark Klebanoff in a hospital news release. He is principal investigator in the Center for Perinatal Research at Nationwide’s Research Institute.

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Study Suggests Depression More Common in Daughters of Older Mothers

Daughters who were born to older mothers may be at increased risk for stress, anxiety and depression when they reach young adulthood a new study suggests.

Researchers followed 1,200 Australians born between 1989 and 1991 for two decades. They found that daughters born to mothers who were aged 30-34 had higher levels of stress at age 20 compared with those born to younger mothers.

And daughters born to mothers older than 35 had much higher levels of stress, anxiety and depression, the study found.images

A mother’s age at the time of birth had no effect on sons, and the father’s age at the time of birth had no effect on either daughters or sons, according to the findings published recently in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

But scientists only observed an association between a mother’s age at childbirth and her daughter’s mental state as an adult. The study did not prove a cause-and-effect link.

“This study suggests that older maternal age is associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in young adult females,” said lead author Jessica Tearne, a doctoral student at the University of Western Australia.

She said it’s not known why daughters born to older mothers might be at increased risk for stress, anxiety and depression, but it is not necessarily biological.

“One hypothesis is difficulties may occur in the mother-daughter relationship because of a large age difference between the two,” Tearne said in a journal news release. “It may be that a 30-or-more-year age difference between mother and daughter leads to a significant difference in the value systems that may cause tensions in the relationship, leading to stress, worry and sadness in the child, particularly during the transition to young adulthood.”

It’s also possible that women who give birth after age 30 are in their 50s when their children are young adults and more likely to have age-related health problems, which could have a negative effect on their children.

Previous research has suggested that daughters are more affected by their mother’s health problems than sons.

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Ninlaro Approved for Multiple Myeloma

Ninlaro (ixazomib), in combination with two other drugs, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat people with multiple myeloma who have had at least one prior treatment with a different therapy.

Multiple myeloma is a type of cancer that forms in infection-fighting white blood cells produced in bone marrow. Symptoms include a weakened immune system and bone and kidney problems.

Ninlaro, from a class of drugs called proteasome inhibitors, is designed to block enzymes that spur the growth and survival of multiple myeloma cells, the FDA said Friday in a news release.

Almost 27,000 cases of multiple myeloma will be diagnosed in the United States this year, and more than 11,000 people are projected to die from it, the FDA said, citing the National Cancer Institute.

Ninlaro is approved in combination with another multiple myeloma drug, Revlimid (lenalidomide), and the corticosteroid drug dexamethasone. The drug combination was evaluated in clinical studies involving 722 people. Those who took Ninlaro in tandem with the other two drugs lived for more than 20 months without their disease progressing, compared with about 14 months among those who took a placebo and the other two drugs, the FDA said.

Side effects of Ninlaro included diarrhea, constipation, low blood platelets, nerve damage of the hands and feet, nausea/vomiting and back pain.

Ninlaro, the third multiple myeloma drug approved by the FDA this year, is produced by the Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

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Exercise Can Reduce Heart Failure Risk, No Matter Your Age

Starting to exercise later in life can still reduce your risk of heart failure, and even modest increases in activity could provide some protection, researchers say.

“Our findings suggest that when it comes to exercise and heart failure, the better-later-than-never axiom rings particularly true, and that even small boosts in activity can cut risk,” senior investigator Dr. Chiadi Ndumele said in a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine news release. He is a preventive cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at the medical school

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The researchers studied the exercise habits of about 11,000 American men and women in a 20-year government study on aging and heart disease. All were between the ages of 45 and 64. None had heart disease at the start of the study. Activity levels were assessed on two consecutive visits over six years.

Compared to those who were inactive at both visits, people who met or exceeded recommended physical activity levels of 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week at both visits were 33 percent less likely to develop heart failure, the study found. Those who were consistently getting modest amounts of exercise — less than 149 minutes of moderate activity or less than 74 minutes of vigorous activity a week — had a 20 percent lower risk, the study revealed.

But the researchers also found that inactive people who got moving to reach recommended physical activity levels at some point during the study reduced their risk of heart failure — by 22 percent. Inactive folks who increased their activity levels to about 30 minutes of walking four times a week reduced their risk by 12 percent, the researchers said.

The study was presented earlier this month at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Study first author Dr. Roberta Florido, a cardiology fellow at Hopkins, said in the news release, “Many people get discouraged if they don’t have the time or ability to exercise vigorously, but our findings demonstrate that every little bit of movement matters and that picking up exercise later in life is decidedly better than not moving at all.”

About 5 million Americans and 23 million people worldwide have heart failure, the researchers said.

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Yoga May Boost Quality of Life for Prostate Cancer Patients

Yoga may benefit men who are undergoing radiation therapy for prostate cancer, according to a small study.

Many such patients experience side effects, including fatigue, erectile dysfunction, urinary incontinence and a decline in their quality of life, the researchers said.

The new study included 27 men who attended 75-minute yoga classes twice a week. These patients saw their quality of life and side effects remain stable throughout their radiation treatment.

“Data have consistently shown declines in these important measures among prostate cancer patients undergoing cancer therapy without any structured fitness interventions, so the stable scores seen with our yoga program are really good news,” Dr. Neha Vapiwala, an associate professor in the radiation oncology department of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a university news release.

Yoga may help reduce cancer- and treatment-related fatigue, the study authors suggested. It may also strengthen pelvic floor muscles and increase blood flow, which could improve erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence

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“There may also be a psychosocial benefit that derives from participation in a group fitness activity that incorporates meditation and promotes overall healthiness. And all of this ultimately improves general quality of life,” Vapiwala added.

The study was presented this week at the Society of Integrative Oncology’s international conference in Boston. Research presented at meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Previous research has suggested that yoga may benefit cancer patients, but those studies have focused mainly on breast cancer.

Nearly 240,000 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, according to the American Cancer Society, which funded the study.

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Childhood Cancer Survivors May Suffer Physically, Mentally Decades Later

Childhood cancer survivors can have poor mental and physical health as adults, according to two new studies.

These health problems may be related to some of the toxic medications needed to treat cancer, experts say.

“We are doing a lot better at curing childhood cancers, but there are a lot of late effects of treatment that need to be looked at,” said Dr. Karen Effinger, a pediatrics instructor at Stanford School of Medicine. Because they are so young when treated, children and teens with cancer are the most vulnerable to long-term effects of treatment, she noted.

In one study, Danish researchers found that cancer survivors were more likely to be hospitalized as adults. In the other, kids who survived bone cancer were more likely to have poor reading and thinking skills, investigators found.

Both studies were published Nov. 19 online in JAMA Oncology.header-img_1

“Survivors after cancer in adolescence and young adulthood should be knowledgeable about their increased risk for health problems related to their treatment,” said Kathrine Rugbjerg, of the Danish Cancer Society Research Center in Copenhagen.

“Increased attention to symptoms that might indicate a disease and being treated early might prevent a disease from developing,” added Rugbjerg. She led a study of the hospitalization risk for more than 33,000 young cancer survivors who were diagnosed from 1943 through 2004.

Survivors of leukemia, brain cancer or Hodgkin lymphoma had the highest risk of hospitalization — roughly double — up to 34 years after their battle with cancer, the study found.

Overall, the researchers identified more than 53,000 hospitalizations for at least one of 97 diseases, including cancer; heart, lung or endocrine diseases; nervous system disorders, and infectious diseases, she said.

In the other and smaller study, lead researcher Kevin Krull, of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and colleagues examined the mental abilities of survivors of childhood osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

These cancer survivors had lower scores in reading, attention, memory and the speed at which their brain processes information, Krull said.

But a powerful drug used to treat osteosarcoma — methotrexate — doesn’t seem to have caused that mental decline, the study concluded.

The study included 80 patients with an average age of nearly 39, whose cancer was diagnosed almost 25 years earlier. The researchers compared them with 39 people who had not had cancer.

Krull said that although methotrexate is linked to brain problems when given in high doses, the survivors’ mental impairment appeared related to current health conditions, not that drug.

But these patients also reported having heart problems, he said. “These problems could result from another type of drug these patients received, called anthracyclines, which can damage the heart, Krull said.

“These heart problems are producing reduced blood flow to the brain,” he said. “These heart difficulties seem to be causing the mental problems.”

Whatever the cause, the mental problems have real-world consequences, Krull said. Survivors with mental problems were less likely to graduate college. They were also almost four times more likely to be unemployed and three times more likely to earn less than $40,000 a year, he said.

“Care of the cancer patient doesn’t stop with the cancer,” Krull said. “We have to continue to monitor these chronic health conditions because they can impact brain growth and development and affect daily life skills.”

Effinger, who co-authored of an accompanying editorial in the journal, called for more study on the long-term consequences of cancer treatment in kids.

“We know that there are late effects that come from treatment, and we need to figure out what we can do to reverse those effects and protect patients and give them an improved quality of life,” she said.

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Coffee Drinkers May Live Longer

Coffee lovers may live longer than those who don’t imbibe — with lower risks of early death from heart disease and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, a large U.S. study finds.

Researchers said the study, published online Nov. 16 in Circulation, adds to a large body of evidence on the good side of coffee.

People often think of coffee-drinking as a bad habit that they need to break, said study leader Dr. Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

But, Hu said, many studies have linked moderate coffee intake to lower risks of developing various diseases — from heart disease and diabetes, to liver cancer, to neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.

His team’s study, funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, adds another layer of evidence. It found that coffee drinkers were not only less likely to develop certain diseases — they also tended to live longer.

Over 30 years, nonsmokers who drank three to five cups of coffee a day were 15 percent less likely to die of any cause, versus nondrinkers. Specifically, they had lower rates of death from heart disease, stroke, neurological conditions and suicide.

Both regular coffee and decaf were linked to longer survival, the study found.

None of that proves coffee, itself, extends people’s lives or directly protects against certain diseases, Hu said. Other factors might explain the connection.

But, Hu added, his team did account for many of those factors. And the coffee benefit remained.

The findings are based on more than 200,000 U.S. doctors, nurses and other health professionals who were surveyed repeatedly over almost three decades. During that time, almost 32,000 study participants died.

It turned out that people who drank one to five cups of coffee at the outset had lower odds of dying during the study period when other lifestyle habits and certain health problems, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, were taken into account.

The relationship grew stronger when the researchers looked only at nonsmokers: Those who drank three to five cups of coffee a day were 15 percent less likely to die during the study period, compared with adults who didn’t drink coffee. Lower risks were even seen among the heaviest coffee drinkers (more than five cups a day), who had a 12 percent lower death risk than nondrinkers.

“The body of evidence does suggest coffee can fit into a healthy lifestyle,” Hu said.

That evidence, Hu noted, has already been incorporated into the latest U.S. dietary guidelines, which say that a healthy diet can include up to three to five cups of coffee a day.

But overall lifestyle is key, Hu said. That is, there’s a difference between a person who gets little sleep, then uses coffee to function during the day, and a person who sleeps well, exercises, and eats a balanced diet that includes some coffee.

Alice Lichtenstein, a spokesperson for the American Heart Association, agreed.

“This doesn’t mean you should start drinking coffee in the hopes of getting health benefits,” said Lichtenstein, who is also a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University in Boston.

But, she added, the new findings build on years of evidence that coffee is not the bad guy many believe it is. “There’s this lingering idea that coffee must be bad for you because it’s enjoyable,” Lichtenstein said. “It’s almost like we’ve been trying to find something wrong with it.”

There are caveats, though. “You do need to be careful about what you’re putting in your coffee,” Lichtenstein pointed out. Some milk is fine, she said, but watch the sugar and heavy cream.

And why would coffee be related to health benefits? It’s not clear from this study, Hu said, but other research has suggested that compounds in coffee can reduce inflammation, act as antioxidants, and improve blood sugar regulation, among other things.

Also, when it comes to some neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, Hu said, there’s evidence that caffeine offers benefits.

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study suggests ,Falls,Fights Cause Most Serious Eye Injuries

Falls and fights are the leading causes of eye injuries that land people in the hospital, a new study finds.

Also, the cost of treating such injuries is going up. The analysis of data from nearly 47,000 people hospitalized for eye injuries between 2002 and 2011 showed that treatment costs rose 62 percent during that time and is now more than $20,000 per injury.

“While we have some clues, we still can’t be certain why it’s more expensive to get treated for an eye injury now than before,” wrote lead researcher Dr. Christina Prescott, an ophthalmology professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

“It could be related to drug prices or administrative costs. Either way, it’s clear we need more targeted interventions to help reduce these types of injuries, many of which are preventable,” she added.

Overall, fighting and assaults caused the second highest number of eye injuries, accounting for nearly 8,000 hospitalizations. However, this was the most common cause of eye injuries among those aged 10 to 59.

Among children aged 10 and younger, the leading cause of eye injury was accidentally being hit by a person or object, followed by car crashes and accidentally being hit, pierced or cut by sharp objects such as scissors.

Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.