Steroids Blog

According to a research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, an antibiotic was found to be effective for treating acute asthma attacks. It was revealed that Telithromycin, an antibiotic, can be used to provide relief to patients suffering from asthma.

The team of involved researchers was from Imperial College London, the University of Milan, the University of Auckland, the National Jewish Medical Centre, USA, G.R. Micro Ltd, London, and sanofi-aventis, USA.

From News-Medical.Net:

Professor Sebastian Johnston from Imperial College London, who led the research, said: “Traditionally antibiotics have not proven effective in treating asthma attacks, but this development could open up a whole new area of research in the treatment of asthma. Although we’re not sure about the exact mechanism which caused this antibiotic to be effective, this study indicates it does clearly have a beneficial effect. We still need further trials to confirm these results, to investigate the mechanisms of action of this treatment, to see if the same benefits are seen with other related antibiotics and to see which patients are most likely to benefit.”

It is important to note here that treatment for serious asthma attacks can involve the use of steroids for controlling inflammation of the lungs and bronchodilators to open airways.

Crohn’s patients can now expect relief from Naltrexone, an FDA-approved drug, which is presently used to ease withdrawal symptoms from substance abuse.

This drug is currently prescribed and used for easing symptoms of drug and alcohol addiction and considered to bring relief to Crohn’s patients, according to a Penn State College of Medicine pilot study.

From News-Medical.Net:

Typical treatment for Crohn’s involves using steroids or corticosteroids, which suppress the immune system and can have other toxic side effects. Treatment is often time-intensive and expensive, as well.

“This is a novel approach to treating a common disease, and it’s simple, it’s safe, and it costs far less than current standards of treatment,” Smith said. “We don’t yet know the exact mechanisms involved in how it works, but we’re working on that as well.”

Smith initiated the study using a Dean’s Feasibility Grant — a program designed to encourage investigators to design trials in their area of expertise and seek outside funding. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently awarded the College of Medicine $500,000 for the team to continue the study.

These findings were presented by Jill P. Smith, a gastroenterology specialist and researcher at the College of Medicine and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Los Angeles at the National Association of Gastroenterologists annual Digestive Diseases Week conference.

The bodies of black asthmatic children are more likely to resist steroid treatment for curing asthma than that of white teens, as per Joseph Spahn, M.D., a pediatric allergist and director of the Immunopharmacology Lab at National Jewish. This study was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Several epidemiological studies have already suggested that black teens are at a greater risk of being sick and suffer from a higher mortality rate than their white counterparts.

From News.Bio-Medicine.Org:

“Our results suggest that children with steroid-resistant asthma are more likely to be African-American, to have required treatment with oral steroids at an earlier age and to require larger amounts of oral steroids for only marginal control of their asthma,” said Joseph Spahn, M.D., a pediatric allergist and director of the Immunopharmacology Lab at National Jewish.

Other recent epidemiological studies have shown that blacks with asthma are sicker and have a higher mortality rate than whites with asthma. Doctors at National Jewish now are trying to determine whether blacks have a more vigorous immune response to airway inflammation–which means that higher doses of steroids must be used to control inflammation–or a poor response to steroids secondary to a genetic resistance to the drugs.

“The theory is that with ongoing airway inflammation you get worsening asthma and diminished steroid sensitivity,” Dr. Spahn said.

This study of 164 teen-agers treated at National Jewish also showed that 25 percent of the group was steroid resistant. Children with less than a 15 percent improvement in lung function following a “burst” of inhaled steroids–high doses over seven days–were considered steroid resistant.

“Twenty-five percent of the kids admitted to National Jewish have steroid-resistant asthma, which is much greater than anyone thought,” Dr. Spahn said.

The involved researchers remarked that further studies are recommended and very much required to find out if the black teens are also at a greater risk of a more vigorous immune response to airway inflammation or not.

The use of steroid medications cannot be termed as effective for preventing hospitalization or improving symptoms of respiration for treating bronchitis, which is a common viral lower respiratory infection among infants.

This finding was revealed in a study published in the July 26 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. These findings by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) are believed to offer guidance for curing one of the most common causes of infant hospitalization.

From News-Medical.Net:

The study compared hospitalization rates for 600 children between the ages of 2 months and 12 months who visited emergency rooms with moderate-to-severe bronchiolitis. Patients were treated with either a dose of dexamethasone (a glucocorticoid form of steroid medication) or a placebo and evaluated after one hour, and again at four hours. The hospital admission rate for both groups was identical at nearly 40 percent. Both groups improved during treatment, but the placebo group did as well as the group treated with active medication. The study was conducted in the emergency departments at 20 hospitals across the United States between November and April during a three-year period. Bronchiolitis is most common during the winter months.

“We learned that a commonly used treatment doesn’t work,” said Howard M. Corneli, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah and the principal investigator on the study. “Now that we’ve demonstrated glucocorticoids aren’t effective in treating bronchiolitis, we can focus our efforts on finding better treatments and better preventive strategies.”

Nathan Kuppermann, M.D., a professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of California, Davis, chair of the PECARN network’s steering committee, and the senior investigator of the study, remarked that this study suggests that the power of a research network as big as PECARN to resolve difficult-to-answer questions.

The latest interventional radiology treatment is effective for bone marrow complications while the presently followed treatment therapy for treating graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after bone marrow or cord blood transplant not fails in context to mortality but is also ineffective.

Joshua L. Weintraub, M.D., chief of the Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, said that interventional radiology treatment is a life-saving treatment methodology for people with steroid-resistant GVHD.

From News-Medical.Net:

GVHD is a common complication of an allogeneic bone marrow transplant (one using blood-forming cells donated by a family member or unrelated donor) or cord blood transplant. With GVHD, the immune cells from the donated marrow or cord blood (the graft) attack the body of the transplant patient (the host). GVHD, which can be mild to life-threatening, can affect many different parts of the body, particularly the skin, liver and intestines. In this study the affected organs were the liver and small and large bowels.

Studies from the 1990s show that steroid resistance is common—80 percent of people fail to have a sustained, complete response rate or only have a partial response, which means the immune cells are still attacking the organ to varying degrees. “Until now, there has been no good therapy for steroid-resistant patients with GVHD. This small study—the first of its kind in the United States—shows a new, viable option; however, larger studies with longer follow-up results are needed,” added Weintraub.

According to Weintraub, the interventional radiology treatment does not display any immediate procedure or drug-related complications besides being a safe and effective one for fighting against GVHD.

The provision of growth hormone (GH) or its off-label use is termed as illegal in the United States when it comes to treating aging and forms of age-associated illness as per a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study authors were Dr. Thomas Perls, Director of the New England Centenarian Study at Boston Medical Center and associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine; Dr. Neal Reisman, clinical professor of plastic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine and associate chief of plastic surgery at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital, who is also an attorney; and S. Jay Olshansky, professor of epidemiology at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health.

From News-Medical.Net:

“Prescribing and administering HGH has become a routine intervention in an industry that is variably called anti-aging, regenerative, longevity or age management medicine,” said Perls. “Hundreds of thousands of patients who have received HGH in recent years as a purported treatment for aging are unaware that they are receiving the drug illegally.

“Although there is no evidence that HGH administration stops or reverses aging, many people spend a great deal of money on these products,” Perls said. “On the contrary, responsibly conducted and peer-reviewed science indicates that HGH could in fact accelerate aging and shorten lifespan. It is associated with very high rates of serious adverse effects, and long-term use could increase one’s risk of cancer.”

According to Olshansky, “off-label use for many drugs is a normal and accepted practice in medicine, but that is not true for growth hormone. According to laws instituted by Congress more than 10 years ago, HGH can only be distributed for indications specifically authorized by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, and aging and its related disorders are not among them. The use of HGH as an alleged anti-aging intervention is a major public health concern not just because it is illegal, but also because its provision for anti-aging is not supported by science and it is potentially harmful.”

Reisman suggested that the study paper is creating necessary awareness among members of the public about the legal concerns around the unauthorized distribution, marketing, and discouraging criminal practices in respect to growth hormone.

Athletes and bodybuilders making use of anabolic steroids to attain solid muscle gains and body strength run a high risk of destroying their kidney function, as per a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego, CA.

The paper also highlighted the fact that long-term and habitual use of anabolic steroids may result in fatal health complications, especially on the kidneys.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Reports of professional athletes who abuse anabolic steroids are increasingly common. Most people know that using steroids is not good for your health, but until now, their effects on the kidneys have not been known. Leal Herlitz, MD (Columbia University Medical Center) and her colleagues recently conducted the first study describing injury to the kidneys following long-term abuse of anabolic steroids. The investigators studied a group of 10 bodybuilders who used steroids for many years and developed protein leakage into the urine and severe reductions in kidney function. Kidney tests revealed that nine of the ten bodybuilders developed a condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a type of scarring within the kidneys. This disease typically occurs when the kidneys are overworked. The kidney damage in the bodybuilders has similarities to that seen in morbidly obese patients, but appears to be even more severe.

When the bodybuilders discontinued steroid use their kidney abnormalities improved, with the exception of one individual with advanced kidney disease who developed end-stage kidney failure and required dialysis. Also, one of the bodybuilders started taking steroids again and suffered a relapse of severe kidney dysfunction.

The study was conducted in the lab of Dr. Vivette D’Agati, MD at Columbia Univeristy Medical Center. Study co-authors include Glen Markowitz, MD, Joshua Schwimmer, MD, Michael Stokes, MD, Cheryl Kunis, MD, Vivette D’Agati, MD, (Columbia University Medical Center); Alton Farris, MD, and Robert Colvin, MD (Massachusetts General Hospital).