ScienceCache

Vol. 181
Sept. 16, 2004

CANCER DRUG SHOWS PROMISE AGAINST LUPUS
A drug now used to treat a type of cancer appears to be very effective at treating lupus, with just one injection easing symptoms in several patients for a year or more. The finding has its roots in a hypothesis put forth by rheumatologist John Looney and colleagues. They suspected that because lupus involves the same immune cells as lymphoma, a drug successful at treating lymphoma might also help lupus patients. So doctors tested the medication rituximab, approved in 1997 to treat lymphoma, in patients with the chronic inflammatory disease where the immune system mistakenly attacks a person’s own tissues. The results, published recently in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, bear out the hypothesis. Eleven of the 17 patients had a significant drop in immune cells known as B cells, and the health of those patients improved significantly, an improvement that was evident for the 12 months that the study lasted. They also had far fewer side effects than patients have with current medications, and several patients were able to reduce or go off their traditional medications. “In most patients, their lupus improved significantly,” says Looney. “These patients were treated for a very brief period of time, and some of them are still doing just great, several years later.” Looney and colleagues Ignacio Sanz and Jennifer Anolik have just opened a clinic specializing in the treatment of the disease. The team already follows 800 patients with symptoms of lupus and is compiling a registry of patients to help with future research studies.
Full story

ROCHESTER STARTS FIRST DEAF HEALTH RESEARCH CENTER IN NATION
Researchers at the Medical Center, working with many community partners, have received an unprecedented $3.5 million grant to conduct the nation’s first comprehensive health studies of individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. The goal is to prevent disease and improve overall health in this population. Funded by the Centers for Disease Control, the project begins this month. Initially researchers will convene deaf community focus groups; plan the best research methods to survey men, women and children; raise awareness among deaf people of opportunities to get involved in voluntary health studies; and build programs that will train doctors and break down existing communication barriers. “So little is known about disease trends, underlying attitudes or health behaviors among deaf or hard of hearing people,” says Thomas A. Pearson, chair of the Department of Community and Preventive Medicine. “This project, in working closely with our partners, will allow us to discover and prioritize the health needs of the community. We also hope to serve as a national model for engaging people with disabilities in health research.” The research relies on a vast collaboration including 25 funded individuals from several Rochester organizations, along with a small army of support staff.
Full story

SUPPORT KEY TO MOTIVATING SMOKERS TO QUIT
Counselors were more successful in motivating smokers to quit when they explored the smokers’ personal values, discussed their knowledge of the health risks, and supported patients as they tried to solve their problem, a new study has found. After at least four sessions during a six-month period, the smokers were more likely to make a serious attempt to quit — 49.7 percent versus 39 percent for those getting community care — and to use medications to help them stop. “The intervention was found to motivate patients to quit whether they reported wanting to or not at the start,” says Geoffrey Williams, the study’s principal investigator. The Smokers’ Health Project accepted 1,000 participants during the past four years and invited all of them to talk about health, diet, and smoking issues during their sessions. At the end of four visits, if participants decided not to quit in the next 30 days, they left the group with general information, a referral to their physician, and to other smoking cessation programs in Rochester. Even for that group, the long-term quit rate nearly tripled when they participated in the program, the study found. “Although there are effective interventions to help people break the smoking habit, little is known about what motivates people to do it,” explains Williams. The team is trying to understand more about how smokers see their health, and how the patients’ perspective on their health may motivate change.
Full story

SHORT-TERM MEMORY’S EFFECTIVENESS INFLUENCED BY SIGHT, SOUND
For decades scientists have believed that people can only remember an ordered list of about seven items at a time -- such as seven grocery items or seven digits of a phone number -- but new research shows that this magic number varies depending on whether the language used is spoken or signed. The results in the cover story of a recent issue of Nature Neuroscience have important implications for standardized tests, which often employ ordered-list retention as a measure of a person’s mental aptitude. “When we hear things, we naturally process them in a series,” says Daphne Bavelier, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences. “When we hear music, for instance, it comes to us second by second, so the part of our brains that processes auditory information has evolved to absorb information in sequence. This means hearing a spoken list, such as numbers in an ATM code, corresponds more closely with what the auditory brain does naturally.” Conversely, visual information comes to us simultaneously as we might see a sunset, clouds and a skyline all at the same time. While the visual processes in the brain can still remember ordered lists, they tend to be less effective at it, recalling an average of five numbers instead of seven. The team made its findings by testing people proficient in American Sign Language, comparing people’s memories in hearing and signed language. On average, participants remembered seven spoken items and five signed items.
Full story