ScienceCache
Vol. 203
Oct. 3, 2005
EARLY DENTAL HYGIENE URGED TO REDUCE CAVITIES FROM BREAST MILK
In a comparison of fluids fed to infants and toddlers – cola, sucrose
drinks, honey, human milk, cow milk and water – researchers have
found that cola, sucrose and honey were by far the worst for young teeth
and that human milk causes significantly more cavities than cow milk.
The work is the result of a collaboration between two of the University’s
best-known experts: Ruth Lawrence, a world authority on breastfeeding,
and William Bowen, who has long been at the forefront of research on
tooth decay. The study, published in the October edition of Pediatrics,
warns parents to stop allowing babies to drink sugary liquids from bottles,
or to sweeten water with honey, which has been promoted as good for dental
health, or to let babies fall asleep on the nipple. The authors do not
advocate switching from breastfeeding to cow milk, nevertheless they
do alert nursing mothers to the need for oral hygiene after feedings,
especially when the infant’s first teeth have begun to emerge. “Obviously,
cola and other sugary drinks and honey are highly cavity promoting and
erosive to teeth, and should be actively discouraged in children,” says
Bowen. “Early caries is costly to treat and may carry additional
burdens on the health of children, yet despite greater awareness it continues
to plague a significant part of the population.” Adds Lawrence: “In
families where cavities are prevalent, there’s also an urgent need
to avoid feeding all night once the teeth have erupted.”
Full story
VTEU BOOSTS FLU VACCINE SUPPLY, CONTINUES FIGHT AGAINST BIRD FLU
The supply of flu vaccine this year is anticipated to be greater than
last year largely because of work at the Medical Center’s Vaccine
and Treatment Evaluation Unit (VTEU). This summer the U.S. Food & Drug
Administration approved an additional supplier – GlaxoSmithKline – based
on the results of a study conducted late last year by John Treanor and
crew in the VTEU. In that study, which included about 956 people, including
278 in Rochester, a vaccine that had been used for years in other parts
of the world was shown to be safe and effective in the United States
also. Now the VTEU has been asked by Federal and industry officials to
perform several more studies to protect against a potential pandemic
of bird flu as well as the effects of a typical flu season that on average
kills approximately 36,000 Americans. In one study, doctors and nurses
are planning to test a flu vaccine that is used in Canada but not the
United States. If the vaccine is shown to be effective and is approved
for use, its availability would add even more depth to the nation’s
stockpile of flu vaccine. The team is also evaluating flu shots that
hurt less and is looking at the effectiveness of a bird-flu vaccine in
people older than 65.
Full story
NO CLEAR OR EASY CHOICE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA DRUGS
New and more costly drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia are not
substantially better than a 50-year-old medication, according to a large
study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health that took place
at the Medical Center and more than 50 other sites. Researchers compared
an older medication available since the 1950s, perphenazine, to four
newer medications – olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone – which
were introduced in the 1990s. These newer medications, known as atypical
antipsychotics, cost roughly 10 times as much as the older medications.
The results confirm clinical impressions that olanzapine is the most
effective drug among those studied, although it has a greater degree
of metabolic side effects, says J. Steven Lamberti, associate chairman
for clinical programs in the Department of Psychiatry. Patients started
on olanzapine were less likely to be hospitalized for a psychotic relapse
and tended to stay on the medication longer than patients taking other
medications. However, olanzapine, more than the other drugs, was associated
with metabolic changes related to an increased risk of diabetes. Patients
who took olanzapine also had greater weight gain and increases in cholesterol
and triglycerides. “That finding is consistent with findings in
other fields of medicine, where the most effective medications tend to
have more side effects than the less effective ones,” says Lamberti. “The
winner in this study may be perphenazine. Although it is the oldest and
least expensive medication, it was as effective as all of the other medications
except for olanzapine and it had fairly good tolerability.” The
study included 32 people in Rochester and involved more than 1,400 patients
across the country. The results were published last week in the New England
Journal of Medicine.
Full story
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