Science is a long road that consists of trial, error and eventually progress – and the Accomplia drug looks rather promising. It changes the circuitry in the human brain that controls hunger and desires for nicotine and alcohol consumption. Till now, researchers have not discovered any serious drawback of the drug.
During the trials that comprised of 3,000 persons, the drug Accomplia was compared with a placebo. All the contestants went to a restricted diet. However, those who were on the highest dose of Accomplia lost considerably more weight; they lost up to 20lb and nearly three inches off their waists. Moreover, the levels of risk factors, relating to heart disease, in their blood samples also improved.
Resveratrol needs still to undergo such examination, but it may attest to be yet more advantageous. It functions by combining to a class of proteins known as sirtuins which control the reparation of cells and radically boosts their effectiveness.
Research has demonstrated that it has a remarkable anti-inflammatory action. In animals, this feature has been able to postpone the ageing process and has increased their lifetime by a maximum of 50%.
In a project at Leicester University, it is actually being examined as a cure for colon cancer; in California as a remedy for prostate cancer, in London as a healing for lung disease while in Canada, it is being tested as a herpes treatment.
According to David Sinclair from the Harvard medical school, it is by no accident that it appears to have a positive impact on every disease it has been experimented on. David Sinclair and his team are investigating resveratrol’s anti-ageing effects and they believe that it could prove to be indeed very significant.
Even if eventual wonder drugs do establish to be more efficient, are they the correct way to carry on? Maybe people should simply live a healthier life in the very first instance.
Esther Rantzen, aged 64, who is a star of television’s Stictly Come Dancing, and who has lately dedicated herself to the promotion of the happiness of the “third age”, claims that the greatest medication for her comprise of the people she knows and meets and the various adventures in her life and work. According to her, extending a person’s lifetime is not necessarily advantageous. She believes that in her case she would need to outlive her usefulness.
An Oxford anthropologist, Desmond Morris, explains that while pills have their own importance and is very beneficial for the human species, there is however much of pill-taking that is plainly unnecessary. He therefore proposes that it is better to try and adjust to our surroundings and the daily stresses that come with it, rather than resorting to still more medication.
Scientists and doctors are divided on the worthiness of looking for a miracle remedy. The editor of Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, Ike Iheanacho, declared that it is a reality that it is only in the initial stages that a new drug appears to be the most impressive.
The pioneers take care when dealing with patients during trials especially regarding their selection and monitoring. When a drug is given to a patient who has not been selected, the degree of benefit decreases and one can begin to see the actual level of the side effects.
Some say that, given the extent to which people are affected by lifestyle diseases, it is crucial for scientists to keep on searching. A professor of clinical pharmacology, Peter Sever, of the Imperial College in London, said that over 50% of the population may die of cancer, strokes and heart disease that might be completely preventable. He advanced that it is vital that the industry attempts to develop and produce drugs that neutralize the appalling lifestyle of people.
Accomplia and Resveratrol may potentially be the best options. Success should not be viewed as unachievable since there is already a substance that can be deemed to be a wonder drug. It averts heart attacks and thus can allow a person to have a longer life; it decreases the probability of blindness that is caused by cataracts; it subside fever and can even shield against some type of cancers. It can even assist in certain problems of fertility. What’s the name of this wonder drug? Aspirin.
Whilst big drug companies are chasing wonder drugs, other scientists have developed an innovative and ground-breaking technique in gene therapy. These scientists believe that it could provide a radical breakthrough to counteract against heart disease, cancer and other diseases, reports Lois Rogers.
Last week a group of researchers made known that they have found out a means to block the action of genes through a mere injection. This technique consists of inserting fragments of RNA. RNA is a molecule that is comparable to DNA. It differs in the fact that it has been changed to stop the activity of a particular gene.
This team of researchers showed the process in mice and were successful in silencing the genes regulating a protein which, in turn, is implicated in the process of producing cholesterol. They were successful in reducing the levels of blood cholesterol by a maximum of 50% in the mice.
An elevated level of cholesterol consists of a high risk factor in heart disease. In Britain it kills more than 238,000 persons on a yearly basis.
The technique can be applied on a wider range. Scientists, who have published their results in the journal Nature, think that it could be adjusted to be directed at any gene.
The very first illness to be addressed in human beings will be macular deterioration, a principal cause of sight damage as well as blindness that touches more than 500,000 persons in Britain.
The goal will consist of developing an RNA molecule for blocking the production of a specific protein which is involved in the unregulated blood vessel growth that triggers macular degeneration. The project work is to start next year.
The company which is behind the discovery, Alnylam, was established by Philip Sharp. This British-born and Nobel prize-winner who is actually settled in Boston, Massachusetts, said that the discovery provides an entirely novel method of treating disease.
Source: Times Online
Read:
Part 1: Concentrating on The quest Towards the Miracle Pill
Part 2: Concentrating on The quest Towards the Miracle Pill
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Products, Anti Aging Supplements, Anti Aging Theories, Bioscience, Gerontology
Sun, May 30, 2010
Anti Aging, Anti Aging Products, Anti Aging Supplements, Anti Aging Theories, Bioscience, Gerontology