Features

'Dose Danger' !

Asthma & Obesity

Vitamin D & Cancer

Vertebroplasty & Osteoporosis

Embryo Freezing !

Letrozole, Wonder Drug !

New Products of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

EDITORIAL TEAM

OMAR AKRAMUR RAB

MBBS, FCGP

P G Dip. Business Management

LATIFA NISHAT, MBBS

MAHFUZUR RAHMAN, MBBS

MAHBUBUR RAHMAN, MBBS

EDITORIAL

Dear Doctor:

Happy New Year 2006 !

Welcome to this edition of 'e-SQUARE' healthcare online !

Our current issue focused on some interesting features like "Dose Danger, Asthma & Obesity, Vitamin D & Cancer, Vertebroplasty & Osteoporosis, Embryo Freezing, Letrozole, Wonder Drug".

In our regular feature, we have some new products information of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Ltd. as well.

Please send us your feedback !

Click on to reply mode.

Yours sincerely,

Editorial Team

Reply Mode      : e-square@squaregroup.com

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of its editor or SQUARE PHARMACEUTICALS LTD.

Anti-Clotting 'Dose Danger' After Heart Attack

Emergency room doctors often miss when it comes to calculating the right dose of powerful clot anti-clotting drugs for heart attack patients, reveals a new study from researchers at Duke University in Durham, N.C. Researchers examined the records of 30,000 suspected heart attack patients in 400 hospitals across the United States. They found anti-clotting drugs were misdosed in 42 percent of these patients, creating the risk of complications including excessive bleeding. Anti-clotting drugs when given incorrectly the treatment can lead to bleeding episodes at either the site of catheterization in the leg or internally in the digestive tract. The study also showed patients who received excessive doses of the drugs were more likely to die or have prolonged hospital stays compared to patients who were given proper doses.

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Asthma and Obesity Linked

Previous research showed asthma to be more common in obese individuals, but a new study adds to that knowledge that the link may be a genetic one. Researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle studied nearly 1,400 sets of twins. They found factors associated with asthma and obesity could be traced back to a common set of genetic factors. Before this study, doctors were not sure if this increase was caused by environmental factors or by genetic ones, as both are known to play roles in the two conditions. The study also shows environmental factors may need to be present for the genetic effect that causes asthma and obesity to manifest. Identifying these environmental factors could have important implications on future research to slow the development of obesity and asthma. Researchers note these findings agree with similar twin studies performed in other countries.

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Vitamin D Cuts Cancer Risk in Half

Vitamin D may cut the risk of some cancers so much that it could lead to new recommendations of how much of the supplement we need a day. A new study from the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, shows taking 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 each day seems to lower risk of developing certain cancers by up to 50 percent. The supplement could protect against some of the cancers include colon, breast and ovarian cancer. The high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, combined with the discovery of increased risks of certain types of cancer in those who are deficient, suggest vitamin D deficiency may account for several thousand premature deaths from colon, breast, ovarian and other cancers annually, say the authors. The study shows those who live in the northeastern United States who have higher skin pigmentation were at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency. That's because solar UVB is needed for humans to synthesize vitamin D. Researchers find poorer survival rates of certain cancers are linked to the decreased ability of blacks to make the vitamin. The authors recommend an intake of 1,000 IU per day of vitamin D and call for prompt public health action to increase the amount. They say the supplement is an inexpensive way to prevent cancers that kill millions of people every year.

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Vertebroplasty Helps Osteoporosis Patients

A new study reveals osteoporosis patients are more active and have less back after undergoing vertebroplasty, a procedure where cement is injected into fractured vertebrae. Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., analyzed the answers to a standardized pain and quality of life survey from qualifying patients before and after the vertebroplasty procedure. Researchers found the benefits of the treatment were clear and say the results will help serve as a record of the treatment's success. Weakened vertebrae affect nearly 700,000 people each year in the United States. Vertebroplasty is effective in four out of five patients, according to the Mayo article.

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Embryo Freezing Technology

Women who would like to have late children but fear loss in fertility can have their embryo freeze during their early age and can use it when they want their children. The new technology will help women in their active fertility to store their embryo without fear of loosing motherhood. The embryo freezing technique will be very useful for cancer patient who are planning to have chemotherapy drug for treatment as chemotherapy mostly leads to infertility. Women has become self-dependent and are achieving great heights in their career which has led to late marriages and late child births which has led to fear in women about their fertility and motherhood to overcome this obstacles this new techniques would help in storing the embryo of women and can be used at the time when required. Study has also showed that though fertility rate in women has been reduced to 35 years of age still women prefer late marriages.

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'Letrozole' Prevent Relapse of Breast Cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved the drug letrozole as drug for the treatment of patients suffering from breast cancer among post menopausal women. It said that letrozole was very efficient in controlling the recurrence of breast cancer among post menopausal women which has to be given in the initial therapy after surgery instead of Tamoxifen. The drug is an aromatase inhibitor and prevents/inhibits the production of estrogen hormone. This drug is a boon and very useful to all these women suffering from breast cancers which have spread to the lymph nodes and also for women who are done with their chemotherapy. The main point to be clearly understood by both the patients and clinicians is that the drug has to be prescribed only to postmenopausal women. If taken by other women will result in fetal damage.

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