interesting health stuff

Risk factors for Alzheimer's disease: a prospective analysis from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging. Lindsay J, Laurin D, Verreault R, Hebert R, Helliwell B, Hill GB, McDowell I. Am J Epidemiol. 2002 Sep 1;156(5):445-53.
Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.

A prospective analysis of risk factors for Alzheimer's disease was a major objective of the Canadian Study of Health and Aging, a nationwide, population-based study. Of 6,434 eligible subjects aged 65 years or older in 1991, 4,615 were alive in 1996 and participated in the follow-up study. All participants were cognitively normal in 1991 when they completed a risk factor questionnaire. Their cognitive status was reassessed 5 years later by using a similar two-phase procedure, including a screening interview, followed by a clinical examination when indicated. The analysis included 194 Alzheimer's disease cases and 3,894 cognitively normal controls. Increasing age, fewer years of education, and the apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele were significantly associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. Use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, wine consumption, coffee consumption, and regular physical activity were associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease. No statistically significant association was found for family history of dementia, sex, history of depression, estrogen replacement therapy, head trauma, antiperspirant or antacid use, smoking, high blood pressure, heart disease, or stroke. The protective associations warrant further study. In particular, regular physical activity could be an important component of a preventive strategy against Alzheimer's disease and many other conditions

The generic drug dichloroacetate, or DCA, warrants more research as a potential therapy for a deadly form of brain cancer, according to a small Canadian study with unconventional funding.

The study published in Wednesday's online issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine showed tumours responded to DCA by changing their metabolism. The drug worked against tumour tissues from five patients with terminal brain cancer as predicted by test-tube experiments first reported on in 2007.

"We can conclude that DCA is possibly safe and maybe clinically effective in some patients," said one of the study's lead authors, Dr. Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

The generic drug is usually used to treat a rare enzyme disorder in children, but there is no patent and therefore any profit potential for a pharmaceutical company.

Terry Babiy, owner of a radio station in Peace River, Alta., had lost his sister-in-law to cancer and was infuriated by the lack of funding for Michelakis' research. He mobilized the town, which raised $365,000.

"The community responded, and they responded big time, people dropping off money from five dollars, to fifty dollars to hundreds of dollars," Babiy said.
The university contributed resources and equipment and federal funding agencies, also helped the researchers do the first clinical trial in humans.
"We challenged the dogma that without industry you can't actually test drugs on human beings," Michelakis said.