New research could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease, according to studies presented at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in San Diego.

Celiac disease, which affects an estimated one in every 100 Americans, is an autoimmune disorder in the small intestine triggered by a protein called gluten, found in bread, pasta and many other common foods. Celiac disease often goes undiagnosed.

“At this time, the only effective treatment for celiac disease is a lifelong gluten-free diet, a lifestyle that is difficult for many patients to manage,” Dr. Peter H. Green, of the Columbia University Medical School, said in a prepared statement.

“Unfortunately, many people are unaware that they have celiac disease, and if left untreated, it can be life threatening. These studies … will hopefully lead to improved diagnosis, prevention, treatment and quality of life for this disease,” Green said.

In one study, researchers found that an investigational medicine called AT-1001 may protect celiac disease patients from exposure to gluten. The drug does this by preventing gluten from crossing the intestinal mucosa.

While most people with celiac disease do well on a gluten-free diet, inadvertent exposure to gluten is the leading cause of persistent symptoms in adults with celiac disease.

The study of 86 patients found that those who were given gluten and AT-1001 had fewer symptoms of gluten toxicity than those who were given gluten and a placebo. The researchers are now conducting a larger, longer trial.

“Even allowing for the fact that people in clinical trials may practice healthier habits, the fact that all of the groups showed improvement in the first week of the study is significant and helps us to plan better celiac studies,” study author Dr. Daniel Leffler, clinical research director at the Celiac Disease Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said in a prepared statement.

“This work offers great promise for patients who, in the near future, may have a treatment that improves upon dietary restrictions alone,” Leffler added.

A second study concluded that the criteria for diagnosing celiac disease may be too stringent, meaning some patients go undiagnosed and, therefore, untreated. Current diagnostic criteria for celiac disease include small intestinal muscosal membrane villus atrophy and inflammation.

This study included 145 people suspected of having celiac disease. Of those, 71 were found to be endomysial antibody positive. Of those 71, 48 met the current criteria for celiac disease diagnosis. The other 23 patients were randomly divided into two groups — one group ate a regular diet, while the other ate a gluten-free diet. They were re-assessed after one year.

The patients on the gluten-free diet were asymptomatic and had no endomysial antibodies or small intestine mucosal inflammation. The patients on the regular diet continued to have symptoms, were endomysial antibody positive, and had further deterioration of the small intestine membrane, inflammation and gluten-induced lesions in the bowel.

The patients on the regular diet decided to eliminate gluten from their diet and, over time, became symptom-free, endomysial antibody-free, and showed healing of the mucosal membrane.

Some people who are endomysial antibody positive may develop the intestinal damage that makes up the current criteria for diagnosing celiac disease, the researchers said.

“By redefining the criteria for celiac disease, we can treat patients before they begin to experience the most severe symptoms and signs of the disease,” study author Dr. Markku Maki, professor of pediatrics at the University of Tampere, Celiac Disease Study Group, in Tampere, Finland, said in a prepared statement.

A new research program designed to help patients with mysterious health conditions that can’t be diagnosed was announced Monday by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

The Undiagnosed Diseases Program will study the most puzzling medical cases referred to the NIH Clinical Center by doctors across the United States. The goals are to improve disease management for individual patients and to advance general medical knowledge of these conditions.

The program will utilize existing facilities and staff at the NIH Clinical Center, the National Human Genome Research Institute, and the NIH Office of Rare Diseases.

“A small number of patients suffer from symptoms that do not correspond to known conditions, making their care and treatment extraordinarily difficult. However, the history of biomedical research has taught us that careful study of baffling cases can provide new insights into the mechanisms of disease — both rare and common,” NIH Director Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni said in a prepared statement.

Each patient enrolled in the program will be evaluated by more than 25 senior attending physicians at the NIH Clinical Center, the nation’s clinical research hospital. The physicians’ specialties include endocrinology, immunology, oncology, dermatology, dentistry, cardiology and genetics.

“We have developed a stringent referral process to ensure this program deals with those cases that have truly confounded medical experts. We will be very selective when it comes to patient eligibility. Our focus is strictly on conditions that have not been diagnosed,” said program director Dr. William A. Gahl, who is clinical director at the National Human Genome Research Institute.

To be considered for the program, patients must be referred by a physician and provide all medical records and diagnostic tests requested by the NIH. The estimated 100 patients a year who meet the program’s criteria will undergo additional evaluation (which may take up to a week) at the NIH Clinical Center.

In organizing the program, the NIH has contacted patient advocacy groups that provide information and support for people struggling with mysterious conditions.

“We hope to build upon our strong working relationships with many patient advocacy groups. These organizations provide a crucial link in our nation’s efforts to improve health through biomedical research,” Stephen Groft, director of the NIH Office of Rare Diseases, said in a prepared statement.

“We hope that this new partnership of NIH researchers, advocacy groups and patients will give hope for many Americans who now face troubling medical symptoms with no clear diagnosis,” Groft said.

If an expectant mother is exposed to high levels of stress, her baby may be more likely to develop asthma or allergies later in life, new research suggests.

Babies born to mothers experiencing high levels of stress had more IgE in their blood at birth than did babies born to less-stressed moms. IgE is an antibody involved in allergic and asthmatic reactions.

“Moms who had elevated levels of stress had children who seemed to be more reactive to allergens, even when exposed to low levels of allergens,” said study co-author Dr. Rosalind Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Wright’s colleague, and another author of the study, Junenette Peters, said that stress may make women more susceptible to allergens because it “may make the cells more permeable” so that even low levels of exposure trigger a reaction. And, women whose immune systems are altered by stress may, in turn, pass down that trait to their infants.

Peters, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, was to present the findings Sunday at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference, in Toronto.

The study, which was funded by a grant from the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, included 315 expectant mothers and their infants. All of the mothers lived in an urban environment.

Mothers filled out a questionnaire designed to assess their levels of stress in many different domains. Financial issues, home issues, community safety, relationship problems and medical issues were the most frequently reported negative events experienced by the mothers.

Dust mite exposure was also assessed using samples obtained from the pregnant women’s bedrooms. When the babies were born, a sample of cord blood was taken.

After controlling the data to compensate for maternal age, race, smoking, education, history of allergy and asthma, the child’s gender and the season of birth, the researchers found that the number of negative domains — stressors — reported was associated with an increased risk of elevated IgE in the cord blood.

“A mom who had three or more negative events would have a 12 percent increased chance of having a baby with elevated cord blood IgE,” Peters said.

Wright pointed out that elevated IgE is “suggestive” of an increased risk of developing asthma and allergy later in life, but that the association isn’t clear-cut and likely depends on exposure to other risk factors. The researchers will be following these children until they’re 5 years old to see if they end up developing asthma and allergies later in life.

Dr. Ashlesha Dayal is a maternal fetal medicine specialist at Montefiore Medical Center, and an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Albert Einstein Medical College in New York City. She said: “There’s definitely emerging data that stress in pregnancy can affect the pregnancy in different ways; for example, stress has been linked to growth restriction, decreased bonding, and even preterm delivery. So, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that it would precipitate a disease that’s triggered by stress.”

But, added Dayal, “This is a small study that needs to be validated. We really need more numbers to verify this association.”

Dr. Jennifer Appleyard, chief of allergy and immunology at St. John Hospital in Detroit, agreed. “This is an interesting study, but it hasn’t demonstrated cause and effect. Maybe what goes on before birth can have long-lasting effects,” she said, but added that she doesn’t think this is something expectant mothers needed to be overly concerned about in most cases.

Wright said that, although the researchers aren’t making specific recommendations on stress reduction based on this study, for your general well-being, it’s a good idea to reduce your stress levels whenever possible.

MONDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) — Findings from two studies of men with diabetes add to the evidence that erectile dysfunction can be a powerful early warning sign for serious heart disease.

A Hong Kong study of 2,306 men with diabetes but no signs of heart disease found that those with erectile dysfunction at the start were 58 percent more likely to have a heart attack or other major cardiac problem over the next four years than those with adequate sexual function.

And Italian physicians who followed 291 men who had diabetes and early coronary heart disease for four years reported similar numbers — those with erectile dysfunction were twice as likely as men without the problem to have major adverse events, including strokes.

There’s a physical connection between male sexual failure and heart disease, involving the effect of diabetes on the nervous system and the blood vessels, said Dr. E. Scott Monrad, a professor of clinical medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

“Neuropathy would interfere with the neurogenic responses feeding into proper erection,” Monrad said. “And obstruction of blood flow into the arteries reduces the pressure needed to achieve erection.”

It has been known that erectile dysfunction shares many risk factors with coronary heart disease, such as high blood pressure, smoking and diabetes, according to Dr. Robert A. Kloner, a professor of medicine at the University of Southern California, who wrote an accompanying editorial on the reports, which were expected to be published in the May 27 issue of theJournal of the American College of Cardiology.

“What is new here is that erectile dysfunction remained a significant risk factor for developing heart disease after controlling for other cardiovascular risk factors,” Kloner said in a statement.

“These reports add two things to what we already know,” said Dr. R. Parker Ward, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, who led an earlier study linking erectile dysfunction with heart disease. “One is that they indicate the importance of erectile dysfunction in diabetic patients in terms of predicting future cardiovascular events. These studies suggest that the additional presence of erectile dysfunction places them at incrementally higher risk. Secondly, they show that even when considered in combination with traditional risk factors, erectile dysfunction offers incremental information about the risk of future cardiovascular events.”

Cholesterol-reducing statins lowered the incidence of cardiac events by a third, the Italian researchers reported, and Viagra and other drugs for erectile dysfunction also appeared to lower the risk, although the reduction was not statistically significant, meaning that it could be due to chance.

“I strongly caution that we do not have enough evidence at this point that the drugs used for the treatment of erectile dysfunction have any beneficial effects on the development of heart disease,” Ward said.

Physicians should be more forward in talking about sexual performance with men, Monrad said, since “this may prove to be a very sensitive marker for all the other things we measure for cardiovascular risk, an early and more sensitive measure if we could get over all our puritanic inhibitions.”

Acknowledgment of erectile dysfunction “should prompt us to be even more aggressive about lifestyle change, in diet and exercise,” Page said. “It potentially may suggest more aggressive treatment of risk factors such as high blood pressure and cholesterol.”

More information

Learn about erectile dysfunction from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

SOURCES: E. Scott Monrad, professor, clinical medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City; R. Parker Ward, M.D., associate professor, medicine, University of Chicago; May 27, 2008,Journal of the American College of Cardiology

THIS CHEAPLY MADE GUITAR IS BASICALLY MADE OF SOFT EASTERN WOOD AND IS EXTREMELY FRAGILE…..THEY ARE OKAY TO PLAY AFTER A SETUP BUT ALL ELECTRONICS NEED TO BE REPLACED AND ALTHOUGH THE NAME WAS REMOVABLE IN THE PAST ( FOR ALL YOU IDIOT COUNTERFEITERS ) THE DEBELLA NAME IS NOW UNDER THE HEADSTOCK LACQUER AND CANNOT BE TAMPERED WITH UNLESS YOU REPAINT IT. SINCE THE COMPANIES THAT HANDLE THESE ARE IN CONSTANT PURSUIT BY IBANEZ, THEY ARE ONLY SOLD ONLINE BY COMPANIES THAT ARE UNABLE TO SUPPORT THIS PRODUCT PROPERLY….THEY ARE USUALLY SHIPPED IN THE SAME BOX THEY ARE PACKED IN OVER IN CHINA OR WHEREVER THEY ARE MADE….THIS IS A BIG MISTAKE AS THEY ARE NOT SET UP FOR THE BUYER AND THEY ARE NOT INSPECTED FOR DAMAGE PRIOR TO GOING TO THE END CUSTOMER….I RECEIVED TWO THAT WERE LITERALLY DESTROYED IN SHIPPING. ONE HAD THE HEADSTOCK COPLETELY SNAPPED OFF. THE OTHER WAS SPLIT IN HALF THROUGH THE BODY…THE DISPUTES FOR THESE TOOK A MONTH OR MORE TO RESOLVE. THE REPLACEMENT GUITAR WAS THE SECOND ONE THAT WAS DAMAGED. NEEDLESS TO SAY I WAS UPSET. THIS GUITAR IS WORTH ABOUT $75.00 USD AND NO MORE. DO NOT BUY ONE UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERIENCED LUTHIER AS THESE ARE ALL REALLY POORLY MADE…THE OVERLORD TREM SYSTEM IS NOT RELIABLE EITHER….AFTER LITERALLY REBUILDING MINE IT SITS ON MY WALL AS A REMINDER THAT CHEAPER IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER…I WENT OUT AND PAID FOR A REAL JEM AND NOW I’M IN SHRED HEAVEN…SAVE YOUR PENNIES KIDDIES…..THIS IS NOT THE CHEAP WAY TO A VAI GUITAR. IT IS A QUICK WAY TO HEARTACHE THOUGH….DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE….

Second Step To Success

Only 5 percent of the population, in a world filled with opportunities, ever reach the status of being truly financially independent! How can that possibly be? We all have the drive and desire to succeed. Why is it even with a lifetime of learning experiences and hard work, most of us often no better off than when starting out? Why do some people become successful? There are eight basic key elements individuals either utilize or over look that affect their chances of reaching a high level of success or not.

The process of achieving success for every individual is different. Obviously the processes for Bill Gates and Mother Teresa were very, very different. But for both of them, the process was the right one. Your individual values will set the direction you personally take.

Key Element #2 - Non-Conformity

Another reason so few of us succeed is that we go around acting like the 95 percent of the people who are unsuccessful. We conform. Conform to the wrong group, the majority. We learn conformity at an early age. We’re taught by our parents, from childhood, to act like the other children. Our schools teach us to do everything the same. There is no encouragement to break from the group and become an individual.

Then, before long, we’re on our own, practicing what we’ve learned. We became part of social groups that act alike. We get up in the morning, go to work, get together with others of similar interests for some social activity perhaps, have a few drinks, go home, watch TV for a few hours and go to bed. Whatever fits comfortably into our schedule without too much effort is what is usually done. Conforming to the actions of others seems like the thing to do, it is what we were taught.

New businesses open and try to be successful by copying similar businesses. Sure, they change their name and paint their walls a different color but very few are truly different. Then when someone does open a business with a completely new concept, it very often meets with raving success. The pattern begins all over, everyone copying the leader. It never occurrs to some, to be imaginative and different themselves. How many restaurants open every day serving the same basic items as everyone else. And only when a place that’s refreshingly original opens does someone say, “Gee, I should have thought of that.”

And they should have. Because it usually only requires a desire to offer something different. Something that only required thought to conceive. Conformity is a major cause of failure. Non-conformity breeds imagination and creativity and keeps the mind working. Most inventors, self-made millionaires, philosophers and great people of history have been nonconformists. That strong desire not to be like everyone else has driven them to create new ideas and better ways of doing things.

You need to step out of that all-too-familiar circle of comfort to achieve greatness. Or will you be content to work paycheck to paycheck, conforming to the surrounding groups so you don’t standout in a crowd? Will you be content to look back and say, “I should have…” or “I could have… .” Or will you be content to say “I did… !”