15.6 Avastin alert

[Above: Counterfeit Avastin, found in the US, with label in French]

News from Oct, 2101 reported the use of fake Avsatin for the treatment of AMD in China, now the fake version is found in the US. Everyone should be on the lookout. We hope the crooks are caught quickly and punished severely.

2010 news:

[Seeking Alpha] - "Shanghai Roche Pharma, the first China JV set up by Roche (RHHBY.PK), officially announced on its website that its cancer treatment Avastin has been approved for sale in China. The announcement comes after Avastin received negative publicity in China. Apparently, a fake version of Avastin caused adverse reactions in 61 patients at Shanghai No. 1 People's Hospital.

"...Officially, Avastin is not yet available in China, but almost 1,000 people have received the drug as a treatment for macular degeneration, an eye disease that leads to blindness. Avastin in approved for this indication in the West, where it has been very effective. However, in China, Avastin is approved only for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer, the initial indication in the West as well.

"At Shanghai No. 1, it was given to 116 patients, which means that over half of the group experienced pain, red eyes and unclear vision.

"No one can explain how a drug that is not officially available is being used so widely – the macular deterioration procedure has been performed in over 30 hospitals. Although one group experienced a high percentage of adverse reactions, the other patients did not report similar difficulty. Not everyone believes that all the administered drug was fake, and even if it was, they question how the counterfeit drug was introduced into China’s healthcare system."

Today:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The maker of the best-selling cancer drug Avastin is warning doctors and patients about counterfeit vials of the product distributed in the U.S.

"Roche said any patient taking Avastin who experiences side effects should contact their doctor immediately.

"The counterfeit products do not have "Genentech" printed on their packaging, which appears on all FDA-approved cartons and vials of the drug. Additionally, legitimate Avastin contains a six-digit lot number with no letters. All the text on the product's packaging is in English.

"The company believes drugs labeled with the following lot numbers may be fake: B86017, B6011 and B6010."

12.5 Male astronauts' eyes

Now this is quite unexpected, in today's CNN LightYears:

...Because when [Mike] Barratt blasted off to the international space station, he needed eyeglasses for distance. When he returned to Earth, his distance vision was fine, but he needed reading glasses. That was more than two years ago. And he’s not getting better. [Note: Barratt is 45 years old, presbyopia is not the issue here, the surprising aspect is the shift from myopia to emmetropia or slight hyperopia.]

“We really need to understand this. This is a critical point for understanding how humans adapt to spaceflight,” he said. [Absolutely.]

In the past few years, about half of the astronauts aboard the international space station have developed an increasing pressure inside their heads, an intracranial pressure that reshapes their optic nerve, causing a significant shift in the eyesight of male astronauts. Doctors call it papilledema. [Note: It seems the posterior pole got re-shaped (flattened) causing some changes in optic disc morphology and a decrease in the axial length. This may not be papilledma per se; let's not scare the astronauts with this stuff.]

Female space travelers have not been affected. [Note: Now this is truly amazing if true.]

Some of the astronauts slowly recover. Others have not. [Duration, please.]

12.4 Contact lens 2100

[Source: NPR/here]

"Imagine being able to access the Internet through the contact lenses on your eyeballs. Blink, and you'd be online. Meet someone, and you'd have the ability to immediately search their identity. And if your friend happens to be speaking a different language, an instantaneous translation could appear directly in front of you.

"That might sound farfetched, but it's something that might very well exist in 30 years or less, says theoretical physicist Michio Kaku.

"'The first people to buy these contact lenses will be college students studying for final exams,' he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "They'll see the exam answers right in their contact lenses. ... In a cocktail party, you will know exactly who to suck up to, because you'll have a complete read out of who they are. President Barack Obama will buy these contact lenses, so he'll never need a teleprompter again. ... These already exist in some form [in the military]. You place [a lens] on your helmet, you flip it down, and immediately you see the Internet of the battlefield ... all of it, right on your eyeball."

Indeed, this may revolutionize contact lens industry and beyond. Those interested should take note.

Happy New Year to All!!

12.3 A cure for cataracts?

[Above: The Second Cataract of the Nile, artist's rendition, 1841. Nothing to do with the cataracts in the eye, included here just for fun.]

According to a report in Time Healthland (11/3/2011)"Clearing Away Old Cells Delays Aging in Mice":
Source: http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/03/clearing-away-old-cells-delays-aging-in-mice/?hpt=hp_t2

"...Normally, these old cells are cleared by the body, but the process becomes less efficient with age. So researchers at the Mayo Clinic used a drug to target only senescent cells and force them to self-destruct, in a group of mice that were genetically engineered to age rapidly.

"In mice that were treated throughout their lifetimes, researchers said they saw a remarkable delay in the development of cataracts, muscle wasting and the type of fat loss that, in humans, causes skin wrinkling. Another group of mice was treated in older age, after cataracts had already set in. The drug didn't reverse the age-related changes that had already occurred, but it prevented further decline."

Comment: This study seems to suggest that cataractognesis is part of the aging process and that a certain drug is capable of targeting the underlying inflammatory factors [as indicated in the original article]. This is odd, the nucleus of the crystalline lens contains the oldest cells in the body and aggregation of the crystallins causes nuclear cataracts - not some inflammatory process. Even if so, how would the drug enter the lens, through the cortex and force the tightly packed, senescent nuclear lens fibers to self-destruct only to leave a huge central vacuole behind?

12.2 Cyclops shark

A fetal shark cut from the belly of a pregnant shark caught in the Gulf of California. The shark, which would likely not have survived outside the womb, had only one eye.

This is the real deal, a one-eyed [cyclops] albino shark:

"The fisherman who discovered the Cyclops shark is reportedly hanging on to the preserved remains, news outlets reported. But scientists have recently examined and X-rayed the fish, authenticating the catch. According to Seth Romans, a spokesman for Pisces Fleet, Galvan Magana and his colleagues will publish a scientific paper about the find within the next several weeks." - Source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/18/albino-cyclops-shark-is-real-experts-say/?test=faces

12.1 Number 1 health risk

On a scale of one (no worries) to five (real consequences), which risks are a gamble?

Wearing Disposable Contact Lenses Past Expiration
Risk Rating: 5

Whether your lenses are supposed to last a day or a month, it's not a good idea to save a few bucks by stretching out their life span, says Thomas Steinemann, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Case Western Reserve Medical School, in Cleveland: "Even when you clean and disinfect them, lenses and lens cases become coated with germs and protein over time."

At the very least, wearing contacts past their prime can irritate your eyes, forcing you to wear clunky glasses while your eyes recover. At worst, you can develop an infectious corneal ulcer that leaves scar tissue, reducing your vision or―in extremely rare cases―causing permanent blindness. Replacing lenses with new ones as directed will ensure that you see clearly and avoid issues with your eyes.

[Source: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/09/06/which-health-shortcuts-are-ok/]

11.12 FAQ12 - Final Destination 5

[Source of picture and text below: Boston Herald 8/14/2011]

“Final Destination 5” is the first movie to feature death by the common LASIK eye surgery procedure.

Question: For real?

Answer: “I think people are smart enough to know this is fiction,” said Dr. Samir Melki of Boston Laser in Brookline. “The machine cannot really turn itself on like in the movie.  . . . The laser turns off if (the patient) can’t keep their eye on the tracker.”