Reliable Sources

Living bandages grow in five days

Reprinted from Recovery, May 2004

Scientists in England have developed a way to grow living bandages from a patients own skin cells. Called Myskin, the product was designed for burn victims and diabetes patients, but it will be of obvious value to pemphigus and pemphigoid patients too. The new technique is easier than a skin graft, and quicker than growing skin in a petri dish, because the skin cells are grown right on the disk-shaped bandage. The disk is removed once the cells migrate directly to the patients skin. Band-ages can be ready for ap-plication in as little as five days.

A new small pox vaccine is being tested, which may be safer for patients with compromised immune sys-tems than the vaccine cur-rently used. Two studies show that the modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) injections protected mice and monkeys against lethal doses of close rel-atives of smallpox. Because it is fatal in humans, sci-entists must develop a vaccine against a virus similar to the one that causes small pox, and test it in mice and monkeys, animals with immune sys-tems similar to humans. The report on the tests appeared in the journal Nature in April 2004.

According to a study of 11,000 dieters released April 5, 2004, only 25% of those on a low carbohydrate diet are actually eating less carbs. Many low-carb diets suggest 20 - 50 grams of carbs per day, but dieters were munch-ing down about 128 grams, says the NPD Group, the marketing company that did the study. Refined carbo-hydrates are total carbs minus dietary fiber. Patients taking prednisone are urged to keep a low-carb diet. See page 10 for our report on low-carbo-hydrate diets.

A postmenopausal woman who stops estrogen replace-ment therapy increases her risk of hip fracture by up to 40%; and within 5 years, the risk may be higher than if she never received hormone ther-apy at all. Dr. John Yates of Takeda Global Research and Development Center in Illi-nois was lead investigator on the study of more than 140,000 women over the age of 50 who had no history of osteoporosis. People who take prednisone have a high risk of osteoporosis, a common cause of bone fractures. Results appeared in the March issue of Obsetrics and Gynecology.

FDA approved a French drug, Apidra, for the treat-ment of diabetes. The rapid-acting insulin product helps control hyperglycemia in adults with diabetes mellitus.

The PPS monitors over 100 news and information sources of interest to pemphigus and pemphigoid patients.

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