RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

Rimonabant (also known as Accomplia,Slimona, Zimulti) has been approved for use in the UK National Healthcare Service (NHS) for the treatment of obesity in those who have not had success with lifestyle changes, or the two other weight loss drugs, Orlistat and Sibutramine. Rimonabant has been withheld from the U.S. markets due to concerns over side-effects such as severe depression.

This approval comes after many concerns over Rimonabant’s possible side-effects. Last month the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had received 720 reports of adverse drug reactions (for a grand total of 2,123) in the UK since the drug launched in 2006.

Rimonabant is the first selective CB1 receptor blocker to be approved for use anywhere in the world. It is an inverse agonist for the cannabinoid receptor CB1. Its main avenue of effect is reduction in appetite although some companies have tried to push it through for smoking cessation indications.

A study recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found memory impairment in rats fed a diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat. This memory loss appeared to be caused by an inflammatory process in the brain that occurred as a result of the high fat diet provided to the rodents. There was also impairment in the structural proteins involved in how a nerve cell functions. As inflammation is associated with a poor diet, the failure of functions in other key organs such as the eye and the ear are hypothesized.

Loss of memory with advanced age is a problem in most societies and is noted to be particularly severe in industrialized nations. We are a nation of fast food – notably high in fat, saturated fat in particular, and cholesterol.

A recent study in Psychosomatic Medicine evaluated the association between body mass index (BMI) and psychiatric disorders. The study looked at data from 41,654 individuals in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Variables such as demographics were controlled for.

We have pretty much been beat to death with the news that the ACCORD study was discontinued due to an increased incidence of heart disease in the tightly controlled glycemic group. For those of you who want to catch up on the ACCORD study, click here to to catch up on the details.

Prion diseases are responsible for many of our neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimers. Some process, as yet unidentified, causes the normal prions to fold over into an alternatively formed isoform that we call a PrPSC. It is this substance that is found in the brains of people who have died with a neurodegenerative disease. It is known that many of the neurodegenerative diseases are modified by the administration of drugs that inhibit cholesterol synthesis, so scientists set out to examine the effects of cholesterol balance within the neuronal cells themselves.

Slaughterhouse workers contract strange illness after coming in contact with swine brains. The CDC just released a publication alerting healthcare workers that a progressive, inflammatory neuropathy among swine slaughterhouse workers has emerged onto the healthcare scene. The illness was first identified at a Minnesota slaughterhouse where 12 workers had been identified as having the disease (8 cases), probably having the disease (2 cases) and possibly having the disease (2 cases).