The "good" cholesterol protects against colon cancer

Have high levels of good cholesterol can not only protect against cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's. Now a new study reveals another advantage: We are defended against colon cancer. "A good reason to pay attention to the numbers of blood cholesterol," says Bas Bueno de Mesquita, the National Public Health Institute of the Netherlands and author of the study, published in the journal 'Gut'.
It was already known that people with high cholesterol are more likely to develop colon cancer. However, so far, "there had been no prospective studies which take into account the different types of lipoproteins (HDL-cholesterol known as' good'-, LDL-commonly-called bad cholesterol, triglycerides, apoA, apo B) and its role in this tumor, "says Carlos Gilsanz, Head of Service of Internal Medicine, Hospital Gregorio Maranon de Madrid.

Colon Cancer

As stated Bueno de Mesquita, "we note that for every increase of 16.6 milligrams per deciliter (mg / dl) of HDL and 32 mg / dl for apoA, try them to suffer the colon cancer were reduced by between 22% and 18% respectively. "

Although the reasons are still unknown, researchers have several theories. They point to anti-inflammatory properties of HDL and also believe that "a low concentration of this 'good' cholesterol increases oxidative stress and, therefore, the destruction of cells, which may involve the onset of cancer." At the moment only assumptions and more studies are needed to inquire about this issue and the colon cancer.

To develop this study, which also involved a number of Spanish researchers have analyzed the profiles of 1,238 people with colorectal cancer (779 with colon tumor-affected and 459 rectal) and as many healthy. All were enrolled in a European investigation into cancer and nutrition conducted in 10 countries (EPIC study).

Health and the Colon Cancer

After examining their blood, their diet and lifestyle, the results were obvious. Those with high levels of HDL cholesterol had a lower risk of colon cancer, "regardless of other markers are also associated with this tumor, such as inflammation or insulin resistance," the authors note in their article. Moreover, "we did not observe association with rectal cancer."

Given the results, could be considered "good" cholesterol as an appropriate tool to mitigate the risk of colon cancer. To get to raise their levels, explains Dr. Gilsanz, "it is best to exercise, avoid saturated fats and even take a little wine at dinner, but genetics is also important in the health.

People with HIV before age 10 years

Patients infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) age between 10 and 15 years faster than the normal population due to several factors, such as side effects of drugs used and the waste of the virus itself.

The acceleration of the normal physiological process of aging system of people with HIV is one of the subjects 'hot' specialists who study AIDS, explained Dr. Josep Maria Gatell, Chief of Infectious Diseases and AIDS of Hospital Clinic Barcelona . Gatell, along with Dr. Laura Waters, Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton (UK), and Dr. Xavier Forns, MD Consultant of Hepatology Clinic Hospital, presented the sixteenth edition of the International AIDS Symposium, to be held tomorrow Castelldefels (Barcelona).

According Gatell, antiretroviral therapy normalizes much infection in AIDS patients but it must analyze the patient's life, and that patients make an aging population and makes it "more quickly than that indicated by your ID" he explained. "As a result, have faster and more often age-related complications, such as cardiovascular disease, stroke or stroke-some varieties of cancer or a neuro-cognitive impairment.

HIV Health

As regards the treatment of infection, antiretroviral therapy is now becoming easier and better tolerated, added the specialist, but has indicated that it should be for life, representing an expenditure of between 7,000 and 8,000 euros year.

Asked if the economic crisis affect the continuity of these expensive treatments, the medical expert has held that "probably will ask us to take the greatest cost-efficiency", which is made possible by the score of existing drugs on the market treat AIDS.

In addition to premature aging of the HIV infected, the meeting will also address how to treat patients who also have hepatitis C is also a situation experienced by between 30% and 40% of AIDS patients in Spain.

Dr. Xavier Forn explained that in a few months have medications that can directly inhibit the life cycle of hepatitis C, and that associated with standard therapy for treatment of the disease, is expected to increase very significantly the cure rate.

Until now, getting existing treatments to cure between 40 and 50% of patients with hepatitis C, a rate that is expected to increase in some specific virus of this disease and who have not been treated previously.

People with HIV

Gatell noted that "the patient with HIV and hepatitis C are two problems which enhance each other, so care must be taken in parallel and simultaneously managing both diseases."

New drugs to combat hepatitis C will mean an added cost of between 6,000 and 8,000 per year although in this case Forns explained that "progress has been made in predicting the response of patients and in 12 weeks you can assess whether the disease is on the road to healing. "

In Spain, there are an estimated 130,000 people infected with HIV, of which 30% do not know that they are therefore more likely to transmit the virus to others.

This proportion is even higher in the former countries of Eastern Europe, where two of every three people infected do not know, so that neither medical nor take precautions to prevent further transmissions. This bag of people unfamiliar with the disease are responsible for the transmission of up to 70% of new cases, so that reasons of public health to improve diagnostic tests, as in the UK when it occurs a traffic accident.

A new marine antitumoral to care

It was one of the surprises of the largest oncology conference that is held every year in the U.S. in late May, but the drug of marine origin eribulin continues to confirm its usefulness in treating patients with breast cancer. A phase III trial with important Spanish participation demonstrates that the antitumor drug last see the light could come from the deep sea.

In fact, since last November, eribulin already authorized in the U.S. by the drug agency (FDA, according to its acronym in English). And the results just now to make known the British journal 'The Lancet' open the door a little more for their European counterpart (EMA) chooses the same decision. Thus become the second antitumor gestated in the sea that reaches patients after Yondelis (Spanish firm PharmaMar), which is already used for sarcomas and ovarian cancer.

New marine antitumoral

Eribulin (marketed by Eisai and Halav Japanese lab) is a compound synthesized from a body of the seas Nipponese, 'Halichondria okadai', whose antitumor properties were discovered in the mid-eighties. As explained the Dr. Javier Cortes, Institute of Oncology, Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, and co-author, "is a new type of chemotherapy, on the one hand, prevents tumor cells continue dividing , while the other, form aggregates inside a [sort of lumps] toxic to malignant cells. "
Spanish participation

Embrace The study (funded by the drug's manufacturer in order to achieve its approval in Europe) has been conducted in 140 centers around the world with 762 women with breast cancer, about 50 of them from several Spanish hospitals. It was, explains Dr. Cortes of patients with very advanced tumors and metastases and who had relapsed despite receiving several lines of previous treatment.

"Faced with the classical treatment chosen by their oncologists," he explains, "eribulin improved survival by 20%." On average, this extension meant an additional two and half months of life, but as you add the Catalan specialist "should be borne in mind that in the last 10 years we have not seen any drug to improve survival in metastatic breast cancer."

Marine antitumoral to care the Cancer

Cortes also noted that despite being a chemotherapy was well tolerated eribulin ("just the hair falls out and only 10% of patients experienced fatigue"), which is administered in the hospital in "less than five minutes" appears to benefit all breast cancers equally regardless of their molecular profile.

However, not everything is rosy in the seabed. "Patients are still dying of breast cancer, not all trial participants benefited from eribulin and a still significant 7% suffered significant neurotoxicity from treatment," admits the Spanish oncologist.

Therefore, as pointed out in an editorial in the same journal Nacy Lin, Dana Farber Institute in Boston (USA), despite the progress that this represents, there are still unanswered questions. "What cancer subtypes benefit most and why improved overall survival over that time to relapse? What time to relapse should be considered futile treatment ?...". But we must wait for new tests to answer these questions new antitumoral to care the cancer.

The advantages of being bilingual

For decades, researchers investigate the effects on the human brain the knowledge of two different languages. At the last meeting of the American Society for the Advancement of Science (AAAS according to its acronym in English), which has just begun in Washington (USA), bilingualism has not gone unnoticed and the Bilingual Advantages..
Several studies presented in Washington, in the context of a conference on 'What does bilingualism on the brain?' Demolish decades in which it was feared that learning two languages could create confusion in the brain, especially in For children.

Advantages of being bilingual

One study comes from the laboratories of the University of Granada, where teachers Maria Teresa Bajo and Pedro Macizo have worked with several volunteers who spoke both Spanish and English perfectly (though not necessarily had grown between the two languages) and the Bilingual Advantages..

After measuring their response time and brain activity to a question, the researchers found that bilingual people are capable of activating two languages at the same time, even in situations where you only need one. As explained his Univera a press release, the blingüismo not only improves care but also trains the memory of these people, like a kind of 'mental gymnastics'.


Although as acknowledged in the same forum Judith Kroll, University of Pennsylvania (USA), all these advantages do not mean that bilingual people are smarter or learn better. In his case, his findings show that they are, yes, people 'multitasking', capable of handling multiple tasks simultaneously and quickly disregard irrelevant information that the brain perceives and the Bilingual Advantages.

Bilingual Advantages

Recently, a study on the same topic published in the journal Neurology by Elen Bialystok (Toronto) showed that using two languages every day getting delayed an average of four years the appearance of Alzheimer's. And although the greatest benefits were seen in people who usabanambas language daily, the Canadian researcher notes that even in summer practice the second language learned at school can be beneficial against dementia.

Switch from one language to another, explaining Bialystok, seems to be a stimulus to the brain, so it makes a kind of 'cognitive reserve'. His next step will be to determine whether, in addition to cognitive improvement, bilingualism also causes physical changes in brain structure and the Bilingual Advantages..