Medical Watch Digest For April 16

HIV Drugs for Alzheimer’s

There are no meaningful therapies to treat Alzheimer’s, the mind robbing disease which impacts nearly 7 million people in the U.S.

Now scientists, writing in the Journal Pharmaceuticals, say they found a link between HIV medications and a reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease.

They found in patients with HIV and Alzheimer’s, a similar enzyme creates DNA duplicates which hijack cells to create chronic decline.

Medications to block this enzyme are routinely used to keep HIV at bay.

Doctors say their research shows it can do the same for Alzheimer’s.

Detecting brain cancer in urine

A novel way to find circulating cancer from head and neck malignancies.

Michigan medicine researchers discovered a urine based screen, which searches for tumor DNA fragments, can diagnose head and neck cancers in a non invasive way.

The test works faster and as well as traditional blood based biomarker tests.

The finding could lead to earlier cancer detection for cancer types without a current, reliable, regular screening method.
    

Melatonin and weight loss

A sleep aid may do double duty helping people lose weight.

Researchers at the University of Granada found melatonin helps prevent obesity.

It is especially powerful against visceral fat, the fat that accumulates internally around vital organs.

Melatonin also protects muscle degeneration common with added weight.

They believe with lifestyle changes, melatonin can be a good addition in people helping to shed pounds and the related risk for diabetes and heart disease.

This research builds on prior studies showing melatonin’s positive impact on weight loss.