Diabetes drug restored memory in diseased rats
ALZHEIMER'S
A variant of a drug currently used to treat diabetes restored memory in rats with a mild form of Alzheimer's disease and eliminated one of the hallmarks of the disease, tau tangles in the brain, according to work by Brown University researcher Dr. Suzanne de la Monte. The drug, called a PPAR-delta agonist, appears to help the brain overcome the loss of insulin, which may be a contributor to Alzheimer's disease. Insulin is a natural substance needed for all body cells, including brain cells, to function. The rat study found that two other forms of the drug, called PPAR-alpha and PPAR-gamma, reduced memory problems but nowhere near as much. The rat study may help shape work toward a human treatment for the disease. Already, the drug company
BOTTOM LINE: Drugs that affect insulin could be a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
CAUTIONS: What works in rats often does not work in people. In addition, the rats had very early-stage Alzheimer's, and the results may not hold for more advanced stages.
WHAT'S NEXT: Professor de la Monte plans to study the PPAR agonists in rats with more advanced illness. GlaxoSmithKline expects to have results of its studies in 2008.
WHERE TO FIND IT: The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, September.
ALICE DEMBNER
PEDIATRICS
Smoking and lead exposure could contribute to ADHD
Roughly one-third of Americans with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, may have been exposed to tobacco smoke before birth or lead after birth, a new study suggests. Although tobacco and lead exposure have been suspected of contributing to attention problems, the study is one of the first to quantify those contributions. Among the study group of 3,879 children between age 4 and 15, those whose mothers had smoked while pregnant were 2 1/2 times more likely to have ADHD. Blood lead concentrations above 2 micrograms per deciliter -- far lower than the federally allowable limit of 10 micrograms -- were also linked to higher incidences of ADHD. Children with levels of more than 2 micrograms were four times more likely to have ADHD than were children with blood levels of less than 0.8 micrograms.
BOTTOM LINE: Federally accepted levels of childhood lead exposure may be set too high. Children suffer health consequences at far lower levels, said Bruce Lamphear of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, a coauthor of the study.
CAUTIONS: The study showed a link between ADHD and prenatal tobacco exposure and blood lead levels but could not prove that the disorder was caused by those exposures.
WHAT'S NEXT: Lamphear is currently involved in a longitudinal study in which children's blood lead levels will be monitored from before birth until around five years of age.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Environmental Health Perspectives, Sept. 19.
AMI ALBERNAZ 
