Alzheimer Related News Items

News as of 9/9/01
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Top Items
U.S. Approves Labs With Stem Cells for Federal Use - The National Institutes of Health announced on 8/27/01 the names of 10 organizations that possess human embryonic stem cells eligible for use by federally financed researchers. The groups have a combined 64 stem cell lines, derived from 64 "genetically diverse" embryos, the institute said. The list had been keenly awaited by scientists since Aug. 9, when President Bush announced that the federal government would finance research on such cells - which are created by destroying human embryos left over from fertility treatments - but only with cell cultures established before that date. By Nicholas Wade The New York Times 8/27/01 See the NIH announcement with the list at http://www.nih.gov/news/stemcell/082701list.htm

AD-Related Brain Abnormalities Linked - Study 1: Until recently, mice used to study AD - and test potential therapies - have contained only amyloid plaques, according to Dr. Michael Hutton of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. These mice also showed no real evidence of the loss of neurons in the brain that is a hallmark of AD in humans. Recently, Hutton and his colleagues were also able to engineer a line of mice that developed tangles, but not plaques. Now, selective crossbreeding of the two strains of mice has led to animals that develop both plaques and tangles. The research may be a step towards resolving the scientific debate, according to Hutton, since it provides "evidence that there is an interaction" between the abnormalities. The authors explain that tangles found in the brains of this new strain of mice were much more numerous than those seen in the tangles-only mouse strain. This suggests that the amyloid-beta peptide or a related protein may be involved in the formation of tangles. Hutton noted that there are several therapies currently being tested, including a vaccine designed to block the formation of amyloid plaques. These experimental therapies have been tested in mice that have only plaques, not tangles, Hutton said. Having a mouse model that includes plaques and tangles may allow researchers to see whether therapies designed to block plaques also have an effect on tangles. Study 2: Another study also indicates a possible connection between plaques and tangles. Dr. Roger M. Nitsch and colleagues from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, injected amyloid-beta bits into the brains of mice that form tangles. After the injection, the mice developed five times more tangles than mice that did not receive the injection. But most of the tangles did not develop at the site of the injection. Instead, they formed in a part of the brain that is linked with the injection site through long nerve-cell projections called axons, which help the nervous system communicate. Nitsch and his colleagues conclude that the research may make it possible to see whether therapies designed to prevent amyloid plaques also prevent tangles. Study 3: In a third article appearing in the same issue of Science, Drs. William P. Esler and Michael S. Wolfe of Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, said that secretases - enzymes involved in the formation of the amyloid-beta peptide that form brain plaques - hold promise as potential targets for AD drugs. Drugs that target these enzymes, which are known as proteases, may interrupt the AD process, according to the authors. By Merritt McKinney Reuters Health 8/23/01 Science 2001;293: (1) 1487-1491 (2) 1491-1495 (3) 1449-1454

Drugs
AD Patients Taking Drug Maintain Daily Activities Longer - The AD drug donepezil (Aricept) can help patients maintain their functioning in everyday activities such as shopping and fixing meals. A 54-week U.S. study of 415 people found that patients who took the drug maintained their level of functioning 72 percent longer than those who received a placebo did. The study measured the amount of time before patients' functioning declined based on a clinical rating scale. Those taking donepezil declined, on average, five months later than the people taking the placebo. Study author Richard Mohs, PhD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Bronx VA Medical Center in Bronx, NY, said most studies of donepezil have looked at its affects on cognition rather than level of functioning in daily activities. "This shows that in addition to helping people preserve their ability to learn new information and remember what they've learned, donepezil also helps preserve their ability to do the laundry and enjoy their hobbies -- the things that help them stay independent and maintain their quality of life," he said. A second one-year study involved 286 people in Scandinavia and the Netherlands and it showed that patients with mild to moderate AD taking placebo declined by about twice as much as those taking donepezil, based on a scale of cognitive ability, functioning in daily activities and other factors. "These are the longest placebo-control studies on this topic," said study author Bengt Winblad, MD, of the Karolinska Institute, AD Research Center in Stockholm, Sweden. "These results show that donepezil is an effective treatment in the long-term and demonstrate the importance of continued donepezil treatment for optimal benefits in patients with mild to moderate AD." PR 8/13/01 Neurology;57:481-488 and 489-495

Kidney Hormone Prevents Brain Cell Death in Rats - A hormone secreted by the kidneys, which boosts the production of new red blood cells, can also directly protect nerve cells in the brain from injury or death, scientists have found. This discovery may some day be helpful for treating patients who have had a stroke or who have a neurodegenerative illness, such as AD or Parkinson's disease, the researchers suggest. The hormone, called erythropoietin (EPO), is used to treat anemia. EPO is not only produced in the kidney, it is also produced in the brain after it has been subjected to injury from free radicals, and it may prevent the death of nerve cells as a result. Free radicals can result from tissue damage caused by low levels of oxygen, inflammation, and even diseases in which brain function deteriorates, such as AD and Parkinson's disease. Dr. Stuart A. Lipton and colleagues from the Burnham Institute, La Jolla, California, treated rat brain cells with EPO. This prevented the cell death that would have occurred with treatments that cause an excessive release of damaging free radicals. They also defined the way in which EPO prevents nerve cell damage in the brain. It triggers a complex series of signals transmitted in the cell. "The resulting events are a crosstalk between two well known signaling pathways that can turn on a variety of genes and protect the nerve cells," Lipton told Reuters Health. "This was kind of unexpected," he added. "Although this work is on rat nerve cells and not human cells, it is very encouraging that a currently available drug that is known to be safe can act as a neuroprotectant," Lipton noted. "In this case, we have found the pathway to nerve cell protection using a known drug, EPO, that is already widely used in people for other indications with a fine safety record, Lipton explained. "The next step is to test EPO in animal models (that are prone to specific neurological disorders) and if it works, it should go into humans, because we know the drug is safe," Lipton said. By Emma Hitt, PhD Reuters Health 8/8/01 Nature 2001;412:641-647, 601-602

Genes & Genetic Issues
New Drug Target Identified for AD - Deposits in the brain called plaques are hallmarks of AD. Several AD-linked genetic mutations have been identified that increase levels of the amyloid-beta proteins that form these plaques. However, Dr. Lars Lannfelt of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues report that people with a rare AD-linked mutation actually have decreased levels of these damaging proteins. Lannfelt and his colleagues dubbed the genetic mutation 'Arctic' since it was present in a family in Sweden. To the surprise of the researchers, carriers of this mutation had low levels of amyloid-beta proteins. Further analysis showed that people with the Arctic mutation had higher levels of protein complexes called protofibrils. The formation of protofibrils is an intermediate step in the development of plaques in the brain. The findings "point to a new mechanism for AD that previously has not been described," Lannfelt told Reuters Health. "Researchers in the field have previously been looking at what is obvious and easy to detect, the (amyloid-beta) fibrils" that give rise to plaques, he said. The protofibrils, which precede amyloid-beta fibrils in the plaque-formation process, "are now shown to be very important molecules," according to Lannfelt. "As this is a new mechanism for the disease, it gives a new exciting target for therapeutic intervention," Lannfelt said. "We think the amyloid-forming process should be prevented as early as possible, and now we have a very good new early target." By Merritt McKinney Reuters Health 8/27/01 Nature Neuroscience 2001;4:859-860, 887-893

Treatment Reverses AD-Like Damage in Mice - Scientists have reversed brain damage in mice engineered to have nerve cell deterioration like that seen in AD patients and some people with Down syndrome. The researchers used a naturally occurring protein called nerve growth factor (NGF) to replenish the number and size of cells known to degenerate in both conditions. NGF is key in early brain development, and for several years investigators have been looking at whether the substance can be used to reverse age-related brain damage. In the study, a research team led by Dr. Jonathan D. Cooper of Stanford University found that they could rejuvenate deteriorated cells in the basal forebrains of mice engineered to exhibit a Down syndrome-like illness. These particular cells are damaged in both AD patients and elderly people with Down syndrome. Cooper and colleagues report that as the mice aged, brain cells in the basal forebrain grew smaller and declined in number, and their connections to a brain region vital to memory began to drop off. Moreover, the transport of NGF to these cells was reduced. But when Cooper's team infused the animals' brains with NGF, it restored the number and size of cells in the basal forebrain. "This is compelling evidence for the ability of NGF to reverse pathological changes in a genetic model of Down syndrome with relevance to AD," the researchers conclude. By Pat Hagan and Keith Mulvihill Reuters Health 8/13/01 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA Vol. 98, Issue 18, 10439-10444 8/28/01

New Cure for AD Under Trial - The treatment involves injecting Nerve Growth Factor - a protein thought to develop the brain in fetuses and babies - into the brain to protect tissue from AD. Jon Cooper, from King's College of London, who led the British side of the study, told the SundayTelegraph 8/11/01 that the "Findings suggest that NGF deprivation is responsible for the age related cell loss associated with AD and that treatment could reverse the pathological changes associated with the disorder." Dr Richard Harvey, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said "Nerve Growth Factors have the ability to stimulate nerve cell growth and in particular re-growth. But the problem with them is that they are large proteins which cannot get directly into the brain." He added: "You could not give them as tablets or injections. The challenge for us is to get them to be realistic and effective treatments that can be delivered into the brain." The operation was performed on the woman in April and her condition is not known other than she initially recovered well. In the human trial, performed in California, a small hole was cut in the front of the patient's skull and five batches of skin cells - genetically modified to produce pure NGF - were implanted at the base of the frontal lobe. Ananova 8/11/01

Caregivers
Dementia Patients Aware of Losing Grasp Suffer Breakdowns Most - People with dementia who are still aware enough to realize they are losing their ability to function are the patients in nursing homes who may be most likely to have dramatic emotional breakdowns and to lash out physically or verbally, researchers at the University of Rochester School of Nursing have found. Nurse researcher Nancy Watson, R.N., Ph.D., and her team found that patients who are in the middle of their decline are five times as likely to become intensely distressed than patients either in the early or late stages of dementia. Nearly every nursing home worker has witnessed what scientists call a "catastrophic" reaction, where a patient becomes extremely agitated and emotionally upset, but there's been little progress in identifying which patients are most vulnerable. The current findings should help caregivers and even family members recognize which patients are most at risk for becoming upset. People in the middle stages of dementia typically have an increasing need for help with tasks like personal hygiene and eating. Other common signs are greater problems with short-term memory, difficulty making decisions about daily living, and increased trouble communicating with others. "These patients may still be conscious of their cognitive losses, but they are losing their ability to cope or compensate for them, resulting in extreme emotional distress," says Watson, who heads the school's Center for Clinical Research on Aging and who has studied conditions and patient behavior in nursing homes extensively. PR 8/30/01

Consumers Should Consider Eight Basic Categories When Evaluating Nursing Homes - University of California -San Francisco (UCSF) researchers have identified the most useful dimensions for measuring and reporting nursing home quality. They report that an annual survey used to evaluate quality in U.S. nursing homes should be simplified to focus on the most critical dimensions of care. Using data from annual surveys for all nursing facilities in the U.S., the researchers found that 40 survey items (or 20 percent) of 185 items now used for evaluation account for 58 % of all deficiencies actually issued by state inspectors to U.S. nursing facilities. The 40 items can be grouped into eight major dimensions of quality which are the most important for reporting information to consumers about the quality of nursing home care. The eight categories include:
- Quality of care - maintaining good nutrition and hydration; preventing or treating pressure ulcers, incontinence, and weight loss; and maintaining independence
- Preventing abuse and the use of physical restraints
- Assessing health needs accurately and providing appropriate care
- Protecting resident's rights
- Providing a safe, clean and hazard-free environment
- Meeting resident nutritional needs
- Proper administration of drugs
- A staff that meets minimum state and federal standards .
The streamlined dimensions are currently being used to evaluate nursing homes on the official U.S. government site for Medicare information: http://www.medicare.gov/nhcompare/home.asp PR 8/28/01

Dartmouth/VA Study Reveals New, Realistic Estimates for Surgery Survival in Older Americans - For older patients, the risk of death associated with elective surgery is far greater than previously estimated, and frequently higher than 10%, according to a new Dartmouth study. Reviewing major elective procedures in more than a million patients aged 65 to 99, Dartmouth/VA researchers found that mortality risk increases with age and operative deaths for patients 80 years and older was more than twice that for patients 65 to 69 years old. Their findings can help patients and physicians make better informed decisions about surgery. The study found that operative mortality for major surgery not only varies by procedure and patient age, but is considerably higher than that typically reported in case series and trials of operative mortality. Operative mortality is defined as death within 30 days of the operation or death before discharge. "When reviewing surgical risks with patients, surgeons often rely on one-size-fits all-estimates, which tend to be unrealistically low," said John Birkmeyer, MD, associate professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School. He added, "Both surgeons and patients need to be aware that operative mortality depends strongly on patient factors - particularly age. Elderly patients often have risks two- to four-fold higher than younger patients. Mortality risks also depend on where the surgery is performed. Unfortunately, some hospitals have much higher mortality rates than others." Taken together, all of these factors can give patients a more realistic starting point for understanding surgical risk. For those considering elective major surgery, information about operative mortality risks is essential for careful decision making. PR 8/17/01 Effective Clinical Practice July/August 2001 Full copy of the article at http://www.acponline.org/journals/ecp/julaug01/finlayson.htm

When the Child Becomes the Parent - The National Alliance for Caregiving has some advice for those who may be making decisions for their parents and who find that taking care of an elderly parent can be a drain, emotionally and financially. First, you should find someone to talk to openly and honestly. Even negative feelings are ok to talk about. Second, be sure not to set yourself up for failure by setting unrealistic goals for helping your parent. For example, attempting to overcome the problems of advanced AD is not something most people can do. Third, make sure you leave time for yourself in your schedule, no matter how busy you are. Other tips to avoid burn out include becoming part of a support group for caregivers and using respite care, with professionals providing temporary help to give you a break. Yahoo! News Health Headlines 8/22/01

Unlikely Guide to End-of-Life Decisions, Computer Eases Way - Businesses, hospitals and universities say that by adapting computer technology from video games and market analysis, they can help people navigate the tangled landscape of making end-of-life decisions. Computer programs, such as LifePath, walk the user through the same kind of decision-making process that business executives use. A similar resource is a CD-ROM called Completing a Life and a Web site, http://www.completingalife.msu.edu , created by a university and a hospital, both in Michigan. And Internet companies, communities and health care providers are using computers to ensure instant access to documents like living wills and medical directives, which patients can use to specify the treatments they want to prolong life and those they do not want. LifePath, created by Aliah Inc., a Pittsburgh company, guides users as they rank the things that are most important to them in thinking about their deaths or the deaths of family members. Advocates for better end-of-life care see great potential in such programs. "It is a highly personalized and inherently relevant way for people to learn about end-of-life decisions because computers and CD- ROM's allow them to go where they are interested, and they can be used in the privacy of the home," said Dr. Ira Byock, director of Promoting Excellence in End-of- Life Care (http://www.promotingexcellence.org ), a $12 million project financed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The project, based in Missoula, Mont., awards grants to organizations that improve the quality of care for the dying. Henry Ford Health System is ahead of many other hospitals in using computers to allow access to end-of-life documents, said Dr. Byock, the former president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the author of "Dying Well: The Prospect for Growth at the End of Life" (http://www.dyingwell.com ). "Most surveys say only 25 percent of Americans have a living will or advance medical directive," Dr. Byock said. "And the health care system is notoriously unsuccessful at tracking them and getting them to where they need to be. Computers can make that easier." Advocates for better end-of-life care hope that programs like LifePath and CD-ROM's like "Completing a Life" will make more people aware of the need to plan for their medical, personal and financial needs. By John A. Cutter New York Times 9/4/01

UK Nursing Homes Failing Dementia Patients - The care given to people with AD in UK residential and nursing homes is grossly inadequate and needs urgently to be improved, according to a new report. The study, by Professor Clive Ballard and colleagues at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, suggests that many homes are failing to provide dementia sufferers with "even a fair standard of care." The doctors examined the treatment of over 200 AD patients at 10 privately run and seven National Health Service (NHS) homes. Half of the private sector and all of the NHS facilities needed "radical improvement," while the remaining five private homes required "much improvement," they report. The investigators found that staff were ignoring the needs of patients with dementia. The doctors observed residents over a 6-hour period and found that almost 50% of their time was spent either asleep, socially withdrawn or not actively engaged in any form of basic or constructive activity. Just 50 minutes was spent communicating with staff or other residents and less than 12 minutes was spent in everyday constructive activity other than watching television. By Ray Dunne Reuters Health 8/24/01 British Medical Journal 2001;323:426-427

Testing
Brain PET Scans Point to Future Memory Impairment - A new three-year study predicted which healthy elderly men and women would develop memory impairment based on scans of their brains. The study, led by Dr. Mony J. de Leon, Director of the Center for Brain Health and Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, shows that metabolic changes occur in particular regions of the brain years before there are any clinical signs of memory loss. The study demonstrated these changes with PET (positron imaging tomography), a brain scan that employs radioactively labeled glucose to show the brain at work. The brain scan, along with other tests, may one day provide physicians with the tools to identify those individuals at risk for AD. "Our work extends the use of PET scanning to identifying in normal aging subjects the earliest metabolic abnormalities that may lead to the memory losses referred to as mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The diagnosis of MCI carries a high risk for future AD," says Dr. de Leon. "The results will allow us to distinguish individuals at increased risk of memory impairment, but it is still too early to apply the brain scans outside of a research setting. We need to confirm our results with a larger group of subjects and to identify the biological and physiological factors leading to the metabolism losses. If we can identify these factors, then we may be able to find a way to delay the onset of AD or prevent it altogether." PR 9/10/01 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol 98, Issue 19, 10966-10971 9/11/01

Estrogen Patch May Improve Memory for Women with AD - In the ongoing debate over whether estrogen can help with the symptoms of AD: A new study shows that an estrogen skin patch given to women with mild to moderate AD can improve their memory and attention skills. Sanjay Asthana, MD, conducted the study while at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Tacoma, Wash. Either the estrogen patch or a placebo patch was given to 20 women for eight weeks for the study. Previously, a small body of research suggested that estrogen may help relieve memory loss and other symptoms of AD. But then several large studies showed estrogen has no effect on brain functioning in AD patients. Asthana noted differences between the current study and those that found no memory-enhancing effect. Asthana's study used estradiol, a type of estrogen that has been shown to have an effect on the brain. Other studies used a compound that contains low doses of estradiol along with other forms of estrogen that have not been proven to have an effect on the brain, he said. Also, the largest study finding no effect included only women who had hysterectomies. "We don't know enough yet about how a hysterectomy versus no hysterectomy can affect the brain's response to estrogen," he said. In the current study, the women were given a variety of tests to measure their attention skills, recent verbal memory, recent visual memory and semantic memory, or the ability to name common items from pictures. The women receiving estrogen improved their performance on an attention test by 20 percent more than the women receiving a placebo. Those receiving estrogen also improved on some of the tests of recent verbal and visual memory by 35 and 30 percent more than those receiving a placebo. On the test of semantic memory, those taking estrogen performed 10 percent better than those taking a placebo. Researchers are still learning how estrogen works in the brain. Studies indicate that the hormone protects brain cells and may boost the level of acetylcholine, a chemical that carries messages between brain nerve cells and is lost in AD patients. Researchers are also continuing to investigate whether estrogen is effective in preventing AD or delaying the onset of the disease, as some studies have suggested. PR 8/27/01 Neurology;57:605-612

Brain Trauma May Increase the Risk of AD - Kurt Jellinger and colleagues from the Institute of Clinical Neurobiology in Vienna examined brain tissue from two collections. They found that brain injury leads to an increased risk of developing AD. This is the first study to use autopsy brain material to study the connection between traumatic brain injury and AD and confirms similar findings gained from clinical studies. The first collection contained tissue from 58 individuals who had suffered from brain injury and the second from 57 AD sufferers. Analysis of the injured brain tissue showed higher levels of AD than seen in the general population. Analysis of the second collection of brain tissue showed an increased level of traumatic brain lesions in AD brain samples when compared to normal brain tissue. The researchers conclude that brain injury increases an individual's risk of developing AD. This study also looked at ApoEe4, a gene implicated in the development of AD. They found that brain injury was only a higher risk factor for AD in individuals lacking ApoEe4. This suggests that the relationships between brain injury, genetics and the development of AD are complex and are in need of further study. This research is important because it identifies a potential risk factor connected with the development of AD. It could allow the people most at risk to benefit from new treatments. PR from BioMed Central 8/22/01 The article in full is at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2377/1/3

Sex (Hormones) on the Brain - Women are up to three times more likely than men to get AD - and a group of Canadian researchers at McGill University think they know why. The key, they say, is the male hormone testosterone. Their new study shows testosterone can protect the brain from cell death related to AD. "Women begin losing their reproductive hormones, including not only estrogen but also testosterone, in middle age, while most men don't see a decline in their reproductive hormones, particularly testosterone, until they are well into their 80s," says Dr. Morrie Gelfand, study author and professor of obstetrics and gynecology. It may not be entirely coincidental, says Gelfand, that the risk of AD in men only goes up when testosterone levels go down - around age 84. "We have shown in the lab that testosterone does, in fact, protect against cell death or apoptosis, which is the biological event that occurs in AD," says Gelfand. Perhaps men avoid this disease more readily, Gelfand adds, because they simply have a greater supply of testosterone protecting their brain from cell death. Gelfand believes an older woman's slight dip in testosterone is responsible for the increased risk. "It seems reasonable to assume that keeping testosterone levels normal longer could give women the same protection that men seem to naturally have well into their senior years," he says. His theory: giving men and women testosterone replacement therapy as soon as their natural levels start to drop off could dramatically reduce the risk of AD. Gelfand cautions that if you are interested in pursuing testosterone therapy, you should do so only under the personal guidance of a physician. Do not, he warns, buy any over-the-counter testosterone products, those that may be available on the Internet or elsewhere without a prescription. The drug is not entirely without side effects. No one should take it without careful medical monitoring. By Colette Bouchez HealthScoutNews Reporter 8/17/01 Journal of Neurochemistry vol. 77, No. 5, 2001 1319-1326

Other Items
Memory Loss Begins at 20 - The inevitable memory loss that comes with age is more like a long, slippery slide than falling off a cliff, according to Denise Park who directs the Center for Aging and Cognition at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor. She has found that our performance in a wide variety of memory tasks deteriorates steadily from our mid-20s. Park selected 350 volunteers, ranging from 20-somethings to octogenarians. They sat 11 tests on visual, spatial, verbal, and other types of memory. She found that performance in all the tests decreased steadily with age - the decline in performance between the 70s and 80s age groups, for example, was the same as that between the 20s and 30s. The findings, run counter to the popular notion that mental abilities decline sharply after a particular age. "It's not as though you hit 60 or 70 and fall apart. We're falling apart as we speak," she says. The results are surprising both because the decline starts so early and because it seems to happen at the same rate for many different memory tasks, says Fergus Craik, a psychologist at the University of Toronto. Park says young adults are unlikely to notice any change because they have more than enough reserve brainpower to handle most situations. And middle-aged people may be able to use their life experience to compensate for memory loss. By Greg Miller New Scientist August 25,2001

Family, Politicians Attend Maureen Reagan Memorial - Family and friends, politicians and TV stars celebrated the life of Maureen Reagan on Saturday at a memorial service for the daughter of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan who died this month after a five-year battle with cancer. Hundreds of mourners, many arriving hours before the service began, packed The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament to pay tribute to the author and Republican activist who became a passionate spokeswoman for the Alzheimer's Association after her father was diagnosed with the disease. The service began with video clips showing pictures of Reagan with her parents, siblings, husband and daughter and included representatives of AD groups. Her casket was carried by her former Secret Service detail. "Ten days before she died she was still working to convince Congress to double the amount for AD research," said Steve McConnell, vice president for the Alzheimer's Association. "Maureen really put a lot of things in motion." By Jenny O'Mara Reuters 8/18/01

It's a Dog's Life, but Elixir May Be in the Can - Private food group Mars Inc. said 8/7/01 it had developed a new pet food that could cut rates of cancer and other age-related diseases in animals, including canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome -- or "doggy AD." The antioxidant "super-food," developed by scientists at the firm's Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition in eastern England, works by mopping up dangerous chemicals called "free radicals," thereby reducing damage to animals' DNA. The new pet food blend has reduced DNA damage in dogs by 26 percent over two months, compared with a conventional diet, while cats had displayed 17 percent less damage. Damaged DNA can lead to mistakes when cells reproduce and has been linked to a range of diseases in animals and humans, including cancer, heart disease, arthritis and neurodegenerative disorders. Mars said it hoped to make its new antioxidant pet food blend available around the world "in the near future." Reuters 8/7/01

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