Two once-daily drugs may help clear HCV, trials indicate.

MedPage Today (11/3, Gever) reported, “Two investigational drugs targeting the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease enzyme helped patients clear the virus with once-daily dosing, contrasting with the three-times-per-day schedule needed for similar drugs in development,” according to separate trials. Baylor College researchers found that “at least 85 percent of patients adding narlaprevir (formerly called SCH 900518) to pegylated interferon-alfa-2b (PEGIntron) and ribavirin (Rebetol) after four weeks achieved rapid virological responses, compared with no patients receiving only interferon and ribavirin.” The “investigational compound BI 201355” produced “comparable results” in a study conducted by Johns Hopkins. Specifically, the “drug, also given once daily with interferon-ribavirin, led to HCV RNA becoming undetectable by week 12 in up to 90 percent of patients.” Notably, the aforementioned results are “from ongoing Phase II trials.”

The “Wellness” blog, hosted by Time (10/5, Sharples), reported that the scientific community has longed charted the commingling of industrialization and appendicitis incidence. “With the growth of industry in North America and Europe during the 1800s and early 1900s came the increased emission of pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide.” This was paralleled by “an increase in cases of appendicitis.” But, “as clean air legislation emerged in the late 1900s, there was a noticeable drop in appendicitis.” Now, researchers in Canada are “offering several examples of this correlation, including the fact that…after the United States’ Clean Air Act was passed in 1970, the incidence of appendicitis decreased by 14.6 percent from 1970 to 1984.”

        The scientific community has “yet to identify how exactly pollution provokes appendicitis,” the Calgary Sun (10/5, Kaufman) pointed out. But, lead researcher Dr. Gilaad Kaplan, of the University of Calvary, “suspects it could be consistent with findings on other organs.” He added, “If you breathe in pollution, it can actually trigger an inflammatory response.”

        That, says Dr. Kaplan, may also explain why men appear to “be more susceptible to the effects of outdoor air pollution,” considering “they are more likely to be employed in outdoor occupations,” the UK’s Independent (10/6, von Radowitz) reported.

        Another “prevailing theory” revolves around the “opening of the appendix” being blocked, according to HealthDay (10/5, Gardner). According to speculation, that may be the result of “lower fiber intake among citizens of industrialized countries,” which “leads to obstruction of the appendix by the stool.” Such a theory, however, “doesn’t explain the decreased incidence of appendicitis in the second half of the 20th century.”

        So, University of Calgary researchers examined data on 5,200 adults hospitalized “for acute appendicitis” and pollution figures “collected by the Canadian government’s environment branch,” MedPage Today (10/5, Smith) reported. As expected, “high levels of ambient air pollutants such as ozone and nitrogen dioxide were associated with an increased risk of the condition.” And, “in the summer months of July and August,” researchers “found pronounced effects for” the increase, according to the paper published in the Canada Medical Association Journal.

Green tea may reduce women’s gastric cancer risk, research suggests.

MedWire (9/30, Piper) reports, “A high consumption of green tea may decrease the risk for gastric cancer, particularly for the distal subsite, in women,” according to a Japanese study appearing in Gut in which investigators collected “data on…219,080 individuals.” After identifying “3,577 cases of gastric cancer,” the team also noted that, “among both men and women, 80 percent of individuals consumed green tea every day.” Notably, “women who consumed at least five cups of green tea a day were a significant 21 percent less likely to have gastric cancer compared with women drinking less than one cup a day.” The “protective effect of green tea in women was also evident for distal gastric cancer, with a 30 percent risk reduction.”