2TO01HLD0316 2TO01HLD0316 ZALLCALL 57 16:47:22 03/15/10 B

floridatoday.com LIFE&HEALTH DTuesday

March 16, 2010

FEATURES EDITOR SUZY FLEMING LEONARD, sleonard@floridatoday.com or 242-3614

Pill won’t shorten life, study finds60seconds BY RANDY DOTING

GANNETT

Good news for women who haveused birth control pills: A long-termstudy finds thosewho took oral con-traceptives at some point in theirlives have a lower risk of death thanwomenwhonever tookthepill.

“Many women, especially thosewho used the first generationof oralcontraceptives many years ago, arelikely to be reassured by our results.However, our findings might not re-flect theexperienceofwomenusingoral contraceptives today, if cur-rently available preparations have adifferent risk than earlier prod-

ucts,” Dr. Philip Hannaford of theUniversity of Aberdeen, leader of anewstudy,said inastatement.

However, those who took oralcontraceptives are at higher risk ofviolent or accidental death. The au-thors of the study, which appearsonline March 12 in the journal BMJ,aren’t sure why this that might beso.

Hannaford and colleaguestracked 46,000 women for almost40years.

In the long term, women whotook birth-control pills had a signifi-cantly lower risk of death fromcauses such as heart disease and

cancers — even cancers of theuterus and ovary — compared withotherwomen.

Women younger than 40 whotook birth control pills had a slightlyhigherriskofdeath, theresearchersreport.

The authors conclude, “oral con-traception is not significantly asso-ciated with an increased long-termrisk of death — indeed a net benefitwasapparent.”

But, they write, “the balance ofrisks and benefits may vary glob-ally, depending upon patterns oforal contraception usage and back-groundriskofdisease.”

Of news you can use

Tell us yourhealth ideas

Do you have ideas orfeedback on the

health and medicalcoverage in FLORIDA

TODAY? Contactmedical reporterSusan Jenks at242-3657 or

sjenks@floridatoday.com.

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more. The cost is$10. Call 433-7385.

Thinkstock

Researchbarks up treeof long lifeOld dogsmay havecancer answers

BY DAN MCFEELYGANNETT

University researcher David Wa-ters hopes a bunch of old dogs willbeable to teachscientistsnewtricksaboutagingandcancer.

Waters has embarked on a23-day trek across the country tomeet face-to-snout with 15 of theoldest-living Rottweilers in theUnited States. Waters, head of theGerald P. Murphy Cancer Founda-tion at the Purdue Research Park,West Lafayette, Ind., has been lead-ing a research team that studies ag-ing and cancer in pet dogs. Duringthe past three years, the team hascompiled a database of scientificdata on 140 Rottweilers throughbreeders and fan clubs. Only 15 stillare alive, prompting Waters to puttogether his “Old Grey Muzzletour.”

“These dogs have lived 30 per-cent longer than average,” Waterssaid. “Theyhavedodgedcancerandwe believe studying them can shedlightonwhat it takes to livewell.”

All of the Rottweilers are at least13 years old. Typically, they don’tlive much past 10. Of the15heplansto visit, females outnumber themales11tofour.

Monday, Waters was be in Vir-ginia to visit with “Buzz.” Today, hetravels to Tennessee to see“Schatze,” and the tour ends in Se-attle on April 3 with “Sugar,” theoldest dog on the tour at 15 yearsandtwomonths.

“If you want to understand aging,you have to look to those who havebeen extremely successful,” Waterssaid. “These dogs are the equivalentto 100-year-old people and we wantto find out what is the root of theirsuccess.”

First stop on the “Old Grey Muz-zle tour” was Friday in Holliston,Mass., where Waters met with“Bort,” a mild-mannered RottweilerownedbyGretchenCaldwell.

The Caldwell family raised Bortfrom a 12-week-old pup. The dogwill turn14intwoweeks.

“He’s still pretty active, loves togo on his walks and greet the kidswhen they come home,” said Cald-well, who volunteered Bort for thestudy. “He still thinks he can catch asquirrel, too.”

During each stop, which can lastup to four hours, Waters performs aphysical examination on the dog.He listens closely to the hearts andlungs. He performs a neurologicalexam, collects DNA samples,checks bone density and measures

See CANCER, 4D

Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY

Miracle of life. Susan McCrea, with her 3-month-old daughter, Sarah, said donating her placenta was an easy de-cision. “It’s not like there’s anything you’re going to do with your placenta,” McCrea said.

Tissue helpsrestore sightThinkstock images

Eye opening. A single placentacan help up to 100 recipients.

If you want to donate0 Only mothers-to-be who haveplanned Caesarian sections candonate, to prevent bacterialinfections.0 Prescreening involves normalblood tests and questions involvingsexual history and drug use.0 Once donated, the placenta’sinnermost layer is processed foruse in eye surgeries.0 A single placenta can help up to100 recipients regain eyesight.0 The most common treatment isfor pterygium, a wing-shaped growthon the cornea that can distortvision. It also is used to treatchemical burns, cornealperforations and even somecancers in the eye.0 Cord blood can be banked at thesame time, although it requiresmore advance notice.0 For more information call theSoutheast Tissue Alliance at866-432-1164.

Placenta lining promotes faster healingafter eye injuries, primarily the cornea

BY SUSAN JENKSFLORIDA TODAY

Patricia Koslowski does notknow the identity of the donorwhose tissuehelpedrestorehervi-sion to near-normal after a severechemicalburninher lefteye.

“Whoever it was, I feel soblessed,” she said. “I had golf-ball-sized water blisters hanging onmy face, and I couldn’t see any-thingatall for threeweeks.”

The 65-year-old Melbourne res-ident burned her eye last Octoberwhen she dropped a bottle of Clo-rox while doing laundry. Its con-tents splashed “up all over my faceand up into my left nostril andeye.”

Damage to her face healedfairly quickly, she said. And be-cause of a donated placenta, hereye doctor was able to restoremuch of her lost sight using tinygraftsmadefromthe tissue,whichwere implantedintheeye.

One donated placenta can po-tentially save the sight of up to 100patients.

The stem-cell rich placenta,which lines the uterine wall andprotects a developing fetus duringpregnancy, usually gets thrownout after birth. But, increasingly,eye doctors are using the inner-most lining of this tissue, knownas the amniotic membrane, to

See PLACENTA, 4D

The process of placenta donation0 The Southeast Tissue Alliancecontracts with hospitals acrossFlorida to recover placenta fromwomen choosing to donate.0 SETA contracts locally withHolmes Regional Medical Center inMelbourne and Cape CanaveralHospital in Cocoa Beach.0 Tissue is collected or recoveredin the operating room by SETA.0 Laboratory tests screen forpossible infectious agents, such as

HIV, or hepatitis viruses.

0 The tissue is shipped on dry iceto BioTissue Inc. in Miami, where itis processed for use in eye surgery.

0 The final product goes toophthalmologists in Florida andother states to treat a number ofeye diseases, primarily pterygium,growths on the eyes’ surface,associated with sun damage.

— FLORIDA TODAY,Southeast Tissue Alliance

INSIDE

Room to grow. The placenta is amembrane that develops duringpregnancy, lining the uterine walland partially enveloping the fetus.

Orchestra takes audience ‘Around the Bloch’Vegetarian tricksto staying slimThink a vegetarian diet is the ticket toweight loss? Think again. Once theygive up meat, many women find thenumber on the scale goes up, notdown, 5D

BY PAM HARBAUGHFLORIDA TODAY

Ifyou’re lookingforan afforda-ble and wide-ranging symphonicmusic experience, then considerThursday’s concert by theBrevard Community CollegeChamberOrchestra.

A simple $5 admission fee will

get you into “Around the Bloch,”a concert with a variety of sym-phonic music genres. Conductedby James Bishop, the program in-cludes:

0Mozart’s “Divertimento” K.136

0Mahler’s “Adagietto Sinfo-nietta” fromhisFifthSymphony

0 Corigliano’s“Voyage”

0 The prelude and fugue fromBloch’s “Concerto Grosso for Pi-anoandOrchestra”

The concerto features pianistSally Cook, who is a BCC pianoprofessor.

“It’s a concert of very sophisti-cated music (and) academically

challenging for the students aswell as the listener,” Bishop said.“It’squitebeautifulandmoving.

The performance begins at7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Ber-nardW.SimpkinsFineArtsAudi-torium, BCC, 1519 ClearlakeRoad, Cocoa. Tickets are $5. Call433-7375.Contact Harbaugh at 242-3717or pharbaugh@floridatoday.com.

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More onlineThe American Collegeof Obstetricians andGynecologists has moreinformation about birth-control pills atacog.org.

2TO0401D0316 FLORIDA TODAYÀ 2TO0401D0316 ZALLCALL 57 18:11:14 03/15/10 B

4D TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2010 FLORIDA TODAY

Tests ensureplacenta’s purity

Old dogsmayhave cancer answers

CANCER, from 1D

body weight and height. Ad-ditionally, Waters conductsinterviews with owners, ex-ploring the home environ-ment and the things ownershave done to keep their dogshealthy.

Dog ownerswork hard

Caldwell believes she hasplayed a key role in keepingBort — who weighs in at 82pounds and is nearly 26inches tall — healthy andcancer-free. He’s been fedhealthy, low-grain food, getsplenty of exercise and wasneutered at the age of 6, saidCaldwell, who also ownsthreeotherRottweilers.

“We’ve worked hard tokeep his weight down be-cause obesity can be a bigproblemindogshisage,”shesaid. “But I also know thatsome of his longevity is in hispedigree. Several dogs fromhis grandfather lived to anoldage.”

Like similar aging studieson long-living, cloisterednuns, Waters believes thereare things to be learned fromthe Rottweilers on his tour.While genetics typically gets30 percent of the blame forcancer and age-relatedhealth issues, 70 percent islifestyle,hesaid.

“Decisions these ownersmade for their pets can pro-foundly help longevity,whether that be diet, vacci-nations, ovary removals, theuse of lawn chemicals,” Wa-ters said. “We want to findout what is at the root of thelongevity.”

Animalsand aging

Using animals to study ag-ing is nothing new, says Fe-lipe Perez, an expert on ag-ing and associate professorof clinical medicine for theIndiana University School ofMedicine’s geriatrics pro-

gram. The practice datesback at least 70 years, buthas long used mice and labo-ratories, not dogs andhomes.

Although he has notworked with dogs, Perezsaid “looking for an answerwhen you don’t have one isalwaysgood.”

Waters, 52, focuses on theRottweilers,he said,becauseof the similar patterns of ag-ing and cancer behavior forthose that are afflicted. Wa-ters says there is a growingneed to find out what im-pactshealthyaging.

“I know we are going tofind that each dog has itsown story. The key is whatare the different pathways tosuccessful aging? That iswhat people want to learn.This is where the fresh ideason cancer research aregoingtocomefrom.”

At her home in Holliston,where Caldwell has alsoagreed to donate Bort’s bodyto research when he finallypasses on, she hopes therewill be some fruit to her pet’slabors.

“I would just love for themto be able to figure out someof these connections withcancer and aging,” she said.“Anything Bort can do tohelpunravel thispuzzle.”

PLACENTA, from 1D

promote faster healing aftereye injuries, primarily in thecornea, the clear dome-shapedwindowoftheeye.

Also, more pregnantwomen are being asked toconsiderdonation.

“Once I learned about theopportunity to do it, I wantedto,” said Susan McCrea, aPalm Bay mother who gavebirth to her third child,Sarah, in December. “It’s notlike there’s anything you’regoing to do with your plac-enta.”

McCrea described the do-nor criteria as straightfor-wardandsimple.

“It only involved gettingmy permission and makingsure I was healthy,” throughblood work and drug screen-ing, she said. “It was veryeasy to do and it cost menothing.”

To recover placenta, theSoutheast Tissue Alliancecontracts with about eighthospitals across Florida, in-cluding two operated byHealth First in BrevardCounty: Cape CanaveralHospital in Cocoa Beach andHolmes Regional MedicalCenter inMelbourne.

The independent non-profit organization worksonly with Health First inBrevard because the de-mand for placenta is limited,according to Jean Hess, anurse who is SETA’s direc-tor of professional relations.“We only accept so manyplacentas per month,” shesaid.

In 2009, the recoveryagency, one of at least foursuch agencies in Florida, re-covered 18 placentas inBrevard, up from none thethree prior years, and eightin2005.

But as new applicationshave developed and tissuedistribution widens, Hesssaid, more doctors are wait-ing to use it. In the future,even the amniotic fluid thatbathes the fetus and is be-lieved to be a rich source ofstem cells could be tappedforsomeuse, shesaid.

“Certainly, it’s not as con-troversial a source” for stemcells as the embryo, Hesssaid. “It’s a better way of ob-tainingthem.”

Stem cells are the body’smost basic cells, capable oftransforming themselvesinto any type of human tis-sue.

Recovering amniotic fluidwould have to be done be-fore delivery, as this fluid islost once labor begins. In thecase of the placenta, the tis-sue also must be taken dur-ing a planned C-section toprevent bacterial contami-nation, as it was in McCrea’scase,Hesssaid.

Issue of purityEven so, other steps are

taken to ensure the purity ofplacental tissue, accordingto Judi Cavazos, a nurse whochairs the Holmes and PalmBay Hospital “tiger team,”which encourages organandtissuedonations.

The process is extremelythorough, she said, as the

placenta is not a life-savingtissue, so there’s more timefor testing. Screening isdone not only before birth,but afterward to make sure avirus, such as HIV, doesn’tshowuplateron.

Jenifer Merritt, director ofcustomer affairs for BioTis-sue Inc. in Miami, said thetissue is tested based onguidelines set by the U.S.Food and Drug Administra-tion. They include tests forthe two HIV strains thatcause AIDS, hepatitis B andhepatitis C viruses, two leu-kemia viral strains, WestNilevirusandsyphilis.

Once donated tissue is col-lected and tested, SETAships it on dry ice to BioTis-sue, where the amnioticmembrane undergoes a pro-prietary process for use ineye surgeries. The compa-ny’s final membrane prod-uct is frozen to preserve bio-logic activity, Merritt said,while another company,I.O.P. Inc., a California oph-thalmic device company, de-hydrates the membrane foruse intheeye.

“Which is better?” askedDr. Rafael Trespalacios, acornea specialist withBrevard Eye Center in Mel-bourne. “I’m unaware of anystudies that compare head-to-head outcomes of the twotypes.”

For Koslowski, he said, heused the frozen membrane,which made her surgery “aseasy as implanting a contactlens.”

And the results have beengood. Whereas before shecould barely see the “big E”on the eye chart, Trespala-cios said, vision in her lefteye now is 20/40 —“goodenoughtodrive.”

However, in general, hesaid, he prefers the dehy-drated products for conven-ience and cost, especially totreat pterygium, the wing-shapedtissue growthsonthecornea, associated with sundamage from ultravioletlight. With time, thesegrowths can impair visionand change the cornea’sshape.

For now, pterygium re-mains the most commonmedical target for donatedplacental tissue, Trespala-cios and others said. Insteadof taking healthy tissue fromthe mucus membrane cover-ing the eye and draping itover the raw area left behindby a pterygium’s removal,the amniotic membrane isplaced over the raw spot,where it provides “a mesh-work or scaffolding” to mod-ulate healing with minimalinflammationorscarring.

“It’s a clear, cellophane-like membrane,” Trespala-cios said, describing how thetissue looks. “It is not inte-grated into the eye, butworks more like a bandageplacedoverawound.”

Other usesAlthough membrane

grafts are used in other eyeconditions, even some can-cers of the eye, placental tis-sue sometimes finds its wayinto cosmetic products, suchas shampoo or soaps and vi-taminproducts.

The FDA does not prohibitits use commercially, con-firmed Sibohan DeLancey, aspokeswoman for the fed-eral agency. However, theagency requires placentalproducts — from humans oranimals — to beprocessed toremove any hormone activ-ity and be free of viruses orother infectious agents, shesaid.

“If you look at your sham-poo bottle, itmight have ‘am-niotic tissue’ listed as one ofthe ingredients,” said Cava-zos, an idea some individu-als might find objectionable.“But, I still think whether it’sused this way or for helpingrestore someone’s sight, it’sbetter than throwing it in thetrash.”

She would get no argu-mentfromKoslowski.

It’s takenmonths toregainher vision, she said, and only

recently has she been able towean herself off the eye-drops that helped minimizeblurring during her recov-ery.

“You don’t realize howhard it is to keep your equi-librium when you lose visioninoneeye,” shesaid.

Ever since the day of heraccident, Koslowski ad-mitted, she’s been on a mis-sion. Having worked as anassistant to a physician formany years in St. Louis, sheis familiar with goggles orother eyewear to protect theeyes. She’s even more vig-ilantnow.

“I tell all my family mem-bers to go get some gogglesfor $3 or $4,” she said. “Theydon’t want to go throughwhat I’ve been through thelast fewmonths.”Contact Jenks at 242-3657or sjenks@floridatoday.com.

Michael R. Brown, FLORIDA TODAY

Bundle of joy. Susan McCrea of Palm Bay, who gave birth toher daughter, Sarah, three months ago, said once shelearned about the opportunity to donate her placenta, shewanted to do it. “It only involved getting my permission andmaking sure I was healthy,” McCrea said.

“If you lookat your shampoobottle,itmighthave ‘amniotic tissue’ listedas oneof the ingredients.But, I still thinkwhetherit’s used thiswayor forhelping restore

someone’s sight, it’s better than throwingit in the trash.”

Judi Cavazos, nurse and chairwoman of Holmes RegionalMedical Center and Palm Bay Hospital “tiger team,”

which encourages organ and tissue donations

Photo courtesy of Josh T. Reynolds

House call. Purdue Univer-sity researcher David Watersholds up an X-ray of Bort, a13-year-old Rottweiler belong-ing to Gretchen Caldwell.

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