What is Heart disease?
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There are many types of heart disease. About 25% of all Americans have one or more types of cardiovascular disease. The major types of heart disease are atherosclerosis, coronary, rheumatic, congenital, myocarditis, angina and arrhythmia. Heart disease can arise from congenital defects, infection, narrowing of the coronary arteries, high blood pressure, or disturbances.
The first stages of heart disease are lesions and cracks forming in the blood vessel walls normally at the points of highest pressure or stress (near the heart). The second stage is the body trying to repair itself by depositing fatty substances (cholesterol, lipoproteins) inside the blood vessels to fill the cracks. Over time, without the proper body nutrient, vitamin C, to help keep the blood vessel walls from cracking and requiring constant repair, these fatty substances can begin to build up and clog the blood vessels causing stroke and heart attack.
Mayo Clinic population research shows heart disease may be rising
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A Mayo Clinic analysis of two decades of autopsy results shows a long-term decline in the prevalence of coronary disease has ended and the disease may be on the upswing. The findings appear in today’s issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
“If this is borne out by future analyses, it will be the first change in the trend since the decline in heart disease death rates began in the mid-1960s,” says Cynthia Leibson, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic epidemiologist and senior author of the study. In their article, the researchers recognize the corresponding rise in national obesity and diabetes rates in roughly the same period but say that further research would be needed to establish any connection.
Study confirms that low-calorie sweeteners are helpful in weight control
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A recent review of the scientific literature concluded that low-calorie (or no-calorie) sweeteners may be of help in resolving the obesity problem. Although they are not magic bullets, low-calorie sweeteners in beverages and foods can help people reduce their calorie (energy) intakes. “Low-calorie sweeteners reduce the energy of most beverages to zero and lower the energy density of many foods,” said study co-author, Dr. Adam Drewnowski, Director, Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington. “Every dietary guideline these days tells us to bulk up, hydrate, and consume foods with fewer calories but more volume.”
The study by Bellisle and Drewnowski, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, evaluated a variety of laboratory, clinical and epidemiological studies on low-calorie sweeteners, energy density and satiety. Their findings, based on extensive studies with humans, are completely at odds with a new study on 27 Sprague-Dawley rats eating yogurt, published in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience.
The February study, “A Role for Sweet Taste: Caloric Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by Rats,” alleges a link between low-calorie sweeteners and weight gain. However, previous studies in humans have shown that low-calorie sweeteners can be helpful in weight control.
Artificial sweeteners linked to weight gain
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Want to lose weight” It might help to pour that diet soda down the drain. Researchers have laboratory evidence that the widespread use of no-calorie sweeteners may actually make it harder for people to control their intake and body weight. The findings appear in the February issue of Behavioral Neuroscience, which is published by the American Psychological Association (APA).
Psychologists at Purdue University’s Ingestive Behavior Research Center reported that relative to rats that ate yogurt sweetened with glucose (a simple sugar with 15 calories/teaspoon, the same as table sugar), rats given yogurt sweetened with zero-calorie saccharin later consumed more calories, gained more weight, put on more body fat, and didn’t make up for it by cutting back later, all at levels of statistical significance.
Authors Susan Swithers, PhD, and Terry Davidson, PhD, surmised that by breaking the connection between a sweet sensation and high-calorie food, the use of saccharin changes the body’s ability to regulate intake. That change depends on experience. Problems with self-regulation might explain in part why obesity has risen in parallel with the use of artificial sweeteners. It also might explain why, says Swithers, scientific consensus on human use of artificial sweeteners is inconclusive, with various studies finding evidence of weight loss, weight gain or little effect. Because people may have different experiences with artificial and natural sweeteners, human studies that don’t take into account prior consumption may produce a variety of outcomes.
Review of online breast cancer information encourages healthy skepticism for consumers
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In an extended analysis of Web pages dedicated to disseminating breast cancer information, researchers at two University of Texas institutions in the Houston have determined that while most breast cancer data found online was accurate, one in 20 breast cancer Web pages featured inaccuracies and sites displaying complementary and alternative medicine were 15 times more likely to contain false or misleading health information.
Published in the March 15 issue of Cancer and online today, the study was conducted by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in collaboration with researchers at The University of Texas School of Health Information Sciences at Houston (SHIS) as one of a series of studies to determine whether existing quality assessment tools can identify false or inaccurate breast cancer information available online.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project estimates that more patients seek health information online rather than visit a physician.
New tests find deadly new virus that killed three
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A previously unknown virus killed three women who got organ transplants from an Australian donor, and researchers say the technique they used to identify it could lead them to many more new infectious agents.
The as-yet-unnamed virus appears to be related to a bug called lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, which usually causes only a minor flu-like illness.
But this one killed the three transplant patients by causing encephalitis, a swelling of the brain, the team reported on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Couples agree on telling kids of donor conception
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Couples who conceive with the help of a donor usually agree on whether to tell their child about it, a study suggests.
In interviews with 141 married couples who had conceived using donor eggs or sperm, researchers found that 95 percent had come to an agreement over whether to tell their child.
Half of the couples said they had never differed in their opinion on the issue; of the other half, most were able to reach an agreement after discussing it, the study found.
Obesity-Related Plasma Hemodilution and PSA Concentration among Men with Prostate Cancer
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The important association that increased circulating plasma volumes in obese men may hemodilute PSA and result in lower levels is reported in the November 21, 2007 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association by Dr. Banez and associates. This may result in delayed indications for prostate biopsy and detection of prostate cancer (CaP) in obese men, which could contribute to the explanation that obese men present with more aggressive CaP.
The data analyzed came from the VA SEARCH database along with data from Duke University and Johns Hopkins University. The number of patients from these sites was 1,373, 1,974, and 10,287, respectively. Body mass index (BMI) was categorized as normal (
<25), overweight (25-29.9), mildly obese (30-34.9), and moderately-severely obese (>35). BMI was examined for association with 3 outcomes variables; serum PSA concentration, plasma volume, and PSA mass. The multivariable model adjusted for a variety of clinical and pathological variables. In particular, to study the relationship of BMI and PSA independent of any association between BMI and CaP severity, cancer-specific variables were also adjusted.
Obesity and Mortality in Men with Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer
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An analysis of RTOG 85-31 patients suggests that increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased prostate cancer specific mortality (PCSM). The report appears in the online version of Cancer and is authored by Dr. Efstathiou and collaborators.
Greater BMI is associated with more aggressive higher-grade prostate cancer (CaP) and increase biochemical recurrence rates after radical prostatectomy. There is less data published regarding radiotherapy (XRT). This study sought to analyze the relationship between BMI and PCSM in a large cohort of patients treated with XRT on the RTOG 85-31 trial. RTOG 85-31 was a phase III trial comparing the XRT with indefinite androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) begun during the last week of XRT, to XRT alone with ADT initiated at the time of disease recurrence. Participants had evidence of locally advanced disease, clinical stage T3, or evidence of regional lymph node metastasis. Stage T4 tumors were not included and patients needed a Karnofsky performance status >60%. Total XRT dose was 65-70Gy. PCSM was defined as death from CaP or protocol treatment. All cause mortality (ACM) was death from any cause. Univariate and multivariate analysis was performed, the latter including age, race, centrally reviewed Gleason score, clinical stage, nodal metastasis, prior prostatectomy, treatment arm, and BMI.
Sleep Duration May Play Important Role in Childhood Obesity
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Less sleep can increase a child’s risk of being overweight or obese, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their analysis of epidemiological studies found that with each additional hour of sleep, the risk of a child being overweight or obese dropped by 9 percent. The results are published in the February 2008 edition Obesity, the journal of The Obesity Society.
“Our analysis of the data shows a clear association between sleep duration and the risk for overweight or obesity in children. The risk declined with more sleep,” said Youfa Wang, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Center for Human Nutrition. “Desirable sleep behavior may be an important low cost means for preventing childhood obesity and should be considered in future intervention studies. Our findings may also have important implications in societies where children do not have adequate sleep due to the pressure for academic excellence and where the prevalence of obesity is rising, such as in many East Asian countries.”
Close ties between parents and babies yield benefits for preschoolers
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Having close ties with parents is obviously good for preschoolers, but what does that really mean? It means that the preschoolers are better able to control their own behavior by showing patience, deliberation, restraint, and even maturity.
That’s the finding of a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Iowa and published in the January/February 2008 issue of the journal Child Development.
The researchers looked at 102 mostly white families—mothers, fathers, and babies—who had volunteered for the study from the time the children were 7 months old until they were almost 4 and a half years old. Repeated observations were carried out in the families’ homes and in a laboratory. In the first two years, the researchers observed how parents and children related to each other, particularly whether they were in sync, picked up on each other’s cues, communicated well, and enjoyed each other’s company. In short, they gauged whether the parents and children had developed a close, positive, reciprocal, cooperative, and mutually responsive relationship.
NIH scientists detect fatal copper disorder at birth
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A test developed by NIH scientists could greatly extend the survival of infants with Menkes disease, a rare, otherwise fatal disorder of copper metabolism. The test allows for early diagnosis of the condition, when the chance for successful treatment is greatest. Their work is described in the February 7 New England Journal of Medicine.
Untreated, Menkes disease results in irreparable harm to the brain and nervous system. Treatment consists of injections with a copper-containing drug. Children with Menkes disease typically die during the first decade of life. Previously, there was no blood test for early detection of Menkes disease.
“The study represents an important advance in the diagnosis and treatment of a rare but devastating genetic disorder,” said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of NIH’s National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the lead NIH institute that conducted the study. “The laboratory techniques the researchers used to detect Menkes disease eventually may provide the basis for a newborn screening test to identify children with Menkes at birth, so they have the greatest chance to benefit from treatment.”
High Blood Pressure Pill Cuts Risk of Parkinson’s Disease
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People taking a widely used group of drugs known as calcium channel blockers to treat high blood pressure also appear to be cutting their risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in the February 6, 2008, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study involved 7,374 men and women over age 40. Half of the group had Parkinson’s disease; the other half did not have Parkinson’s disease. Among both groups, nearly half used high blood pressure medications, such as calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, AT II antagonists and beta blockers.
The study found people who were currently long-term users of calcium channel blockers to treat high blood pressure lowered their risk of Parkinson’s disease by 23 percent compared to people who didn’t take the drugs. There was no such effect among people taking ACE inhibitors, AT II antagonists and beta blockers.
Born to Be Obese?
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The brain circuitry that controls appetite might be wired differently in some people, and that could predispose them to obesity, California researchers suggest.
The study was conducted in rats, not humans, and yet it could ultimately lead to novel obesity treatments, said Philip Smith, director of the Office of Obesity Research at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
“It is not just about drugs that modify short-term appetite,” he said, “there may be drugs that stimulate development of the appropriate neural pathways. So, it is an exciting, but very early, time in this field.”
Cannabis Indicated as Possible Risk for Gum Disease in Young People
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Young people who are heavy smokers of cannabis may be putting themselves at significant risk for periodontal disease, according to new research.
The study, published in the Feb. 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is believed to be the first to explore whether or not smoking a substance other than tobacco – in this case, marijuana more than other cannabis products – may be a risk factor for gum disease.
After controlling for tobacco smoking, gender, socioeconomic status and infrequent trips to the dentist by one-third of the participants, the study reported a “strong association between cannabis use and periodontitis experience by age 32.”
