Daytime impairments in older men with obstructive sleep apnea are related to total sleep time
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A study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal SLEEP shows that daytime functional impairments in older men with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are largely explained by total sleep time rather than OSA severity.
A modest link between OSA severity and daytime sleepiness, measured by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, was no longer statistically significant after controlling for total sleep time. Neither sleep disturbances, measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, nor sleep-related quality of life, measure by the Functional Outcome of Sleep Questionnaire, were associated with OSA severity; all three measures were modestly associated with total sleep time.
According to lead author Dr. Eric J. Kezirian, director of the division of sleep surgery in the department of otolaryngology at the University of California in San Francisco, the study shows that the functional consequences of OSA in older men may differ from those in younger populations and may need to be measured with instruments designed specifically for the demographic.
Pregnancy-related hormonal changes linked to increased risk of restless legs syndrome
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A study in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Sleep shows that the elevation in estradiol levels that occurs during pregnancy is more pronounced in pregnant women with restless legs syndrome (RLS) than in controls.
During the last trimester of pregnancy, levels of the estrogenic steroid hormone estradiol were 34,211 pg/mL in women with RLS and 25,475 pg/mL in healthy controls. At three months postpartum, estradiol levels had dropped to 30.73 pg/mL in the RLS group and 94.92 pg/mL in controls. Other hormone levels did not differ significantly between the study groups.
According to the authors the data strongly suggest that estrogens play an important role in RLS during pregnancy. The study also supports previous reports of high RLS incidence in the last trimester of pregnancy when estradiol is maximally elevated.
Scattered light rapidly detects tumor response to chemotherapy
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New technology developed by Duke University bioengineers can help clinicians more precisely detect whether specific cancer drugs are working, and should give basic researchers a powerful new tool to better understand the underlying mechanisms of cancer development.
By interpreting how beams of light scatter off of tumor cell samples, researchers can determine if cancer cells are responding to chemotherapeutic agents within a matter of hours.
Most chemotherapy drugs work by forcing cancer cells to commit cellular suicide, a process known as apoptosis. As cells undergo this process, bodies within the cell, such as the nucleus or mitochondria, go through structural changes. Using the new approach, researchers can analyze the light scattered by these bodies to detect the apoptotic changes in real time.
“The new technology allowed us to detect the tell-tale signs of apoptosis in human breast cancer cells in as little as 90 minutes,” said Adam Wax, associate professor of biomedical engineering and senior member of the research team. “Currently, it can take between six and eight weeks to detect these changes clinically. It appears that this approach has the potential to be helpful in both clinical and laboratory settings.”
Ecologists report quantifiable measures of nature’s services to humans
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The idea of ecosystem services is a promising conservation concept but has been rarely put into practice. In a special issue of the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, researchers use novel tools to report some of the first quantifiable results that place values on nature’s services to humans.
“The idea of ‘ecosystem services’ – identifying and quantifying the resources and processes that nature provides for people – gives us a framework to measure nature’s contribution to human well-being,” write authors Peter Kareiva, guest editor for this issue and the chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy, and Susan Ruffo, director of ecosystem services programs at TNC, in an editorial in the issue. “It provides a credible way to link nature and people that goes beyond emotional arguments and points us toward practical solutions.”
Some of the best-described ecosystem services include pollination of crops, flood and storm protection, water filtration and recreation. The challenging part is translating these services into something with a measurable value. Economic valuation methods take changes in the supply of ecosystem services and translate these into changes in human welfare.
Rice eyes risks of quantum dots
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Quantum dots have the potential to bring many good things into the world: efficient solar power, targeted gene and drug delivery, solid-state lighting and advances in biomedical imaging among them.
But they may pose hazards as well.
A team of Rice researchers has been working to discover the health risks of quantum dots, molecule-sized semiconducting nanocrystals that are generally composed of heavy metals surrounded by an organic shell.
Pedro Alvarez, Rice’s George R. Brown Professor and chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, published a paper in ACS Environmental Science and Technology showing that under even mildly acidic or alkaline conditions, the shells can break down, releasing their toxic contents into the body or the environment. He coauthored the paper with colleagues Vicki Colvin, the Pitzer-Schlumberger Professor of Chemistry and in chemical and biological engineering, researcher Shaily Mahendra and postdoc Huiguang Zhu.
End-of-life care differs by race: study
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The way that older adults with advanced cancer live out their last days seems to vary based on race, a US study suggests.
Researchers found that of nearly 41,000 older Americans with terminal cancer, black and Asian patients were less likely than their white or Hispanic counterparts to be enrolled in a hospice program.
On the other hand, they were more likely to be hospitalized frequently or admitted to an intensive care unit near the end of their lives. They were also more likely than whites or Hispanics to die in the hospital, according to the study findings published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
School-supervised asthma therapy improves control
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New research suggests that adherence with daily asthma “controller” medications among children with asthma can be enhanced with school-based supervised asthma therapy.
As reported in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics, researchers assessed asthma control in 290 children from 36 schools who were randomized to receive school-based, supervised therapy or usual care.
For their study, Dr. Lynn B. Gerald and colleagues from the University of Alabama, Birmingham defined poor asthma control as at least one of the following: 1) absence from school due to asthma or respiratory illness, 2) average use of “rescue” asthma medication more than 2 times per week, or 3) at least 1 red or yellow reading on a peak flow meter, a device that measures air flow.
