Menopausal changes increase heart disease risk
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A woman’s risk of heart disease intensifies drastically around the time of menopause, which for most women is around 50 years, research says.
Experts explain that understanding risk factors is an important first step, and reassure women that there are ways to lower the risk.
“Many women younger than 50 have not yet gone through menopause and still have high levels of the female hormone estrogen in their blood, which is thought to help protect the heart,” said Vera Rigolin, associate director of the Centre for Women’s Cardiovascular Health at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
IVF babies do fine, but their moms may be at risk
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Babies born by in vitro fertilization (IVF) do not face an increased risk of birth defects, nor are they at greater risk of being smaller than normal, according to a study conducted in Japan.
But the researchers did find that women pregnant via IVF were more likely than those who conceived naturally to develop a pregnancy complication called placenta previa, in which the placenta blocks the opening to the birth canal.
Some studies comparing babies born through IVF and those conceived naturally have found worse outcomes for the IVF infants, including higher rates of birth defects and greater likelihood of low birth weight, Mai Fujii of the World Health Organization in Geneva and her colleagues note in their report.
Diabetes to exact huge costs on poor countries
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Diabetes and its complications - such as strokes and heart disease - will place an enormous financial burden on poorer countries in years to come, researchers warned in a report published Tuesday.
“Diabetes is moving from being a disease of developed countries to a disease in developing countries like India and China, and this could put pressure on healthcare systems through rising healthcare costs,” said Philip Clarke, associate professor at University of Sydney’s School of Public Health.
Clarke and his colleagues examined records of 11,140 patients with severe diabetes in 20 countries, including the complications they suffered, money spent and length of hospital stays.
Obama administration files appeal in tobacco case
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The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court on Friday to consider allowing the federal government to force tobacco companies to fund smoking cessation and public education programs, which could cost the industry billions of dollars.
The administration’s filed the appeal after a federal judge and an appeals court rejected the government’s attempt to impose such remedies on the industry as redress for violations under U.S. racketeering laws.
U.S., Altria appeal tobacco ruling to high court
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The government and the nation’s biggest cigarette maker separately asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to review a racketeering verdict against major cigarette makers that was upheld by an appeals court last year.
Altria Group Inc’s Philip Morris USA unit wants to overturn the verdict, while the government argues the appeals court wrongly denied the disgorgement of billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains by the tobacco industry.
In May, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a trial judge’s verdict against the cigarette makers, finding they violated federal anti-racketeering laws by conspiring to lie about the dangers of smoking.
Award Supports Excellence in Musculoskeletal and Rheumatic Disease Education
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At the core of the American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation’s mission is to attract the best and brightest trainees into a career in rheumatology. To do this, the REF has an extensive portfolio of awards and grants that provide support during critical career stages. One special award, the ACR REF Clinician Scholar Education Award, supports unique individuals who serve as excellent role models for future rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals.
The REF is pleased to announce the newest class of Clinician Scholar Educator Award Recipients. The 2010 recipients are:
Eugene Kissin, MD
Boston University
A Competency Based Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Curriculum
Childhood Obesity
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It was the launch event of ‘Lets Beat It Together’ at the Moreton Community Centre in Maryland Lane today, and was officially opened by the Deputy Mayor. I was invited to attend so went with Cllr Chris Blakeley.
The aim of the event, organised by Slimming World, was to raise awareness of childhood obesity and the outcome if we do not make changes to our lifestyles. There were about 50 people present, with displays from Slimming World, the British Heart Foundation, NHS Wirral, showing ideas how to produce healthy meals on a budget; highlighting changes to a youngsters lunch box to include more healthy snacks and with the help of local leisure centres – how to encourage more activity in our lives. There was a salsa class, yoga exercises and face painting.
Stress Headache Relief
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A matter that causes significant amounts of health issues among modern Americans is considered to be stress.Stress headache is considered to be one such issue.Although stress headaches may sound relatively simple, in addition to the current effects many long term health problems are associated with it. These stress headaches will be able to put the individual in psychological disorders as well as physical disorders.He/she will find it very difficult if not nearly impossible, to carry the daily responsibilities at work due to the ineffectiveness caused in the person’s day to day life.
Stress headaches can occur on a daily basis or in an episodic course.Tension headaches and daily headaches are terms that are used to refer to these stress headaches.Mostly amongst middle aged women these kinds of headaches are common and will cause extremely irritating effects.
tarting off gradually these stress headaches will eventually grow in to a part of the individual?s life and will become a major problem.However, these stress headaches will tend to be moderate or mild and they will hardly develop into a more severe state.Symptoms of stress headaches can be identified as headache in early morning, muscle pains, chronic fatigue, occasional dizziness, loss of concentration, difficulty in falling asleep and sleeping and also loss of hearing or vision.
Diabetes linked to birth defects, but obesity is not
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A study published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology has cleared obesity as a condition that causes birth defects, but the news was not so good for diabetics.
The 13 year study looked at the pregnancies of 41,902 women whose weight was at or near obesity to determine if extra pounds were indicative of increased incidence of birth defects. The results of the study showed that obesity in and of itself showed “no significant independent association between maternal obesity” and birth defects.
The study went on to conclude that “diabetes was significantly associated with the increase in the rate” of birth defects.
Cellular Communication in the Cancer Microenvironment
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Writing in the journal Genes & Development, Dr. Johanna Joyce and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center lend new insight into the mechanism by which tumor-associated macrophages promote malignant progression.
Innate immune cells, including macrophages, comprise a large fraction of the cellular environment that infiltrates tumors – the so-called “tumor microenvironment.” Tumors have a dynamic relationship with their microenvironment, communicating via secreted factors to modulate cellular growth and cancer progression.
In their paper, Joyce and colleagues delineate how tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) promote tumor growth and invasion. The researchers found that macrophage cells infiltrating pancreatic, mammary and lung tumors produce high levels of the proteases cathepsin B and S (Cts B and S), which enhances tumor growth and invasion. Interestingly, the researchers discovered that increased Cts B and S activity is stimulated by the tumors, themselves – through the release of interleukin (IL)-4.
Cell-Enriched Fat Grafts Improve Long-Term Graft Retention in Breast Reconstructive Surgery
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In a study published in the journal Annals of Plastic Surgery, researchers examine the science behind cell-enriched autologous fat grafting and its application to cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. The results demonstrate a doubling in graft retention in cell-enriched grafts and provide insight into the mechanisms behind this improvement. The results reinforce both commercial observations and interim data from the RESTORE 2 clinical study that was presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December 2009.
The preclinical results described in the paper support the potential clinical utility for cell-enriched fat grafts in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery. The key results include:
Long term retention of cell-enriched autologous fat grafts was increased two-fold over controls.
Democratic US Sen Lautenberg diagnosed with cancer
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Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, 86, has been diagnosed with lymphoma of the stomach and will undergo chemotherapy over the next few months, his office said on Friday.
“We expect a full and complete recovery for Senator Lautenberg,” said one of his doctors, James Holland, at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.
The five-term liberal New Jersey senator is not up for re-election until 2014. He serves on committees including those overseeing federal spending and the environment.
WHO may declare post-peak pandemic phase next week
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Flu experts will advise next week whether the world is in a post-peak phase of the H1N1 pandemic, signalling infections are falling in most countries but new waves may still occur, the World Health Organisation said on Friday.
The U.N. agency declared last June that the new virus was causing the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years and raised the alert level to the maximum 6.
The WHO’s emergency committee, comprising 15 experts, will review the situation by teleconference on Tuesday but will not declare an end to the pandemic, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
Exercise can lower breast cancer risk
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Consistent observational epidemiologic evidence suggests that physical activity is associated with re- duced postmenopausal breast cancer risk. High endogenous estrogen and androgen levels are fairly consistently associated with an increase in breast cancer risk, whereas increased sex hormone– binding globulin (SHBG) levels are associated with a decrease in risk. This trial found that previously sedentary postmenopausal women can adhere to a moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise program that results in changes in estradiol and SHBG concentrations that are consistent with a lower risk for postmenopausal breast cancer.
This study, the Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Prevention Trial, was a randomized controlled trial of exercise was conducted in 320 postmenopausal, sedentary women age 50 to 74 years. Participants were randomly assigned to a 1-year aerobic exercise intervention of 225 min/wk or to a control group who maintained their usual level of activity.
Baseline, 6-month, and 12-month assessments of hormone levels, namely estrone, estradiol, androstenedione, and testosterone were quantified. Women in the intervention group exercised an average of 3.6 d/wk for 178 min/wk.
Vitamin D Halts Growth of Breast Cancer Tumors
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For the past 18 months, I’ve been working on building a new research library consisting of over 1200 books on natural health topics. Through some rather advanced technologies that took me far longer to build than I originally anticipated, I’m now able to locate and collect, within minutes, paragraphs on any combination of topics from among these 1200 books.
For example, today I wanted to research “Vitamin D” and “Breast Cancer.” This produced a collection of well over 650 quotations on the subject from the various sources in my private library. A small sampling of those results are shown below.
The information you’ll find in here is fascinating! You’ll learn that vitamin D cream can be rubbed directly on tumors to make them vanish. You’ll also learn how resveratrol can be used to amplify the results of vitamin D. There are also explanations on how vitamin D can be used to greatly reduce breast cancer cases in America, Canada, the UK and elsewhere.
