10 Risk Factors for Heart Disease
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Heart disease is the number one killer in the world. Several factors that increase the risk for heart disease have been identified by the American Heart Association. Scientific studies have shown significant risk increases with some factors.
The risk factors that are listed are considered major risk factors and are those that medical research has shown to significantly increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. The more risk factors you have the greater the risk you have of developing heart disease. Some of us are at a much greater risk than others. Each factor itself can increase your risk depending on the amount of control you have over it. An example is your blood pressure or diabetes, both can place you at high risk, but if they are under control your risk becomes less whereas if they are uncontrolled the risk will increase even more.
10 Major Risk Factors for Heart Disease
Some of the factors that place us at a higher risk can be controlled, others cannot be controlled. These are considered to be major risk factors by the American Heart Association:
Body rebuilding: Researchers regenerate muscle in mice
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A team of scientists from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and CellThera, a private company located in WPI’s Life Sciences and Bioengineering Center, have regenerated functional muscle tissue in mice, opening the door for a new clinical therapy to treat people who suffer major muscle trauma.
The team used a novel protocol to coax mature human muscle cells into a stem cell-like state and grew those reprogrammed cells on biopolymer microthreads. The threads were placed in a wound created by surgically removing a large section of leg muscle from a mouse. Over time, the threads and cells restored near-normal function to the muscle, as reported in the paper “Restoration of Skeletal Muscle Defects with Adult Human Cells Delivered on Fibrin Microthreads,” published in the current issue of the journal Tissue Engineering. Surprisingly, the microthreads, which were used simply as a scaffold to support the reprogrammed human cells, actually seemed to accelerate the regeneration process by recruiting progenitor mouse muscle cells, suggesting that they alone could become a therapeutic tool for treating major muscle trauma.
“We are pleased with the progress of this work, and frankly we were surprised by the level of muscle regeneration that was achieved,” said Raymond Page, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at WPI, chief scientific officer at CellThera, and corresponding author on the paper.
Virtual childbirth simulator improves safety of high-risk deliveries
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Newly developed computer software combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of a fetus may help physicians better assess a woman’s potential for a difficult childbirth. Results of a study using the new software were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Because a woman’s birth canal is curved and not much wider than a fetus’s head, a baby must move through the canal in a specific sequence of maneuvers. A failure in the process, such as a head turned the wrong way at the wrong time, can result in dystocia, or difficult labor.
“The mechanics of the human birth canal make for a very complicated delivery process compared to other mammals,” said Olivier Ami, M.D., Ph.D., an obstetrician in the Department of Radiology at Antoine Béclère’s Hospital, Université Paris Sud, France. “We now have computer-simulated childbirth to identify potential problems.”
Using the new software, called PREDIBIRTH, Dr. Ami and a team of researchers processed MR images of 24 pregnant women. The result was a three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction of both the pelvis and the fetus along with 72 possible trajectories of the baby’s head through the birth canal. Based on these simulations, the program scored each mother’s likelihood of a normal birth.
Scientists Discover New Approach For Cancer Medication
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As the “recycling plant” of the cell, the proteasome regulates vitally important functions. When it is inhibited, the cell chokes on its own waste. Cancer cells, in particular, are very sensitive because they need the proteasome for their uncontrolled growth. Biochemists at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have now identified the lead structure of a new class of drugs that attacks the proteasome in an unusual way. New medication could be developed on the basis of this previously unknown binding mechanism. The scientists report their results in the scientific journal Angewandte Chemie.
The proteasome, a large protein complex, carries out a vitally important function in the cells of the body. Similar to a recycling plant, it decomposes unneeded proteins into short pieces and recycles them. In this way it controls a number of functions in the cell. It regulates cell growth and division, decomposes damaged proteins and also acts as a key partner of the immune system in immune defense and inflammatory reactions. Because it is involved in so many important mechanisms within the cell, the proteasome is also associated with many diseases such as cancer, mucoviscidosis and a whole series of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.
Due to its significant role in the growth of cancer cells, in recent years the proteasome has taken center stage in pharmacological research as a starting point for cancer medication. When it becomes inhibited, the growth of cancer cells slows down. Bortezomib, the first drug to apply this strategy, generates revenues of over one billion US dollars per year in the meantime. It is used against multiple myeloma, a cancer disease of the bone marrow. Yet in spite of all its successes, the proteasome inhibitors currently in use often have severe disadvantages. As a result of their high reactivity they attack other proteins, too, thereby damaging not only cancer cells but also other healthy cells.
Quality Of Sleep Impacted By Physical Activity
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People sleep significantly better and feel more alert during the day if they get at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, a new study concludes.
A nationally representative sample of more than 2,600 men and women, ages 18-85, found that 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week, which is the national guideline, provided a 65 percent improvement in sleep quality. People also said they felt less sleepy during the day, compared to those with less physical activity.
The study, out in the December issue of the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity, lends more evidence to mounting research showing the importance of exercise to a number of health factors. Among adults in the United States, about 35 to 40 percent of the population has problems with falling asleep or with daytime sleepiness.
Breast Cancer and the Environment: IOM report release Dec. 7
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Although women have little or no control over some of the risk factors for breast cancer, such as those related to aging and genetics, they may be able to reduce their chances for developing the disease by avoiding certain environmental risks. BREAST CANCER AND THE ENVIRONMENT: A LIFE COURSE APPROACH, a new report from the Institute of Medicine, assesses the breast cancer risk posed by various environmental factors, identifies actions that offer potential to reduce women’s risk for the disease, and recommends targets for future research. The report, sponsored by Susan G. Komen for the Cure, will be released with a press briefing and presented at a plenary session at the 2011 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS).
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DETAILS:
The report will be released on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at a one-hour press briefing starting at 1:30 p.m. EST/12:30 p.m. CST in Room 217D of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, 200 E. Market St., San Antonio. Reporters who cannot attend may participate through a live teleconference by dialing 888-647-7462 (U.S. and Canada) or 1-201-604-0169 (international). Participants from the committee that wrote the report are:
Irva Hertz-Picciotto (chair), professor and chief, division of environmental and occupational health, University of California, Davis
P Rex-1 protein key to melanoma metastasis
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Researchers from UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center are part of a team that has identified a protein, called P-Rex1, that is key to the movement of cells called melanoblasts. When these cells experience uncontrolled growth, melanoma develops.
Melanoma is one of the only forms of cancer that is still on the rise and is one of the most common forms of cancer in young adults. The incidence of melanoma in women under age 30 has increased more than 50 percent since 1980. Metastases are the major cause of death from melanoma.
The team found that mice lacking the P-Rex1 protein are resistant to melanoma metastases. When researchers tested human melanoma cells and tumor tissue for the protein, P-Rex1 was elevated in the majority of cases – a clue that the protein plays an important role in the cancer’s spread. Their findings were published today in the journal Nature Communications.
U.S. healthcare cuts minimal, more pain looms
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The breakdown of deficit talks in Congress will exact little pain on the U.S. healthcare industry, but it’s a temporary reprieve from steeper cuts that could be put back on the table in 2013.
The failure of the congressional “super committee” to reach a deal triggers a two percent across-the-board cut to Medicare, the government program that provides coverage to millions of older and disabled Americans.
That translates into about $123 billion over the next decade—far lighter than the $500 billion to $700 billion in cuts that could have hit hospitals, doctors and beneficiaries, as well as insurers, drugmakers and nursing homes, if the panel had reached a deal.
Black Elderly More Likely than Whites to Die After Intestinal Surgery
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Black senior citizens who need surgery for the intestinal disorder diverticulitis are significantly more likely to die in the hospital than their equally ill white counterparts, even when each racial group carries the same health insurance, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
While all of the patients in the study required surgery, black patients were 26 percent more likely than white patients to undergo riskier and more expensive emergency diverticulitis surgery rather than “elective” scheduled surgery for their condition, the Hopkins researchers found. The results emerged in a study of data from Medicare, the government health insurance for senior citizens.
Black seniors also spent more time in the hospital recovering from their operations and the costs of their stays averaged nearly $30,000 more than those of comparable white patients.
Text-message bullying becoming more common
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A growing number of U.S. kids say they have been picked on via text messaging, while there has been little change in online harassment, researchers reported Monday.
Of more than 1,100 middle school and high school students surveyed in 2008, 24 percent said they had ever been “harassed” by texting. That was up from about 14 percent in a survey of the same kids the year before.
“Harassment” meant that peers had spread rumors about them, made “rude or mean comments,” or threatened them.
How cancer cells get by on a starvation diet
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Cancer cells usually live in an environment with limited supplies of the nutrients they need to proliferate — most notably, oxygen and glucose. However, they are still able to divide uncontrollably, producing new cancer cells.
A new study from researchers at MIT and the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center helps to explain how this is possible. The researchers found that when deprived of oxygen, cancer cells (and many other mammalian cells) can engage an alternate metabolic pathway that allows them to use glutamine, a plentiful amino acid, as the starting material for synthesizing fatty molecules known as lipids. These lipids are essential components of many cell structures, including cell membranes.
The finding, reported in the Nov. 20 online edition of Nature, challenges the long-held belief that cells synthesize most of their lipids from glucose, and raises the possibility of developing drugs that starve tumor cells by cutting off this alternate pathway.
Hearts Actually Can Break
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Dorothy Lee and her husband of 40 years were driving home from a Bible study group one wintry night when their car suddenly hit the curb. Mrs. Lee looked at her husband, who was driving, and saw his head bob a couple of times and fall on his chest.
In the ensuing minutes, Mrs. Lee recalls, she managed to avoid a crash while stopping the car, called 911 on her cellphone and tried to revive her husband before an ambulance arrived. But at the hospital, soon after learning her husband had died of a heart attack, Mrs. Lee’s heart appeared to give out as well. She experienced sudden sharp pains in her chest, felt faint and went unconscious.
When doctors performed an X-ray angiogram expecting to find and treat a blood clot that had caused Mrs. Lee’s symptoms, they were surprised: There wasn’t any evidence of a heart attack. Her coronary arteries were completely clear.
New Report Highlights LGBT Older Adults’ Needs, Identifies Policy Opportunities
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The National Academy on an Aging Society and Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) today released the first-ever issue of the acclaimed Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR) on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) aging, highlighting gaps in policy and research on LGBT older adults, and current and future solutions to address the needs of LGBT elders.
“Given the voluminous gerontological literature that has built up over the past half-century, it is hard to imagine that any set of aging populations has been largely ignored or under-investigated. Yet, LGBT older adults have remained nearly invisible to the community of advocates, researchers, practitioners, administrators, and politicians who associate themselves with the modern aging enterprise,” said PPAR Editor Robert Hudson, PhD, chair of the Department of Social Policy at the Boston University School of Social Work. “This issue of Public Policy & Aging Report takes a step toward filling that void.”
LGBT older adults make up a significant share of America’s 65+ population, and their numbers are expected to double in size over the next several decades, reaching more than 3 million by 2030. An increase in numbers signals a growing need to ensure that the policies designed to protect our nation’s elders take into account the needs of LGBT older adults.
More Americans than not want health law repeal: poll
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As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to review President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms, more Americans want to it repealed than want to keep it, a poll released on Wednesday shows.
A Gallup survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults found that 47 percent favor the repeal of healthcare reform, versus 42 percent who want the law kept in place. Eleven percent had no opinion.
But the survey also showed that 50 percent of Americans believe the federal government has a responsibility to make sure everyone has health coverage, compared with 46 percent who do not.
Alarming pattern of antibiotic use in the southeastern United States
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New research suggests a pattern of outpatient antibiotic overuse in parts of the United States—particularly in the Southeast—a problem that could accelerate the rate at which these powerful drugs are rendered useless, according to Extending the Cure, a project of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy.
These findings come out just as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) kicked off an annual effort to reduce overuse of antibiotics called “Get Smart: Know When Antibiotics Work.” The campaign, which lasts throughout the week, urges Americans to use antibiotics wisely. The CDC estimates that $1.1 billion is spent annually on unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions for adult upper respiratory infections alone. These prescriptions also speed the development of resistance to important antibiotic therapies.
Also, on Monday of this week, Extending the Cure introduced a new tool that allows non-experts to track changes in antibiotic effectiveness over time. The new Drug Resistance Index (DRI) is similar in concept to the Consumer Price Index and is described in a paper in the British Medical Journal Open.
