Identifying Warning Signs Of Pregnancy Danger
2007-09-07 03:46:00
Warning signs such as increased stress could indicate that pregnancy-induced hypertension is reaching life-threatening levels, found Temple University researcher Kathleen Black, DNSc, RNC, the author of a study in the September/October issue of the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing."The condition is variable and can change quickly. We need to be aware of symptoms changing from mild to worse. A higher number of symptoms could also mean [pregnancy-induced hypertension] is getting worse," Black said.Also known as preeclampsia and gestational hypertension, pregnancy-induced hypertension occurs at about 20 weeks in 6 percent to 8 percent of pregnancies. The exact cause is not known. Severe forms of these conditions can play a role in perinatal developmental issues of the fetus or even death for both the mother and fetus. The perinatal period is defined as the time of birth (five months before and one month after).Click here to see the rest of this article in Medical
Read more: Danger
, Pregnancy
Malignant Melanoma Treatment Works On Immune Cells, Not The Cancer
2007-09-06 22:31:00
A new study shows that an important drug used in the treatment of malignant melanoma has little effect on the melanoma cells themselves. Instead, it activates immune-system cells to fight the disease.The drug, called interferon alpha (IFNa), is used to clean up microscopic tumor cells that may remain in the body following surgery for the disease. It is the only drug approved for this purpose.Researchers say that these findings underscore the need to develop ways to make melanoma cells more vulnerable to the drug, or to overcome the block within the cells that prevents them from responding to it.The study showed that melanoma cells taken directly from patients, as well as those grown in the laboratory, respond poorly to IFNa, even when the drug is given at very high doses, while immune cells respond well to the same substance.Click here to see the rest of this article in Medical News Todaypermalink TechnoratiPhilippine Nursing http://Philippinenursing.blogspot.com
Read more: Cancer
, Works
, Malignant
, Treatment
, Immune
Excercise And Yoga Can Improve Quality Of Life And Physical Fitness In Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer
2007-09-06 09:20:00
Two studies report that exercise and yoga can help maintain and in some cases improve quality of life in women with early-stage breast cancer. The first study found that resistance and aerobic exercise improved physical fitness, self-esteem and body composition, and that resistance exercise improved chemotherapy completion rates. The second study demonstrated that yoga was particularly beneficial for women who were not receiving chemotherapy during the study period. Both studies will be published online September 4 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology(JCO).Resistance and Aerobic ExerciseIn the first study, Canadian investigators explored the effects of exercise on quality of life, physical fitness and body composition in women receiving chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer. This study, the Supervised Trial of Aerobic versus Resistance Training (START) trial, is the largest to date to explore the effects of exercise during chemotherapy and one of the first to evaluate a regimen of
Read more: Stage
, Cancer
, Breast
, Improve
, Women
, Quality
, Excercise
, Early
RP now world’s top labor exporter
2007-09-06 09:16:00
By Christian V. EsguerraInquirerLast updated 10:24pm (Mla time) 09/05/2007MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines is now the world’s top exporter of labor
, according to Labor Secretary Arturo Brion.Brion made the statement Wednesday before the House committee on appropriations to justify his department’s proposed P6.2 billion budget for 2008, an P800 million increase over their current P5.4 billion allocation.“We are now the No. 1 labor-sending country simply because Filipinos are very desired everywhere,” he told lawmakers. “If we are not that productive, we will not be that desired.”Brion was responding to the query of Sorsogon Representative Salvador Escudero III on whether Filipino workers were productive.The secretary said the demand for overseas Filipino workers was so high that there were now “more jobs than what we can provide.”He cited the case of Saudi Arabia, which had a demand for 5,000 nurses. He said the Philippines came up short by 2,000.Click here to see
The Solution To Vitamin E Failure
2007-09-05 03:47:00
Vitamin E has failed to prevent heart attacks because dosages taken were far too low, according to a new study from Vanderbilt University, but the solution is not as simple as taking larger amounts of the vitamin. According to the study, published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine, the extremely high dosages of vitamin E required to produce significant benefits may not be safe. However, MeridiumXN™, a novel dietary supplement from BioNovix, offers a solution to this dilemma.Click here to see the rest of this article in Medical News Todaypermalink TechnoratiPhilippine Nursing http://Philippinenursing.blogspot.com
Read more: Solution
, Vitamin
Smoking Changes Gene Activity And Turns On Genes -- Permanently
2007-09-03 07:02:00
Smoking tobacco is no longer considered sexy, but it may prove a permanent turn on for some genes. Research published in the online open access journal BMC Genomics could help explain why former smokers are still more susceptible to lung cancer than those who have never smoked.A Canadian team led by Wan L Lam and Stephen Lam from the BC Cancer Agency, took samples from the lungs of 24 current and former smokers, as well as from non-smokers who have never smoked. They used these lung samples to create libraries using a technique called serial analysis of gene expression (SAGE), which helps to identify patterns of gene activity.Only about a fifth of the genes in a cell are switched on at any given time, but environmental changes such as smoking lead to changes in gene activity. The researchers found changes that were irreversible, and some changes that were reversed by stopping smoking. The reversible genes were particularly involved in xenobiotic functions (managing chemicals not produc
Read more: Smoking
, Activity
, Genes
Study Suggests That We Should Re-Think Learning Methods For Long-Term Retention
2007-09-03 07:00:00
When you look back on your school days, doesn't it seem like you studied all the time? However, most of us seem to have retained almost nothing from our early immersion in math, history, and foreign language.Were we studying the wrong way during all those wee hours? Well, as it turns out we may have been. Psychologists have been assessing how well various study strategies produce long-term learning, and it appears that some strategies really do work much better than others.Consider "overlearning." That's the term learning specialists use for studying material immediately after you've mastered it. Say you're studying new vocabulary words, flash-card style, and you finally run through the whole list error-free; any study beyond that point is overlearning. Is this just a waste of valuable time, or does this extra effort embed the new memory for the long haul?University of South Florida psychologist Doug Rohrer decided to explore this question scientifically. Working with Hal Pashler o
Read more: Learning
, Study
, Methods
-ONLINE NURSING NEWS ABROAD- What Turn-over Rate Should We Expect With Registered Nurses?
2007-09-01 08:54:00
Science Daily — A study, published in the September issue of the American Journal of Nursing (AJN), provides new insight into the work experiences of newly-licensed RNs that may help reduce the turnover rate of hospital nurses. The national study is the first to explore attitudes and experiences among newly-licensed RNs (those who received their first or basic RN license by passing the NCLEX) in their first 18 months of employment."A shortage of 340,000 RNs is projected by 2020," said Christine Kovner, PhD, RN, FAAN, professor at New York University College of Nursing and lead author of the study. "Therefore, it is vital that we understand the factors that promote the retention of newly-licensed RNs as well as factors that lead to the high turnover rates among them. We plan to continue surveying these RNs for two more years and develop predictive models of turnover, based on our findings."More than 84% of respondents worked in a hospital inpatient setting. Those whose first professi
Read more: Expect
, Registered
Avocados Prove Fruitful In Fighting Oral Cancer
2007-09-01 08:52:00
The next time you reach for the guacamole and chips, you'll be doing something good for your body. Avocados
are loaded with healthy monounsaturated fat,* and now researchers say they might also help your body fight off cancer.Renee Bean always tries to make fresh fruits and vegetables a part of her recipes. As a chef, she says they can make her dishes taste better.As an oral cancer survivor, she believes they might actually help her feel better."I try to eat things that are supposed to keep you from getting any recurrences. Lots of berries and broccoli," says Bean.And now there's a new fruit Renee may want to add to her diet - the avocado. The green meat inside is rich in more than 20 vitamins and minerals, and it may offer much more than that.For the first time, researchers at Ohio State University's Comprehensive Cancer
Center have discovered that certain compounds in avocados have the ability to find and destroy oral cancer cells, even before they do any damage."It's significant
Read more: Prove
, Fighting
...Online Nursing News... 2.7 Billion Dollars Medicare Cuts, Ad Effort Urges Lawmakers To Stand Up For Quality Nursing Home Care, USA
2007-08-31 03:20:00
In response to the 2.7 billion dollars cuts to Medicare that were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act (CHAMP Act), the long term care provider community today initiated an aggressive TV and print campaign in Congressional districts across the country. The campaign warns that proposed cuts will jeopardize ongoing quality improvements in America's nursing homes, threaten thousands of local health care jobs, and irrationally return Medicare funding levels to those seen almost a decade ago."The long term care profession strongly supports expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However, this support should not be funded by raiding the Medicare funding that vulnerable seniors depend upon for quality nursing home care in facilities across the nation," warned Alan Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance for Quality
Nursing
Home Care ("the Alliance"). The Alliance is funding the ad campaign in conjunction wit
Read more: Effort
, Stand
, Online Nursing
, Nursing Home
Dia-B Achieves Major Clinical Milestone By Detecting Its Diabetes Drug Compound ISF402 In Blood
2007-08-31 03:16:00
Dia-B Tech Limited (ASX:DIA) has achieved a major clinical milestone of its ISF402 diabetes drug development by confirming its detection in the bloodstream of trial patients. Peptides and proteins already existing in the bloodstream often mask small peptide drugs, making drug evaluation unreliable.A robust procedure has been developed for measuring ISF402 in plasma. Development of the assay has advanced the clinical development of ISF402 by identifying a major clinically active metabolite (HTD-amide) and in animal studies determining the circulating concentrations of HTD-amide that improve insulin action. The assay can measure ISF402 and HTD-amide in plasma from humans and animals dosed orally with ISF402 and the results confirm that ISF402 enters the circulation after oral dosing.An independently assessed analysis of interim data from the recently completed Phase Ia trial has shown pharmacologically relevant amounts of HTD-amide in plasma from trial subjects dosed orally with ISF402.
Read more: Blood
, Major
, Achieves
, Diabetes
Window On The Brain Cure For Epilepsy
2007-08-31 03:14:00
Action Medical Research has announced that a new MRI scanning technique could mean life-changing curative surgery for more people with epilepsy.The technique helps to pin-point the exact source of seizures in the brain and, where surgery is possible, the area may be removed. This can mean a future that is seizure free for those sufferers whose epilepsy cannot be controlled by drugs.It has detected abnormalities in the brain that may give rise to epilepsy in 29% of patients whose brains appeared normal using conventional MRI scanning.Around 450,000 -2 suffer from epilepsy in the UK, it is the most common serious brain disorder and is characterised by repeated seizures. These seizures are often spontaneous but can be caused by triggers such as lack of sleep, flickering lights or a high feverAction Medical Research has supported the groundbreaking work of Professor John Duncan, Professor of Neurology at University College London, and Medical Director of the National Society for Epilepsy,
Read more: Brain
, Window
UK Scientists Identify Gene's Key Role In Breast Cancer Development
2007-08-30 04:18:00
Breakthrough Breast
Cancer
scientists have helped identify a critical role for a gene called Tip60 in breast cancer. The research, to be published in the scientific journal Nature on Thursday 30 August, shows for the first time that Tip60 is linked to breast cancer development, and is associated with more aggressive forms of the disease.The team, at The Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, studied the Tip60 gene in breast biopsies. They discovered that the activity of this gene is significantly lower in breast cancer tissue compared with normal breast tissue. This discovery could have important implications for how some breast cancers are treated in the future.Breakthrough's scientists, collaborating with a team in Italy, found that defects in this gene seem to appear at an early stage of breast cancer development, and are associated with aggressive cancers that are currently difficult to treat. Tip60 is a tumour suppressor gene, wh
Read more: Development
HPV Vaccination Needs Careful Long Term Planning
2007-08-30 04:16:00
A successful HPV vaccination program requires more than just a series of injections, says a public health expert in this week's BMJ.Careful
planning, adequate education, and long term monitoring will be needed, argues Angela Raffle, a consultant in public health at Bristol Primary Care Trust.Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a common sexually transmitted infection seen most often in young women and adolescents. There are more than 100 types of HPV, some cause only genital warts, but others cause cancers including cervical cancer.Screening currently reduces deaths from cervical cancer by around 80% but a new jab can offer full protection against HPV strains linked to about 70% of cervical cancers. The UK government is now considering whether girls aged 11 or 12 should be vaccinated, before they become sexually active and can catch HPV.Raffle believes that the only certain way of determining the long term impact of vaccination will be to follow vaccinated women for several decades, while an
Read more: Needs
, Vaccination
, Long Term
New MRI Finding Sheds Light On Multiple Sclerosis Disease Progression - Study Results Appear In The September Issue Of Radiology
2007-08-30 04:11:00
Using magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain, researchers have identified a new abnormality related to disease progression and disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a study published in the September
issue of Radiology, published by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)."Based on these findings, physicians may be able to diagnose multiple sclerosis more accurately and identify patients at risk for developing progressive disease," said the study's lead author, Rohit Bakshi, M.D., associate professor of neurology and radiology at Harvard Medical School and director of clinical MS-MRI at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Partners MS Center in Boston.MS is a chronic, autoimmune disease characterized by the destruction of myelin, the protective layers that surround nerve cells. It can affect numerous body functions, and symptoms may include visual and speech impairment, memory loss, depression, muscle weakness, loss of coordination, numbness, pai
Read more: Multiple
, Sclerosis
, Study
, Sheds
, Progression
Arroyo hails opening of Nclex testing center
2007-08-29 10:05:00
Lourdes Santos Tancinco, Aug 29, 2007MAKATI CITY — After more than two years since the National Council of State Board of Nursing (NCSBN) began administering Nclex outside of the United States, it finally came to a decision to make the Philippines a venue for Nclex or the National Council Licensure Examination.President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo inaugurated the testing center here and welcomed this recent development as a “great service” to the nursing professionals aspiring to work in the U.S.While Filipino nurses are significant in number than any other foreign nationalities in terms of their migration to the U.S., the Philippines was not chosen right away as testing center. Since 2005, the Nclex has been offered abroad in other countries like London, England; Hong Kong; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada; Frankfurt, Germany; Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Chennai, India; Mexico City, Mexico; Taipei, Taiwan; Chiyoda-ku and Yokohama, Japan.
Study Blames Abbreviations For Medication Errors
2007-08-29 08:37:00
A new study in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety highlights the role abbreviations play in medication errors.According to researchers from Rutgers University who analyzed data on nearly 30,000 medication error reports contained in the United States Pharmacopeia's MEDMARX® database, nearly five percent were due to abbreviations problems.Results showed:-- The most common abbreviation resulting in a medication error was the use of "qd" in place of "once daily," accounting for 43.1 percent of all errors.-- The other most common abbreviations resulting in medication errors were "U" for units, "cc" for mL, "MSO4" or "MS" for morphine sulfate, and decimal errors.-- Eighty-one percent of the errors occurred during prescribing; errors during transcribing and dispensing represented 14 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.-- Abbreviation errors originated most often from medical staff.-- The three most common types of abbreviation-related errors were prescribing, impro
Read more: Study
, Abbreviations
, Medication
, Errors
Heavy Drinking Raises Blood Pressure In Older Men Regardless Of "Good" Cholesterol
2007-08-28 22:11:00
A large new Japanese study suggests that middle aged men who drink heavily could see their blood pressure rise, regardless of whether their levels of "good" cholesterol also go up.Study author Ichiro Wakabayashi also found that the older men who participated all in their 50s were more susceptible to the blood pressure-boosting effects of heavy drinking than younger men.While there are signs that drinking can be good for the heart and boost good cholesterol levels, "this emphasizes that alcohol is not for everyone," said Kenneth Mukamal, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who is familiar with the study findings."This really fits well with the observation that the risk of stroke which is more sensitive to blood pressure than heart attack is not really substantially lower in moderate drinkers," Mukamal said. According to him, an increase in blood pressure might eliminate any benefit from higher levels of good cholesterol.Wakabayashi, of the Hyogo College of
Read more: Blood
, Heavy
, Drinking
, Pressure
, Cholesterol
Gene Therapy Reduces Amyloid Plaques In Mice With Model Of Alzheimer Disease
2007-08-28 21:56:00
A new gene therapy technique has been shown to reduce the amount of amyloid-beta protein (which forms the plaques found in the brains of people with Alzheimer
's disease) in the brains of mice. In a paper published this week in the open access medical journal PLoS Medicine Matthew Hemming, Dennis Selkoe and colleagues from Harvard Medical School generated a secreted form of neprilysin, a protease that can break down amyloid-beta protein, and used primary fibroblasts to introduce this soluble protease into the brains of mice who had advanced plaque deposition.The pathologic hallmarks of Alzheimer disease are extracellular plaques of amyloid-beta protein and intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles of tau protein, both of which accumulate in the regions of the brain that mediate memory and thought. Current treatments for Alzheimer disease affect only the symptoms. Ultimately it is to be hoped that it would be possible to develop disease-modifying interventions that would lower the productio
Read more: Therapy
'Baby Talk' Used By Monkeys To Interact With Infants
2007-08-28 21:54:00
Female rhesus monkeys use special vocalizations while interacting with infants, the way human adults use motherese, or "baby talk," to engage babies' attention, new research at the University of Chicago shows. "Motherese is a high pitched and musical form of speech, which may be biological in origin," said Dario Maestripieri, Associate Professor in Comparative Human Development at the University. "The acoustic structure of particular monkey vocalizations called girneys may be adaptively designed to attract young infants and engage their attention, similar to how the acoustic structure of human motherese, or baby talk, allows adults to visually or socially engage with infants."In order to determine if other primates also use special vocalizations while interacting with infants, researchers studied a group of free-ranging rhesus macaques, which live on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico. They studied the vocalizations exchanged between adult females and found that grunts and girneys
Read more: Monkeys
What is Mesothelioma? -MESOTHELIOMA FACTS & FIGURES
2007-08-28 15:47:00
What is Mesothelioma? -MESOTHELIOMA FACTS & FIGURES# Each year 2,500 to 4,000 patients in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases. # Mesothelioma has a long latency (inactive) period of anywhere between 15 – 50 years. # Experts predict that mesothelioma diagnoses will continue to increase in the United States for at least another 10 to 20 years. # While many countries have banned certain forms of asbestos, an estimated 5,000 asbestos-containing products exist today. (See a list of dangerous products)Article/Commentary: A Ban on Asbestos Must be Based on a Comparative Risk Assessment. (Canada) # As many as 8 million people in the U.S. have already been exposed to asbestos and it continues to pose a serious threat to workers in certain occupations. (Click here for a list of at risk occupations) # One study of asbestos insulation workers reported a mesothelioma death rate up to 344 times higher than the general population. # Most mesothelioma victims di
--Nursing News Abroad--- Your Health is Being Jeopardized by Nursing Shortages
2007-09-20 11:42:00
Your health, and the health of your audience, is being jeopardized by nursing shortages. RealityRN.com, launching October 10, is the first and only website whose goal is to combat the shortage and decrease patient mortality rates in hospitals by focusing on new nurses and keeping new nurses in the profession. Nurses are available now for interviews. Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 20, 2007 -- Your health is being jeopardized by nursing shortages. RealityRN.com, launching October 10, is the first and only website whose goal is to combat the shortage and decrease patient mortality rates in hospitals by focusing on new nurses and helping to keep them in the profession. The federal government is projecting a shortage of one million nurses and 24,000 doctors in the U.S. by 2020. According to a 2006 report by the Metropolitan Chicago Health
care Council, Illinois will face a shortage of 21,000 registered nurses by 2010. Two-thirds of these vacancies w
Read more: Nursing
--Nursing News Abroad---Union: Nursing shortage affecting patient care
2007-09-20 11:38:00
Posted Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:50am AESTUpdated Thu Sep 20, 2007 10:02am AESTThe Australian Nursing
Federation is warning the quality of patient
care in Western Australia's public hospitals is in danger of declining due to a massive shortage of nurses The Federation's State Secretary Mark Olson says new figures show the public health system is short by 1,070 nurses. Mr Olson says Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital is one of the worst affected, down 110 nurses. He says the care of premature babies in King Edward Memorial Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital is also suffering significantly due to the shortage. "We face the very real risk that in an area like the special care nursery we may have to transfer patients to Adelaide because we simply won't be able to provide the service in Western Australia and what a shocking situation that would be," he said. SOURCE: Read more in ABC News permalink TechnoratiPhilippine Nursing http://Philippinenursing.blogspot.com
Read more: Union
Diagnostic Blood Test Could Screen For Lung Cancer, Even At Earliest Stage
2007-09-20 07:27:00
Biopharmaceutical researchers have found a protein in blood they say is linked to all stages of lung cancer but which rarely shows up in the blood of people without the disease. Testing for this protein might help physicians decide whether smokers or others at high risk for lung cancer should be referred for lung imaging, say investigators, who presented their findings in Atlanta, Georgia at the American Association for Cancer
Research's second International Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic Development.A diagnostic blood test to screen high-risk individuals for lung cancer could be both practical to use and cost-effective, say investigators from Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md."A positive test for this protein marker, followed by CT scanning, may help identify individuals with lung cancer at a stage in which treatment is more effective, possibly even curative," said research scientist Mark Semenuk, who is presenting results of a study testin
Read more: Blood
, Stage
, Lung Cancer
Misconceptions About Alzheimer's Varies Among Races
2007-09-19 02:57:00
Alzheimer's disease is still a mystery to people of different races and a large percentage of people across the board are unaware that treatments are available to reduce symptoms.This is one of the surprising findings in a national survey, "Public opinion about Alzheimer's disease among Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites," which was analyzed by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Understanding racial and ethnic influences on knowledge and beliefs about Alzheimer's is critical to communicating risk reduction strategies, symptom recognition, diagnosis and illness management, the paper said.There were more similarities in patterns of response among the racial groups than expected, said Cathleen Connell, professor in the U-M School of Public Health and director of the Education and Information Transfer Core of the Michigan Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. One half of the sample reported that nothing can be done to maintain cognitive functioning and reduce
Read more: Misconceptions
, Alzheimer
, Races
Vitamin E fights VTE risk in women
2007-09-19 02:50:00
By Lynda Williams18 September 2007Circulation 2007; 116: Advance online publicationMedWire News: Vitamin
E supplements significantly reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) by up to almost 50%, results from the Women's Health Study (WHS) demonstrate."Given its lack of efficacy for prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer, vitamin E may be most appropriate for people at high risk of VTE," Robert Glynn (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA) and team say.As vitamin E is thought to inhibit vitamin K and vitamin K-dependent clotting factors, the researchers examined WHS findings to determine whether the vitamin alters the risk for VTE.Click here to see the rest of this article in MedWire NewsReprinted with kind permission from MedWire Newspermalink TechnoratiPhilippine Nursing http://Philippinenursing.blogspot.com
--Nursing News Abroad---Nurse training proposal represents a backwards step
2007-09-17 02:34:00
I am writing in response to the proposed hospital-based schools of nursing ("Training plan puts patients at risk: nurses", September 15, p2). I add two points to the debate. First, the programs raise an issue of equity. University of Canberra nursing students pay to study and learn by working two to three days per week in community health, residential aged care, mental health, as well as hospital services. The work is unpaid, with many students doing paid work to support themselves and their families. Part-time study is increasing, effectively delaying graduation and entry into the workforce. Students in the proposed 18-month enrolled nurse programs will be paid a weekly salary hardly a fair use of limited federal resources. Second, the Government's press release (September 14) suggests that administrators and doctors will have greater input into the educational program. This self-serving approach, where the same people who seek to control nursing work and nurses design the progra
Read more: Nursing
, Nurse
Cholesterol Byproduct Blocks Heart Health Benefits Of Estrogen
2007-09-17 02:31:00
New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers show that a byproduct of cholesterol metabolism interferes with the beneficial effects estrogen has on the cardiovascular system, providing a better understanding of the interplay between cholesterol and estrogen in heart disease. The results of the study, available online and in the October issue of the journal Nature Medicine, also may explain why hormone replacement therapy fails to protect some postmenopausal women from heart disease, said Dr. David Mangelsdorf, chairman of pharmacology and senior author of the paper.The researchers found that in rodents, a molecule called 27-hydroxycholesterol, or 27HC, binds to the same receptors in the blood vessels of the heart to which estrogen binds.The normal result of this estrogen binding is that blood vessel walls remain elastic and dilated, and damage to the vasculature is repaired, among other heart protective effects. Other research has shown that postmenopausal women who no lo
Read more: Health
, Cholesterol
, Blocks
, Heart
, Benefits
Linchpin Gene May Be Useful Target For Breast Cancer Therapies
2007-09-16 05:47:00
University of Iowa researchers have discovered a gene that plays a linchpin role in the ability of breast cancer cells to respond to estrogen. The finding may lead to improved therapies for hormone responsive breast cancers and may explain differences in the effectiveness of current treatments.Estrogen causes hormone responsive breast cancer cells to grow and divide by interacting with estrogen receptors made by cancer cells. Interfering with estrogen signaling is the basis of two common breast cancer therapies -- tamoxifen, which blocks estrogen's interaction with a primary estrogen receptor called ER alpha, and aromatase inhibitors that reduce the amount of estrogen the body makes and therefore affect any pathway that uses estrogen.The study, led by Ronald Weigel, M.D., Ph.D., professor and head of surgery at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, reveals a central role for transcription factor AP2C (TFAP2C) in controlling multiple pathways of estro
Read more: Cancer
, Useful
, Target
, Breast
Heart Medications: The More You Skip, The More You Risk
2007-09-15 14:05:00
Although it might take some effort to find out why some patients skip taking their medicine, a new study finds that heart patients who most frequently miss a dose are more than twice as likely to suffer heart attack, stroke and death.The findings are important because they pinpoint the size of the problem, said study co-author Mary Whooley, M.D., associate professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. Just over 8 percent of the 1,015 patients surveyed said they fail to take their medicine at least 25 percent of the time."The next step is to figure out how we can change people's behavior," Whooley said. "It is so hard to convince people to lose weight, exercise and take their medicines as they're supposed to. If we could figure out ways to motivate people to change, that would have tremendous public health consequences."Whooley and colleagues asked coronary heart patients taking part in a national study whether they took their medications over the past month
Read more: Heart
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