High-tech isometrics helps persons on hypertension medication
Don’t try this at home, but a high-tech version of the muscle crowd’s hand-grip has demonstrated the ability to lower blood pressure, improve the flexibility of the carotid artery and heighten vasoactive sensitivity in people taking medication for hypertension.
Two studies at the McMaster University Department of Kinesiology Exercise and Metabolism Research Group sought to confirm earlier findings related to ris
One of the fastest growing team sports in America, particularly on college campuses, is women’s soccer. Of the more than 17 million players participating in organized soccer nationwide, 7 million are female. While offering an equal opportunity playing field for student athletes, soccer has one unfortunate gender bias: women are more susceptible to knee injury. One of the most common is tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)–the ligament in the center of the knee that provides stabili
A chemical solvent introduced to replace traditional ozone-depleting solvents in industrial settings has proven highly neurotoxic, according to a study presented October 5, 2004, at the 129th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in Toronto.
Five workers whose job involved gluing foam cushions together with a glue containing the solvent 1-bromopropane (1-BP, also known as n-propyl bromide) developed severe neurological symptoms, some of which appear to be permane
One group of drugs that is effective in fighting HIV may, paradoxically, also be promoting the death of sensory nerves in the skin, according to a study presented October 5, 2004, at the 129th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in Toronto.
A team of American and Australian researchers reported that the use of certain anti-HIV drugs, called dideoxynucleosides, is highly correlated with a condition called sensory neuropathy, in which patients experience constant
Vision and motion simulators similar to those used by fighter pilots and astronauts can provide relief from the symptoms of chronic dizziness, researchers at Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust and Imperial College London report in the Journal of Neurology*.
Patients with a history of balance problems, including dizziness and vertigo, show up to 50% improvement in the frequency and intensity of dizziness after attending a series of ‘simulator therapy’ sessions. The sessions combine rota
Carefully controlling the amount of food and drink that formerly sedentary, overweight people ingest during and after short-term exercise has a significant impact on insulin action. The same study showed a measurable affect on the subjects’ cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, according to researchers in the Exercise Science Department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
After only six days of enough treadmill exercise to burn 500 kilocalories (k/cal) each day, the
Children who have problems breathing during sleep tend to score lower on tests of mental development and intelligence than do other children their age, according to two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Both studies appear in the October issue of Journal of Pediatrics.
The first study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), found that at one year of age, infants who have multiple, brief breathing pauses (apnea) or
Added sugars have little or no substantive effect on diet quality, according to a new study by the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy (CFNP) at Virginia Tech.
Released in the October issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the study refutes analyses in the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Institute of Medicine (IOM) draft report on Dietary References Intakes stating that consumption of added sugars “displaces” essential vitamins and minerals in the diet. This “nutrient displacemen
Testosterone -– the hormone responsible for a man’s sex drive -– may help him recover from a stroke, according to preliminary animal research at Saint Louis University.
Researchers will present their findings at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in October. “It looks like testosterone speeds up the recovery from a stroke,” said Yi Pan, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of neurology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and principal investigator
Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers examine wait times and outcomes
Men who wait as long as three months after their prostate cancer diagnosis to receive radiation treatment do not fare worse than those who have treatment sooner. That is the result of a new study by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center presented today at the 46th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Atlanta, Ga.
“The time between initial diagnosis and extern
Lower sensitivity of mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years compared with older women can be largely explained by greater breast density and rapid tumor growth in the younger women, according to a new study in the October 6 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Because mammography is imperfect for women in their 40s, there has been controversy over whether and how often these women should be screened. Mammographic sensitivity–that is, the percentage of cancers det
Heart patients are more than twice as likely to die during their first 30 days of hospitalization if they receive a blood transfusion to treat blood loss or anemia, according to a new analysis by cardiologists at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).
Additionally, such patients are more than three times as likely to suffer a heart attack within 30 days, when compared to those who did not receive a transfusion.
These findings — which emerged after a retrospective
Patients with heart failure undergoing major non-cardiac surgical procedures are almost twice as likely to die as other patients, according to researchers at the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI).
In their analysis of Medicare data, the researchers also found, to their surprise, that the outcomes after major non-cardiac surgery were similar in patients with coronary artery disease and those with no heart disease.
The findings about heart failure patients are signifi
Young women at low risk for coronary heart disease and cardiovascular diseases have a lower long-term death rate from these diseases and all other causes compared with those with higher risk levels, according to an article in the Oct. 6 issue of The Journal of the American Medicine.
Cardiovascular risk factors include high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol level, high body mass index, diabetes and cigarette smoking.
Studies have shown that young adult men and middle-age
Women who take the hormone therapy estrogen plus progestin have double the risk for venous thrombosis, a type of blood clot, according to an article in the October 6 issue of JAMA. Venous thrombosis (VT) is a common disorder, according to background information in the article.
Mary Cushman, M.D., M.Sc., of the University of Vermont, Colchester, Vt., and colleagues examined the effects of postmenopausal hormone therapy on VT in the presence of other thrombosis risk factors, such a
Treating benign tumors outside the brain with CyberKnife Frameless Radiosurgery resulted in significant improvement in symptoms and minimal toxicity, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers presented today at the 46th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Atlanta.
“While stereotactic radiosurgery for the treatment of benign brain tumors has become widely accepted, our knowledge about the use o
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