In a study that points to a new strategy for preventing or possibly reversing fibrosis - the scarring that can lead to organ and tissue damage - researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have determined that a molecule called Epac (Exchange protein activated by cAMP1), plays a key role in integrating the body's pro- and anti-fibrotic response. The research will be published in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) the week of April 21.
Inflammation is the body's response to injury in tissues, prompting healing that leads to scars, whether on the skin, or in organs such as the heart, liver or lungs. Such scarring has beneficial properties, but there's also the risk of excessive scarring, or tissue fibrosis, that can lead to organ damage and loss of function.
The UC San Diego researchers looked at cardiac fibrosis, which can occur in patients who have suffered an infection of the heart muscle or a heart attack. Such fibrosis causes the heart to stiffen so that it cannot adequately fill with blood and then empty itself, a condition known as diastolic dysfunction.
Health & Wellness
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| Food fears: Being a rich nation is no protection for Japan, which faces the fallout of relying too heavily on foreign food to supply domestic needs. |
MARIKO Watanabe admits she could have chosen a better time to take up baking. This week, when the Tokyo housewife visited her local Ito-Yokado supermarket to buy butter to make a cake, she found the shelves bare.
"I went to another supermarket, and then another, and there was no butter at those either. Everywhere I went there were notices saying Japan has run out of butter. I couldn't believe it - this is the first time in my life I've wanted to try baking cakes and I can't get any butter," said the frustrated cook.
Fluoride exposure is rising and causing children's tooth imperfections, ranging from white spots to brownish discolorations and pitting (fluorosis), dentist Elivir Dincer reports in the New York State Dental Journal. (1)
"Such changes in the tooth's appearance can affect the child's self-esteem which makes early prevention that much more critical," writes Dincer.
Children, aged 2 to 7 years, can swallow about one-quarter milligram of fluoride with every brushing because their swallowing reflexes are not fully developed, reports Dincer.
"Children from the age of 6-months to 3-years should not have more than one-quarter milligram of fluoride per day. Brushing the teeth of a 2-year-old twice a day will expose the child to about one-half milligram, exceeding the allowable [daily] limits" [from toothpaste alone], writes Dincer.
"Such changes in the tooth's appearance can affect the child's self-esteem which makes early prevention that much more critical," writes Dincer.
Children, aged 2 to 7 years, can swallow about one-quarter milligram of fluoride with every brushing because their swallowing reflexes are not fully developed, reports Dincer.
"Children from the age of 6-months to 3-years should not have more than one-quarter milligram of fluoride per day. Brushing the teeth of a 2-year-old twice a day will expose the child to about one-half milligram, exceeding the allowable [daily] limits" [from toothpaste alone], writes Dincer.
People who commit violent offences are more likely to suffer from a personality disorder than a mental one, a local forensic psychologist said yesterday.
"Public perception is that there is a strong relationship between mental illness and violent behaviour," said Dr. Liam Ennis, a private clinician in Edmonton who is often called to testify in sentencing hearings.
"It's grossly overstated, especially compared to the relationship between violence and substance abuse, personality disorders and general anti-social inclinations."
"Public perception is that there is a strong relationship between mental illness and violent behaviour," said Dr. Liam Ennis, a private clinician in Edmonton who is often called to testify in sentencing hearings.
"It's grossly overstated, especially compared to the relationship between violence and substance abuse, personality disorders and general anti-social inclinations."
The 2008 flu season has been one of the worst in several years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Part of the reason, health officials say, is that this year's crop of flu vaccine has been less effective than usual.
"Most of the circulating influenza viruses this season have been less than optimally matched to the viruses in the vaccine," said Dan Jernigan, Deputy Director of the CDC Influence Division.
Comment: In other words, the flu vaccine is worthless. Not only that, it contains a host of toxic substances, the most significant of which is mercury. Why are the government and media still pushing so hard to get it in the vein of as many people as possible?
"Most of the circulating influenza viruses this season have been less than optimally matched to the viruses in the vaccine," said Dan Jernigan, Deputy Director of the CDC Influence Division.
Comment: In other words, the flu vaccine is worthless. Not only that, it contains a host of toxic substances, the most significant of which is mercury. Why are the government and media still pushing so hard to get it in the vein of as many people as possible?
The discovery that drug companies have been ghostwriting scientific studies using in-house writers, then paying (bribing) doctors and high-level academics to pretend they were the author of the article is making shockwaves across conventional medicine. This latest revelation of scientific fraud exposes a massive, widespread system of fraud involving not only the drug companies, but also hundreds of different peer-reviewed, "scientific" medical journals that have published these ghostwritten articles. This scam is the latest embarrassment to conventional medicine; a system built on such a foundation of scientific fraud that the admission of dishonesty no longer surprises anyone. The pharmaceutical industry, it seems, is now supported almost entirely by fraudulent science fabricated by marketing personnel.
Life expectancy has long been growing steadily for most Americans. But it has not for a significant minority, according to a new study, which finds a growing disparity in mortality depending on race, income and geography.
The study, published Monday in the online journal PLoS, analyzed life expectancy in all 3,141 counties in the United States from 1961 to 1999, the latest year for which complete data have been released by the National Center for Health Statistics. Although life span has generally increased since 1961, the authors reported, it began to level off or even decline in the 1980s for 4 percent of men and 19 percent of women.
The study, published Monday in the online journal PLoS, analyzed life expectancy in all 3,141 counties in the United States from 1961 to 1999, the latest year for which complete data have been released by the National Center for Health Statistics. Although life span has generally increased since 1961, the authors reported, it began to level off or even decline in the 1980s for 4 percent of men and 19 percent of women.
Federal regulators bar a Chinese-made version of the drug, blamed for as many as 81 deaths. They announce a breakthrough in understanding how it sickened patients.
A contaminated blood thinner from China suspected in dozens of U.S. deaths has become a worldwide public health problem, with 10 other countries detecting the often-toxic ingredient, federal investigators said Monday.
A contaminated blood thinner from China suspected in dozens of U.S. deaths has become a worldwide public health problem, with 10 other countries detecting the often-toxic ingredient, federal investigators said Monday.
Durham, N.C. -- U.S. medical researchers say they've discovered why cancer cells like sugar so much -- a finding than might lead to better cancer treatments.
Duke University School of Medicine Assistant Professor Jeffrey Rathmell and graduate student Jonathan Coloff found that tumor cells use glucose as a way to avoid programmed cell death.
Duke University School of Medicine Assistant Professor Jeffrey Rathmell and graduate student Jonathan Coloff found that tumor cells use glucose as a way to avoid programmed cell death.
A team of disease hunters has announced the discovery of a deadly new virus, found in a remote village in South America. Experts say the virus - named Chapare - is probably limited to a small swathe of Bolivia, but urbanisation and climate change could expand its range.
"These pathogens will markedly increase the risk of outbreaks with significant loss of human life," says Stefan Kunz, a virologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, who was not part of the study.
"These pathogens will markedly increase the risk of outbreaks with significant loss of human life," says Stefan Kunz, a virologist at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, who was not part of the study.
