The same vitamin D deficiency that can result in weak bones now has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Framingham Heart Study researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
"Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, above and beyond established cardiovascular risk factors," said Thomas J. Wang, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass. "The higher risk associated with vitamin D deficiency was particularly evident among individuals with high blood pressure."
In a study of 1,739 offspring from Framingham Heart Study participants (average age 59, all Caucasian), researchers found that those with blood levels of vitamin D below15 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL) had twice the risk of a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack, heart failure or stroke in the next five years compared to those with higher levels of vitamin D.
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A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry's claim.
Julie Steenhuysen
ReutersTue, 08 Jan 2008 01:42 UTC
A drug that exploits the benefits of a component in wine proved safe and showed signs that it might improve blood sugar control in people with the most common form of diabetes, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday.
The results come from the first human study of a drug that targets a family of genes called sirtuins that control the aging process in humans.
Michael Kahn
ReutersTue, 08 Jan 2008 01:34 UTC
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| File photo shows athletes running up the moraine of the Eiger glacier during the Jungfrau-Marathon near Kleine Scheidegg in the Bernese Alps September 8, 2007.
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A little more sunshine might help you live longer, according to a study published on Monday suggesting that for some people health benefits from the sun outweigh the risk of skin cancer.
Editor's Note: With a poor understanding of mental health and the tendency to categorize those suffering as "crazy," patients and their families become reluctant to seek help. When they do, only about one in three receive treatment that meets minimum standards of care. NAM contributor Christine Ferrer candidly discusses her own mother's struggle with paranoid schizophrenia.
Consumption of dairy products, especially milk, increases a man's risk of contracting Parkinson's disease, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Using an integrative meta-analysis approach, researchers from the Center for Bioinformatics at Peking University in Beijing have assembled the most comprehensive gene atlas underlying drug addiction and identified five molecular pathways common to four different addictive drugs. This novel paper appears in PLoS Computational Biology on January 4, 2008.
Drug addiction is a serious worldwide problem with strong genetic and environmental influences. So far different technologies have revealed a variety of genes and biological processes underlying addiction. However, individual technology can be biased and render only an incomplete picture. Studying individual or a small number of genes is like looking at pieces of a jigsaw puzzle - only when you gather most of the pieces from different places and arrange them together in an orderly fashion do interesting patterns emerge.
A 23-year-old woman has escaped from a hospital in Egypt after being preliminary diagnosed with a deadly bird flu virus, local media reported on Monday.
The woman was hospitalized last week with high temperature in the town of Tahta in the Upper Egyptian Sohag Governorate. She fled the hospital following the doctors' decision to transfer her to a special clinic.
Julie Steenhuysen
ReutersSun, 06 Jan 2008 21:45 UTC
Flu viruses must be able to pick a very specific type of lock before entering human respiratory cells, U.S. researchers said on Sunday, offering a new understanding of how flu viruses work.
The discovery may help scientists better monitor changes in the H5N1 bird flu virus that could trigger a deadly pandemic in humans. And it may lead to better ways to fight it, they said.
The number of patients needing hospital treatment for eating disorders has soared, it has emerged.
The findings are sure to renew concerns about the effect "size zero" models and celebrities are having on the body image of many youngsters.
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| Some doctors are blaming the fashion industry for the rise in so-called size zero patients
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