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Study examines association between weight amount and cause of death

11-06-2007 · EurekAlert!

The association between weight and causes of death can vary considerably, with obesity associated with a significantly increased mortality from cardiovascular disease, underweight associated with increased mortality from primarily non-cancer, non-CVD causes, and overweight associated with increased mortality from diabetes and kidney disease combined, but with reduced mortality from other non-cancer non-CVD causes of death, according to a study in the Nov. 7 issue of JAMA.

Keywords: study, examines, association, weight, amount, cause, death, examine

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Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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New study examines how rearing environment can alter navigation
08-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
A new study published in the July issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, is the first attempt to examine whether early exposure to strong geometric cues influences navigational strategy.
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Elevated autoantibodies linked to preeclampsia
03-15-2007 · EurekAlert!
Women who develop preeclampsia during pregnancy are more likely to develop certain dangerous autoantibodies than women with normal pregnancies, and these autoantibodies are still present two years after childbirth in some women, scientists from the University of Pittsburgh report in the March issue of Hypertension, the journal of the American Heart Association. A leading cause of maternal and fetal illness and death, preeclampsia also has been linked to an increased lifetime risk for heart disease.
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Alcoholism may cause decreased density of neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex
10-24-2006 · EurekAlert!
The orbitofrontal cortex may play an important role in risky decision making, impulsive behaviors, and disturbances in reward processing that tend to accompany addiction. Researchers examine if functional alterations in the ORB may be linked to suicide among alcoholics. Alcoholism appears to cause a decrease in the overall density of neurons in the ORB, but this does not appear to be related to death by suicide among alcoholics.
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Female auto crash rates increase alarmingly; airbags can be dangerous for tall and small people
05-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
Automobile crashes remain the leading cause of death for adolescents and young females are beginning to show an alarming increase in fatal automobile crashes related to alcohol use and a failure to use seatbelts. Another study found that airbags, while effective for people of medium stature (5'3" to 5'11") were actually harmful to people smaller than 4'11" and taller than 6'3".
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Excess weight and adult weight gain increase the risk of dying from prostate cancer
01-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
A new study finds that obesity increases the risk of death from prostate cancer, even though it does not increase the overall risk a man will be diagnosed with the disease. The study reveals that higher body mass index (BMI) and weight gain in adulthood correlated strongly with increased risk of death from prostate cancer.
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Obesity surgery can lead to memory loss, other problems
03-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
Weight loss surgery, such as gastric bypass surgery, can lead to a vitamin deficiency that can cause memory loss and confusion, inability to coordinate movement, and other problems, according to a study published in the March 13, 2007, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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The structural basis of familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is revealed
11-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
Familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the leading cause of sudden death in athletes and young people, is a genetic heart disorder that is characterized by an increased thickness in tissue of the left ventricle. A study conducted by scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research provides new structural evidence that the disarray at the molecular level caused by the R403Q point mutation in myosin is linked to the characteristic misalignment of muscle cells in FHC.
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Certain infusion therapy after heart attack does not appear to be beneficial, may cause harm
11-27-2007 · EurekAlert!
Infusion of a combination therapy consisting of glucose, insulin, and potassium, which was thought could be a beneficial treatment immediately following a heart attack, may increase the risk of heart failure and death in the first 3 days for patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, according to a study in the Nov. 28 issue of JAMA.
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Methadone even at therapeutic levels can kill
01-09-2008 · EurekAlert!
Methadone is a possible cause of sudden cardiac death even when it isn't overdosed but is taken at therapeutic levels primarily for relief of chronic pain or drug addiction withdrawal, a new study by Oregon Health & Science University researchers suggests.
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