Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Pollution from marine vessels linked to heart and lung disease

11-07-2007 · EurekAlert!

Pollution from marine shipping causes approximately 60,000 premature cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths around the world each year, according to a report scheduled to appear in the Dec. 15 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, the journal of the American Chemical Society. The report benchmarks for the first time the number of annual deaths caused globally by pollution from marine vessels, with coastal regions in Asia and Europe the most affected.

Keywords: pollution, marine, vessels, linked, heart, lung, disease, vessel

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "Pollution from marine vessels linked to heart and lung disease":

Diesel exhaust may increase risk in patients with heart disease
09-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
Air pollution could be putting patients with heart disease at risk by affecting blood vessels and clotting, researchers warn. A study by the University of Edinburgh and UmeA University measured the effects of diesel exhaust on heart and blood vessel function in men who have previously experienced a heart attack.
Similar news · Read more »
Child abuse heralds adult inflammation
02-03-2007 · Science News Online
A long-term study in New Zealand indicates that child abuse leads to a disruption of part of the stress response in adulthood that has been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and chronic lung disease.
Similar news · Read more »
Fat protein cuts blood vessel inflammation, may help heart, Jefferson scientists find
06-01-2007 · EurekAlert!
A natural substance from fat cells can protect blood vessels from the damaging effects of inflammation, which contributes to heart disease. Researchers at Jefferson Medical College have shown for the first time in an animal model that the substance - a protein called adiponectin - helps prevent immune system white blood cells from binding to the inside of blood vessel walls. Harnessing adiponectin's properties may help protect against blood vessel damage in patients with obesity and diabetes.
Similar news · Read more »
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.
Similar news · Read more »
Reduced lung capacity linked to cardiovascular disease by inflammation
07-02-2007 · EurekAlert!
People who have a reduced lung capacity may have a greater risk of heart attack and stroke because they show evidence of inflammation, reveals a study published online ahead of print in Thorax.
Similar news · Read more »
Murder mystery solved
09-20-2007 · EurekAlert!
Thousands of people die from strokes and heart attacks within 24 hours of a spike in microscopic pollution. Scientists couldn't figure out why. New research from Northwestern University has found that these tiny pieces of soot spur hyperclotting of the blood, resulting in heart attacks and strokes for people at risk. Previous epidemiological research has linked the pollution to cardiovascular death and disease, but this is the first study to show how it actually happens in an animal model.
Similar news · Read more »
UCLA study links air pollution to clogged arteries
07-25-2007 · EurekAlert!
Got high cholesterol? Better stay away from air pollution. So says a new study linking diesel exhaust to atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, which significantly increases one’s risk for heart attack and stroke. The research is the first to explain how fine particles in air pollution conspire with artery-clogging fats to switch on the genes that cause blood vessel inflammation and lead to cardiovascular disease.
Similar news · Read more »
Newsbriefs from the journal CHEST, January 2007
01-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
Newsbriefs from the January issue of the journal CHEST highlight the following studies: ICU quality measure easily biased; Sleep apnea linked to family history of death from heart disease; and BETA blockers reduce severity of central sleep apnea.
Similar news · Read more »
Task force recommends greater use of exercise testing in chronic disease
02-27-2007 · EurekAlert!
Exercise testing can be a powerful tool for diagnosing chronic heart and lung conditions and measuring responses to treatment, according to new research published in the European Respiratory Journal.
Similar news · Read more »
Chemical in red wine, fruits and vegetables stops cancer, heart disease, depending on the dose
10-30-2007 · EurekAlert!
The next cancer drug might come from the grocery store, according to research published in the November 2007 issue of the FASEB Journal. In the study, scientists describe how high and low doses of polyphenols have different effects. Most notably, they found that very high doses of polyphenols shut down and prevent tumors by stopping the formation of new blood vessels needed for growth. Polyphenols are found in red wine, fruits, vegetables and green tea.
Similar news · Read more »