Daily non-political popular news in brief.

STS researches effects of medicine across races

11-15-2006 · Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

New treatments and medical technology can effectively eradicate diseases such as smallpox, yet social and political considerations have hindered similar success with diseases like polio, tuberculosis and AIDS.

Keywords: sts, researches, effects, medicine, across, races, researche, effect, race

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "STS researches effects of medicine across races":

Erectile dysfunction influenced by race and ethnicity
01-31-2007 · EurekAlert!
According to a new study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, erectile dysfunction is highly prevalent across white, black and Hispanic populations in the United States. For the first time in an adequately-sized, nationally representative probability sample, the effect of health and lifestyle variables on the odds of having ED were determined in order to estimate prevalence by race and ethnicity.
Similar news · Read more »
Diesel exhaust fumes affect people with asthma, finds study on London's Oxford Street
12-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
Diesel exhaust fumes on polluted streets have a measurable effect on people with asthma, according to the first study looking at exhausts and asthma in a real-life setting, published on Dec. 6 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new study looked at the effects on 60 people with mild and moderate asthma of walking along the western end of busy Oxford Street in London, where only diesel-powered taxis and buses are permitted.
Similar news · Read more »
Jefferson scientists studying the effects of high-dose vitamin C on non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients
01-02-2008 · EurekAlert!
Scientists at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center have received approval for a first-of-its kind study on the effect high dose vitamin C has on non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. Researchers from the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and Kimmel Cancer Center in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health will study whether high doses of vitamin C can slow the progression of the deadly disease.
Similar news · Read more »
Annals of Internal Medicine tip sheet for April 3, 2007
04-02-2007 · EurekAlert!
The following articles are featured in the upcoming Annals of Internal Medicine: New ACP Guideline for Mammography Screening Encourages Women 40 to 49 Years of Age to Become Part of the Decision-Making Process; Long-Term Effects of False-Positive Mammograms not Clear; New Injected Drug Added to Traditional Drug May Help Type 2 Diabetes; and Study Finds Kidney Dialysis Outcomes Vary by Race and Region.
Similar news · Read more »
Popular anti-aging supplement has no beneficial effects, Mayo Clinic study finds
10-18-2006 · EurekAlert!
A widely used anti-aging supplement has no effect on aging markers such as muscle strength, peak endurance, muscle mass, fat mass and glucose tolerance in elderly men and women, according to Mayo Clinic researchers. The findings from their two-year study appear in the Oct. 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Similar news · Read more »
Why we are unable to distinguish faces of other races (and sometimes our own)
08-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
There's a troubling psychological phenomenon that just about everyone has experienced but few will admit to; having difficulty distinguishing between people of different racial groups. New research suggests this effect arises from our tendency to categorize people into in-groups and out-groups based on social categories like social class, hobbies, and of course, race.
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 »
Atrogin breaks down the side effects of statins
11-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
Statins are a popular class of drugs used to successfully combat high cholesterol. However, the rare, but serious, and poorly understood side effect of skeletal muscle breakdown prevents more prevalent use of these drugs. New research in mice has now indicated that atrogin-1 is a critical mediator of statin-induced muscle damage and that inhibiting atrogin-1 function might protect against this unwanted side effect of statins.
Similar news · Read more »
The GABAA receptor -- a memory bane?
12-19-2007 · EurekAlert!
When fruit flies lack a receptor for the inhibitory neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid, their ability to learn or remember is enhanced, the first time scientists have been able to induce this effect in the insects, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears today in the journal Neuron.
Similar news · Read more »
HIV drugs, Abacavir and Didanosine increase the risk of heart attack
02-07-2008 · EurekAlert!
A study to assess the adverse effects of anti-retroviral drugsshows that two widely-used HIV drugs are associated withan increased risk of heart attack/the formation of blood clots inthe heart. With the use of Didanosine, the risk of developing aheart attack increases by 49 percent; with Abacavir, the increased riskis 90 percent. The effect is most pronounced in patients with a highunderlying cardiovascular risk.
Similar news · Read more »