Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Research suggests new treatment approaches for glaucoma

12-05-2006 · EurekAlert!

New research from Children's Hospital Boston and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary may help explain how glaucoma causes blindness, revealing the chain of events that ultimately damage the optic nerve, preventing visual information from getting to the brain. The study indicates possible targets for intervention, including one for which there are already approved drugs.

Keywords: research, suggests, treatment, approaches, glaucoma, suggest, approache

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Insomnia patients often denied sleep treatment when they have mental health conditions
02-04-2008 · EurekAlert!
Patients with insomnia who are diagnosed with accompanying mental health ailments often are not prescribed medication that will help them sleep -- which could then make related anxiety or depression worse, new research suggests. Scientists examining treatment patterns for insomniacs say that their findings suggest that many doctors appear to be reluctant to prescribe sleep aids, even those that pose no risk of dependence, if patients also have depression, anxiety or mood disorders.
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Intense cessation treatment proves successful in high-risk smokers
02-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
New research published in the February issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), suggests that high-risk smokers with acute cardiovascular disease are three to four times more likely to quit smoking when treated with an intensive smoking cessation program.
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UI spatial cognition research explains explorers' limited ability to navigate
08-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
Historical reports suggest that when Magellan, Columbus and other explorers sailed from Europe to the New World 500 years ago, they navigated the open sea by imagining an island just over the horizon. If they kept track of where the "virtual island" was, they knew in which direction to sail in the open water. But new research from the University of Iowa suggests that people's ability to imagine virtual islands -- without any perceptual cues to help -- is quite limited.
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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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Gene therapy, cancer-killing viruses and new drugs highlight novel approaches to cancer treatment
04-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
Studies presented at the 2007 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research show how researchers are using the new, as well as the natural, to help design and test new drugs to treat cancer.
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HIV exploits competition among T-cells
10-16-2006 · EurekAlert!
New HIV research shows how competition among the human immune system's T cells allows the virus to escape destruction and eventually develop into full-blown AIDS. The study, slated to appear in Physical Review Letters, employs a computer model of simultaneous virus and immune system evolution. It also suggests a new strategy for vaccinating against the virus -- a strategy that the computer simulations suggest may prevent the final onset of AIDS.
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Study shows isolation of stem cells may lead to a treatment for hearing loss
04-05-2007 · EurekAlert!
Members of the National Center for Regenerative Medicine research team, Dr. Robert Miller and Dr. Kumar Alagramam, both of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, published research findings in Developmental Neuroscience which suggest new ways of treating hearing loss. These researchers have isolated "cochlear stem cells" located in the inner ear and already primed for development into ear-related tissue due to their proximity to the ear and expression of certain genes necessary for the development of hearing.
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Study suggests estrogen deficiency can lead to obesity-induced high blood pressure after menopause
08-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
At menopause, women lose hormone protection against heart and kidney diseases, and are likely to become obese. A research team has tested the idea that estrogen deficiency in aged females may trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity. The results of their study, using an animal model, suggest that estrogen depletion can have these effects.
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Doctors uncertain about approaches to care for heart failure patients, SLU study finds
02-11-2008 · EurekAlert!
New Saint Louis University research found that difficulty predicting death and lack of knowledge regarding treatment options undermine care for terminally-ill heart failure patients.
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Prostate cancer less likely to spread when treated with higher dose of radiation
11-06-2006 · EurekAlert!
New research suggests that men with prostate cancer who choose radiation therapy should seek treatment centers that will offer high-dose radiation. A new study from Fox Chase Cancer Center finds that higher doses of radiation greatly reduces the risk that the cancer will spread later -- even eight to 10 years after treatment.
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