Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Two-fold higher mortality from cardiovascular disease in older people with diabetes

A new study by Joshua Barzilay (Kaiser Permanente of Georgia and Emory University) and colleagues, published in the international open-access medical journal PLoS Medicine, finds that older people with diabetes are much more likely to die from cardiovascular disease than their non-diabetic peers.

Read more »

Keywords: two-fold, higher, mortality, cardiovascular, disease, older, people, diabetes, two, fold, diabete

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "Two-fold higher mortality from cardiovascular disease in older people with diabetes":

1. 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 »
   
2. Diabetes associated with decreases in life expectancy and number of years free of heart disease
   06-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Men and women with diabetes at age 50 and older appear not to live as long overall, or have as many years without cardiovascular disease, than individuals without diabetes, according to a report in the June 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
3. When it comes to walking, it's all good, says Mayo Clinic researcher
   07-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
   These days, it's easy for people to get confused about exercise -- how many minutes a day should they spend working out, for how long and at what exertion level? Conflicting facts and opinions abound, but one Mayo Clinic physician says the bottom line is this: Walking is good, whether the outcome measurement is blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, joint problems or mental health.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
4. 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.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
5. Alcohol and health: Those 2 glasses a day that lengthen your life
   12-11-2006 · EurekAlert!
   A study performed by the Research Laboratories of the Catholic University of Campobasso (Italy), published on Archives of Internal Medicine, confirms the beneficial effects of moderate consumption of alcohol. Not just cardiovascular disease gets advantage from this, but drinking in moderation reduces all-cause mortality. The research assembled 34 studies using the statistic procedure of meta-analysis. In this way it has been possible to examine data concerning over a million of people.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
6. Mayo Clinic study predicts cardiovascular disease risk for rheumatoid arthritis patients
   11-07-2007 · EurekAlert!
   People with rheumatoid arthritis have a higher risk for developing heart disease than the general population; however, it is difficult to identify which patients are at increased risk. Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed a simple approach to predict heart disease in these patients within 10 years of their initial diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
7. Why quitting may be good for you
   09-26-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Are there times when it is better to simply give up? To test this in the laboratory, psychologists developed a psychological instrument that can distinguish between people who when faced with a difficult goal either persist or let go of it. The psychologists studied these two personality types to see how healthy and well adjusted they are. Those who persisted are at higher risk for inflammation, which has been linked to diabetes and heart disease.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
8. Depression may trigger diabetes in older adults
   04-23-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Chronic depression may cause diabetes in older adults, according to Northwestern University research. This is the first national study to suggest that depression alone -- and not lifestyle factors like being overweight -- can trigger diabetes in adults 65 and older, a population with a high prevalence of diabetes and depression. A high level of the stress hormone cortisol -- common in people who are depressed and which can decrease insulin sensitivity -- may be triggering the disease.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
9. Type 1 diabetes and heart disease -- Heavier may mean healthier
   06-23-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences studying links between an early sign of heart disease called coronary artery calcification and body fat have found that, paradoxically, more fat may have some advantages, at least for people -- particularly women -- who have type 1 diabetes. Cardiovascular complications, including heart disease, are a leading cause of death for people with diabetes, who tend to suffer cardiovascular disease decades earlier than non-diabetics.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
10. Diabetes dilemma: older people with diabetes face a heavy burden from co-existing health conditions
    11-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
    As if diabetes weren't enough to handle, a new study shows that 92 percent of older people with the disease have at least one other major chronic medical condition -- and that nearly half have three or more major diseases besides their diabetes. The sheer number, the severity, and the type of these other conditions all appear to decrease patients' ability to manage their diabetes day by day.
    Similar news · Read more »