Daily non-political popular news in brief.
African-Americans perceive people with extreme health problems as less productive and valuable
05-22-2007 · EurekAlert!African-Americans appear to perceive people with extreme health problems as less productive or valuable according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. The study examined the differences in preferences for the EQ-5D health states among African-Americans, Hispanics and other races living in the United States.
Read more »
Keywords: african-americans, perceive, people, extreme, health, problems, productive, valuable, african, americans, problem
« Previous | Next »
Similar news on "African-Americans perceive people with extreme health problems as less productive and valuable":
- Outdated policies are impediment for Americans with disabilities
04-26-2007 · EurekAlert!
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has helped increase awareness of barriers faced by people with disabilities, and advances in science and engineering have led to better assistive technologies that make it easier for individuals to lead productive, independent lives, outdated regulations too often impede access to health care coverage and assistive devices for many who need them, says a new report by the Institute of Medicine.
Similar news · Read more »
- High blood pressure problems largely misunderstood by sufferers
08-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
The distrust of health-care providers shown by people with high blood pressure impedes effective treatment, as emphasized in a new study published in Journal of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. In a systematic review and metasynthesis of 11 qualitative studies published between 2000 and 2005, including more than 500 patients, significant and problematic differences were identified in beliefs about the presence of symptoms, the need to take medications for the rest of one's life, and race-specific treatment plans.
Similar news · Read more »
- CU researchers discover evidence of very recent human adaptation
07-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
A Cornell University study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa.
Similar news · Read more »
- Asian immigrants report fewer mental health problems
11-30-2006 · EurekAlert!
Immigrants from Asia have lower rates of psychiatric disorders than American-born Asians and other native-born Americans, according to the first national epidemiological survey of Asian Americans in the United States.
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 »
- Research team finds link between asthma and depressive disorders
11-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
Young people with asthma are about twice as likely to suffer from depressive and anxiety disorders than are children without asthma, according to a study by a research team in Seattle. Previous research had suggested a possible link in young people between asthma and some mental health problems, but this study is the first showing such a strong connection. The findings appear in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Similar news · Read more »
- Social factors not genetics drive racial disparities in colorectal cancer survival
04-23-2007 · EurekAlert!
Correcting social, economic and health-care inequalities may have the most significant impact in reducing survival differences in colorectal cancer between African-Americans and Caucasians, according to a new study.
Similar news · Read more »
- Health insurance fails to protect Americans from financial risk
03-22-2007 · EurekAlert!
Sickness or injury can leave people in serious financial jeopardy even when they have health insurance, according to a report released today by the Access Project and Brandeis University. The Illusion of Coverage: How Health Insurance Fails People When They Get Sick, reports findings based on in-depth interviews with dozens of insured Americans in seven states.
Similar news · Read more »
- Geisinger launches extensive study on obesity and related liver problem
04-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
Geisinger Health System researchers in Danville, Pa., are looking at the genetics of obesity through a unique study. Geisinger patients have voluntarily donated more than 600 liver tissue samples so that researchers can study obesity and also develop a safer, noninvasive way of detecting an obesity-related condition: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Relying on several core system resources in the study, Geisinger researchers hope to know more about nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and related health problems.
Similar news · Read more »
- A researcher identifies the parasites responsible for Chagas and Leishmaniasis epidemics
06-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
Both diseases have already been recognized by the WHO as a public health problem. They affect around 30 million people throughout the world, particularly in South America. Although no specific medicines have been developed yet, this study conducted by the University of Granada will be an important step towards the discovery of a treatment.
Similar news · Read more »