Researchers at Johns Hopkins have shown that a drug commonly used to lower blood pressure reverses muscle wasting in genetically engineered mice with Marfan syndrome and also prevents muscle degeneration in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The results are reported online this week at Nature Medicine.
Researchers at Rush University Medical Center analyzed the data from 22 randomized clinical trials, and have found significant differences between antihypertensive drugs. ACE-inhibitors and the newer angiotensin receptor blockers, or ARBs prevent people from getting diabetes, and the older diuretics or beta-blockers, increase the chance that a person becomes diabetic, compared to either placebo (inactive sugar-pills) or calcium channel blockers according to a study published in the January 20, 2007 issue of the Lancet.
Modern blood-pressure treatments are less likely to be associated with new cases of diabetes than older medicines — William Elliott of Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, and colleagues reported in the Lancet medical journal.
Some 50 million Americans have hypertension, that is, blood pressure measuring above the normal range (less than 120/80 mmHg). If untreated, it can lead to heart attacks, strokes, or kidney disease. Lifestyle changes are the first-stage treatment for the disease, but if they fail, medications are prescribed. In a soon-to-be-released study using an animal model, scientists have found that tanshinone IIA, an active ingredient of danshen, reduces blood pressure.
New research has revealed that high blood pressure causes up to 66 percent of cardiovascular diseases, such as heart disease and stroke, in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Switching patients to more cost-effective drugs for cholesterol and blood pressure problems could reduce health budgets by billions without compromising clinical care, according to a study in the January issue of IJCP, the International Journal of Clinical Practice. No adverse events were reported after patients were switched — the new cholesterol drugs delivered the same results as the previous drug and the new blood pressure drugs delivered improved performance.
Northwestern University researchers have uncovered how malaria parasites break into red blood cells and how to block the invading parasites with a commonly prescribed high-blood pressure medication. This opens the door for important new drugs to which the parasites are much less likely to become resistant. Malaria is surging worldwide because of drug resistance and the lack of an effective vaccine. Jamaica, which had eradicated the disease for 50 years, recently reported an outbreak.
Roslin scientists, Roslin Institute – Scotland UK, have created the world’s first breed of genetically modified chickens to lay eggs capable of producing drugs that fight cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the United States. Although some risk factors, such as age and heredity, cannot be controlled, many factors, including smoking, cholesterol, blood pressure, obesity and inactivity can be modified, thus, lowering the risk. This lifestyle concern is thoroughly explored in the headline article of the debut issue of the new American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine (AJLM) published by SAGE.
Beta blockers, commonly used to treat high blood pressure and other heart conditions, may help to control central sleep apnea (CSA) in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).