A new study suggests that age-related changes in how the brain responds to the female sex hormone estrogen may be involved in a woman?s transition through menopause. The study provides new clues about hormonal influences on hot flashes and night sweats experienced by some women in the menopause transition.
Acupuncture provides pain relief and improves function for people with osteoarthritis of the knee and serves as an effective complement to standard care. This landmark study was funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), both components of the National Institutes of Health. The findings of the study – the longest and largest randomized, controlled phase III clinical trial of acupuncture ever conducted – were published in the December 21, 2004, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Scientists funded by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, reported today taking a major step forward in using saliva to detect oral cancer. As published in the current issue of Clinical Cancer Research, the scientists found they could measure for elevated levels of four distinct cancer-associated molecules in saliva and distinguish with 91 percent accuracy between healthy people and those diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma.
There is an importance of inflammation as a contributor to heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases. In the United States, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health report that blood levels of C-reactive protein, a molecular marker of inflammation, rank with cholesterol levels as indicators of future coronary heart disease.
A woman’s risk of developing breast cancer is due in part to a group of very small variations in genes which code for a cell’s estrogen receptors, according to a collaborative study by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Celera Diagnostics, SAIC-Frederick Inc., Applied Biosystems, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The study appears in the December 15, 2004, issue of Cancer Research.
About one in five Ayurvedic herbal medicine products sold in the Boston area contains toxic levels of lead, mercury or arsenic, researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Regular users of vitamin E were at decreased risk for death from Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), compared with nonusers. Given that vitamin E is an antioxidant, the new findings support the hypothesis that oxidants play a key role in the development of ALS. Moreover, the results are consistent with earlier findings showing that increased brain levels of vitamin E seem to delay the onset of ALS in lab animals.
Cataract, a clouding of the lens resulting in a partial loss of vision, is very common in older people. Results from a new study show that lifetime lead exposure may increase the risk of developing cataracts. Researchers found that men with high levels of lead in the tibia, the larger of the two leg bones below the knee, had a 2.5-fold increased risk for cataract, the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment.
Cold weather enthusiasts may eagerly await the snowy days of winter, but for those with seasonal affective disorder, the change from sunny to gloomy days often brings on a similar change in mood.
Middle-aged people with diabetes are nearly three times more likely to develop dementia in old age – chronic loss of mental capacity due to an organic cause. Dementia may involve progressive deterioration of thinking, memory, behavior, personality and motor function, and may also be associated with psychological symptoms such as depression and apathy.