As people lose the ability to walk unaided, they tend to suffer further deterioration that can interfere with other daily living activities. As the U.S. population ages, it becomes increasingly important to identify and target interventions for those people who are at risk for further disabilities and illness.
Summer heat waves significantly increase pressure on hospitals, according to research published in the online open access journal, BMC Public Health. The good news for hospital staff is that scorching weather must last four or more days before admissions rise significantly.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a group of liver enzymes called proprotein convertases (PCs) may be the key to raising levels of good cholesterol (HDL-C). The pathway by which these proteins are able to achieve an increase in HDL cholesterol involves another enzyme that normally degrades HDL-C, and was also discovered at Penn.
Researchers at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, have discovered that deficiency of thiamine — vitamin B1 — may be key to a range of vascular problems for people with diabetes. They have also solved the mystery as to why thiamine deficiency in diabetes had remained hidden until now.
An international trial looking at the benefits of giving blood-pressure lowering medication to elderly patients has stopped early, after researchers observed significant reductions in overall mortality in those receiving treatment.
University of Cincinnati (UC) neurovascular researchers have identified a gene that?when suppressed or completely absent?may predispose a person to brain aneurysms.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced the launch of a new community education program, which broadens the Institute?s national stroke education campaign Know Stroke. Know the Signs. Act in Time. to promote stroke awareness among Hispanics in the United States.
In the August 7, 2007, issue of PLoS One, researchers show how a poorly understood and previously unsuspected mechanism may be the key to understanding how life-style associated forms of oxidative stress, such as exposure to cigarette smoke, damage cells in the lungs.
Australia’s largest study of eating habits has found that traditional Mediterranean foods may prevent cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke. A 10 year study into the dietary patterns of about 40,000 Melburnians has just been published in the latest American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
One of six Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) in the country has been established at the University of California, San Diego by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to be directed by Eric Courchesne, Ph.D., professor of neurosciences at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and a leading expert on brain abnormalities associated with autism, a brain disorder affecting an estimated two million people in the U.S. The symptoms are impaired social, emotional, language and cognitive development.