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Anxiety restricts blood flow in some patients

The fear of public speaking might cause some people to do more than just break out in a cold sweat and battle stomach-churning butterflies - it could prove to have consequences for their heart health.

13 Mar 2006

Thalidomide improves remission in myeloma

Myeloma is one of the least curable cancers and involves plasma cells, the white blood cells that produce antibodies.

9 Mar 2006

Genetic switch that turns off an oxygen-poor cell's combustion engine - finding has potential to limit toxic molecules

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered a previously unrecognized role played by the gene HIF-1 as it helps cell survive when a lack of oxygen decreases production of an energy-rich molecule called ATP and increases production of toxic molecules.

9 Mar 2006

Metabolic switch required for cellular adaptation to hypoxia

Two new studies in the March Cell Metabolism reveal a survival mechanism by which cells adapt to oxygen starvation by ratcheting down their demand.

9 Mar 2006

Study may lead to ways to reduce heart attacks in diabetes patients

For people with type 2 diabetes, the death rate from a first heart attack is two to three times the death rate of patients without the disease. Similarly, patients with diabetes and ischemic (reduced blood flow) heart disease have a much higher mortality rate than the general population.

7 Mar 2006

Newly identified biomarkers may help reverse the ageing process

Lotions and potions that promise to remove wrinkles and other effects of aging crowd cosmetics aisle shelves, but do these treatments really work?

7 Mar 2006

Passionate kissing a danger for those with allergies

The coroner in the case of the Canadian teenager who was initially thought to have died from a peanut allergy after kissing a boyfriend, says lack of oxygen to the brain was the most likely cause of her death.

7 Mar 2006

Fibulins inhibit both tumor growth and blood-vessel formation

Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center report in the March issue of Cancer Research that a pair of promising proteins, known as fibulins 3 and 5, slow the growth of cancer tumors in mice by preventing blood vessels from sprouting. The proteins are promising candidates for use in cancer therapy.

1 Mar 2006

Hydrogel scaffold materials used to create stable networks of blood vessels

Yale biomedical engineers have created an implantable system that can form and stabilize a functional network of fine blood vessels critical for supporting tissues in the body, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

1 Mar 2006

Compound found in marijuana may defend against diabetic retinopathy

A compound found in marijuana won't make you high but it may help keep your eyes healthy if you're a diabetic, researchers say.

1 Mar 2006

New neoprene suit helps save the lives of women suffering from obstetrical hemorrhaging due to childbirth

A simple, low-tech garment has the potential to prevent a major cause of death among women who give birth in many Third World countries, according to a new study by maternal health researchers.

1 Mar 2006

senSAVE offers 24-hour telemedicinal health care

senSAVE is a radio networked monitoring system of intelligent sensors. The sensors for wireless ECG data recording are integrated into a shirt.

27 Feb 2006

New molecular target for potential drugs to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have identified a molecular target, or receptor, for potential drugs to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a sudden and life-threatening failure of the lung.

23 Feb 2006

External counterpulsation not effective as a treatment for heart failure

A new review of studies supports the government's opinion that too little evidence exists to support a device that uses balloon-like pants as a treatment for heart failure.

23 Feb 2006

Healthy preterm infants younger than 12 weeks show reduced lung function

Tests of healthy preterm infants younger than 12 weeks of age show prematurity to be independently associated with reduced lung function. Predictors of this reduced expiratory flow during the first months of life include male sex, low gestational age and increased weight gain.

19 Feb 2006

Botox finds a use in cancer treatment

The cosmetic treatment Botox may have a new use as an adjuvant to cancer therapy, providing an open door for chemotherapy and radiation treatments, according to a study published in the Feb. 15 issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

17 Feb 2006

Mystery of cot death may be explained

A failure to 'gasp' has long been proposed as the basis for sudden infant death syndrome, or cot death. A team at the University of Bristol has discovered a subset of cells in the brain that have the ability to self-generate nervous impulses, which appear essential for gasping. These cells have been termed 'pacemakers'.

16 Feb 2006

Diuretics improve exercise capacity in patients with congestive heart failure

Diuretics reduce the risk of death, delay heart deterioration and improve exercise capacity in patients with congestive heart failure, a new review of studies shows.

16 Feb 2006

New sensor to provide early warning of oxygen loss to unborn children

Researchers at the University of Warwick, and the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, have devised a new sensor which dramatically improves the amount of early warning doctors and midwives get of a dangerous situation in the birth process when the unborn child's brain is starved of oxygen - Fetal Hypoxia.

14 Feb 2006

Common genetic variation increases SIDS risk in African Americans

About five percent of deaths from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) in African Americans can be traced to defects in one gene and half of those deaths result from a common genetic variation that increases an infant's risk of developing an abnormal heart rhythm during times of environmental stress

13 Feb 2006