Blood Vessels News and Research

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Dental problems caused by radiation, chemotherapy should be treated before a child undergoes immunosuppression as part of bone marrow transplantation therapy

Many children who undergo bone marrow transplantation (BMT) as part of cancer treatment already have dental abnormalities that leave them vulnerable to potentially life-threatening bacterial infections, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A report on this study appears in the prepublication online edition of Bone Marrow Transplantation.

29 Aug 2005

Ways to avoid hazards of heart bypass under study

The heart-lung bypass machine that stills the heart while surgeons bypass an adult’s clogged arteries or repair a baby’s malformed heart can also trigger a potentially deadly inflammatory response.

28 Aug 2005

Nitric oxide synthase plays a role in peripheral vascular disease

The enzyme nitric oxide synthase plays a role in peripheral vascular disease, a common disease that impairs the mobility of 25 percent of people over the age of 50, according to a Yale study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

26 Aug 2005

UCI study helps identify one reason why women have lower stroke risk than men

Estrogen's role as an inhibitor of toxic-free radicals in cerebral blood vessels may be a key reason why premenopausal women have a lower stroke risk than men.

26 Aug 2005

Non-invasive imaging may help predict type 1 diabetes and response to treatment in humans

A key obstacle to early detection of type 1 diabetes - as well as to rapid assessment of the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention - has been the lack of direct, non-invasive technologies to visualize inflammation in the pancreas, an early manifestation of disease.

22 Aug 2005

Reasons for complications with kidney failure patients

Mayo Clinic researchers searching for explanations of high mortality rates among kidney failure patients undergoing hemodialysis are focusing their attention on the use of heparin, a drug used to reduce clotting of the blood.

18 Aug 2005

Good news for the hundreds of thousands of cancer patients who undergo radiation therapy

Scientists report that they have a better understanding of the complex effects of radiation on tumor biology and that specific radiation treatment regimens may enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy, even in tumor populations that have been notoriously difficult to treat.

16 Aug 2005

New study shows even non-prescription painkillers raise blood pressure in women

According to a new U.S. study women who take higher doses of common, over-the-counter painkillers, such as Ibuprofen and even Tylenol, have higher blood pressure than women who do not.

16 Aug 2005

Chronic use of nitroglycerin for chest pain could lead to mitochondrial damage

Definitive evidence to explain how the drug nitroglycerin relieves chest pain has resulted from a new study by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigators at Duke University Medical Center. Nitroglycerin relaxes blood vessels to boost blood flow, yet the mechanism by which the drug works has remained a matter of scientific controversy.

16 Aug 2005

Genomes of Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma cruzi sequenced

Oxford scientists have contributed to the genome sequencing of two parasites which cause major health problems in the developing world.

15 Aug 2005

Fluorescence spectroscopy able to detect the presence of inflammatory cells that are associated with critical atherosclerotic plaques

Because atherosclerotic plaque typically builds up without symptoms and leads to more than 1 million deaths in America each year, the search is on to develop early detection devices that will enable physicians to offer treatment before the disease progresses to advanced stages.

13 Aug 2005

Pre-mRNA that codes for inflammatory protein identified

In a discovery that upends a longstanding tenet of human biology, University of Utah School of Medicine researchers have shown that a key process in gene regulation can occur in human platelets, unique cells that are unusual because they don't have a nucleus (anucleate).

11 Aug 2005

Expert warns of spread of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

An expert on infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is warning that humans can inadvertently help spread infectious organisms beyond traditional state boundaries.

11 Aug 2005

Over-supply of blood sugar could be a major cause of erectile dysfunction in diabetic men

Researchers have found that one particular simple sugar, present in increased levels in diabetics, interferes with the chain of events needed to achieve and maintain erection and can lead to permanent penile impairment over time.

9 Aug 2005

Arf gene prevents excessive growth of blood vessels in the developing eye

A gene better known for its role in preventing cancer also plays a key role in the developing embryo, where the gene prevents excessive growth of blood vessels, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

2 Aug 2005

Researchers characterize the proteome of the human cornea

In doing so, they have identified 141 distinct proteins, 99 of which had not been previously recognized in mammalian corneas. The details of their findings appear in the August/September issue of Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, an American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology journal.

1 Aug 2005

Researchers unravel control of growing blood vessels

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered a basic mechanism by which smooth muscle cells that line the blood vessels can grow - sometimes abnormally - suggesting methods of treatment for various coronary diseases.

1 Aug 2005

Amazing 'smart bomb' drug zaps cancer cells in mice without damaging healthy cells

Scientists say they have developed an anti-cancer 'bomb' which has a similar behavior to a Trojan horse.

28 Jul 2005

Stress delays wound healing

Wound healing is slow when an animal is stressed, but extra oxygen almost completely reverses the effect, according to researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

28 Jul 2005

New way to prevent macular degeneration

Two studies from an unusual research partnership at the University of Chicago appear to have resolved a long-standing dispute about the role of melanin in the eye. The studies, one published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and one early online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), also suggest a new way to prevent a common cause of blindness.

28 Jul 2005