Pathophysiology News and Research

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Sex steroids, platelet aggregation and inflammation

In women, hormone therapy is a risk factor for venous thrombosis, a blood clot forming deep inside the vein. Despite the fact that the disorder is rare, it increases exponentially during menopause and can be deadly.

11 Aug 2007

Testosterone replacement therapy for men

For decades, older women have taken hormone replacements to replenish estrogen and progesterone levels lost to aging.

9 Aug 2007

Estrogen deficiency may trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity in aged females

At menopause, women lose hormone protection against heart (cardiovascular) and kidney (renal) diseases, and are likely to become obese. A research team has tested the idea that estrogen deficiency in aged females may trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity.

9 Aug 2007

New approach to assessing clot risk in menopausal women

In women, hormone therapy is a risk factor for venous thrombosis, a blood clot forming deep inside the vein.

9 Aug 2007

Sex and gender in cardiovascular-renal physiology and pathophysiology

Gender influences the prevalence and progression rate of many renal diseases, such as polycystic kidney disease (PKD).

9 Aug 2007

Voluntary exercise induces sex-specific physiological cardiac remodeling

While cardiovascular disease occurs in both men and women, it does not affect them in the same way.

9 Aug 2007

Lack of sleep leads to increased urinary output and more salt in urine

Our body's production of urine follows a circadian rhythm. During the day, we experience greater urinary frequency; at night, urine production declines, enabling us to get uninterrupted sleep.

9 Aug 2007

Biological markers of narcolepsy

The first report to identify the biological markers of narcolepsy using gene expression in white blood cells finds that the MX2 gene, which is relevant to the immune system, is significantly less expressed in narcoleptics compared with normal subjects.

2 Aug 2007

Breast cancer and HRT

The medical community has been debating for many years whether, and to what extent, postmenopausal hormone therapy (HT) use is associated with a higher risk of breast cancer, says Professor Amos Pines, President of the International Menopause Society.

25 Jul 2007

New method to estimate sickle cell disease severity

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) and Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) have developed a method to estimate sickle cell disease severity and predict the risk of death in people with this disease.

12 Jul 2007

Why the cold hurts - research has implications for pain relief

Freeing knotted shoelaces with fingers that are frozen stiff is extremely difficult and can even be painful.

20 Jun 2007

Novel pathways and markers for diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder

Looking into the brain is yielding vital clues to understanding, diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder, according to findings being presented at the Seventh International Conference on Bipolar Disorder.

8 Jun 2007

Epidemiology of obesity, pathophysiology, associated disease and management

Due to the gastrointestinal tract's role in body weight regulation, gastroenterologists should work closely with other medical disciplines to oversee and coordinate the care of obese individuals, according to an American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute Obesity Task Force Report.

15 May 2007

High levels of antibodies - low levels of cancer!

Active immunisation can stimulate the body to produce highly efficient IgE antibodies that attack tumours.

17 Apr 2007

Efficacy of Guanilib confirmed for inflammatory bowel disease

Callisto Pharmaceuticals has announced additional data confirming efficacy of Guanilib, a first-in-class compound currently being developed for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), in two different standard animal models of experimental colitis.

7 Apr 2007

Tilarginine does not reduce risk of death after heart attack

The medication tilarginine, a drug that was believed could be beneficial for patients who develop cardiogenic shock (low blood pressure due to impaired cardiac function) after a heart attack, did not reduce the risk of death up to six months after a heart attack, according to a JAMA study published online March 26.

2 Apr 2007

Treating sleep apnea with continuous positive airway pressure reduces incidence of stroke

Patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea who have significantly higher serum levels of inflammatory markers that serve as precursors to coronary artery disease, as well as lesions associated with silent brain infarction, have an elevated risk of stroke, according to a group of Japanese medical researchers.

19 Mar 2007

Newborns with respiratory distress should be evaluated for primary ciliary dyskinesia

Reviewing published reports, Ferkol and Margaret Leigh, M.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), found that neonatal respiratory distress was a common clinical symptom of PCD, a chronic airway disease that affects about 1 in 15,000 children.

20 Feb 2007