Endocrinology News and Research

Latest Endocrinology News and Research

New Kaiser Permanente research aims to reveal genetic and environmental causes behind deadly and disabling diseases

The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research is launching one of the largest research projects in the United States to examine the genetic and environmental factors that influence common diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, Alzheimer's disease, asthma and many others.

15 Feb 2007

Twin study on the increased cardiometabolic risk in obesity

A unique monozygotic twin study by researchers from the Finnish Twin Cohort, Helsinki University Central Hospital, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland found that obesity, already in its early stages and independent of genetic influences, is associated with deleterious alterations in the lipid metabolism known to facilitate atherogenesis, inflammation and insulin resistance.

15 Feb 2007

Drinking coffee does not increase the risk of heart attacks in women

Researchers in the United States have found that drinking coffee does not increase the risk of heart attacks in women.

14 Feb 2007

Mechanism driving iron overload in thalassemia identified

Led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, an international group of scientists has pinpointed a specific genetic relationship as the cause of dangerous iron overload in persons with a form of the inherited blood disease, beta-thalassemia.

14 Feb 2007

People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds worse off following heart attack

People from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who suffer a heart attack come to the emergency department more often, are less likely to be treated aggressively and have higher mortality rates a year after the attack, says new University of Alberta research that has important implications for access to cardiac care.

13 Feb 2007

New patented technology for next generation of DNA and RNA microarrays

A novel invention developed by a scientist from New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) could revolutionize biological and clinical research and may lead to treatments for cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and genetic and infectious diseases.

13 Feb 2007

Wearing sunscreen at all times could starve the body of vitamins

Professor Mary Norval and a team from the University of Edinburgh Medical School have studied recent research into effects of the UV light on human health - and the positive and negative implications of ozone depletion.

13 Feb 2007

Researchers discover why antipsychotic drugs cause weight gain

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have discovered why some drugs used to treat mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, cause patients to gain a lot of weight.

13 Feb 2007

GenoMed discovers African gene

GenoMed has announced that it has found the "African gene," responsible for the much higher incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney failure among people of African ancestry than whites.

12 Feb 2007

After age 40 pregnant mums have three times the risk of stillbirth

According to researchers at Yale School of Medicine in the United States, women who have a baby when they are aged 40 or over are three times more likely to experience a stillbirth.

12 Feb 2007

Type-2 diabetes genes identified

The most important genes associated with a risk of developing type-2 diabetes have been identified, scientists report today in a new study.

11 Feb 2007

African-American women three times more likely to deliver babies prematurely

African-American women are three times more likely to deliver babies three to 17 weeks prematurely than Caucasian women, according to a review of Missouri birth statistics by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

11 Feb 2007

Pregnancy at 40 and beyond is an independent risk factor for stillbirth

Pregnant patients of advanced maternal age (AMA) are at increased risk for a multitude of pregnancy complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, placenta previa and intrauterine growth restriction.

11 Feb 2007

End of an era for DNA patenting

Human DNA patents are unlikely to be the barrier to medical and scientific innovation that they were first feared to be, according to new findings published this week.

8 Feb 2007

Approval of orlistat capsules over-the-counter

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved orlistat capsules as an over-the-counter (OTC) weight loss aid for overweight adults.

7 Feb 2007

High-dose Lipitor therapy cuts risk of hospitalizations for heart failure

Patients with coronary heart disease who took Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) 80 mg tablets reduced their risk of hospitalizations due to heart failure compared to patients taking the 10 mg dose of Lipitor, according to a new analysis of a subset of patients from the five-year TNT (Treating to New Targets) study, published in today's issue of Circulation.

7 Feb 2007

Combined effects of aging and obesity epidemic results in bigger body size among the elderly

When it comes to body fat, today's older adults face a double whammy, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues. Up until age 80, older adults not only gain fat as they age -- but because of the obesity epidemic -- they actually begin their older years fatter.

7 Feb 2007

Risk of developing diabetes increasingly involved in decisions regarding HRT

Although doctors for years have "talked about the health effects of hormones on bones, breasts and women's hearts," diabetes has not been "part of the debate" until last week, when the North American Menopause Society in a revised position statement said that women taking hormone replacement therapy appear to be less likely to develop the disease, the Wall Street Journal reports.

7 Feb 2007

Power-boosting signal in muscle declines with age

As people age, they may have to exercise even harder to get the benefits afforded to younger folk. That's the suggestion of a report in the February issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, showing that a signal that gives muscles a kind of metabolic boost in response to exercise is blunted in older animals.

6 Feb 2007

New guidelines on the treatment of diabetes, cardiovascular and valvular heart diseases published

The first, pan-European guidelines to be published on the treatment of valvular heart disease, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have made a series of new recommendations which experts hope will contribute to improving the outcome of patients with these diseases.

6 Feb 2007