Body

To harness endothelin-1's power to constrict blood vessels and help patients manage high blood pressure or heart failure, scientists must learn more about how endothelin functions naturally and in disease states, says a Medical College of Georgia researcher.

Despite strong laboratory evidence that blocking endothelin-1 receptors would be an effective, targeted therapy for these two major health problems, the drugs failed patients, says Dr. Adviye Ergul, physiologist in the MCG Schools of Medicine and Graduate Studies.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – For years, researchers have known that high blood pressure causes blood vessels to contract and low blood pressure causes blood vessels to relax. Until recently, however, researchers did not have the tools to determine the exact proteins responsible for this phenomenon. Now, using atomic force microscopy - a microscope with very high resolution - and isolating blood vessels outside the body, University of Missouri researchers have identified a protein that plays an important role in the control of tissue blood flow and vascular resistance.

Obesity and weight increase leads to an increased risk of many chronic diseases, and the advice is therefore to maintain a stable healthy weight. Now, research shows that there may be disadvantages to being thin. Men who have low weight in middle age and who reduce their weight, increase the chance of osteoporosis and fracture. This is shown in data from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University of Tromsø.

The findings are now published in The American Journal of Epidemiology.

Low weight leads to increased risk of osteoporosis

It has long been thought that virus infections can cause cardiac arrhythmia. But why has not been understood. Ulrike Lisewski, Dr. Yu Shi, Michael Radke and Professor Michael Gotthardt of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now discovered the molecular mechanism. The researchers demonstrated that the receptor which the virus uses to infect heart cells is normally necessary for regular heart beat in mice. Likewise, when the receptor is absent or non-functioning, arrhythmia occurs.

Los Baños, Philippines – Improved agricultural productivity can help developing countries reduce their reliance on international emergency food relief following natural disasters. This is one of the conclusions of a team of International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) scientists who visited cyclone-devastated Myanmar in August.

OAK BROOK, Ill. – September 17, 2008 – Results of the National CT Colonography Trial, published in the September 18 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, show improvements in the technology's ability to diagnose intermediate- to large-sized polyps in the colon, but this method of testing is not as effective in diagnosing small polyps. CT colonography is one of several colorectal cancer screening options. The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) encourages patients to speak to their doctor about the screening method that is best for them.

There may be no such thing as a 'safe' tan based on ultraviolet (UV) radiation, according to a series of papers published in the October issue of Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, the official journal of The International Federation of Pigment Cell Societies (IFPCS) and the Society for Melanoma Research.

Biologists at the University of Rochester have found that small-bodied rodents with long lifespans have evolved a previously unknown anti-cancer mechanism that appears to be different from any anticancer mechanisms employed by humans or other large mammals. The findings are published in today's issue of Aging Cell.

Understanding this mechanism may help prevent cancer in humans because many human cancers originate from stem cells and similar mechanisms may regulate stem cell division.

The pathogenesis of NASH remains unclear. Nowadays, lipid metabolism abnormality, insulin resistance and oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation reaction are thought to place an important role in the pathogenesis of NASH. Several researches have also demonstrated that the change of intestinal environment may play a role in NASH, which may be a cause of enterogenous endotoxemia. While the relationship between intestinal mucosa barrier function and NASH is uncertain.

Gastrointestinal dysfunction is a common complication of severe burns. Injury to GI function, especially to GI barrier function, is an important initiator as well as a stimulator for occurrence of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome following severe burns.

The mechanism of pneumatosis cystoids intestinalis (PCI) is unclear. The mechanical and bacterial factors are most predominant causes of PCI. Several chemotherapeutic agents recently have been reported to be associated with PCI. Fluorouracil-related PCI has not been described previously. This present case will add to the some reports of patients with fluorouracil related toxity.

The present brief clinical report showed that Contrast-enhanced intraoperative ultrasonography (CE-IOUS) using a new microbubble agent, Sonazoid, can allow surgeons to investigate the whole liver with enough time and to find new metastases intraoperatively.

Patients with IBD have high risk of infection by hepatitis viruses B or C because during the course of their disease, they need blood transfusions, and sometimes surgical and endoscopic procedures for diagnosis and treatment. It is important to alert health professionals about prevention and early diagnosis of HBV infection because the steroids and immunosuppressant drugs used in IBD treatment worsen the HBV liver disease. Few studies exist to verify if these drugs influence HBV infection in IBD patients.

Gastroesophageal adenocarcinomas have a poor prognosis. However, numerous randomized clinical trials (RCT) have evaluated, and continue to evaluate, the survival benefit of various treatment regimens. Surgery remains standard care for early stage esophageal cancer and gastric cancer. However, RCTs have also shown a survival benefit associated with chemotherapy and chemoradiation. Few studies have examined community-based patterns of care for these cancers.