Body

Contrary to what we've been told, eliminating or severely limiting fats from the diet may not be beneficial to cardiac function in patients suffering from heart failure, a study at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reports.

Results from biological model studies conducted by assistant professor of physiology and biophysics Margaret Chandler, PhD, and other researchers, demonstrate that a high-fat diet improved overall mechanical function, in other words, the heart's ability to pump, and was accompanied by cardiac insulin resistance.

Exercise both reduces the risk of a heart attack and protects the heart from injury if a heart attack does occur. For years, doctors have been trying to dissect how this second benefit of exercise works, with the aim of finding ways to protect the heart after a heart attack.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified the ability of the heart to produce and store nitric oxide as an important way exercise protects the heart from injury.

CHICAGO --- Staying up late every night and sleeping in is a habit that could put you at risk for gaining weight. People who go to bed late and sleep late eat more calories in the evening, more fast food, fewer fruits and vegetables and weigh more than people who go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.

Scientists are reporting development and successful testing of a new way to determine whether cola drinks — advertised as being made with natural ingredients and sold at premium prices — really do contain natural flavoring. The report appears in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.

If small business owners want to avoid costly mistakes, it pays to consult with others.

That's the finding of new research from the University of Cincinnati that will be presented both nationally and internationally – first on May 6-8 at the Family Enterprise Research Conference in Grand Rapids, Mich., and again on June 15-18 at the International Council of Small Business Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – As the presence of social media continues to increase as a form of communication, health organizations are searching for the most effective ways to use the online tools to pass important information to the public. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that nonprofit organizations and community groups appear to be more actively engaged in posting health information and interacting with the public on Twitter than other types of health-related organizations, such as health business corporations, educational institutions and government agencies.

Scars on the jaw of a 120 million year old marine reptile suggest that life might not have been easy in the ancient polar oceans. The healed bite wounds were probably made by a member of the same species. Such injuries give important clues about the social behaviour of extinct sea creatures from the time of dinosaurs. The find is described in a forthcoming issue of Acta Palaeontologica Polonica.

In the midst of ongoing concerns about radiation exposure from the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, scientists are reporting that a substance similar to resveratrol — an antioxidant found in red wine, grapes and nuts — could protect against radiation sickness. The report appears in ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters.

Weizmann Institute scientists have added another piece to the obesity puzzle, showing how and why a certain protein that is active in a small part of the brain contributes to weight gain. This research appeared today in Cell Metabolism.

Scientists have discovered a new component of mitochondria that plays a key part in their function. The discovery, which is presented in the journal Cell Metabolism, is of potential significance to our understanding of both inherited and age-related diseases.

Mitochondria are normally called the cell's power plants since they convert the energy in our food into a form that the body can use. To work properly, the mitochondria have to form new proteins, which they do in their ribosomes.

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is an indicator for coronary and carotid arterial disease and carries inherent risks of claudication and amputation. PAD screening has increased dramatically, particularly among cardiologists, while vascular surgery has demonstrated the greatest growth in revascularization procedures treating PAD, according to research being presented at the 2011 American Roentgen Ray Society's annual meeting.

MDCT arthrography is better than MR arthrography for diagnosing glenoid rim osseous lesions, lesions that have been identified as potential causes of recurrence after shoulder surgery, according to a new study.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Its head and body looked like a dog, yet its striped coat was cat-like. It carried its young in a pouch, like a kangaroo. No wonder the thylacine — the enigmatic, iconic creature of Australia and Tasmania — was the object of so much confusion, alternately called the "marsupial wolf" and the "Tasmanian tiger."

Rock climbers are having a negative impact on rare cliff-dwelling plants, ecologists have found. Writing in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology they say that in areas popular with climbers, conservation management plans should be drawn up so that some cliffs are protected from climbers.

In this week's PLoS Medicine, Molly Franke and Megan Murray of the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA and colleagues report that early antiretroviral therapy reduces mortality among HIV-infected adults with tuberculosis and improves retention in care, regardless of CD4 count.