Body

Genetic risk information for coronary heart disease leads to lower bad cholesterol

ORLANDO, Fla. - A group of researchers led by Mayo Clinic has discovered that disclosing genetic risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) results in lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol. The findings of the Myocardial Infarction Genes (MI-GENES) Study were presented today at the annual American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2015 as a late-breaking clinical trial.

Saying I do

Marriage as an institution is not what it used to be. Since the 1950s, the number of couple exchanging "I dos" has dropped steadily. And while most Americans do marry at some point in their lives, many are choosing to do so later.

Strangled cells condense their DNA

Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) have been able to see, for the first time, the dramatic changes that occur in the DNA of cells that are starved of oxygen and nutrients. This starved state is typical in some of today's most common diseases, particularly heart attacks, stroke and cancer. The findings provide new insight into the damage these diseases cause and may help researchers to discover new ways of treating them.

Common antibiotics increase risk of cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac death

WASHINGTON (Nov. 9, 2015) - Macrolides--a group of commonly used antibiotics for bacterial infections like pneumonia, bronchitis, and some sexually transmitted diseases--are associated with a small but statistically significant increased risk of sudden cardiac death, according to a meta-analysis of 33 studies involving more than 20 million patients published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

How low to go for blood pressure? Lower target could affect millions of Americans

SALT LAKE CITY - A new study finds that at least 16.8 million Americans could potentially benefit from lowering their systolic blood pressure (SBP) to 120 mmHg, much lower than current guidelines of 140 or 150 mmHg. The collaborative investigation between the University of Utah, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Columbia University, will be published Nov. 9 online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

Benefits of intensive blood pressure management tempered by risks, remaining questions

Patients whose blood pressure target was lowered to reach a systolic goal of less than 120 mmHg had their risk for heart attack, heart failure or stroke reduced by 24 percent, and their risk for death lowered by 27 percent.

White coat and masked hypertension associated with higher rates of heart and vascular disease

DALLAS - Nov. 9, 2015 - Patients whose blood pressures spikes in the doctor's office but not at home, and patients whose blood pressure spikes at home but not in the doctor's office, suffer more heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes than patients with normal blood pressures in both settings, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

Time to reassess blood-pressure goals

(Boston)--High blood pressure or hypertension is a major health problem that affects more than 70 million people in the U.S., and over one billion worldwide. Despite being a critically important risk factor for heart and kidney disease, defining the "optimal" blood pressure has been a challenge.

UH Case Medical Center researchers publish new results from SPRINT trial

CLEVELAND - Jackson T. Wright Jr., MD, PhD, and researchers from University Hospitals Case Medical Center presented new results from the Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial (SPRINT) showing that in patients at high risk for cardiovascular events, targeting a systolic blood pressure of less than 120 mm Hg resulted in lower rates of fatal and non-fatal major events or death compared to targeting systolic blood pressure to the usually recommended target of less than 140 mm Hg.

A new way to look at MOFs

An international collaboration of scientists led by Omar Yaghi, a renowned chemist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has developed a technique they dubbed "gas adsorption crystallography" that provides a new way to study the process by which metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) - 3D crystals with extraordinarily large internal surface areas - are able to store immense volumes of gases such a carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane.

Search-and-rescue proteins find, fix DNA mutations linked to cancer

ANN ARBOR--Proteins inside bacteria cells engage in "search-and-rescue"-type behavior to ferret out mismatched DNA and fix it to thwart dangerous mutations that can be associated with certain cancers, a University of Michigan study found.

It's long been known that the protein MutS can identify and fix DNA mismatches in the cells, but how it detected such rare events was unclear until now, said Lyle Simmons, U-M associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

NYU research: Cellular mechanism for transporting Ca2+ in the formation of enamel cells

A team of researchers led by Rodrigo Lacruz, MSc, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology at NYU College of Dentistry, has published a paper in Scientific Reports (5:15803) titled "Dental enamel cells express functional SOCE channels," which reports the results of a study showing for the first time the mechanism of calcium transport essential in the formation of dental enamel.

Children exposed to arsenic may face greater risk of infection, respiratory symptoms

HANOVER, N.H. - Children born to women who were exposed to higher arsenic during pregnancy have a greater risk of infections and respiratory symptoms within their first year of life, a Dartmouth College-led study shows.

The findings appear in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. A PDF is available on request. The study included researchers at Dartmouth, Harvard and Stanford.

Implantable wireless devices trigger -- and may block -- pain signals

Building on wireless technology that has the potential to interfere with pain, scientists have developed flexible, implantable devices that can activate -- and, in theory, block -- pain signals in the body and spinal cord before those signals reach the brain.

The researchers, at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the implants one day may be used in different parts of the body to fight pain that doesn't respond to other therapies.

Unpacking embryonic pluripotency

Cambridge, UK, 9 November 2015 - Researchers at EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and the Wellcome Trust- Medical Research Council Cambridge Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge have identified factors that spark the formation of pluripotent cells. Their findings, published in Developmental Cell, shed light on human embryonic development and help research into cell reprogramming and assisted conception.