Body

Dr Bavolarova said: "Recurrent syncope (fainting) has serious effects on quality of life. Patients are often injured when they fall, which reduces their mobility and ability to look after themselves. Depression is common in these patients."

The current study focused on the most common type of fainting, called vasovagal syncope, which can be caused by prolonged standing or standing up quickly. It leads to drops in blood pressure and heart rate, and a brief loss of consciousness.

"Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one killer worldwide, including in Indonesia where it accounts for 31.9% of all deaths," said Dr Qanitha. "CVD risk factors are rising rapidly in South-East Asia, particularly in young people. Most Indonesian CVD patients are under 56 years old and still economically productive. This very young CVD onset raises the question of whether local circumstances may play a role."

A pilot study of 23 adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes found early insulin therapy to be as effective as 15 months of oral therapy and may improve the body's ability to produce insulin.

The current standard of care calls for initial treatment with oral therapies that suppress glucose production by the liver. In contrast, insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that allows the body to use glucose and prevents blood sugar levels from getting too high. If used early it can provide effective treatment with fewer metabolic side effects.

BOSTON - New research by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists raises the prospect of cancer therapy that works by converting a tumor's best friends in the immune system into its gravest enemies.

Three teams of scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health showed that a genetic mutation linked to some forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) may destroy neurons by disrupting the movement of materials in and out of the cell's nucleus, or command center where most of its DNA is stored. The results, published in the journals Nature and Nature Neuroscience, provide a possible strategy for treating the two diseases.

Researchers working with zebrafish at New Zealand's University of Otago have published a study providing new insights into the causes of the congenital heart defects associated with a rare developmental disorder.

The disorder, Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS), is estimated to occur in up to 1 in 10,000 births worldwide. CdLS causes a range of developmental anomalies, both physical and cognitive, and up to 70 percent of people with CdLS have congenital heart defects.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Biochemists at Oregon State University have made a fundamental discovery about protein structure that sheds new light on how proteins fold, which is one of the most basic processes of life.

The findings, announced today in Science Advances, will help scientists better understand some important changes that proteins undergo. It had previously been thought to be impossible to characterize these changes, in part because the transitions are so incredibly small and fleeting.

A new study has found that nearly half of camels in parts of Kenya have been infected by the virus that causes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and calls for further research into the role they might play in the transmission of this emerging disease to humans.

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Oct. 16, 2015 -- Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) joined an international team of scientists in discovering how a protein from malaria could some day help stop cancer.

Collaborators at the University of Copenhagen, while exploring why pregnant women are particularly susceptible to malaria, found that the mosquito-borne parasite that causes malaria also produces a protein that binds to a particular type of sugar molecule in the placenta.

Investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) have established a highly efficient method for making kidney structures from stem cells that are derived from skin taken from patients. The kidney structures formed could be used to study abnormalities of kidney development, chronic kidney disease, the effects of toxic drugs, and be incorporated into bioengineered devices to treat patients with acute and chronic kidney injury.

Researchers have found that a long-known tumor suppressor, whose mechanism of holding cell growth in check has remained murky for over 40 years, works in part by keeping the cell's energy metabolism behaving in grown-up fashion.

The finding, by scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona is reported in the journal Genes and Development.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- We've known for years that the Huntingtin protein (Htt) is responsible for Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that diminishes a person's mental and physical abilities.

Create the protein in the wrong form in the human body, and symptoms develop. But why this happens -- why mutations in the protein cause disease -- is a question that has yet to be answered.

Owners of sport and leisure horses are keen on knowing the parentage of their animals. A horse with a good pedigree will often have the desired characteristics in terms of speed, physique and health.

(Philadelphia, PA) - A digital health application for reporting symptoms of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) facilitated early detection and treatment of COPD exacerbation symptoms, according to an analysis from the Temple Lung Center published by Telemedicine and eHealth.

There is insufficient scientific evidence to support the utility of commercially available nutrigenomics tests that claim to link genetic variants to dietary intake or nutrition-related disorders. While nutrigenomics remains a promising tool for advancing personalized medicine and healthcare, more research is needed before it can help guide health-related decisions, according to a study published in OMICS: A Journal of Integrative Biology.