Proyecto de innovación docente incluido en el Plan para la Renovación de las Metodologías Docentes
Bird flu spreads in China while Bush’s $ 7.1 billion pandemic fund stalls
Publciado por mousequota - 31/08/09 a las 10:08:04 amAs World trim experts predicted there will be more human bird flu infections in China, the U.S. Congress has stalled the funding of President George W. Bush’s plan to cope with a pandemic.
Officials in China have confirmed the first human deaths from the H5N1 avian flu virus, saying one person in Anhui province had died and another in Hunan province is suspected of having been killed by the H5N1 strain.
Meanwhile a second person diagnosed with bird flu in Hunan has recovered.
Apparently World Health Organization (WHO) officials expected this development and say it does not necessarily mean a human pandemic is about to begin.
World Health Organization Director General Lee Jong-Wook says in view of the size of the country, and the size of its bird and human population, it is not a surprise.
Henk Bekedam, WHO’s chief official in Beijing, also says that more poultry outbreaks can be expected as the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu flourishes in the autumn and winter months.
Bekedam affirms that as long as there are poultry outbreaks, people will be exposed to the virus and might get infected.
Two more deaths have also occurred in Indonesia, bringing the total there to seven, according to the Health Ministry; four others have survived.
Although the WHO has urged all countries to come up with plans for tackling a pandemic of bird flu, U.S. efforts stalled on Thursday when Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives refused to approve funding for Bush’s $7.1 billion plan.
Following days of intensive talks between the House and Senate, negotiators have dropped a plan for $8 billion in funds that Democrats pushed through the Senate last month.
Conservative Republicans in the House are insisting that an emergency U.S. effort to stockpile vaccines and anti-viral drugs that could be effective against the deadly flu must be paid for by cutting other government programs.
Apparently Republican leaders in the House said that instead of attaching the bird flu money to a health and labor spending bill moving through Congress, they would try separate legislation later this year or early next year.
The H5N1 strain of bird flu has become endemic in flocks of poultry in many Asian countries.
While Chinese officials trying to control several outbreaks have promised to vaccinate billions of chickens to try to halt the spread of the virus, many experts fear it is too late for that action to be effective.
At present the virus cannot easily infect people, but it has already sickened 130 people in five countries in Asia, killing 67 since late 2003.
Experts fear the virus will mutate and acquire the ability to pass from person to person, causing a pandemic that could kill millions.
In stark contrast to their behaviour two years ago, when China tried to cover up outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS, blanket coverage has been given to its first human cases of bird flu.
At that time SARS carried by airline passengers as far afield as Toronto, sickened 8,000 people globally, killing 800, before it was contained.
Premier Wen Jiabao has apparently said that the 2003 defeat of SARS will inspire victory over bird flu.
WHO spokeswoman Maria Cheng says China has been a model of how it is hoped countries will react to a situation like this in the future.
Cheng says that despite a very uncertain situation China went ahead with increased transparency.
It seems analysts are trying to find opportunities for investors if a pandemic does emerge.
According to a global Citigroup study, the most likely losers in a pandemic would include airlines, hotels, insurers and luxury goods makers, while the potential winners include drug makers, hospital chains and home entertainment companies.
Acute kidney injury predisposes elderly to serious kidney disease
Publciado por mousequota - 31/08/09 a las 08:08:30 amAcute kidney mistreatment (AKI) - which is often caused by trauma, illness, or surgery - predisposes grey individuals to the most serious form of chronic kidney virus (CKD), known as end stage renal disease (ESRD), according to a study appearing in the January 2009 issue of the Daily of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).
The findings indicate that close medical follow-up is important for maintaining the health of patients who have experienced kidney damage.
Kidney disease is a serious and growing problem in the United States and around the world. A number of factors - such as diabetes, hypertension, and aging - increase individuals’ risk of developing this condition. Researchers suspect that AKI may also lead to kidney disease, but this potential link has not been thoroughly studied.
To determine the risk of serious CKD among elderly patients with AKI, Allan J. Collins, MD, of the United States Renal Data System (USRD) in Minneapolis, MN, and his colleagues studied a sampling of Medicare beneficiaries and their medical claims from 2000. They analyzed data from nearly 234,000 patients aged 67 years or older who were hospitalized, finding that the incidence of AKI was 3.1%.
Among patients with AKI, CKD developed within two years in 72.1% of patients. These findings suggest that AKI may initiate CKD. In addition, AKI patients were 6.74 times more likely to develop ESRD than those without injury.
The researchers also found that CKD is frequently complicated by AKI, and patients with both conditions are particularly susceptible to the development of ESRD. Therefore, physicians should be especially vigilant in monitoring these patients over time to ensure that they receive proper and prompt care if their kidney function continues to decline. “Physicians should take advantage of relatively simple lab tests to check kidney function,” said Dr. Collins. Interventions such as lifestyle changes and medications can help slow the progression of kidney disease.
AKI has generally been considered self-limiting, with a good prognosis if recovery is noted in the hospital. However, this study indicates that this type of kidney damage can have lingering effects. Proper care of patients with AKI may help reduce the incidence of ESRD.
http://www.asn-online.org/
Automated Tissue Engineering On Demand
Publciado por mousequota - 31/08/09 a las 02:08:14 amSkin from a factory - this has hanker been the dream of pharmacologists, chemists and doctors. Research has an urgent need for gigantic quantities of ’skin models’, which can be used to determine if products such as creams and soaps, cleaning agents, medicines and adhesive bandages are compatible with skin, or if they instead command lead to irritation or allergic reactions for the consumer. Such try out results are seen as more expressive than those from uncultured experiments, and can even declare such experiments in great part superfluous.
But artificial skin is rare. “The production is complex and involves a awful deal of handbook move. At this time, still the market’s established international companies cannot evoke more than 2,000 tiny skinpieces a month. With annual requirements of more than 6.5 million units in the EU breadth alone, however, the industrial demand far exceeds all currently available production capacities,” reports Jörg Saxler. Together with Prof. Heike Mertsching, he is coordinating the “Automated Mass Engineering on Demand” concoct within the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
Network engineering is pacific in its infancy. “Until age, the offer was limited predominantly to single-layer integument models that consist of a single chamber type,” explains Mertsching, who heads the Room Systems Department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB. “Thanks to developments at our institute, the project party has access to a patent-protected skin model that consists of two layers with different cell types. This gives us an almost professional copy of human skin, and one that provides more knowledge than any set currently available on the buy.”
An interdisciplinary span of Fraunhofer researchers is currently developing the first fully automatic in Britain artistry system for two-layer integument models. “Our engineers and biologists are the on the other hand ones who be enduring succeeded in fully automating the entire process chain for manufacturing two-layer skin models,” explains Saxler, who is from the Fraunhofer Institute exchange for Production Technology IPT where he is responsible fitting for technology management and heads the “Life Science Engineering” business module. In a multi-stage make, pre-eminent teeny pieces of skin are sterilized. Then they are curtailment into miserly pieces, modified with specific enzymes, and isolated into two cell fractions, which are then propagated individually on cell culture surfaces. The next passage in the process combines the two cell types into a two-layer pattern, with collagen added to the cells that are to form the flexible turn down layer, or dermis. This gives the tissue natural suppleness. In a humid incubator kept at solidity temperature, it takes the stall fractions less than three weeks to grow together and form a finished skin produce with a diameter of nearly rhyme centimeter. The fashion has already proven its misuse in practice, but until intermittently it has been too expensive and complicated in place of mass assembly. Mertsching explains, “The production is associated with a great deal of enchiridion work, and this reduces the method’s proficiency.”
The project duo, in which engineers, scientists and technicians from four Fraunhofer institutes are cooperating, is currently working at full speed to automate the work steps. The researchers at the IGB and the Fraunhofer Pioneer for Chamber Therapy and Immunology IZI are handling the development of the biological fundamentals and validation of the utensil and its sub-modules. Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing and Automation IPA and the Fraunhofer Institute object of Manufacture Technology IPT are charming care of prototype unfolding, automation and integration of the gizmo into a complete functional system. “At the well-spring, our greatest challenge was to overcome existing barriers, because each chastisement had its own unquestionably different proposition,” Saxler remembers. “Meanwhile, the four institutes are working together very smoothly - everyone knows that progress is illogical without input from the others.” After working together for the benefit of one year, the project together has already initiated eight patent procedures.
At a collective Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft booth at the 2009 BIO in Atlanta, the researchers are presenting a computer carve out of the overall system, along with the three fundamental sub-modules. The first module prepares the tissue samples and isolates the two room types; the sponsor proliferates them. The finished skin models are built up and cultivated in the third, and then replete by a drudge.
The researchers placid have a lot of particular work ahead before the motor car will be finished. The difference between star and failure habitually depends on details, such as the quality of the skin pieces, processing times of enzymes, and liquid viscosities. Furthermore, the cell cultures must be monitored throughout the entire manufacturing process in improper to state look after optimal approach control and to agree to timely detection of any contamination with fungi or bacteria. The skin plant is expected to be finished in two years. “Our ideal is a monthly Canada display of 5,000 abrade models with perfect quality, and a unit price eye 34 euros. These are levels that are captivating for application,” Saxler continues.
But chemical, cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and medical technology companies who contain to test the counterbalance of skin to their products are not the only ones interested in Automated Tissue Engineering. In transplantation medicine, surgeons require healthful series in codify to put in place of destroyed epidermis sections when burn injuries cover eminently portions of the body. The two-layer models that the new gadget is intended to produce are not yet befitting for this purpose, however. “They don’t have a blood kit out, and are consequently rejected by the body after some time,” Saxler explains.
But IGB researchers are already working on a full-skin archetypal that will even incorporate blood vessels. At the same time the scrutinize has been completed, fully automatic production of the transplants should also be possible. “We experience designed the production system in such a way that it satisfies the high standards for good manufacturing practices (GMP) for the manufacture of products utilized in panacea,” Mertsching explains. “And so they are also satisfactory for producing artificial husk for transplants.”
This release is to hand in
German.
Source:
Dr. Heike Mertsching
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
CEMACH Release: Saving Mothers’ Lives - Findings On The Causes Of Maternal Deaths And The Care Of Pregnant Women, UK
Publciado por mousequota - 30/08/09 a las 04:08:45 pmThe Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Issue Health (CEMACH) publishes Saving Mothers Lives: reviewing warm deaths to force motherhood safer (2003 - 2005).
The explore determination reassure the public that maternal deaths in the UK are rare. Overall, 295 women died of pregnancy-related conditions out of the two million mothers who gave confinement during the three year period from 2003 to 2005. Although there has been a slight increase in deaths, the extraction rate also rose so the motherly mortality rate provided from this in-depth Enquiry of 14 per 100,000 is not statistically manifold to the previous report and there was no increase in substandard care. The maternal mortality evaluate derived from the method in use in other countries, 7 per 100,000 maternities, is unchanged.
The findings show that women who actual in the poorest circumstances are up to seven times more likely to die than women from other demographic groups. These women were also in poorer overall trim and till less acceptable to be in regular connection with maternity services. The findings also reflect the poor general health status of the increased crowd of refugees and asylum seekers who sought pregnancy care in the UK in 2003-05.
Additionally, maternal chubbiness is in the present climate a pre-eminent and growing risk moneylender for maternal expiration and more than half of the women who died were either overweight or obese and more than 15% were to the nth degree obese.
The probe also points to a large decline in deaths from suicide, the overall greatest cause of death in the mould triennial report. If this reduction is sustained, this may indicate that the recommendations in the last two reports (identifying women most at imperil during the antenatal time and then applying off with management strategies) are having a constructive in truth on women’s health.
This new divulge provides 10 indication recommendations for policy makers, service commissioners and providers and healthcare professionals. The main points are:
- Preconception care - better counselling and truss to be provided inasmuch as women, notably those with pre-existing humourless medical or mental haleness problems such as epilepsy, diabetes and obesity (BMI > 30).
- Access to care - antenatal services essential be get-at-able and welcoming to women. Women should have had their first visit to the antenatal clinic after the blue ribbon 12 completed weeks of pregnancy.
- Migrant women - the medical history and clinical assessment of comprehensive health for these women must be recorded. Doctors should be particularly volatile toward women from countries where genital mutilation is gifted and provide appropriate care for them.
- Treatment for systolic hypertension - pregnant women with a systolic blood pressure ¡� 160 mm/hg must be provided with anti-hypertensive treatment.
- Caesarean section - women who have had a previous caesarean stage or are current to acquire one should be advised about the risks in future pregnancies.
- Clinical skills - trusts and practices should instil a learning culture from momentous events and serious untoward incidences (SUIs). Additional staff training for care to newborns should be provided.
- Untimely warning scoring system - trusts should over an early warning system to help in the prompt recognition, treatment and referral of treatment of women who have or are developing critical conditions.
- Guidelines for progress - guidelines in the care of women who are gross, have sepsis during pregnancy and, distress and bleeding during early pregnancy should be produced.
CEMACH is planning to undertake a native enquiry into obesity in pregnancy as a come about of its concerns about the effect on outcomes for both fuss over and baby.
Gwyneth Lewis, CEMACH Overseer of the Maternal Deaths Enquiry, said ¡°The findings of this describe, widely considered as one of the cornerstones of our parenthood services, shows the bumping poor kindly health can have on pregnancy and blood. Whilst it is pleasing that the incidence of poorer care has declined a little, and especially gratifying that the number of women who committed suicide appears to have dropped substantially, at all as the result of antecedent recommendations, the record clearly shows the bumping that a mother’s overall health has on the result of her pregnancy.
“Healthy mothers should prefer to healthier pregnancies and healthier babies. The truthfully that more than half of the women who died were obese or overweight, and that preventable causes of cardiac disease were the leading cause of death shows that strong public health messages are needed both before and during pregnancy.”
Professor Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, President of the Nobility College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) said, “Obesity is close on emerging as the illustrious health scions of our contemporaries and its impact on maternity requisite be taken badly.
“Maternity services are already struggling to by with the increasing birth rate. Maternal obesity places more crushing on existing resources and the RCOG is seriously considering the CEMACH recommendation that a guideline on the management of obesity in pregnant women is the first step to provide clinicians with clear gen on tribulation for this order of mothers.”
Martin Fletcher, Chief Director of the Popular Patient Safety Agency said ¡°The Country-wide Lenient Safety Intervention funded intimate enquiries aim to purvey non-aligned information to aid healthcare communities in improving care. The latest surface from the Classified Enquiry into Maternal and Young gentleman Strength adds to the centre of averment that practitioners can learn from.
“Saving Mothers’ Lives demonstrates that we must redouble our efforts to provide safer, better healthcare for unshielded women during and after pregnancy.”
Notes
The Classified Enquiry into Understanding and Child Form (CEMACH) give an account of Economical Mothers Lives: reviewing maternal deaths to insinuate motherhood safer (2003 - 2005) was funded by the National Resigned Safety Agency (NPSA), the Scottish Programme payment Clinical Effectiveness in Reproductive Health and by the Department of Haleness, Social Services and Non-exclusive Safety of Northern Ireland.
This is the 7 th report into maternal death published by CEMACH. Previous reports were titled Why Mothers Want . Copies of the aware and before reports can be obtained via CEMACH’s website on http://www.cemach.org.uk.
Main findings of the new report
The causes of obliteration identified by the report cover:
Administer causes (deaths by pregnancy or birth)
- Thromboembolism
- Sepsis
- Pre-eclampsia
- Amniotic fluid embolism
There was a fall off in deaths from haemorrhage, anaesthesia and uterine trauma.
Indirect causes (deaths from pre-existing or new medical or outlook conditions aggravated by pregnancy)
- Heart complaint (there is a growing frequency of heart disease caused by poor dieting, smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity)
The report also identifies the hazard factors for warm deaths. The links between vulnerability and sexually transmitted omission and adverse pregnancy outcomes are once again drawn. A major reason such women are more at-risk is because various do not ask for antenatal care or brace in predictable contact with maternity services. The class of complex non-medical problems which these women are subject to include domestic abuse (14%) and substance abuse (11%). The children of defenceless women were also reported to have a higher risk of cessation or morbidity. There is consequently a need for medical and venereal support to be provided to these women and their children.
The report identifies avoidable factors which led to the deaths in most cases. These embody a lack of cancel-disciplinary cooperate or inter-action working, communication problems and lack of senior staff presence in the labour district.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Fragile X syndrome Detailed Information
Publciado por mousequota - 29/08/09 a las 12:08:56 amDainty X is a family of genetic conditions. Breakable X syndrome also known Martin-Bell syndrome. It is caused by an abnormality in a single gene. Light X syndrome caused by mutation of the FMR1 gene on the X chromosome. It affects approximately 1 in every 1,000 to 2,000 male individuals, and the female carrier frequency may be mostly higher. Males afflicted with this syndrome typically entertain a moderate to aloof form of intellectual handicap. Females may also be artificial but generally have a compassionate organization of impairment. All males who carry the mutation will pass it to their daughters.
Females have a 50% chance of passing the condition to their children. Boys and girls can both be affected, but because boys have only one X chromosome, a single fragile X is likely to affect them more severely. Girls with fragile X syndrome generally have fewer physical signs of the disorder than males, though some have large ears. Fragile X-associated primary ovarian insufficiency (FXPOI), a problem with ovarian function which can lead to infertility and early menopause in some female gene carriers. Symptoms of Fragile X syndrome include hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, emotional and behavioural problems, anxiety and mood swings.
There may also be characteristic facial features, such as a long face and large ears. Other physical features include flat feet and hyperextensible joints. Fragile X has no cure. But several treatments are recommended for individuals with this disorder, including mild medications for behavior problems and therapies for speech and language and sensory improvement. Some children with fragile X syndrome benefit from medications that improve their behavioral symptoms so that they are better able to learn. Some commonly used medications include antidepressants, stimulants (such as Ritalin, used for hyperactivity).
Other medications anti seizure drugs it is a most commonly used for behavioral and mood problems. Genetic counseling may help parents and families overcome the worry and distress of a positive test. Genetic counseling is important for women who have premutations and full mutations or who are carrying an affected child. Local fragile X associations can assist by providing support by families in a similar situation and in referring families to professional sources of counseling.
Juliet Cohen writes articles for http://www.disordersatoz.com/, http://www.health-care-guide.org/ and http://www.diseasesatoz.com/ .
Female Soccer Players Can Take Steps To Avoid Knee Injuries
Publciado por mousequota - 28/08/09 a las 02:08:19 pmThe number of damaging knee injuries bulk female soccer players has grown at an alarming rate.
“Women injure their knees, particularly their anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL), six to nine times more than men,” said Dr. Kaare Kolstad, an orthopedic surgeon with The Methodist Asylum in Houston. “Most female soccer players tear their ACL when they stop abruptly or land awkwardly after jumping. It is typically a non-contact injury.”
Research has shown that as female athletes mature physically, improvement in maximum and muscular changes promote them to have less control of their knee joints. This is why women tend to change government and land from jumping with their knees upstanding and inward predisposing them to ligament and cartilage tears. A woman way to difference this question is to support the heart muscles; fail, abdominal, and hip, and to teach them proper jumping technique.
“If you don’t have a strong pith, humdrum movements like jumping, or changing rule can oblige a negative perturb on the knee and could in the course of time cause a acute wrong,” said Kolstad, one of the head physicians in the course of the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. “Sit ups, push ups, mild weight training such as leg presses, especially for children ages 13 to 16, disposition go a long way in the direction of strengthening these muscles.”
It’s also substantial to get into a jumping program where you practice leaping and landing correctly with the knees bent. There are dissimilar ways to do this:
– Jumping up and down off a feel discomfited platform.
– Hopping bankroll b reverse and forth as a remainder cones.
– Jumping along from a straight position and landing with the knees direction.
– Jumping lure.
Some athletes might taste soreness in the knee after practice or games. This could either be tendonitis, an inflammation of the patellar tendon, or Osgood-Schlatter, a condition that affects children ages 10 to 15 who episode growth spurts.
“Stretching already, during and after practice and games, and even when you are not practicing want also employees prevent these types of knee injuries,” Kolstad said. “These problems need to be bewitched seriously because they might predispose them to more serious knee problems as the child gets older. This is why it is important to energize the centre muscles, and work on jumping and cutting with the knees bent. Taking the organize to train properly just might give a female soccer player a better hazard at playing the unreserved season without any knee problems.”
Methodist Hospital, Houston
6565 Fannin St.
Houston, TX 77030
United States
http://www.methodisthealth.com
Fat Cell Hormone Linked To Kidney Disease
Publciado por mousequota - 27/08/09 a las 12:08:51 pmReduced levels of a hormone produced by fat cells and linked to the maturity of insulin resistance may also be consanguineous to a higher risk of kidney disease, according to a cramming led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University. Their study, to be published in the Logbook of Clinical Research on April 22, could point the way to drug therapies that can protect renal and cardiac function in patients with chubbiness.
The new findings brag that the hormone, adiponectin, produced by chubby cells, circulates in the blood and acts to both suppress inflammation known to be a contributor to diabetes and cardiovascular disease and to reduce protein in the urine.
“A deficiency in adiponectin could be the significant common sense why obese patients bare the initial signs of kidney affliction,” said rector investigator Kumar Sharma, M.D., F.A.H.A., professor of physic and Director of Translational Research in Kidney Blight at UC San Diego’s School of Medicine. He added that an noble level of protein in the urine, termed albuminuria, is often seen with avoirdupois. Albuminuria is an indicator of kidney disease and an important jeopardy moneylender after cardiovascular disability. “At up, the connections between the kidney and the cardiovascular system are not clear. A better sense of the relationships between the kidney, the cardiovascular scheme and obesity will be of major improve in treating these common public salubrity problems at an early stage.”
“The findings in the kidney are in agreement with beneficial effects we reported benefit of adiponectin in the microvasculature, in which it reduces oxidative mark and inflammatory responses,” said co-corresponding initiator Barry J. Goldstein, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Apportionment of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. “In this setting, adiponectin suppresses the adverse effects of high glucose, which implies that it may eventually be shown to serve a protective role in patients with diabetes as well as those with bulk.”
A network of OK capillaries in the kidney acts as a riddle to prevent proteins in the blood from being secreted into the urine. This filter is made up of three components, anyone of which the podocyte cell serves to regulate albuminuria.
“We discovered that the hormone adiponectin, produced by loaded cells, is directly linked to the healthy serve of podocytes,” said Sharma. In a study of obese patients without unconcealed diabetes or kidney cancer, the examination cooperate bring about that when blood adiponectin levels were low, there was a direct correlation to elevated albumin protein levels in the urine.
Sharma explained that levels of adiponectin hormone are again reduced in obesity. With reduced levels of the hormone, there is an associated loss of the protective effect of adiponectin in the podocytes, foremost to an overproduction of inflammatory molecules. In addition, the dysfunctional podocyte allows albumin to enter the urine and may promote to the overall inflammation occurring in the body.
To explore whether the lower hormone levels were simply an indication of albuminuria or played a causative capacity in its growth, the scientists studied a knockout model of a mouse lacking the adiponectin hormone, and discovered that these mice had high urine albumin levels. Treatment of the mice with adiponectin brought the albuminuria back to normal levels.
They also focused on a receptor on the podocyte room at first glance that is associated with a molecular signaling pathway, the AMP kinase enzyme (AMPK), which acts as an energy sensor for the cell and is activated by adiponectin. The research showed that if AMPK is stimulated, either chemically or by introducing adiponectin, the ooze works normally to persevere in albumin from leaking to of the blood and into the urine. However, when there is a lack of adiponectin, the resulting decrease in AMPK undertaking contributes to dysfunction of the filter. Therefore, the researchers concluded that deficiency of adiponectin is in point of fact causative to albuminuria.
“We know there are predestined medicines that provoke the AMPK pathway, including adiponectin and a drug called Metformin, which is commonly given to patients with diabetes,” said Sharma. “This study suggests that using the hormone adiponectin, Metformin or other therapies could be employed to preserve kidney function in patients who are obese, even before they drink diabetes.”
Last, the researchers looked at markers of redness in the kidney that may be regulated by adiponectin, and found that the podocyte also produces an inflammatory enzyme called NOX4 which is increased in the non-presence of the hormone.
“When you don’t press the hormone there to inhibit it, NOX4 enzyme is stimulated and can potentially contribute to the inflammation going on in the kidney and perhaps somewhere else in the body,” said Sharma. Sharma added that replacing the hormone adiponectin in obese patients muscle work preventively to help the podocytes do their job, thus preventing kidney damage and infection.
Additional contributors to this stationery contain Satish Ramachandra Rao, Translational Research in Kidney Disease, Segment of Medicine, UCSD School of Medicine; Gang Qiu, Yanqing Zhu and Stephen R. Dunn, Center for Unfamiliar Therapies in Kidney Malady, Thomas Jefferson University; Hitomi Kataoka Usui, Center for Novel Therapies in Kidney Infirmity, Thomas Jefferson University and Okayama University, Japan; Raogo Quedraogo and Kelly Hough, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Thomas Jefferson University; Peter McCue, Departments of Nostrum and Pathology, Anatomy and Stall Biology, Thomas Jefferson University; Lawrence Chan, Frontier of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Baylor College of Prescription; and Bonita Falkner, Center in behalf of Hypertension, Division of Nephrology, Thomas Jefferson University.
The study was funded in large by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
University of California, San Diego Health Sciences
200 West Arbor Dr.
San Diego, CA 92103
Concerted States
http://www.ucsd.edu/portal/site/ucsd
Heme oxygenase-1 protects against lung damage in silicosis
Publciado por mousequota - 26/08/09 a las 02:08:34 pmLevels of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an antioxidant that protects against reactive oxygen species (damaging oxygen molecules that matter head up conglomeration injury), behoove animated in the lungs of long-lived silicosis patients and could masquerade as a callow treatment approach for the disease.
These results appear in the second issue for October 2006 of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
Yoshiaki Ishigatsubo, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Internal Medicine and Clinical Immunology at Yokohama City University in Japan, and 11 associates studied 46 male patients with silicosis, an inflammatory disorder caused by inhaling crystalline silica for prolonged periods. The study included 27 male patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 27 healthy male volunteers as controls. The investigators also studied a mouse model of silicosis.
Silicosis results from exposure to crystalline silica in mines and foundries, at sand blasting operations and at stone, clay, and glass manufacturing plants. Crystalline silica induces the production of reactive oxygen species, which can cause scar tissue to develop in the lungs.
About 1 million workers are believed to have been exposed to silica dust in the U.S. More than 10,000 silicosis patients are currently being followed in Japan.
“Pulmonary HO-1 expression is increased in silicosis,” said Dr. Ishigatsubo. “HO-1 suppresses reactive oxygen species activity, and its subsequent pathologic changes, thereby reducing disease progression.”
The researchers noted that their work was the first to demonstrate that HO-1 is synthesized in the lungs of patients with silicosis, thus contributing to a significant elevation of serum HO-1 levels in these patients.
“Silica particles were consistently associated with lesions containing HO-1 expressing cells,” added Dr. Ishigatsubo. “The number of HO-1-expressing cells was significantly higher in patients with silicosis than in control subjects.”
The investigators said that their present results indicate that silicosis patients’ serum HO-1 levels correlate significantly with their primary lung function test level and vital capacity. (Vital capacity is the maximum amount of air that can be exhaled after a maximum inhalation, showing the status of lung tissue.)
The authors believe that if serum HO-1 derives primarily from lung lesions, it could also represent a novel biomarker for evaluating the severity of silicosis.
In their mouse studies, hemin, a potent inducer of HO-1, suppressed acute inflammation after silica exposure, whereas zinc protoporphyrin, an inhibitor of HO-1, accelerated the development of silicosis lesions.
http://www.thoracic.org
Views Of People In Wales Sought On Future Of Community Health Councils
Publciado por mousequota - 25/08/09 a las 04:08:12 pmA series of events to gauge people’s views on the future role of Community Health Councils (CHCs) on be held throughout Wales.
The dates, times and locations of the events are:
- Abercynon - Tuesday 17 Slog, Abercynon Sports Centre, Abercynon, from 9am until 12pm;
- Brecon - Thursday 19 March, Bishops Hotel, Brecon from 9am until 12pm;
- Newtown - Thursday 19 Tread, Elephant and Castle, Newtown, from 2pm until 5pm;
- Cwmbran - Friday 20 March, Environmental Meadows Golf Club, Croesyceiliog, from 9.30am until 12.30pm;
- Cardiff - Friday 20 Trek, County Hall, Cardiff Bay, from 2pm until 5pm;
- Caernarfon - Wednesday 1 April, Gwynedd Council Offices, Caernarfon, from 9am until 12pm;
- Llandudno - Wednesday 1 April, Rhuddlan Room, Venue Cymru, Llandudno from 2pm until 5pm;
- Swansea - Friday 3 April, Dolphin Hotel, Swansea, from 9am until 12pm;
- Bridgend - Friday 3 April, Heronston Hotel and Leisure Sorority, Bridgend, from 2pm until 5pm;
- Anglesey - Monday 6 April, The Isle Of Anglesey County Council Offices, Anglesey, from 2pm until 5pm;
- Clynderwen - Tuesday 7 April, Nant-y-ffin New Zealand pub and Motel, Clynderwen, from 9am until 12pm;
- Carmarthen - Tuesday 7 April, St Peter’s Civic Auditorium, Carmarthen from 2pm until 5pm;
- Wrexham - Wednesday 8 April, William Aston Hall, Glyndwr University, Wrexham, from 9am until 12pm;
- Dolgellau - Thursday 9 April, Ty Siamas, Neuadd Iris, Dolgellau, from 9am until 12pm, and
- Aberystwyth - Thursday 9 April, Parking-lot Lodge Lodging, Aberystwyth, from 2pm until 5pm.
The events, organised by the Eat of Community Health Councils in Wales and the Welsh Group Supervision, desire to seek people’s views on the proposals. Those interested in attending should write to Gwenllian Stifin at the Food of Community Salubriousness Councils on 0845 644 7814 or email enquiries@waleschc.org.uk.
The Welsh Assembly Government has launched a consultation on plans to strengthen the role of CHCs in Wales in the stylish NHS structure.
Under the proposals, the existing 19 CHCs would be dissolved and seven new CHCs created with the same boundaries as the seven new Adjoining Well-being Boards. Their part and mission would be strengthened by having 23 Area Associations with numerous local links with the same boundaries as the townsman authorities. Given the geographical size of Powys, two state associations will be set up to support the one CHC.
The new CHCs would attach significant status to the desideratum for neighbourhood pub involvement within communities. They would:
- Actively seek out the views of restricted people on health usefulness matters;
- Champion the view of patients in the circumstance of local health services and be able to refer proposed developments to the Health Member attend to championing consideration, where urgent;
- Survey NHS premises as in the name of of non-stop improvement, working with the existing inspectorates;
- Provide view and support to adult patients to helper them complain about NHS services; and,
- Promulgate annual reports on their activities and performance.
The Board of CHCs in Wales will keep its stool and vice chair appointed through open competition and the chair disposition advise the NHS Wales Chauvinistic Admonition Advisers aboard of the timbre issues of concern to patients and the public with thoughtfulness to the planning and utterance of health services in Wales.
The proposals, which are out to consultation until Friday, 24 April, can be found on the Welsh Assembly Government website here.
Welsh Fitting Government
Blood Pressure Drugs May Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Publciado por mousequota - 24/08/09 a las 03:08:20 pmIf you are taking some of the commonly used hypertension (high blood pressure) drugs you might also be significantly lowering you chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline, according to a new haunt.
You can be familiar with about this study in The Journal of Clinical Search, November go forth.
The study, carried out by scientists at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, indicates that numerous elderly patients who are currently prepossessing anti-hypertensive medications may the time of one’s life additional benefits from their medicines.
Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti, Mount Sinai Medical Center, said “If we can deliver unerring anti-hypertensive drugs to patients at high peril to strengthen Alzheimer’s disease, at doses that do not affect blood pressure, these drugs could be made at one’s fingertips for all members of the geriatric population identified as being at high jeopardy for developing Alzheimer’s bug.”
Dr. Pasinetti and cooperate clothed spent the matrix twenty-four months examining over one thousand drugs to notice whether they might have any benefits for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Extinguished of 55 applicant drugs which are prescribed for hypertension, the team has detected 7 propitious ones. They create that these drugs are expert to obviate the production of beta-amyloid, which causes Alzheimer’s disease.
Experiments on mice which were genetically modified to develop Alzheimer’s showed that they benefited significantly when given Valsartan, an anti-hypertensive legate. When these mice were given rather low doses of Valsartan the production of beta-amyloid was prevented. The following drugs also had a like effect - Propranolol HCI, Carvedilol, Losartan, Nicardipine HCI, Amiloride HCI and Hydralazine HCI.
The researchers believe this study could lead the way to developing new methods of treating Alzheimer’s plague and cognitive deterioration in non-specific.
The team says further studies are needed on humans to interview whether these anti-hypertensive agents effect take the same purpose they had on mice.
Dr. Pasinetti said “The use of these drugs as far as something their potential anti-Alzheimer’s disease situation is still well experimental, and at this station we sire no clinical information beyond phenomenological observation in humans. We need to complete hindering and therapeutical clinical trials in the near days if we are to identify unquestioned anti-hypertensive drugs with anti beta-amyloid antioligomeric activities, which will have need of to be prescribed at dosages that do not interfere with blood pressure in normotensive Alzheimer’s ailment patients.”
“Valsartan lowers brain β-amyloid protein levels and improves spatial lore in a mouse miniature ideal of Alzheimer disease”
Jun Wang, Lap Ho, Linghong Chen, Zhong Zhao, Wei Zhao, Xianjuan Qian, Nelson Humala, Ilana Seror, Sadie Bartholomew, Clive Rosendorff and Giulio Maria Pasinetti
J. Clin. Invest. doi:10.1172/JCI31547.
Click here to purpose Abstract online
Written by: Christian Nordqvist
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