From the monthly archives:

November 2009

Depression Common In People With Chronic Cough

November 25, 2009 News & Research

More than half of people with chronic cough-a nagging cough that can last for months or even years-suffer from depressive symptoms, according to a study to be presented at the American Thoracic Society International Conference on May 23. The study of 100 people with chronic cough that had lasted an average of 9 years found that…

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How Coughing Is Triggered by Environmental Irritants

November 25, 2009 News & Research

Scientists have revealed how environmental irritants such as air pollution and cigarette smoke cause people to cough, in research published November 23 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The authors of the study…

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When East Meets West: Why Consumers Turn to Alternative Medicine

November 25, 2009 News & Research

Alternative health remedies are increasingly important in the health care marketplace. A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research explores how consumers choose among the many available remedies. “Examples of the wide array of health remedy options available to consumers include…

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Scientists Discover Cells That Control Inflammation in Chronic Disease

November 25, 2009 News & Research

A new type of immune cell that can be out of control in certain chronic inflammatory diseases, worsening the symptoms of conditions like psoriasis and asthma, is described for the first time this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London, the…

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Asthma a Significant Risk Factor for Complications in Children With H1N1

November 25, 2009 News & Research

A new study on pediatric H1N1 influenza admissions has found that asthma is a significant risk factor for severe disease in children with pandemic H1N1 compared with the seasonal flu. The study, led by researchers from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Ontario, is published online November 18 in CMAJ …

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Two Beta Blockers Also Protect Heart Tissue, Study Finds

November 25, 2009 News & Research

A newly discovered chemical pathway that helps protect heart tissue can be stimulated by two of 20 common beta-blockers, drugs that are prescribed to millions of patients who have experienced heart failure. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center tested 20 beta blockers and found that two of them — alprenolol and carvedilol — could stimulate a…

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Beta-Blockers Can Have Helpful, or Harmful, Effect on Heart

November 25, 2009 News & Research

In a new study, researchers report that a class of heart medications called beta-blockers can have a helpful, or harmful, effect on the heart, depending on their molecular activity. The study, which appears in the journal Circulation Research, found that beta-blockers that target both the alpha- and beta-receptors on the heart muscle offer the most benefit to cardiac patients, while those that target…

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Polyphenols and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids Boost the Birth of New Neurons, Study Finds

November 24, 2009 News & Research

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) researchers have confirmed that a diet rich in polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids, patented as an LMN diet, helps boost the production of the brain’s stem cells -neurogenesis- and strengthens their differentiation in different types of neuron cells. The research revealed that mice fed…

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It can be predicted the reaction obese patients will have to a diet

November 24, 2009 News & Research

The presence of increased body fat, and therefore higher levels of inflammatory substances in the blood, hinders the loss and maintenance of body weight; as shown by a research project of the University of Navarra conducted by Estíbaliz Goyenechea Soto, a scientist at the School of Pharmacy.

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Molecule discovered that makes obese people develop diabetes

November 24, 2009 News & Research

Many people who are overweight or obese develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes at some stage in their lives. A European research team has now discovered that obese people have large amounts of the molecule CXCL5, produced by certain cells in fatty tissue.

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Cholesterol Plays Role in Heart Failure Risk

November 24, 2009 News & Research

Pumping ability reduced in those with undesirable blood levels, analysis shows. Abnormal cholesterol levels can significantly increase the risk of heart failure, a new study has found. U.S. researchers analyzed data on 6,860 participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study. None of the participants, average age 44, had coronary heart disease at the start of the study. After about 26 years of follow-up, 680 people had developed heart failure.

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Some Germs Are Good for You: Surface Bacteria Maintain Skin’s Healthy Balance

November 24, 2009 News & Research

On the skin’s surface, bacteria are abundant, diverse and constant, but inflammation is undesirable. Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine now shows that the normal bacteria living on the skin surface trigger a pathway that prevents excessive inflammation after injury. “These germs are actually good for us,” said…

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