Research looks into lesser-studied side of heart
Heart disease that strikes the right ventricle can kill people faster than metastatic cancer. Now researchers at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton are taking a closer look and the lesser-studied part of the heart. Dr. Jayan Nagendran said the body can compensate for left-sided heart disease for decades, but the right side appears to be a better predictor of who will die from heart troubles. “Disease affecting the right half of the heart has equal consequences if not greater than the disease affecting the left side of the heart in terms of patient outcome,” he said. Most research that has been done so far focuses on the left half of the heart, which pumps blood to the body. The right half takes blood to the lungs. In some patients, the right ventricle can thicken, but it’s easier for the right ventricles to weaken and the heart can’t generate new blood vessels to supply the growth. “Understanding why the right heart fails more quickly and potentially making it last longer under more strain is one of the most important endeavours of this study,” he said. The research team will include cardiologists, scientists, clinicians, a biomedical engineer and medical imaging experts. The research is funding with a $300,000 grant from the University Hospital Foundation. Nagendran said the study will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRIs) and blood test to see who is at risk for weak ventricles. Predicting patient outcomes will help people after heart and lung transplant surgery and will improve future surgeries.
Range of brain diseases could be treated by single drug
The tantalising prospect of treating a range of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, all with the same drug, has been raised by UK researchers. In a study, published in Nature , they prevented brain cells dying in mice with prion disease. It is hoped the same method for preventing brain cell death could apply in other diseases. The findings are at an early stage, but have been heralded as “fascinating”. Many neuro-degenerative diseases result in the build-up of proteins which are not put together correctly – known as misfolded proteins. This happens in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s as well as in prion diseases, such as the human form of mad cow disease. Researchers at the University of Leicester uncovered how the build-up of proteins in mice with prion disease resulted in brain cells dying. They showed that as misfolded protein levels rise in the brain, cells respond by trying to shut down the production of all new proteins. It is the same trick cells use when infected with a virus. Stopping production of proteins stops the virus spreading. However, shutting down the factory for a long period of time ends up killing the brain cells as they do not produce the proteins they actually need to function. The team at the Medical Research Council laboratory in Leicester then tried to manipulate the switch which turned the protein factory off. When they prevented cells from shutting down, they prevented the brain dying. The mice then lived significantly longer. Each neuro-degenerative disease results in a unique set of misfolded proteins being produced, which are then thought to lead to brain cells dying. Prof Giovanna Mallucci told the BBC: “The novelty here is we’re just targeting the protein shut-down, we’re ignoring the prion protein and that’s what makes it potentially relevant across the board.” The idea, which has not yet been tested, is that if preventing the shut down protects the brain in prion disease – it might work in all diseases that have misfolded proteins. Prof Mallucci added: “What it gives you is an appealing concept that one pathway and therefore one treatment could have benefits across a range of disorders. “But the idea is in its early stages. We would really need to confirm this concept in other diseases.” The study has been broadly welcomed by other scientists although many point out that the research is in its infancy. Professor of Molecular Neurobiology at King’s College London, Roger Morris, said it was a “breakthrough in understanding what kills neurons”. He added: “There are good reasons for believing this response, identified with prion disease, applies also to Alzheimer’s and other neuro-degenerative diseases. “And because it is such a general response, we already have some drugs that inhibit this response.” Prof Andy Randall, from the University of Bristol, said: “This is a fascinating piece of work. “It will be interesting to see if similar processes occur in some of the common diseases with such deposits, for example Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. “Furthermore, if this is the case, can modulating this same pathway be a route to new therapeutic approaches in these more prevalent conditions that afflict many millions of sufferers around the world? Ultimately only more research will tell us this.” Dr Eric Karran, the director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “The findings present the appealing concept that one treatment could have benefits for a range of different diseases; however the idea is in its early stages. “The research focuses on the effects of the prion protein and we would need to see the same results confirmed in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to really strengthen the evidence.”
More Americans visit ER for costly and inefficient dental care
Toothaches can be incredibly painful, but painful enough to send you to the emergency room? For a growing number of Americans, the hospital is the first line of treatment for dental care, according to new research from the Pew Center. And these patients are probably paying 10 times as much and getting worse treatment than they’d get from a preventive visit to the dentist, experts warned. “Emergency rooms are really the canary in the coal mine. If people are showing up in the ER for dental care, then we’ve got big holes in the delivery of care,” said Shelly Gehshan, director of Pew’s children’s dental campaign. “It’s just like pouring money down a hole. For the report, Pew researchers analyzed hospital information from 24 states, data from the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and studies on dental care. The researchers found ER visits nationwide for dental problems increased 16 percent from 2006 to 2009. In Florida, for example, there were more than 115,000 ER dental visits in 2010, resulting in more than $88 million in charges. That included more than 40,000 Medicaid patients, a 40 percent increase from 2008. Many ER dental visits involve the same patients seeking additional care. In Minnesota, nearly 20 percent of all dental-related ER visits are return trips, the report said. That’s because emergency rooms generally are not staffed by dentists. Doctors might offer pain relief and medicine for infected gums but not much more for dental patients. And many patients are unable to find or afford follow-up treatment, so they end up back in the emergency room. “It’s the wrong service, in the wrong setting, at the wrong time,” Gehshan said.
Junk food lowers sperm count and quality
Men who love eating junk food could be slowly killing their sperm count with every bite, research has revealed. A study by Harvard Medical School, Boston, discovered that men with a diet high in saturated fats produce significantly less sperm (and weaker quality sperm) than men who ate a healthy, balanced diet. Researchers studied results from men attending a US fertility clinic who were questioned about their diet and fat intake. They discovered that junk food not only carries other health risks like heart disease, obesity and cholesterol, but it destroys sperm count and quality. Men who regularly ate junk food had a 43% lower sperm count and 38% lower sperm concentration (this the number of sperm per unit volume of semen) compared to men who ate healthy. During the study, researchers discovered that a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids are best at boosting sperm quality, as men who ate lot’s of fish and plant-based oils had 1.9% more correctly formed sperm than men with lower levels of omega-3 in their diet. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids include oily fish (sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon), flax seeds, tofu and leafy greens (kale, spinach, collard). Researcher, Professor Jill Attaman said as reported by the Press Association: “The magnitude of the association is quite dramatic and provides further support for the health efforts to limit consumption of saturated fat given their relation with other health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease.”