1. Regular aerobic exercise beginning in middle age may lessen severity of stroke in old age
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170224111731.htm
Using mice, researchers found that this loss of collateral vessels is prevented by exercise, according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's International Stroke Conference 2017.
2. Marijuana use associated with increased risk of stroke, heart failure
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170309142318.htm
Using marijuana raises the risk of stroke and heart failure even after accounting for demographic factors, other health conditions and lifestyle risk factors such as smoking and alcohol use, according to new research.
https://wire.ama-assn.org/practice-management/appeals-court-oks-salt-shaker-sodium-warnings-chain-restaurants?&utm_source=BHClistID&utm_medium=BulletinHealthCare&utm_term=030217&utm_content=MorningRounds&utm_campaign=BHCMessageID
An Empire State appeals court has upheld the New York City health-department rule requiring chain restaurants to warn customers about menu items exceeding the 2,300 mg daily recommended sodium limit. The decision allows the regulation that took effect in 2015 to stay in place, offering critical information to the nearly 2 million New Yorkers diagnosed with hypertension
Aspirin Still Wrongly Given to Lower Afib Stroke Risk
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Cardiology/Arrhythmias/58683
Over ⅓ of atrial fibrillation patients who have a moderate to high risk for stroke are prescribed aspirin to lower their risk instead of an oral anticoagulant, even though aspirin has no benefits for the prevention of Afib-related thromboembolism, recent researchers reported.
Transplanted neurons incorporated into a stroke-injured rat brain
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170123090806.htm
In today’s world a stroke can lead to permanent disability but in the future, the stroke-injured brain could be repairable by replacing dead cells with new, healthy neurons, using transplantation. Researchers have taken the first steps in that direction by demonstrating this using neuron transplantation into a rat stroke-injured brain.
VNS May Help Stroke Patients Regain Arm Function
http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/ISC/63430?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2017-02-28&eun=g332005d0r&pos=1
A small trial was done to test vagus nerve stimulation in stroke patients. Although, the primary endpoint was missed, significant functional differences were seen at longer intervals, researchers found.
#1: Dietary Factors Tied to Deaths from Heart Disease, T2D: Suboptimal food intake associated with cardiometabolic deaths http://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/diabetes/63641
Ten dietary factors were linked to cardiometabolic mortality in the US including type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease
#2: Gluten Against Diabetes
http://www.medpagetoday.com/cardiology/prevention/63751
Analysis of the Nurses’s Health Study (I and II) and Health Professional’s Follow-up Study show that people who ate the most gluten had lower type 2 diabetes risk
#3 VNS May Help Stroke Patients Regain Arm Function--Pilot study shows significant long-term improvements
http://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/isc/63430
Randomized control study evaluating vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to revive lost arm function in stroke patients
1. Is this expensive drug worth the benefit?
http://khn.org/news/cholesterol-drug-prevents-heart-attacks-but-it-doesnt-come-cheap/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A%20Daily%20Health%20Policy%20Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=46588830&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--uVe81qz9VhGzLku1UHlzW58lf7-rqXP3tKS8gnGiqXcD5dHb0UJbVJ8iMlxzr37OFR_YK_QN-LNGLuF1j6VCwZ9q0rA&_hsmi=46588830
An expensive new drug does lower the risk of heart attack and stroke, but insurers and doctors are concerned that the benefit is not justified by the price.
2. Reversal of Heart Attack Damage\
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170316151703.htm
A new drug could reverse damage from heart attacks, but needs to be tested in more animals and is a long way away from human trials.
3. Kidney disease in Africa
http://www.voanews.com/a/kidney-disease-africa/3767001.html
Kidney disease is on the rise in sub-Saharan Africa, but affordable care is not always available. Treating this chronic disease is a challenge in resource poor areas.
1. Saving brain cells from stroke.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170303082113.htm
This is a study done on a compound that is being tested using rats, compound P7C3-A20. Two rats were in the study Both had simulated strokes. One was given the compound. The one give the compound had a faster and more long term recovery. This new compound has shown promising my limited effectiveness given the small sample sizes etc. The implications for better stroke treatment are immeasurable but it will be a few decades until this compound comes to market for hospital use.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161115163944.htm
This article is based on a Danish study about the increased risk of stroke with the use of heartburn medications or PPIs, proton pump inhibitors. Overall stroke risk increased by 21% for patients taking the medication and at the highest doses of pantoprazole (Protonix) the risk increased by 94%. These studies accounted for age, gender and medical factors, including high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat), heart failure and the use of certain pain relievers that have been linked to heart attack and stroke. This is an interesting study though the mechanisms are not well known. Perhaps more studies could expand on this knowledge to understand the underlying issues.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160428173237.htm
This study is on using gene therapy to treat PAH, peripheral artery hypertension. Using a aerolized virus vector SERCA2a, a sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase pump that can regulate intracellular calcium in vascular cells and can prevent them from proliferating in the vessel wall. Abnormal calcium buildup is a cause of PAH. This virus is able to enable cells in the lung epithelium to create more of this protein. There have been no human tests at this point, but animal models have shown promising results.
Bethel Kebede
High prevalence, incidence of hypertension among rural Africans living with HIV
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170308145312.htm
New role for immune cells in preventing diabetes and hypertension
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170317082510.htm
Over 100 new blood pressure genes could provide new targets for treating hypertension
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170130133441.htm
Emily Stephens \]
Individual- and School-Level Factors Related to School-Based Salad Bar Use Among Children and Adolescents
School access to salad bars has increased in recent years. Research shows that sex and a proclivity towards healthy foods affect a student's liklihood of using a salad bar. In high school, marketing also affect salad bar use.
Research may provide solutions for the future treatment of diabetes and insulin resistance
Bench research on introducing feces from reservitol-fed rats to rats with insulin resistance showed marked improvement in the latter group, more so than reservitol alone. There may be a metabolite molecule in some rats' feces that could help unlock insulin resistance.
Scientists publish groundbreaking study on new heart drug
New drug candidate (MSI-1436) may help restore muscular heart function after heart attack; it would be the first drug able to do so.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170317082510.htm
"Immune cells which are reduced in number by obesity could be a new target to treat diseases such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension that affect overweight people, according to a collaborative study between the University of Manchester, Lund University and the University of Salford."
http://www.ourmidland.com/news/article/Hypertension-Putting-the-pressure-on-a-11010610.php
A summary of hypertension risk factors and a short primer on how to understand it for the lay person.
"For years, medical researchers have hoped that a burgeoning class of cholesterol drugs targeting a protein called PCSK9 could be the next generation of blockbuster treatments. Now, a large clinical trial has demonstrated that this approach can lower the risk of heart disease. But it’s still unclear whether these drugs—which attempt to mimic a beneficial genetic mutation—will be the breakthrough that scientists and pharmaceutical companies had imagined."
1. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170308144659.htm
Cancer-causing benzene found in e-cigarette vapors operated at high power
2. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160714091337.htm
New opioid use in older adults with COPD associated with increased risk of death
3. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161028090140.htm
Novel approach in primary care setting may help identify patients with COPD