Our modern epidemic of obesity has led to an alarming rise in the incidence of diabetes. More than 382 million people on the planet suffer from diabetes, predominantly type-2 diabetes. For these people, blood sugar surges -- glucose spikes after meals -- can be life threatening, leading to cardiovascular complications. A new Tel Aviv University study published in Diabetologia proposes a new way to suppress deadly glucose surges throughout the day -- eating a high-caloric breakfast and a more modest dinner. According to TAU's Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz and Dr. Julio Wainstein ...

March 16, 2015- Special redesigned labels for intravenous (IV) medication bags may help to prevent serious medication errors in the operating room, reports a study in the March issue of the Journal of Patient Safety. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer. Based on trainee behaviors during OR simulations, "The results of this study provide additional evidence to support the use of opaque, white medication labels and the use of inverted text for highlighting key medication information on the label," writes Jamie L. Estock, MA, of the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System ...

March 16, 2015 - The shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, MO, has ignited a global discussion about implicit racial bias. One group of people you might think would be immune from this hidden bias is clinical therapists, people trained to understand the human mind. But a new field study finds that the social identities of patients and their therapists affect the accuracy of the diagnosis: Therapists were twice as likely to misdiagnose mental illness when their patients were members of a disadvantaged, compared to an advantaged, group. In her own practice, Ora Nakash, ...

There is still no evidence of genetic difference between blacks and whites to account for the health disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD), according to a new study by McGill University researchers. Published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the researchers suggest that after a decade of genetic studies, factors such as lifestyle, education and socio-economics - not genetics - are more promising avenues to understanding racial health disparities. The researchers focused on cardiovascular disease, the largest contributor to the racial mortality gap, and ...

Colon cancer is a heavily studied disease -- and for good reason. It is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, and its numbers are on the rise, from 500,00 deaths in 1990 to 700,000 in 2010. This growth comes despite scientists' ever-increasing knowledge of the genetic mutations that initiate and drive this disease. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania has found evidence of a new culprit in the disease, a protein called MSI2. Their findings provide a new target for potential therapeutic intervention in colorectal cancer ...

A research group in the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has found evidence in meteorites that hint at the discovery of a previously unknown region within the swirling disk of dust and gas known as the protoplanetary disk - which gave rise to the planets in our solar system. Led by Kelly Miller, a doctoral student in the lab of Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission, the team has found evidence of minerals within meteorites that formed in an environment that was enhanced in oxygen and sulfur and date from a time before the particles stuck ...

Researchers from the University of Hawai'i - M?noa (UHM) and colleagues found that microbial communities in different regions of the Pacific Ocean displayed strikingly similar daily rhythms in their metabolism despite inhabiting extremely different habitats - the nutrient-rich waters off California and the nutrient-poor waters north of Hawai'i. Furthermore, in each location, the dominant photoautotrophs - light-loving bacteria that need solar energy to help them photosynthesize food from inorganic substances - appear to initiate a cascade effect wherein the other major ...

The studies below will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session on Sunday, March 15. 1. Survey Suggests Cardiologists May Not Be Prepared to Counsel Patients on Heart Healthy Diets Even though most doctors believe diet is important in preventing and managing cardiovascular disease, there are major gaps in their knowledge and, in turn, efforts to educate patients about heart healthy diets may be falling short, according to a recent survey of 236 cardiologists and internal medicine physicians and trainees at a large tertiary ...

Patients who received the new drug Bendavia before undergoing angioplasty or receiving a stent to clear blocked arteries after a heart attack showed no significant reduction in scarring as compared to patients given a placebo, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The study is the first randomized, controlled trial of Bendavia, a drug designed to reduce the extent of tissue damage in the heart through a new approach that targets mitochondria in the cells. Although patients receiving the drug showed a 10 ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- A novel therapy that would allow doctors to turn the body's blood-clotting ability off and on in a more controlled way was about as effective as established anticoagulants in patients undergoing angioplasty but was associated with higher rates of moderate to severe bleeding, according to an analysis of data from a terminated Phase III trial presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The study was officially halted in August due to an excess of severe allergic reactions, so authors caution that the data ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- Use of computed tomography coronary angiography, which provides 3-D images of the heart, coupled with standard care allows doctors to more accurately diagnose coronary artery disease in patients presenting with chest pain, therefore, leading to more appropriate follow-up testing and treatments, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Data also showed a trend toward a lower incidence of heart attacks among the group receiving the tests, known as CT scans, compared to usual care. ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- Patients taking evolocumab--an investigational therapy previously shown to dramatically lower "bad" cholesterol--were half as likely to die, suffer a heart attack or stroke, be hospitalized or need a procedure to open blocked arteries compared with those who received standard care, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego. In this open-label study, the rate of cardiovascular events was 2.18 percent after one year in the standard of care group, most of whom were on ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- The SAPIEN 3 heart valve demonstrated lower death, stroke and paravalvular leak rates than earlier generation devices in patients at high risk for surgery and showed encouraging results in intermediate-risk patients, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement, known as TAVR, is approved for patients with severe aortic stenosis--narrowing of the valve in the heart's main artery--whose health profile makes them ineligible or high-risk candidates ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- An investigational device that deflects debris away from the brain during transcatheter aortic valve replacement seems to improve in-hospital safety outcomes and cognitive scores at discharge, according to preliminary findings from a small randomized study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The valve replacement procedure, known as TAVR, dislodges minute particles from the clogged valve, freeing them to float through the bloodstream. Much of this debris travels "downstream" from the heart, but ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- Five-year data suggest that the SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve is a feasible option for patients with severe aortic stenosis deemed to be at high risk for open-heart surgery, though valve leakage was more common with the first-generation valve evaluated in this study than with surgery, according to research from PARTNER I presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. When the blockage of an aortic valve becomes severe, replacement is the only real treatment choice, but many elderly and frail people are ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- Two-year data show a continued survival advantage for self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) over standard surgery in high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Aortic stenosis--a problem that occurs when the valve in the heart's main artery doesn't open fully--forces the heart to work harder to pump blood and is life-threatening over time. Valve replacement is common when this condition becomes severe, but the ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) --The commercial track record with transcatheter mitral valve repair, approved for patients at high risk for surgery, compares favorably with pre-approval reports, according to findings from a U.S. registry presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Healthy valves function as one-way gates that keep blood moving forward through the heart. Severely damaged mitral valves don't close properly, allowing blood to leak backward. If the valve isn't repaired or replaced, the condition can cause serious health ...

Police are ill-equipped to investigate non-criminal deaths and face a challenge to avoid re-traumatising bereaved families as well as emotionally protecting themselves, according to QUT research. Investigating death: the emotional and cultural challenges for police found it was usually junior officers sent to sudden death investigations and tasked with not only gathering evidence, but also comforting family members and explaining the coronial process. The research has been published in the journal of Policing and Society. "The vast majority of deaths are neither ...

NEW YORK, NY - Researchers have built a new computational tool that identifies 800 different ways people are at increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), permitting for the first time a personalized prediction guide. Results from the study out of NYU Langone Medical Center are published online (date) in the journal BMC Psychiatry. "Our study shows that high-risk individuals who have experienced a traumatic event can be identified less than two weeks after they are first seen in the emergency department," says Arieh Y. Shalev, MD, the Barbara Wilson ...

NEW YORK, March 15, 2015 - Most physicians are aware of the importance of lifestyle factors in preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) -- and believe diet is as important as statin therapy and exercise, according to a new survey from NYU Langone Medical Center. Researchers found that a majority of doctors would welcome additional training in diet and nutrition so that they can effectively inform patients on the subject. The study will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session as a poster presentation. The 28-question online survey, ...

NEW YORK, March 4, 2015 - Air pollution has been linked to a dangerous narrowing of neck arteries that occurs prior to strokes, according to researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center. The scientists analyzed medical test records for more than 300,000 people living in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. They found that people living in zip codes with the highest average levels of fine-particulate-matter pollution were significantly more likely to show signs of narrowing (stenosis) in their internal carotid arteries, compared to those living in zip codes with the lowest ...

March 16, 2015, New York, NY - Exploring the fundamental mechanism by which a cell-surface receptor transmits its signal, an international team of Ludwig researchers and their colleagues has established proof of concept for an entirely new approach to drug design. They report that a class of synthetic molecules known as diabodies can, from outside the cell, latch onto a target receptor and manipulate it in such a manner as to induce distinct and varying effects within cells and tissues. Led by Christopher Garcia of Ludwig Stanford, the researchers show in lab experiments ...

Carnivorous plants have strange-shaped leaves, and they can grow on nutrient-poor environments by trapping and eating small animals. Charles Darwin, often called "the father of evolution", was also interested in carnivorous plants, and he wrote a book titled "Insectivorous Plants" published in 1875. Since then a lot of researches have been done, but how such strange-shaped leaves were altered during evolution remained unknown. A research team in Japan has revealed how carnivorous pitcher leaves are formed in Sarracenia purpurea, a carnivorous plant native to North America. ...

Establishing protected areas in forests is one way to keep deforestation at bay and safeguard biodiversity. However, a study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has revealed that such a measure is ineffective in the case of biodiversity-focused protected areas in Indonesia. The research, led by Assistant Professor Roman Carrasco of the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science and Assistant Professor Alex Cook of NUS' Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, found that the monitoring and prevention of road construction ...

According to a meta-analysis published in BMC Family Practice, high dose zinc acetate lozenges may help shorten diverse symptoms associated with the common cold. The common cold is an infection caused by over a hundred viruses, and it is a major cause of days off school or work and visits to a doctor. A previous meta-analysis of three randomized trials found that high dose zinc acetate lozenges shorten the duration of colds by 42%. Since all of the three studies reported the duration of diverse respiratory symptoms and of systemic symptoms such as muscle ache and headache, ...