Genome-wide screen of learning in zebrafish identifies enzyme important in neural circuit

Implications for understanding underlying molecular genetics of human neuropsychiatric disorders, according to Penn study

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania describe the first set of genes important in learning in a zebrafish model in the journalNeuron this week. “Using an in-depth analysis of one of these genes, we have already revealed an important relevant signaling pathway,” says senior author Michael Granato, PhD, a professor of Cell and Developmental Biology. “The proteins in this pathway could provide new insights into the development of novel pharmacological targets.”Over the last 20 years, zebrafish have become great models for studying development and disease. Like humans, zebrafish are vertebrates and over 80 percent of human genes bearing disease descriptions are also present in zebrafish. As such, this animal model has become increasingly popular to study human diseases such as cardiovascular conditions or tumor formation.

Read the rest of the article at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/291338.php.

Childhood sleep disorders: how do they affect health and well-being?

Although around 25-40% of children and adolescents in the US experience some form of sleep disorder, such conditions are often overlooked, with a lack of realization of just how important a good night’s sleep is for a child’s present and later-life health. In line with National Sleep Awareness Week, we look at how sleep problems can affect the short- and long-term health of children and teenagers and what parents can do to reduce these risks.When you think of sleep disorders in children, the first types likely to spring to mind are night terrors, nightmares and sleepwalking. These fall into a class of sleep disorders known as parasomnias.It is estimated that up to 6.5% of children – particularly those aged 4-12 years – experience night terrors, defined as episodes of intense fear, screaming and flailing during sleep. Approximately 3% of preschool and school-aged children experience nightmares, while up to 15% of children aged 4-12 years sleepwalk.Perhaps less associated with children and adolescents isinsomnia and obstructive sleep apnea. In fact, insomnia, the inability to fall asleep or frequent awakening, is estimated to affect around 25% of children and teenagers. Obstructive sleep apnea – when an individual stops breathing for long periods during sleep – affects around 2-4% of children.

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One in 4 patients who visited emergency department for chest pain did not receive follow-up care

Patients with multiple health issues and who are at higher risk of adverse events are less likely to receive follow-up care from a physician after visiting an emergency department for chest pain, reports a study published in CMAJ(Canadian Medical Association Journal).Chest pain is one of the most common reasons people visit emergency departments, with about 500 000 visits every year in Canada alone.The study looked at 56 767 patients with chest pain who visited an emergency department in Ontario between April 2004 and March 2010. Of these, 42 535 (75%) were seen by a primary care physician or cardiologist within 30 days after discharge, and 14 232 (25%) did not receive follow-up care. Patients with multiple illnesses such as heart disease, kidney disease and dementia, and rural residency were less likely than others to receive follow-up care in the following month. Patients who had visited a primary care physician or cardiologist in the preceding year were more likely to see a physician after discharge.”We initially thought that emergency department physicians would risk stratify patients such that those with more medical and cardiac comorbidities would receive more physician follow-up care,” writes Dr. Dennis Ko, a senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and an interventional cardiologist at the Schulich Heart Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, with coauthors. “However, patients with more medical comorbidities in our cohort were less likely to receive physician follow-up postdischarge.”

Read the rest of the article at  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/289784.php.

 

Novel peptide shows promise in penetrating heart attack scar tissue to regenerate cardiac nerves and avert dangerous arrhythmias

Case Western Reserve’s chemical compound aimed at restoring spinal cord function may have an additional purpose: stopping potentially fatal arrhythmias after heart attack.Case Western Reserve neurosciences professor Jerry Silver, PhD, long has believed that lessons learned over decades from spinal cord research could someday apply to other areas of the body. He got the chance to test his theory when a colleague from another campus realized that his new compound – intracellular sigma peptide (ISP) – could address a critical cardiac issue.The results of the project, led by Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) researcher Beth A. Habecker, PhD, exceeded even Silver’s greatest hopes: 100 percent success in animal models. Details can be found in Nature Communication.”Essentially, the OHSU group cured arrhythmia in the mouse using ISP,” Silver said. “They observed true regeneration right back into the scar within the infarct area. This is pretty exciting.”

Read the rest of the article at  http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/289007.php.

Early detection of heart attacks aided by gold nanoparticles

NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering professors have been collaborating with researchers from Peking University on a new test strip that is demonstrating great potential for the early detection of certain heart attacks.

Kurt H. Becker, a professor in the Department of Applied Physics and the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and WeiDong Zhu, a research associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, are helping develop a new colloidal gold test strip for cardiac troponin I (cTn-I) detection. The new strip uses microplasma-generated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and shows much higher detection sensitivity than conventional test strips. The new cTn-I test is based on the specific immune-chemical reactions between antigen and antibody on immunochromatographic test strips using AuNPs.

Compared to AuNPs produced by traditional chemical methods, the surfaces of the gold nanoparticles generated by the microplasma-induced liquid chemical process attract more antibodies, which results in significantly higher detection sensitivity.

cTn-I is a specific marker for myocardial infarction. The cTn-I level in patients experiencing myocardial infarction is several thousand times higher than in healthy people. The early detection of cTn-I is therefore a key factor of heart attack diagnosis and therapy.

The use of microplasmas to generate AuNP is yet another application of the microplasma technology developed by Becker and Zhu. Microplasmas have been used successfully in dental applications (improved bonding, tooth whitening, root canal disinfection), biological decontamination (inactivation of microorganisms and biofilms), and disinfection and preservation of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The microplasma-assisted synthesis of AuNPs has great potential for other biomedical and therapeutic applications such as tumor detection, cancer imaging, drug delivery, and treatment of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The routine use of gold nanoparticles in therapy and disease detection in patients is still years away: longer for therapeutic applications and shorter for biosensors. The biggest hurdle to overcome is the fact that the synthesis of monodisperse, size-controlled gold nanoparticles, even using microplasmas, is still a costly, time-consuming, and labor-intensive process, which limits their use currently to small-scale clinical studies, Becker explained.

Adapted by MNT from original media release

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/288143.php

 

Researchers develop a new distance rehabilitation system for patients with heart pathologies

A team of Spanish researchers of the Universitat Politècnica de València, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the company Medtronic have participated in the development of a new distance heart rehabilitation system based on physical exercise routines for people affected by heart pathologies.

The system is designed for both chronic patients and the recovery of people who have suffered a heart event (for instance, a heart attack) or if they have had heart surgery. In any of these cases, it helps patients to exercise and adopt a healthy lifestyle.

HeartCycle GEx has been developed within the European project HeartCycle. This system creates an online connection between the cardiologist in the hospital and the patients in their homes. The latter, equipped with sensorized t-shirts, do the rehabilitation exercises while their mobile telephones receive all the information about their heart and respiration rate, and messages to make more or less effort according to the doctor’s instructions, etc.

Its main advantage is its ability to motivate patients; GEx helps patients follow the rehabilitation program in an easier and more entertaining way. To that end, GEx incorporates multimedia content, an avatar, as well as graphic information about the indicators related to the patient’s performance (heart rate, effort level, etc).

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Picture courtesy of medicalxpress.com.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/287370.php

 

 

High fitness levels reduce hypertension risk

While being physically fit is beneficial in and of itself, researchers now report that people with high levels of fitness are less likely to develop high blood pressure – also referred to as hypertension – a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, examined the association of fitness with hypertension among participants undergoing treadmill stress tests to rule out ischemia as a cause of chest pain or shortness of breath.

“If you’re exercising and you’re fit, your chances of developing hypertension are much less than someone else who has the same characteristics but isn’t fit,” says Dr. Mouaz H. Al-Mallah, senior author of the study.

Normal blood pressure is below 120/80 mm Hg – the first number (systolic measurement) represents peak pressure in the arteries and the second number (diastolic measurement) represents minimum pressure in the arteries. Blood pressure is considered to be high when it is greater than 140/90 mm Hg.

There are two types of hypertension. While secondary hypertension appears suddenly and is caused by underlying conditions such as kidney or thyroid problems, primary hypertension has no identifiable cause and develops gradually over the course of many years.

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287109.php

 

 

 

‘Obesity can reduce life by up to 8 years’

Life expectancy can be reduced by up to 8 years by obesity, which can also cause adults to lose as much as 19 years of healthy life if it leads to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology examines the issue.

The researchers behind the study analyzed data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), creating a disease-simulation model to estimate the risk of adults of different body weightdeveloping diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

From this, the researchers then calculated the extent to which overweight and obesity may contribute to both years of life lost and years of healthy life lost in American adults aged between 20 and 79 years old, in comparison to people of normal weight.

They found that people who were overweight (BMI 25-30 kg/m2) were estimated to lose up to 3 years of life, depending on age and gender. Individuals classed as obese (BMI 30-35 kg/m2) were calculated to lose up to 6 years, and people classed as very obese (BMI 35 kg/m2 or more) could lose up to 8 years of life.

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/286518.php

 

 

Scientists identify a rise in life-threatening heart infection

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have identified a significant rise in the number of people diagnosed with a serious heart infection alongside a large fall in the prescribing of antibiotic prophylaxis to dental patients.

The pioneering study is the largest and most comprehensive to be conducted with regards to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, which recommended dentists should no longer give antibiotics before invasive treatments to people considered at risk of the life threatening heart infection, Infective Endocarditis (IE), which in 40 per cent of cases is caused by bacteria from the mouth.

The team of international researchers, led by Professor Martin Thornhill at the University of Sheffield’s School of Clinical Dentistry, discovered that since the NICE guidelines were introduced in March 2008, there has been an increase in cases of Infective Endocarditis above the expected trend. By March 2013 this accounted for an extra 35 cases per month.

They also identified that the prescribing of antibiotic prophylaxis fell by 89 per cent from 10,900 prescriptions a month, before the 2008 guidelines, to 1,235 a month by March 2008.

Martin Thornhill, Professor of Translational Research in Dentistry at the University of Sheffield, said: “Infective Endocarditis is a rare but serious infection of the heart lining. We hope that our data will provide the information that guideline committees need to re-evaluate the benefits, or not, of giving antibiotic prophylaxis.

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/285754.php

 

 

The heart’s own immune cells can help it heal

The heart holds its own pool of immune cells capable of helping it heal after injury, according to new research in mice at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Most of the time when the heart is injured, these beneficial immune cells are supplanted by immune cells from the bone marrow, which are spurred to converge in the heart and cause inflammation that leads to further damage. In both cases, these immune cells are called macrophages, whether they reside in the heart or arrive from the bone marrow. Although they share a name, where they originate appears to determine whether they are helpful are harmful to an injured heart.

In a mouse model of heart failure, the researchers showed that blocking the bone marrow’s macrophages from entering the heart protects the organ’s beneficial pool of macrophages, allowing them to remain in the heart, where they promote regeneration and recovery. The findings may have implications for treating heart failure in humans.

The study is now available in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

“Researchers have known for a long time that the neonatal mouse heart can recover well from injury, and in some cases can even regenerate,” said first author Kory J. Lavine, MD, PhD, instructor in medicine. “If you cut off the lower tip of the neonatal mouse heart, it can grow back. But if you do the same thing to an adult mouse heart, it forms scar tissue.”

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/284750.php