Yearly Archives: 2017

An exclusive study from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City proposes that curtailed concentrations of vitamin D may anticipate the risk of cardiovascular conflicts such as heart attack, heart failure, stroke or death in people. Headed by author Heidi May, the study assessed 4200 elderly people aged between 52-76 years. Among them, 30% were diabetic while 70% suffered coronary artery disease.

The authors analysed the levels of various vitamin D metabolites in each participant to foresee their link with eventual cardiovascular events and found that total vitamin D and bioavailable vitamin D were the most precise parameters for this task. During metabolism, most of the total vitamin D binds to proteins. However, approximately 10-15% of it becomes bioavailable vitamin D which does not bind to neighbouring proteins but gets absorbed directly into the bloodstream and is available to act on target cells.

The study noticed that depressed total and bioavailable vitamin D levels predicted detrimental cardiovascular effects. Although, the research also details the observations from several other trials, the authors suggest to plan more research on non-Caucasian groups as previous studies portray different results between Caucasian and non-Caucasian populations.

“Transplanting kidney from HLA-incompatible alive donors may exhibit consequential survival benefit than receiving kidney from a deceased donor or not at all” says Dorry Segev, in a study published in the recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

The long-term study included 22 transplant centers and analyzed survival rates of 1,025 kidney transplant recipients from HLA-incompatible alive donors, 5,125 patients who are on waiting list or received kidney from a deceased donor, and 5,125 patients on a waiting list but did not receive a deceased-donor kidney. At 8 years, 76.5% survival benefit was observed in transplant recipients from mismatched live donors, which was generously greater than in patients on waiting list or received a deceased-donor kidney (62.9%) and in those on waiting list but didn’t receive a transplant (43.9%).

This study presents a breakthrough in transplant surgery for patients as well as for all those HLA-incompatible living donors who are healthy and willing to donate.

The authors conclude that hard-to-match and sensitized patients should opt to undergo desensitization and receive kidney from incompatible alive donors than to wait for a compatible kidney which is associated with short life. Nonetheless, since HLA incompatibilities are not accounted for case-mix-adjusted criteria, transplant centers using incompatible donors may face regulatory scrutiny and certification loss from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services due to which many of them still refrain from kidney transplantation with incompatible live donors.

High blood pressure and angina have been the standard indications for opting beta-blockers until in a current study presented at the European Respiratory Society’s Lung Science Conference; Lies Lahousse reported that beta-blockers may prove to be beneficial in diminishing the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. In exacerbations, a COPD patient suffers from increased breathlessness. Although it is likely that beta-blockers may create breathing problems by constricting the airway muscles, certain previous studies indicate their beneficial effects in COPD patients.

The study investigated health records of 1,621 COPD patients taken using beta-blockers from the Rotterdam Study and followed till exacerbations happened. The investigators observed that the relative risk reduction for COPD exacerbations was 21% with cardio selective beta-blockers (which are basically opted to treat heart disease). Further, the risk was much lower (55%) in heart failure patients. Given their potential assets, the study offers promising results for treatment with beta-blockers in patients with heart disease at the same time as COPD.

One of the major and common diseases that endanger postmenopausal women is breast cancer. Obesity is the prominent risk factor indicated in breast cancer to date. It’s believed that obese women have elevated inflammation due to which they are prone to breast cancer.

A recent two-year study in Cancer Prevention Research demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids with its anti-inflammatory effects may prove to be a valuable tool to reduce the risk of breast cancer in obese postmenopausal women. In this study, Andrea Manni examined the effect of omega-3 fatty acid (Lovaza) supplementation on breast density in different weight women. Breast density is a well known, independent biomarker for breast cancer; a woman is more prone to develop breast cancer if she has high breast density.

About 266 healthy postmenopausal women with high breast density either received no treatment, received antiestrogen drug Raloxifene, Lovaza or a combination of both drugs. The study found reduced breast density with increasing omega-3 levels (specifically DHA) in women with body mass index above 29 (borderline obesity) proving its protective capabilities in obese postmenopausal women and marking a way to personalize breast cancer prevention strategies. Added to this, combination of Lovaza and Raloxifene showed superior effect than Lovaza alone in reducing triglycerides and LDL

Water is a fundamental component since 70% of the body comprises of water. In a recent study issued in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Prof.Ruopeng An, stated that increasing plain water consumption results in excellent weight management and reduces intake of sugar, salt and fat. The investigators acquired a nationally representative sample from approximately 18,300 adults in the US from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2012.

The participants were asked to recall all foods and drinks they consumed on 2 days that were between 3-10 days apart. In addition to plain water intake (defined as water from a tap, cooler, drinking fountain or bottle), most people consume beverages like black tea, herbal tea, coffee and other drinks; and other foods (soup broths, celery, tomatoes and melons). On account of these criteria, the amount of plain water consumed was calculated as a percentage of daily dietary water intake from foods and beverages. Demographics showed that on an average, participants consumed about 30% of plain water (about 4.2 cups/day).

Overall calorie intake of each participant was 2,157 calories (125 cal from sugar-sweetened beverages, 432 cal from nonessential foods—desserts, pastries, snack mixes). However, in participants who increased their plain water consumption by 1-3 cups/day, significant reduction was observed in total energy intake (68-205 cal), sugar intake (18 g/day), salt intake (78-235 g/day) and fat intake (7-21 g/day).

The study further claims that educational campaigns and nutritional interventions does not need a customized approach to promote plain water intake since increasing plain water intake and replacing calorific beverages with water is an effective public health strategy to reduce high energy intake in diverse population.