#Loss of sleep after divorce can spike blood pressure Divorce-related sleep problems may be partly to blame for significant health problems,
associate professor of psychology at University of Arizona. ut sleep problems that persist for an extended period may mean something different.
and it is these people that are particularly susceptible to health problems. Published in the journal Health Psychology, the new paper looks at 138 people who had separated physically from
Blood pressure was measured also at each of the three lab visits. Although researchers did not observe a relationship between sleep complaints
and blood pressure levels at the participantsfirst lab visits, they did observe a delayed effect, with participants showing increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure in later visits as a function of earlier sleep problems. e saw changes in resting blood pressure were associated with sleep problems three months earlier.
Earlier sleep problems predicted increases in resting blood pressure over time, Sbarra says. A ontrivial bump Researchers also found that the longer people sleep problems persisted after their separation,
the more likely those problems were to have an adverse effect on blood pressure. hat we found was
if youe having sleep problems up to about 10 weeks after your separation, they don appear to be associated with your future increase in blood pressure,
Sbarra says. owever, after 10 or so weeksfter some sustained period of timehere seems to be a cumulative bad effect.
Sbarra says. ach standard deviation increase in sleep complaints corresponded to a roughly six unit increase in subsequent systolic blood pressure,
Value sleep Systolic is the top blood pressure number and measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats;
Normal blood pressure is around 120/80. People who have persistent difficulties sleeping after a divorce may address the issue by seeking out cognitive behavioral therapy,
making daily schedule adjustments that promote healthy sleep, or finding new ways to relax at bedtime,
who earned her bachelor degree in psychology from University of Arizona and is now pursuing her doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Florida. f somebody is going through a divorce and unable to sleep,
they really need to get some help or it could lead to problems. We are all going to go through something stressful in our lives,
The National institute of mental health, the National Institute on Aging, and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funded the study C
#How a missile detector can stop malaria in its tracks Scientists have found a new use for an antitank Javelin missile detector:
published in the journal Analyst, could set a new gold standard for malaria testing. MISSILES AND PARASITES The heat-seeking detector,
which is coupled to an infrared imaging microscope, allowed the team to detect the earliest stages of the malaria parasite in a single red blood cell.
Lead researcher Bayden Wood, an associate professor at Monash University, says to reduce mortality and prevent the overuse of antimalarial drugs,
a test that can catch malaria at its early stages is critical. ur test detects malaria at its very early stages,
so that doctors can stop the disease in its tracks before it takes hold and kills.
We believe this sets the gold standard for malaria testing, Wood says. here are some excellent tests that diagnose malaria.
However, the sensitivity is limited and the best methods require hours of input from skilled microscopists,
and that a problem in developing countries where malaria is most prevalent, he adds. FOUR-MINUTE COUNT DOWN As well as being highly sensitive,
the new test has a number of advantagest gives an automatic diagnosis within four minutes,
Journalist and photographer Jeremy Kelly, from Melbourne, Australia, files pictures via a BGAN satellite terminal from Foward Operating Base Tora.
Penn State Embedded journalists offer dark view of Afghan war The disease, which is caused by the malaria parasite, kills 1. 2 million people every year.
However the parasites can be difficult to detect in the early stages of infection. As a result the disease is spotted often only when the parasites have developed
and multiplied in the body. Professor Leann Tilley from the University of Melbourne says the test could make an impact in large-scale screening of malaria parasite carriers who do not present the classic fever-type symptoms associated with the disease. n many countries only
people who display signs of malaria are treated. But the problem with this approach is that some people don have typical flu-like symptoms associated with malaria,
and this means a reservoir of parasites persists that can reemerge and spread very quickly within a community,
she says. ur test works because it can detect the malaria parasite at the very early stages
and can reliably detect it in an automated manner in a single red blood cell. No other test can do that,
says Jon Pierce-Shimomura, assistant professor at University of Texas at Austin. An alcohol target is any neuronal molecule that binds alcohol,
is that the mutation only affects its response to alcohol. The BK channel typically regulates many important functions
The alcohol-insensitive mutation does not disrupt these functions at all. e got pretty lucky and found a way to make the channel insensitive to alcohol without affecting its normal function,
which is based on a mutation discovered by lead author and graduate student Scott Davis, could be inserted into mice.
These modified mice would allow scientists to investigate whether this particular alcohol target also affects tolerance, craving,
Research associate Luisa Scott and undergraduate student Kevin Hu were also coauthors of the study. The ABMRF/The Foundation for Alcohol Research, the National Institute on Alcohol abuse and Alcoholism,
and the Waggoner Center for Alcohol and Addiction Research at the University of Texas at Austin provided funding for the study.
University of Texas at Austi r
#Fewer strokes for older Americans, but experts worry The number of older Americans who suffer strokes
and the number of younger Americans who die from strokes is on the decline, but the growing rates of obesity threaten to reverse the trend,
experts say. A recent study found a 24 percent overall decline in first time strokes in each of the last two decades and a 20 percent overall drop per decade in deaths after stroke.
with mortality rates holding firm in older people. e can congratulate ourselves that we are doing well,
professor of epidemiology at Johns hopkins university. his research points out the areas that need improvement. It also reminds us that there are many forces threatening to push stroke rates back up and,
OBESITY AND STROKE Coresh says he worries what the obesity epidemic which began in the 1990s,
As millions more people are diagnosed with hypertension and diabeteshich often go hand-in-hand with obesityhey will face increased risk for stroke,
For the study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers used data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study,
The research team looked for all stroke hospitalizations and deaths from then to the end of 2011.
Decreases in stroke incidence and mortality are partly due to more successful control of risk factors such as blood pressure or smoking and to the wide use of statin medications to control cholesterol.
An increase in diabetes likely acted in the opposite direction, however, pushing stroke rates back up to some extent.
Stroke severity and improvements in treatment likely also impacted the data though the study could not measure the exact role they played.
but a leading cause of long-term disability in adults. Therefore, prevention is the best strategy,
says study leader Silvia Koton, a visiting faculty member at the Bloomberg School and incoming nursing chair at Tel aviv University.
Koton says. hese data are also helpful in monitoring the results of how we care for people of all ages,
#2 drugs work better than 1 to stop cancer A new combination drug dramatically slows tumor growth in mice with few side effects.
for several years, says Bruce Hammock, professor at University of California, Davis, and senior author of a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. e were surprised to find that the dual inhibitor was more active than higher doses of each compound,
either individually or together. y combining the two molecules into one we got much greater potency against several diseases and completely unique effects in terms of blocking tumor growth and metastasis. LUNG AND BREAST TUMORS Both
which has long been associated with inflammation, cell migration, proliferation, hypertension, and other processes. COX inhibitors block production of inflammatory and pain-inducing lipids,
They then tested it against human lung and breast tumors, both in vitro and in mice.
This reduced lung and breast tumor growth by 70 to 83 percent. MINIMAL SIDE EFFECTS his represents a new mechanism to control blood vessel and tumor growth,
Hammock says, who notes that there were minimal side effects, including no cardiovascular or gastrointestinal effects. his is particularly important
Though the research was focused exclusively on cancer, the dual compound could benefit other conditions, such as macular degeneration,
Hammock says. f we move beyond cancer, this drug combination could block a number of pathologies,
ranging from cardiac hypertrophy to neuropathic pain. The compound looks quite powerful for a number of conditions.
Other researchers from UC Davis and UC San diego contributed to the study
#Depression can be deadly for older Americans Older adults in the US who suffer from major depression face a 43 percent increased risk of death, especially from cardiovascular disease or cancer, according to a new study. here a major link
between major depression and mortality. Taking all these other health behaviors out of it, you can continue to find this unique relationship between depression
a University of Kansas assistant professor of sociology and the study lead author, says the study findings are significant
OMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT DEPRESSIONWHEN the researchers adjusted for factors such as marital status, education, employment status, family income, alcohol consumption, level of physical activity, smoking status, body mass, functional limitations,
This includes findings that major depression was associated with 2. 68 times the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality among those who did not have cardiovascular disease at the baseline.
The study appears in the Journals of Gerontology. hat wee finding here is it important to be vigilant to find depression among people older than 50 because of a host of reasons,
He says related research has suggested major depression may have a physiological effect on blood pressure or arterial tightening that can cause cardiovascular disease. t physiologically important
For the mortality data, researchers examined the 1999 National Health Interview Study linked to the 2006 National Death Index,
they used data derived from the World health organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short-Form, or CIDI-SF,
Saint Onge says. ut increasing rates of depression among the elderly pose continued health risks, beyond suicide.
and disobeying doctorsrecommendations for treatment that lead to long-term health problems. It also could help he says,
The National Institute on Aging and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development-funded University of Colorado Population Center supported the research project d
#Oral med wakes up retinal cells so kids can see Tests of a new oral medication show the drug can improve vision in children with an inherited disease that can cause complete blindness
and is currently untreatable. his is the first time that an oral drug has improved the visual function of blind patients with LCA (Leber congenital amaurosis),
says Robert Koenekoop, professor of human genetics, pediatric surgery, and ophthalmology at Mcgill University. t is giving hope to many patients who suffer from this devastating retinal degeneration.
Published in the Lancet, the study involved 14 participants from around the world with LCA ranging in age from 6 to 38 years old.
Their blindness was caused by either mutations in the genes RPE65 or LRAT, leading to a serious defect in the retinoid cycle.
Patients with RPE65 or LRAT mutations cannot produce this crucial molecule thus the retinal cells cannot create vision,
and slowly die. y giving patients with RPE65 or LRAT mutations an oral retinoid intermediate (QLT091001) most patientsvision improved rapidly.
Researchers from Mcgill University, Johns hopkins university, and Stanford university contributed to the study, which was funded by QLT Inc, the Foundation Fighting Blindness Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé,
and the Montreal Children Hospital Foundation n
#Cell discovery could lead to strep throat vaccine A new study clarifies how Group A Streptococcus (strep) bacteria resist the human immune system.
The research could eventually lead to the development of a safe vaccine against strep throat, necrotising fasciitis (flesh-eating disease),
and rheumatic heart disease. Previous efforts to develop a strep throat vaccine had resulted in immune system reactions that caused other diseases such as rheumatic fever
and heart damage, says co-lead author Jason Cole of the University of Queensland School of Chemistry
and Molecular Biosciences. e have discovered genes that make up the cell wall of the strep bacteria, which is composed mainly of the group A carbohydrate or GAC,
he says. The group A carbohydrate was thought previously to play a largely structural role in the bacteria cell walls. e have confirmed now that it actually plays a critical role in how the bacteria resist the immune response. his may trigger diseases such as rheumatic heart disease,
which has hindered the development of a safe vaccine. ased on this information, we are now able to produce a modified group A carbohydrate for further vaccine studies,
avoiding previous safety concerns associated with a strep vaccine. Strep throat is responsible for more than 700 million infections and 500
000 deaths each year. The study appears online in Cell Host & Microbe. University of Queensland Professor Mark Walker, in collaboration with Emory University and University of California, San diego, are working on additional preclinical testing of the modified vaccine.
Walker says the preclinical trials were designed to demonstrate that the vaccine was safe and effective before proceeding to human clinical trials.
The University of California, San diego Program in Excellence in Glycosciences, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, the Wellcome Trust,
and The netherlands Organization for Scientific research supported the work. Source: University of Queenslan
#Common virus targets triple-negative breast cancer A virus not known to cause disease kills triple-negative breast cancer cells
and killed tumors grown from these cells in mice, report researchers. Understanding how the virus kills cancer may lead to new treatments.
Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) infects humans but is known not to cause sickness. In prior studies, the researchers tested the virus on a variety of breast cancers that represent degrees of aggressiveness and on human papillomavirus-positive cervical cancer cells.
The virus initiated apoptosisatural cell deathn cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. TRIPLE-NEGATIVE BREAST CANCER reatment of breast cancer remains difficult
because there are multiple signaling pathways that promote tumor growth and develop resistance to treatment, says Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Penn State College of Medicine.
Signaling pathways involve molecules in a cell that control cell functionsuch as cell divisiony cooperation.
For example, the first molecule in the process receives a signal to begin. It then tells another molecule to work, and so on.
Treatment of breast cancer differs by patient due to differences in tumors. Some tumors contain protein receptors that are activated by the hormones estrogen or progesterone.
Others respond to another protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2. Each of these is treated differently.
A triple-negative breast cancer does not have any of these protein receptors and is typically aggressive. here is an urgent and ongoing need for the development of novel therapies
which efficiently target triple-negative breast cancers, Meyers says. DAY BY DAY RESULTS In the current study, the researchers tested AAV2 on a cell-line representative of triple-negative breast cancer.
They report their results in Cancer Biology & Therapy. The AAV2 killed 100 percent of the cells in the laboratory by activating proteins called caspases,
which are essential for the cell natural death. In addition, consistent with past studies, AAV2-infected cancer cells produced more Ki-67, an immunity system activating protein and c-Myc,
a protein that helps both to increase cell growth and induce apoptosis. The cancer cell growth slowed by day 17 and all cells were dead by day 21.
AAV2 mediated cell killing of multiple breast cancer cell lines representing both low and high grades of cancer
and targeted the cancer cells independent of hormone or growth factor classification. The researchers then injected AAV2 into human breast cancer cell line-derived tumors in mice without functioning immune systems.
Mice that received AAV2 outlived the untreated mice and did not show signs of being sick, unlike the untreated mice.
Tumor sizes decreased in the treated mice, areas of cell death were visible and all AAV2 treated mice survived through the study,
a direct contrast to the untreated mice. hese results are significant, since tumor necrosisr deathn response to therapy is used also as the measure of an effective chemotherapeutic,
Meyers says. Future studies should look at the use of AAV2 body-wide in mice, which would better model what happens in humans, according to Meyers.
Other researchers on this project contributed from Penn State, PPD Vaccines and Biologics Laboratory, Feinstein Institute for Medical Research,
and Central Michigan University college of Medicine r
#Lab-on-a-chip tracks down most wanted microbe A diagnostic tool that about the size of a credit card has identified a highly prized gut microbe.
The microbe contains interesting genetic sequences, but it has proven challenging to culture in the lab. Researchers used the device, called Slipchip,
to isolate microbes from a patient gut bacteria and then genetically targeted this specific bacterial species using tiny channels etched on the device.
They then grew a pure culture of this single organism in the lab. An early guess is that this particular microbe may be linked to obesity and fatty liver disease
and could ultimately aid in finding a potential probiotic therapy. Grow the needle without the hay
Although a few bacterial species are easy to grow in the laboratory, needing only a warm environment
and plenty of food to multiply, most species that grow in and on the human body have never been grown successfully in lab conditions.
It difficult to recreate the complexity of the microbiomehe entire human microbial communityn one small plate (a lidded dish with nutrients used to grow microbes),
says Rustem Ismagilov, a professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at the California Institute of technology (Caltech). There are thousands of species of microbes in one sample from the human gut,
Ismagilov says, ut when you grow them all together in the lab, the fasterrowing bacteria will take over the plate
and the slow-growing ones don have a chanceeading to very little diversity in the grown sample.
Finding slow-growing microbes of interest is like finding a needle in a haystack, he says,
To do this, Liang Ma, a postdoctoral scholar in Ismagilov lab developed a way to isolate
He and his colleagues began by looking for bacterial species that contained a set of specific genetic sequences.
The microbes carrying these genetic sequences are found abundantly in and on the human body, but have been difficult to grow in the lab. To grow these elusive microbes,
a jumbled-up assortment of bacteria species collected from a colonoscopy biopsys added to the interconnected channels of the Slipchip,
a single lipof the top chip will turn the channels into individual wells, with each well ideally holding a single microbe.
The method of creating two halves in each well in the Slipchip will be outlined in papers slated to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Integrative biology. ost Wantedlist To validate the new methodology,
Since bacteria often depend on nutrients and signals from the extracellular environment to support growth, the substances from this fluid were used to recreate this environment within the tiny Slipchip compartment key to successfully growing the difficult organism in the lab. After growing a pure culture of the previously unidentified bacterium,
Ismagilov and his colleagues obtained enough genetic material to sequence a high-quality draft genome of the organism.
Although a genomic sequence of the new organism is a useful tool, further studies are needed to learn how this species of microbe is involved in human health,
such as those that may be relevant to energy applications and the production of probiotics. The technique, says Ismagilov,
says Karl Deisseroth, professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford university. The first problem was that laboratories were not set up to reliably carry out the CLARITY process.
Deisseroth presented solutions to both of those bottlenecks. hese transform CLARITY, making the overall process much easier and the data collection much faster,
and Li Ye and graduate student Brian Hsueh, anticipate that even more scientists will now be able to take advantage of the technique to better understand the brain at a fundamental level,
and also to probe the origins of brain diseases. CLEARING OUT THE FAT When you look at the brain
They then used an electric field to pull out the fat layer that had been dissolved in an electrically charged detergent
The electric field aspect was a challenge for some labs. bout half the people who tried it got it working right away,
When he first introduced optogenetics, which allows scientists to control individual nerves using light, a similar proportion of labs were not initially set up to easily implement the new technology,
Many groups have begun to apply CLARITY to probe brains donated from people who had diseases like epilepsy or autism
and eventually treat the disease. But scientists, including Deisseroth, had been wary of trying electrophoretic CLARTY on these valuable clinical samples with even a very low risk of damage. t a rare and precious donated sample,
and on top of that you can get the data very rapidly. SEE FINE WIRING STRUCTURES The second advance had to do this rapidity of data collection.
In studying any cells scientists often make use of probes that will go into the cell
This is what produces the colorful cellular images that are so common in biology research. Using CLARITY,
modeled after his optogenetics courses, to help disseminate the techniques. The work is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), National institute of mental health, National Science Foundation, the National Instituteon Drug abuse, the Simons Foundation,
and the Wiegers Family Fund A
#Living near pesticides in pregnancy ups autism risk University of California Davis rightoriginal Studyposted by Phyllis Brown-UC Davis on June 23 2014pregnant women living
in close proximity to chemical pesticide application had a two-thirds higher risk of having a child with autism spectrum disorder or other developmental delay according to a new study.
The associations were stronger when the exposures occurred during the second and third trimesters of the women s pregnancies.
The large multisite California-based study examined associations between specific classes of pesticides including organophosphates pyrethroids
and carbamates applied during the study participants pregnancies and later diagnoses of autism and developmental delay in their offspring.
##This study validates the results of earlier research that has reported associations between having a child with autism
and prenatal exposure to agricultural chemicals in California##says lead study author Janie F. Shelton a University of California Davis graduate student who now consults with the United nations.##
women who are pregnant should take special care to avoid contact with agricultural chemicals whenever possible.##
##California is the top agricultural producing state in the nation grossing $38 billion in revenue from farm crops in 2010.
Statewide approximately 200 million pounds of active pesticides are applied each year most of it in the Central Valley north to the Sacramento Valley and south to the Imperial Valley on the California-Mexico border.
While pesticides are critical for the modern agriculture industry certain commonly used pesticides are neurotoxic and may pose threats to brain development during gestation potentially resulting in developmental delay or autism.
The study was conducted by examining commercial pesticide application using the California Pesticide Use Report and linking the data to the residential addresses of approximately 1000 participants in the Northern California-based Childhood Risk of Autism from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study.
The study includes families with children between two and five diagnosed with autism or developmental delay or with typical development.
The majority of study participants live in the Sacramento Valley Central Valley and the greater San francisco bay Area.
Twenty-one chemical compounds were identified in the organophosphate class including chlorpyrifos acephate and diazinon. The second most commonly applied class of pesticides was pyrethroids one quarter
of which was followed esfenvalerate by lambda-cyhalothrin permethrin cypermethrin and tau-fluvalinate. Eighty percent of the carbamates were methomyl and carbaryl.
The addresses then were overlaid on maps with the locations of agricultural chemical application sites based on the pesticide-use reports to determine residential proximity.
which participants were exposed to which agricultural chemicals.####We mapped where our study participants lived during pregnancy and around the time of birth.
In California pesticide applicators must report what they re applying where they re applying it dates
and professor and vice chair of the department of public health sciences at UC Davis.##What we saw were several classes of pesticides more commonly applied near residences of mothers
whose children developed autism or had delayed cognitive or other skills.####The researchers found that during the study period approximately one-third of CHARGE Study participants lived in close proximityâ##within 1. 25 to 1. 75 kilometersâ##of commercial pesticide application sites.
Some associations were greater among mothers living closer to application sites and lower as residential proximity to the application sites decreased the researchers found.
Organophosphates applied over the course of pregnancy were associated with an elevated risk of autism spectrum disorder particularly for chlorpyrifos applications in the second trimester.
Pyrethroids were associated moderately with autism spectrum disorder immediately prior to conception and in the third trimester.
Carbamates applied during pregnancy were associated with developmental delay. Exposures to insecticides for those living near agricultural areas may be problematic especially during gestation
because the developing fetal brain may be more vulnerable than it is in adults. Because these pesticides are neurotoxic in utero exposures during early development may distort the complex processes of structural development
and neuronal signaling producing alterations to the excitation and inhibition mechanisms that govern mood learning social interactions and behavior.##
##In that early developmental gestational period the brain is developing synapses the spaces between neurons where electrical impulses are turned into neurotransmitting chemicals that leap from one neuron to another to pass messages along##Â#Hertz
-Picciotto says.####The formation of these junctions is really important and may well be where these pesticides are operating and affecting neurotransmission.##
##Research from the CHARGE Study has emphasized the importance of maternal nutrition during pregnancy particularly the use of prenatal vitamins to reduce the risk of having a child with autism.
While it s impossible to entirely eliminate risks due to environmental exposures Hertz-Picciotto says that finding ways to reduce exposures to chemical pesticides particularly for the very young is important.##
##We need to open up a dialogue about how this can be done at both a societal and individual level##she says.##
I wouldn t want to live close to where heavy pesticides are being applied.####The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the US Environmental protection agency supported the work.
Source: UC Davisyou are free to share this article under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noderivs 3. 0 Unported license r
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