Strong statin therapy reverses plaque build-up in arteries
...laque in the carotid arteries is considered a good indicator of the amount of atherosclerosis throughout the body. The researchers found that many patients had a net decrease in carotid artery thickness 54 percent of atorvastatin patients and 39 percent of pravastatin patients. Patients who received moderate...Regular modest wine drinking may reduce risk of second heart attack
...es in the severity of prior heart attack the main indicator of new complications in medications used, or in the diet among the drinking ranges. During a mean follow-up of four years, 104 cardiovascular complications (including recurrent heart attack, stroke and heart failure) occurred. Thirty six of the co...Popular long-acting contraceptive linked to vascular dysfunction
...ations in the blood. Flow-mediated dilatation an indicator of endothelial function was significantly reduced in the DMPA users: 1.1 percent compared to 8.0 percent in the non users during menstruation. Estrogen affects the blood vessels' ability to constrict, and this study found that low levels of circula...'Drink at least 8 glasses of water a day' -- Really?
...egins when the concentration of blood (an accurate indicator of our state of hydration) has risen by less than two percent, whereas most experts would define dehydration as beginning when that concentration has risen by at least five percent. Dark Urine Means Dehydration. At normal urinary volume and color, ...Some sports linked to unhealthy eating behaviors in girls
... that low body weight for height is not a reliable indicator of disordered eating in this population. "Coaches and other education and health professionals should be aware that girls with [the] additional risk factors may be more likely to exhibit disordered eating" and monitor athletes for symptoms, the resea...More frequent ivermectin treatment could reduce symptoms of disease responsible for river blindness
...g/kg every 3 months. Death of female worms was the indicator of successful therapy. After 3 years of treatment, around one third more female worms had died in the groups treated every 3 months than in the group given standard therapy. There was no additional benefit from high-dose ivermectin, which was associa...Genetic variant reduces immune response, yet protects against atherosclerosis
...logging, or intimal thickening, is a commonly used indicator for atherosclerosis. "Whichever measure of atherosclerosis we used, the specific polymorphism emerged as significant protective factor," Schwartz said. "Furthermore, all of these results were virtually unchanged when we statistically adjusted for ot...Drug combo curbs artery re-closing after some heart attacks
...cks, an electrocardiogram reveals ST-elevation, an indicator of heart damage often associated with a blood clot. Survival after an ST-elevation heart attack depends on how quickly coronary blood flow is restored. Recurrent heart attacks are often attributed to reocclusion, or closing up, of the artery origin...Treatment guidelines for HIV infection announced by international panel of AIDS experts
... support using a the CD4 cell count as the primary indicator for when to start therapy. Reported in the specia...to support using the CD4 cell count as the primary indicator for when to start therapy. Previous guidelines used the plasma HIV RNA level (i.e., viral load) as a...Drug combinations reduce HIV levels in untreated patients
...the HIV in a person's body. The viral load is one indicator physicians use to determine how advanced a patient's HIV disease is. Drugs classified as "antiretroviral" reduce a person's viral load by preventing HIV from replicating within the body. A viral load greater than 55,000 copies/mL is considered hig...Study shows flavored milk gives kids more calcium but not fat & calories
...a "milk moustache" of pink or brown is also a good indicator of a healthy child. Flavored milk, it turns out, is a way to give children the calcium they need, in a form they'll actually drink, without adding extra fat and sugar to their diets. Children who consume flavored milk have higher calcium intakes than...Geriatric day care great for patients, but what about caregivers?
...atisfaction, self-esteem, or depression. The "only indicator that came close to significance was the Job-Caregiving Conflict. Job conflicts tended to be reduced by the use of day care," added Drs. Zank and Schacke. However, qualitative data indicate that effects on the caregivers are subtler and might be misse...Annals of Internal Medicine, tip sheet, June 18, 2002
...lood pressure in the arm and lower leg is a better indicator of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) than leg pain (Article, p. 873). In the study, only 33 percent of participants with PAD had leg pain. The authors say that the simple, noninvasive ankle-arm relationship (called the ankle-brachial index) predicts ...Novel use of radiotracer reveals extent of mycoardial infarction damage
...ng cell death (apoptosis and necrosis) as an early indicator of response to anticancer treatment. The studies reported at the SNM meeting are part of a larger effort to use Apomate and nuclear medicine techniques to determine the extent and location of myocardial cellular injury after an infarction and the res...Largest ever study on European cancer prevalence shows large differences between countries
...states that cancer prevalence is therefore both an indicator of positive and negative aspects of economic development increasing life expectancy and survival from cancer on the one hand, but increasing incidence on the other. According to the researchers this in turn suggested that although notable results h...Rush receives Magnet Award for excellence in nursing
...are, we think Magnet status will serve as a strong indicator that they can expect excellent care at Rush from our nurses," said Jane Llewellyn, DNSc, RN, associate vice president of nursing at Rush. She pointed out that many hospitals can make claims about delivering superior care but Magnet status provides R...MRI brain scan may detect Alzheimer's disease decades before first symptoms
... addition, the smaller hippocampal volumes were an indicator of milder pathological changes the accumulation of senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles believed to occur decades before the appearance of symptoms such as memory loss. The volume of the hippocampus was measured with a new computer program th...Meta-analysis of zinc supplementation shows positive growth effects for infants and children
...are routinely used in field studies as a practical indicator that supplements have been delivered, consumed, and absorbed by the recipients. Martorell, in an accompanying editorial, points out that in poorer countries where dietary quality is uncertain, the nutritional needs of young children are unlikely to...Researchers identify new signs of depression and anxiety in patients
...rimary care environment. Female gender was also an indicator of anxiety and depression, they found. The researchers believe that such new clues to anxiety and depression can contribute to an improved diagnostic profile that will help family physicians identify patients most at risk for anxiety and depression ...Improving accuracy of cross-cultural neuropsychological testing
...r. Manly has shown that by accounting for just one indicator of educational quality, racial differences on cognitive test performance in older people are significantly reduced, says Dr.Molly Wagster, program director for neuropsychology of aging research at the NationalInstitute on Aging, the major supporter o...