Some herbal medicine products contain potentially toxic amounts of heavy metals
...d at least one heavy metal-containing HMP. " the presence of heavy metals in Ayurvedic HMPs and the numerous reports of associated toxicity may have important public health, clinical, and policy implications in the United States and abroad. Although the prevalence of heavy metalcontaining Ayurvedic HMP use ...First blood test to diagnose paralyzing, blinding disease
... the United States and Japan and evaluated for the presence of a newly identified central-nervous system autoantibody. All antibodies are circulating proteins produced by the immune system. Unlike antibodies of healthy persons which attack invading disease organisms, an autoantibody attacks normal body consti...Brain imaging reveals new language circuits
...reas were densely connected to a third area, whose presence had already been suspected but whose connections with the classical network were unknown," said lead author Marco Catani, M.D., of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. The authors dubbed this language area "Geschwind's territory" in ...Silent risk of osteoporosis in men with prostate cancer
...anagement of osteoporosis risk and disease was the presence of bony metastases (prostate cancers that had spread to the bones). Analysis also showed that primary care physicians were the most aggressive at managing osteoporosis while cancer specialists were the least....Selective coatings create biological sensors from carbon nanotubes
...bon nanotubes that alter their fluorescence in the presence of specific biomolecules could generate many new types of implantable biological sensors, say researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who developed the encapsulation technique. In a paper accepted for publication in the journ...Day-long drivers at risk of cardiovascular problems as a result of traffic pollution
... several sources, which could be identified by the presence of certain elements. They found silicon and alumin...bustion was also identified as a source, given the presence of benzene and the gas carbon monoxide, and driving at varying speeds in traffic raised levels of pa...Lab study: Protein delivered via genetically engineered virus slowed glioblasoma multiforme growth
...e therapy approach that kills cancer cells, in the presence of the antiviral drug, gancyclovir. In laboratory studies, this type of gene therapy has proved almost 100 percent effective. But in clinical trials, it has had limited effectiveness, suggesting that the virus is not able to deliver the suicide gen...Two-fisted assault on dopamine transport system may be foundation of Parkinson's disease
...using cultures of rat neurons, have shown that the presence of mutated parkin genes, combined with the toxic effects of the chemical rotenone, results in a cascade of highly toxic free radicals, the destruction of microtubules that transport dopamine to the brain's movement cente, and eventual death of the do...New drug protects against the hardening of arteries
...lycerides), and type 2 diabetes, respectively. The presence of PPARs in the vessel wall has prompted researchers to investigate the effects of PPAR agonists on atherosclerosis in mice. While studies have shown that PPARgamma agonists are beneficial in the treatment of atherosclerosis in mice, the role of othe...American Thoracic Socety journal news tips for December 2004 (first issue)
... The investigators analyzed the specimens for the presence of 11 different viruses, as well as several types of pneumonia, plus Legionnaire's Disease. Respiratory viruses were identified in 34 of 117 BAL specimens (29 percent) obtained in patients with suspected respiratory infection and in only 2 of 31 con...Antibiotic rifampicin shows promise for fighting Parkinson's disease in lab tests
...he soluble clumps of alpha-synuclein formed in the presence of rifampicin are nontoxic. "The disaggregation of existing fibrils is probably the most interesting and novel finding in this study. If it works in people, that would really open up the possibility of stopping the progression of Parkinson's d...Resistin integral part of the inflammatory response
... were required for the increase in resistin in the presence of endotoxin. "That told us that cytokines like TNF-alpha and IL-6 are responsible for the increase in resistin in macrophages," explains Lazar. The cytokines are probably coming from fat cells, as well as from macrophages, he speculates. Earli...Important priorities for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS
... of the Congo has been attributed, in part, to the presence of about 2800 South African peacekeepers in these and other African hotspots. However, the South African Government's refusal to deploy HIV-positive troops on UN peacekeeping missions will likely become increasingly unsustainable because 17-22% of So...Ventricular regulation may be key to preventing heart failure
...ional increase of circulating ANP, but only in the presence of elevated atrial pressures." ANP levels also rise with atrial pressure, independent of atrial rate. CHF developed in the animals of the experiment that showed sustained ANP release and high ventricular rates. More research is needed to supp...All chronic sinusitis is not created equal, study finds
...s showed that disease severity correlated with the presence or absence of polyps (clinical objective parameter) and the presence or absence of sinus tissue eosinophilia (histologic marker)," the researchers write. "All other para...Hong Kong think tank calls for pollution standards
...rganic compounds react with nitrogen oxides in the presence of sunlight. Repeated exposure to ozone can lead to reduced lung capacity and permanent lung damage according to the EPA. "Many in Hong Kong thought almost all the ozone in the area was coming from mainland China," said Bergin. "Our results suggest ...Post-therapy damage in medulloblastoma patients can be mistaken for new tumors
...ain tumors. Specifically, the study found that the presence of WMLs is associated with a decline in neurocognitive, or intellectual, function. "In the vast majority of children, the changes seen on MRI scans after treatment are WMLs and not cancer," says Maryam Fouladi, M.D., assistant member of St. Jude He...American Thoracic Society journal news tips for November 2004 (second issue)
...y versus a daily drug therapy regimen and with the presence of cavitation (cavities) on the individual's chest X-ray at diagnosis. Researchers studied 12,183 patients who completed antituberculosis treatment between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2000. Of this group, more than 105 cases relapsed within 3...Uncoupling proteins in human heart
...responsive glucose transporter (GLUT4) fall in the presence of long-chain free fatty acids. To investigate the...going coronary artery bypass graft surgery. In the presence of fasting free-fatty-acid concentrations, protein densities of UCP2 and UCP3 rose, but those of car......er cells. Then it alerts the immune system to the presence of cells in trouble." Activating NKT cells may be particularly valuable for preventing or treating cancers that spread to the liver, where NKT cells are most common. Understanding the role of iGb3 may also provide clues about autoimmune disease. NK...