Tired medical professionals working long hours may put patients at risk
...a. "We believe, for the same reasons that society regulates and limits fatigue impairment in the interest of safety, that it is a safety issue in health care, too. That goes for the safety of clinicians themselves as well as for patient safety." Among health care professionals, residents in training may be t...Water may prevent some fainting spells
... when they stand up. The autonomic nervous system regulates body functions that are not consciously controlled, including heart rate and blood pressure. "As we considered that finding, it occurred to us that there is a big problem with people passing out after giving blood," says David Robertson, M.D., senior...Rensselaer research team sheds light on a good night's sleep for those with Alzheimer's
...r (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Light regulates the 24-hour sleep-wake cycle in healthy humans. Typically, the body's temperature is high during the day, allowing people to remain alert and active. The temperature is low at night, which facilitates sleep. But those with Alzheimer's disease often w...Elevated leptin in teens linked with dangerous artery changes
...er in London. Leptin is produced by fat cells and regulates appetite and metabolism. It can harm blood vessels and obese people have high levels. The stiffness of a person's arteries has a direct effect on the workload of the heart. In healthy individuals, the walls of the arteries expand and contract as bl...Platelet molecule regulates blood coagulation, study finds
...latelet membrane surface, which Lentz's work shows regulates the key event of the coagulation process, thrombin formation. In that context and in light of the new findings, Lentz sees a role for PS in drug development. "If you want to control blood coagulation - either to promote it or to diminish it in a sett...Faulty gene may explain why some fall ill at high altitudes
...f nitric oxide in the blood vessels. Nitric oxide regulates the tone of blood vessels by causing them to relax, or dilate, to increase blood flow. Drugs called vasodilators that elicit this response in blood vessels can prevent HAPE as well as treat it. "This is the first report of a positive genetic associa...Diabetes treatment linked to increased blood pressure in animal study
...d controls feeding and drinking behavior, and also regulates neuroendocrine responses to agents that elicit illness-like behaviors," he explains. "The effect on insulin secretion made the hormone an obvious target for treating diabetes." Diabetes develops when the body fails to either produce or to properly us...Bleach-producing enzyme found to modulate blood vessel dilation during inflammation
...er invading pathogens also turns off a signal that regulates blood vessel dilation during inflammation, researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center have found. The research -- conducted in collaboration with scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, UCLA and the University of...How does serotonin effect depression
... neurotransmitter serotonin, a brain chemical that regulates emotion. Their tactics: reduce serotonin levels in each study subject to learn who is vulnerable for developing major depression. This new study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is designed to help scientists better understand the ...Nitric oxide crucial to respiration
... prevailing precepts of biology is that every cell regulates its major function," said Jonathan Stamler, M.D., HHMI investigator at Duke and senior member of the research team. "For red blood cells, their function is the delivery of oxygen to tissues, so the fact that it couldn't regulate blood flow, as was pr...The Lancet Oncology (TLO) June 2002
...sed concentrations of the hormone melatonin (which regulates the body clock) could increase breast-cancer risk in female flight attendants. The editorial concludes by emphasising the need for the consideration of the impact of unsocial shift patterns on long-term health outcomes. Other Reviews: Population scre...Impaired sodium excretion after stress contributes to hypertension in blacks
...e said. The body doesnt produce sodium but tightly regulates its levels through a number of mechanisms. These include angiotensin 2, a vasoconstrictor that also directs the kidneys to reabsorb salt. Additionally, angiotensin 2 stimulates aldosterone, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland that also gets the k...Blocking gene may reduce lung scarring caused by radiation therapy
Eliminating a gene that regulates inflammation can significantly reduce long-term sc...by using a drug to block the action of a gene that regulates this inflammatory response. In the current study, the investigators confirmed those findings in "gen...Memory isn't 'lost,' just out of sync
...f the brain that connects areas together, actually regulates the rhythms that connect brain regions. "Memory appears to be a constructive process in combining the features of the items to be remembered rather than simply remembering each object as a whole form," Dr. Slotnick explained. "The thalamus seems to...Calcium channel gene may play a role in severity of neurodegenerative brain disease
...rch shows that a certain form of SCA6, a gene that regulates the entry of calcium into the cells, influences th...ere was significant variation in SCA6, a gene that regulates the entry of calcium into cells and SCA1. We found that a certain form of the SCA6 gene leads to an ...Estrogen's role in preventing female cardiac disease
...mouse studies show for the first time how FKBP12.6 regulates the release of calcium in muscle-cell signaling, and also suggested that estrogen can protect mice -- and perhaps humans, too -- from the consequences of poorly regulated calcium release. "When we examined calcium release in heart cells from knock-ou...Outsmarting cancer - new results from novel enzyme inhibitors
...s the behaviour of cells during the cell cycle. It regulates the levels of key proteins that control the fine balance between normal cell division and normal programmed cell death. In cancer cells normal programmed cell death goes wrong and the cancer cells become immortal. PS-341 is a proteasome inhibitor. It...Study suggests insulin may have potential to prevent thrombosis leading to heart attack and stroke
...on of insulin and glucose suppresses a factor that regulates genes for two pro-inflammatory proteins that promote coagulation and clot formation in smooth muscle tissue lining blood vessels. Results of the study appear in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. "Our earlier ...Hormone therapy for breast cancer - the treatments of the future
...igated. GnRH or gonadotrophin releasing hormone regulates the synthesis of the gonadotrophins - FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), LH (luteinizing hormone) - both produced by the pituitary gland - and hCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin), produced by the placenta. The pituitary hormones are produced throug...Many obese youth have condition that precedes type 2 diabetes
...s in the body that make the hormone insulin, which regulates blood glucose. Type 1 diabetes usually strikes children and young adults, who need several insulin injections a day or an insulin pump to survive. Insulin is the only treatment for type 1 diabetes, but it is not a cure, nor can it reliably prevent ...