Cardiac deaths peak in sleep hours for patients with sleep apnea
This increased risk among patients with OSA is even more striking because it comes when cardiac deaths in the general population are at their low point. ...... ...says Virend Somers, M.D.,PhD., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who directed the study. "Almost twice as many people die of cardiac causes then, as compared to the midnight to 6 a.m. period. But for patients with obstructive sleep apnea, th...Men with severe sleep breathing disorder have higher risk of heart problems
Men with a severe form of a sleep breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea have an increased risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events, concludes a study published in this week's issue of THE LANCET....... Obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea affects four per cent of middle-aged men and two per cent of middle-aged women. It is caused by a blockage in the pharynx that obs...Sleeping Through the Night: Children's sleep expert advises parents
Sleep is essential, especially when it comes to children! According to a recent National Sleep Foundation poll, nearly 70 percent of infants and toddlers experience sleep problems and 75 percent of all parents want to change something about their child's sleep habits. Research shows that not getting the recommended hours of sleep affects a child's mood, attention, concentration, ability to learn...Radiography used to identify teens with sleep apnea
Baltimore, MarylandFifteen percent of all teenagers in the United States undergo orthodontic treatment. Craniofacial Risk Index (CRI) scores, calculated from the radiographs routinely obtained on all orthodontic patients, correctly classified 80% of apneic and 78% of non-apneic adult snorers into high- and low-Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) groups. (Sleep apnea is a temporary suspension of b...Assessing obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in snorers
CHICAGO An overnight sleep test is required to distinguish ordinary snorers from persons with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), according to a study in the February issue of Archives of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals....... Snoring is one of the main symptoms of OSAS, but while 30 to 50 percent of the general population snores, only 2 to 4 percent ha...Musical interlude helps sleep quality, research shows
Sleep scientists at the University of Toronto are pursuing research that's music to insomniacs' ears.... ...Researchers in the sleep clinic of U of T's psychiatry department and the University Health Network's Toronto Western Hospital are studying the ability of "brain music" to help people relax and improve the quality of their sleep. To create this music, researchers study a person's brain wave...Measles and pertussis risk higher for children with personal exemptions from immunization
. . .CHICAGO -- Children who are exempt from immunization for religious or philosophical reasons have a higher risk of measles and pertussis, according to an article in the December 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Parents and public health personnel should be aware of the risks involved in not vaccinating children and the potential impact on the community, the autho...Single-donor islet transplantation procedure shows promise for patients with type 1 diabetes
Patients with type 1 diabetes who received islet transplantation from a single donor pancreas were insulin independent one year later, according to a study in the February 16 issue of JAMA, a theme issue on medical applications of biotechnology....... Type 1 diabetes remains a therapeutic challenge, according to background information in the article. The success rate of islet (cells that produce...Government approach to cutting hospital stays may be misleading
Government plans to use community matrons to help keep older people out of hospital may be based on misleading data, warn researchers in this week's ....... The new plans aim to cut hospital stays by tracking admission rates among older patients and then using specially trained nurses to care for them at home. But Martin Roland and colleagues show that this approach could be seriously misleading...World-first living donor islet cell transplant a success
EDMONTON/KYOTO A University of Alberta and Capital Health surgeon, well known for his pioneering work in developing the Edmonton Protocol treatment for diabetes, has taken another important step in the fight against diabetes....... On January 19, at Kyoto University Hospital, Dr. Koichi Tanaka and Dr. James Shapiro, along with a team of Japanese surgeons, removed part of a 56-year-old woman's pa...Mayo Clinic researchers create 'obedient virus'; First step to use measles virus against cancer
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- An international team of Mayo Clinic-led researchers is first to devise a system that consistently converts the measles virus into a therapeutic killer that hunts down and destroys cancer cells -- and cancer cells only. Their research findings appear in the current issue of Nature Biotechnology ......The researchers harnessed the viral trait for attacking and commandeering ce...Genes in the interferon system important in SLE
Two genes with very strong associations with the disease SLE have been identified by a team of scientists headed by researchers at the Department of Medical Sciences at Uppsala University. The findings are being published today on the Web page of the highly prestigious American Journal of Human Genetics....... "These findings are probably the first genetic pieces of a huge 'interferon puzzle,' wi...Behavior and quality of life improve for children who receive treatment for obstructive sleep apnea
CHICAGO Behavioral and emotional difficulties are found in children with obstructive sleep apnea, but they improve after treatment, according to a study in the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals....... "Sleep-disordered breathing in children is most commonly caused by adenotonsillar hypertrophy [enlarged adenoids and tonsils], and...Insufficient sleep associated with overweight and obesity
CHICAGO Obese and overweight patients in a study group reported sleeping less than their peers with normal body mass indexes (BMIs), according to an article in the January 10 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.... ...Insufficient sleep causes neurocognitive changes such as excessive daytime sleepiness, altered mood, and increased risk for work-related injur...Sleeping less may be related to weight gain
EVANSTON, Ill. --- Lack of sleep could make you fat. In an editorial published in the Jan. 10 issue of the , two Northwestern University researchers stress the need to better understand the growing epidemic of obesity in the United States by studying how loss of sleep alters the complex metabolic pathways that control appetite, food intake and energy expenditure....... Commenting on two obesity...Society of Hospital Medicine selects John Wiley & Sons, Inc. to publish The Hospitalist Newsletter
The Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) has announced a new publishing agreement whereby global publisher John Wiley & Sons, Inc., will assume publication of the Society's newsletter, The Hospitalist, effective immediately. The Hospitalist is the Society's official member publication, providing the latest in clinical and industry news for hospitalists throughout the United States....... In additi...Thanks for the memories: cinematic portrayal of amnesia is profoundly misleading
The way the movies represent amnesia is profoundly misleading, and gives the general public a false view of what to expect if they are diagnosed with the condition, says a paper in this week's BMJ....... Analyzing a host of movies from the silent era up to the present day, the paper traces a number of regular misconceptions about the condition....... Most amnesics in films are able to function as...Inadequate sleep in late pregnancy may influence labor and delivery
A study by researchers at the UCSF School of Nursing has found that women who have less sleep or severely disrupted sleep in late pregnancy are significantly more likely to have longer labors and are more likely to have cesarean births....... Controlling for birth weight of the newborn, the researchers found that women who averaged less than six hours of sleep per night had significantly longer l...Daily social/physical activity improves sleep and cognition in the elderly
More than half of adults over the age of 65 have trouble sleeping, characterized by both lighter sleep and frequent awakenings during the night. A decline in cognitive function is common with advanced age, and research has shown that disturbed sleep in younger adults and in the elderly causes daytime sleepiness and negatively affects cognitive performance.... Now, a study by sleep researchers at...Gastrointestinal disorders are associated significantly with sleepless nights
ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers report in the current issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings an association between gastrointestinal disorders and sleep disturbances. The association is important because these problems cause significant health issues including greater need for general medical and mental health treatment.... ...It's estimated that nearly one-half of American adults experienc...Melatonin supplements offer little or no benefit for the sleep deprived - study says
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released information today about research on melatonin supplements. The research was conducted at the University of Alberta for the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative medicine. U of A researchers did a comprehensive review of all studies on the use of melatonin supplements to treat sleep disorders. Some of the highlights of thei...Sleep duration affects appetite-regulating hormones
............ ...Some of us, when awake in the middle of the night, feel an urge to visit the kitchen. This could explain results of previous studies that have shown a link between short sleep duration and high body mass index (BMI). But a study by Emmanuel Mignot and colleagues suggests that it's not just the additional snacking opportunities that make short sleepers more likely to be overweight...Sleep loss boosts appetite, may encourage weight gain
Researchers at the University of Chicago have found that partial sleep deprivation alters the circulating levels of the hormones that regulate hunger, causing an increase in appetite and a preference for calorie-dense, high-carbohydrate foods. The study, published in the 7 Dec. 2004 issue of the , provides a mechanism linking sleep loss to the epidemic of obesity....... Research subjects who sl...Does the lack of sleep make you fat?
The recent rise in obesity may be partly due to the reduced amount of time we spend asleep, according to new research from the University of Bristol, UK....... Dr Shahrad Taheri from Bristol University, and colleagues in the United States, examined the role of two key hormones that are involved in regulating appetite ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin increases feelings of hunger while leptin acts to s...Pitt research shows NASA sleep-wake scheduling guide may need to be changed
PITTSBURGH, Dec. 6 New research from the University of Pittsburgh shows the human body has difficulty adjusting to dramatic time changes such as those experienced by working shifts or traveling across time zones....... The NASA-funded study, detailed in this month's Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, was designed to examine the protocols the space agency uses to assign sleep-wake schedu...SIDS risk linked to lack of experience with tummy-sleeping
St. Louis, Dec. 6, 2004 -- Babies who never sleep on their stomachs don't learn behaviors that may lessen their risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found. Even so, the researchers caution that infants should always be placed on their backs to sleep.... ..."The first few times babies who usually sleep on their back...Promise for helping adults with dyslexia
Adults suffering from dyslexia can benefit from tutoring in processing words, and their brains show changes that indicate neural modifications due to the training, researchers have found. Guinevere Eden and her colleagues said that their studies indicate that adult dyslexics can be helped by training.... ...The findings are important, they wrote, because dyslexia accounts for 80% of all learning...Adults with dyslexia can improve with phonics-based instruction
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. New research shows that phonics-based instruction can actually change brain activity in adults with dyslexia, resulting in significant improvements in reading. The findings from a collaborative study by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and Georgetown University Medical Center were reported today in the journal Neuron.... ..."With about 112 hours of phonic-based i...Sleep disorders often indicate multiple health conditions
People who have difficulty sleeping at night or staying awake during the day may suffer from more than just a sleep disorder. According to a new study presented at CHEST 2004, the 70th annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), the majority of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and/or nonrestorative sleep have a high degree of attention...Sleep apnoea increases risks in general anaesthesia
Patients with obstructive sleep apnoea are at high risk of developing complications when having surgery under general anaesthesia, say researchers in this week's BMJ....... People with sleep apnoea temporarily stop breathing for 10 seconds or more during sleep. The typical sufferer is overweight and a heavy snorer. Obstructive sleep apnoea is the most common type, affecting 2% of women and 4% of...Biotech breakthrough in islet cell replacement for type 1 diabetes
Northwestern University has received a major grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) to advance technologies in the field of islet cell replacement for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.... Principal investigator on the $1.5 million JDRF program project is Dixon B. Kaufman, M.D., professor and vice chair of research in the department of surgery at Northwestern University Feinb...Tar measurements on cigarette packets are misleading
Labelling cigarette packets with tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide measurements is misleading and should be stopped, argue cancer experts in this week's BMJ....... The tar delivery of cigarettes is routinely measured with a machine and, with the exception of the United States, stated on every packet as a legal requirement in almost every country in the world. It is accompanied by measurement of n...Breathing problems during sleep may affect mental development in infants and young children
Children who have problems breathing during sleep tend to score lower on tests of mental development and intelligence than do other children their age, according to two studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Both studies appear in the October issue of Journal of Pediatrics....... The first study, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), f...Chest 2004 hosts world experts in pulmonary, sleep, and critical care medicine
Cardiopulmonary, sleep, and critical care experts from around the world will present the latest research related to clinical chest medicine during CHEST 2004, the multidisciplinary world congress on diseases of the chest, held October 23-28, in Seattle, WA.... ...The annual international scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) will host 500 national and internationa...Latest results from international islet transplant study confirm potential patient benefits
San Francisco (June 6, 2004) The Immune Tolerance Network today released updated results from its multicenter clinical trial of the Edmonton Protocol for islet transplantation. The results provide further confirmation that transplantation of pancreatic islet cells can safely and effectively eliminate the need for daily insulin injections in patients with type 1 diabetes. The expanded results, en...Calvin professor invents lymphedema sleeve
After Ellen Van't Hof survived a bilateral mastectomy, six months of chemotherapy and two months of radiation she thought the worst was behind her. ... ...And then she noticed her right arm was becoming swollen. The verdict: lymphedema, an accumulation of lymphatic fluid. The culprit: the removal of 21 lymph nodes and radiation on her right side as part of the treatment for her cancer.... ...Van'...Three Harvard Medical School endowed chairs named simultaneously in sleep medicine
Boston, MA - May 11, 2004 - Harvard Medical School (HMS) is taking steps to dramatically advance the field of Sleep Medicine through the simultaneous establishment of three endowed chairs all devoted to this emerging critical field of medicine. ......Joseph B. Martin, Dean of HMS, hailed today's announcement as an historic moment for the school and in the evolution of the field of Sleep Medicine....Experimental drug improves sleep in older patients, Wake Forest Baptist study shows
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. Older people with insomnia slept better and longer after taking an experimental sleep medication, according to research at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.... W. Vaughn McCall, M.D., a sleep expert, presented his findings today (May 6) at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in New York City. The study showed the drug, called eszopiclone,...Medical residents report sleep loss and fatigue take toll on learning, work and personal lives
In a new study, sleep researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and colleagues report sleep loss and fatigue affect medical residents in several ways, including learning, job performance and personal relationships. In addition, the study says 84 percent of the residents studied fall into a range calling for clinical intervention for sleep problems, based on a self-repor...Sleep apnea treatment could save lives & money by reducing auto accidents, according to researchers
Each year, potentially 980 lives could be saved and $11.1 billion in automobile-accident costs could be avoided if drivers who suffer from a disorder called obstructive sleep apnea were successfully treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), according to a study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. ......Published in the May 2004 iss...