Dogs ease anxiety, improve health status of hospitalized heart failure patients
...rt state anxiety inventory. Levels of the stress hormone epinephrine dropped an average 14.1 picograms/mL or 17 percent in the volunteer-dog team group; 2 percent in the volunteer-only group; and rose an average of 7 percent in the at-rest group. Pulmonary capillary wedge, the measurement of left atrial ...High-sugar diet pushing some Latino kids toward type 2 diabetes
...an explains, beta cells in the pancreas create the hormone insulin in response to sugar from food. Cells in the body's tissues need sugar, or glucose, for energy; insulin helps cells grab and take up glucose circulating in the blood. Sometimes, though, the body's cells gradually become resistant to the effec...Penn research permits first-ever visualization of psychological stress in the human brain
...- and measured the corresponding changes in stress hormone and heart rate. Many subjects described themselves as being "flustered, distracted, rushed and upset" by the stress task. The results showed increased cerebral blood-flow during the "stress test" in the right anterior portion of the brain (prefro...Psychologists glimpse biological imprint of childhood neglect
...lect, might influence types of child behavior. Why hormone levels vary between children who've suffered similar neglect patterns is another potential area of exploration....The therapeutic role of melatonin in cancer worthy of study
...eutic role in a variety of cancers. Melatonin is a hormone naturally found in humans. Its association with cancer has been shown in many studies assessing links between shift work and cancer rates, and shown a consistent relationship. The association between melatonin levels and cancer progression has sugg...Drug may combat weight loss during radiation treatments
... megestrol acetate, a synthetic form of the female hormone progesterone. The drug was originally used as an anti-hormonal treatment for breast cancer and was found to induce weight gain as a side effect. Later studies showed the drug's effectiveness as an appetite stimulant for patients with HIV, chronic dis...Mental stress may be another culprit in raising cholesterol levels in healthy adults
...aseline levels of cholesterol levels, gender, age, hormone replacement, body mass index, smoking or alcohol consumption. The authors found no sex differences among the participants in their cholesterol levels and response to stress. Steptoe and Brydon speculate on the reasons why acute stress responses may ...Thyroid condition associated with increased heart failure risk among older adults
...fers to patients who have an elevated level of the hormone thyrotropin, also known as thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), and a normal level of the hormone thyroxine (T4). The prevalence of SH increases with age, a...Dialysis patients may be overmedicated due to unreliable blood test
...n a widely used assay (blood test) for parathyroid hormone (PTH) have made its use with the established guidelines for end stage renal disease clinical management both inappropriate and potentially harmful to patients. This research is published in the journal Seminars in Dialysis. A PTH assay measures leve...Hormone aldosterone is promising target for stroke treatment
A bi-polar hormone that can contribute to strokes and minimize their ... the solution. Scientific momentum surrounding the hormone secreted by the adrenal gland prompted the journal to ask Dr. Dorrance to write the article, "Aldost...Study demonstrates role of exercise in modifying melatonin levels
...er, may do so because it increases production of a hormone believed to have protective effects against the di...activity, influence the production of melatonin a hormone released mainly at night in the absence of light and believed to protect against breast cancer. The ...Battle of the bulge: Why losing weight is easier than keeping it off for good
...reduced state as one of relative deficiency in the hormone leptin. To test their hypothesis, the authors administered "replacement" doses of leptin to lean individuals that had recently lost weight as well as to obese individuals. The authors found that most of the metabolic, neuroendocrine, and autonomic ch...JCI table of contents: December 1, 2005
...reduced state as one of relative deficiency in the hormone leptin. To test their hypothesis, the authors administered "replacement" doses of leptin to lean individuals that had recently lost weight as well as to obese individuals. The authors found that most of the metabolic, neuroendocrine, and autonomic ch...Chemical used in food containers disrupts brain development
...nown to act as an artificial estrogen, the primary hormone involved in female sexual development, BPA has alr...hat remains unclear, he said, is how inappropriate hormone signaling, or blocking the normal signaling at a critical time during development, will influence la...Animal research suggests perimenopause is a critical time for women's health
...invited to summarize his extensive research on how hormone levels affect health. His work has focused primari...iovascular health after menopause is influenced by hormone levels many years earlier," said Kaplan. "Our monkey studies showed that a deficiency of estrogen be...Trust-building hormone short-circuits fear in humans
... Mental Health (NIMH) has discovered. Scans of the hormone oxytocin's effect on human brain function reveal that it quells the brain's fear hub, the amygdala, and its brainstem relay stations in response to fearful stimuli. The work at NIMH and a collaborating site in Germany suggests new approaches to treat...Testosterone therapy may help elderly men with mild Alzheimer's disease
...ve found significantly lower concentrations of the hormone in middle-aged and elderly men who developed AD. Po H. Lu, Psy.D., from the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a 24-week, randomized study to evaluate the effects of testosterone therapy o...Radiotherapy improves 15-year survival after breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy)
...in long-term survival produced by chemotherapy and hormone therapy (see EBCTCG, Lancet 2005; 365:1687). Although guidelines in America and Europe already recommend radiotherapy after breast-conserving surgery they are not always followed. This is partly because of the side-effects of radiotherapy, and partl...Artificial light at night stimulates breast cancer growth in laboratory mice
...n breast tumors by suppressing the levels of a key hormone called melatonin. The study also showed that exten... suppresses the brain's production of melatonin, a hormone that helps to regulate a person's sleeping and waking cycles. The new study shows that melatonin als......unds, particularly a synthesized metabolite of the hormone melatonin, all inhibit an enzyme called inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), which is needed to produce nitric oxide (NO). NO, a signaling molecule that can activate the immune system, plays an important role in the brain, according to the researc...