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| August 31, 2013 | ||||||||||
| AMSTERDAM -- The European Society of Cardiology kicked off its 5-day meeting with a press conference touting numbers: 32,000 attendees -- including 28,000 clinicians -- and will hear findings from more than 4,000 studies, including a record number of Hot Line trials. ESC program chair, Keith Fox, MBChB, of the University of Edinburgh, previews the meeting highlights in this exclusive On the Scene video. | ||||||||||
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Saturday, August 31, 2013
ESC: Largest CVD Congress Opens
Friday, August 30, 2013
Aging memory
Researchers Discover Potential Clue behind Age-Related Memory Decline
Scientists from Columbia University improve memory in elderly mice after pinpointing a gene for senescent forgetfulness
When a loved one starts to forget names, faces, appointments or other details, waiting for the correct diagnosis can be agonizing.Image: ThinkStock
Forgetfulness is accepted as a natural part of getting older, but it might not have to be. Scientists say they have identified an important biological mechanism in the brain that underlies the sorts of memory lapses that come with age. The condition is familiar to just about anyone who has lived more than a few decades and is often marked by frustrated utterances like “Where did I park the car?” and “What am I doing here?”
The latest research, which was reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine,provides further support of the idea that this kind of forgetfulness is distinct from Alzheimer’s disease, and offers clues to how we might someday prevent or even reverse age-related memory decline.
The early stages of Alzheimer’s disease can be difficult to distinguish from the typical memory loss that accompanies aging. When a loved one starts to forget names, faces, appointments or other details, waiting for the correct diagnosis can be agonizing. The current study, led by Eric Kandel, a neuropsychiatrist at Columbia University who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000 for his work on memory, might one day lead to a diagnostic test for common forgetfulness. The results could help to rule out Alzheimer’s disease earlier—before more unmistakable symptoms begin to appear—and “save people anxiety when they begin to have memory deficits,” Kandel says.
From a neurological point of view, Alzheimer’s disease and age-related memory decline both begin in the hippocampus, a structure in the brain that is involved in converting memory from short-term to long-term. But the problems caused by Alzheimer’s start in a section of the hippocampus called the entorhinal cortex and then spread to other parts of the brain whereas the trouble with age-related memory decline seems to affect primarily a part of the hippocampus called the dentate gyrus. Autopsy studies to date suggest that the latter is mostly untouched in Alzheimer’s patients.
In the first phase of their study Kandel and his team examined the brains of eight recently deceased people aged 33 to 88 who did not have any neurological disorders. The investigators looked for changes in gene activity that corresponded with signs of aging in the dentate gyrus but not in the surrounding tissue. After singling out 17 potentially responsible genes they found one—the gene for a protein called RbAp48—that seemed more promising than the others because levels of the protein were so much lower in the dentate gyri of the brains donated by elderly individuals.
The results of the brain tissue examination established a correlation between low RbAp48 levels and memory decline, but the researchers still could not tell if the drop was the reason behind the memory deficit in the first place, or if the presence of both was simply a matter of coincidence. To answer that question, the researchers tested the memory of mice that had been genetically engineered to be deficient in RbAp48./.../
Mais médicos...
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e-cigarettes
ADVERTISING
E-Cigarette M E-cigarettes
akers’ Ads Echo Tobacco’s HeydayElectronic cigarettes may be a creation of the early 21st century, but critics of the devices say manufacturers are increasingly borrowing marketing tactics that are more reminiscent of the heady days of tobacco in the mid-1900s.
With American smokers buying e-cigarettes at a record pace — annual sales are expected to reach $1.7 billion by year’s end — e-cigarette makers are opening their wallets wide, spending growing sums on television commercials with celebrities, catchy slogans and sports sponsorships. Those tactics can no longer be used to sell tobacco cigarettes, but are readily available to the industry because it is not covered by the laws or regulations that affect the tobacco cigarette industry. The e-cigarette industry is also spending lavishly on marketing methods that are also still available to their tobacco brethren, including promotions, events, sample giveaways and print ads./.../
The Blu eCigs brand recently added the actress Jenny McCarthy to its roster of star endorsers.
By STUART ELLIOTT
August 29, 2013
Electronic cigarettes may be a creation of the early 21st century, but critics of the devices say manufacturers are increasingly borrowing marketing tactics that are more reminiscent of the heady days of tobacco in the mid-1900s.
With American smokers buying e-cigarettes at a record pace — annual sales are expected to reach $1.7 billion by year’s end — e-cigarette makers are opening their wallets wide, spending growing sums on television commercials with celebrities, catchy slogans and sports sponsorships. Those tactics can no longer be used to sell tobacco cigarettes, but are readily available to the industry because it is not covered by the laws or regulations that affect the tobacco cigarette industry. The e-cigarette industry is also spending lavishly on marketing methods that are also still available to their tobacco brethren, including promotions, events, sample giveaways and print ads.
With American smokers buying e-cigarettes at a record pace — annual sales are expected to reach $1.7 billion by year’s end — e-cigarette makers are opening their wallets wide, spending growing sums on television commercials with celebrities, catchy slogans and sports sponsorships. Those tactics can no longer be used to sell tobacco cigarettes, but are readily available to the industry because it is not covered by the laws or regulations that affect the tobacco cigarette industry. The e-cigarette industry is also spending lavishly on marketing methods that are also still available to their tobacco brethren, including promotions, events, sample giveaways and print ads.
synaptic pruning
 The New York Times has an obituary for child neurologist Peter Huttenlocher, who surprised everyone by finding that the human brain loses connections as part of growing into adulthood.
Huttenlocher counted synapses - the connections between neurons - and as a paediatric neurologist was particularly interested in how the number of synapses changed as we grow from children to adults.
Before Huttenlocher's work we tended to think that our brain's just got more connected as we got older, but what he showed was that we hit peak connectivity in the first year of life and much of brain development is actually removing the unneeded connections.
This is know as synpatic pruning and it was demonstrated with this graph from classic 1990 paper.
I love this graph for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's a bit wonky. It was hand-drawn and whenever it is reproduced, as it has been in many textbooks, it's always a bit off-centre.
Secondly, it's crystal clear. It's a graph showing the density of synaptic connections in thevisual cortex of the human brain and you can see it's rapidly downhill from the first year of life until the late teens where things start to even out.
This is a good thing as the infant brain starts over-connected but loses anything that isn't needed as we learn which skills are most needed, and we are left with only the most efficient neural connections, through the experience of growing up.
One of Huttenlocher's discoveries was that this process of synaptic pruning may go wrong in people who have neurodevelopmental disorders.
Link to NYT obituary for Peter Huttenlocher.
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Thursday, August 29, 2013
Parkinson’s Disease
Promising First Test to Detect Parkinson’s Disease
Getty Images/Huntstock / Getty Images/Huntstock
Often, the first signs of the disease are symptoms such as tremor in the fingers, chin or lip, loss of smell or a more rigid facial expression. Now an encouraging new test may help to diagnose Parkinson’s before those symptoms appear, when treatments might be more effective.
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania report in the journal JAMA Neurology that certain proteins appearing the spinal fluid may be the key to identifying affected patients early in the disease process, long before symptoms set in. The results, which came from the five-year Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), are the first to find so-called biomarkers unique to Parkinson’s patients./.../
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2013/08/27/promising-first-test-to-detect-parkinsons-disease/#ixzz2dP5J2qUx
CBT and Stress
How Stress Can Make Therapy Sessions More Effective
Getty Images / Getty Images
Therapy is all about learning how to cope and manage difficult situations better, but sessions may not always equip patients with the practical tools they need to face challenges when they occur.
In fact, the latest research suggests that just when self-control is critical—such as during frightening or traumatic situations— stress impairs the parts of the brain that are essential for staying rational. That means that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) — the most effective talk therapy for treating anxiety disorders and depression — can fail patients just when they need these coping skills the most./.../
Tylenol Overdoses
J&J Tries New Cap to Curb Fatal Tylenol Overdoses
(WASHINGTON) — Bottles of Tylenol sold in the U.S. will soon bear red warnings alerting users to the potentially fatal risks of taking too much of the popular pain reliever. The unusual step, disclosed by the company that makes Tylenol, comes amid a growing number of lawsuits and pressure from the federal government that could have widespread ramifications for a medicine taken by millions of people every day.
Johnson & Johnson says the warning will appear on the cap of each new bottle of Extra Strength Tylenol sold in the U.S. in October and on most other Tylenol bottles in coming months. The warning will make it explicitly clear that the over-the-counter drug contains acetaminophen, a pain-relieving ingredient that’s the nation’s leading cause of sudden liver failure. The new cap is designed to grab the attention of people who don’t read warnings that already appear in the fine print on the product’s label, according to company executives./.../
Saúde Urbana
A apresentação da profa. Maria Inês Reinert Azambuja no 2º Encontro do Ciclo de Saúde Ambiental da Associação Brasileira de Engenharia Sanitária (ABES), ocorrido em 27/08, encontra-se em nossa página (www.ufrgs.br/saudeurbana, na aba Produção científica, em apresentações). (links abaixo)
Apresentações
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
“I HAVE A DREAM”
ZH 28 de agosto de 2013 | N° 17536
Sonho de Luther King faz 50 anos
Atos estão programados nos Estados Unidos como momento de reflexão sobre igualdade racial
Em 28 de agosto de 1963, o pastor e líder na luta pelos direitos civis dos negros Martin Luther King proferiu a frase mais célebre de um histórico discurso: – Eu tenho um sonho.
Exatos 50 anos depois, os americanos refletem sobre conquistas e retrocessos no âmbito da igualdade racial durante a semana de comemoração de aniversário da marcha em Washington na que o reverendo batista da Geórgia fez a comunidade branca prestar atenção, pela primeira vez, na injusta política segregacionista que então dominava os Estados Unidos.
Apresentado no evento como “líder moral da nação”, King subiu ao púlpito montado no Lincoln Memorial, assistido atentamente por 250 mil pessoas. Os discurso, que durou 16 minutos, tornou-se seu epitáfio após seu assassinato por um franco-atirador branco na varanda do Motel Lorraine, em Memphis, Tennessee, em 4 de abril de 1968.
– Pela primeira vez, uma grande audiência branca ouviu a inegável justiça das reivindicações dos negros – disse Julian Bond, presidente da Associação Nacional para o Progresso das Pessoas de Cor, em entrevista à revista Smithsonian.
Hoje, dia do aniversário, os sinos de todas as igrejas dos Estados Unidos soarão enquanto o presidente Barack Obama discursará da mesma escadaria em que King foi ouvido em 1963. Os ex-presidentes Bill Clinton e Jimmy Carter confirmaram presença no discurso de Obama, criticado por não investir o suficiente na solução de questões raciais.
Outros eventos estão programados em todo o país. No sábado, cerca de 150 mil pessoas devem se reunir no National Mall, também em Washington, para relembrar a Marcha sobre Washington por Trabalho e Liberdade, evento em que King fez seu discurso histórico. Martin Luther King III, filho do pastor, estará presente, com o procurador-geral Eric Holder e a família de Trayvon Martin, o adolescente morto no ano passado na Flórida por um segurança de bairro que foi absolvido das acusações e acabou por reacender o estigma racial nos EUA.
Exatos 50 anos depois, os americanos refletem sobre conquistas e retrocessos no âmbito da igualdade racial durante a semana de comemoração de aniversário da marcha em Washington na que o reverendo batista da Geórgia fez a comunidade branca prestar atenção, pela primeira vez, na injusta política segregacionista que então dominava os Estados Unidos.
Apresentado no evento como “líder moral da nação”, King subiu ao púlpito montado no Lincoln Memorial, assistido atentamente por 250 mil pessoas. Os discurso, que durou 16 minutos, tornou-se seu epitáfio após seu assassinato por um franco-atirador branco na varanda do Motel Lorraine, em Memphis, Tennessee, em 4 de abril de 1968.
– Pela primeira vez, uma grande audiência branca ouviu a inegável justiça das reivindicações dos negros – disse Julian Bond, presidente da Associação Nacional para o Progresso das Pessoas de Cor, em entrevista à revista Smithsonian.
Hoje, dia do aniversário, os sinos de todas as igrejas dos Estados Unidos soarão enquanto o presidente Barack Obama discursará da mesma escadaria em que King foi ouvido em 1963. Os ex-presidentes Bill Clinton e Jimmy Carter confirmaram presença no discurso de Obama, criticado por não investir o suficiente na solução de questões raciais.
Outros eventos estão programados em todo o país. No sábado, cerca de 150 mil pessoas devem se reunir no National Mall, também em Washington, para relembrar a Marcha sobre Washington por Trabalho e Liberdade, evento em que King fez seu discurso histórico. Martin Luther King III, filho do pastor, estará presente, com o procurador-geral Eric Holder e a família de Trayvon Martin, o adolescente morto no ano passado na Flórida por um segurança de bairro que foi absolvido das acusações e acabou por reacender o estigma racial nos EUA.
Extremophiles
| Extremophiles | |
|---|---|
 Extremophiles are microorganisms that thrive in environments with extreme conditions, such as high or low temperatures or pH levels, high salt concentration, or high pressure. Found in hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, they produce the vivid colors of some hot springs. Due to extremophiles' ability to thrive in conditions detrimental to most life on Earth, some scientists theorize that they may reflect what life may be like on other planets. How are extremophiles used industrially?More... | |
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