New study shows low-fat diets more likely to reduce risk of heart disease than low-carb diets

... the researchers found reduced flow-mediated dilation in the arm artery in participants who were on the ... disease. On the other hand, flow-mediated dilation improved significantly in participants on the ... a reduction in brachial artery flow-mediated dilation after six weeks of weight loss on a ...

Pulmonary hypertension in children may result from reduced activity of gene regulator

... injuries, may help these infants restore a healthy balance of blood vessel dilation and contraction, preventing the remodeling that transforms flexible blood ... blood vessel lining sets in motion the resulting imbalance of contraction, dilation and more. When a heart defect is the cause, pulmonary hypertension ...

Decreasing insulin resistance prevents obesity-related cardiovascular damage

... Obese mice show impaired nitric oxide dilation, a defect corrected by deleting PTP1B. Obese humans also show evidence of impaired blood vessel dilation and vascular remodeling. In an effort to figure out how, the researchers will look at blood flow, blood pressure and vascular remodeling in the PTP1B ...

Friend or foe? How the body's clot-busting system speeds up atherosclerosis

... researchers found that the urokinase-type plasminogen activator produced by macrophages speeds up the growth of atherosclerotic plaques and promotes dilation of the root of the aorta, one of the heart's major blood vessels. The presence and activation of plasminogen were required for the biochemical ...

UCSF researchers identify virus behind mysterious parrot disease

... The team, led by UCSF professors Joseph DeRisi, PhD, and Don Ganem, MD, also has developed a diagnostic test for the virus linked to Proventricular dilation Disease, or PDD, which will enable veterinarians worldwide to control the spread of the virus. Results of the study will be published in Virology ...

Hyperviscous fluids: Better treatment for severe blood loss

... flow through tissues. These findings also are consistent with recent discoveries showing that higher shear forces of more viscous blood leads to dilation of small blood vessels. Treating blood loss is a critical medical issue because trauma is the leading cause of death among North Americans 1 to ...

MIT-led teams unravel heparin death mystery

... breath, and abdominal pain. The researchers found that the contaminant activates two inflammatory pathways: one that initiates blood clotting and dilation of the blood vessels, and one that produces anaphylactic toxins. The first leads to a dangerous decrease in blood pressure, the second a serious ...

Diabetes makes it hard for blood vessels to relax

... the amino acid, L-citrulline, as well as statins, compounds known to lower cholesterol, prevent elevation of arginase activity, restoring normal dilation abilities in animal models of type 1 diabetes. In fact, L-citrulline can be recycled into L-arginine. Now they want to know specific factors and ...

UVa biomedical engineering study shows magnetic field can reduce swelling

... implying that the magnetic field could induce vessel relaxation in tissues with constrained blood supply, ultimately increasing blood flow. dilation of blood vessels is often a major cause of swelling at sites of trauma to soft tissues such as muscles or ligaments. The prior results on vessel ...

Expecting an afternoon nap can reduce blood pressure

... the night before. The volunteers wore equipment that checked blood pressure, heart rate, and forearm cutaneous vascular conductance (which determines dilation of blood vessels). During one afternoon session, the volunteer spent an hour resting, lying face-up in bed. During another session, the volunteer ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Sept. 26, 2007

... potential new migraine medications that may be safer and more effective than existing drugs. A class of compounds called triptans, which target dilation of brain arteries, now are the mainstays for fighting migraines. Although effective, they tend to work slowly and carry risks for individuals with ...

News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience

... pictures. In order to decrease the associated emotion, subjects were instructed to imagine, for example, a happy out come for a negative image. Pupil dilation provided a measure of arousal. During the reappraisal, nondepressed subjects showed increased activity in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas ...

Statin treatment improves spatial memory in mouse models of Alzheimer's

... in the hippocampus of the statin treated animals than in the cortex. nNOS is responsible for the release of nitric oxide, a substance that causes dilation of the blood vessels in the brain, which eventually will increase blood flow and improve circulation to the memory region of the brain. These ...

Nitric oxide: Key to cardiovascular and pulmonary function and drug effectiveness

... lose their effectiveness over time. Nitric oxide is a molecule produced by the body that controls many functions, including the contraction or dilation of blood vessels. New experiments conducted by Duke University Medical Center and Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have shown that ...

Boosting brain power -- with chocolate

... increased activity in specific areas of the brain in individuals who had consumed a single drink of flavanol-rich cocoa. The effect is linked to dilation of cerebral blood vessels, allowing more blood ?and therefore more oxygen ?to reach key areas of the brain. Flavanols are not only found in ...

Heart smart: new drug improves blood flow

... more, as the number of free radicals increases, they also interfere with the ability of the cells lining arteries to control the contraction and dilation of the arteries," Dr. Schmidt says. "The arteries stiffen and get blocked." When a blockage occurs, the cells lining the arteries produce nitric ...

Device effective in zapping the pain out of migraines

... results." It was previously believed that migraine headaches start with vascular constriction, which results in an aura, followed by vascular dilation that will lead to a throbbing headache. However, in the late 1990s it was instead suggested that neuronal electrical hyper excitability resulted in a ...

Discovery Promises Simpler Therapy for Sickle Cell Disease

... of blood vessels by distorted, or "sickled," and rigid red cells, Stamler said. The new findings, for the first time, implicate abnormal vessel dilation by the red cells themselves in oxygen deficiency. That oxygen deficiency, in turn, may result in sickling and, ultimately, the irreversible ...