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Recommendations for Treatment of Blood Pressue

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National High Blood Pressure Education Program (NHBPEP),USA, have come out with recommendations to treat Hypertension.Control of systolic blood pressure is as important as control of Diastolic blood pressure. This is a crucial message for health care providers, patients, and their families. For many years, the importance of low...

Blood Cells Capable of Regenerating Liver

Livers can be regenerated using stem cells from blood -- an important discovery that means patients may be able to grow their own liver transplants using bone marrow. This adds to a growing body of evidence that stem cells, known as "master cells" because they can produce a variety of different kinds of cells, might one day be manipulated to create custom-grown organ transplants....

Spirulina may be the next immune boost on the block

News is out that Spirulina may be the wonder drug we are all looking out for. According to Journal of Medicinal Food, Spirulina , significantly increases the cytokine production in cultured immune system cells. To evaluate the effects of spirulina on the immune system, immunologists at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center collected blood samples from 12 healthy volunteers and i...

Infant receives first bloodless liver transplant

An Iowa infant aged 7 months was the first recipient of a bloodless liver transplant in Los Angeles, the United States of America. The seven month old, Aiden Michael Rush, whose parents are Jehovah’s Witnesses are prohibited by their religion to receive transfusions. The boy received 20% of his mother’s liver during the transplantation on February 7th at the children’s hospital i...

Spouses and other partners lower blood pressure says new research

The May issue of Psychosomatic medicine reports that spending a little quality time with one's spouse and other partners seems to have a calming influence on a person's blood pressure. In a study that used portable monitors to track people's blood pressure, it turned out that the participants' pressure was lowest when they were with their partners, regardless of what they were doing....

Blocked viens block eye sight

"Occlusions in the retinal vein could not only make you loose your sight but even your eye". The pressure due to blocked veins is so painful that the eye may have to be removed. Researchers at the Stanford University California have devised a new instrument that uses a plasma to shoot tiny bullets of blockage-dissolving drugs into a clogged vein.// The tiny blood vessels that s...

H2O - a cure for low blood pressure

US researchers have found that a large glass of water may be the latest blood pressure drug for some patients. Investigators at Vanderbilt's Autonomic Dysfunction Center reported that water has a powerful blood pressure raising effect in patients who experience fainting spells while standing.// Blood pressure started increasing within two or three minutes after the water was ing...

Uncontrolled blood pressure

Among older people high blood pressure is poorly controlled. Drugs and lifestyle modification can help control high blood pressure (hypertension) yet these measures are not being taken by a majority of those who have the condition. At the Baylor School of Medicine, Houston, Texas, doctors have surveyed over 16,000 adults over 25 and found that 27 per cent had hypertension.//...

Nitric oxide involved in high blood pressure

High blood pressure causes inactivation of nitric oxide, a hormone involved in blood pressure control which worsens the problem. If high blood pressure is left untreated, it does not stay at one elevated level, but tends to spiral out of control. According to the researchers at the University of Texas, this study was conducted on rats and found that nitric oxide, which helps control blood...

Recouping blood flow after a stroke

The brain can grow new blood vessels after a minor stroke, which helps to restore blood flow in the damaged area. The brain tries to heal itself after a stroke. We know that people gradually recover lost functions - like speech and movement in many cases. Now a study in laboratory rats reveals that the blood supply of the brain can respond to stroke damage. Researchers at the Harvard...

Way to monitor blood pressure

Blood pressure measured during exercise is a better indicator of heart disease risk than blood pressure taken at rest. High blood pressure raises the risk of heart disease and stroke. Normally, doctors measure blood pressure when the patient is sitting quietly in their office. But researchers at University of San Diego now show that there could be a better way. Hence it has to be treated...

Blood clots likely in long travel

A new study has found that the risk of developing a blood clot in the lung - called a pulmonary embolism - increased with the duration of air travel.Like deep vein thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolisms are blood clots that are believed to be associated with long-distance travel. Frederic Lapostolle and colleagues, from Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny near Paris, studied all cases of pulm...

Drugs disrupt formation of blood vessels

Scientists have made a signficant step forward in their attempt to starve cancer tumours by stopping the growth of the blood vessels that feed them nutrients. Four drugs that disrupt angiogenesis - blood vessel formation - have been shown for the first time to be effective. It also provides the first indication that the drugs, known as angiogenesis inhibitors, vary in effectiveness depend...

Gene therapy - Aim to improve blood flow

Heart disease often means that areas of the heart muscle become poorly supplied with blood - this can lead to both painful angina attacks, and to heart attacks. If blood vessels could be encouraged to grow to reinforce the supply to the heart muscle, this could drastically improve quality of life. In diabetes, this is a frequent complication, and can lead to tissue death, and wounds which...

Hemochromatosis Patients' Blood is Safe

Blood donors with hemochromatosis, a disorder in which iron accumulates in organs and body tissues, do not pose a greater risk to blood safety than other donors, according to the results of a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). // Hemochromatosis patients are treated with periodic phlebotomies or "blood letting" to remove excess iron from their body....

Link Between High Blood Sugar And Behavioral Changes

Low blood sugar levels are known to cause cognitive and behavioral changes in diabetics, but results of a recent study show that high blood sugar // has a similar effect. The study showed that type 2 diabetics have impaired cognitive functioning and experience deterioration in mood when their blood sugar is high. Diabetics' bodies have difficulty controlling blood sugar levels due to in...

New Drug Effective for Low Blood Pressure

Patients with a condition called orthostatic hypotension have problems with sinking blood pressure when standing up from a sitting position.// Current treatments help increase blood pressure when standing but also cause blood pressure to soar when lying down, increasing the risk for stroke. Researchers say that a new drug application could help patients with low blood pressure. Blood pre...

Blood Donation is the most priceless gift

The Australian Red Cross Blood service as urged the Government staff and private employees to donate blood. The Corporate Donor Program which has been launched under the Co-ordination of Michael Sands has urged the Government //departments as well as Private companies to donate blood. Program co-coordinator has asked the employers of private organization to encourage their employees to do...

Craig Newschaffer of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

A new study in the US attributes the rise in autism cases the reason that schools are diagnosing autism more frequently.// It is not a sudden epidemic so to say. Study author Paul Shattuck of the University of Wisconsin at Madison said, there may be as yet unknown environmental triggers behind autism. Still his research suggested the past decade's rise in autism cases was more o...

New Drug ALT-711 decreases blood vessel stiffness

A novel drug that breaks down collagen bonds in the body's blood vessels significantly decreases the stiffness of vessels in older people, according to a study conducted by National Institute on Aging (NIA) scientists and others. The finding suggests the medication could be a new treatment for high blood pressure, heart failure, and certain complications of diabetes. The drug, ALT-711, sn...

Angiotensin-II-receptor blockers - Treat kidney failure

Drugs used to treat high blood pressure have been found to also help slow the progress of kidney failure. Three separate drug trials reveal that the angiotensin-II-receptor blockers, which include losartan and irbesartan, can be used to treat kidney failure, one of the commonest complications in diabetes. // In the first trial, carried out by doctors in Boston, USA, 1500 patients...

Aggressive blood pressure treatment needed

Those who are most at risk from high blood pressure have the most to gain from treatment - yet they are being neglected. Doctors are often reluctant to treat people with high blood pressure when they have other risk factors, like high cholesterol or diabetes. Maybe they believe little can be done when matters have reached the 'multiple risk factor' stage, or they may worry about lowering...

Blood transfusions beneficial after heart attacks

Doctors can save the lives of many elderly heart attack victims by quickly giving blood transfusions to those who have even mild anemia, a U.S. study found. Researchers said this advice, if widely adopted, could save thousands of people each year. Taking care of anemia is probably as important as giving aspirin, beta blockers or clot-dissolving drugs, which are already standard care for h...

Blood Pressure Drug may slow wasting in burn victims

A widely used blood pressure drug shows strong potential for slowing the metabolic overdrive that makes patients waste away after severe burns and other major injuries. In a study, researchers at Shriners Hospital for Children in Galveston, Texas, tried propranolol on 13 children with bad burns and left 12 untreated to compare. The drug, one of a class known as beta blockers, checks the s...

Levels Of Blood Proteins May Help Heart Disease Care

Levels of blood proteins may help decide the course of treatment for people with coronary artery disease (CAD), according to the results of two preliminary studies. CAD occurs when fatty deposits narrow the arteries that supply blood to the heart, and can lead to chest pain and heart attack. In the first study, researchers identified interleukin-6 (IL-6)//, an immune system protein t...

Borderline blood pressure- possible health risk

It is best to keep blood pressure at normal (120/80 mmHg). Better still, there is a benefit in keeping blood pressure as low as possible.High blood pressure is generally defined as a reading above 140/90 mm Hg and, if untreated, it raises the risk of stroke and heart attack. It's becoming increasingly clear that these figures don't represent a clear cut-off point below which there's no h...

Re-blockage of heart arteries prevented by vitamins

Vitamins are a bonus to everyone of us. The first ever study of the effect of B vitamins on heart disease shows a clear benefit. Angioplasty is a very widely used procedure for unblocking coronary arteries and so preventing heart attacks. It involves inserting a small balloon into the blood vessel and then inflating it to push the walls of the vessel apart. The problem is that in 20 per c...

FDA attacks American Red Cross for blood violations

The Food and Drug Administrations asked a federal judge to hold the American Red Cross in contempt of court for repeated safety violations in its blood collection program. FDA is acting today to ensure that the Red Cross takes much more seriously its role as guardian of the safety of the nation's blood supply, which is essential to the public health. // Despite a promise made by the R...

Salt reduction lowers blood pressure

According to a new study combining a diet rich in fruit and vegetables with decreased salt intake can lower blood pressure, even in those not suffering from hypertension. The DASH (Dietary Approached to Stop Hypertension) diet can lead to significant health benefits.// Previous research has shown it lowers blood pressure, low density lipoprotein (LDL) and levels of homocysteine, an amino...

No link between blood groups and prostate cancer

Men with blood group A are not likely to get prostate cancer than men with other blood groups, despite popular belief. According to some medical writers, your blood group affects your health.// In particular, men with blood group A are supposed to be more likely to develop prostate cancer and to get more aggressive forms of the disease. Hence it may be of big concern for men who have type...

Blood test may identify ovarian cancer

Some 23,300 American women are expected to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year, and the disease is expected to cause 13,900 deaths. It accounts for 4 percent of all cancers among women. A simple blood test may be able to identify ovarian cancer at its earliest stage. Currently, around three-quarters of women with ovarian cancer are diagnosed in advanced stages of the disease, when...

New device for detecting artery blockages

According to a recent study a device was found using new technology which helps prevent stroke. One important way of screening people for potential stroke involves looking, by ultrasound, at any blockages in the carotid arteries that serve the brain.// Researchers at Texas University in the US have pioneered the use of a portable device, based upon a technique called Power Doppler Imagi...

A Blood test for suicide risk?

How do you know when someone who talks about suicide will actually go through with it? Even experts have difficulty deciding which depressed patients need protection.Now American scientists believe that// they have found a way to assess risk: a blood test that checks glands controlling the stress hormone cortisol. Overactive glands may be a corollary to the mental turmoil that leads peo...

Vitamin E decreases high blood pressure in kidney failure

The antioxidant vitamin E was able to reduce high blood pressure in rats who had kidney failure. Researchers at the University of Texas, find that rats with impaired kidneys// and high blood pressure produce large amounts of damaging free radicals. This process, known as oxidative stress, now looks to play a key role in high blood pressure. In the latest study, they also show that giving...

Blood Pressure Drugs maintain muscle strength

Drugs used to reduce blood pressure could help to keep elderly people fitter for longer by slowing the physical decline that accompanies age.// ACE inhibitors prevent high blood pressure by blocking an enzyme that causes blood vessels to constrict. The drugs also help to preserve muscle strength in patients suffering from congestive heart failure (CHF). Researchers said the drug...

Blood test diagnoses heart failure in short time

Generally, doctors diagnose heart disease by taking a history of symptoms, a physical exam, an electrocardiogram, an ultrasound scan and blood tests to rule out other causes, such as kidney disease.// Even with all this, they are often wrong. A 15-minute blood test allows doctors to accurately find out whether patients with severe shortness of breath are suffering from congestive heart fa...

An inventive blood test for diabetes

According to a study from researchers, steadfast and simple blood test was done on people at high risk that readily detects diabetes in the doctor's surgery.// Around three per cent of the population may have undiagnosed diabetesputting themselves at increased risk of heart disease and kidney problems. The standard test involves measuring blood sugar and requires many hours of prior fasti...

Blood test can predict pre-eclampsia

A simple blood test can predict which women are at risk of pre-eclampsia, a complication of pregnancy, in time to prevent it before symptoms appear.// This study showed that a risk factor that can be detected many weeks before symptoms appear may be able to predict who will develop pre-eclampsia. Women who developed pre-eclampsia had higher-than-normal levels of a protein called SHBG earl...

Blood test may aid foretell Alzheimer's

According to study in University of Texas, a novel blood test can detect plaque buildup in mice brains, suggesting a possible new way to predict who might get Alzheimer's disease.Researchers at the School of Medicine in St. Louis said it is unclear whether a similar blood test would work in people, but the findings in the animal studies appeared promising.// Plaque buildup ruins brain...

Leptin connected to obesity blood clots

According to researchers, increased levels of the hormone leptin may explain why obese people seem to be more at risk of blood clotting// that causes heart attack and strokes.It is well known that being overweight or obese increases the risk of cardiovascular problems.Now researchers at the University of Michigan are one step closer to understanding why. They have turned the spotlight on...