BP of 150/90 new normal
for people over 60
New guidelines suggest that people over
60 can have a higher blood pressure than previously
recommended.
Until now, people were told to strive for blood pressures below 140/90, with some taking multiple drugs to achieve that goal.
Until now, people were told to strive for blood pressures below 140/90, with some taking multiple drugs to achieve that goal.
But the guidelines committee, which spent five years reviewing evidence, concluded that the goal for people over 60 should be a systolic pressure of less than 150. And the diastolic goal should remain less than 90.
Systolic blood pressure, the top number, indicates the pressure on blood vessels when the heart contracts. Diastolic, the bottom number, refers to pressure on blood vessels when the heart relaxes between beats.
Essentially, the committee determined that there was not strong evidence for the blood pressure targets that had been guiding treatment, and that there were risks associated with the medications used to bring pressures down.
The committee, composed of 17 academics, was tasked with updating guidelines last re-examined a decade ago.
The group added that people over 60 who are taking drugs and have lowered their blood pressure to below 150 can continue taking the medications if they are not experiencing side effects.
But, it cautioned, although efforts to lower blood pressure have had a remarkable effect, reducing the incidence of strokes and heart disease, there is a difference between lowering blood pressure with drugs and having lower pressure naturally.
The report has been published online in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
20.12.2013
High sugar ups breast
cancer risk
If you are obese or diabetic and have not yet had your
breasts examined, it's time to visit the doctor.
Scientists have now discovered why high bloodsugar coupled with diseases such as obesity and diabetes can raise the risk of breast and other cancers.
Scientists have now discovered why high bloodsugar coupled with diseases such as obesity and diabetes can raise the risk of breast and other cancers.
Mina Bissell, distinguished scientist with Berkeley Lab's Life Sciences Division, and her Japanese co-researchers Yasuhito Onodera and Jin-Min Nam, have shown that a dramatic increase in sugar uptake could transform normal cells into cancer cells.
"Furthermore, through a series of painstaking analysis, we have discovered two new pathways through which increased uptake ofglucose could itself activate other oncogenic pathways. This discovery provides possible new targets for diagnosis and therapeutics," said Bissell, a leading authority on breast cancer.
The three scientists examined the expression of glucose transporter proteins in human breast cells. The focus was on the glucose transporter known as GLUT3, the concentrations of which they showed are 400 times greater in malignant than in non-malignant breast cells.
The study was carried out using a 3D culture assay -- an investigative or analytic procedure in labs -- developed earlier by Bissell and her group for mouse mammary cells and later with her collaborator, Ole Petersen, for human breast cells. The assay enables actual reproduction of breast cells to form structural units and for malignant cells to form tumour-like colonies.
"Our work highlights the importance of the context in studying pathways involved in tissue-specificity and disease, and sheds additional light on the relationship between metabolic diseases and cancer," Onodera explained.
The study also confirmed the efficacy of anti-diabetic drugs, such as metformin -- which lower blood glucose levels -- in lowering cancer risks and mortality.
The results of the study have appeared in the latest edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
20.12.2013
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