29, May 2014

Asthma may lead to bone loss

People suffering from asthma may be more prone to bone loss as researchers have now discovered links between asthma and a decrease in bone mineral density.

"We know prolonged use of corticosteroids in the treatment of asthma is a risk factor of osteoporosis, but we have not had definite data showing the relationship between asthma itself and bone loss," explained Jae-Woo Jung of Seoul National University Medical Research Centre in South Korea.

"This study has shown a meaningful association between the two conditions even in the absence of previous oral corticosteroid use," Jung added.

For the study, researchers examined more than 7,000 patients, 433 of which had airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) or asthma.

Lumber spine and femur bone density was significantly lower in those with AHR or asthma, than those without the conditions, showed the findings of the research.

"Reasons can include corticosteroid use, low levels of vitamin D or even race," said John Oppenheimer, an associate editor of the journal Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology that published the study.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

29.05.2014

Stiff arteries alone can cause high BP

In what could open a new debate on what actually causes high blood pressure, a team of scientists have suggested that stiff arteries can be the main culprit.

In experiments over a computer model of a 'virtual human', they found that stiff arteries alone are enough to cause high blood pressure.

"The arterial stiffness represents a major therapeutic target. This is contrary to existing models, which typically explain high blood pressure in terms of defective kidney function," explained Klas Pettersen, a researcher at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

When blood pressure travels down the aorta from the heart, a special group of cells in the aortic wall, called baroreceptors, sense the pressure in this stretch of the aortic wall and send signals with this information to the nervous system.

If the blood pressure is too high, these cells send stronger signals and the body is able to lower blood pressure.

However, if the aorta gets stiffer, as typically happens with age, this stretch of the aorta is not as sensitive as it once was in measuring blood pressure.

With the stiffening of the wall that follows ageing, these sensors become less able to send signals that reflect the actual blood pressure.

"Our mathematical model predicts the quantitative effects of this process on blood pressure," Pettersen emphasised.

If this is proven right, "arterial stiffness and baroreceptor signaling will become hotspot targets for the treatment of high blood pressure and the development of new medicines and medical devices", said Stig W. Omholt from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The model predictions were compared with data on the health history of 74,000 people, including blood sample collection from 65,000 people, said the study recently published in PLOS Computational Biology.

High blood pressure affects more than one billion people worldwide. But doctors cannot fully explain the cause of 90 per cent of all cases.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

29.05.2014

A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words