Lowering cholesterol with drugs good
for heart: Study
Washington: A popular but controversial
cholesterol drug called Ezetimibe has been
found to lower the number of cardiovascular events
by 6.4 percent when administered with another cholesterol drug, a new research
says.
"The question that everyone had
was, would this added lowering of LDL cholesterol translate into a real
clinical benefit," said cardiologist Christopher Cannon from the Brigham
and Women's Hospital in the US.
"The answer is yes," Cannon
added.
The trial that Cannon presented at the
American Heart Association's meeting in Chicago, Illinois, Monday had enrolled
more than 18,000 patients and took nine years to complete.
Ezetimibe reduces cholesterol absorption by inhibiting the
activity of a protein called NPC1L1, which transports free cholesterol into cells.
When combined with a
statin, another cholesterol-lowering drug, Ezetimibe lowered cholesterol by an
extra 20 percent compared to the statin alone, a report in the scientific
journal Nature stated. In 2008, researchers found that the drug Ezetimibe had
no impact on the thickness of artery walls in the neck and thigh - a measure of
fatty plaque build-up.
This plaque build-up is
thought to contribute to heart disease by restricting blood flow.
Hopes for Ezetimibe were bolstered last week when a genetic
analysis of 7,364 people with heart disease and 14,728 controls found that
people who had a rare mutation that inactivates the NPC1L1 protein had lower
LDL cholesterol levels and a lower risk of coronary heart disease.
"The study affirms the central role of intensive LDL
reduction in the prevention of recurrent cardiovascular events," said Neil
Stone, a cardiologist at the Northwestern University in Chicago. But Stone
warned that the trial was carried out in high-risk patients, a common practice
used to boost the likelihood of cardiovascular events.
"The data does not
speak of the use of Ezetimibe in patients with low risk," he added.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
19.11.2014
Night shift workers more prone to developing obesity: Study
New Delhi: A new study
suggests that night shift workers may be more susceptible to developing
obesity.
Researchers believe that disrupted circadian clocks are the
reason that shift workers experience higher incidences of obesity and even
diseases like cancer and type 2 diabetes.
The body's primary circadian clock, which regulates sleep and
eating, is in the brain, but other body tissues also have circadian clocks,
including liver, which regulates blood glucose levels. If circadian clocks are
continuously disrupted, it may lead to obesity in shift workers.
The new study analysed 14 healthy adults over a six-day
period.
For the first two days,
the participants followed a normal schedule sleeping at night and staying awake
during the day. They then transitioned to a three-day shift work schedule when
their routines were reversed.
"When people are on a shift work-type schedule, their
daily energy expenditure is reduced and unless they were to reduce their food
intake, this by itself could lead to weight gain," said Kenneth Wright,
director of University of Colorado Boulder`s Sleep and Chronobiology Laboratory
and senior author of the paper.
The reduction is probably linked to the mismatch between the
person`s activities and their circadian clocks, said Wright. "Shift work
goes against our fundamental biology," Wright, also an associate professor
of integrative physiology, said in a statement.
"Shift work
requires our biological day to occur at night and our biological night to occur
during the day and that`s very difficult to achieve because the sun is such a
powerful cue. We can have some change in our clock -- a couple of hours -- but
then on days off, it goes right back. Shift workers never adapt."
The research team, however, was surprised to find that the
study participants burned more fat when they slept during the day compared to
when they slept at night.
The study is
published in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
19.11.2014
Don’t talk, just act .Don’t say, just show.Don’t promise, just prove
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