Metabolic Syndrome Predicts Progressive Kidney Disease in African-Americans
For African-Americans with high blood pressure, the combination of risk factors known as metabolic syndrome brings an increased risk of worsening kidney disease, reports a paper being presented at the American Society of Nephrology’s 39th Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego.
“Our study shows a 38 percent increased risk of progressive chronic kidney disease in hypertensive African-Americans classified as having the metabolic syndrome,” comments Dr. J. P. Lea of Emory University, lead author of the new study. “This has important public health implications, as treatments are available to reduce the severity of the metabolic syndrome and may have an impact on reducing the rate of progressive kidney disease.”
Death risk higher in obese kidney transplant cases
Obese individuals who undergo kidney transplantation are more likely to die and have a poor outcome than their nonobese counterparts, Dutch researchers report.
“Past studies looking at the effect of obesity on transplantation outcomes have yielded conflicting results,” senior author Dr. Andries Hoitsma, from the University Medical Center St. Radboud in Nijmegen, told Reuters Health. “The strength of our study is the large sample size.”
The study, reported in the November issue of Transplant International, included 196 obese patients with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 and 1871 nonobese patients. Obese patients were more likely to be female and were typically older than nonobese patients.
Heart valve grown from amniotic stem cells
Stem cells extracted from amniotic fluid can be induced to grow on a polymer scaffold into a fully functional human heart valve that will open and close like a native valve, Swiss researchers report. The process may eventually find application in infants with damaged heart valves.
At the American Heart Association’s 2006 Scientific Sessions, Dr. Simon P. Hoerstrup of University Hospital of Zurich described his group’s findings from experiments with amniotic fluid-derived stem cells seeded onto leaflet-shaped biodegradable scaffolds.
Teenagers drinking themselves into hospital
The number of children admitted to hospital because of alcohol abuse has jumped over 20 percent in the last five years, with ambulance crews regularly picking up kids who have drunk themselves senseless.
According to NHS figures, up to 20 youngsters a day are being diagnosed with conditions ranging from alcohol poisoning to excessive drinking that cause behavioural disorders.
The worrying statistics were obtained by the BBC’s Panorama programme which will be broadcast on Sunday.
Depressed Seniors in Primary Care Benefit Most From Team Approach
Depressed older adults being treated in primary care settings do better with psychosocial therapies than with antidepressant medicines, suggests a new review of evidence.
Furthermore, older adults with depression have the best response when these cognitive-behavioral therapies are delivered by interdisciplinary health teams, say reviewers led by psychologist Karyn Skultety.
