CPAP therapy improves symptoms of depression in OSA patients
Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who also suffer from depression often find that continued use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) relieves them of symptoms of depression, according to a study published in the October 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM).
Daniel J. Schwartz, MD, of The Sleep Center at University’s Community Hospital in Tampa, Fla., surveyed patients referred to his sleep center for evaluation of OSA and who demonstrated a significant response to CPAP. The subjects were evaluated for symptoms of depression, were assessed again after four to six weeks of treatment with CPAP and then reassessed approximately one year later.
Animal food allergens unmasked
The relatedness of an animal food protein to a human protein determines whether it can cause allergy, according to new research by scientists from the Institute of Food Research in Norwich and the Medical University of Vienna.
In theory all proteins have the potential to become allergens, but the study found that in practice the ability of animal food proteins to act as allergens depends on their evolutionary distance from a human equivalent.
Leading researchers to reveal comprehensive dos and don’ts for prostate cancer
Today at the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Annual Scientific Retreat, researchers will share new findings on how eating common foods such as tomatoes and fish, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding meats cooked at high temperatures may help prevent prostate cancer, and help men live healthier and longer after diagnosis. One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and an estimated 218,890 cases will occur in The United States this year.
Since the 1980s, researchers have hypothesized that nutrition choices could be connected to prostate cancer. Today, those ideas are being substantiated by more widespread studies, in combination with newer technologies in gene research.
Statins reduce loss of function, keeping old lungs young - even in smokers
Statins are known to be good for lowering cholesterol and maybe even fighting dementia, and now they have another reported benefit: they appear to slow decline in lung function in the elderly— even in those who smoke. According to researchers in Boston, it may be statins’ anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that help achieve this effect.
Their findings were published in the second issue for October in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Cigarette Smoking May Accelerate Disability in Those with MS
Persons with multiple sclerosis who smoke risk increasing the amount of brain tissue shrinkage, a consequence of MS, and the subsequent severity of their disease, new research conducted at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC) at the University at Buffalo has shown.
The results are based on magnetic resonance images (MRIs) of smokers and nonsmokers in 368 MS patients treated in UB’s Jacobs Neurological Institute, the university’s Department of Neurology in its School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
