Deficient regulators in the immune system responsible for type 1 diabetes
The main regulators of the immune system, called CD4+Treg cells, are thought to be highly involved in a large range of immune diseases. The gradual reduction in their regulating capacity seems to play a critical role in the onset of type 1 diabetes, as demonstrated in the latest study by Dr. Ciriaco Piccirillo, a researcher in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and the principal investigator for this project. This study was published this month in the journal Diabetes.
The immune system needs to be regulated so that it attacks only the site of an inflammation and focuses its attack on pathogens rather than on the body tissues, causing an autoimmune disease.
In a healthy patient, CD4+Treg cells deactivate any T lymphocytes, a type of immune cell, that are misprogrammed and could attack the body. Dr Piccirillo’s research indicates that in type 1 diabetic patients this control mechanism may be deficient, thereby allowing the misprogrammed T lymphocytes to proliferate and gain the ability to destroy the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. This leads to type 1 diabetes.
Women, Children Face Higher Cancer Risk from CT Scans
The lifetime risk of cancer associated with radiation exposure from a computer tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) varies widely, but women and younger patients appear to be at increased risk, according to the July 18 Journal of the American Medical Association.
CTCA, which combines 64 images to produce cross-sectional views of the heart and coronary arteries, has been predicted to be the diagnostic tool of choice for patients with a high risk of developing coronary artery disease. Little data, however, are available on CTCA and its associated cancer risk from radiation exposure.
Researchers led by Andrew J. Einstein, MD, PhD, found that the lifetime attributable risk of cancer incidence associated with radiation exposure varied with age, sex, and scan protocol. Lifetime cancer risk estimates for standard cardiac scans ranged from one in 143 for women for a 20-year-old woman to one in 3,261 for an 80-year-old man.
When AVIAN INFLUENZA Fills the ED, WILL THE STAFF SHOW UP?
When AVIAN INFLUENZA (or SARS or Bioterrorism) Fills the ED, WILL THE STAFF SHOW UP?
When the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with the group Trust for America’s Health, issued a report in late October citing serious gaps in preparedness for an avian flu epidemic, at least one medical group had already beaten them to the punch, if unofficially.
Nearly a week earlier, at the Scientific Assembly of the American College of Emergency Physicians, the results of an ACEP poll showed a majority of those surveyed believe their own emergency departments are unlikely to fully meet the demand of a such an outbreak. In interviews, several of them speculated on the reasons why, ranging from a suspected dearth of specialty support to a paucity of essential equipment.
Promising Treatment for Cocaine
A treatment for cocaine’s effects on the human cardiovascular system has been discovered, according to a report in the August 14 Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center led by Wanpen Vongpatanasin, MD, examined results from 22 healthy adults who reported to have never used cocaine. The researchers administered a small medically approved dose of cocaine nose drops to the subjects, which doubled their sympathetic nerve activity, resulting in increased heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular resistance. Subjects were then either treated with dexmedetomidine, a drug currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for anesthetic purposes, or intravenous saline as a placebo.
