Archive for February, 2019

Impact of E-cigarette flavorings on blood vessels

How the study was done

To carry out this study, researchers set up several lab tests where they examined what happened to endothelial cells to various e-cigarette flavorings.

These are cells commonly found in the arteries and veins. The impact of different concentrations was tested with popular flavorings like butter, banana, mint, eucalyptus, clove, cinnamon, vanilla, and burnt.

All these flavorings were found to damage cells under high concentrations during the lab tests. Vanilla, mint, burnt, clove and cinnamon impaired the production of nitric oxide. This molecule is necessary for preventing inflammation and clotting such that blood vessels can widen when blood pressure is too high.

Blood Pressure Associated with Lesions

 A study was published in the journal Neurology in which the researchers asserted that individuals with brain areas where tissues were dead due to limited blood supply likely suffered from brain disease. The autopsied brain also indicated the presence of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Zoe Arvanitakis said that “high blood pressure has already been associated with dementia and stroke. However, the focus of our study was on linking different values of blood pressure with more factors rather than just the common stroke and dementia.”

Looking at brain tissue

Blood pressure measures the force of blood flow in our capillaries, arteries, and veins. When this force is too great, the pressure is said to be high while too weak force is an indicator of low blood pressure.

CVD-Screening with Arm Resting

A study was done with the aim of determining whether it is viable to screen for CVD with resting or exercise ECG in asymptomatic adults at intermediate or high risk of CVD events.

Members of USPSTF involved in the study found that evidence was limited with regards to whether one should be tested for CVD with the arm resting or at an exercise. These recommendations are in line with 2018 recommendations by the task force.

CVD Risk Assessment

Clinical settings commonly use the resting ABI test to detect the presence or absence of PAD. It’s important to note that the results obtained are normally varied with regards to the kind of measurement protocol used. In this method, the systolic blood pressure at the ankle is divided by the brachial artery in a patient who lies down. If the ratio is not more than one (<0.9), an individual is said to be in the abnormal range of the scale.

High risk of cardiometabolic in China

Aihua Jia from the Department of Endocrinology at Xijing Hospital which is based in Xi’an, China and the colleagues published in the study background that populations with normal weight obesity are often neglected and the reason being that they do not have obvious change when it comes to the body shape.

However, it has been reported by a number of studies that there is an increase in cardiovascular risks in a population with normal-weight obesity, and this may also increase the risk of death caused by cardiovascular disease-disease in the elderly people.

What Causes Medical Errors?

 By estimation, about 100,000 to 200,000 deaths per year are contributed by medical errors, this is according to the explanation that was issued by the Institute of Medicine.

Burnout is a condition of emotional exhaustion or depersonalization that is very common with more than half of doctors, as revealed by the study.

The scope of the study

Physicians countrywide were surveyed by the researchers with the aim of understanding the relationship that exists between major medical errors and burnout in their careers.

Trauma suffered in childhood echoes across generation

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles and published in Pediatrics, found that there is an increment in the risk of behavioral problem and mental health in both the people and their young ones due to the trauma event in their childhood.

“Whatever you experience in your early-life, particularly stressful or traumatic events may result into intergenerational consequences of a great impact on your children behavior and mental health,” said the lead author, Adam Schickedanz, a clinical instructor in Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Baby gut bacteria essential for protecting the baby

Internal and external parts of our bodies. By estimation, about 100 trillion microbes live in our guts, and according to the scientists belief, these may Microbes of an important role to play in our health overall and the risk of developing diseases.

The bacteria that constitutes a baby’s gut microbiome are very important when it comes to developing the immune system of the baby. This is according to the authors of the studies which was published in the journal of the Microbiome.

What is involved in cancer screening?

The Cytology-based Pap smear entails searching for cancer or precancer cells by performing a test on cells that are taken from the lower end of a woman’s uterus known as cervix.

Cytology or cytopathology is a term used to refer to the process of diagnosing diseases just by looking at single cells and small clusters of cells.

Cervical cancer and HPV

Apart from cancer cells, a test can also be carried out on the woman’s cervix to determine the presence of certain high-risk type of HPV that can result into cancers which includes cervical cancer.