Day: October 14, 2022

Categories : Cardiovascular Disease Medical Research & TechnologyTags : Leave a comment

Discovery Could Lead to Blood Pressure Drugs with Fewer Side Effects

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Researchers at the University of Virginia have identified a key contributor to hypertension that could lead to new treatments with fewer side effects. Their findings were published in the journal Circulation.

The discovery, from scientist Swapnil Sonkusare, PhD, and colleagues, sheds new light on blood pressure regulation and how problems with this critical biological process drive hypertension.

Blood pressure is partly controlled by calcium levels in smooth muscle cells that line blood vessel walls. Smooth muscle cells take in calcium and use it to regulate the contraction of blood vessels as needed. Hypertension is commonly treated with calcium blockers that reduce the movement of calcium, but since multiple organs also use this calcium mechanism, these drugs have many side effects. So a treatment option that targets the harmful effects of calcium but not its beneficial effects could be very helpful for patients with hypertension.

Dr Sonkusare and his team discovered two critical signalling centres in smooth muscle cells that bring in calcium and regulate blood pressure. These ‘nanodomains’, the researchers found, act like symphony conductors for blood vessels, directing them to contract or relax as needed. These signalling centres, the researchers determined, are a key regulator of healthy blood pressure.

Further, the UVA scientists found that disruptions in this process contribute to high blood pressure. In both mouse models of the disease and hypertensive patients, the fine balance between constrictor and dilator signalling centres is lost. This caused the blood vessels to become too constricted, driving up blood pressure.

“Our work identifies a new mechanism that helps maintain healthy blood pressure and shows how abnormalities in this mechanism can lead to hypertension,” said Dr Sonkusare. “The discovery of a new mechanism for elevation of blood pressure could provide therapeutic targets for treating hypertension.”

The research identifies a “new paradigm in hypertension,” according to an accompanying editorial. The editorial says UVA’s “innovative” discoveries fill “major gaps” in our understanding of the fundamental molecular causes of high blood pressure.

The new findings help us better understand how our bodies maintain proper blood pressure and provide enticing targets for scientists seeking to develop treatments targeting underlying causes of hypertension. Developing treatments that do not affect the beneficial effects of calcium will require additional research and a deeper understanding of the calcium-use process, but Dr Sonkusare’s team is already working toward that goal.

“We’ve shown that smooth muscle cells use ‘spatial separation’ of signalling centres to achieve constriction or dilation of arteries. We are now investigating the individual components of these signalling centres,” Dr Sonkusare said. “Understanding these components will help us target them to lower or raise the blood pressure in disease conditions that show high or low blood pressure, respectively.”

Source: University of Virginia

Categories : Gender NeurologyTags : Leave a comment

Do Women Have the Edge in Remembering Words?

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Women are popularly believed at being better at finding and remembering words than men, but are the popular science textbooks which proclaim this actually correct? If so, this has relevance for tests such as measures of dementia. Researchers investigated this supposed difference, publishing their findings in Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Marco Hirnstein, professor at The University of Bergen, Norway, is unequivocal about the results. “Women are better. The female advantage is consistent across time and life span, but it is also relatively small.”

Prof Hirnstein is interested in how biological, psychological, and social factors contribute to sex/gender differences in cognitive abilities and what the underlying brain mechanisms are.

“So far, the focus has mostly been on abilities, in which men excel. However, in recent years the focus has shifted more towards women,” said Prof Hirnstein.

Textbooks and popular science books take it for granted that women are better at finding words. For example, when naming words that begin with the letter “F,” or words that belong to a certain category like animals or fruits. It has also been considered “fact” that women are better at remembering words.

Yet, the actual findings are much more inconsistent than textbooks imply: Some studies find a female advantage, some find a male advantage, some do not find any advantage.

“Most intellectual skills show no or negligible differences in average performance between men and women. However, women excel in some tasks, while men excel in others on average.”

Prof Hirnstein and his colleagues point out how their findings can be useful in diagnosis and in healthcare. The results help to clarify whether the female advantage is real but also have relevance for for interpreting the results of diagnostic assessments.

For example, to diagnose dementia, knowing that women are generally better in those tasks is critical to not under-diagnose women, due to their better average, baseline performance and not over-diagnose men. Currently, many but not all assessments take sex/gender into account.

The researchers conducted a meta-analysis of the available literatures, encompassing more than 500 measures from more than 350,000 participants. The researchers found that women are indeed better. The advantage is small but consistent across the last 50 years and across an individual’s lifespan.

Moreover, they found that the female advantage depends on the sex/gender of the leading scientist: Female scientists report a larger female advantage, male scientists report a smaller female advantage.

Source: University of Bergen

Categories : Injury & TraumaTags : Leave a comment

Medical Glue Inspired by Marine Animals could Stop Haemorrhages

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Red blood cells
Source: Pixabay

Every year around two million people die worldwide from haemorrhage, which accounts for more than 30% of trauma deaths. Medical glue, often used to stop the bleeding, is ineffective if the site is too wet or if the site can’t be compressed. But marine animals like mussels and flatworms are able to bond to surfaces underwater, inspiring researchers to develop a medical adhesive, which they describe in Nature Communications.

“When applied to the bleeding site, the new adhesive uses suction to absorb blood, clear the surface for adhesion, and bond to the tissue providing a physical seal. The entire application process is quick and pressure-free, which is suitable for non-compressible haemorrhage situations, which are often life-threatening,” says lead author Guangyu Bao, a recently graduated PhD student under the supervision of Professor Jianyu Li of Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Testing out the their new technology, the researchers found that the adhesive promotes blood coagulation. The adhesive can also be removed without causing re-bleeding or even left inside the body to be absorbed. “Our material showed much better-improved safety and bleeding control efficiency than other commercial products. Beyond bleeding control, our material could one day replace wound sutures or deliver drugs to provide therapeutic effects,” said senior author Professor Jianyu Li.

Source: McGill University

Categories : PaediatricsTags : Leave a comment

After Sepsis, Children are at Risk of New Medical Conditions

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Even months after being critical ill with sepsis, children are at risk for new or worsening medical conditions, suggests a study in JAMA Pediatrics. The researchers found that a fifth of children in a nationwide US cohort either developed or experienced progressing disease within six months of leaving the intensive care unit for sepsis.

Researchers compared data from 5150 children who received ICU care for sepsis to 96 361 who experienced critical illness from other conditions. Those with sepsis were more likely to later experience chronic respiratory failure, problems requiring nutritional dependence and chronic kidney disease. Both groups also had a risk of developing a seizure disorder.

“Children who survive severe sepsis are at risk of long-term health consequences that impact their quality of life and future health needs,” said lead author Erin Carlton, MD, MSc, a paediatric intensivist at University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

Not all children who recover from critical illness from sepsis are impacted equally, the study suggests. Those with pre-existing illnesses were three times more likely to experience new or worsening disease.

Meanwhile, younger children, especially under twelve months old, were twice as likely to require supplemental nutrition, such as needing a feeding tube, or develop a new seizure condition such as epilepsy, than older children.

Sepsis, where an out-of-control immune response to infection damages vital organs, is a leading cause of death among children and newborns. In the US, 70 000 children in the are hospitalised with sepsis annually.

“Many children who require critical care for sepsis have debilitating physical, cognitive or emotional challenges long after recovery,” Dr Carlton said. “Our findings suggest a need for improved follow up care focused on identifying and treating new or worsening medical conditions.”

Source: Michigan Medicine – University of Michigan