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Obesity and Depression Are Linked, Say Researchers

2010-03-09T02:13:12Z

Obesity appears to be linked with an increased risk of depression, say researchers, and the link also works in the other direction.

Floriana S. Luppino and a team of researchers at Leiden University Medical Center and GGZ Rivierduinen, Leiden, the Netherlands, analyzed the results of 15 previous studies involving 58,745 participants which examined the relationship between depression and obesity over time.

"We found bidirectional associations between depression and obesity: obese persons had a 55% increased risk of developing depression over time, whereas depressed persons had a 58% increased risk of becoming obese. The association between depression and obesity was stronger than the association between depression and overweight, which reflects a dose-response gradient," said the authors.

The researches also found that the link between obesity and later depression was stronger among Americans than among Europeans and stronger for diagnosed depressive disorder compared with depression symptoms.

Although the causes for the obesity-depression link are uncertain, the authors discussed several possible theories, including the following:

Obesity is an inflammatory state and inflammation increases the risk of depression.
Obesity contributes to body dissatisfaction and low-esteem, putting the overweight individual at risk for depression.
Depression may increase weight by either interfering with the endocrine system or through antidepressant side effects.

The authors suggest that doctors treating patients with either depression or obesity should be aware of the link so that they can engage in preventative care and detect problems early.

Obesity and Depression Are Linked, Say Researchers originally appeared on About.com Depression on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 00:00:09.

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Calcium, vitamin D pills don't help heart: study

2010-03-09T02:13:12Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Don't expect your calcium and vitamin D supplements to improve your heart health or prevent a stroke, according to a systematic review of published studies. (Source: Reuters: Health)

Lose Sleep, Gain Weight: Another Piece of the Obesity Puzzle

2010-03-09T02:13:12Z

Is modern technology, and the pressures it brings, to blame for the obesity epidemic?
Environmental Health Perspectives

Natural killer cell cytotoxicity in patients with recurrent herpes infections: diagnostic utility of a flow cytometric assay

2010-03-09T02:13:12Z

Background

Primary immune deficiencies of natural killer (NK) cells have been described in patients with a susceptibility to herpes infections.

Aims

To assess the diagnostic utility of measurement of NK cytotoxicity in patients with recurrent oral herpes infections.

Methods

A retrospective audit was carried out on results obtained over an 18-month period, from 28 NK cell cytotoxicity assays (24 patients; all with a history of recurrent oral herpes infections), and 24 control samples (three healthy donors). Percentage specific cytotoxicity (PSC) was determined by measurement of the percentage of K562 target cells lysed by NK cells after incubation, using the NK TEST. Comparison of PSC was made with reference ranges provided.

Results

No patient with absent NK/NKT cells or NK cell cytotoxicity was identified (95% CI 0 to 14.8%). Two patients had persistently low PSC. Two patients with reduced PSC showed PSC within the normal reference range on repeat testing. Patient and control samples were seen both above and below the reference ranges. A relationship was expected between NK cell percentage and PSC; however this correlation was not significant (r _s=0.29, p=0.18, 95% CI –0.14 to 0.63).

Conclusions

A deficiency of NK cell cytotoxicity has not been identified in this cohort. An apparent reduction in cytotoxicity may be due to normal interpersonal and intersample variability in NK cytotoxicity. Without reference ranges established from a large population of control samples to account for this, a reduction in PSC is difficult to define. Further studies are required to identify if a correlation exists between the percentage of NK cells and PSC.

METOPROLOL TARTRATEinjection, Solution [Hospira, Inc.]

2010-03-02T07:01:01Z

Updated Date: Mar 1, 2010 EST

From hoaxes to all-too-real heartbreak, a gripping dispatch from a 999 ambulance control centre

2010-03-02T07:01:01Z

The caller said she was dying of a heart attack. The truth? she just wanted us to fetch her TV remote. A typical day for an ambulance operator.

Resisting arrest: a switch from angiogenesis to vasculogenesis in recurrent malignant gliomas

2010-03-02T07:01:01Z

The cellular and molecular events that initiate and promote malignant glioma development are not completely understood. The treatment modalities designed to promote its demise are all ultimately ineffective, leading to disease progression. In this issue of the JCI, Kioi et al. demonstrate that vasculogenesis and angiogenesis potentially play distinct roles in the etiology of primary and recurrent malignant gliomas, suggesting that patient therapy should perhaps be tailored specifically against the predominant vasculature pathway at a given specific stage of gliomagenesis.

Inhibition of vasculogenesis, but not angiogenesis, prevents the recurrence of glioblastoma after irradiation in mice

2010-03-02T07:01:01Z

Despite the high doses of radiation delivered in the treatment of patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the tumors invariably recur within the irradiation field, resulting in a low cure rate. Understanding the mechanism of such recurrence is therefore important. Here we have shown in an intracranial GBM xenograft model that irradiation induces recruitment of bone marrow–derived cells (BMDCs) into the tumors, restoring the radiation-damaged vasculature by vasculogenesis and thereby allowing the growth of surviving tumor cells. BMDC influx was initiated by induction of HIF-1 in the irradiated tumors, and blocking this influx prevented tumor recurrence. Previous studies have indicated that BMDCs are recruited to tumors in part through the interaction between the HIF-1–dependent stromal cell–derived factor–1 (SDF-1) and its receptor, CXCR4. Pharmacologic inhibition of HIF-1 or of the SDF-1/CXCR4 interaction prevented the influx of BMDCs, primarily CD11b⁺ myelomonocytes, and the postirradiation development of functional tumor vasculature, resulting in abrogation of tumor regrowth. Similar results were found using neutralizing antibodies against CXCR4. Our data therefore suggest a novel approach for the treatment of GBM: in addition to radiotherapy, the vasculogenesis pathway needs to be blocked, and this can be accomplished using the clinically approved drug AMD3100, a small molecule inhibitor of SDF-1/CXCR4 interactions.

An ibuprofen a day could keep Parkinson's disease away, study suggests

2010-02-23T07:01:06Z

New research shows people who regularly take ibuprofen may reduce their risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a new study.

Parkinson's disease research uncovers social barrier

2010-02-23T07:01:06Z

People with Parkinson's disease suffer social difficulties simply because of the way they talk, researchers have discovered. Many people develop negative impressions about individuals with Parkinson's disease, based solely on how they communicate.

iPhone applications are a helping hand in fighting pandemics

2010-02-23T07:01:06Z

PHILADELPHIA - A tap on the HealthMap iPhone application brings up a cluster of red pins on a map, representing nearby cases of swine flu. Another tap brings up a form for ordinary Americans to add to the collection by reporting bouts they have or know about.

An Ibuprofen A Day Could Keep Parkinson's Disease Away

2010-02-23T07:01:06Z

New research shows people who regularly take ibuprofen may reduce their risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study released that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010. The research involved 136,474 people who did not have Parkinson's disease at the beginning of the research...