ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Biomarker test for Peripartum Cardiomyopathy could help reduce death after giving birth
• Poor diuretic response associated with worse clinical outcomes
• Targeting heart failure may reduce readmissions, save lives, studies find
• Negative iron balance predicts acute heart failure survival
• Sleeping pills increase cardiovascular events in heart failure patients
• Five lung transplants performed at hospital in 24 hours
• Cognitive behavioral or relaxation training helps women reduce distress during breast cancer treatment
• Ataluren Phase 3 trial results in nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis
• How Asian American 'tiger mothers' motivate their children
• Non-invasive lithotripsy leads to more treatment for kidney stones
• Gender differences stand out in measuring impact of Viagra as therapy for heart failure
• With imprecise chips to the artificial brain
• Walking may have profound benefits for patients with kidney disease

Biomarker test for Peripartum Cardiomyopathy could help reduce death after giving birth Posted: 17 May 2014 05:58 AM PDT Cardiologists have discovered biomarkers that can be used to develop a screening test to detect Peripartum Cardiomyopathy (PPCM), a life-threatening disorder that is the primary cause of mortality in pregnant women in developing countries. The results can lead to the immediate treatment of PPCM in new mothers and a significant reduction in mortality.

Poor diuretic response associated with worse clinical outcomes Posted: 17 May 2014 05:58 AM PDT Poor diuretic response is associated with worse in-hospital and post-discharge clinical outcomes, results of the a trial reveal. The study also found that serelaxin has a neutral effect on diuretic response. The trial was a double blind, placebo-controlled trial of 1161 patients admitted to hospital with acute heart failure. Patients were randomized to receive 48-hour infusions of placebo or serelaxin (30µg/kg per day) within 16 hours from presentation. Primary analysis of the study showed that serelaxin reduced dyspnoea and decreased 180 day mortality.

Targeting heart failure may reduce readmissions, save lives, studies find Posted: 17 May 2014 05:58 AM PDT Worsening symptoms and signs of heart failure (HF) in patients admitted to a hospital is a common sign of treatment failure and can lead to long-term consequences for the patient, including longer length of hospitalization and a higher risk for readmission and death, according to a recent study. Heart failure is the most common reason for admission to hospital in people over 65 years old and affects millions of people each year.

Negative iron balance predicts acute heart failure survival Posted: 17 May 2014 05:58 AM PDT Negative iron balance predicts survival in patients with acute heart failure, according to research. "Patients with acute heart failure have a major collapse in homeostasis. Iron is a key micronutrient that is required for the maintenance of homeostasis. Iron is needed for cellular metabolism and deficiency leads to severely impaired energy metabolism and mitochondrial dysfunction," the first author said.

Sleeping pills increase cardiovascular events in heart failure patients Posted: 17 May 2014 05:58 AM PDT Sleeping pills increase the risk of cardiovascular events in heart failure patients by 8-fold, according to research. The investigators concluded: "Our results need confirmation in larger, prospective studies before heart failure patients can be advised to stop taking sleeping pills. But (some) patients who use sleeping pills, particularly those who have sleep disordered breathing, should be carefully monitored."

Five lung transplants performed at hospital in 24 hours Posted: 17 May 2014 05:58 AM PDT Five successful lung transplants were performed at one American hospital in just over 24 hours. Put in perspective, five is the average number of lung transplants performed each day throughout the entire country. The patients, all doing well, are a teacher, a judge, an executive director, a grandmother and an extraordinary young woman who beat very long odds to undergo a second lung transplant in three years.

Cognitive behavioral or relaxation training helps women reduce distress during breast cancer treatment Posted: 16 May 2014 05:33 PM PDT Can psychological intervention help women adapt to the stresses of breast cancer? It appears that a brief, five-week psychological intervention can have beneficial effects for women who are dealing with the stresses of breast cancer diagnosis and surgery. Intervening during this early period after surgery may reduce women's distress and providing cognitive or relaxation skills for stress management to help them adapt to treatment.

Ataluren Phase 3 trial results in nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis Posted: 16 May 2014 05:33 PM PDT The results of a Phase 3 study of ataluren in patients with nonsense mutation cystic fibrosis have been published, demonstrating positive trends in both the primary endpoint, lung function as measured by relative change in percent predicted FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in one second) and in the secondary outcome measure, rate of pulmonary exacerbations.

How Asian American 'tiger mothers' motivate their children Posted: 16 May 2014 05:32 PM PDT An article titled 'Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,' published in The Wall Street Journal in 2011, has continued to provoke a cultural debate among parents after self-proclaimed 'tiger mother' Amy Chua asserted that Asian American parenting methods produce more successful children. Researchers delved deeper into Chua's 'tiger mother' approach, and their research sheds light on key fundamental differences in parenting methods between Asian Americans and European Americans.

Non-invasive lithotripsy leads to more treatment for kidney stones Posted: 16 May 2014 05:32 PM PDT When it comes to treating kidney stones, less invasive may not always be better, according to new research. In a direct comparison of shock wave lithotripsy vs. ureteroscopy -- the two predominant methods of removing kidney stones -- researchers found that ureteroscopy resulted in fewer repeat treatments.

Gender differences stand out in measuring impact of Viagra as therapy for heart failure Posted: 16 May 2014 05:32 PM PDT Sildenafil, the erectile dysfunction drug sold as Viagra and now under consideration as a treatment for heart failure, affects males and females very differently, new animal studies by cardiovascular researchers strongly suggest. In female mice modeling human heart failure, the benefits of sildenafil ranged from robust to practically nonexistent, depending on the animals' levels of the hormone estrogen, says a researcher. In male mice, sildenafil generally appears to work well, but only because it targets a different biological process independent of estrogen, he says.

With imprecise chips to the artificial brain Posted: 16 May 2014 05:29 PM PDT Which circuits and chips are suitable for building artificial brains using the least possible amount of power? A surprising finding: Constructions that use not only digital but also analog compact and imprecise circuits are more suitable for building artificial nervous systems, rather than arrangements with only digital or precise but power-demanding analog electronic circuits.

Walking may have profound benefits for patients with kidney disease Posted: 15 May 2014 02:33 PM PDT Among patients with chronic kidney disease who were followed for an average of 1.3 years, those who walked for exercise were 33% less likely to die and 21% less likely to need dialysis or a kidney transplant. Physical inactivity is common among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The researchers found that the presence of other, or comorbid, conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes was similar between walking and non-walking patients.

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