Sodium is essential for myriad biological processes including fluid balance and muscle contraction. However, too much sodium can have harmful effects such as increasing blood pressure. Consequently, reducing sodium intake is an important health message. Because processed foods contribute the majority of dietary sodium, reducing their sodium content and overall sodium consumption are often emphasized as public health goals. There is a wide range of sodium content among processed foods, however, which makes it difficult to monitor sodium consumption.
Body
Physical activity appears to be associated with a reduced risk or slower progression of several age-related conditions as well as improvements in overall health in older age, according to a commentary and four articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Newborns of women who smoked during pregnancy show signs of circulatory dysfunction in the first few weeks of life that get worse throughout the first year, Swedish researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The blood pressure response to tilting the infants upright during sleep — a test of how the body copes with repositioning — was dramatically different in infants born to smoking mothers compared to those born to nonsmoking parents.
BOSTON—In a newly published clinical trial, patients with metastatic prostate cancer who received a vaccine of harmless poxviruses engineered to spur an immune system attack on prostate tumor cells lived substantially longer than patients who received a placebo vaccine, report researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and affiliated organizations. The findings will be published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology on its Web site and later in a print edition.
Scientists have identified a gene family that plays a key role in one of the earliest stages of development in which an embryo distinguishes its left side from the right and determines how organs should be positioned within the body. The finding in mice likely will lead to a better understanding of how certain birth defects occur in humans.
The study is published in the January 24, 2010, advance online issue of the journal "Nature Cell Biology."
COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the help of effective drug therapies, HIV patients are living longer, healthier lives. Now, researchers want to improve these drug therapies and develop alternative preventative strategies, such as vaginal gels and creams that contain the same or related compounds used in treatments for people infected with HIV. A University of Missouri researcher is developing a compound that is more potent and longer-lasting than current HIV therapies.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. —Researchers at MIT and Rockefeller University have successfully grown hepatitis C virus in otherwise healthy liver cells in the laboratory, an advance that could allow scientists to develop and test new treatments for the disease.
Investigators have identified a new disease mechanism and therapeutic approach for a type of advanced kidney disease that is a common cause of complications in patients with lupus. The study was led by investigators at Hospital for Special Surgery and appears in the January 25 online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers in Manchester have successfully carried out the first rewire of genetic switches, creating what could be a vital tool for the development of new drugs and even future gene therapies.
A team of scientists from the School of Chemistry and the Manchester Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) at The University of Manchester have found a way of hijacking so-called 'riboswitches' and directing gene activity.
New research that significantly improves our understanding of how insulin interacts with cells in the human body is published today.
The study could have major implications for the development of treatments for Type I diabetes.
By developing and analysing a range of super active insulins, scientists from the York Structural Biology Laboratory at the University of York have been able to identify common features that point to the likely molecular structure of human insulin when it is active in the body.
NEW YORK (Jan. 25, 2010) -- Preserving organs on ice prior to transplantation, an approach known as cold storage or CS, has been the standard practice in liver transplant for 20 years. Now there is new evidence that a technique called hypothermic machine perfusion (HMP) may offer an improvement, according to the first-ever study comparing the impact of the two techniques on transplant outcomes.
X-rays can do a lot of useful things -- detect broken bones, tumors and dental cavities, analyze atoms in diverse materials and screen luggage at airports -- but who knew they could cause crystals to form?
INDIANAPOLIS – Research from a five-year international clinical study shows that acyclovir, a commonly prescribed drug used to suppress symptoms of the herpes virus, does not affect HIV transmission by people with both viruses.
The study, conducted by the Partners in Prevention HSV/HIV Transmission Study, was released by the New England Journal of Medicine in its online edition Jan. 20 and will follow in the print edition Feb. 4.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---With high-pitched squeaks, clicks and chirps and ultra-sensitive hearing, toothed whales and some bats zero in on prey by emitting pulses of sound and interpreting the echoes that bounce back.
Over the course of evolution, the two groups acquired this remarkable ability independently, for use in very different environments, so you'd expect the means by which each accomplishes the feat to differ. Surprisingly, that's not the case, a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan suggests.
The fetal and infant mortality rate for women in Inuit-inhabited areas of Canada was 2.7 times higher than in the rest of Canada, and women had higher rates of preterm birth, found an article (pre-embargo link only) http://www.cmaj.ca/embargo/cmaj082042.pdf in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) www.cmaj.ca.
The study looked at all births between 1990 and 2000.