A blog for Biomedical Laboratory Science, Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Medical Laboratory Technology with relevant news, abstracts, articles, publications and pictures for lab medicine professionals, students and others
Have you been suffering from abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue and loss of appetite quite often?
Then, you need to watch out, as these could be the symptoms of a fatty liver disease. In case of fatty liver disease, one tends to develop excess fats within the liver.
Liver is one of the most important vital organs of our body. A certain amount of fat in the liver is normal, but when it increases above the normal (above 5 per cent of the organ's weight), then the person could be at the risk of developing fatty liver disease.
A new study, published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, investigated the long-term impact of red meat consumption on kidney health. Their findings justify the current caution suggested in regard to red meat and organ health.
Red meat, such as beef, lamb, and pork, can be included as part of a healthy diet.
But, as with many dietary components, it is best to limit the amount consumed.
For instance, the American Institute for Cancer Research recommend eating no more than 18 ounces of red meat per month because of its links with certain cancers, including stomach cancer.
A round one third of adults in the United States have high blood pressure, only half of whom have their high blood pressure under control. New research, published in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension, identifies magnesium as a potential remedy.
With high blood pressure affecting around 70 million people in the U.S. and increasing the risk of two of the leading causes of death for Americans - heart disease and stroke - preventing or controlling blood pressure is an essential healthcare objective.
Labeled the "silent killer," due to often having no warning signs or symptoms, high blood pressure is a common and often dangerous condition.
A meta-analysis, funded by the Indiana University School of Medicine Strategic Research Initiative, details positive results that show an association between a daily intake of magnesium and a reduction in blood pressure.
Magnesium is already recognized as essential for over 300 biochemical reactions in the body.
It is essential that an expectant mother receives adequate nutrition to promote the healthy development of her unborn child. To this end, the market is awash with maternal vitamin supplements. A new review asks whether these pills are as necessary as they claim to be.
Maternal deficiency of certain nutrients has been linked to a number of negative health consequences for mother and child.
Risks include restricted fetal growth, low birth weight, skeletal deformities, and pre-eclampsia.
These well-known dangers support a huge vitamin, mineral, and micronutrient industry aimed at pregnant women.
Typically, these tablets will contain 20 or more vitamins and minerals, often including a range of B vitamins, C, D, E, K, iodine, folic acid, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and copper.
A team of researchers from UConn Health and The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine found that eating walnuts can reduce one's risk of getting colon cancer.
In the study, mice that were fed walnuts (totaling seven percent to 10.5 percent of their total calories) developed fewer instances of colon cancer.
Seven to 10.5 percent of daily total calories coming from walnuts is equivalent to a human eating about an ounce of walnuts every day.
Walnut consumption
"Our results show for the first time that walnut consumption may reduce colon tumor development," said Daniel W. Rosenberg of UConn Health, principal investigator on the study.
MCQ 8. A pregnant woman who has a lactase deficiency and cannot tolerate milk in her diet is concerned that she will not be able to produce milk of sufficient caloric value to nourish her baby.
What should she be advised?
a. She must eat pure galactose in order to produce the galactose moiety of lactose.
b. She will not be able to breast feed her baby because she cannot produce lactose.
c. Production of lactose by mammary glands do not require ingestion of milk or milk products.
d. She can produce lactose by degrading alpha-lactalbumin.
e. She must eat pure fructose which will be converted to galactose moiety of lactose.
Recent findings have the potential to help scientists better understand a growing class of often fatal metabolic diseases.
Sugar in the form of blood glucose provides essential energy for cells. When its usual dietary source – carbohydrates – is scarce, the body goes into starvation mode and the liver can produce glucose with the aid of fat.
But new research from Johns Hopkins adds to evidence that other tissues can step in to make glucose, too. The research also found that the liver’s role in breaking down fats is vital to protect the organ from a lethal onslaught of fat.
Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may lower the risk of death from heart attack. This is the finding of new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Each year, around 735,000 people in the United States have a heart attack, which occurs when a section of the heart fails to receive enough oxygen-rich blood.
Adopting a healthy diet is considered a key factor in reducing the risk of heart attack, and many studies have suggested that including omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids as part of such a diet is particularly beneficial for heart health.
Other studies, however, have questioned the heart benefits of omega-3s, with some suggesting that fish oil supplements - a major source of the fatty acids - do not lower the risk of heart-related events.
You may have heard the news recently that researchers have found links between eating red meat and increased risk of certain cancers. But what does this mean for you? Should you say good-bye forever to burgers, steaks and bacon?
These latest concerns are based on an October 2015 report from the World Health Organization (WHO), which had 22 experts in 10 countries review about 800 epidemiological studies to look for a connection between red meat and processed meats and cancer. It found heightened risk between these meats—especially processed meats—and some cancers, particularly colorectal cancer.
WHO didn’t say you should ban red meat or processed meats from your diet completely, but it did advise limiting the amount you eat. Here are some of the key findings from the WHO study.
The term borderline diabetes refers to a condition called prediabetes. Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be classed as type 2 diabetes.
Prediabetes is to be considered a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. It is estimated that 10 to 23 percent of people with prediabetes will go on to develop type 2 diabetes within 5 years.
Prediabetes can be accompanied by other risk factors. It is associated with conditions such as obesity, especially abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood fat levels and low levels of "good" cholesterol.
When these risk factors "cluster" together in a person, there is a higher risk of not just type 2 diabetes but heart disease and stroke as well.
A high-fiber diet rich in vitamin A may alter gut bacteria in a way that could prevent or reverse food allergies. This is the finding of a new study published in the journal Cell Reports.
It is estimated that around 15 million people in the United States have food allergies, and this number is increasing.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), between 1997-2007, the number of children and adolescents in the U.S. with food allergies rose by around 18 percent, though the reasons for this are unclear.
Eight food types account for around 90 percent of all food allergies. These are peanuts, tree nuts, egg, milk, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.
Allergic reactions to food vary from person to person, but they may include tingling or itching in the mouth, hives, nausea or vomiting, stomach pain, and diarrhea.
According to a handful of recent studies, okra may reduce symptoms of diabetes - a group of diseases that includes type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes.
Diabetes claimed the lives of 75,578 Americans in 2013, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2014,8.5 percent of adults worldwide had the condition, the World Health Organization (WHO) report. By 2030, diabetes may be the seventh leading cause of death.
A number of factors increase a person's risk of developing diabetes, including a family history of the disease. Lifestyle factors also play a role, so doctors routinely recommend diet changes and increased exercise to reduce blood sugar levels.
At present, harmful pathogens in food are mostly only discovered when people get sick. Earlier detection - preferably before food reaches consumers - could prevent many cases of foodborne illness and save the cost and effort involved in food recalls. Now, a team working toward solving this problem has developed a portable biosensor based on "nanoflowers" that detects harmful bacteria.
The new technology is the work of researchers at Washington State University (WSU) in Pullman, who describe how they developed and tested it in a paper published in the journal Small.
Even tiny amounts of harmful bacteria and other microbes can give rise to serious health risks, but the available sensor technology is unable to detect them easily and quickly in small quantities.
The key challenge in solving this problem is finding a way to detect the faint chemical signals that the harmful microbes emit at the molecular level.
The nanoflower biosensor detects tiny chemical signals emitted by bacteria and amplifies them so they can be picked up easily with a simple handheld pH meter.
Salt intake has become a major health concern in the United States. An array of studies have claimed too much salt in the diet can increase the risk of serious illness, such as heart disease and stroke, prompting recommendations to lower salt intake. But how much is "too much" when it comes to salt consumption?
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults consume less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium each day - the equivalent to around 1 teaspoon of salt - as part of a healthy diet.
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released earlier this year, however, found that around 90 percent of adults and children in the U.S. consume more than the recommended sodium intake, with most adults consuming more than 3,400 milligrams daily.
Cholesterol is a substance that your liver produces naturally. It’s vital for the formation of cell membranes, vitamin D, and certain hormones.
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance. It doesn’t dissolve in water and therefore can't travel through the blood by itself. Lipoproteins are other particles formed in the liver that help transport cholesterol through the bloodstream. There are several major forms of lipoproteins that are important to your health.
Vitamin D is a precursor of the steroid hormone calcitriol that is crucial for bone and mineral metabolism. Both the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the general population and the identification of the vitamin D receptor in the heart and blood vessels raised interest in the potential cardiovascular effects of vitamin D. Experimental studies have demonstrated various cardiovascular protective actions of vitamin D, but vitamin D intoxication in animals is known to induce vascular calcification. In meta-analyses of epidemiological studies, vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk. Findings from Mendelian randomization studies and randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) do not indicate significant effects of a general vitamin D supplementation on cardiovascular outcomes. Previous RCTs, however, were not adequately designed to address extra skeletal events, and did not focus on vitamin D-deficient individuals. Therefore, currently available evidence does not support cardiovascular benefits or harms of vitamin D supplementation with the commonly used doses, and whether vitamin D has cardiovascular effects in individuals with overt vitamin D deficiency remains to be evaluated. Here, we provide an update on clinical studies on vitamin D and cardiovascular risk, discuss ongoing vitamin D research, and consider the management of vitamin D deficiency from a cardiovascular health perspective.
Key points
The vitamin D receptor (VDR) and enzymes for vitamin D metabolism are expressed throughout the cardiovascular system
VDR and 1α-hydroxylase knockout mice have hypertension with myocardial hypertrophy and increased activity of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system
The molecular effects of VDR activation indicate various anti-atherosclerotic and protective effects on the heart and on common cardiovascular risk factors
Observational studies have shown that low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are associated with an adverse cardiovascular risk profile and significantly increased risk of cardiovascular events
Mendelian randomization studies and randomized clinical trials have not shown significant effects of vitamin D on cardiovascular events, but these trials were not designed to investigate cardiovascular outcomes in vitamin D-deficient individuals
Vitamin D supplementation is currently not indicated for the purpose of cardiovascular disease prevention, but treatment of vitamin D deficiency is critical for skeletal health
Introduction
The critical involvement of vitamin D in bone and mineral metabolism is historically known. The identification of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in almost all human organs including the heart and the blood vessels, and observations that individuals deficient in vitamin D are at increased risk of various extraskeletal diseases, stimulated research on the role of vitamin D for overall and cardiovascular health. In this Review, we summarize the existing knowledge on the effects of vitamin D on cardiovascular diseases and associated risk factors, with a particular focus on meta-analyses of large, epidemiological studies and randomized, controlled trials (RCTs). First, we provide a short summary of vitamin D metabolism and current vitamin D guidelines, a historical perspective on vitamin D and cardiovascular diseases, and a brief overview on the mechanistic effects of VDR activation on cardiovascular risk factors, the blood vessels, and the heart. The principal aspect of this Review is an update on observational studies, Mendelian randomization studies, and RCTs on vitamin D and cardiovascular risk. Finally, we outline and discuss ongoing vitamin D research, including large RCTs, and present our conclusions on how to deal with the management of vitamin D deficiency from a public health and cardiovascular health perspective.
Vitamin D (vitD) is known for its essential role in calcium homeostasis and bone health. VitD is made endogenously in the skin from UVB radiation from sunlight. VitD is now considered as a potent neurosteroid hormone, critical to brain development and normal brain function, and is known for its anti-inflammatory property affecting various aspects of human health. VitD ligand-receptor, a receptor that mediates much of vitD's biological actions, has been found throughout the body including the central nervous system. VitD deficiency is common in patients with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a debilitating chronic mental illness characterised by positive symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and negative symptoms including flat affect and lack of motivation. Several environmental risk factors for schizophrenia, such as season of birth, latitude and migration, have been linked to vitD deficiency. Recent studies have suggested a potential role of vitD in the development of schizophrenia. For example, neonatal vitD status is associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia in later life obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and cardiovascular disease, which are commonly seen in patients with schizophrenia. It has been well established that vitD deficiency is related to these metabolic problems. The biological mechanism is most likely related to vitD's action on the regulation of inflammatory and immunological processes, consequently affecting the manifestation of clinical symptoms and treatment response of schizophrenia. Potential benefits of vitD supplementation to improve schizophrenia symptoms as well as physical health in patients with schizophrenia should be further explored in future studies.
Introduction
Vitamin D (vitD), the 'sunshine' vitamin, is widely known for its essential role in calcium absorption and bone health. VitD is created in mammals after the epidermis comes into contact with UVB light. UVB radiation catalyses the conversion of 7-dehydrocholesterol to previtamin D3 in the skin, which is then quickly converted into vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) by the body. 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], the main circulating form of vitD, is used by clinicians to measure vitD levels in the body. VitD is also obtained through dietary sources. Fatty fish, fungus and eggs naturally contain high levels of vitD. In many countries, cereal, milk and other everyday foods are fortified with vitD. VitD is also readily available as a dietary pill. However, since most individuals lack the necessary amount of exposure to UVB light and do not consume enough dietary vitD, vitD deficiency has become a global pandemic. While vitD has long been associated with bone health and related diseases, research in the past decade has uncovered its widespread effects on other aspects of the human body. Studies have identified links between vitD and a multitude of conditions including various cancers, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases and mental disorders.
Studies have unveiled the presence of vitD, vitD receptors (VDR) and related enzymes (CYP 27B1, CYP 24A1) in various regions of the brain, leading researchers to establish vitD as a neuroactive/neurosteroid hormone critical to brain development and normal brain function. Furthermore, VitD's possible role in depression has led researchers to explore its potential benefits in other mental illnesses.
Schizophrenia is a severe and debilitating mental illness characterized by chronic positive (hallucinations, delusions) and negative symptoms (lack of motivation, speech issues).
We all know that water is essential for life, but have you ever wondered why your body needs so much replenishing?
As explained in the TedEd video link below, water is crucial for the body's everyday, biological functions. The majority of the human body is made up of water: We rely on it to lubricate our joints, regulate temperature and to care for the brain and spinal cord. Without enough water, we'd be dry, unfocused, unenergized and creaky.
On average, we lose two to three liters of water a day, through sweat, breath, urine and bowel movements. To compensate, we've got to rehydrate. While past guidance has suggested we drink approximately eight glasses a day, new recommendations say we should drink anywhere from 2 to 3.7 liters (8.4 to 15.6 cups) daily, depending on a person's sex, weight, health and environment.
Drinking alcohol, eating processed meat and being overweight increase the risk of developing stomach cancers, according to a major new scientific report released by the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund.
The Continuous Update Project (CUP) report was led by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) and the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF).
Scientists systematically gathered and analyzed data relating to stomach cancer, after which a panel of leading international experts evaluated the results independently.
Worldwide, there were 952,000 cases of stomach cancer in 2012, or 7% of all new cancer cases.
Stomach cancer is the third most common cause of cancer death. It affects men twice as much as women, and it is more common among older people, with the average age of diagnosis in the US being 72 years.
In Europe and the US, the survival rate is 25-28%, rising to 63% if it is diagnosed early. But symptoms may not appear until the later stages, and some 70% of cases worldwide are diagnosed late, leading to a lower survival rate. Eastern Asia and China are particularly affected.
Want to fight off that illness that’s spreading around the office or your child’s school? Aside from practicing good hygiene, boosting your immune system is a great way to start.
Your diet plays a part in strengthening your immune system. Sadly, too many of us don’t eat enough of the fresh fruits, vegetables and other foods we need to keep ourselves healthy year-round. You can’t just eat an orange or grapefruit and expect one quick burst of vitamin C to prevent a cold. A truly healthy immune system depends on a balanced mix of vitamins and minerals over time, plus normal sleep patterns and a hefty dose of exercise.
With some exceptions, it’s best to get your vitamins and minerals from your food rather than in pill form. Here are some tips for getting the top vitamins your immune system needs to perform.
1. Vitamin C
You probably know about vitamin C’s connection to the immune system, but did you know you can get it from much more than just citrus fruits? Leafy green vegetables such as spinach and kale, bell peppers, brussels sprouts, strawberries and papaya are also excellent sources. In fact, vitamin C is in so many foods that most people may not need to take supplements unless a doctor advises it.
