Common Health Articles

For many residents of Lower Manhattan, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had lasting psychological consequences. New findings, released by the Health Department’s World Trade Center Health Registry, show that one in eight Lower Manhattan residents likely had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) two to three years after the attacks. The findings show that Lower Manhattan residents developed PTSD at three times the usual rate in the years following 9/11. The rate among residents (12.6%) matched the rate previously reported among rescue and recovery workers (12.4%). Residents who were injured during the attacks were the most likely to develop PTSD. The new study, published online in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, is available online at
The new study - based on surveys of 11,000 residents through the World Trade Center Health Registry - is the first to measure the attack’s long-term effect on the mental health of community members. Aside from injured residents - 38% of whom developed symptoms of PTSD - the most affected groups were those who witnessed violent deaths and those caught in the dust cloud after the towers collapsed. Roughly 17% suffered PTSD in each of those groups. The symptoms most commonly reported were hyper-vigilance, nightmares and emotional reactions to reminders of 9/11.
Divorced residents reported symptoms at twice the rate of those who were married - possibly because they received less emotional support. Women were affected at a higher rate than men (15% versus 10%), a disparity documented in other disasters. And black and Hispanic residents reported more symptoms than whites. Low levels of education and income also increased people’s risk of PTSD.
Lower Manhattan Residents with PTSD in 2003-2004
All: 12.6%
Men: 10.1%
Women: 14.6%
White: 10.7%
African American: 20.6%
Hispanic: 24.7%
Asian: 8.9%
Earn $50,000 to $74,999: 11.3%
Earn less than $25,000: 19.8%
Less than high school diploma: 18.3%
College graduate: 11.1%
Married: 9.5%
Divorced: 21.5%
"These findings confirm that the experience of 9/11 had lasting consequences for many of those affected by it," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner. "Any New Yorker who is still struggling with fear, anxiety, depression or substance use should seek treatment. Please call 311 if you need help finding treatment, or paying for it. Help is available."
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Mental Health Treatment Options
In April, the Health Department announced a benefit program specifically for people experiencing mental health or substance-use problems related to 9/11. The Health Department will reimburse out-of-pocket costs for mental health or substance-use treatment through a claims process similar to any insurance benefit. In addition, free mental health services are available through the World Trade Centers of Excellence. Buy cialis without prescription New York City residents, and city workers in surrounding areas, can check their eligibility by visiting
About PTSD
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that stems from experiences involving intense fear, horror or hopelessness. People who develop the condition may become emotionally numb or hyper-alert. Many relive their trauma when reminded of it, and their lives are diminished by their efforts to avoid reminders. Many people recover with counseling or medication, but PTSD can lead to family problems, work problems and substance abuse.
Research at the World Trade Center Health Registry
The Health Department is now analyzing results from a follow-up survey conducted six years after the 9/11 attacks. New findings on the health status of registrants will be released in coming months. Research findings from the Registry’s first survey are available online at
The World Trade Center Health Registry, the largest public health registry in U.S. history, was launched in 2003 to track the health of people exposed to the collapse of the World Trade Center and those who worked at the WTC site. The registry is a collaborative effort involving the Health Department and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Source: Sara Markt
New York City Health Department
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NeuroInvestment announced the release of its May issue, which reviews novel treatments being developed for depression. Even though depression can be argued to be the success story of psychopharmacology, the current array of largely similar monoamine-targeting drugs leave 30% of patients without adequate relief, and incur significantly aversive side effects for the majority. With millions of patients going untreated or not complying with treatment due to side effects, depression remains an undertreated disorder of enormous magnitude and societal cost. While major pharmaceutical companies have and continue to devote major resources to the development of drugs which are in fact just minor variations on well-trodden themes, the real promise of genuinely accelerated and impactful antidepressant therapies is more likely to be found in the numerous novel targets that are being explored. None of these have proven to be an easy target: CRF antagonism, as was pioneered by Neurocrine Biosciences has made painfully little progress since its early signs of promise nearly ten years ago.
The same is true for NK-1 antagonism, which in 1998 was cited as the new revolution in depression therapy. These strategies have been joined by other novel approaches, including neurogenesis-enhancement (BrainCells Inc.); melatonin-modulation (Servier and Novartis); mGluR modulation (Addex, JNJ, Merck, Lilly); vasopressin modulation (Schering-Plough, Sanofi-Aventis) and AMPA-modulation (Schering-Plough, Cortex (AMEX: COR), Lilly) as possible new strategies for depression treatment, while CeNeRx is bringing forward a selective MAO-A inhibitor. Other intriguing programs include those from Affectis, Lundbeck, NeuroSearch, Karo AB, and Targacept (NASDAQ: TRGT), amongst several.
The May issue also includes commentary regarding the major partnership between Astellas Pharma and CoMentis; the acquisitions of Sirtis by GSK and CeNeS by Paion; the StemCells Inc. claim that they control all uses of neural stem cells; additional commentary regarding the Catalyst Pharmaceuticals vigabatrin program; prospects for the GSK/Pozen migraine drug; and an overview of Japan’s M’s Science.
NeuroInvestment is the independent, monthly review of the neurotherapeutics area. A one-year corporate subscription is $1600, email or hardcopy. Add $250 for dual delivery, add $50 for airmail delivery outside North America. Generic lexapro pills no prescription A three month trial subscription is US$600. Individual investor information is available upon request.
NI Research is the leading publisher of independent research on the neuropharmaceutical/therapeutic industry. NI Research has published NeuroInvestment since 1995, the Private CNS Company Review since 2003, and CNS Disorders/Therapeutics since 2007. NI Research also provides inlicensing consultation and custom research for large and small pharmaceutical firms. NI Research has developed an unmatched information base regarding both publicly and privately-held neuro-oriented companies.
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have found that rare mutations in three genes contribute to blood pressure variation in the general population.
The scientists had previously shown that mutations in the three "salt handling" genes cause several rare diseases that are characterized by low blood pressure. By sequencing DNA samples obtained from 3,125 people who are participating in the Framingham Heart Study, the researchers identified new functional mutations in these three genes that are likely to be carried by an estimated 100 million people worldwide.
The Framingham Heart Study was begun in 1948 in an effort to identify common factors or characteristics that contribute to cardiovascular disease by following its development over a long period of time in a large group of participants who had not yet developed overt symptoms of cardiovascular disease or suffered a heart attack or stroke.
"We find that about two percent of the population has mutations in at least one of these three genes - although all of the identified mutations are individually very rare," said senior author Richard P. Lifton, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at Yale University School of Medicine. "Mutation carriers have reduced blood pressure, with a 60 percent reduction in the risk of hypertension at age 60."
The findings, reported in the April 6, 2008, edition of the journal Nature Genetics, are important because they yield tantalizing new evidence about why some people seem to be less susceptible to developing high blood pressure, a condition that affects a billion people worldwide and contributes significantly to heart and kidney disease, and stroke.
What’s more, by identifying the role played by rare genetic mutations in governing how the kidney regulates salt, the researchers have devised a general approach that may be broadly applicable to uncovering the genetic architecture of common conditions such as hypertension.
"This new study, for the first time, extends the findings from patients with rare Mendelian traits to the general population. The findings suggest that independently rare mutations that alter salt handling by the kidneys collectively account for a substantial fraction of the general population’s variability in disease susceptibility," said Lifton.
Lifton noted that there are probably about 100 million people worldwide who carry the mutations and are thus protected from hypertension. "The mutations we have identified have clinically meaningful effects to individual patients and suggest that independently rare mutations will collectively account for a substantial fraction of the population’s variability in disease susceptibility," he said.
The researchers started by examining variations in three genes known to cause rare recessive diseases characterized by large reductions in blood pressure. The analysis was conducted on "salt handling" genes isolated from people involved in the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), which is directed by Daniel Levy of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Levy is a co-author of the Nature Genetics report. Co-first authors Weizhen Ji and Jia Ni Foo are at Yale University School of Medicine.
Lifton’s team zeroed in on the three salt-regulating genes — NCCT, NKCC2 and ROMK — which his group had previously linked to rare but serious human diseases, including Gitelman and Bartter syndromes. Both are conditions characterized by inherited low blood pressure caused by recessive mutations, where two defective copies of a gene are at play.
Salt handing is an essential function of the kidneys. Our kidneys process more than three pounds of salt per day, and genetic mutations that raise or lower the ability of the organ to absorb and process salt can manifest themselves in higher or lower blood pressure.
Lifton’s group has searched worldwide for patients with very high or very low blood pressure due to mutations in single genes. Such patients are often identified through family histories of extreme blood pressure. To date, his group has found a score of gene mutations that lower or raise blood pressure, including those that cause the extreme low blood pressure found in patients with Gitelman and Bartter syndromes.
"Generic diflucan pills no prescription We used knowledge of the spectrum of mutations that cause Gitelman and Bartter syndromes to sort among the hundreds of sequence changes we observed to identify those that are either known or highly likely to alter the function of the (gene) encoded proteins," Lifton explained.
By sequencing each of the three genes obtained from DNA samples from 3,125 participants in the Framingham Heart Study, and doing additional biochemical, genetic and genomic analysis, the HHMI team found functional mutations in one of the genes in at least 1 of every 64 of the study’s participants sampled.
"The results show that nearly 2 percent of the FHS cohort has a defective copy of one of these three genes," Lifton said. "Unlike patients with Gitelman and Bartter syndromes, these subjects have only one defective copy, not two."
Lifton’s group then tracked the influence of the mutation on blood pressure in FHS subjects aged 40-60, a time of life when hypertension manifests itself and can pose serious health risks.
"We found that these mutation carriers have a 60 percent reduction in their risk of developing hypertension" and have significantly lower blood pressure than those who do not have mutations," Lifton said. The influence of the mutation, he added, approximates effects achieved with drugs used to lower blood pressure.
The practical upshot of the new work, according to Lifton, could be potential new drugs to mimic the effects of the mutation by selectively inhibiting a single gene or several genes.
In addition, the study more broadly underscores the value of genetic analysis — resequencing of genes and genomes to ferret out functional mutations — for understanding individual risk of disease.
"A major question about the genetic underpinnings of hypertension and other common diseases has been whether these are accounted for by common or rare DNA variations," said Lifton. "Our study demonstrates the role of rare variation, showing that effects of rare mutations in these three genes cause relatively large effects, with clinically significant effects in individual patients. These findings suggest that much of the variation in common disease risk for hypertension and other diseases will be accounted for by rare (genetic) variants."
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Jim Keeley
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
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Many men who
receive microwave therapy for enlarged prostates experience significant
surges in blood pressure that could raise their risk of a heart attack or
stroke, according to new research findings published recently in Mayo
Clinic Proceedings.
The Mayo Clinic-led study of 185 consecutive patients who received
transurethral microwave therapy at four medical centers found that 42
percent experienced systolic blood pressure surges of more than 30 mm Hg,
while 5 percent had surges of more than 70 mm Hg.
"Men who are candidates for this minimally invasive microwave therapy
tend also to be at higher risk for cardiac events," says Lance Mynderse,
M.D., the Mayo Clinic urologist who authored the study. "Blood pressure
surges of the magnitude identified in this study are troubling side effects
of treatment that need to be monitored and managed."
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate gland, is a
condition affecting half of men over age 50 and 80 percent of those over
70. Symptoms include difficult urination, sudden urges to urinate and
inability to empty the bladder. BPH often is treated with medication and in
severe cases open surgery may be necessary, but since 1997 transurethral
microwave therapy has been a less invasive option.
Transurethral microwave therapy involves using a catheter to place a
microwave device within the prostate, which is then heated to destroy
excess tissue. Approximately 70,000 such procedures are performed each
year, usually in an office setting and typically involving patients from 50
to 85 years old.
"This patient population is at high risk of cardiovascular disease,"
explains Benjamin Larson, a medical student at Cleveland Clinic who is the
lead author of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings paper. "Anecdotal reports of
adverse blood pressure events during and after transurethral microwave
therapy, and our own experience, led us to look back at the records to
identify potential problems among these patients whose blood pressure had
been monitored."
The authors say the study findings should not necessarily deter
physicians and their patients from using one of the six FDA-approved
devices for transurethral microwave therapy, but they should take
reasonable precautions given the strong possibility of blood pressure
surges. "Blood pressure monitoring should be a standard part of the
procedure. Blood pressure readings should be taken throughout the
procedure, multiple times. Unfortunately, that has not always been the
practice for this office-based therapy," Dr. Mynderse explains. "Monitoring
will enable physicians to identify the problem and adjust treatment.
Patients also should be encouraged to continue their anti-hypertensive
medications, particularly beta blockers, as they prepare for the
procedure."
Besides Larson and Dr. Mynderse, other authors of the paper include
Buy fosamax pills Thayne Larson, M.D.; Virend Somers, M.D., Ph.D.; Michael Jaff, D.O. and
William Evans, D.O.
A peer-review journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings publishes original
articles, reviews and editorials dealing with clinical and laboratory
medicine, clinical research, basic science research and clinical
epidemiology. Mayo Clinic Proceedings is published monthly by Mayo
Foundation for Medical Education and Research as part of its commitment to
the medical education of physicians. The journal has been published for
more than 80 years and has a circulation of 130,000 nationally and
internationally. Articles are available online at

Mayo Clinic

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Infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), is an epidemic of global concern. According to the most recent estimates, released in November 2007, by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 33.2 million worldwide are living with HIV infection currently. Although the rates of infection appear to be decreasing, there are obviously immense implications for achieving improvements in HIV/AIDS treatment.
The functioning of natural killer (NK) cells, which are a major element of the innate immunity system and are involved in the body’s first line of defense against infections such as HIV, is decreased in both HIV and depression. A group of researchers who have previously found that stress and depression impair NK cell function and accelerate the course of HIV/AIDS are now publishing a new report in Biological Psychiatry.
In this study, they recruited both depressed and non-depressed HIV-infected women and studied the ex vivo effects of three drugs, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), a substance P antagonist, and a glucocorticoid antagonist, on their NK cell activity. These drugs were selected because, as the authors state, each "affect[s] underlying regulatory systems that have been extensively investigated in both stress and depression research as well as immune and viral research." The scientists found that the SSRI citalopram, and the substance P antagonist CP 96,345, but not the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU486, increased NK cell activity. According to Dr. Dwight Evans, corresponding author of the article: "The present findings provide evidence that natural killer cell function in HIV infection may be enhanced by selective serotonin reuptake inhibition and also by substance P antagonism in both depressed and non-depressed individuals."
John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, comments: "There has been growing evidence that the compromise of immune function associated with depression influences the outcomes of infectious diseases and cancer. Antidepressant treatments are beginning to be studied for their potential positive effects on immune function." He adds that "the paper by Evans et al. suggests that antidepressant treatment may have positive effects on natural killer cell activity in cells isolated from individuals infected with HIV with and without depression. This type of bridge between the brain and the rest of the body deserves further attention." Dr. Evans agrees, noting that "these findings begin to pave the way towards initiating clinical studies addressing the potential role of serotonergic agents and substance P antagonists in improving natural killer cell innate immunity, possibly delaying HIV disease progression and extending survival with HIV infection."
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Buy generic diflucan Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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The article is "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor and Substance P Antagonist Enhancement of Natural Killer Cell Innate Immunity in Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome" by Dwight L. Evans, Kevin G. Lynch, Tami Benton, Benoit Dub?©, David R. Gettes, Nancy B. Tustin, Jian Ping Lai, David Metzger and Steven D. Douglas. Drs. Evans, Lynch, Benton, Dub?©, and Metzger and Mr. Gettes are affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, with Dr. Evans also with the Departments of Medicine and Neuroscience, and Dr. Douglas is with the Department of Pediatrics, all at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Tustin and Drs. Lai and Douglas are with the Division of Allergy and Immunology, Joseph J. Stokes Research Institute of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The article appears in Biological Psychiatry, Volume 63, Issue 9 (May 1, 2008), published by Elsevier.
About Biological Psychiatry
This international rapid-publication journal is the official journal of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. It covers a broad range of topics in psychiatric neuroscience and therapeutics. Both basic and clinical contributions are encouraged from all disciplines and research areas relevant to the pathophysiology and treatment of major neuropsychiatric disorders. Full-length and Brief Reports of novel results, Commentaries, Case Studies of unusual significance, and Correspondence and Comments judged to be of high impact to the field are published, particularly those addressing genetic and environmental risk factors, neural circuitry and neurochemistry, and important new therapeutic approaches. Concise Reviews and Editorials that focus on topics of current research and interest are also published rapidly.
Biological Psychiatry () is ranked 4th out of the 95 Psychiatry titles and 16th out of 199 Neurosciences titles on the 2006 ISI Journal Citations Reports® published by Thomson Scientific.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier’s 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as ScienceDirect (), MD Consult (), Scopus (), bibliographic databases, and online reference works.
Elsevier () is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of Reed Elsevier Group plc (), a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier’s ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
Source: Jayne Dawkins
Elsevier
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