Andy Health blog

Stretching exercises may be more effective at reducing the risk of preeclampsia than walking is for pregnant women who have already experienced the condition and who do not follow a workout routine, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing.
Preeclampsia, or pregnancy-induced hypertension, is a condition that affects up to 8 percent of pregnancies every year and is among the leading causes of maternal and fetal illness and death worldwide.
The finding is contrary to existing studies and literature that suggest that rigorous exercise is the most effective way to reduce the risk of preeclampsia, said SeonAe Yeo, Ph.D., an associate professor with a specialty in women’s health at the UNC School of Nursing and the study’s lead researcher.
Yeo will present the findings Thursday (May 29) at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Indianapolis, Ind. The results will be published in the spring issue of the journal Hypertension in Pregnancy.
Preeclampsia is characterized by a marked increase in blood pressure during pregnancy and may be accompanied by swelling and kidney problems. generic clomid online buy It is diagnosed when blood pressure readings taken twice in six hours read 140/90 or higher.
"These results seemingly contradict the conventional wisdom that walking is the best protection pregnant women have against developing preeclampsia," Yeo said. "But for women who were not physically active before becoming pregnant and who have experienced preeclampsia with a previous pregnancy, that might not be the case."
From November 2001 to July 2006, 79 women with a previous preeclampsia diagnosis and a sedentary lifestyle participated in this National Institute of Nursing Research-funded study. Women were randomly assigned to either the walking group (41 women) or the stretching group (38 women) during the 18th week of pregnancy.
The walking group was asked to exercise for 40 minutes five times a week at moderate intensity, following the program recommended by the Surgeon General and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Stretchers were also asked to perform slow, non-aerobic muscle movements with a 40-minute video fives times a week. Frequency and duration of exercise decreased in both groups as the pregnancy progressed.
At the end of pregnancy, almost 15 percent of women in the walking group had developed preeclampsia. Less than 5 percent of the stretching group developed the condition. While the incidence of preeclampsia in the walking group was similar to that reported in high-risk pregnancies, the frequency among the stretching group was similar to rates seen among the general population.
"Clearly, walking does not have a harmful effect during pregnancy," Yeo said. "But for women who are at high risk for preeclampsia, our results may suggest that stretching exercises may have a protective effect against the condition."
Stretching could provide protection against preeclampsia because stretchers produced more transferrin than walkers did, Yeo said. Transferrin is a plasma protein that transports iron through the blood and protects against oxidative stress on the body.
Yeo said these results could help prenatal care providers recommend different exercise plans based on an individual pregnant woman’s needs and abilities. Following an active exercise plan is good, she said, but only if a pregnant woman is truly able to do it. For some who already have a risk of preeclampsia, stretching might be a better option.
Co-authors of the study include Sandra Davidge, Ph.D., University of Alberta; David L. Ronis, Ph.D., University of Michigan School of Nursing and Veterans Administration Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Cathy L. Antonakos, Ph.D., University of Michigan School of Nursing; Robert Hayashi, M.D., University of Michigan School of Medicine; and Sharon O’Leary, M.D., St. Joseph Mercy Health Systems, Ypsilanti, Mich.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
210 Pittsboro St. Campus Box 6210
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
United States

Buy clomid pills | Buy generic acomplia | Generic zithromax pills no prescription

With the war in Iraq in its sixth year and a new generation of veterans requiring care, Geisinger Health System will host a conference May 13 that brings together military and civilian experts to better understand and meet the unique challenges faced by rural soldiers and their families.
The goal of the conference, Combat Stress Injuries/Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Implications for Rural Veterans and Their Families, is to encourage regional healthcare workers to work together to triage vulnerable rural soldiers to the VA and other community agencies.
"We can improve the dissemination of behavioral healthcare in rural areas through partnerships and shared resources," said Geisinger President and CEO Glenn Steele Jr., MD, PhD. "This is an approach that could work nationally."
Today, rural soldiers returning from a deployment - and eager to get home - often find themselves miles away from the closest government facility. As a result, many postpone needed behavioral care.
The conference will focus on making sure rural soldiers receive timely care from the appropriate source. Attendees will include doctors, nurses, social workers, mental health counselors and veterans.
Florida State University Traumatology Institute Director Charles Figley, PhD is the keynote speaker. Buy fosamax without prescription Retired U.S. Army officer and former Wilkes-Barre television news anchor Keith Martin will serve as the conference moderator.
—————————-
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
—————————-
The Geisinger Rural Health Policy Institute and Florida State University Traumatology Institute are sponsoring the conference.
About Geisinger Health System
Founded in 1915, Geisinger Health System (Danville, PA) is one of the nation’s largest integrated health services organizations. Serving more than two million residents throughout central and northeastern Pennsylvania, the physician-led organization is at the forefront of the country’s rapidly emerging electronic health records movement. Geisinger is comprised of three medical center campuses, a 700-member group practice, a not-for-profit health insurance company and the Center for Health Research - dedicated to creating innovative new models for patient care, satisfaction and clinical outcomes. For more information, visit
Source: Patti Urosevich
Geisinger Health System
Buy generic levitra | generic cialis online buy | Buy synthroid without prescription

Chinese investigators from Hefei and Dutch researchers in Amsterdam have collaborated using for the first time a combination of new elegant methodology in Depression research. They used postmortem human brain tissue that was donated to the Netherlands Brain Bank for research purposes and investigated a region in the basal part of the brain, the hypothalamus, that is known to be of crucial importance for the development of symptoms of depression. This region is 6 mm3 large and is called the Paraventricular Nucleus (PVN) since it is situated along the third ventricle of the brain. This brain area is central in the regulations of our normal stress response, while a too high activity of the PVN is a pivotal characteristic of depression. The hypothalamus consists of a large number of very small specialized cell groups that all have different functions and should thus be studied separately, hence the necessity of the application of the methodology used.
Corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) cells in the PVN of human hypothalamus are the central driving force of the stress response and are hyperactive in depression. The investigators sampled the PVN using new technology in psychiatry to study its molecular changes related to CRF. Frozen hypothalami of 7 depressed patients and 7 controls of the same age, the same sex and obtained the same time after death. The frozen brain structures were serially sectioned and the PVN was dissected using a microscope with a laser beam. Buy generic acomplia The micro-laser-dissected material was subsequently studied with a very sensitive and specific quantitative molecular technique for the analysis of gene expression (qPCR). From the 16 gene products that were studied, because they were presumed to be involved in CRF activation in depression, 5 were found to show significant changes. The molecular changes found may not only explain the hyperactivity of the CRF cells but may also be potential targets for new therapeutic strategies.
—————————-
Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
—————————-
Citation source:
Gene Expression Analysis in the Human Hypothalamus in Depression by Laser Micro-Dissection and Real Time PCR: the presence of multiple receptor imbalances.
Shan-Shan Wang 1
Willem Kamphuis 2
Inge Huitinga 2
Jiang-Ning Zhou 1 and
Dick F. Swaab 2
1 Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics, Life Science School, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, P.R.China
2 Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Molecular Psychiatry
Molecular Psychiatry advance online publication 22 APRIL 2008.
Molecular Psychiatry is a peer-reviewed independent journal that publishes groundbreaking research in psychiatry and related fields. The journal’s Impact Factor is 11.804, 2nd of 95 in Psychiatry
Website:
Editor: Julio Licinio, M.D.
University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Source: Prof. Dick. F. Swaab
Molecular Psychiatry
Buy soma pills | Generic zithromax pills no prescription | Generic cipro pills no prescription

Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) may also lower blood pressure among hypertensive adults, according to researchers in Spain, who presented his findings at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto.
The study included 394 consecutive patients with high blood pressure and non-sleepy OSA - those with mild enough OSA that their daytime alertness was unaffected. They were randomized to receive either CPAP or no treatment.
Blood pressure was measured at three-, six- and 12-month follow-ups after their baseline evaluation. The researchers found that, on average, patients who used the CPAP machine experienced an average 2mmHg drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the end of the year when compared to patients who did not use the CPAP machine.
"This is the largest study trial in the field and it shows hat CPAP has an effect on cardiovascular outcomes regardless of symptoms," said Ferran E. Barb?©, M.D., who headed the research. "This suggests that CPAP can not only be used to treat the symptoms of sleep apnea (daytime sleepiness), but also to reduce cardiovascular risk in apneic patients."
The patients for whom the effect was most produced used the CPAP machine for more than five hours a night. "The mechanism by which CPAP is able to effect a drop in blood pressure is complex and it is mainly related to a reduction in sympathetic tone, oxidative stress," explained Dr. Barb?©.
Although researchers do not yet know whether CPAP should be recommended for all OSA patients with high blood pressure and without daytime sleepiness, barring contraindications, the results point to the need for further study of the cardiovascular benefits of CPAP in OSA patients.
"In the future, we would like to know the effects of CPAP treatment on other cardiovascular outcomes such as stroke, myocardial infarction or heart failure," said Dr. Barb?©.
—————————-
Generic cipro pills no prescription Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
—————————-
Source: Keely Savoie
American Thoracic Society
generic zithromax online buy | Buy diflucan without prescription | Generic soma pills no prescription

Spreading rumors and gossiping may not cause bruises or black eyes, but the psychological consequences of this social type of bullying could linger into early adulthood, a new University of Florida study shows.
In a study of 210 college students, UF researchers discovered a link between what psychologists call relational victimization in adolescence and depression and anxiety in early adulthood, according to findings published online this month in the journal Psychology in the Schools. Rather than threatening a child with physical violence, these bullies target a child’s social status and relationships by shunning them, excluding them from social activities or spreading rumors, said Allison Dempsey, a doctoral student in the UF College of Education and the study’s lead author.
"Even though people are outside of high school, the memories of these experiences continue to be associated with depression and social anxiety," said Dempsey, who graduated from Columbine High School in Colorado one year before the 1999 school shooting there and now studies school prevention programs. "It was interesting to see these relationships still continue to exist even though they are in early adulthood now and in a completely different setting.
"I’m hoping this study will help shed light on the fact that this is a real problem and continues to be a real problem after students leave school."
To uncover the relationships between social bullying and loneliness, depression and anxiety, researchers surveyed college undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 25 and asked them to recall their experiences from high school. They were also looking to see if having friends mitigated some of the effects of bullying and if there was any relationship between gender and the severity of psychological symptoms, said Eric Storch, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry in the UF College of Medicine and a co-author of the study.
"About 20 years ago people thought of bullying as very physical," Storch said. "As a result people thought guys did the bullying, and that it wasn’t really a big experience for girls. The problem is that isn’t actually true. There are different types of aggression.
"Boys do tend to be more physical, but both sexes engage in relational victimization. We wanted to see if gender affected strength of the relationship between depressive symptoms and victimization."
Buy generic clomid But researchers found no gender difference in the link between this type of bullying and depression. They also discovered that having friends or other positive social relationships didn’t lessen rates of depression and anxiety in adulthood, a finding that surprised them, Dempsey said.
For some children, having friends and positive support can help make them more resilient to the slings and arrows from bullies, Storch said. But other children take the words and abuse more to heart and begin to believe what’s being said about them.
"Those types of negative thoughts are actually believed to be at the core of things like depression and anxiety," Storch said. "Behaviorally what starts happening is you avoid interactions and situations that could be quite positive for you."
Currently, there are few prevention or intervention programs that focus specifically on relational victimization, in part because it’s tougher to pinpoint and stop, Dempsey said.
"If a child tries to punch someone or kick someone, there’s evidence of that happening," Dempsey said. "There’s a definite aggressor and a definite victim. When it comes to spreading rumors and gossiping, that’s a lot more difficult to prove who’s doing it. And it’s harder to provide consequences."
Dempsey said she hopes this study and others will help other researchers and psychologists design programs that can help stop this form of bullying in schools.
"I think many people have the belief that victimization is a normal rite of passage in childhood," Storch said. "While it certainly does happen to most kids, it’s not acceptable. And while I think it would be difficult to completely curtail it, by reducing it you’re going to help someone a tremendous amount to not have to go to school and be plagued by this environment of being tortured day in and day out.
"This isn’t a normative experience and we need to do something about it and recognize that not doing something could affect children who are really rising stars."
Wendy Troop-Gordon, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at North Dakota State University, said understanding how past relational bullying affects people in adulthood is an important step forward for research in this field.
"Turning 18 is not a magical age when you leave all of these experiences behind," said Troop-Gordon, who is not affiliated with the study. "People do seem to carry these experiences with them."
The University of Florida Health Science Center - the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast - is dedicated to high-quality programs of education, research, patient care and public service. The Health Science Center encompasses the colleges of Dentistry, Public Health and Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine, as well as the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and an academic campus in Jacksonville offering graduate education programs in dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy. Patient care activities, under the banner UF&Shands, are provided through teaching hospitals and a network of clinics in Gainesville and Jacksonville. The Health Science Center also has a statewide presence through satellite medical, dental and nursing clinics staffed by UF health professionals; and affiliations with community-based health-care facilities stretching from Hialeah and Miami to the Florida Panhandle.
University of Florida Health Science Center
Generic viagra pills no prescription | generic acomplia online buy | Buy generic diflucan