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Contrary to long-held assumptions, high-salt diets may not increase the risk of death, according to investigators from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. They reached their conclusion after examining dietary intake among a nationally representative sample of adults in the U.S. The Einstein researchers actually observed a significantly increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) associated with lower sodium diets. They report their findings in the advance online edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
The researchers analyzed data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), which was conducted by the federal government among a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults. These data were then compared against death records that had been collected by the government through the year 2000. generic clomid online buy The sample of approximately 8,700 represented American adults who were over 30 years of age at the time of the baseline survey (1988-1994) and were not on a special low-salt diet.
After adjusting for known CVD risk factors, such as smoking, diabetes and blood pressure, the one-fourth of the sample who reported consuming the lowest amount of sodium were found to be 80% more likely to die from CVD compared to the one-fourth of the sample consuming the highest level of sodium. The risk for death from any cause appeared 24% greater for those consuming lower salt, but this latter difference was not quite large enough to dismiss the role of chance.
"Our findings suggest that for the general adult population, higher sodium is very unlikely to be independently associated with higher risk of death from CVD or all other causes of death," says Dr. Hillel W. Cohen, lead author of the study and associate professor of epidemiology and population health at Einstein.
Since the first NHANES survey in the early 1970s, data from NHANES have been used extensively to describe patterns of nutrition and health in the U.S. The results from this current study are consistent with findings reported previously from two earlier NHANES surveys. While the federal government currently repeats NHANES surveys every two years, NHANES III is the latest available survey that can be compared with later death records.
Since NHANES III was an observational study and not a clinical trial, no definite conclusions about cause and effect were possible, says Dr. Cohen. "However, our findings do again raise questions about the usefulness or evensafety of universal recommendations for lower salt diets for all individuals, regardless of their blood pressure status or other health characteristics," he cautions.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Other Einstein researchers on the study were Dr. Susan M. Hailpern and Dr. Michael H. Alderman.
Source: Karen Gardner
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
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Older Puerto Ricans have higher rates of depression than other Hispanics living in the United States, according to a new study by researchers at Hebrew SeniorLife’s Institute for Aging Research (IFAR).
Nearly 7 percent of Puerto Ricans, who make up 11 percent of the Hispanics 65 and older in the U.S., suffer from major depression, compared to Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Hispanics from Central and South America. Only 2.8 percent of Mexican Americans (46.7 percent of the older Hispanic population) and 2.5 percent of Cuban Americans (13 percent) suffer from major depression.
"Generic levitra pills no prescription We found the prevalence of depression across Hispanic groups in the United States to be highest in Puerto Ricans, even though this was the smallest group," the researchers wrote in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences.
Funded in part by the National Institute on Aging, the study was conducted by IFAR scientists Frances M. Yang, Ph.D., and Richard N. Jones, Sc.D., along with Yamileth Cazorla-Lancaster of the University of North Texas School of Public Health.
The researchers examined differences in the levels of depressive symptoms and the presence of depression in 759 Hispanics over the age of 59. Data was obtained from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study and its Asset of Health Dynamics of the Oldest Old (AHEAD) study.
The heterogeneity of Hispanics living in the U.S underscores the complexity of investigating intragroup differences in mental health. Generalizing findings from one particular Hispanic group to all Hispanic groups, the researchers say, may not accurately reflect the burden of health in specific Hispanic groups.
"Our findings support the hypothesis that the assumption of homogeneity of the prevalence of depression across Hispanic groups is not tenable," says Dr. Yang, a research assistant scientist at IFAR who specializes in the mental health of older adults. "Furthermore, Puerto Ricans experienced a significantly higher number of depressive symptoms and prevalence of depression than did the three Hispanic groups in the study."
Yang and her colleagues say that further research is needed to determine Puerto Ricans’ exposure to factors that account for higher prevalence of depression than other Hispanic groups and whites living in the U.S.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Scientists at the Institute for Aging Research conduct rigorous medical and social studies, leading the way in developing strategies for maximizing individuals’ strength, vigor and physical well-being, as well as their cognitive and functional independence, in late life. Hebrew SeniorLife is a 100+-year-old organization committed to maximizing quality of life of seniors through an integrated network of housing, health care, research and teaching programs, serving more than 3,500 seniors annually in the Greater Boston area.
Source: Scott Edwards
Hebrew SeniorLife Institute for Aging Research
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Buy generic cipro Palatin Technologies, Inc. (Amex: PTN) and King Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(NYSE: KG) announced today that they have delayed plans for the initiation
of Phase 3 clinical trials with bremelanotide, a first in class
melanocortin agonist drug candidate, for the treatment of male erectile
dysfunction (ED). The decision follows responses from representatives of
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which raised serious concerns
about the acceptable benefit/risk ratio to support the progression of the
proposed program into Phase 3 studies for ED.
After reviewing the data generated in the Phase 1 and 2 studies, the
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this product in both the general and diabetic ED populations, and cited
blood pressure increases as its greatest safety concern. Though not
supportive of the proposed Phase 3 studies for ED with bremelanotide, the
FDA stated that it was amenable to proposals for a different drug
development pathway, such as for a second-line therapy in non-responders to
currently approved PDE-5 inhibitors.
"The safety of patients in our clinical program has always been our
number one priority and we will work closely with the FDA, King, and our
advisors to determine the next steps for the program," stated Carl Spana,
Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Palatin.
Palatin and King plan to review the FDA comments in the overall context
of the program in order to determine next steps related to the further
development of bremelanotide for the treatment of ED.
About ED
ED is defined as the consistent inability to attain and maintain an
erection sufficient for sexual intercourse. The condition is correlated
with increasing age, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes,
hyperlipidemia, and smoking. In addition, certain prescription drugs and
psychogenic issues may contribute to ED. It is estimated that some degree
of ED affects one half of all men over the age of 40 and that 150 million
men worldwide suffer from ED.
About Palatin Technologies, Inc.
Palatin Technologies, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on
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King, headquartered in Bristol, Tennessee, is a vertically integrated
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Some form of immunotherapy is expected to be available for peanut allergy within the next five years. But the reasons for the increasing prevalence of this allergic reaction remain unclear. The issues are discussed by Professor Wesley Burks, Duke University Medical Center, NC, USA, in a Seminar in this week’s edition of The Lancet.
Peanut allergy has become a major health concern worldwide, especially in developed countries, and affects around 1% of children under the age of five years. It is a disease modulated by the immunoglobulin E part of the immune system - once peanut protein is ingested, it crosslinks with these IgE antibodies and causes release of inflammatory molecules such as histamines. The mean age of diagnosis in children is 14 months, with symptoms occurring after the first known peanut ingestion in 75% of those children eating peanuts for the first time. Almost all initial reactions involve the skin, approximately half involve the respiratory tract, and a third the gastrointestinal tract.
Professor Burks says: "Because of the potentially severe health consequences of peanut allergy, those suspected of having had an allergic reaction to peanuts deserve a thorough evaluation. All patients with peanut allergy should be given an emergency management plan, as well as epinephrine and antihistamines to have on hand at all times. Buy generic zithromax Patients and families should be taught to recognise early allergic reactions to peanuts and how to implement appropriate peanut-avoidance strategies. It is imperative that severe, or potentially severe, reactions be treated promptly with intramuscular epinephrine and oral antihistamines. Patients who have had such a reaction should be kept under observation in a hospital emergency department or equivalent for up to four hours because of the possible development of the late-phase allergic response."
A study from the USA has shown that peanut allergy prevalence in young children doubled from 0???4% in 1997 to 0???8% in 2002. There are many theories regarding the increased prevalence of peanut allergy, none of them proven. Among them is the hygiene hypothesis, which says that not enough exposure to infectious agents in early childhood can increase susceptibility to allergic disease. And researchers have suggested that presence of peanuts in the mother’s diet before birth could be risk factor for developing the allergy.
Among the approaches being looked at to reduce the impact of this condition is development of transgenic plants to produce hypoallergenic peanuts. However, as several peanut proteins are involved in the allergic response, Professor Burks says: "The process of altering enough of the peanut allergens to make a modified peanut that is less likely to cause an allergic reaction would probably render the new peanut no longer a peanut."
Future treatments are all focused around the attempt to curb the immune response or induce tolerance by the immune system in response to a specific food allergen. Possible approaches include engineered peanut proteins used as immunotherapy and specific oral tolerance induction, in which the food is ingested in increasingly larger amounts on a regular basis. Professor Burks concludes: "It is likely that in the next five years there will be some type of immunotherapy available for peanut allergenic individuals."
"Peanut allergy"
Prof A Wesley Burks MD
The Lancet 2008; 371:1538-1546
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)60659-5
Click here to see Summary online

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Yale University researchers report in the journal Nature Genetics that they have discovered that rare genetic variants can be associated with a dramatically lower risk of developing high blood pressure in the general population.
The insight that rare mutations may collectively play a large part in the development of common yet complex diseases such as hypertension also has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as diabetes and schizophrenia.
The team of researchers was led by Richard Lifton, chair of the Department of Genetics and Sterling Professor of Genetics and Internal Medicine at Yale, and Daniel Levy, director National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s Framingham Heart Study.
The scientists analyzed DNA samples from 3,125 people who participated in the Framingham Heart Study, a long-running epidemiology survey that has led to a treasure trove of information about the causes of heart disease.
They decided to study the health impact of three genes regulating the processing of salt in the kidney and each known to cause dangerously low blood pressure levels when inherited with two defective copies (one from each parent). The researchers speculated that people who carry only one defective copy might be less prone to hypertension.
Buy diflucan without prescription Lifton’s group found that 2 percent of the subjects carried one defective copy of one of the three genes. These individuals in general had lower blood pressure and a 60 percent lower risk of developing hypertension by the time they were 60 than the general population.
A major question in the field of many chronic diseases has been whether the risk of developing a disease is more closely linked to common or rare mutations. Recent studies have shown that for many diseases, common genetic variants can only explain a small fraction of an individual’s risk of developing the condition. In the case of high blood pressure, for instance, large genome-wide studies have thus far found no common variants that are associated with the risk of developing hypertension.
So, scientists like Lifton and his lab members Weizhen Ji and Jia Nee Foo have begun to search for the many rare mutations that might have a larger impact on the risk of inherited diseases on smaller groups of people.
"Collectively, common variants have explained a small fraction of the risk of most diseases in the population, as we would expect from the effects of natural selection,” Lifton explained. "The question this leaves open is whether many rare variations in genes will collectively account for a large influence on common disease.”
Lifton said the new study underscores the importance of sequencing the genome of many individuals in order to discover disease-causing mutations.
For instance, previous genetic studies of hundreds of families with severely low blood pressure enabled his team to identify the gene mutations used in the study. And one of the genes, ROMK, has turned out to be a particularly promising target for new high blood pressure therapy.
Eventually, scientists may find dozens of genes in which rare mutations individually account for a low percentage of common diseases among individuals, but may collectively account for the burden of common chronic diseases, Lifton said.
Added Levy, "We may have to march down the field from gene to gene to identify other genes where rare variants are contributing to blood pressure variations."
Nature Genetics, Advanced Online Edition, April 6.

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