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Stress 'causes damage to the heart,' study finds
Conclusion This research investigates the widely held perceived wisdom that psychological stress is associated with coronary heart disease. It found 29 medical residents working in a stressful intensive care unit setting had increased levels of white blood cells, which form part of the immune system. The researchers also found exposing mice to chronic stress similarly increased their levels of certain white blood cells. When they examined the bone marrow of stressed mice, they found this increase in the number of white blood cells seemed to be mediated by an increase in the activity of hematopoietic stem cells, which prod...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 23, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Lifestyle/exercise Mental health Source Type: news

Can pain be 'switched off'?
Conclusion This study adds to the scientific knowledge about which genes play a role in pain response. The study shows an association between a low pain threshold and reduced gene expression in nine locations on the DNA. This means that researchers have found changes not only in genes already known to be involved in pain response, but in other genes as well. As the study was conducted in identical twins, the researchers have also been able to identify that the gene responses started off the same but have become different for some reason. The study shows that there is an association, but it does not provide information abo...
Source: NHS News Feed - February 5, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Genetics/stem cells Medical practice Source Type: news

New heart op could save 'thousands of lives'
Conclusion This was a well-designed study which showed that over the course of two years, the risk of another non-fatal or fatal heart attack is reduced in heart attack patients who have preventive stents inserted in narrowed arteries at the same time as a procedure to insert stents into the blocked coronary artery that caused their heart attack. However, an important point to note is that the study results do not apply to all patients who have had a heart attack. The study only looked at the group of patients who had a specific type of heart attack – a STEMI – and needed an emergency stent placement operation. ...
Source: NHS News Feed - September 3, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Genetics/stem cells Source Type: news