RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

Several years and many studies later, a newer more controversial study recently emerged from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that indicates B vitamins might not lower the risk for cardiovascular disease. The study design included 5442 women aged 42 years or older with either a history of CVD or 3 or more coronary risk factors. It was a randomized, double-blind, placebo –controlled trial using either a placebo or a supplement containing folic acid, vitamin B-12, and vitamin B6. They were treated for seven years. The women were concurrently receiving a trial of antioxidant therapy.

If only we knew what makes people behave the way that they do, we’d be able to solve many of the health-related crises facing our world today: obesity, teenage pregnancy, inactivity, type 2 diabetes, and the list goes on.

Using the BMI rather than blood cholesterol to predict future risk of cardiovascular disease would have profound effects on the affordability and availability of a screening program in developing countries. Initial screening without having to use blood would keep testing to a minimum.

In a new study, published in the April 8 edition of the journal Circulation, it was found that a dose of 10 mg/day of folic acid fed to rats prior to a heart attack yielded smaller infarcts than in the rats fed no supplements. This finding comes on the heels of the international studies in humans which suggested that folic acid supplementation can prevent dementia in the elderly and premature births.

A study recently published in JAMA express highlighted the comparison between two diabetic treatments on progression of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes. Up until this point, no study has shown an antidiabetic regimen to reduce the progression of atherosclerosis.

Commonly used glucose lowering agents include the sulfonyureas (ie. Glimerpiride), which are insulin secretagogues and thiazolidinediones, which are insulin sensitizers.

The American Heart Association (AHA) released a scientific position paper in the Journal Circulation, in March, 2008 on the role of high blood sugars and Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS). Hyperglycemia, although frequently documented in ACS patients, remains largely unappreciated as a risk factor and is undertreated in both the acute care and outpatient care settings. The researchers believe this is due largely in part to a lack of evidence-based research.

Thrombosis is the most common complication associated with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Newer therapies to prevent the hemorrhagic complications are constantly arising on the horizon. However, a recent study published in the Journal of Cardiology (Feb.12, 2008) demonstrated that perhaps we need to holistically target the lowering of triglycerides and LDLs instead of just focusing on the overall cholesterol value in looking at cardiovascular risk and its complications.

According to a recent publication by the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2008, omega-3 fatty acids play a compelling role in cardioprotective events. The most compelling evidence comes from 3 large controlled trials of 32,000 participants randomized to receive either omega -3 fatty acid supplements containing docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) or eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) or to act as controls. These studies showed a reduction of cardiovascular events between 19% and 49%.

Prion diseases are responsible for many of our neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s and Alzheimers. Some process, as yet unidentified, causes the normal prions to fold over into an alternatively formed isoform that we call a PrPSC. It is this substance that is found in the brains of people who have died with a neurodegenerative disease. It is known that many of the neurodegenerative diseases are modified by the administration of drugs that inhibit cholesterol synthesis, so scientists set out to examine the effects of cholesterol balance within the neuronal cells themselves.