Cardiovascular

Keep your heart healthy and you may slow down the aging of your brain, according to a new study reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. In the study, people whose hearts pumped less blood had brains that appeared older than the brains of those whose hearts pumped more blood.

Individuals with a large waist circumference appear to have a greater risk of dying from any cause over a nine-year period, according to a report in the August 9/23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

When the circadian rhythm gets thrown off, it could come with an unexpected side effect: high triglycerides. The discovery, based on studies in mice with a "broken clock," helps to explain the normal rise and fall in triglycerides, which happens at about the same time each day, according to researchers who report their findings in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication.

People whose blood shows signs of inflammation are more likely to later develop Alzheimer's disease than people with no signs of inflammation, according to a study published in the May 29, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Calcium supplements, commonly taken by older people for osteoporosis, are associated with an increased risk of a heart attack, finds a study published online in the British Medical Journal. The results suggest that a reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in osteoporosis management is needed.

It is common to find obese people -- even morbidly obese people -- who are healthier than their condition would normally allow. Working with subjects with a body mass index of about 56, a team of researchers in Spain and Cambridge investigated the inflammatory and insulin signalling pathways in the patients' visceral adipose tissue and have published their findings in the Disease Knowledge Environment of the Biochemical Journal.

If you're happy and you know it, thank your friends—and their friends. And while you're at it, their friends' friends. But if you're sad, hold the blame. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego have found that "happiness" is not the result solely of a cloistered journey filled with individually tailored self-help techniques.

Melinda Sothern, PhD, CEP, Professor of Public Health and Director of Health Promotion at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, will present evidence that supports relationships seen in adolescents between insulin sensitivity and fatty liver, belly fat, and total body fat and identifies additional potential early markers of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome in healthy 7-9 year-old children, including fat in muscle cells, blood pressure, physical activity, and birth weight.

A new study from American Cancer Society researchers finds it's not just how much physical activity you get, but how much time you spend sitting that can affect your risk of death.

People with a larger waistline and high triglyceride levels are at increased risk of coronary heart disease, according to a research study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

New findings from nutrition researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest that it's not whether body fat is stored in the belly that affects metabolic risk factors for diabetes, high blood triglycerides and cardiovascular disease, but whether it collects in the liver.

A protein found in cells throughout the body must be present in a specific set of neurons in the brain to prevent weight gain after chronic feeding on high-calorie meals, new findings from UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest.