Medical Research Watch
Check out the summaries below for information on some ground-breaking medical research—and look for more in next month’s CoSozo Living!
Vitamin D Function Better Understood
The role and evolution of Vitamin D has been the focus of a study performed by researchers at Oregon State University and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Originally published in the journal BMC Genomics, this fascinating new research expands our current understanding of the role that Vitamin D plays in our overall health.
Vitamin D has been known to be important in the health of our skin, bones, and calcium absorption. The new study identifies additional roles that Vitamin D plays in our health to properly regulate immune responses as well. The study focuses on the regulation of anti-bactericidal proteins through Vitamin D. This immune response has been preserved over millions of years in primates, including humans, and indicates an important role in the survival of the species.
For more information about this new research and the impact to our current understanding of the importance that Vitamin D plays in our health, please see http://www.news-medical.net/news/20090819/Research-study-highlights-the-biological-importance-of-Vitamin-D-in-humans-and-other-primates.aspx.
Brain Studies for Depression
Depressed individuals have more difficulty experiencing normal or typical enjoyment of activities. A recent study conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Osuch at Lawson Health Research Institute and featured in NeuroReport shows additional brain-level data for depressed individuals.
Individuals in the study were asked to identify music that they normally enjoy as well as music that they neither liked or disliked. MRI scans performed show that individuals who were recently depressed had significant differences in the activity levels in the reward centers of the brain. This information shows that even during activities that depressed individuals enjoyed, physiologically the activity in the brain’s reward centers was less than in individuals who were not depressed.
This research should help to provide a foundation for future advances targeting the activation of the brain’s reward centers for depressed individuals.
For more information on this study, go to http://www.news-medical.net/news/20090819/Depression-causes-reduced-function-in-the-reward-center-of-brain.aspx.
New Study for Parkinson’s Disease
A new study has been funded jointly by the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation and the Davis Phinney Foundation to evaluate the day to day activities of Parkinson’s disease patients and the impact those activities have on their mobility and quality of life.
PD can limit the mobility of those who have this disease, and this study will evaluate the impact that things like physical activity and exercise have.
200 PD patients will be followed over a two year period to “examine walking ability, balance, disease-specific impairments and quality of life” according to the article cited below.
The study is aimed at evaluating the impact of exercise on the mobility of PD patients long-term as well as to better establish what tools can be implemented to improve the quality of life for PD patients.
For more information on this study, please visit http://www.news-medical.net/news/20090819/The-Parkinsons-Disease-Foundation-and-the-Davis-Phinney-Foundation-jointly-fund-new-study.aspx.
Renin Protein Gene Mutation Link
A mutation in renin, a protein, has been shown to be linked to at least one cause of inherited kidney disease, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Charles University in Prague.
Renin plays a significant role in the regulation of blood pressure and in fact, ACE inhibitor drugs are based on targeting renin to control the blood pressure as a result.
The mutation was initially identified by a team led by Dr. Stanislav Kmoch. Co-investigator, Dr. Anthony Bleyer has been working to identify the causes of inherited kidney disease through his work with about 100 America families in which the disease is present. Through investigating how this disease operates in these families will also help us to better understand how renin operates in healthy individuals.
A potential treatment has already been identified and a clinical study is underway. The study is available online at the American Journal of Human Genetics.
For more information on this study visit http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/161089.php.