Researchers have found for the first time a key step in how the body controls blood pressure and so how the process sometimes goes wrong.
By targeting the mechanism they can stop it from malfunctioning and so prevent the condition, known as hypertension, that affects millions of people in Britain and is a major cause of heart disease and stroke.
Taste receptors for bitter substances are not only in the mouth, but also in the lung. Here they can help in the future according to its discoverer in the treatment of asthma. The newly discovered taste cells sit on the smooth muscle of the bronchi. These muscles control the breathing through regular contraction and relaxation. In asthma patients, the muscle pulls but together so that they will restrict air flow - gasp the parties concerned and are short of breath. When inhaled substances can counteract the bitter: The taste receptors send a signal and the smooth muscles relax. The asthma patient can breathe deeply again.
Your entire future depends on this exam. Score high, and you'll get into the college of your dreams. Score low, and … well, it's best not to think about that right now. And yet it's all you can think about. As the clock ticks and those around you scribble hard with their pencils, you stare at the test and your mind goes blank. You're choking.
A new medical report cautions women that obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, overexposure to medical X-rays and hormone treatments during menopause can raise their risk of developing breast cancer. But critics say the report fails to emphasize the cancer-causing impact of many industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants - factors they believe could pose greater breast-cancer risks to women than their lifestyle choices. The authors of the new report, "Breast Cancer and the Environment: A Life Course Approach," acknowledge that the environment they refer to is more narrowly defined than people might assume. They say it is not the pollutants in the air and water that women should worry about most when it comes to cancer-risk.
A new study is turning decades of medical dogma on its head. A panel of Most People Who Take Blood Pressure Medication Possibly Shouldn’t that drugs used to treat mild cases of high blood pressure have not been shown to reduce heart attacks, strokes, or overall deaths.
