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Bypass Or Angioplasty No Better Than Drug Therapy In Reducing Deaths Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes And Heart Disease
There is no difference in mortality among patients with type 2 diabetes and stable heart disease who received prompt bypass surgery or angioplasty compared to drug therapy alone, according to a landmark study focused exclusively on patients with both conditions. The study, which was led by investigators at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, published in the June 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Diabetes Association 69th Scientific Sessions, also found that while prompt bypass in patients with more severe heart disease did not lower mortality, it lowered their risk of subsequent major cardiac events.
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Discovery Of Tiny Protein-Activator Responsible For Brain Cell Damage In Huntington Disease
Johns Hopkins brain scientists have figured out why a faulty protein accumulates in cells everywhere in the bodies of people with Huntington"s disease (HD), but only kills cells in the part of the brain that controls movement, causing negligible damage to tissues elsewhere. The answer, reported this week in Science, lies in one tiny protein called "Rhes" that"s found only in the part of the brain that controls movement. The findings, according to the Hopkins scientists, explain the unique pattern of brain damage in HD and its symptoms, as well as offer a strategy for new therapy.
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Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Repair Heart
In a proof-of-concept study, Mayo Clinic investigators have demonstrated that induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be used to treat heart disease. iPS cells are stem cells converted from adult cells. In this study, the researchers reprogrammed ordinary fibroblasts, cells that contribute to scars such as those resulting from a heart attack, converting them into stem cells that fix heart damage caused by infarction. The findings appear in the current online issue of the journal Circulation.
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Convent Focuses On Different Approach To End-Of-Life Care

A focus on end-of-life care emphasizes social and spiritual elements over aggressive medical intervention. The New York Times reports on the phenomenon by examining end-of-life care at an upstate New York convent: "A convent is a world apart, unduplicable. But the Sisters of St. Joseph, a congregation in this Rochester suburb, animate many factors that studies say contribute to successful aging and a gentle death - none of which require this special setting. These include a large social network, intellectual stimulation, continued engagement in life and spiritual beliefs, as well as health care guided by the less-is-more principles of palliative and hospice care - trends that are moving from the fringes to the mainstream." The Times notes: "For the elderly and infirm Roman Catholic sisters here, all of this takes place in a Mother House designed like a secular retirement community for a congregation that is literally dying off, like so many religious orders. On average, one sister dies each month, right here, not in the hospital, because few choose aggressive medical intervention at the end of life, although they are welcome to it if they want. ... Few sisters opt for major surgery, high-tech diagnostic tests or life-sustaining machinery. And nobody can remember the last time anyone died in a hospital." The paper notes the absence of anxiety and fear among the nuns as well as less pain, depression and use of narcotics to manage symptoms. The Times also contrasts the peaceful convent experience to hospitals" intensive-care units that can be impersonal and wastefully expensive. The nuns suffer from different ailments: none have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and few have diabetes. It notes: "Laura L. Carstensen, the director of the Center on Longevity at Stanford University, says the convent setting calms the tendency for public policy discussion about end-of-life treatment "to devolve into a debate about euthanasia or rationing health care based on age"" (Gross, 7/8). This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org. © Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.


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