Thyroid problems linked to irregular heart rhythm

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2012) ? People with an overactive thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism) carry a greater risk of developing irregular heart rhythm (known as atrial fibrillation) than those with normal thyroid function, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

As such, the researchers suggest there should be an increased focus on atrial fibrillation in patients with raised thyroid function.

Hyperthyroidism occurs when the thyroid gland makes too much thyroxine (thyroid hormone), causing many of the body's functions to speed up. About 1 in 100 women and 1 in 1,000 men develop hyperthyroidism at some stage of their life and it can happen at any age.

It is well known that overt hyperthyroidism is associated with atrial fibrillation, but it's still not clear whether milder (subclinical) hyperthyroidism has a similar effect. Data on the risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) is also limited.

So a team of researchers in Denmark set out to examine the risk of atrial fibrillation in relation to the whole spectrum of thyroid disease in a large group of patients.

Using nationwide registries, they identified 586,460 patients who had consulted a general practitioner in Copenhagen from 2000 to 2010 and had a thyroid function blood test. This measures the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) circulating in the blood. In people with hyperthyroidism the level of TSH will usually be low, whereas in people with hypothyroidism the level of TSH will usually be high.

During an average five and a half years follow-up, 17,154 (3%) of patients had a diagnosis of a first atrial fibrillation, 53% of whom were women.

Compared to patients with normal thyroid function, the risk of atrial fibrillation increased with decreasing levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone. For example, patients with subclinical hyperthyroidism had a 30% increased risk of atrial fibrillation, while patients with high-normal thyroid function had a 12% increased risk.

In contrast, hypothyroidism was associated with a lower risk of atrial fibrillation.

The authors stress that, although atrial fibrillation was closely associated with thyroid activity, they cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship. However, they say their study is "the first to assess the association between the whole spectrum of thyroid disease and the subsequent risk of atrial fibrillation in a population of primary care patients."

They conclude: "These results support long term screening for atrial fibrillation in patients with thyroid disease."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BMJ-British Medical Journal.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. C. Selmer, J. B. Olesen, M. L. Hansen, J. Lindhardsen, A.-M. S. Olsen, J. C. Madsen, J. Faber, P. R. Hansen, O. D. Pedersen, C. Torp-Pedersen, G. H. Gislason. The spectrum of thyroid disease and risk of new onset atrial fibrillation: a large population cohort study. BMJ, 2012; 345 (nov27 1): e7895 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.e7895

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/aLnVUQqZaxI/121127190327.htm

game of thrones season 2 dierks bentley kenny chesney blake shelton academy of country music awards brad paisley zac brown band

Andrew W.K. Nixed By State Dept. as Cultural Ambassador

Singer, rocker, free-form motivational speaker, and general party dude Andrew W.K. caused a stir in the music world by claiming the U.S. State Department had made him a cultural ambassador to the Middle East.

Unfortunately for rockers and partiers worldwide, it won't be happening.

W.K., whose given name is Andrew Wilkes-Krier, posted to his website announcing the State Department had invited him to travel to Bahrain in December to "promot[e] partying and world peace":

The US Department of State in partnership with the US Embassy in Manama, Bahrain, has invited Andrew to visit the Middle East to promote partying and positive power. In the tradition of the American Jazz Ambassadors who traveled the world in the mid 20th century as examples of American culture and spirit, Andrew has been invited by the State Department to travel to the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain and share his music and partying with the people there. Andrew will begin his journey sometime in December, 2012 and will visit elementary schools, the University of Bahrain, music venues, and more, all while promoting partying and world peace.

Andrew says: "This is a tremendous invitation. I'm very thankful to the Department of State for giving me the opportunity to visit a place I've never been before. And I feel very privileged and humbled by the chance to represent the United States of America and show the good people of Bahrain the power of positive partying. I can hardly wait for this adventure!"

But a State Department spokeswoman on Monday called the plans a "mistake."

"We had a Bahraini entity that approached the embassy about co-sponsoring a visit by this guy, who I take it is pretty popular there in Bahrain. That was initially approved, and then when more senior management at the embassy took a look at this, the conclusion was that this was not an appropriate use of U.S. government funds," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at a briefing.

"I think the conclusion was when they looked at the body of his work that we didn't need to be part of this invitation," Nuland said. "There may have been some preliminary conversations with him. But he is not going to be going to Bahrain on the U.S. government's dime."

Andrew W.K. made a name for himself with the 2001 album "I Get Wet," which featured metal-inspired pop-rock songs almost exclusively about partying. W.K. later hosted a show on MTV2 in which he received letters from troubled fans and attempted to help with their problems. He currently hosts the Cartoon Network show "Destroy Build Destroy."

W.K. has made a career of promoting the idea of partying, explaining it as a life ethos in free-form motivational speeches, where he stresses positive thinking and self-empowerment through partying and rock music.

The singer isn't taking the State Department rebuke so well.

He posted an update to his website on Monday, including a promotional flyer for his Bahrain appearance bearing red, block letters reading "CANCELED BY THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT." Read Andrew W.K.'s update:

BREAKING NEWS: After a year of planning and development, the US State Department has unexpectedly canceled their plans for Andrew's trip to the Middle East this week, after changing their minds and deciding that it was "a mistake and not appropriate." More information and a statement from Andrew, coming soon.

The singer also tweeted: "They can cancel our party in the Middle East, but they can never cancel the party in our hearts. #StayPositiveStayParty."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/andrew-w-k-nixed-state-dept-cultural-ambassador-001417712--abc-news-politics.html

landon collins dorial green beckham mike kelly kristen bell colbert super pac colbert super pac sloth

Potential of olive oil phenols as chemopreventive and therapeutic agents against cancer: A review of in vitro studies

How to Cite

Casaburi, I., Puoci, F., Chimento, A., Sirianni, R., Ruggiero, C., Avena, P. and Pezzi, V. (2012), Potential of olive oil phenols as chemopreventive and therapeutic agents against cancer: A review of in vitro studies. Mol. Nutr. Food Res.. doi:?10.1002/mnfr.201200503

Author Information

1. Department of Pharmaco-Biology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Calabria, Italy

^*Correspondence: Professor Vincenzo Pezzi, Department of Pharmaco-Biology, University of Calabria, 87136 Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza, Italy
E-mail: v.pezzi@unical.it
Fax: +39-0984-493271

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi?DOI=10.1002/mnfr.201200503

jon jones vs rashad evans results justin bieber rashad evans jon jones chuck colson death meteor showers 2012 ufc 145

Gunmen free inmates at Nigeria police station

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) ? Police in Nigeria say gunmen attacked a major police station near the country's capital that is holding members of a radical Islamist sect, freeing some prisoners.

A statement confirmed an attack happened early Monday morning at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad station near Abuja. Federal police spokesman Frank Mba said the gunmen's assault allowed some 30 prisoners to escape. Mba said 25 had already been recaptured.

That station is holding suspected members of the radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Mba denied any Boko Haram members escaped in the attack, though security officials routinely downplay such attacks.

Boko Haram is blamed for killing more than 760 people this year alone. The attack Monday comes after suicide bombings at a church at a military base Sunday killed at least 11.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-free-inmates-nigeria-police-station-134923533.html

eric holder carole king crystal renn matilda cab calloway melissa gilbert deadliest catch

Bell dealt to D-backs, who trade Young to Oakland

In this July 29, 2012, photo, Miami Marlins' Heath Bell pitches during a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in Miami. The Marlins traded Bell to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this July 29, 2012, photo, Miami Marlins' Heath Bell pitches during a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in Miami. The Marlins traded Bell to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this Sept. 10, 2012, photo, Oakland Athletics shortstop Cliff Pennington tips his helmet during the Athletics' baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif. The Athletics traded Pennington to the Arizona Diamondbacks for outfielder Chris Young on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

In this June 15, 2012, photo, Arizona Diamondbacks center fielder Chris Young gestures during the Diamondbacks' baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, Calif. The Diamondbacks traded Young to the Oakland Athletics on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, for infielder Cliff Pennington. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

PHOENIX (AP) ? Heath Bell became the latest player jettisoned by the Miami Marlins when he was dealt Saturday to the Arizona Diamondbacks, who also acquired infielder Cliff Pennington from the Oakland Athletics for outfielder Chris Young.

Arizona obtained Pennington and minor league infielder Yordy Cabrera from Oakland for Young and cash, then sent Cabrera to Miami for Bell. The Marlins will pay $8 million of the remaining $21 million Bell is owed.

Earlier in the day, Arizona exercised a $6.5 million option on closer J.J. Putz.

The 35-year-old Bell has 151 saves the past four seasons. He signed a $27 million, three-year contract with Miami last offseason but lost his closer's job in July. He finished with 19 saves in 27 chances and a 5.09 ERA in 73 games.

After failing to contend in the first season of their new ballpark, the Marlins traded former NL batting champion Hanley Ramirez to the Los Angeles Dodgers in July and sent pitcher Anibal Sanchez and infielder Omar Infante to the Detroit Tigers.

Arizona general manager Kevin Towers said Bell provides a right-handed power arm to help set up Putz, and Pennington adds experience at shortstop and second base.

Towers, who was the general manager in San Diego when Bell was the setup man for Trevor Hoffman, believes the pitcher will benefit from a return to the NL West.

"I think he's excited to kind of be able to clean the slate," Towers said.

Bell's contract calls for a $9 million salary in each of the next two seasons and includes a $9 million club option for 2015. Miami will pay $1.5 million next year, $3.5 million in 2014 and the $3 million deferred signing bonus he is owed.

Young, Arizona's center fielder for six seasons, was the odd man out in a crowded outfield with the team expecting young Adam Eaton, called up from Triple-A Reno late this season, to play center and be the Diamondbacks' leadoff hitter. But Towers said the job isn't automatically Eaton's. Gerardo Parra and A.J. Pollock also will compete for the spot.

Young will be reunited with Bob Melvin, who was his manager in Arizona.

"It caught me off guard a little bit, I'm not going to lie," Young said. "It's all settled in a couple hours now. I got an opportunity to talk to Billy (Beane) and got to talk to (Melvin). I'm excited to help. It's a new opportunity, a fresh start for me personally."

The 28-year-old Pennington played in 125 games for the AL West champion A's this season. He had 93 appearances at shortstop but was shifted to second base in August. A switch-hitter, Pennington hit .215 this year ? including .168 against left-handers ? and had 28 RBIs.

"He had a down year. That happens. Guys have down years," Towers said. "Heath had a down year. That's why we were able to make these deals."

Towers said he believes Pennington can be an everyday shortstop, plus fill in behind Aaron Hill at second base. The team also has Willie Bloomquist and John McDonald at shortstop.

Towers said Bell might have been uncomfortable with his high-profile signing during the Miami makeover last winter.

"Maybe a lot of it had to do with the pressure, his first big contract," Towers said, adding that Bell "was really the first big signing" the Marlins had in the offseason.

The Arizona general manager thinks his bullpen ? led by Putz, David Hernandez, Brad Ziegler and now Bell ? "is as good a bullpen as there is if not in the National League but in baseball."

With considerable money invested in the bullpen, Towers said it's particularly important to have a strong group of relievers while Arizona's young starting rotation develops. He said Arizona still needs a late-inning left-handed reliever and perhaps a veteran starter.

This could be a sign Beane, the A's general manager, might try to move center fielder Coco Crisp, who signed a $14 million, two-year contract in January that includes a $7.5 million club option for 2014 with a $1 million buyout. Beane, however, said he plans to keep Crisp, though he realized there would be speculation otherwise.

"I really like our outfield," Beane said. "Everybody knows how important this guy is to this team and also has the benefit of being a personal favorite of mine."

Oakland already acquired shortstop Stephen Drew from the Diamondbacks this season and he helped the Athletics down the stretch. The A's overtook Texas on the final day of the regular season to win the division and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. They lost in five games to the World Series-bound Detroit Tigers.

Beane said the day after the season ended he planned to keep his young team intact as much as possible. Last offseason, Oakland traded three top pitchers: Trevor Cahill to Arizona, Gio Gonzalez to Washington and closer Andrew Bailey to Boston.

The 29-year-old Young, a popular player in the Arizona clubhouse, has had three 20-homer, 20-steal seasons. He injured his right shoulder crashing into a wall while making a catch early this season and struggled at the plate afterward. A quadriceps injury in early September sent Young to the bench in favor of Eaton.

___

AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley and AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-21-BBO-Diamondbacks-Athletics-Marlins-Trades/id-f612008573e84637a7556ba5c32a80cb

emmys emmys

'March on Wall Street South' draws hundreds

Chuck Burton / AP

Demonstrators gather at Frazier Park at the start of a protest march Sunday in Charlotte, N.C.

By NBC News staff

Updated at 3:18 p.m. ET: About 800 people chanting and carrying signs (among them, "Banks got bailed out. We got sold out") marched Sunday through the central business district in Charlotte, N.C., ahead of the Democratic National Convention to protest what they said was seedy corporate influence on politics.

The protesters, who came from across the country, gathered at Frazier Park for a round of speeches before starting the march. They?were from a coalition of more than 80 local and national groups.?Media packets declared the group's mission as "building peoples' power during the DNC.

Demonstrators had signs indicating that some were union workers, anti-war veterans and undocumented immigrants.?

---

"Capitalism is holding back the human race," one sign read. "Bail out people, not banks," another sign said.

Hundreds of chanting protesters march through uptown Charlotte, N.C., ahead of the Democratic National Convention. WCNC reports.

The protest route was to take them past the corporate headquarters of Bank of America and a major office hub for Wells Fargo ? financial institutions that some see as symbols of foreclosures and federal bailouts. Protesters also planned a stop at the headquarters of Duke Energy, the nation?s largest utility.

Duke has been criticized for investing in nuclear energy and using coal, according to the Charlotte Observer. Protesters have asked the company to focus on wind and solar power, which emit less carbon into the atmosphere. Duke, in defense, says it aims to retire its older coal plants.

Uniformed police officers on bicycles and on foot kept a close eye on the marchers. Ray Suarez, of PBS NewsHour, tweeted, "Just watched Occupy et. al. march through Charlotte, who were in turn watched by enough cops to invade a small country."

Before the main event began, a small press conference was held highlighting a woman, Sylvia Sanchez, who says she must pay $20,000 to Bank of America by Sept. 14 to avoid foreclosure on a home she's owned for 12 years.?The woman, whose daughter is suffering from a brain condition called hydrocephalus, said she is in debt after having retrofitted the home with wheelchair ramps.

In interviews with NBC News, rank-and file-activists cited different reasons for coming.

Kendall Hale, a massage therapist and Obama campaign volunteer from Asheville, N.C., said that climate change was among her concerns.

"The era of compromise may not be working so well," Hale said. She urged President Obama to "forge ahead with the issues [he's] speaking about so eloquently."

Andie Marion, a college student also from the Asheville area, said her chief concern was "money in politics."

"The amount of corporate power that influences a lot of the politics I think is really huge," she said.

On the sidelines, Sunday's protest in Charlotte triggered a conversation about where the Occupy movement is headed.?

Todd Gitlin, who wrote Letters to a Young Activist and Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the promise of Occupy Wall Street, told NPR: "The initial wave moved its metaphors into the household conversation and shaped politics. But I think they essentially reached the limits of what they could achieve. Now there's a sorting process."

The Democratic National Convention opens Tuesday in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable Arena. President Barack Obama will be nominated for a new term on Wednesday. He will deliver his acceptance speech Thursday night at the outdoor Bank of America Stadium.

The convention starts less than a week after Republicans gathered in Tampa, Fla., to nominate Mitt Romney as the party's presidential candidate.

NBC's Jamie Novogrod and Mark Potter and contributed to this report.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/02/13621900-hundreds-take-part-in-march-on-wall-street-south-in-charlotte-nc?lite

nike nfl jerseys katie couric barista university of kentucky ncaa oakland news alec baldwin

Scientists probe mystery of operon evolution

Saturday, September 1, 2012

The threads of an evolutionary mystery that dates to the birth of molecular biology are beginning to unravel, thanks to a new investigation by computational bioengineers at Rice University and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

In new research published online this week in PLOS Computational Biology, Rice's Oleg Igoshin and MD Anderson's Christian Ray offer a possible explanation for the existence of jointly controlled clusters of genes called operons, which are found in bacterial chromosomes but not in those of higher order organisms like humans.

The new study harkens to one of the earliest 20th-century discoveries in molecular biology, and it could help clear 21st-century hurdles for synthetic biologists.

In the early 1960s, just as scientists were discovering how cells transcribed information from DNA to create the necessary proteins for life, French scientists Jacques Monod and Fran?ois Jacob found that the bacterium Escherichia coli used three specialized genes to create the proteins it needed to break down and digest lactose. They also found that these three metabolic genes were switched on and off together from a single control point.

Monod and Jacob had discovered the first operon, a set of multiple genes that are controlled as one. It marked the first time that scientists had identified a gene regulatory network, and it earned them a share of the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Monod and Jacob's lac operon turned out to be the first of many bacterial operons. But by the late 1960s, it was clear that operons weren't the biological norm. None have ever been found in humans, for instance, and very few have been identified in multicellular organisms.

"There's never been a definitive explanation for why nature would preferentially select for operons in prokaryotes but not in eukaryotes," said Igoshin, associate professor of bioengineering at Rice. "In addition, we do not know how genes get grouped into operons. Why, for example, are some interacting genes selected to be in one operon while others are not?"

Igoshin and Ray are computational bioengineers who apply mathematics and computational bioinformatics to study cell signaling and other biochemical processes. Ray, a former Rice postdoctoral research associate in Igoshin's research group, is now in the Department of Systems Biology at MD Anderson. Ray and Igoshin began investigating operons in late 2009 to determine whether their evolution might have been influenced by the "noisy" nature of biochemical signals that regulate bacterial gene transcription.

"When a cell is responding to its environment, it can use regulators to control gene expression, but the amount of control that the cell has is limited by the number of molecules like messenger RNAs, which mediate protein production," Ray said. "So, in bacteria, the number of copies of a protein expressed by a gene can vary widely, say from 50 one hour to 100 the next. And this happens even when conditions outside the cell have not changed."

Igoshin and Ray knew that these random fluctuations were less of an issue for eukaryotic cells, which have larger volumes and more copies of messenger RNA and proteins. So they hypothesized that operons play a role in helping bacteria deal with these "noisy" conditions.

To test their idea, they developed a series of mathematical models of gene networks that could be run on a computer rather than on cell cultures, as well as statistical tests that could be performed using the information accumulated in bioinformatic databases.

Their mathematical models of gene networks covered six different types of protein-protein interactions. For each interaction type, they compared how operons affected noise in networks encoded by the member genes. For three of the six networks, operons worked to suppress noise. For the other three, they worked to increase noise. The findings from the simulations therefore suggested that operons could reduce the detrimental effects of noisy signals in some gene regulatory networks, but not others.

To further test the idea, Igoshin and Ray examined the operon organization of the E. coli genome. They found operons were frequent when the type of interaction that they encoded worked to suppress noise. When the encoded interaction did not suppress noise, operons were infrequent.

"Operons that emerged in the course of evolution in E. coli are consistent with selection for noise suppression and selection against noise amplification," Igoshin said.

The study also suggested why specific genes might be found in a specific operon.

"Certain genes perform much better when they're controlled as a unit, particularly if they produce co-ingredients that are required in proportional amounts," Ray said. "In the simulations, when these were split up and put onto separate operons, the inherent noise in the control signals would create a situation where the cell had way too much or too little of one co-product. In some cases, this is just inefficient, but in others the buildups could be toxic."

Ray and Igoshin said the study has implications for synthetic biologists who are trying to imbue cells with new biological functions not found in nature.

"For example, if you need to take multiple enzymes from different species and put them into a bacterium -- something that was done recently to produce a low-cost anti-malaria drug -- it might be easier to take them separately and put them into different parts of the chromosome," Igoshin said. "What this new finding shows is that there may be a cost for that in terms of overall fitness of the organism. Nature sometimes groups things together, particularly in cases where one of the enzymes makes or consumes toxic intermediates, and synthetic biologists would do well to pay attention to these types of interactions as they prepare their designs."

###

Rice University: http://media.rice.edu

Thanks to Rice University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 113 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/123150/Scientists_probe_mystery_of_operon_evolution

the international preppers geraldo obama trayvon martin pietrus cheney tori spelling