Month: March 2014

Blood pressure should be checked more often in people who have had a stroke, says a study. That’s because keeping blood pressure consistently low can reduce the risk of a second stroke. But many stroke survivors do not maintain low blood pressure (under 140/90), according to a study of nearly 3,700 stroke patients. Those who had low blood-pressure readings more than 75% of the time also reduced their chances of another stroke by 54%. And they lowered their risk for heart attack. But only one-third of study participants had low blood-pressure readings this frequently. Study authors said that people who have had a stroke need to take medications as directed and have their blood pressure checked more often. The study was published online March 27, in the journal Stroke. U.S. News and World Report wrote about it the same day.

Magnetic brain stimulation improved symptoms and quality of life in people with fibromyalgia. That’s the finding of a study of 38 patients. Fibromyalgia causes chronic pain, fatigue and other symptoms. Previous brain imaging studies have suggested brain abnormalities are associated with the condition. Researchers randomly assigned the subject to receive either transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or a “sham” stimulation. With TMS, electrodes applied to the head send small electric charges to the brain. The study lasted 10 weeks and involved 14 sessions of real or sham TMS. The people who got the real TMS reported small improvements in their quality of life compared with the people who got the sham treatment. But the treatment had no effect on pain. PET brain scans of the people who got the real TMS showed changes in the area of the brain involved in emotion.

People who have a variant gene and experienced a high level of stress were more likely to experience depression, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at the genes of nearly 2,361 white people from the United Kingdom and Hungary. They asked them about past and recent life events. These included childhood abuse or neglect, financial problems and illnesses. The participants were also assessed for current depression and anxiety. The researchers found that people with genetic variations in a brain chemical called galanin were more likely to be depressed and anxious after stressful life events. Galanin seems to have a role in pain, sleeping, waking mood and blood pressure. It’s suspected to also play a role in stress and anxiety disorders. The results may help develop new drugs to treat depression and anxiety.

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) aren’t all they’re touted to be, according to a U.S. study. Researchers focused on whether they were effective smoking cessation tools. They found that e-cigarettes did not help people quit or cut down on smoking. The study followed 949 smokers. Of them, 88 said they were also using e-cigarettes at the start of the study in 2011. One year later, 14% of the total group had quit smoking. The e-cigarette group did not quit at a greater rate than the larger group. The study and its findings are not without controversy. Critics claim that the study was too small for the findings to be conclusive. The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine online. HealthDay News reported on it March 24.