Testosterone replacement therapy ups stroke risk in men

Ageing men with low testosterone levels who take testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) are at a greater risk of experiencing an ischemic stroke or a cardiac arrest especially during the first two years of use, warn researchers.

The findings confirm concerns voiced by many health agencies about the potential risks associated with the treatment.

“Our findings show that the use of TRT was associated with an increased risk of stroke, transient ischemic attack or cardiac arrest during the first two years of use,” said a researcher.

According to researchers, there is limited evidence on the long-term clinical benefits of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to effectively treat the modestly declining levels of endogenous testosterone levels of aging but healthy men.

“We strongly recommend that clinicians proceed with caution when considering prescribing TRT and first discuss both the potential benefits and risks with patients,” the Dr. said.

The study analysed a large database of electronic medical records of patients enrolled in primary care practices in the UK and formed a cohort of 15,401 men, aged 45 years or older, with low testosterone levels (hypogonadism).

Users of TRT had a 21 per cent greater risk of cardiovascular events compared with non-users, corresponding to an additional 128 events.

The increased risk appears to be transient, declining after two years of TRT use, which the investigators attribute to a phenomenon called “depletion of susceptible”.

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Researchers find new drug to prevent neural deaths

A team of scientists has found a new drug that may prevent neural death through glucose metabolism modification in stressed neurons.

The trials conducted on mice are rather promising for future use in humans. The new drug can be advantageous in neurological conditions ranging from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's and Huntington's diseases to traumatic brain injury and ischemic stroke.

According to WHO, stroke is the 2nd most common cause of mortality and more than a third of people who have survived a stroke will have a severe disability.

As the population ages, many more millions are poised to develop Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease in the near future.

Glycolysis is generally considered as the metabolic pathway essential for cell survival since it meets cell energy needs in case of intensive energy consumption.

However, it is already known that in the brain tissue, the situation is quite different-different cell types show distinct glucose metabolism patterns.

In Neurons, only a small portion of glucose is consumed vie the glycolysis pathway. At the same time, astrocytes provide nutrients to neurons and utilise glycolysis to metabolise glucose.

These differences are mostly due to the special protein called PFKFB3, which is normally absent in neurons and is active is astrocytes.

In the case of certain neurological diseases, stroke being one of them, the amount of active PFKFB3 increases in neurons, which is highly stressful for these cells and leads to cell death.
Researchers in the in vivo experiments confirmed that a small molecule, the inhibitor or PFKFB3, may prevent cell death in the case of ischemia injury.

Inhibition of PFKFB3 improves co-ordination of mice after stroke and reduced brain infarct volume. Moreover, PFKFB3 inhibitor protects neurons from the amyloid-beta peptide, the main component of the amyloid plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease patients. 

A Prof. said, " Excitotoxicity is a hallmark of various neurological diseases, stroke being one of them. Our group has previously established a link between this pathological condition and high activity of PFKFB3 enzyme in neurons, which leads to severe oxidative stress and neuronal death".

These promising results bring hope to dozens of millions of patients suffering from life-threatening neurological disease, mentioned a researcher.

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Suffering from insomnia? You may have an increased risk of heart failure

People suffering from insomnia might have an increased risk of coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke, says a study.

According to researchers, previous observational studies have found an association between insomnia, which affects up to 30 per cent of the general population and an increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke.

“These observational studies were unable to determine whether insomnia is a cause, or if it is just associated with them,” said the study’s lead author.

In the study, the researchers applied Mendelian randomisation, a technique that uses genetic variants known to be connected with a potential risk factor, such as insomnia, to reduce bias in the results.
The 1.3 million participants with or without heart disease and stroke were drawn from four major public studies and groups, said the research published.

Researchers found genetic variants for insomnia were associated with significantly higher odds of coronary artery disease, heart failure and ischemic stroke – particularly large artery stroke.

“It is important to identify the underlying reason for insomnia and treat it. Sleep is a behaviour that can be changed by new habits and stress management,” he said.


A limitation to the study is that the results represent a genetic variant link to insomnia rather than insomnia itself.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                       https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                     FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                   

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Testosterone replacement therapy ups stroke risk in men

Ageing men with low testosterone levels who take testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) are at a greater risk of experiencing an ischemic stroke or a cardiac arrest especially during the first two years of use, warn researchers.
 
The research findings confirm concerns voiced by many health agencies about the potential risks associated with the treatment.

“Our findings show that the use of TRT was associated with an increased risk of stroke, transient ischemic attack or cardiac arrest during the first two years of use,” said  a researcher.

According to researchers, there is limited evidence on the long-term clinical benefits of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) to effectively treat the modestly declining levels of endogenous testosterone levels of aging but healthy men.

“We strongly recommend that clinicians proceed with caution when considering prescribing TRT and first discuss both the potential benefits and risks with patients,” the researcher said.

The study analysed a large database of electronic medical records of patients enrolled in primary care practices in the UK and formed a cohort of 15,401 men, aged 45 years or older, with low testosterone levels (hypogonadism).

Users of TRT had a 21 per cent greater risk of cardiovascular events compared with non-users, corresponding to an additional 128 events.

The increased risk appears to be transient, declining after two years of TRT use, which the investigators attribute to a phenomenon called “depletion of susceptibles”.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                      FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                    

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Excess weight, body fat cause cardiovascular diseases

Turns out, excess weight does more harm to the human body than we might think. According to a recent study, excess weight and body fat cause a range of heart and blood vessel  diseases.

In particular, the study published  shows that as body mass index (BMI) and fat mass increase, so does the risk of aortic valve stenosis - a condition in which the valve controlling the flow of blood from the heart to the body's largest blood vessel, the aorta, narrows and fails to open fully.

As part of the study, the team of researchers used a method called Mendelian randomisation to explore this phenomenon further.

Mendelian randomisation is a way of showing whether or not individual risk factors actually cause disease, rather than just being associated with it. It uses genetic variants that are already known to be associated with potential risk factors, such as BMI and body fat, as indirect indicators or "proxies" for these risk factors.

This enables researchers to discover whether the risk factor is the cause of the disease (rather than the other way around), and reduces bias in results because genetic variants are determined at conception and cannot be affected by subsequent external or environmental factors, or by the development of the disease.

The researchers, studied 96 genetic variants associated with BMI and body fat mass to estimate their effect on 14 cardiovascular diseases in 367,703 participants of white-British descent in UK Biobank -- a UK-based national and international resource containing data on 500,000 people, aged 40-69 years.

"The causal association between BMI and fat mass and various heart and blood vessel diseases, in particular, aortic valve stenosis, was unknown. Using Mendelian randomisation we found that higher BMI and fat mass are associated with an increased risk of aortic valve stenosis and most other cardiovascular diseases, suggesting that excess body fat is a cause of cardiovascular disease," he explained.

The researchers also found that the risk of cardiovascular diseases increased with the genetic variants predicting increases in fat mass. The greatest increased risk was also for aortic valve stenosis (46 per cent increased risk), followed by ischemia stroke, transient ischemic attack, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, peripheral artery disease, deep vein thrombosis, high blood pressure, and coronary artery disease.

The researchers stress that although these genetic variants can predispose people to be more likely to gain excess weight, the most important factors implicated in the development of cardiovascular disease are diet and physical activity.

"Our genes can make us somewhat more predisposed to gain body weight but lifestyle factors, such as overeating and lack of physical activity, are the major determinants of overweight. A healthy diet is the cornerstone of cardiovascular disease prevention, and how much we eat should be limited to the amount of energy required to maintain a healthy body weight, which is a BMI of between 20 to 25 kg/m2. People who are predisposed to a higher BMI may need to work a bit harder to maintain a healthy weight," he asserted. 

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