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Staying well-hydrated may be associated with a reduced risk for developing heart failure, according to researchers. Their findings suggest that consuming sufficient amounts of fluids throughout life not only supports essential body functioning but may also reduce the risk of severe heart problems in the future. Heart failure, a chronic condition that develops when the heart does not pump enough blood for the body's needs, affects more than 6.2 million Americans, a little more than 2% of the population. Adults with serum sodium levels starting at 143 milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L)—a normal range is 135-146 mEq/L—in midlife had a 39%...

A Texas man who had organized a “Freedom Rally” in protest of COVID-19 restrictions is now on a ventilator after becoming infected with COVID, according to his pregnant wife. ...The San Angelo Standard-Times had reported that Caleb had been hospitalized with COVID for more than a month, with Wallace telling the paper that her husband initially refused to get tested for the virus and tried his own vitamin regimen to treat himself rather than seeing a doctor. Most days his wife said that she and her three daughters FaceTime him in the hospital with the help of a nurse, though...

Thousands of Netherlands residents who recovered from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, may be left with permanent damage to their lungs, resulting in decreased capacity and more difficulty absorbing oxygen, Leon van den Toorn, pulmonologist chairman of the Dutch association of physicians for pulmonary disease and tuberculosis NVALT, said to newspaper AD. Many people underestimate the consequences of the coronavirus Van den Toorn said to the newspaper. The virus and the body's response to it can cause permanent damage to the lungs, he said. "In severe cases, a kind of scar formation occurs, we call this...

Abstract Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a classic pro-inflammatory cytokine critical in mounting an effective immune response. It is secreted by a wide array of cell types; however, its effector cells are more restricted, owing to the fact that very few cells, except lymphocytes and hepatocytes, express the functional membrane IL-6 receptor thus reducing the number of IL-6-responsive cells. Trans-signalling, the shedding of the membrane-bound form of the IL-6 receptor into the local microenvironment, greatly increases the range of cells that can respond. IL-6 has been demonstrated to have a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis, Castleman’s disease and Crohn’s...

Enlarge Image Thick-skinned. Fragments of the anticancer drug endostatin can halt fibrosis in a slab of human skin. Credit: Feghali-Bostwick Laboratory Connective tissue holds our bodies together, but in a condition called fibrosis, an overabundance of the material devastates organs such as the liver, heart, and lungs. A new study suggests that fragments of a promising cancer drug can rein in fibrosis, which is currently untreatable. Fibrosis occurs when cells pump out excess collagen and other connective tissue proteins, which harm organs. Pulmonary fibrosis, for example, stiffens the lungs, eventually suffocating patients unless they receive a lung transplant. In...

Savannah Aulger will never have snapshots with her father on her first birthday, on Christmas or at a school event. The only picture she will ever have of them is the one as sweet as it is heartbreaking. Hooked up to an oxygen mask at the hospital, the man she would call dad cradled her in his arms for 45 minutes...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (Dec. 20, 2005) -- Most children grow up playing with trucks and tanks, but few of them have the chance to ever experience riding the “Iron Horse.” Thanks to the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Marines of 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, that experience came alive for six-year-old Brandon Rasnick of Lehigh Acres, Fla. Brandon, who was promoted to the rank of sergeant by his fellow Marines, has cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung disorder. Since his one wish was train with Marines and to “save the world,” the Marines of 2nd Tanks arranged a...

N (AFP) - Scientists in Britain said they have produced the world's first colonies of embryonic stem cells containing the genetic defect behind cystic fibrosis, in an apparent breakthrough in the fight against the disease. Researchers from King's College London, speaking at the British Association Festival of Science at the University of Exeter, said it is the first definitive case of stem cells being created containing any kind of genetic disease defect. The scientists are now looking for specialists around the world who can develop further the cells and use them to investigate new treatments, according to Stephen Minger, who...