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Nearly 80 percent of deaths from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are associated with thrombosis, a condition that occurs when blood clots block a vein or artery. Traditionally, it's been thought that proteins released by damaged blood vessels may lead to inappropriate blood clotting, but a new study points to another trigger and a new mechanism that may underlie thrombosis. Beginning with samples from patients, investigators identified the new mechanism that activated PIEZO1, a major mechanosensory ion channel. In the lab, the team examined its effects and its potential as a therapeutic target for preventing thrombosis or identifying people at...

p>Since the beginning of the pandemic, one of the most common denominators in deaths and severe Covid is obesity.A vicious cycle...Pre-vaccine, 73% of those who died of (or with) Covid-19 were either overweight or obese - which tracks with the percentage of overweight and obese Americans.Distribution of deaths among adults hospitalized for COVID-19 in the United States from March to December 2020, by body mass index In addition to having generally poor circulatory health, an obese person is more likely to have other conditions that are risk factors for severe Covid, including low-level inflammation, diabetes and lung disease.A September 2020...

A new study has found that people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) experience cardiac autonomic dysfunction, meaning that the heart's ability to speed up during exercise and recover afterwards is limited, regardless of disease severity. "Although it is a respiratory disease, COPD also affects other systems of the body," commented Laura Delgado, predoctoral researcher at ISGlobal. "Its effect on the cardiovascular and muscular system has been extensively studied, but its effect on the autonomic nervous system has received less attention." The study assessed participants' ability to increase their heart rate during exercise (chronotropic response, CR) and return to baseline...

So here's my thing. I want to find a doctor I could have a long conversation with, who will do some deep, comprehensive testing to find out what's wrong with me (35, male, falling apart). I ask the nurse practitioner I see for a big, comprehensive blood test to see if there are any other problems with me. She asks "what do you want tested." I say I don't know, because I'm not a medical professional and don't know where to start. It's like a circular conversation. Then she tells me to exercise when I have no energy, and tells...

A city-sponsored survey says the number of adult smokers in New York City fell by more than 100,000 between 2002 and 2003. Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the drop - which amounts to 11 percent - is the steepest decline of smokers seen anywhere. Telephone surveys found that 19.3 percent of adults smoked in 2003, down from 21.6 percent in 2002. Overall cigarette consumption declined by 13 percent, suggesting that even those who continue to smoke are now smoking less. Health officials credit the decline to a 2002 tax increase on cigarettes, which raised the tax from eight cents per...