Researchers reveal link between obesity and heart disease

Researchers were recently able to find new links between obesity and heart disease.

The study led by James A Hamilton, PhD, professor of Physiology, Biophysics and Radiology at Boston University School of Medicine, applied novel methods to detect binding of fatty acids to CD36 and their effect on internalisation of oxidized LDL.

Although other research groups have characterised a fatty acid binding site on CD36 and postulated CD36 to be a gatekeeper for fatty acid entry into cells, the Hamilton lab previously found that CD36 did not increase fatty acid translocation across the plasma membrane.

In the current study all of the common dietary fatty acid types (saturated, unsaturated, trans and polyunsaturated) were shown by a new assay to bind to CD36 at levels greater than expected for a single binding site characterised in previous studies.

In cells with CD36 present in the plasma membrane, all of the fatty acids also enhanced oxidized LDL uptake, except for the fish oil fatty acid DHA. This current study added to the possible mechanisms for fish oil benefits that are now widely recognised.

Hamilton said that since obesity and type 2 diabetes are characterised by high plasma levels of fatty acids, the demonstrated enhancement of oxLDL uptake by increases in common dietary fatty acids might contribute to the pathophysiology of these diseases. The new results provided a link between fatty acids, CD36, and atherosclerosis and new drugscould be designed that target the exact mechanism more precisely, he further added.

The study is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

A glass of wine a day good for heart than none at all: Study

London: Drinking a small glass of wine a day may give you a better chance of avoiding heart failure than those who don't drink at all, according to scientists.

In a new study, scientists have discovered that middle-aged men who drink up to seven small glasses of wine or about three and a half pints of beer a week are 20 per cent less likely to develop heart failure when compared to teetotallers.

The study also found that the apparent protective effects were more marginal in women, but up to seven drinks a week still gave moderate female drinkers a 16 per cent reduced risk of heart failure over their non-drinking counterparts.

Researcher Scott Solomon of Harvard Medical School in Boston, said that these findings suggest that drinking alcohol in moderation does not contribute to an increased risk of heart failure and may even be protective.

He added that the study shows there is an association between drinking moderate amounts of alcohol and a lower risk of heart failure but this does not necessarily mean that moderate alcohol consumption causes the lowered risk.

However, researchers cautioned that the findings shouldn't be used as an excuse to booze it up as heavy alcohol use is certainly a risk factor.

For the study, researchers tracked drinking patterns and heart failure rates for 14,600 men and women aged between 45 and 64 over a period of 24 to 25 years.

The study also found that former drinkers had the highest risk of developing heart failure, a 19 percent and 17 percent increased risk among men and women respectively compared with abstainers.

The research has been published in the European Heart Journal.

Non-metro city succeeds in its first complex heart transplant

For the first time in the country, a complex heart transplant was carried out in a non-metro city. Manoj Kumar, was discharged with a new heart on January 2 from Caritas hospital in Kerala.

In a statement to The Hindu, Rajesh Ramankutty, the doctor who headed the team that conducted the surgery, said, ‘Heart transplant is not new in our country or in Kerala. But we have to surmount heavy odds in successfully conducting the transplant in a non-metro, which lacks many logistical advantages of a metro city.’

This tough task of completing the transplant after the organ has been harvested was successful because of better resources now available in the state for organ transplantation because of  the kidney transplant campaign which has now spread to liver and heart sharing. An effective platform for sharing information about availability of organs to the member hospitals has been made available by Kerala Network for Organ Sharing (KNOS).  (Read: Heart transplants: how are they done? )

After suffering a massive heart attack in January 2014, Manoj started showing symptoms of heart failure by September and the doctors were waiting since for a donor. ‘It was on December 2 night that we got information about the availability of the organ from a private medical college at Thiruvalla. The team rushed to the college and returned after harvesting the organ in less than 30 minutes. The surgery took less than four hours,’ Dr. Ramankutty said, as reported by The Hindu. (Read: Green corridor in Chennai reason behind successful heart transplant)

The team comprised of four cardiologists, two heart surgeons, two anesthetists, five technicians, 25 nursing staff and 15 paramedics. Manoj is now closely monitored and the doctors hope that he will fully recover within six months.