Migraine with aura and risk of cardiovascular and all cause mortality in men and women: prospective cohort study

Objective To estimate whether migraine in mid-life is associated with mortality from cardiovascular disease, other causes, and all causes

Structured headache services as the solution to the ill-health burden of headache: 1. Rationale and description

In countries where headache services exist at all, their focus is usually on specialist (tertiary) care. This is clinically and economically inappropriate: most headache disorders can effectively and more efficiently (and at lower cost) be treated in educationally supported primary care. At the same time, compartmentalizing divisions between primary, secondary and tertiary care in many health-care systems create multiple inefficiencies, confronting patients attempting to navigate these levels (the “patient journey”) with perplexing obstacles. High demand for headache care, estimated here in a needs-assessment exercise, is the biggest of the challenges to reform. It is also the principal reason why reform is necessary. The structured headache services model presented here by experts from all world regions on behalf of the Global Campaign against Headache is the suggested health-care solution to headache. It develops and refines previous proposals, responding to the challenge of high demand by basing headache services in primary care, with two supporting arguments. First, only primary care can deliver headache services equitably to the large numbers of people needing it. Second, with educational supports, they can do so effectively to most of these people. The model calls for vertical integration between care levels (primary, secondary and tertiary), and protection of the more advanced levels for the minority of patients who need them. At the same time, it is amenable to horizontal integration with other care services. It is adaptable according to the broader national or regional health services in which headache services should be embedded. It is, according to evidence and argument presented, an efficient and cost-effective model, but these are claims to be tested in formal economic analyses

A Case of Complete Scotoma Following Intake of Conjugated Linoleic Acid Supplement

To access publisher's full text version of this article click on the hyperlink belo

Neuron-enriched RNA-binding Proteins Regulate Pancreatic Beta Cell Function and Survival

Pancreatic beta cell failure is the central event leading to diabetes. Beta cells share many phenotypic traits with neurons, and proper beta cell function relies on the activation of several neuronal-like transcription programs. Regulation of gene expression by alternative splicing plays a pivotal role in brain, where it affects neuronal development, function and disease. The role of alternative splicing in beta cells remains unclear, but recent data indicate that splicing alterations modulated by both inflammation and susceptibility genes for diabetes contribute to beta cell dysfunction and death. Here we used RNA sequencing to compare the expression of splicing-regulatory RNA-binding proteins in human islets, brain and other human tissues, and identified a cluster of splicing regulators that are expressed in both beta cells and brain. Four of them, namely Elavl4, Nova2, Rbox1 and Rbfox2 were selected for subsequent functional studies in insulin-producing rat INS-1E, human EndoC-βH1 cells, and in primary rat beta cells. Silencing of Elavl4 and Nova2 increased beta cell apoptosis, while silencing of Rbfox1 and Rbfox2 increased insulin content and secretion. Interestingly, Rbfox1 silencing modulates the splicing of the actin-remodeling protein gelsolin, increasing gelsolin expression and leading to faster glucose-induced actin depolymerization and increased insulin release. Taken together, these findings indicate that beta cells share common splicing regulators and programs with neurons. These splicing regulators play key roles in insulin release and beta cell survival and their dysfunction may contribute to the loss of functional beta cell mass in diabetes

Structured Q1 headache services as the solution to the ill-health burden of headache: 1. Rationale and description

In countries where headache services exist at all, their focus is usually on specialist (tertiary) care. This is clinically and economically inappropriate: most headache disorders can effectively and more efficiently (and at lower cost) be treated in educationally supported primary care. At the same time, compartmentalizing divisions between primary, secondary and tertiary care in many health-care systems create multiple inefficiencies, confronting patients attempting to navigate these levels (the “patient journey”) with perplexing obstacles. High demand for headache care, estimated here in a needs-assessment exercise, is the biggest of the challenges to reform. It is also the principal reason why reform is necessary. The structured headache services model presented here by experts from all world regions on behalf of the Global Campaign against Headache is the suggested health-care solution to headache. It develops and refines previous proposals, responding to the challenge of high demand by basing headache services in primary care, with two supporting arguments. First, only primary care can deliver headache services equitably to the large numbers of people needing it. Second, with educational supports, they can do so effectively to most of these people. The model calls for vertical integration between care levels (primary, secondary and tertiary), and protection of the more advanced levels for the minority of patients who need them. At the same time, it is amenable to horizontal integration with other care services. It is adaptable according to the broader national or regional health services in which headache services should be embedded

Structured Q1 headache services as the solution to the ill-health burden of headache: 1. Rationale and description

In countries where headache services exist at all, their focus is usually on specialist (tertiary) care. This is clinically and economically inappropriate: most headache disorders can effectively and more efficiently (and at lower cost) be treated in educationally supported primary care. At the same time, compartmentalizing divisions between primary, secondary and tertiary care in many health-care systems create multiple inefficiencies, confronting patients attempting to navigate these levels (the “patient journey”) with perplexing obstacles. High demand for headache care, estimated here in a needs-assessment exercise, is the biggest of the challenges to reform. It is also the principal reason why reform is necessary. The structured headache services model presented here by experts from all world regions on behalf of the Global Campaign against Headache is the suggested health-care solution to headache. It develops and refines previous proposals, responding to the challenge of high demand by basing headache services in primary care, with two supporting arguments. First, only primary care can deliver headache services equitably to the large numbers of people needing it. Second, with educational supports, they can do so effectively to most of these people. The model calls for vertical integration between care levels (primary, secondary and tertiary), and protection of the more advanced levels for the minority of patients who need them. At the same time, it is amenable to horizontal integration with other care services. It is adaptable according to the broader national or regional health services in which headache services should be embedded. It is, according to evidence and argument presented, an efficient and cost-effective model, but these are claims to be tested in formal economic analyses

The Association of Alcohol Consumption with Coronary Heart Disease Mortality and Cancer Incidence Varies by Smoking History

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of alcohol on coronary heart disease (CHD), cancer incidence, and cancer mortality by smoking history. DESIGN/SETTING: A prospective, general community cohort was established with a baseline mailed questionnaire completed in 1986. PARTICIPANTS: A population-based sample of 41,836 Iowa women aged 55–69 years. MEASUREMENTS: Mortality (total, cancer, and CHD) and cancer incidence outcomes were collected through 1999. Relative hazard rates (HR) were calculated using Cox regression analyses. MAIN RESULTS: Among never smokers, alcohol consumption (≥14 g/day vs none) was inversely associated with age-adjusted CHD mortality (HR, 0.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.19 to 0.84) and total mortality (HR, 0.71; 95% CI, 0.55 to 0.92). Among former smokers, alcohol consumption was also inversely associated with CHD mortality (HR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.88) and total mortality (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.97), but was positively associated with cancer incidence (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.51). Among current smokers, alcohol consumption was not associated with CHD mortality (HR, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.73 to 1.50) or total mortality (HR, 1.07; 95% CI, 0.92 to 1.25), but was positively associated with cancer incidence (HR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.54). CONCLUSIONS: Health behavior counseling regarding alcohol consumption for cardioprotection should include a discussion of the lack of a decreased risk of CHD mortality for current smokers and the increased cancer risk among former and current smokers