Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes appears to increase the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death among people with high blood sugar, partly by stimulating the production of calprotectin, a protein that sparks an inflammatory process that fuels the buildup of artery-clogging plaque. The findings, made in mice and confirmed with human data, suggest new therapeutic targets for reducing heart disease in people with type 1 diabetes. Led by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers in collaboration with investigators at New York University and the University of Pittsburgh, the study was published today in the online edition of Cell Metabolism.

Diabetes is known to raise the risk for atherosclerosis, a disease in which fatty deposits known as plaque accumulate inside arte...

A study by Stephanie Cosentino, PhD, of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues examines the relationship between families with exceptional longevity and cognitive impairment consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.

The cross-sectional study included a total of 1,870 individuals (1,510 family members and 360 spouse controls) recruited through the Long Life Family Study. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of cognitive impairment based on a diagnostic algorithm validated using the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center data set.

According to study results, the cognitive algorithm classified 546 individuals (38.5 percent) as having cognitive impairment consistent with Alzheimer’s disease...

A study by Stephanie Cosentino, PhD, of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues examines the relationship between families with exceptional longevity and cognitive impairment consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.

The cross-sectional study included a total of 1,870 individuals (1,510 family members and 360 spouse controls) recruited through the Long Life Family Study. The main outcome measure was the prevalence of cognitive impairment based on a diagnostic algorithm validated using the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center data set.

According to study results, the cognitive algorithm classified 546 individuals (38.5 percent) as having cognitive impairment consistent with Alzheimer’s disease...

For patients with painful joints, getting a proper diagnosis can be an arduous and confusing process. Just waiting for a referral to a specialist can take weeks.

However, use of musculoskeletal ultrasound is capable of changing this. This technology helps doctors visualize inflammation or fluid in joints and assist in determining if the condition is being caused by rheumatoid arthritis, gout, osteoarthritis, or other joint conditions and what type of treatment should be used.

The Columbia Arthritis Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center is one of the first rheumatology centers in the country to incorporate ultrasound in arthritis care...

Obese men were more likely to have precancerous lesions detected in their benign prostate biopsies compared with non-obese men, and were at a greater risk for subsequently developing prostate cancer, according to researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health. The findings are published online in Cancer Epidemiology: Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“Our study is focused on a large group of men who have had a prostate biopsy that is benign but are still at a very high risk for prostate cancer,” said Andrew Rundle, DrPH, associate professor of Epidemiology and the first author of the paper...

African-Americans with a variant of the ABCA7 gene have almost double the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease compared with African-Americans who lack the variant. The largest genome-wide search for Alzheimer’s genes in the African-American community, the study was undertaken by the Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics Consortium and led by neurologists from Columbia University Medical Center. It will be published in the April 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was primarily funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“Our findings strongly suggest that ABCA7 is a definitive genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease among African-Americans,” said study senior author, Richard Mayeux, MD, MS, professor and chair of Neurology at CUMC...

Institute of Medicine Report Identifies Ways to Meet Urgent Health Needs of Returning Veterans

Mailman School Epidemiology Chair Sandro Galea is a co-author of Congressionally mandated study

More than 2.2 million U.S. troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the longest sustained U.S. military engagements since the Vietnam War. For Americans, the toll includes more than 6,600 lives lost, 48,000 injured, and an estimated 44% of veterans who continue to suffer from more than one health condition, including traumatic brain injuries and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance abuse.

Concerns about the difficulties that veterans face in adjusting to life after war led Congress to require the Department of Defense and the Veteran’s Administration to conduct a study of ...

Chelation therapy, an unproven alternative medicine in the treatment for heart disease, modestly reduced cardiovascular events for adults aged 50 and older who had suffered a prior heart attack, according to new National Institutes of Health-supported research.

Results from the chelation arm of the Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT), which will be published in the March 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed that infusions of a form of chelation therapy using disodium ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) reduced cardiovascular events by 18 percent compared to a placebo treatment. Investigators stated that more research is needed before considering routine use of chelation therapy for all heart attack patients...

Treating depression in those with coronary heart disease: CODIACS Vanguard Randomized Controlled Trial

NEW YORK – Depressive symptoms after heart disease are associated with a markedly increased risk of death or another heart attack. However, less has been known about whether treating heart attack survivors for depressive symptoms could relieve these symptoms, be cost-effective, and ultimately, reduce medical risk? Columbia University Medical Center’s Karina W. Davidson, PhD and her research team now report a patient-centered approach that answers these questions in the affirmative.

With a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Dr...