Posts Tagged ‘University of Michigan’

Researchers from University of Michigan and Wayne State University are publishing the results of their study on the effects of triglycerides on diabetic neuropathy, a condition whereby nerves are damaged due to the progression of diabetes, often resulting in numbness, tingling, and pain in the feet, hands, legs and arms. Triglycerides are a type of fat that’s produced by the body. It’s a standard component to the “cholesterol test” which almost every person has had done. Elevated triglycerides can play a role in cardiovascular disease, and now this new study is suggesting that patients with high levels of triglycerides are more likely to experience worsening of their neuropathy. This is important because until now doctors couldn’t necessarily predict which patients will have a decline in their neuropathy. Now we may be able to target those patients with elevated triglycerides in hopes of slowing disease progression.

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Turmeric powder has been used for centuries in Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine for its various medicinal properties, including as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibiotic. Because of these purported effects, scientists have been studying the active ingredient in turmeric, curcumin. Reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, University of Michigan researchers have discovered that molecules of curcumin can actually insert themselves into the membranes of our cells, thus making the membranes more stable. This may have effects on the way our cells respond to inflammation and infections. For now, the mechanism of action of curcumin, in its entirety, remains a mystery but we are one step closer because of this discovery.

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Sleep is important for our mental, emotional and physical well being. Which is why mental disorders, such as depression, often have manifestations of sleep disturbance. However, the results of a University of Michigan study, to be presented at the upcoming World Psychiatric Association meeting, show that the complaint of sleep disturbance is enough to alert physicians that a patient may have a higher risk of suicide, whether or not they have a psychiatric condition. The more types of sleep disturbances people had, the more likely they were to have thoughts of killing themselves, or actually try to do so.

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