Study Explores Stress, Racism Connection

Researchers examined the connection between the stress associated with expecting racism and cardiovascular disease in black women through a preliminary study at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health.

The study results suggested that the higher the level of expected racism, the greater the likelihood of abnormal thickening of the walls of heart arteries, often called carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT). This phenomenon is a large proponent of cardiovascular disease, according to a March 12 University press release.

Tene Lewis, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health who led the study, said in the press release that because of a long history of racism in this country, most black people have an awareness of racism that causes them to be especially cautious in certain circumstances where racism has been known to occur.

Lewis explained that chronic stress is already a well known factor in cardiovascular disease.

Even if racist incidents do not actually occur, the body still experiences chronic stress in anticipation for such an event in predisposed situations.

An example of this is when women who have been victims of racial profiling in retail settings become hyper-alert while shopping in such a store, Lewis said.

The study used 54 relatively healthy black women between the ages of 30 and 50 and controlled other risk factors such as blood pressure and obesity.

Lewis announced the study’s results at the American Psychosomatic Society’s annual meeting in Miami on March 16.

 

‘Old Blood’ Has Negative Effects on Patients

Recent study results suggest that older, stored blood transfusions have negative effects in patients, compared to those who receive fresher blood transfusions through an analysis conducted by Emory’s Clinical Cardiovascular Research Institute.

There is some evidence that patients who receive older, but not expired, stored blood transfusions do not do as well as other patients who receive fresher blood transfusions after procedures such as cardiac surgery, said Robert Neumen, a fellow at the School of Medicine and the key presenter of this study.

Although no one is completely sure of the reasoning, these researchers maintain that it may be related to nitric oxide – a chemical messenger that relaxes blood vessels.

According to Neumen, old blood disrupts this normal nitric oxide function.

The study examined 43 patients in Emory University Hospital who needed transfusions and randomized them to get either fresh blood, which means less than 10 days old, or old blood, which means older than 21 days.

The researchers then measured the flow-mediated dilation (FMD) which is an ultrasound test that measures nitric oxide functions in their vascular system before and after transfusion, Neumen said.

Neumen explained that patients in the older blood group experienced a decrease in FMD after transfusion while patients in the fresh blood group had no change in FMD, indicating less nitric oxide activity with the old blood transfusion.

“Blood is in very short supply and almost all of it is used,” Neumen said. “It may be that we need to reserve fresh blood for patients who already have low nitric oxide, or better yet, come up with a way to improve blood storage techniques to fix the problem.”

Neumen, along with senior authors Arshed Quyyumi, a professor of medicine, and John Roback, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, presented the study’s results at the American College of Cardiology in San Francisco on March 10.

 

Emory Treats Osteoarthritis with Stem Cell Injections

Emory’s Orthopedics and Spine Center has recently become one of the few clinics in the country to treat Osteoarthritis, a degenerative bone disease, with stem cell injections.

The procedure involves extracting stem-cell blood from bone marrow in a patient’s hip, altering the composition of the fluid, and then injecting the solution directly into the damaged joint.

Because the stem-cell blood is the patient’s own, there is little chance of the body rejecting the treatment.

Kenneth Mautner, an assistant professor in the Department of Orthopedics at the School of Medicine, said the current, non-surgical treatments are temporary and can actually worsen the problem through time.

Mautner said he is most excited by the stem-cell injections because of its short-term and long-term therapy solutions.

Osteoarthritis is characterized by an erosion of the protective cartilage in joints.

As this cartilage wears down, bones rub against each other and cause pain, stiffness and a loss of mobility.

Although the cause of osteoarthritis is unknown, predisposing factors such as age, obesity, injury and genetics contribute to the progression of the disease.

Conventional therapy includes steroids and hyaluronic acid to relieve the pain by simply lubricating the joints.

Stem cell treatment, however, also can develop into different kinds of cells such as new cartilage in areas that are deficient.

While the treatment is not without side effects, most people are back to their normal routine within a short period of time after treatment. Side effects, such as minor pain and fatigue, are usually temporary and localized to the injection site.

– By Mallika Manyapu 

Emory Wheel
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The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.

The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.