People born with congenital heart defects appear to have a higher risk of developing early-onset dementia than people without heart defects, suggests research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. Early-onset dementia typically develops before age 65.

For this study, researchers at the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark analyzed dementia cases in 10,632 adults born with heart defects between 1890 and 1982 in Danish hospitals. They matched each study participant with 10 adults in the general population of the same gender, born the same year. The researchers found that risk of any type of dementia – including vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease – was 60 percent higher overall in people born with a congenital heart defect than in the general population, 160 percent higher for early-onset dementia, and 30 percent higher for dementia diagnosed after 65.

Due to improved treatments for congenital heart defects – heart problems that are present at birth –more people with the conditions survive into adulthood. According to a 2016 study, approximately 1.4 million adults in the United States were born with a congenital heart defect.

Sourced from: American Heart Association

Current screening guidelines for people at increased risk for liver cancer vary – some call for ultrasound imaging and others for imaging and other laboratory tests. Now, a study conducted at the University of Texas Southwestern’s Simmons Cancer Center in Dallas suggests ultrasound combined with a blood test to detect high alpha fetoprotein (AFP) levels improves early detection of liver cancer by up to 40 percent.

According to the National Cancer Institute, liver cancer rates in the United States have increased almost 3 percent in the past 10 years and are rising faster than any other type of solid-tumor cancer. Early detection is important to improve survival in patients with the disease. Risk factors for liver cancer include cirrhosis, hepatitis C infection, chronic heavy alcohol consumption, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease related to diabetes and obesity.

This latest research, an analysis of 32 previous studies, was published in Gastroenterology.

Sourced from: University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

If you’ve ever tried and lost weight, you probably know how difficult it is to keep the pounds off. A small study conducted by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology may help explain why this is so: People who lose weight may feel hungry for the rest of their lives.

This study involved 34 people with severe obesity – a body mass index (BMI) greater than 40 or more than 100 pounds over their idea weight – who participated in a two-year weight loss program involving diet and exercise. The study participants lost and successfully kept off an average of about 24 pounds during the study period. However, levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin increased and feelings of hunger didn’t diminish, according to the researchers.

These findings suggest obesity is a chronic disease and suggest it’s a lifelong struggle for many. Results of the study were published in the American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Sourced from: American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism