CPAP Therapy Reduces Fatigue in Patients with Sleep Apnea

Source:

http://www.hospimedica.com/critical_care/articles/294732947/cpap_therapy_reduces_fatigue_in_patients_with_sleep_apnea.html

HospiMedica International staff writers

Posted on 13 Jan 2011

Three weeks of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy significantly reduced fatigue and increased energy in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a new study.

Researchers at San Diego State University (SDSU; CA, USA) and the University of California San Diego (UCSD; USA) conducted a double-blind study which randomly assigned 59 men and women with OSA to therapeutic or placebo CPAP for a 3-week intervention period. The researchers assessed four outcome measures; fatigue/vigor measured with the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form (MFSI-sf); both fatigue and vigor subscales of the Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS); and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Questionnaire data were obtained prior to study randomization and after the three-week intervention period.

Urine Test Early in Pregnancy Can Predict Preeclampsia

Source:

Nancy A. Melville

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/733413

December 1, 2010 (Denver, Colorado) — A simple measurement of key proteins in spot urine samples can detect preeclampsia in women during the early stages of pregnancy, according to research presented here at Renal Week 2010: American Society of Nephrology 43rd Annual Meeting.

Researchers in the United Kingdom report that an analysis of urine samples obtained before 20 weeks of gestation from 145 pregnant women who either did or did not develop preeclampsia allowed them to identify 5 protein peaks that predicted preeclampsia with 92% accuracy.

The clinical signs of preeclampsia typically do not appear until later in pregnancy, but the researchers theorized that because abnormal placentation or placental insufficiency is central to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia, and placentation is complete by 18 weeks of gestation, changes in the urinary protein profile early in pregnancy might predict the development of the disease.

Probiotic Dairy Products Linked to Lower Risk for Preterm Delivery

Source: 

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731925

Laurie Barclay, MD

November 4, 2010 — Women who report habitual intake of probiotic dairy products have a lower risk for spontaneous preterm delivery, according to the results of a prospective cohort case-control study reported in the October 27 online issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Preterm delivery represents a substantial problem in perinatal medicine worldwide," write Ronny Myhre, from the Department of Genes and Environment, Division of Epidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health in Oslo, Norway, and colleagues. "Current knowledge on potential influences of probiotics in food on pregnancy complications caused by microbes is limited.... We hypothesized that intake of food with probiotics might reduce pregnancy complications caused by pathogenic microorganisms and, through this, reduce the risk of spontaneous preterm delivery."