Tennessee Department of Health says Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease a Silent, Slow-Acting Killer

Lifestyle Changes Could Prevent Disease from Occurring, Save Lives

Nashville, TN – Healthcare professionals are seeing evidence of a troubling new epidemic: nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a potentially fatal condition that can follow a lifestyle of too little physical activity and a high-calorie diet with too much sugar.

The disease develops gradually as extra fat accumulates in the liver, usually has no early warning signs and causes irreversible harm to one of the body’s most important organs.

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Tennessee Department of Health says you should know the risks of Hepatitis C

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month

Nashville, TN – Hepatitis C is a deadly but treatable disease; that’s why the Tennessee Department of Health is sharing a reminder about the importance of getting tested.

May is Hepatitis Awareness Month, a perfect time to know your status and seek treatment if needed.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_bDKPMsNNY[/youtube] [Read more]

Consumer Reports Warns Against the Risks of Prescription and Over-The-Counter Painkillers

CR urges U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take stronger steps to reduce the dangers of pain-relief medications

Yonkers, NY – Some pain relief medications can be as addictive as heroin and are rife with deadly side effects.

Every day, 46 people in the U.S. die from legal pain pills and for each death, more than 30 people are admitted to an emergency room because of opioid complications. Consumer Reports has taken a close look at the dangers of prescription and over-the-counter painkillers and is calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to do more to make these drugs safer. [Read more]

Tennessee Department of Health says Free Five-Minute Online Assessment for Hepatitis could Save Your Life

Baby Boomers at Greatest Risk for Silent Killer Hepatitis C

Nashville, TN – Do you have hepatitis C, a potentially deadly viral disease? Do you know if you are more likely to have it than someone else?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now has a free, five-minute online assessment that can tell you if you are at risk.

There are different types of viral hepatitis. Hepatitis A and B can be prevented with vaccines and Hepatitis C can often be cured if diagnosed and treated early. It’s important for individuals, particularly baby boomers, to know if they have any form of hepatitis. [Read more]

Treating Diabetes With Less Need for Insulin

New approach lowers blood sugar in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Boston, MA – Diabetes can result from either a deficiency of insulin (type 1 or insulin-dependent diabetes) or decreased sensitivity to insulin (type 2 diabetes). Researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston have discovered a mechanism for normalizing blood sugar that doesn’t involve insulin and could offer a new therapeutic approach to both kinds of diabetes.

Reporting in Nature Medicine online on February 13th, Umut Ozcan, MD, and colleagues in Children’s Division of Endocrinology show that a regulatory protein called XBP-1s, when activated artificially in the liver, can normalize high blood sugar in both lean, insulin-deficient type 1 diabetic mice and obese, insulin-resistant type 2 diabetic mice. This suggests that approaches aimed at increasing XBP-1s activity may benefit patients with either type of diabetes. [Read more]