Stress test important for diabetic women

ST. LOUIS, -- St. Louis University School of Medicine scientists are recommending diabetic women undergo dobutamine echocardiography stress testing. The researchers studied 421 diabetic women between the ages of 49 and 75 and found the tests to be valuable in helping physicians predict life-threatening heart problems. "Our research is extremely important because women in this age group are historically under diagnosed, and by detecting problems earlier, we can help prevent heart attack or death and extend these women's lives," said Dr. Melda Dolan, an associate professor of cardiology. Dobutamine stress echocardiography tests are ultrasound heart scans in which patients are injected with a drug that makes their heart beat faster to determine if they have heart wall abnormalities. No exercise is involved. "Women with diabetes and other clinical risk factors, such as smoking, obesity and a family history, are more likely to have heart disease or die from it," said Dolan. "Dobutamine stress echo tests serve an important role in predicting heart attacks or cardiac death in these higher-risk women." Dolan is to present two papers Wednesday during the annual American Heart Association meeting in Dallas. Both papers explore the role of the stress tests in detecting heart disease.

Skin cells turned into stem cells

BOSTON, -- The controversy over embryonic stem cell research may become moot with a procedure that turns skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells. A Harvard University research team said it devised the procedure without having to use human eggs or make new human embryos in the process, The Washington Post reported Monday. The technique uses laboratory-grown human embryonic stem cells -- such as ones President Bush previously approved for use by federally funded researchers, the Post said. Those cells are used "reprogram" genes in a person's skin cells, turning the skin cells into embryonic stem cells. If confirmed by subsequent research, the procedure could end the bitter controversy that has stymied human embryonic stem cell research in the United States. The research is detailed this week in the journal Science.