The study is the first to identify common genetic variants influencing stroke risk in the United States and may lead to better treatments, they reported on Wednesday.

While other stroke-related genes have been discovered, none involved such a wide portion of the population, said Eric Boerwinkle of The University of Texas Health Science Center.

“This is a first step in unraveling the genetic contributions of this debilitating disease,” said Boerwinkle, whose team was one of several contributing to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in the United States and causes serious long-term disabilities for many worldwide.

Boerwinkle said the teams found two genetic variants on chromosome 12 near two genes that are implicated in stroke. One, called WNK1, is associated with blood pressure control and the other, NINJ2, is linked with brain injury repair.

The two genes, next to each other, both are also strongly linked with ischemic stroke, which is the most common type of stroke and is caused by blocked blood vessels in the brain.

Boerwinkle said it is not clear which specific gene is implicated, but he said the most likely suspect is NINJ2.

They found two single-letter changes in the DNA, known as single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs — pronounced “snips” — near NINJ2 that seem to send the strongest stroke “signal.” One is found in about 20 percent of whites they checked and 10 percent of African-Americans.

Having just one copy of this genetic variation can raise the risk of ischemic strokes by about 30 percent, he said — although the study says it is unlikely the SNPs are the actual cause of stroke but probably associated with the actual genetic cause.

The findings come from an analysis of the genetic code of more than 19,000 people in the United States and Europe taking part in four long-term studies of cardiovascular risks.

The teams were looking for SNPs among 1,544 people who had strokes, compared with 18,058 people who did not.

Boerwinkle said more work needs to be done to sort out which genes are at play, but he said the findings should give drug companies a new target for researching better treatments.

Dr. Walter Koroshetz, deputy director of the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which supported the study, said the findings are not strong enough to alter a patient’s stroke prevention strategy.

But he said the results “will lead scientists to direct their attention to new, important biologic mechanisms and hopefully new treatments to prevent stroke.”

Scientists uncover genetic risks for stroke

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Apparently, brain areas can be activated by titillation of unknown and mysterious receptors in the mouth, according to a study in the latest issue of the Journal of Physiology.

These receptors are independent of ordinary taste buds, says Ed Chambers, PhD, of the University of Birmingham in England and lead author of the study.

Chambers tells WebMD by email that the “study suggests that the human mouth may have receptors sensitive to carbohydrate that are independent of the ‘sweet’ taste receptor. This supports research performed with rodents that suggests these mammals have taste receptors that are responsive to carbohydrate.”

His research team mixed pseudo-sports drinks that contained either carbohydrates (glucose or maltodextrin) or a third concoction of water laced with artificial sweeteners.

Then eight endurance-trained cyclists were asked to complete a challenging workout, during which they swished with one of the three liquids for 10 seconds, spitting the drink out and not swallowing.

Those athletes who used the glucose or maltodextrin drinks to rinse their mouths did 2% to 3% better than exercisers who swished the artificially sweetened water, the “placebo” sports drink, the researchers say.

The researchers also examined the brain activity of athletes by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) after giving them one of the three solutions.

And, they found that the glucose and maltodextrin triggered specific areas of the brain that are associated with pleasure or reward, but the artificially sweetened water did not.

“Our results suggest that any carbohydrate in the mouth could improve exercise performance,” he tells WebMD. “However, this has only been demonstrated with glucose and maltodextrin and would need to be proven. We want to make clear that the study does not imply that athletes do not need to swallow energy drinks during exercise. The research has identified that as well as the well-known metabolic benefits of ingesting carbohydrate drinks during exercise there is a direct ‘central’ benefit from simply tasting these substances,” Chambers tells WebMD in an email.

Sports Drinks May Give Brain a Workout

Concerns were raised about Williams’ health on Wednesday when he was ordered by doctors to take a week of rest after complaining of shortness of breath.

Reports on today suggested the comedy actor has been admitted to a Miami hospital to undergo tests, prompting his spokesperson to confirm Williams is putting work on hold to be treated for a heart condition.

The representative reveals he will “undergo surgery for an aortic valve replacement.”

A statement from 57-year-old Williams adds, “I’m so touched by everyone’s support and well wishes. This tour has been amazing fun and I can’t wait to get back out on the road after a little tune-up.”

Williams has been on the Broadway-bound 80-city tour since September and has played shows in 11 cities over the past three weeks.

His spokesperson insists he plans to be back onstage in the autumn.

Robin Williams To Undergo Heart Surgery

The law has been in the works since October last year after a huge scandal erupted over contaminated milk which killed at least six children and sickened nearly 300,000 others in China.

“The law will see the establishment of a monitoring and supervision system, a set of national standards on food safety, a recall system, and severe punishment for offenders,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

China’s huge and poorly regulated food industry is regularly hit by scandals involving unsafe foods which harm public health and result in product recalls both at home and abroad.

In September, the tainted milk scandal — one of the biggest to hit the industry — caused a huge outcry, leading to China-made dairy product recalls and bans across the world.

A court in January sentenced the head of Sanlu — the dairy firm at the heart of the scandal — to life in prison for “manufacturing and selling fake or substandard products.”

Two others were sentenced to death over the incident, which saw the industrial chemical melamine added to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein.

Xinhua gave no further details of the content of the food safety law, but according to a previous report by the state-run agency, it would make health authorities directly responsible for approving additives in processed foods.

The agency also said it would prevent food safety authorities from issuing inspection exemptions to major food producers, as happened in the tainted milk scandal.

The law was passed by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislature.

China approves food safety law: state media

In an exclusive interview airing this Monday on “Good Morning America,” the possible father said Suleman brought him to the clinic at which she received in vitro fertilization to donate sperm, and that he made donations on two other occasions. He now believes Suleman was married at the time.

Tune in to ABC News’ “Good Morning America” Monday, Feb. 23 to learn the identity of the man who possibly fathered the Suleman octuplets.

Suleman has denied that the man is the father, but he said his multiple sperm donations are cause for a paternity test.

The donor said he was “shocked [and] surprised” when he first learned that Suleman, who he said he dated from 1997 to 1999, had delivered octuplets on Jan. 23.

“[I] just really want to know if these are [or] these are not my kids,” said the man, who was in his early twenties when he started dating Suleman.

Regardless of the children’s paternity, the man said he is willing to help Suleman raise the children because he does not believe she can handle it on her own.

“Either which way, you know, know that if she needs it I’ll lend a helping hand,” he said.

The man said that at the time she first approached him about donating sperm, Suleman told him that she had cancer and was unable to conceive without the help of a doctor.

The man said he twice made donations at home. In at least one instance, he said, Suleman kept the sperm sample warm by placing the cup containing the sample between her breasts.

“I just remember her saying when I donated that the doctor told her that she had to keep it warm by putting it between her — between her breasts — just to keep it warm, keep it room temperature until she took it in,” he said.

Though he said they dated for three years, the man now believes Suleman was married at the time.

ABC News has learned through San Bernardino Superior Court Records that Suleman, 33, divorced her husband, Marcos Gutierrez, in January 2008.

The divorce document indicates “no children of the marriage,” suggesting that Gutierrez was not the father of Suleman’s previous six children.

When asked if Suleman, who lives with her parents and collects food stamps, could handle raising another eight children, the possible biological father said, “No.”

Suleman made headlines in late January when news that she delivered eight viable babies was heralded as a medical marvel.

In the days that followed the Jan. 23 delivery, critics raised a host of questions about the single mother who had previously given birth to six other children, all of whom had been conceived through artificial insemination, and about her ability to financially support 14 children.

Suleman is unemployed and lives in a three-bedroom home with her parents, who have publicly criticized their daughter’s decision to have so many children.

Property records show Suleman’s mother, Angela, owns the home and is $23,225 behind in her mortgage payments. The house could be sold at auction beginning May 5.

Suleman told NBC that she does not intend to go on welfare. Earlier this month, her then-publicist said Suleman already receives $490 a month in food stamps and child disability payments to help feed and care for her six other children.

At least one of those children is believed to have autism.

Critics also have attacked a fertility doctor for implanting eight embryos in Suleman’s womb during her attempts to get pregnant.

“I’m really angry about that,” Angela Suleman told RadarOnline. “She already has six beautiful children. Why would she do this? I’m struggling to look after her six. We had to put in bunk beds, feed them in shifts and there’s children’s clothing piled all over the house.”

Suleman and her parents have not publicly named the sperm donor or the fertility doctor who implanted her with the embryos.

Earlier this month, Suleman told NBC’s “Today” that a single doctor helped her conceive all 14 children.

While she did not reveal the identity of the doctor, a 2006 report by television station KTLA shows a grateful Suleman praising the work of Beverly Hills physician Michael Kamrava, who runs a fertility practice. In the report, he says that he used a controversial procedure that he claims makes it much easier to implant women with embryos.

Since the birth of the octuplets — who were born nine weeks premature at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower, Calif. — a number of fertility experts and bioethicists have criticized Suleman and her physician for dangerously implanting so many embryos.

“Anyone who transfers eight embryos should be arrested for malpractice,” said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan.

Studies have shown that the tendency toward premature delivery and low birth weight in multiple-birth babies puts them at greater risk for a variety of complications, including respiratory problems at birth, cerebral palsy, birth defects, sensory disorders and even death. These risks increase as the number of babies in the multiple birth increases.

A California-based nonprofit called Angels in Waiting has offered Suleman round-the-clock care and a place to stay with her 14 children. It would cost about $135,000 a month to provide the 12 caretakers necessary for the children, money that would have to come from public donations.

Man Gave Sperm 3 Times, Believes He May Be Octuplets’ Dad

She was in her late 40s and wanted just one baby.

Now she’s five months pregnant with quadruplets and hospitalized at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, according to several sources familiar with the situation.

The new case could add to concerns about Kamrava’s practice and about whether the fertility industry needs more regulation.

In fertility medicine, any pregnancy greater than twins is considered a poor outcome because of the danger it poses to the mother and the babies. Quadruplet births are rare, with an average of 14 sets born in California each year, according to state records.

“Historically, we have been very hesitant to regulate anything close to procreation from parents making judgments about how many children they will have and when,” said Kirk O. Hanson, ethics professor and executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

“However, that worked under a natural process of fertilization and incubation. There are serious questions about whether it works in an era of scientifically enhanced procreation.”

The woman in the latest case arrived recently at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles for unspecified treatment but was transferred last week to County-USC Medical Center because she lacks insurance. Doctors placed her on bed rest until the birth of the babies, which could be two or three months from now.

The California Medical Board has said it is looking into the octuplets’ case to determine whether a doctor may have violated any standards of care.

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which has guidelines limiting the number of embryos that can be transferred depending on the woman’s age and other circumstances, said it is also examining the doctor’s practice. No laws govern this issue.

The guidelines allow for the transfer of more embryos in older women. But in this case, the woman was using embryos made from eggs donated by a woman in her late 20s — which fertility specialists said increased the possibility of a multiple birth.

“I do think it is concerning, and dangerous, especially to the mother. She is close to 50. When women get to be that age, our fear is the cardiovascular complications, such as stroke or heart attack. That’s how serious this is,” said Dr. John Jain, a fertility specialist with knowledge of the case.

Reached by telephone, the woman did not confirm that Kamrava is her doctor. However, The Times has verified the information through several independent sources.

She said her doctors urged her not to talk to the media because she is already dealing with a high-risk pregnancy and doesn’t need more stress.

“Please respect my privacy,” she said, adding that her circumstances are much different from Suleman’s.

The woman has three grown children from a previous marriage but wanted another child with her second husband, who is in his early 30s and doesn’t have any children, sources said. She works as an apartment manager; her husband is a contractor.

She started fertility treatments seeking one baby, but after becoming pregnant with quadruplets, declined medical advice to reduce the number of fetuses, the sources said.

Kamrava could not be reached for comment and has declined previous interview requests. A woman who answered the phone at his West Coast IVF Clinic said: “If [a] mother wants to bring four kids, so what?”

Doctors at County-USC and Good Samaritan Hospital also declined to comment, citing patient confidentiality.

Suleman said in an interview with NBC that her doctor transferred six embryos. She gave birth Jan. 26, and although the births were initially celebrated as a medical miracle, public opinion quickly turned when it was discovered that Suleman had six other children, was a single mother and was relying on some public assistance, including food stamps and Social Security benefits.

Los Angeles police said Thursday that they are investigating death threats made against Suleman and her publicist.

Octuplets doctor has another patient expecting quadruplets – Los Angeles Times

Angela Suleman is caring for the six older children while her daughter is hospitalized after giving birth Jan. 26 to the octuplets.

“She already has six beautiful children, why would she do this?” Angela Suleman said in the videotaped interview with celebrity news Web site RadarOnline.com. “I’m struggling to look after her six. We had to put in bunk beds, feed them in shifts and there’s children’s clothing piled all over the house.”

The Web site posted photographs from inside Angela Suleman’s disheveled three-bedroom home, where Nadya and her brood also live. Heaps of clothing pour from an open closet door and a carpeted bedroom, where a bedsheet serves as a curtain, is cluttered with cribs.

Nadya Suleman’s publicist Mike Furtney said that his client has been away for nearly two months, so shouldn’t be held responsible for the home’s current condition.

Furtney said his client planned to move into a larger home once the octuplets were healthy enough to leave doctors’ care.

He declined to comment on any of the remarks Angela Suleman made about her daughter in the interview.

“Those are very personal issues between a mother and a daughter,” he said.

Angela Suleman said Nadya’s boyfriend was the biological father of all 14 children, but that she refused to marry him.

“He was in love with her and wanted to marry her,” she said. “But Nadya wanted to have children on her own.”

Nadya Suleman, a divorced single mother, told NBC’s “Today” show that the same fertility specialist provided in-vitro fertilization for all 14 of her children.

Angela Suleman seemed to contradict that account, saying the fertility specialist who helped her daughter give birth to the octuplets was a different doctor from the one who aided in the birth of her first six children.

Angela Suleman said she and her husband pleaded with Nadya’s first fertility doctor not to treat their daughter again, so Nadya found another doctor to work with.

“I’m really angry about that,” Angela Suleman said of the doctor’s decision to perform the procedure.

A Medical Board of California spokeswoman said Friday that it was investigating the doctor — who has not been identified — to see if there was a “violation of the standard of care.” The spokeswoman did not elaborate on the nature of the potential violations.

Angela Suleman also challenged her daughter’s remarks in the NBC interview that she always wanted a large family to make up for the loneliness she felt as an only child.

“We raised her in a loving family and her father always spoiled her,” Angela said.

The Associated Press: Octuplets’ grandmother criticizes daughter

The report said the twins, both boys, were seven weeks prematurely delivered by caesarean section. Though one is breathing with the help of special equipment, doctors said the twins are doing well but will be kept in hospital until they gain weight and both can breathe on their own.

The woman, originally from India, traveled back to that country for in vitro fertilization using donor eggs after being refused the treatment in Canada because of her age. The CBC said she had tried for years to get pregnant but had miscarried three times, even after surgery to correct a problem with her womb.

While unusual, a 60-year old woman giving birth is nowhere near a record. ABC News reported in July that a 72-year-old woman in India, who already had five grandchildren, gave birth to twins after in vitro fertilization, making her the world’s oldest mother.

The CBC report said the Calgary woman’s obstetrician thought it was a joke when she was referred to him before she showed up at his office. He is still questioning the implications of someone having children at an advanced age.

“I couldn’t imagine if I was 65 having two five-year-olds running around crazily. The energy to do that is incredible,” the CBC quoted the doctor as saying.

60-year-old gives birth to twins?

His representative Annett Wolf told People magazine that the 56-year-old actor was now back at home.

“I am happy to announce that Patrick Swayze is home after a brief hospitalisation for pneumonia,” she said.

Swayze, who went in for observation on January 9th, may have only two years to live after being diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer.

The hospitalisation meant the Dirty Dancing actor missed promotional work for his new hospital drama The Beast, which premiered on US networks on January 15th.

In a recent interview with People he accepted that he had between two and five years to live.

But remaining defiant he added: “I am alive and plan on continuing to stay that way.”

Cancer sufferer Patrick Swayze out of hospital

Author Ian Halperin told In Touch magazine and Britain’s Sunday Express newspaper that the reclusive performer may even be fighting for his life, the Houston Chronicle newspaper reported on its Web site.

Halperin said Jackson has been diagnosed with Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, an occasionally fatal genetic condition.

“He’s had it for years, but it’s gotten worse,” Halperin told In Touch. “He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It’s the bleeding that is the most problematic part. It could kill him,” according to the Chronicle.

Jackson “can barely speak” and “the vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone,” Halperin said.

Jackson’s spokesman was unavailable for comment Sunday. But the singer’s brother Jermaine didn’t deny the reports, telling Fox News, “He’s not doing so well right now. This isn’t a good time,” the Chronicle reported.

Dr. Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, treated Jackson at Lenox Hill in 1999.

“Alpha-1-anti-trypsin deficiency is a relatively rare genetic disorder that becomes apparent in young adulthood and early middle age, especially if smoking is added to the equation,” Horovitz said in a hospital news release. “The liver can also be affected, causing cirrhosis. The disease produces an early-onset emphysema, just as one might see in an older smoker. Treatment for mild or moderate cases involves infusions of a specific medication. In advanced stages, a lung transplant may be necessary.

“Since this is a genetic disorder, other members of the Jackson family must be tested for this genetic variant,” Horovitz added.

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