New Study Asks: Can Exercise be Beneficial for Patients with Chronic Skeletal Muscle Disorders?
New study from Molecular Medicine
Manhasset, NY (Vocus/PRWEB) December 22, 2010
While exercise has been shown to produce multiple health benefits, many people are unaware that genetics play a role in exercise’s beneficial effects. A team of American and Swedish scientists have conducted a genetic profiling study that suggests exercise is exerting its positive effects by turning down genetic signals involved in inducing inflammation, according to a new study in Molecular Medicine.
Patients with myositis suffer from chronic skeletal muscle inflammation, causing weakness. Health professionals have long advised these patients to refrain from exercise. Previous thinking indicated that physical exertion could exacerbate muscle inflammation. However, newer prescriptions for autoimmune skeletal muscle disorders include immunosuppressive agents and moderate exercise, which seem to improve conditions for patients. The underlying mechanisms of this benefit remained unknown and therefore Gustavo A. Nader, PhD, and his colleagues at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, looked for molecular changes in gene expression in eight patients enrolled in a seven-week resistance training program. Dr. Nader and his colleagues monitored gene expression changes before and after the resistance training program and found: a number of genes associated with pro-inflammatory responses were turned down – a possible explanation for why patients felt better, inflammation was reduced and fibrosis in skeletal muscle was diminished.
Other studies in the November-December issue of Molecular Medicine include a study of the use of dietary restriction to reduce acetaminophen-induced liver injury. To find more information about the current studies visit our open access journal at http://www. molmed. org.
Molecular Medicine is published by The Feinstein Institute for Molecular Research. The peer-reviewed journal strives to understand normal body functioning and disease pathogenesis at the molecular level, which may allow researchers and physician-scientists to use that knowledge in the design of specific molecular tools for disease diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention. The journal, a bimonthly publication, serves as a forum through which scientists and researchers can communicate recent discoveries to a multi-disciplinary, international audience interested in understanding and curing disease.
To listen to the latest podcast on these studies visit http://www. molmed. org/podcast. html.
Contact: Veronica J Davis, Communications Editor, 516-562-2670
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