Ozone may make artery clogging cholesterol stickier

[cmcole]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2006/06/12/ozone-artery.html?print

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C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :
Ozone may make artery-clogging cholesterol stickier

Last Updated Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:42:19 EDT

CBC News (http://www.cbc.ca/news/credit.html)


Ozone can cause changes in cholesterol in the body that can trigger the formation of artery-clogging plaque, a team of U.S. chemists has found.
Theirs is the first major study to try to explain how ozone — usually thought of as an air pollutant linked to lung damage and asthma — contributes directly to heart disease.
Three years ago, researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., made the unexpected discovery that the body produces ozone, a form of oxygen considered an air pollutant.
Now this team, headed by chemist Paul Wentworth Jr., reports ozone can cause pathological changes that produce compounds called atheronals, which are found in atherosclerotic plaques removed from patients with arteriosclerosis, or blocked arteries.
The researchers suggest atheronals appear to come from ozone inhaled into the lungs from polluted air.
"As such, the atheronals may be a heretofore unrecognized chemical player in the known linkage between environmental pollution and cardiovascular disease," the researchers write in Tuesday's issue of the journal Biochemistry.
Atheronals appear to cause a type of white blood cell to stick to artery walls, boosting production of plaque-causing cells or speeding up growth of plaque, they propose.



Copyright (http://www.cbc.ca/aboutcbc/discover/copyright.html) ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

[mcsblues]

Perhaps it's Anthont Colpo's influence, and I will get around to talking about his cholesterol book soon ... but as I read this, the research has nothing whatsoever to do with making 'artery clogging cholesterol stickier' in fact the researchers seem to be backing the inflammatory model of CHD not the lipid hypothesis.

But before I get to that check out this version of the same story in the Scientific American;

http://scientificamerican.com/media/struct/trans.gif May 31, 2006
http://scientificamerican.com/media/struct/trans.gif
http://scientificamerican.com/media/struct/trans.gif Ozone and Cholesterol Combine to Cause Heart Disease
http://scientificamerican.com/media/struct/trans.gif
http://scientificamerican.com/media/struct/trans.gif Numerous studies have linked heart disease and air pollution, particularly smog. Smog--a toxic brew of chemicals and molecules such as ozone--seems to exacerbate heart disease, leading to an increase in heart attacks and fatalities. But researchers have yet to discover the pathway by which smog impacts the cardiovascular system. Now a new study shows how ozone's byproducts in the body can harden arteries and cause heart disease. Chemist Paul Wentworth, Jr., of the Scripps Research Institute and his colleagues tested such byproducts--known as atheronals--in vitro. These molecules form when ozone and cholesterol interact. "Cholesterol makes up 40 percent of most of your membranes, including those in your lungs," Wentworth explains. "If you inspire smog, there directly is the interaction." (my emphasis)
The team's previous research had shown that the white blood cells responsible for inflaming arterial walls also produce ozone and, ultimately, the atheronals: atheronal-a and atheronal-b. These compounds are present in the plaque removed from clogged arteries. The new research shows that when the atheronals interact with various blood cells, they produce some of the effects known to lead to heart disease, such as causing a malfunction in the cells that line arterial walls. "The atheronals can actually cause all the relative aspects that are known to promote cardiovascular disease," Wentworth notes.
It remains unclear whether the atheronals typically derive from interactions in the bloodstream or in the lungs. "My sense is that it's a combination of both," Wentworth says. And more research will be needed to determine whether atheronal levels in the blood speed the onset of heart disease such as atherosclerosis. Nevertheless, the scientists write: "the atheronals may be a heretofore unrecognized chemical player in the known linkage between environmental pollution and cardiovascular disease." The research will appear in the June 13 issue of Biochemistry.


Personally, I like to think I inspire the odd person ... but I've never tried it on any form of pollution! :p - yes I know it can mean inhale, I just thought it was funny ...

Anyway, getting back to what I was saying, they are talking about agents which may cause malfunctioning and/or inflammation of the cells that line the arterial walls - this causes a arterial plaque to develop which narrows and hardens the artery and eventually may lead to a blockage. Yes those cell walls contain cholesterol (as do all our cells - it is vital for their structure) but the take home message from the CBS headline is clearly that we need to get that sticky cholesterol out of our system at all costs ... which isn't the point of the research at all.

OK soap box packed away now ... blame that Anthony guy ...;)

[cmcole]

I know it sounds odd. After posting and reading it more thoroughly, it did not seem like the content really had anything much to do with the title. It seemed as if they were implying that this type of ozone was self-produced, or perhaps I'm reading it entirely wrong.

[Gaelen]

hmmm...something I take for granted but which many people may not realize is that the headline or 'title' of a piece in a magazine, newspaper or on a webpage is designed to grab attention, and is often a more 'interesting' interpretation of the subject than the actual piece. Writers construct the stories; in many many cases, copy editors (the salesmen of the journalism world) construct the headline. Depending on the news source, their job is to interest, sell media, titillate, draw in the reader, pique interest, inform...or some combination of the above, not necessarily in the order listed. But actually pay attention to the what the story means? Hehehehehe...sometimes, not so much, especially if the story is a dog. ;)

This could be a case of the copy editor doing his own spin on the actual story of the article...

For other examples of the copy editor's art, check out what is, in my opinion, one of the better English-language examples: http://www.nypost.com/
Trust me, the hard copy edition of the paper is even better. Fun to hold, and easy to read...and every day it gives New Yorkers all the news that fits.

Bottom line, the headline writer's job is selling papers by selling the stories the papers/websites contain--and in some media, if the story ain't good enough on its own merits, spin it into something that WILL sell papers. ;)

[mcsblues]

Ah Rupert! ... one of our very best exports :tongue: and to think he had to become one of you guys just so he could apply the tabloid approach to your TV and movies as well!!

What I want to know is how this idea of "sticky" "clogging" cholesterol is still a copy editor's dream? Do those of us who understand what nonsense this is just need a catchier slogan or sound bite? Perhaps we need to run a competition.:p

[Gaelen]

Do those of us who understand what nonsense this is just need a catchier slogan or sound bite?

Malcolm...the answer to that question is, quite possibly, 'yes.'

Like I said before...the most emulated journalistic slogan is no longer the old standard 'all the news that's fit to print.' The slogan most put into practice in today's media is the one I first heard 30 years ago when developing an irreverent alternative weekly...'all the news that fits.'

Of course, on a midnight production day deadline, my crew often corrupted that one, long before Rupert came into our daily consciousness, with variations of 'fun to read, easy to hold' (or was it 'fun to hold, easy to read'--I always mix that one up) and other less-printable catch-phrases.:lol:

[vernalyn]

well thanks for the information that you gave us.. lets just take a look at it on a different perspective.