The treadmill exercise test with electrocardiogram (ECG), also known as an exercise stress test, is one of the most familiar tests in medicine. While exercise testing typically is focused on diagnosing coronary artery disease, a recent study finds that exercise test abnormalities, such as low functional aerobic capacity, predicted non-cardiovascular causes of death such as cancer in addition to cardiovascular-related deaths.
Read more …Stress test abnormalities reveal more than just cardiovascular risks
New 'hypervirulent' strains of the bacterium Klebsiella pneumoniae have emerged in healthy people in community settings, prompting a research group to investigate how the human immune system defends against infection. After exposing the strains to components of the human immune system in a laboratory 'test tube' setting, scientists found that some strains were more likely to survive in blood and serum than others, and that neutrophils (white blood cells) are more likely to ingest and kill some strains than others.
Read more …Multidrug-resistant bacterium emerging in community settings