Heart Watch Blog

February 8, 2010, 7:54 AM CT

Women with gout an risk of heart attack

Women with gout are at greater risk of a heart attack than men with the disease, indicates research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

Gout is known to boost the risk of a heart attack in men. But to date, little has been known about the impact of gout on women's cardiovascular health.

Gout is common and caused by inflammation in the joints as a result of excess uric acid deposits. Uric acid is a by-product of purines, which are abundant in a Western diet.

Obesity, weight gain, high alcohol intake, high blood pressure, poorly functioning kidneys and certain drugs can all precipitate its development.

The authors base their findings on a population study of more than 9500 gout patients and 48, 000 people without the disease, aged 65 and older.

All participants were drawn from the Canadian British Columbia Linked Health Database, which covers the entire province of British Columbia (population 4.5 million) and contains long term information on healthcare use.

The cardiovascular health of all the participants was tracked for an average of seven years, during which time 3268 fatal and non-fatal heart attacks occurred. Of these, just under a third (996) were in women.

Compared with women who did not have gout, those who did were 39% more likely to have a heart attack of any kind and 41% more likely to have a non-fatal heart attack......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:07 AM CT

Tiny Constraints In Heart Blood Flow

Heart specialists and heart imaging specialists at 15 medical centers in eight countries, and led by scientists at Johns Hopkins, have enrolled the first dozen patients in a year-long investigation to learn whether the subtle squeezing of blood flow through the inner layers of the heart is better than traditional SPECT nuclear imaging tests and other diagnostic radiology procedures for accurately tracking the earliest signs of coronary artery clogs.

Each year, nearly 800,000 American men and women with coronary artery disease suffer a heart attack, resulting in more than 150,000 deaths.

The latest international study of so-called CT perfusion imaging will involve the participation of some 400 men and women identified as being at higher risk of coronary artery disease because they have had symptoms of the illness, such as shortness of breath, chest pain or fatigue. All qualify for a more detailed inspection of their heart's blood vessels by cardiac catheterization, an invasive procedure in which a thin plastic tube is directly inserted into the heart's blood vessels to detect blockages and help widen each artery as needed.

"Our study goal is to figure out how well various imaging tests measure the degree of blockage or narrowing in any particular artery and therefore which is more useful in predicting patients who need catheterization or angioplasty, or bypass surgery," says heart specialist and senior study investigator João Lima, M.D. "Some patients would do just as well or better with drug treatment to maintain a healthy blood flow to the heart, but we need to better sort out who they are with more accuracy"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:05 AM CT

Lifestyle changes for teens critical

Pamphlets detailing the warning signs linked to heart disease may soon end up in an unexpected location: your child's pediatrician's office. As per new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in five American teens has at least one risk factor for developing heart disease in adulthood.

With heart health front-and-center this month in honor of American Heart Month, most media coverage will focus on at-risk adults. But that's a mistake as per Sarah Wally, a dietitian with the National Association for Margarine Manufacturers.

"Eventhough heart disease is typically diagnosed in adulthood, its roots often begin in childhood," says Wally. "Heart disease is the result of a lifelong process and intervention strategies to reduce risk should begin as early as possible."

The new CDC report, released earlier this year, highlights the need to intervene early. The report reveals that twenty percent of children and teens in the U.S. have an abnormal lipid profile a sign of high triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol or high levels of bad cholesterol and a strong marker for future heart disease risk.

Small changes in daily habits are the key to helping young Americans modify their risk of heart disease, as per Wally. "Incremental changes in diet and exercise habits are much more effective and successful over the long term," she says. "Something as simple as swapping from butter to a soft spread margarine can have a lasting impact in improving the nutritional quality of your diet"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 19, 2010, 8:30 AM CT

Nanoparticles that can cling to artery walls

Scientists at MIT and Harvard Medical School have built targeted nanoparticles that can cling to artery walls and slowly release medicine, an advance that potentially provides an alternative to drug-releasing stents in some patients with cardiovascular disease.

The particles, dubbed "nanoburrs" because they are coated with tiny protein fragments that allow them to stick to target proteins, can be designed to release their drug payload over several days. They are one of the first such particles that can precisely home in on damaged vascular tissue, says Omid Farokhzad, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an author of a paper describing the nanoparticles in the Jan. 18 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Farokhzad and MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer, also an author of the paper, have previously developed nanoparticles that seek out and destroy tumors.

The nanoburrs are targeted to a specific structure, known as the basement membrane, which lines the arterial walls and is only exposed when those walls are damaged. Therefore, the nanoburrs could be used to deliver drugs to treat atherosclerosis and other inflammatory cardiovascular diseases. In the current study, the team used paclitaxel, a drug that inhibits cell division and helps prevent the growth of scar tissue that can clog arteries......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 14, 2010, 8:14 AM CT

Gender-biased heart damage

A man's male hormones may ward off heart damage by helping vessels around the heart regenerate, suggest Australian scientists in a report posted January 13 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org).

While studies have shown that estrogen helps blood vessels regenerate, both in the uterus after menstruation and around the heart after wear and tear, little is known about whether or not men make up for a lack of the female hormone. Some scientists have theorized that this disparity accounts for why men tend to suffer worse heart attacks more often and earlier in life than women. However, Sieveking and his colleagues find that this trend appears to be due to a drop in androgens, a collective term for male hormones, as men age.

Cells derived from the umbilical cord of a human male fetus responded to androgens by moving and multiplyingactivities linked to new vessel growth. Furthermore, castrated mice, which produced fewer androgens, fared poorly after the scientists inflicted vessel damage intended to resemble injuries that occur during a heart attack or a stroke. And treating the castrated mice with androgens hastened their recovery.

Therefore, the authors suggest that androgen replacement treatment might one day be used to treat men at risk for heart disease. The treatment currently receives attention for possibly inducing other rejuvenating benefits, such as increased energy and muscle mass. However, it's been approached with caution as androgens have been shown to assist in tumor growth in prostate cancerperhaps by stimulating tumor-promoting vessel growth......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 12, 2010, 8:54 AM CT

Growth factor also protects heart

A growth factor that is a common target of cancer drugs also plays an important role in the heart's response to stress, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report online this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation

In a number of cancers, the body makes too much platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), a type of protein that controls cell growth, allowing cancer cells to increase uncontrollably. Several chemotherapy agents, including Sutent(r) (sunitinib), Nexavar(r) (sorafenib) and Gleevec(r) (imatinib), work by targeting and inhibiting PDGFR. This slows the growth of cancer - as well as angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels.

"Recently, some of these targeted anti-cancer drugs have been linked to heart failure," said Aarif Khakoo, M.D., assistant professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Cardiology and corresponding author on the study, said. "But the role of PDGFR signaling in the heart has been largely unexplored until now."

In this study, Khakoo and colleagues showed that, while PDGFR-inhibiting agents may slow the growth of cancer cells, they also may impair the heart's ability to respond to stress. Since these agents also often cause elevated blood pressure, this causes a double bind of added stress to the heart and lessened capacity to deal with this stress......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

October 29, 2009, 5:44 PM CT

Finding the Right Insurancespecialists

If you are looking for an auto insurance coverage, it is very important for you to research on various insurance specialists available on the internet. You could also compare the policies and their features in the available insurancespecialists websites. You will actually become an expert of some sort if you are willing to put in a bit of time and efforts.

Many people do not have complete information on the coverage types and they end up making the wrong decisions. It becomes even more difficult if they associate themselves with the insurance agents who are looking to make quick money.

Primarily, you will need to plan carefully so that you do not get end up paying more than what is really needed.

Some vital information that you will need to know before talking to anyone in the insurance business includes:.

Complete coverage:.

This is an added extra which can be added on top of your existing insurance coverage. It is going to cost you more but it will give you coverage for those unexpected events like natural calamities, fire, objects falling, and burglary.

Various insurances will have different comprehensive levels of coverage and therefore it is very important for you to consult the right insurancespecialists before buying any policies......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

May 8, 2009, 5:25 AM CT

What caused the massive decline in coronary death in Iceland?

In the 25 years between 1981 and 2006 mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) in Iceland decreased by a remarkable 80% in men and women aged between 25 and 74 years. How could such a huge decline be explained? Were the health services of Iceland so much better, or were its citizens reducing their risks?1.

To find out Dr Thor Aspelund and his colleagues from the Icelandic Heart Association and the University of Iceland applied a validated CHD analysis model (the IMPACT mortality model) to official Icelandic death statistics, national quality registers, published trials and meta-analyses, clinical audits and a series of national population surveys.2.

Results of the study are presented at EuroPRevent 2009 and show that approximately three-quarters of the mortality decrease in Iceland was attributable to reductions in risk factors throughout the general population. These were principally (36%) in the reduction of cholesterol levels, smoking (20%) and systolic blood pressure (26%) and in the greater uptake of physical activity (5%).

In addition, approximately one quarter of the decrease in CHD deaths in Iceland was attributable to therapy in individuals - 7% to secondary prevention (ie, medical therapy or surgery following a heart attack or other CHD event), 6% to therapys for heart failure, 5% to initial therapys of acute coronary syndrome, and 1% to treating hypertension......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

April 27, 2009, 5:25 AM CT

How new heart cells are created?

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have identified for the first time key genetic factors that drive the process of generating new heart cells. The discovery, published in the current issue of the journal Nature, provides important new directions on how stem cells appears to be used to repair damaged hearts.

For decades, researchers were unable to identify a single factor that could turn nonmuscle cells into beating heart cells. Using a clever approach, the research team led by Benoit Bruneau, Ph.D., observed that a combination of three genes could do the trick. This is the first time any combination of factors has been found to activate cardiac differentiation in mammalian cells or tissues.

"The heart has very little regenerative capacity after it has been damaged," said Dr. Bruneau. "With heart disease the leading cause of death in the Western world, this is a significant first step in understanding how we might create new cells to repair a damaged heart".

Two of the three genes encode proteins called transcription factors, which are master regulators that bind to DNA and determine which genes get activated or shut off. The two transcription factors, GATA4 and TBX5, cause human heart disease when mutated and also cooperate with each other to control other genes. When Dr. Bruneau and postdoctoral fellow Jun K. Takeuchi added different combinations of transcription factors to mouse cells, these two seemed important for pushing cells into heart cellsbut they were not enough......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

April 8, 2009, 5:04 AM CT

Exercise for patients with chronic heart failure

Regular exercise is safe for heart failure patients and may slightly lower their risk of death or hospitalization, as per results from the largest and most comprehensive clinical trial to examine the effects of exercise in chronic heart failure patients. Supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health, the study also observed that heart failure patients who add regular, moderate physical activity to standard medical treatment report a higher quality of life in comparison to similar patients who receive medical treatment only.

Scientists with HF-ACTION (Heart Failure A Controlled Trial Investigating Outcomes of exercise TraiNing) have published two papers in the April 8, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association The study was conducted at 82 centers in the United States, Canada, and France.

"A number of patients and health care providers have continued to be concerned about the safety of aerobic exercise for heart failure," said NHLBI Director Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D. "With the results of this robust clinical trial, we can now reassure heart failure patients that, with appropriate medical supervision, regular aerobic exercise is not only safe but it can also improve their lives in really meaningful ways."........ Posted by: April      Read more         Source

April 7, 2009, 5:20 AM CT

Reduce depression after heart surgery

Two non-pharmacological interventionscognitive behavior treatment and supportive stress managementappear more effective than usual care for treating depression after coronary artery bypass surgery, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

About one in every five patients experiences a major depressive episode following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and at least that a number of develop milder forms of depression, as per background information in the article. "Depression around the time of surgery predicts postoperative complications, longer physical and emotional recovery, worse quality of life and increased rates of cardiac events and mortality [death]," the authors write, and may also be associated with problems with thinking, learning and memory.

Kenneth E. Freedland, Ph.D., of the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and his colleagues conducted a randomized clinical trial involving 123 patients who had major or minor depression within one year after CABG surgery. Of these, 40 were randomly assigned to usual care as determined by primary care or other physicians and the other patients were assigned to one of two therapy groups.

This included 41 patients who underwent 12 weeks of cognitive behavior treatment, shown to be an effective therapy for depression in other populations. The individual, 50- to 60-minute sessions with a psychology expert or social worker involved identifying problems and developing cognitive techniques for overcoming them, including challenging distressing automatic thoughts and changing dysfunctional attitudes. The other 42 patients received 12 weeks of supportive stress management, in which a social worker or psychology expert counseled the patient about improving his or her ability to cope with stressful life events. Depressive symptoms were assessed at the beginning of the study and again after three, six and nine months......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 31, 2009, 3:40 PM CT

Why that patient is in heart failure

A failing heart makes a lot of a hormone needed to eliminate the excess salt and water bloating the body but not enough of the enzyme needed to activate it, scientists say.

Using novel assays they developed, Medical College of Georgia scientists found people in heart failure have less of the enzyme corin needed to activate pro-ANP, or pro-atrial natriuretic peptide, a hormone made by heart muscle cells that, when active, helps reduce extra sodium and fluid that tax the cardiovascular system.

Low corin levels help explain why the heart's natural attempt to save itself is often thwarted in heart failure and scientists hope the new tests they developed can help identify those people.

"The question is always: If you have so much of this hormone that is supposed to increase diuresis, why are patients still in heart failure with all this fluid in their lungs?" says Dr. Uzoma Ibebuogu, cardiology fellow at the Medical College of Georgia.

Dr. Ibebuogu presented the findings at the American College of Cardiology Congress March 28-31 in Orlando where he was among five finalists for the Young Investigator Award.

When he and his colleagues Drs. Guy Reed and Inna Gladysheva compared 14 patients in heart failure to 16 people with healthy hearts, they found those in heart failure had about 80 percent less corin. Their assays enabled measurement of corin as well as active ANP levels instead of only the total pro-ANP levels measured by current technology......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 22, 2009, 9:39 PM CT

Genes associated with sudden cardiac death

You're sitting at your desk and suddenly your heart is beating in overdrive or worse, lurching along like a car on fumes. It is a shocking, uncomfortable and frightening sensation.

Irregular heart rhythms are a common cause of sudden cardiac death or SCD, a condition that accounts for 450,000 deaths annually in the United States. Researchers are now closer to understanding what causes SCD and who it may strike, said Gonalo Abecasis, associate professor of biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Abecasis co-led on an international study aiming to identify genetic defects linked to sudden cardiac death. Aravinda Chakravarti of Johns Hopkins and Arne Pfeufer of the Institute for Human Genetics in Gera number of also co-led the study. Serena Sanna, formerly at the U-M School of Public Health and now a researcher at the National Research Center in Cagliari, Italy, was joint first author.

The team identified 10 genes linked to changes in the so-called QT interval duration. The QT interval duration measures the length of time the heart takes to contract. A QT interval that's too long or too short can cause serious problems, including arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The QT interval can be seen on an electrocardiogram monitor; it's a certain portion of the line that waves or spikes up and down when the heart contracts......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 9, 2009, 6:21 AM CT

Gene associated with early heart attack

The largest study ever completed of genetic factors linked to heart attacks has identified nine genetic regions three not previously described that appear to increase the risk for early-onset myocardial infarction. The report from the Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium, based on information from a total of 26,000 inviduals in 10 countries, will appear in Nature Genetics and is receiving early online release.

"For several decades, it has been known that the risk for heart attack the leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. clusters in families and that some of this familial clustering is due to differences in DNA sequence," says Sekar Kathiresan, MD, director of Preventive Cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and corresponding author of the Nature Genetics report. "We set out to find specific, single-letter differences in the genome, what are called single-nucleotide polomorphisms (SNPs), that appears to be responsible for an increased familial risk for heart attack."

Groundwork for the current study was laid more than 10 years ago when co-author Christopher O'Donnell, MD, now based at the Framingham Heart Study, began to gather data on patients treated at the MGH for early-onset heart attack men under 50 and women under 60. Kathiresan soon joined the project, and in 2006 they formed the Myocardial Infarction Genetics Consortium along with David Altshuler, MD, PhD, of the MGH Center for Human Genetic Research and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, eventually involving six groups around the world that had collected samples on a total of about 3,000 early-onset heart attack patients and 3,000 healthy controls......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 6, 2009, 7:01 PM CT

New risk assessment tools need to predict Coronary Heart Disease

The Framingham and National Cholesterol Education Program tools, NCEP, do not accurately predict coronary heart disease, according to a study performed at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.

The study included 1,653 patients who had no history of coronary heart disease; although 738 patients were taking statins (cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor) because of increased risk of developing coronary heart disease. All 1,653 patients underwent a coronary CT angiogram and doctors compared their risk of coronary heart disease, determined by the Framingham and NCEP risk assessment tools, to the amount of plaque actually found in their arteries as a result of the scan. Results showed that 21% of the patients who were thought to need statin drugs before the scan (because of the Framingham and NCEP assessment tools) did not require them; "26% of the patients who were already taking statins (because of the risk factor assessment tools) had no detectable plaque at all," said Kevin M. Johnson, MD, lead author of the study.

"Risk assessment tools are used by physicians implicitly. Physicians use them as a way to separate and treat patients accordingly. Ultimately, the Framingham influences what every doctor does, but I feel it is not good enough to show what is happening with each individual patient," said Dr. Johnson......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

December 6, 2008, 4:34 PM CT

A little wine boosts omega-3 in the body

Results from the European study IMMIDIET show that moderate wine intake is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids considered as protective against coronary heart disease.

Moderate alcohol intake is associated with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids in plasma and red blood cells. This is the major finding of the European study IMMIDIET that would be published in the recent issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, an official publication of the American Society for Nutrition and is already available on line (www.ajcn.org ). The study suggests that wine does better than other alcoholic drinks. This effect could be ascribed to compounds other than alcohol itself, representing a key to understand the mechanism lying behind the heart protection observed in moderate wine drinkers.

The IMMIDIET study examined 1,604 citizens from three geographical areas: south-west London in England, Limburg in Belgium and Abruzzo in Italy. Thanks to a close cooperation with General Practitioners of these areas, all participants underwent a comprehensive medical examination, including a one year recall food frequency questionnaire to assess their dietary intake, alcohol consumption included.

Omega-3 fatty acids, mainly derived from fish, are considered as protective against coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death, thus their high blood concentration is definitely good for our health......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

November 24, 2008, 9:32 PM CT

Gasping helps cardiac arrest victims survive

People who witness an individual collapse suddenly and unexpectedly should perform uninterrupted chest compressions even if the patient gasps or breathes in a funny way, research from the Resuscitation Research Group at The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center shows. The study is set to publish in the Nov. 24 online issue of Circulation, the official journal of the American Heart Association, http://circ.ahajournals.org.

When an individual breathes abnormally or gasps after collapsing from sudden cardiac arrest there is a greater chance of surviving, the scientists report. Gasping can be thought of as a survival reflex triggered by the brain.

Each day, about 500 Americans collapse because their hearts suddenly stop beating. Data collected by Sarver Heart Center scientists show that in more than half of witnessed cardiac arrest cases, the patient gasped.

"Gasping is an indication that the brain is still alive, and it tells you that if you start and continue uninterrupted chest compressions, the person has a high chance of surviving," said Gordon A. Ewy, MD, corresponding author of the study, professor and chief of cardiology at the UA and director of its Sarver Heart Center. "We need people to promptly recognize sudden cardiac arrest, to call 9-1-1 and to start chest compressions right away"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

November 12, 2008, 10:39 PM CT

Sex differences narrow in death after heart attack

In recent years, women, especially younger women, experienced larger improvements in hospital mortality after myocardial infarction than men, as per a new study.

Over the last decade some studies showed that younger women, but not older ones, are more likely to die in the hospital after MI than age-matched men. A team of scientists led by Emory University examined whether such mortality differences have declined in recent years.

"We observed that the number of younger women who die in the hospital after a heart attack, compared with men has narrowed over the last few years," says study leader Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD, professor of medicine (cardiology), Emory University School of Medicine.

Vaccarino says changes in patient characteristics and therapys over time accounted in part for the changing mortality trends. The findings were presented Nov. 12 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions conference in New Orleans.

Often referred to as a heart attack, MI occurs when the blood supply to part of the heart is interrupted. This decreased blood supply is usually due to blockage of a coronary artery and if left untreated can cause damage and/or death (infarction) of heart muscle tissue.

The scientists investigated MI mortality trends as per sex and age in five age groups during a 12-year period from 1994 to 2006. The study population included 916,380 MI patients from the National Registry of Myocardial Infarction (NRMI) who had a confirmed diagnosis of MI......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

November 12, 2008, 10:35 PM CT

New theory that may lead to effective heart failure treatments

Do the biological underpinnings of heart failure share more in common with malignant tumors than other cardiovascular diseases?

Research presented at American Heart Association meeting may show why heart failure therapys fail.

A team of Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) scientists and heart specialists are presenting many studies at the American Heart Association conference that point toward new therapys for heart failure patients.

As per the American Heart Association, more than 5 million Americans are living with heart failure, and 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. It is a chronic disease that has no cure and typically worsens rapidly.

Dr. Francis G. Spinale and several other scientists from MUSC have put together scientific clues resulting in more than a dozen research studies on patients and mice that strongly suggest that a family of proteins called matrix metalloprotienase (MMP) play a crucial role in why the supporting tissue surrounding the heart, called the myocardium, goes through significant and deleterious effects in heart failure patients.

The conclusions reached by the team have already led to the development of a blood test for these MMPs. But more significantly, as per MUSC cardiac specialist Francis G. Spinale, MD, PhD, this research may demonstrate why current therapys for heart failure are failing and point to novel therapy methods for heart failure patients, reduce the number of people on the heart transplant list and help prioritize those heart failure patients currently on the list......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source