High blood pressure medication strategyHispanic women with high blood pressure and coronary artery disease respond better to drug regimens aimed at controlling hypertension than non-Hispanic white women, University of Florida scientists report.
A UF study described in the current issue of the Journal of Womens Health revealed that when treated with either of two usually prescribed medicine strategies, Hispanic women achieved greater blood pressure control and were half as likely........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 7/12/2007 10:07:07 PM)
Cholesterol drug hits diabetes with one-two punchPatients with type 2 diabetes may soon be able to control their glucose and their cholesterol levels with a single drug, as per a research studyled by Vivian A. Fonseca, professor of medicine and pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine and chief of the Tulane University Health Sciences Center Diabetes Program.
Results from the clinical trial demonstrated that the compound colesevelam HCl, in combination with Sulfonylurea-based........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 7/8/2007 10:20:02 PM)
Cardiac surgery in patients with liver cirrhosisA new study on the outcome of cardiac surgery in patients with liver cirrhosis observed that the surgery can safely be performed in patients with milder disease, while those with more severe cirrhosis are less likely to survive.
The results of this study appear in the July 2007 issue of Liver Transplantation, the official journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) and the International Liver Transplantation........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 7/3/2007 9:34:35 PM)
Transplanting Angina Patients' Purified Stem CellsThe first U.S. study to transplant a potent form of purified adult stem cells into the heart muscle of patients with severe angina provided evidence that the procedure is safe and produced a reduction in angina pain as well as improved functioning in patients' daily lives, reports the lead researcher at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
Within three to six weeks after the severe angina patients were injected with their........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 6/27/2007 5:31:55 AM)
Methamphetamine Abuse And Cardiovascular DiseaseThe study is being published the week of June 25 in an advanced online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In recent years, the spread of methamphetamine abuse across the United States has been as rapid as it has been alarming. Until about six years ago, methamphetamine use was seen mostly in the western and rural United States. Today, methamphetamine abuse has expanded rapidly throughout the rest of the country........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 6/25/2007 8:28:05 PM)
Stem cells to repair damaged heart muscleIn the first trial of its kind in the world, 60 patients who have recently suffered a major heart attack will be injected with selected stem cells from their own bone marrow during routine coronary bypass surgery.
The Bristol trial will test whether the stem cells will repair heart muscle cells damaged by the heart attack, by preventing late scar formation and hence impaired heart contraction.
Dr Raimondo Ascione from the University of........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 6/22/2007 5:13:55 AM)
Sleep restriction reduces heart rate variabilityChronic sleep restriction has a negative effect on a person's cardiac activity, which may elevate the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality, as per a research abstract that will be presented Wednesday at SLEEP 2007, the 21st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS).
The study, conducted by Siobhan Banks of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was based on preliminary analyses of 39 subjects,........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 6/13/2007 7:51:02 AM)
Moderate drinking lowers women's risk of heart attackWomen who regularly enjoy an alcoholic drink or two have a significantly lower risk of having a non-fatal heart attack than women who are life-time abstainers, epidemiologists at the University at Buffalo have shown.
Moderation is the key, however. Women in the study who reported being intoxicated at least once a month were nearly three times more likely to suffer a heart attack than abstainers, results showed.
One difference in the........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/23/2007 8:17:01 PM)
Gene Therapy To Reverse Heart FailureHeart scientists at the Center for Translational Medicine at Jefferson Medical College have used gene treatment to reverse heart failure in animals. In addition, they observed that this gene treatment strategy had "unique and additive effects" to currently used, standard heart failure drugs called beta-blockers.
Reporting in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, scientists led by Walter J. Koch, Ph.D., director of the Center........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/23/2007 8:15:05 PM)
Short-Term Use Of Statin In Heart Failure PatientsStatin drugs, known primarily for their ability to lower cholesterol, also may reduce the overactive sympathetic nervous system response that contributes to the worsening of heart failure and increases the risk of sudden cardiac death. A result of heart attack or conditions such as coronary artery disease or hypertension, heart failure is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.
On May 1, Dr. James Fisher, a........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/13/2007 10:09:09 PM)
New therapies for end-stage heart failureImplanted pumps improved heart function enough in a small percentage of patients awaiting a heart transplant that they were able to leave the hospital without a pump and without a new heart, as per a research studyin Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
The heart-assist devices also significantly improved the cardiac function in a number of other heart failure patients.
"This suggests that, while the devices alone may........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/7/2007 10:45:24 PM)
Genetic Variation Linked to Substantial Risk in Heart AttackA common genetic variation on chromosome 9p21 is associated with a substantial increase in risk for heart attack, as per a new international research study. The findings are published recently in the online edition of Science, and will appear in an upcoming printed edition of the journal.
Scientists found individuals with the variation have a 1.64-fold greater risk of suffering a heart attack (myocardial infarction) and a 2.02-fold greater........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/6/2007 5:02:28 PM)
Mike King Diagnosed with Cardiac ProblemsComedian Mike King has been diagnosed with cardiac problems, which possibly are a result of a stroke that he had suffered in January. King was rushed to hospital with low blood pressure and dizziness on Monday. Medical investigations are being carried out to reach a diagnosis, confirmed his manager, David Steele.
King has already had scans, but he showed no signs of internal bleeding. The doctors will take two days to reach a solid........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 4/29/2007 8:28:24 AM)
A steady, high-fat diet is badSo much for the adage, All things in moderation. Scientists at the University of Calgary have observed that people who consume a single, high-fat meal are more prone to suffer the physical consequences of stress than those who eat a low-fat meal.
Published this month in the Journal of Nutrition, the study looked at the stress responses of two groups of students: one group consumed a fast-food breakfast from McDonalds, the other ate dry........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 4/23/2007 11:01:14 PM)
Are higher doses of cholesterol drugs worth the extra money?When it comes to cholesterol-lowering drugs, more is better. At least, thats what heart doctors and heart patients have been hearing in recent years. And as a result, more patients are taking higher doses of drugs called statins leading to lower heart and stroke risk, but higher prescription drug costs and more frequent side effects.
Now, a new study looks at whether those higher doses, and higher costs, are really going to pay off for some........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 4/23/2007 10:33:04 PM)
Blame the brain for high blood pressureThe controversial idea that one cause of hypertension lies within the brain, and not the heart or blood vessels, has been put forward by researchers at the University of Bristol, UK, and is published this week in the journal Hypertension.
Dr. Hidefumi Waki, working in a research group led by Professor Julian Paton, has found a novel role for the protein, JAM-1 (junctional adhesion molecule-1), which is located in the walls of blood vessels........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 4/15/2007 9:46:09 PM)
Coronary Procedure Adds No Benefit Percutaneous coronary intervention plus optimal medical treatment does not improve outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease, compared with optimal medical treatment alone, as per study results presented yesterday at the 56th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans, and published online in the New England Journal (NEJM).
The Clinical Outcomes Utilizing Revascularization and Aggressive Drug........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 3/27/2007 9:46:21 PM)
Heart Attack Patients and Stem Cell TherapyHeart attack patients who received an new intravenous adult stem cell treatment, Provacel-, experienced a lower number of adverse events, such as cardiac arrhythmias, and had significant improvements in heart, lung and global function in comparison to those who received a placebo, as per six-month Phase I study data presented at the American College of Cardiology's Innovation in Intervention: i2Summit in New Orleans on March 25.
Rush was one........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 3/27/2007 9:40:27 PM)
Second generation drug-eluting stentWhile research shows that drug-eluting stents effectively reduce restenosis and revascularization in comparison to bare-metal stents, questions and controversy surrounding the safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents continue to dominate discussions and headlines. A study presented today at the American College of Cardiologys Innovation in Intervention: i2 Summit surveys the safety and efficacy of the second generation XienceV Everolimus........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 3/25/2007 8:41:55 PM)
Statins slow progression of arterial thickeningAmong low-risk middle-aged people with subclinical atherosclerosis, the cholesterol-lowering drug rosuvastatin reduces the rate of progression of arterial thickening and stops but does not reverse atherosclerotic disease, as per a research studyin the March 28 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual conference.
Lipid-lowering treatment has been shown to........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 3/25/2007 7:08:27 PM)
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High Blood Pressure May Mask Potentially Deadly Heart ConditionNew research published in Psychophysiology finds a relationship between increased blood pressure and decreased pain perception in a variety of circumstances, including among individuals with heart disease. This phenomenon extends to those who typically suffer chest pain during exercise, and may be correlated with a potentially deadly heart condition.
The new study draws on data collected from over 900 patients undergoing exercise stress........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 7/11/2007 5:33:05 AM)
What Is And Isn't A Heart AttackVarying advice means patients at high-risk of having a heart attack are unclear about when symptoms are potentially life threatening and when they should call an ambulance, argue a group of cardiologists in this weeks BMJ.
At least 70% of people who die from coronary heart disease have had prior heart problems.
Yet recent data from the British Heart Foundation shows that 40% of the general population would not immediately call an........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 7/5/2007 9:17:26 PM)
Reduced lung capacity linked to cardiovascular diseasePeople who have a reduced lung capacity may have a greater risk of heart attack and stroke because they show evidence of inflammation, reveals a study published online ahead of print in Thorax.
This association is not correlation to smoking, respiratory diseases or obesity.
The New Zealand scientists took measurements of lung capacity and inflammation in 1,000 adults aged between 26 and 32 years. To measure inflammation, they looked at........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 7/2/2007 9:15:46 AM)
Angioplasty procedure can damage kidneysThe most common procedure for clearing blocked kidney arteries can also release thousands of tiny particles into the bloodstream that can impair kidney function, as per scientists from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and his colleagues.
This is the first data in humans to show that debris released during angioplasty and stenting of the kidney arteries can be harmful to kidney function, said Matthew Edwards, M.D., M.S., lead........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 6/28/2007 11:36:26 PM)
Women's mortality rates for cardiovascular diseaseWomen treated for cardiovascular disease at the nation's best- performing hospitals have a 39 percent lower risk-adjusted mortality rate when compared with women at the nation's poorest-performing hospitals, as per the fourth annual HealthGrades Womens Health Outcomes in U.S. Hospitals study, released recently.
The study also observed that, for women, the largest quality gaps between the best-performing and poorest-performing hospitals were........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 6/25/2007 8:30:00 PM)
Obesity And Enlarged HeartNew research from The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center helps explain why excessive body weight increases the risk for heart disease.
In the largest study of its kind, cardiologist M. Reza Movahed, MD, PhD, and research specialist Adolfo A. Martinez, MD, discovered that excessive body weight is associated with a thickening of the heart muscle in the left ventricle, the hearts pumping chamber. Known to physicians as left ventricular........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 6/20/2007 10:06:16 AM)
Bacterial pneumonia patients at increased risk of major heart problemsA new study suggests patients hospitalized with pneumonia may be at serious risk of new or worsening heart problems. The study is published in the July 15 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, currently available online.
Researchers led by Daniel Musher, MD, studied the records of all 170 patients hospitalized with pneumococcal pneumonia at a Texas Veterans Affairs medical center from 2001 to 2005. They found that 19.4 percent of them had a........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 6/19/2007 5:05:44 AM)
Insights Into Chronic Inflammation And AtherosclerosisRheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other inflammatory rheumatic diseases are linked to a high rate of death from heart disease. One explanation is a greater susceptibility to atherosclerosis. Eventhough atherosclerosis is associated with inflammation in healthy individuals as well, the mechanism of inflammation and the reason for accelerated atherosclerosis in patients with inflammatory rheumatic disease remain unclear. Does atherosclerosis........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/25/2007 7:15:11 PM)
Sleep apnea increases risk of heart attackThe nighttime breathing disorder known as obstructive sleep apnea increases a persons risk of having a heart attack or dying by 30% over a period of four to five years, as per a research studypresented at the American Thoracic Society 2007 International Conference, on Monday, May 21.
The more severe the sleep apnea at the beginning of the study, the greater the risk of developing heart disease or dying, the study found.
While prior........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/21/2007 11:44:20 AM)
Combination Of Medicines To Get Blood Pressure Under ControlMillions of Americans take medications for high blood pressure but do not achieve control of their blood pressure. Single-tablet combinations of drugs may be what it takes to get blood pressure under control, even in people with moderate hypertension, as per results from a new international study involving more than 10,700 people with high blood pressure.
Just six months of therapy was enough to bring the blood pressure of 73 percent of........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 5/21/2007 10:37:26 AM)
Young Women And Heart Attack Warning SignsMost women 55 years and younger who have heart attacks don't recognize warning signs, scientists reported at the American Heart Association's 8th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.
Women younger than 55 years represent less than 5 percent of all hospitalized heart disease patients, but because so a number of heart attacks occur in the United States each year, even this small........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 5/10/2007 10:38:39 PM)
FDA approves aliskiren for hypertensionThe FDA approved aliskiren, the first hypertension treatment that inhibits renin.
Aliskiren (Tekturna, Novartis) is also the first, new type of hypertension drug approved by the FDA in more than a decade, according to company officials.
Aliskiren is a once-daily tablet (150 mg and 300 mg) indicated as monotherapy or in combination with other hypertension medications.
Franz Messerli, MD, director of the hypertension program in the........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 4/29/2007 7:05:09 PM)
Love Your HeartA must read for women who want to show their hearts some love, "The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women" is an invaluable and easy-to-use resource every woman should read from cover to cover. A full-color, 122-page booklet from The Heart Truth campaign, it is packed with the latest information on preventing and controlling the risk factors for heart disease - the No.1 killer of women.
"The Healthy Heart Handbook for Women" a publication of the........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 4/29/2007 4:14:22 PM)
Treatment of Damaging Protein PlaquesWhen protein plaque builds up in the blood, it can result in serious diseases such as heart disease and Alzheimer's. Cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitors, a class of drugs under investigation for the therapy of one cause of plaque build-up, also exhibit negative side effects.
Scientists in the International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine at the University of Missouri-Columbia are studying the possible use of carboranes, which are........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 4/24/2007 10:24:05 PM)
Link Between Heart Defect And MigrainesScientists of the heart and headaches at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital are combining efforts to determine if a common heart defect may be the cause of some forms of migraine headaches.
Investigators from the Jefferson Heart Institute and the Jefferson Headache Center are enrolling participants in a blinded study to determine if closing a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), a small hole or flap that can allow blood to flow between the right........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 4/21/2007 8:22:11 AM)
Fewer heart patients need antibioticsBased on a review of new and existing scientific evidence, most dental patients with heart disease do not need antibiotics before dental procedures to prevent infective endocarditis (IE), a rare, but life-threatening heart infection.
As per revised guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) with input from the American Dental Association (ADA), antibiotics are now only recommended for patients at greatest risk of negative outcomes........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 4/19/2007 7:22:43 PM)
Gene Test After Heart TransplantNew research suggests a genomic test may provide detailed information on how well a transplanted heart is performing. The gene expression profiling (GEP) test, known as the Allomap® test, is currently used to detect the absence of heart transplant rejection instead of routine invasive heart muscle biopsies, but has now been shown to correlate with oxygen saturation levels, the pressure in the heart before pumping, and the electrical........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 3/27/2007 9:50:45 PM)
Lifestyle Choices And Heart RisksGenetics and family history play a large role in a persons risk for heart disease, but factors in diet, lifestyle and the environment are also thought to influence susceptibility to the disease. Many studies presented today at the American College of Cardiologys 56th Annual Scientific Session look at how health-related behaviors can influence a persons risk for cardiovascular disease. ACC.07 is the premier cardiovascular medical meeting,........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 3/25/2007 8:50:58 PM)
Crestor could halt early atherosclerosisAn international study using ultrasound technology has observed that the most potent cholesterol-lowering drug is also effective at halting early changes in the blood vessels that can lead to atherosclerosis.
"Rosuvastatin arrested the progression of thickened carotid arteries in comparison to a placebo," said John R. Crouse, M.D., lead researcher and a professor of endocrinology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "The findings........Go to the Heart-watch-blog (Added on 3/25/2007 7:42:04 PM)
Heart failure medication provides symptom reliefA medicine used to treat heart failure, tolvaptan, appears to improve some symptoms and signs of heart failure during hospitalization, but does not reduce the risk of re-hospitalization or death, as per two articles in the March 28 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the American College of Cardiology's annual conference.
During the past 2 decades, there have been substantial advances in drug........Go to the Heart-news-blog (Added on 3/25/2007 7:15:19 PM)
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