Aldosterone News and Research

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Aldosterone is a steroid hormone made by the adrenal cortex (the outer layer of the adrenal gland). It helps control the balance of water and salts in the kidney by keeping sodium in and releasing potassium from the body. Too much aldosterone can cause high blood pressure and a build-up of fluid in body tissues. Aldosterone is a type of mineralocorticoid hormone.

The first clinically available oral direct renin inhibitor shows promise in heart failure

Drugs that block a hormonal cascade, known as the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), help patients with heart failure. Direct renin inhibitors (DRIs) block the RAAS at its first and rate-limiting step.

2 Sep 2007

Are there gender differences in management modalities?

There are major differences in the risk profile and characteristics of female patients treated for acute heart failure. Female patients are underrepresented in management trials on Heart Failure. According to data from the Euro Heart Survey on acute Heart Failure 2004-2005 in Europe, however, medical treatment has improved.

2 Sep 2007

Hypertension in African Americans - forthcoming study will look at how genes can contribute to hypertension

Exercise cannot reduce a sodium-retaining hormone in African Americans known to potentially cause hypertension, found Michael D. Brown, Ph.D., the senior author of a study in the September issue of Experimental Physiology. Brown is an associate professor of kinesiology at Temple University's College of Health Professions.

17 Aug 2007

Lack of sleep leads to increased urinary output and more salt in urine

Our body's production of urine follows a circadian rhythm. During the day, we experience greater urinary frequency; at night, urine production declines, enabling us to get uninterrupted sleep.

9 Aug 2007

Initiative to improve heart failure care at nation's hospitals makes major gains

A national initiative designed to improve heart-failure patient care in hospitals proved effective at increasing hospital adherence to key quality-of-care performance measures and reducing the length of hospital stays for patients.

24 Jul 2007

Low potassium levels linked to increased mortality in heart failure patients

New research from University of Alabama at Birmingham indicates that patients with heart failure who have low to low-normal serum potassium levels are at increased risk of death.

8 Jun 2007

New treatments and interventions for chronically impaired cardiac patients

Whether a patient is awaiting a heart transplant or living with chronic heart failure, cardiologists are continuously looking for new therapies that address short-term and/or long-term needs of chronically impaired cardiac patients.

30 Mar 2007

Immunotherapy for heart failure

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Heart failure (HF) is a complex, progressive clinical syndrome that can result from any structural or functional cardiac disorder, such as coronary artery disease or hypertension (high blood pressure), which impairs the ability of the heart to function properly as a pump.

5 Sep 2006

Scientists reconstruct Darwinian evolution to explain 'irreducible complexity'

Using new techniques for resurrecting ancient genes, scientists have for the first time reconstructed the Darwinian evolution of an apparently "irreducibly complex" molecular system.

11 Apr 2006

New model is able to accurately predict survival for patients with heart failure

A new model developed at the University of Washington provides an accurate estimate of one-, two-, and three-year survival rates and average years of survival for patients with heart failure.

15 Mar 2006

Nematode hormone discovery may aid fight against parasitic disease

New research at UT Southwestern Medical Center shows that on a biochemical level, hormone-like molecules in tiny worms called nematodes work similarly to the way in which certain hormones work in humans - findings that one day may help eradicate worm infections that afflict a third of the world's population.

9 Mar 2006

Hormone aldosterone linked to quality of hearing

Researchers have linked a hormone known to adjust levels of key brain chemicals to the quality of our hearing as we age. The more of the hormone that older people have in their bloodstream, the better their hearing is, and the less of the hormone, the worse their hearing is.

16 Feb 2006

Aldosterone shows promise as stroke treatment

A bi-polar hormone that can contribute to strokes and minimize their damage is emerging as a therapeutic target in the battle against these brain attacks, researchers say.

5 Dec 2005

"Designer" rats help show how declining estrogen after menopause can affect hypertension

Scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have created a better research rat – the first to enable them to study how declining estrogen after menopause can affect hypertension, heart failure and kidney damage.

26 Sep 2005

Chronic heart failure (CHF) is common, deadly, disabling, costly but fortunately - treatable

During the last ten to 15 years, treatment of CHF has been dramatically improved by pharmacological therapy and devices. Treatment also has become more complicated.

5 Sep 2005

Eplerenone shows benefit for patients with damaged hearts

In the first thirty days following a heart attack, one in three deaths among patients with signs of heart failure may be preventable by early treatment with a drug called eplerenone (Inspra, Pfizer Ltd), according to new data published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

26 Jul 2005

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health in hypertensive postmenopausal women

Oral Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) seems to have a beneficial impact on cardiovascular health in hypertensive postmenopausal women, researchers reported at the American Society of Hypertension Twentieth Annual Meeting held in San Francisco.

16 May 2005

New guidelines urge early and long-term treatment with Aldosterone blockade therapy

Patients who have had a recent heart attack with ST-elevation (ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction, or STEMI), complicated by heart failure should be treated with aldosterone blockers according to new guidelines issued recently by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA).

17 Aug 2004

Important for physicians to identify patients at risk for hyperkalemia and implement corresponding measures when using ACE inhibitors

Some patients with hypertension or other cardiovascular diseases should be closely monitored in order to maintain safe potassium levels in the body when prescribed certain medications, counsels a nephrologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

11 Aug 2004

65 percent of America’s adults are overweight and 31 percent of adults are obese and at risk for chronic diseases

Government and private sector health experts now estimate that 65 percent of America’s adults are overweight and 31 percent of adults are obese and at risk for chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The link between obesity and hypertension is well known, but the exact nature of the association between the two disorders remains unclear.

11 Jun 2004