Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) News and Research

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Hypertension (or high blood pressure) is a condition where the pressure of the blood flowing through the arteries of the body is higher than it should be. Much like the pressure of the air in a tire, if the pressure of the blood is too high it can damage the arteries and organs of the body. Just like the tire, if the pressure suddenly becomes very high, catastrophic events can happen. Similarly, if the pressure remains somewhat elevated for a long enough period of time, premature wear and failure can occur.

Hypertension has its worst effects on the heart, kidneys, eyes, and brain. High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, hemorrhages of the retina of the eye, and generalized atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries all over the body).

ASH meeting highlights H1N1 pandemic threat, new trends and treatment options for children with genetic blood disorder

Sickle cell disease, a condition characterized by deformed and dysfunctional red blood cells, is one of the most common genetic blood disorders affecting millions of people around the world, including more than 70,000 Americans (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

8 Dec 2009

Demand for doctors in rural areas and primary care physicians increases

The Dallas Morning News reports that rural health providers "are keeping a wary eye on proposed health care changes under debate in Congress. ... Democrats and Republicans from rural areas in the South and Midwest succeeded in getting some relief for the rural health care system written into the Senate and House bills under debate.

7 Dec 2009

Free health clinic offers preventive primary care for uninsured residents of Kansas City

The large, two-day free health clinic sponsored by the National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC) in Kansas City on Wednesday and Thursday is not just for the sick but also for anyone who is uninsured and has not seen a doctor recently. All participants in the health clinic will receive preventive primary care.

5 Dec 2009

New preventive screening packages for heart disease

HealthYes!®, a leading mobile medical screening provider, is offering several new preventive screenings directly focused on heart disease. The new tests include: a six-lead electrocardiogram (EKG), cholesterol finger-stick, and 10-year Framingham Cardiac Risk Score as well as diabetes and liver function testing.

2 Dec 2009

Study identifies genetic link between vitamin D and heart disease

Previous studies have shown a link between low vitamin D status and heart disease. Now a new study shows that patients with high blood pressure who possess a gene variant that affects an enzyme critical to normal vitamin D activation are twice as likely as those without the variant to have congestive heart failure.

2 Dec 2009

Antipsychotic medications increase the levels of inflammation markers, find researchers

Overall, antipsychotic medications are reasonably effective, and fairly well tolerated treatments for mood and psychotic disorders. However, treatment with a number of antipsychotic medications is associated with weight gain, and for some, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia.

2 Dec 2009

Palatin Technologies issued U.S. patent covering its lead heart failure drug candidate

Palatin Technologies, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 7,622,440, titled "Cyclic Natriuretic Peptide Constructs." The claims in the issued patent cover a family of cyclic compounds that bind to natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPRA), including PL-3994, Palatin's lead heart failure drug candidate.

1 Dec 2009

Women with gestational glucose intolerance at risk of metabolic syndrome

Women who have gestational glucose intolerance (a condition less severe than gestational diabetes) exhibit multiple cardiovascular risk factors as early as three months after birth, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

1 Dec 2009

Copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate shown to be effective in treating Wilson disease

The copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate (TM) has been shown in studies to be effective in the treatment of Wilson disease, a disease caused by an overload of copper, and certain metastatic cancers.

27 Nov 2009

Medical advances abound while surgeons report concerns about medical errors

The Wall Street Journal reports on "20 health-care advances to give thanks for this Thanksgiving." Among the most key: "Life expectancy in the U.S. reached an all-time high of 77.9 years in 2007, the latest year for which statistics are available, continuing a long upward trend. (That's 75.3 years for men and 80.4 years for women.) ... Death rates dropped significantly for eight of the 15 leading causes of death in the U.S., including cancer, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, accidents, diabetes, homicides and pneumonia, from 2006 to 2007."

24 Nov 2009

C.A.R.E. Clinic in New Orleans attended by over 1000 patients

Organizers of a free health clinic for uninsured residents of Louisiana are pleased with its success today. Not only did the clinic see 1,000 patients, it may have saved the lives of some sick individuals. Many of the patients had not seen a physician since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005.

24 Nov 2009

Pharmacy-based intervention improves antipsychotic adherence among patients with mental illnesses

Health systems should consider pharmacy-based interventions when involving patients who have poor follow-through taking medication.

24 Nov 2009

Team-based care and medical homes may improve chronic disease management

Patients whose hypertension is managed by a physician-pharmacist team have lower blood pressure levels and are more likely to reach goals for blood pressure control than those treated without this collaborative approach, according to a report in the November 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

24 Nov 2009

Foods rich in antioxidant substances could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) researchers have confirmed that a diet rich in polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids, patented as an LMN diet, helps boost the production of the brain's stem cells -neurogenesis- and strengthens their differentiation in different types of neuron cells.

23 Nov 2009

Overexpression of NCX1 does not by itself lead to contraction abnormalities in the heart

Researchers from the Center for Translational Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University have found that the overexpression of a sodium/calcium exchanger, without changes in other ion transport pathways commonly observed in heart failure, does not by itself lead to contraction abnormalities in the heart.

23 Nov 2009

Children with kidney disease likely to have "masked" hypertension

Spot blood pressure readings in children with chronic kidney disease often fail to detect hypertension - even during doctor's office visits - increasing a child's risk for serious heart problems, according to research from Johns Hopkins Children's Center and other institutions. A report of the findings appears online in the Journal of American Society of Nephrology.

20 Nov 2009

Pfizer’s Revatio Injection receives FDA approval

Pfizer announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Revatio® (sildenafil) Injection, an intravenous formulation of Revatio. Revatio is the only FDA-approved phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor available in both tablet and intravenous formulations.

20 Nov 2009

NHLBI-supported research shares new strategies on hypertension, heart defect and air pollution

New education strategies for better controlling hypertension and research suggesting a possible link between short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution and increased risk of constricted blood vessels are among the research highlights from studies supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the American Heart Association's 2009 Scientific Sessions in Orlando held Nov. 14-18.

20 Nov 2009

Purchasing prescription drugs in a three-month supply reduce cost of drugs for patients

Purchasing prescription drugs in a three-month supply rather than a one-month supply has long been regarded as a way to reduce the cost of drugs for patients and third-party payers. New research from the University of Chicago quantifies the savings for the first time.

20 Nov 2009

Scientists identify and characterize different antioxidant compounds from foods

Scientists at the University of Granada have identified and characterized for the first time different antioxidant compounds from foods such as olive oil, honey, walnuts and a medicinal herb called Teucrium polium.

20 Nov 2009

Hypertension (High Blood Pressure) News and Research

Further Reading

ASH meeting highlights H1N1 pandemic threat, new trends and treatment options for children with genetic blood disorder

Demand for doctors in rural areas and primary care physicians increases

Free health clinic offers preventive primary care for uninsured residents of Kansas City

New preventive screening packages for heart disease

Study identifies genetic link between vitamin D and heart disease

Antipsychotic medications increase the levels of inflammation markers, find researchers

Palatin Technologies issued U.S. patent covering its lead heart failure drug candidate

Women with gestational glucose intolerance at risk of metabolic syndrome

Copper sequestering drug tetrathiomolybdate shown to be effective in treating Wilson disease

Medical advances abound while surgeons report concerns about medical errors

C.A.R.E. Clinic in New Orleans attended by over 1000 patients

Pharmacy-based intervention improves antipsychotic adherence among patients with mental illnesses

Team-based care and medical homes may improve chronic disease management

Foods rich in antioxidant substances could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease

Overexpression of NCX1 does not by itself lead to contraction abnormalities in the heart

Children with kidney disease likely to have "masked" hypertension

Pfizer’s Revatio Injection receives FDA approval

NHLBI-supported research shares new strategies on hypertension, heart defect and air pollution

Purchasing prescription drugs in a three-month supply reduce cost of drugs for patients

Scientists identify and characterize different antioxidant compounds from foods

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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