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11 percent of American women smoke during pregnancy

The negative effects of nicotine exposure to their fetuses and newborns are significant.

2 May 2007

New treatments have major impact on heart failure rates

Deaths from severe heart attacks following admission to hospital have nearly halved in six years as a result of advances in medical treatment.

2 May 2007

New tool refines heart risk prediction

For about 10 years, the Framingham risk score has been used to estimate a person's chances of having a heart attack based on just six bits of information -- age, sex, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, smoking status, and systolic blood pressure.

2 May 2007

Statin drugs also may help reduce risk of heart failure

Statin 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, two University of Missouri-Columbia researchers have found. Heart failure is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States.

2 May 2007

Migraines during pregnancy linked to vascular diseases

Migraines during pregnancy are strongly linked to vascular diseases, such as stroke and heart disease, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28, May 5, 2007.

2 May 2007

Adverse health outcomes after Hurricane Katrina among children and adolescents with chronic conditions

Children and teenagers in New Orleans with chronic medical conditions at the time of Hurricane Katrina were more likely than other children to have worsening of physical and psychological symptoms, develop new symptoms, miss doctor appointments and run out of medications in the wake of the disaster.

2 May 2007

Variants of two genes involved in the inflammatory system linked to cognitive decline after heart surgery

Duke University Medical Center researchers believe their findings could help physicians identify patients at risk of suffering mental decline after heart surgery and raises the possibility that these patients could be treated with drugs that are known to dampen the inflammatory response.

2 May 2007

Improving outcomes for patients with acute coronary syndrome

Recent changes in the recommended treatments used for patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndromes, such as a heart attack, are associated with reductions in the rates of heart failure, stroke, heart attack and death, according to a study in the May 2 issue of JAMA .

2 May 2007

One out of four people don't know they have hypertension

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack, stroke, and renal failure, but one out of four people don't even know they have it.

2 May 2007

Efforts to standardize heart care are working

People who suffer a heart attack or severe chest pain today are much less likely to die, or to experience long-lasting effects, than their counterparts even a few years ago, according to a new international study in the May 3 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

2 May 2007

Levosimendan compared to dobutamine for decompensated heart failure

The drug levosimendan did not improve survival for patients with decompensated heart failure when compared with a more widely-used treatment for this condition, dobutamine, according to a study in the May 2 issue of JAMA.

2 May 2007

Why do some people get fat even when they eat relatively little?

What creates that irresistible urge for a bag of potato chips or a hunk of chocolate cake, as opposed to a nice crisp apple? Can food urges be irresistible?

2 May 2007

A mobile medical care approach targeting underserved populations in post-hurricane Katrina Mississippi

They packed what they needed for a disaster - equipment for trauma treatment and IV fluids - and headed south to Mississippi.

2 May 2007

New assessment model gauges lung cancer risk

Clinicians may be one step closer to having a critical tool in identifying which smokers are at higher risk for developing lung cancer, the deadliest of all cancers, thanks to an assessment model generated by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

2 May 2007