Heart News and Research

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FDA taking no chances when it comes to drug safety

These days the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is taking no chances when it comes to the safety of new drugs.

13 Aug 2007

DIY hole-in-the-heart repair kit

Specialists in the UK have found a way to treat a common heart defect using the body's natural healing power.

12 Aug 2007

Antioxidant overload

Despite the popular notion that antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, offer health-promoting benefits by protecting against damaging free radicals, a new study in the August 10 issue of the journal Cell reveals that, in fact, balance is the key.

12 Aug 2007

Writing off Avandia may be premature

Rosiglitazone, a drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Avandia, for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, came under fire after an article published online May 21 by the New England Journal of Medicine linked it to significantly increased risk of heart attack and cardiovascular death.

12 Aug 2007

Impaired energy production in heart muscle may underlie heart failure in some hypertensive patients

Many people with long-standing high blood pressure develop heart failure.

12 Aug 2007

Connection between reduced glutathione and heart failure

Antioxidants are widely considered an important defense against heart disease, but University of Utah researchers have found excessive levels of one antioxidant - reduced glutathione - actually may contribute to the disease.

12 Aug 2007

Thyroid disease: Understanding hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism

Doctors often mistake the symptoms of thyroid disease for another disorder such as heart failure, high cholesterol, or even dementia, says a new edition of a report from Harvard Medical School.

11 Aug 2007

Women with migraines and aura have higher stroke risk

Women who have migraine headaches with visual symptoms (or aura) may be at increased risk for stroke compared to women who do not have migraines, researchers reported in Stroke, journal of the American Heart Association.

11 Aug 2007

Sex hormones play a significant role in the development of diabetic kidney disease

Women have a "female advantage" when it comes to chronic kidney disease. When compared to men, they have fewer and less severe episodes of this disorder throughout most of their lives.

11 Aug 2007

FGFR4 gene plays a complex role in obesity, fatty liver and diabetes

Researchers at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences and Technology at Houston have found that a gene in the liver and elsewhere in the body, when inhibited or increased, affects fatty liver and diabetes but does not alleviate both diseases at once.

11 Aug 2007

Statins do not protect against prostate cancer

A large community-based study refutes previous findings that statins , a top-selling drug class, worldwide -- might cut one's risk of developing prostate cancer by reducing production of the male hormones that fuel cancer growth.

11 Aug 2007

Gender differences in renal and other genes contributing to blood pressure

Many common diseases exhibit gender bias and gender differences have been observed in the development of high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart (cardiovascular) disease.

9 Aug 2007

Estrogen deficiency may trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity in aged females

At menopause, women lose hormone protection against heart (cardiovascular) and kidney (renal) diseases, and are likely to become obese. A research team has tested the idea that estrogen deficiency in aged females may trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity.

9 Aug 2007