Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction) News and Research

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A Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction) occurs when blood flow to a section of heart muscle becomes blocked. If the flow of blood isn’t restored quickly, the section of heart muscle becomes damaged from lack of oxygen and begins to die.

Heart attack is a leading killer of both men and women in the United States. But fortunately, today there are excellent treatments for heart attack that can save lives and prevent disabilities. Treatment is most effective when started within 1 hour of the beginning of symptoms. Heart attacks occur most often as a result of a condition called coronary artery disease (CAD). In CAD, a fatty material called plaque (plak) builds up over many years on the inside walls of the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to your heart). Eventually, an area of plaque can rupture, causing a blood clot to form on the surface of the plaque. If the clot becomes large enough, it can mostly or completely block the flow of oxygen-rich blood to the part of the heart muscle fed by the artery.

Developing depression after a heart attack increases one’s risk of death or readmission

Science has found many links between depression and other serious medical illnesses, such as cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease. For example, people who develop depression following a heart attack (myocardial infarction) or chest pain (angina) have an elevated risk of cardiac death or hospital readmission over the following year.

22 Oct 2008

Discovery of genetic switch critical for cell survival in Hypoxia

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a critical metabolic "switch" in fruit flies that helps oxygen-deprived cells survive. "A transcriptional suppressor, called hairy, is crucial for reducing the mismatch between supply and demand of oxygen," said Dan Zhou, first author on the study, published October 17 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

21 Oct 2008

Beta-blockers raise the risk of a heart attack after surgery

A new study has found that for some patients undergoing surgery, beta-blockers before and around the time of the operation increases their risk of heart attack and death.

21 Oct 2008

Junk food responsible for 35% of the world's heart attacks

New research by Canadian scientists says junk food causes a third of all heart attacks and it is diets heavy in fried foods, salty snacks and meat which are the culprits.

21 Oct 2008

Link between erectile dysfunction and heart attacks

A link between erectile dysfunction and heart attacks will be made by Professor Mike Kirby at the University of Hertfordshire Health and Human Sciences Research Institute Showcase today.

20 Oct 2008

White wine as healthy for the heart as red

A new study will provide comfort to white wine lovers and give them a good excuse to pour themselves a glass of Sauvignon blanc because it now appears that white wine is just as healthy for the heart as red.

16 Oct 2008

Link between dementia and hypotension - Alzheimer's sufferers might have lower blood pressure

A new study published in Bioscience Hypotheses, a recently launched Elsevier journal, proposes that some people suffering from Alzheimer's disease experience a reduction in their high blood pressure because of cognitive decline.

14 Oct 2008

Men who never smoke live longer, better lives than heavy smokers

Health-related quality of life appears to deteriorate as the number of cigarettes smoked per day increases, even in individuals who subsequently quit smoking, according to a report in the October 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

14 Oct 2008

Why sufferers from Alzheimer's disease might have lower blood pressure

A new study published in Bioscience Hypotheses, a recently launched Elsevier journal, proposes that some people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease experience a reduction in their high blood pressure because of cognitive decline.

14 Oct 2008

Easier to quit smoking after a heart attack if there is a hospital-based stop smoking program

Researchers in the U.S. say they have found that hospital-based stop smoking programs initiated after a heart attack have more chance of success.

14 Oct 2008

Vioxx heart risks confirmed in long-term study

The study, an analysis of people who took the arthritis drug carried out by Dr. Robert Bresalier of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, has found Vioxx doubles the risk of strokes and heart attacks.

14 Oct 2008

Vulnerable plaque may be easier to detect through optical coherence tomography

Research results indicate that optical coherence tomography (OCT), a newly evolving imaging method, may be the best tool available to detect vulnerable plaque in coronary arteries. The findings will be presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF).

12 Oct 2008

Olmesartan may reduce coronary artery plaque

Research presented at the 20th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), suggests that olmesartan, a drug commonly used to treat high blood pressure, may play a role in reducing coronary plaque

12 Oct 2008

A little alcohol goes a longer way in women than in men

Alcohol can be a boon or a bane for health. The difference lies in the dose - a little is good, a lot is bad. But the dividing line between a little and a lot differs from person to person. It depends on many things, including sex.

6 Oct 2008

Health plans' quality of care improved in some areas in 2007, NCQA report says

Health plans' quality of care improved in 2007 -- the ninth consecutive year of continued improvements -- according to a study released Thursday by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

5 Oct 2008

Danish study provides new information on hormone replacement therapy and the risk of heart attacks

It's not what you take but the way that you take it that can produce different results in women who take hormone replacement therapy (HRT), according to new research on the association between HRT and heart attacks, published online in Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal today.

30 Sep 2008

Oversize waistlines are a potent risk factor for heart disease in women

A heart expert at Johns Hopkins is calling for all women with a waistline measuring more than 35 inches to get an annual check-up and detailed risk assessment for heart problems because excess abdominal fat, even in the mildly obese and overweight, leads more than a third of women to underestimate their lifetime risk of having a heart attack, stroke or chest pain (angina).

24 Sep 2008

Popular COPD treatment increases risk for cardiac events, cardiac death

New research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine shows that use of the most commonly prescribed once-a-day treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for longer than one month increases the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack or stroke by more than 50 percent

24 Sep 2008

Pennsylvania, New Jersey release hospital quality performance reports

Death rates from heart bypass and valve surgeries performed at Pennsylvania hospitals have declined significantly in recent years, according to a Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council report released on Thursday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

22 Sep 2008

High salt levels in food banished by seaweed

High salt levels in processed food could be a thing of the past, thanks to new research which has found that a certain type of seaweed can be used as a natural, health boosting alternative that doesn't affect the taste or adversely affect the shelf life of the food.

From Sheffield Hallam University 21 Sep 2008