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.

BMI may influence which blood pressure treatments work best

According to new research published Online First in The Lancet, body mass index (BMI) may influence which blood pressure medications work best at reducing the major complications of high blood pressure (strokes, heart attacks, and death).

7 Dec 2012

Heart attack centres: an interview with Dr Sayan Sen

Heart attack networks are designed to facilitate the rapid transfer of heart attack patients to centres with facilities that allow the manual unblocking of the coronary artery with angioplasty.

3 Dec 2012

Weight loss and quality of sleep: an interview with Kerry Stewart

In our particular study we used a survey which consisted of 50 different questions which get at different aspects of sleep health. It was a patient self-report.

26 Nov 2012

Injury prevention – research and practice: an interview with Dr Dale Hanson

Every twenty seconds someone somewhere in Australia presents to an Emergency Department seeking treatment for an injury. Every minute someone is admitted to hospital. Every hour someone dies.

13 Nov 2012

Stroke survivors who smoke risk their life

In a study detailed in the American Heart Association’s journal Stroke, researchers recruited 1,589 stroke survivors between 1996 and 1999 and examined the occurrence of deaths, recurrent strokes and heart attacks over a 10-year period. They found smokers and former smokers who suffered stroke had greater risk of death, multiple strokes or heart attack when compared to patients who were never smokers.

25 Oct 2012

Type 2 diabetes screening: an interview with Dr Simon Griffin, MRC Epidemiology Unit at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge

Type 2 diabetes is a condition in which the body does not make sufficient insulin or the insulin it makes doesn’t work sufficiently well to maintain a normal level of blood glucose and so the blood glucose rises.

12 Oct 2012

Death rates after surgery: an interview with Dr Rupert Pearse

There are very few published estimates describing the number of deaths following surgery at a national level and none at an international level.

1 Oct 2012

Resuscitation after cardiac arrest: an interview with Zach Goldberger

Cardiac arrest is an important clinical challenge. The event is unexpected and surprising; the patients are challenging, and the outcomes are poor.

13 Sep 2012

Converting blood cells to a stem cell state: an interview with Elias Zambidis, M.D., Ph.D.

The primitive stem cell state we created is called an “induced pluripotent stem cell” (iPSC). iPSC are a new, unique, and artificially-created type of stem cell that were first described in 2006 by a Japanese scientist named Shinya Yamanaka.

4 Sep 2012

Statins: cardiovascular benefits outweigh diabetes risk

The benefits of taking statins to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease outweigh the increased risk of developing diabetes experienced by some patients who take these cholesterol-lowering drugs, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet.

10 Aug 2012

Head trauma in older adults over a weekend more deadly than during the week

A Johns Hopkins review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts.

6 Aug 2012

Heart attack and stroke risk increased with shift work

Shift work is associated with an increased risk of major vascular problems, such as heart attacks and strokes, concludes a study published on bmj.com today.

27 Jul 2012

Heart-protective protein finally found

It is a cellular component so scarce, some scientists even doubted its existence, and many others gave up searching for its molecular structure. Now a team led by researchers at Johns Hopkins has defined the protein structural composition of mitoKATP, a potassium channel in the mitochondria of the heart and other organs that is known to protect against tissue damage due to a heart attack or stroke.

18 Jul 2012

Cells close to death from toxin exposure can survive when toxins are removed

The vast majority of cells that appear to be on a one-way track to death after exposure to toxins can bounce back completely after those toxins are removed, Johns Hopkins scientists report in a new study. The finding, published in the June 15 issue of Molecular Biology of the Cell, is not only a testament to the indomitable cellular spirit, but could also offer some practical insight on how to save dying tissues after heart attacks or strokes as well as prevent cancer in cells transiently exposed to toxins.

3 Jul 2012

New drug for Type 2 diabetes results in less hypoglycaemia, less weight gain and perhaps less cardiovascular risk for patients

A new drug could offer significant advantages over existing treatments for Type 2 diabetes patients who don’t respond to metformin, the most commonly prescribed initial drug treatment for the disease. The new drug, linagliptin, results in significantly less weight gain than the most common second-line treatments currently used, and may even carry a smaller risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, according to an Article published Online First in The Lancet.

29 Jun 2012

Broken heart syndrome may protect the heart from adrenaline overload

A condition that temporarily causes heart failure in people who experience severe stress might actually protect the heart from very high levels of adrenaline, according to a new study published in the journal Circulation. The research provides the first physiological explanation for Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called "broken heart syndrome" because it affects people who suffer severe emotional stress after bereavement, and suggests guidance for treatment.

27 Jun 2012

Diabetic Neuropathy: An interview with Dr Brian Callaghan

Diabetes is the number 1 cause of neuropathy, which is a very common condition in itself. In fact, up to half of all neuropathy is caused by diabetes, although other people can get the condition as well.

25 Jun 2012

Coronary risk for chronic kidney disease patients could be as high as for those who have had a heart attack

Patients suffering from chronic kidney disease could be at as high a risk of coronary heart disease as patients who have previously had a heart attack, according to an Article published Online First in the Lancet.

19 Jun 2012

Heart problems in high risk people could be prevented by dark chocolate

Daily consumption of dark chocolate can reduce cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, in people with metabolic syndrome (a cluster of factors that increases the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes), finds a study published on bmj.com today.

1 Jun 2012

Major new research facility opens at Imperial College London

A major new research facility at Imperial College London designed to expand and accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into new ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases was officially opened by George Osborne MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, today.

28 May 2012