Cardiomyopathy News and Research

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Cardiomyopathy is a group of diseases with primary, usually diffuse, involvement of the myocardium. The myocardial disease is not secondary to ischaemic, valvular, congenital or pericardial disease.

CardioCell receives IND approval for Phase IIa clinical study of itMSC therapy to treat heart failure

CardioCell LLC has just received the FDA's investigational new drug (IND) approval for a United States-based, Phase IIa clinical study using its allogeneic stem-cell therapy to treat subjects with chronic heart failure (CHF), which generates more than 1 million hospitalizations annually.

3 Apr 2014

Managing pregnancy-related complications: an interview with Dr. Mark Zakowski

Pregnancy-related mortality has increased over the last 25 years. Ten years ago the top three pregnancy-related mortality diagnoses were hemorrhage, preeclampsia, and embolism (includes thrombotic and amniotic).

2 Apr 2014

European screening guidelines lead to potential false disqualification of black athletes

A new study by researchers at St George's, University of London published in the journal Circulation has found that current European screening guidelines used by sports organisations to detect heart abnormalities lead to over-investigation and potential false disqualification of black athletes with perfectly healthy hearts.

1 Apr 2014

Study of astronauts show heart becomes more spherical when exposed to microgravity in space

New findings from a study of 12 astronauts show the heart becomes more spherical when exposed to long periods of microgravity in space, a change that could lead to cardiac problems, according to research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

31 Mar 2014

Device to improve blood flow implanted in muscular dystrophy patient

"Today, we're going to make history," said 18-year-old Eric Ramos on the day UT Southwestern Medical Center doctors operated on his ailing heart.

29 Mar 2014

Heart failure patients benefit from new device till transplant

The largest single-center study of patients implanted with a total artificial heart finds the device may help patients in severe heart failure survive until they can receive a heart transplant, according to research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

28 Mar 2014

Study links broken heart syndrome to natural disasters

Dramatic spikes in cases of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also called broken heart syndrome, were found in two states after major natural disasters, suggesting the stress of disasters as a likely trigger, according to research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 63rd Annual Scientific Session.

28 Mar 2014

Expert highlights the importance of gender-specific approach for treating diabetes mellitus

The international guidelines on the drug-based therapy of diabetes mellitus specify which factors need to be taken into account during treatment.

27 Mar 2014

Bariatric surgery reduces uterine cancer risk by 71%

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center report that bariatric surgery resulting in dramatic weight loss in formerly severely obese women reduces the risk of endometrial (uterine) cancer by 71 percent and as much as 81 percent if normal weight is maintained after surgery.

24 Mar 2014

Stem cell therapy may benefit patients with debilitating heart failure

Researchers want to know whether patients with debilitating heart failure can benefit by having their own stem cells injected into their ailing heart muscle.

14 Mar 2014

Researchers discover effective way of tuning muscle elasticity

How does yoga improve your flexibility? In the Mar 13 cover story of Cell, Columbia University biological sciences professor Julio Fernandez and team report the discovery of a new form of mechanical memory that adjusts the elasticity of muscles to their history of stretching.

14 Mar 2014

Scientists throw light on genetic mutation that causes particularly severe genetic disease ARVC5

The genetic disease ARVC leads to sudden cardiac death and is more common than it has been hitherto assumed. This is reported by an international team of researchers headed by Prof Dr Hendrik Milting from the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW in the "European Heart Journal".

7 Mar 2014

Researchers find new drug compound that treats laboratory mice with congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease is the most common form of birth defect, affecting one out of every 125 babies, according to the National Institutes of Health. Researchers from the University of Missouri recently found success using a drug to treat laboratory mice with one form of congenital heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a weakening of the heart caused by abnormally thick muscle.

23 Feb 2014

Supercomputer dramatically accelerates genome analysis

Although the time and cost of sequencing an entire human genome has plummeted, analyzing the resulting three billion base pairs of genetic information from a single genome can take many months.

20 Feb 2014

RNA interference approach holds great promise for treating cancer and other diseases

Inspired by tiny particles that carry cholesterol through the body, MIT chemical engineers have designed nanoparticles that can deliver snippets of genetic material that turn off disease-causing genes.

12 Feb 2014

TV series House helps doctors diagnose Cobalt intoxication of patient with hip replacement

In today’s edition of The Lancet [Friday 7 February], doctors report the case of a patient with severe heart failure, who in May 2012 was referred to the Marburg University clinic in Germany.

10 Feb 2014

Focused ultrasound exam may accurately identify athletes with heart problems

A young athlete in seemingly excellent health dies suddenly from a previously undetected cardiovascular condition such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in nearly every U.S. state annually.

25 Jan 2014

Focused ultrasound exam accurately identifies heart problems in athletes

A young athlete in seemingly excellent health dies suddenly from a previously undetected cardiovascular condition such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in nearly every U.S. state annually.

24 Jan 2014

New easy-to-use risk calculator helps predict heart failure patients' chances of survival

A UCLA team has developed an easy-to-use "risk calculator" that helps predict heart failure patients' chances of survival for up to five years and assists doctors in determining whether more or less aggressive treatment is appropriate.

23 Jan 2014

GSK receives FDA approval for combination of Mekinist with Tafinlar for treatment of melanoma

GlaxoSmithKline plc announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Mekinist® (trametinib) for use in combination with Tafinlar® (dabrafenib) for the treatment of patients with unresectable melanoma (melanoma that cannot be removed by surgery) or metastatic melanoma (melanoma which has spread to other parts of the body) with BRAF V600E or V600K mutations.

9 Jan 2014