High Cholesterol News and Research

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Ongoing clinical study to evaluate benefits of high-dose simvastatin for patients with SAH

Can treatment with high doses of a cholesterol-lowering statin drug improve outcomes for patients with stroke caused by rupture and bleeding of brain aneurysms? An ongoing clinical trial will soon find out, according to an article in the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons.

22 May 2013

Scientists identify 4 genes in baboons that influence levels of bad cholesterol

Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio have identified four genes in baboons that influence levels of "bad" cholesterol. This discovery could lead to the development of new drugs to reduce the risk of heart disease.

17 May 2013

Renaissance in drug development for rare diseases

Once famously described as "orphan diseases, too small to be noticed, too small to be funded" in the Hollywood drama Lorenzo's Oil, rare diseases are getting unprecedented attention today among drug manufacturers, who are ramping up research efforts and marketing new medicines that promise fuller lives for children and other patients with these heartbreaking conditions.

14 May 2013

Study suggests that a blood protein contributes to early development of atherosclerosis

It's on Saturday that the Journal of the American Heart Association published the conclusive results from a study directed by Dr. Éric Thorin of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI), which suggests for the first time that a blood protein contributes to the early development of atherosclerosis.

14 May 2013

Researchers identify clue to explain the reversible memory loss caused by statins

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and physicians continue to document that some patients experience fuzzy thinking and memory loss while taking statins, a class of global top-selling cholesterol-lowering drugs.

13 May 2013

Two grants to fund weight management, nutrition initiatives for New Ulm project

UnitedHealth Group and the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation, in conjunction with Allina Health and the community of New Ulm, Minn., recently announced two grants from the company totaling more than $1 million.

5 May 2013

Oregon study offers insights into reach of health law's Medicaid expansion

The landmark study, which was appears in The New England Journal of Medicine, analyzed data from the Oregon Health Study, which compared low-income people in that state who had access to Medicaid with a similar population that did not. The findings offer insights into how Medicaid coverage affects overall health and health costs.

3 May 2013

LAP-BAND-weight loss procedure safe and effective for obese people

The LAP-BAND- weight loss procedure is safe and effective in an expanded group of patients, not just in people who are morbidly obese. This conclusion is reported in a new study published in the scientific journal Obesity. The findings indicate that the procedure may help to intervene before obesity becomes life threatening to patients.

2 May 2013

Viewpoints: Solving the doctor shortage; Can Gov. Scott convince Fla. lawmakers to accept Medicaid expansion?

With every new report about the recent slowdown in health-care spending there is speculation in the media that the problem of rising health costs has somehow been solved or cut down to size.

23 Apr 2013

Time dwindling to meet IDSA goal of 10 new antibiotics by 2020

Despite the desperate need for new antibiotics to combat increasingly deadly resistant bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved only one new systemic antibiotic since the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) launched its 10 x '20 Initiative in 2010 - and that drug was approved two and a half years ago.

22 Apr 2013

Researchers identify new potential therapeutic target for lowering cholesterol

Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a new potential therapeutic target for lowering cholesterol that could be an alternative or complementary therapy to statins.

12 Apr 2013

Study reveals high blood pressure and obesity are no longer confined to wealthy countries

High blood pressure and obesity are no longer confined to wealthy countries, a new study has found. These health risks have traditionally been associated with affluence, and in 1980, they were more prevalent in countries with a higher income.

10 Apr 2013

Walgreens to expand health care services to include treatment of chronic illness

The retail chain becomes the first to offer such extensive primary care through nurse practitioners and physician assistants at more than 300 in-store clinics in 18 states.

5 Apr 2013

Walgreens' Take Care Clinics expand access to health care services

Access to health care services is an ongoing challenge to the U.S. health care system. With a physician shortage, aging population, a growing prevalence of chronic diseases and up to 30 million people projected to gain insurance coverage in 2014 through the Affordable Care Act, the issue will become even more critical - and may further impact both patients and the health care system at large.

4 Apr 2013

First Edition: April 4, 2013

Kaiser Health News staff writer Julie Appleby, working in collaboration with USA Today, reports: "It's not just sore throats and flu shots anymore. Walgreens today became the first retail store chain to expand its health care services to include diagnosing and treating patients for chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and high cholesterol. The move is the retail industry's boldest push yet into an area long controlled by physicians, and comes amid continuing concerns about health care costs and a potential shortage of primary care doctors" (Appleby, 4/4).

4 Apr 2013

Risk prediction tools that estimate future risk of stroke and heart disease may also predict memory loss

Risk prediction tools that estimate future risk of heart disease and stroke may be more useful predictors of future decline in cognitive abilities, or memory and thinking, than a dementia risk score, according to a new study published in the April 2, 2013, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

2 Apr 2013

Research: Adolescents' health behaviors, risk factors increase chances of heart disease as adults

U.S. adolescents' high levels of poor health behaviors and unfavorable cardiovascular risk factors may increase their chances of heart disease as adults, according to new research in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

1 Apr 2013

EDTA chelation, high-dose vitamins/minerals may provide additional benefit for MI patients

Heart attack patients given a combination of high-dose oral vitamins and minerals do not exhibit a significant reduction in recurrent cardiac events, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session.

13 Mar 2013

Pitavastatin may reduce risk of heart attack, stroke and death in patients with high cholesterol

Heart patients who can't tolerate the side effects of cholesterol-lowering drugs may have a new option, according to a new study by researchers from the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

12 Mar 2013

NCI-sponsored study to evaluate rosuvastatin for prevention of colon cancer

With March designated as Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the North Shore-LIJ Cancer Institute is enrolling people who were recently treated for colon cancer in a polyp prevention study. This National Cancer Institute (NCI)-sponsored study evaluates the cholesterol drug, rosuvastatin (Crestor), as a treatment to reduce the risk of colon cancer.

11 Mar 2013