Atherosclerosis News and Research

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Atherosclerosis is the progressive buildup of plaque - the fatty deposits and other cells - in the inner walls of the arteries. The condition is a consequence of elevated cholesterol and for many it's a silent disease, with no visible signs or symptoms. The disease can begin in early adulthood and continues to progress for the rest of a person's life. Despite the serious nature of atherosclerosis, many people do not understand how it develops and progresses.

Metabolic Syndrome, a map of the cardiovascular damage

The metabolic syndrome (MS) is a cluster of metabolic abnormalities with abdominal obesity (increased waist circumference) at its centre. Although all forms of obesity have a negative impact on human health, metabolic syndrome describes a set of particularly adverse biochemical changes accompanying (abdominal) obesity.

5 Sep 2005

Sports and exercise - in addition to preventing obesity and diabetes - directly improve vascular function and reduce atherosclerosis

When asked about his personal recipe for old age, Winston Churchill used to answer: "First of all: No sports." While being a visionary figure in world politics researchers in cardiovascular exercise science today would unanimously reply to his medical hypothesis: "Sorry, you are wrong."

5 Sep 2005

Legs For Life free national screening program can save legs

The screening is essential for diabetics in order to prevent amputation, heart attack and stroke, because one-third have PAD, but most do not present classic symptoms.

1 Sep 2005

Nitric oxide synthase plays a role in peripheral vascular disease

The enzyme nitric oxide synthase plays a role in peripheral vascular disease, a common disease that impairs the mobility of 25 percent of people over the age of 50, according to a Yale study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

26 Aug 2005

MRI helps map smallest deformations inside hearts

Using magnetic resonance imaging technology, or MRI, to tag the work of millions of individual strands of heart muscle fibers, researchers at Johns Hopkins have successfully mapped the smallest deformations inside the beating hearts of 441 middle-aged and elderly men and women who have either silently developed heart disease or remained healthy.

22 Aug 2005

New study shows even non-prescription painkillers raise blood pressure in women

According to a new U.S. study women who take higher doses of common, over-the-counter painkillers, such as Ibuprofen and even Tylenol, have higher blood pressure than women who do not.

16 Aug 2005

Effects of estrogen on heart disease prevention

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and seven other national institutions are recruiting patients to participate in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) to look at the effects of estrogen on heart disease prevention.

15 Aug 2005

Fluorescence spectroscopy able to detect the presence of inflammatory cells that are associated with critical atherosclerotic plaques

Because atherosclerotic plaque typically builds up without symptoms and leads to more than 1 million deaths in America each year, the search is on to develop early detection devices that will enable physicians to offer treatment before the disease progresses to advanced stages.

13 Aug 2005

Little convincing evidence that dietary antioxidant supplements such as vitamin E prevent heart disease

Instead there has been a surprise finding, which relates to a synthetic antioxidant, the drug Probucol, which is no longer prescribed in Australia.

11 Aug 2005

Ground-breaking discoveries that provide hope of an alternative treatment option for haemophilia sufferers

Haemophilia is a hereditary blood disease, primarily affecting males, where the blood fails to clot causing potentially life-threatening 'bleeds'. About one in 6000 Australian males is born with haemophilia in severe, moderate or mild form. People with haemophilia rely on intravenous infusion of recombinant Factor VIII clotting protein.

11 Aug 2005

Signs of atherosclerosis seen in apparently healthy young adults

Young adults who seem to be healthy, but have a clustering of heart disease risks factors known as metabolic syndrome, tend to have signs of thickening of their carotid artery walls, which is an early indication of atherosclerosis, according to a new study in the Aug 2, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

2 Aug 2005

Fat in the bloodstream linked to heart attacks

New research, by Dr. Sotirios Tsimikas of the University of California, San Diego, has produced the first convincing evidence that a type of fat in the bloodstream can trigger the earliest conditions that lead to clogged blood vessels, the highest cause of heart attacks.

7 Jul 2005

Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are at increased risk of coronary artery disease

The findings of research published today in Arthritis Research & Therapy show that CAD is accelerated in RA patients, and patients with both RA and CAD are at an increased risk of death from heart disease.

28 Jun 2005

Scientists have discovered how C-reactive protein is able to access endothelial cells

For the first time, scientists have discovered how C-reactive protein, or CRP, is able to access endothelial cells. The UC Davis researchers' findings will be published in the July issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, one of the American Heart Association's leading journals.

27 Jun 2005

Insulin resistance drug with anti-inflammatory effects reduces risk factors

A drug, which reduces insulin resistance and also may have anti-inflammatory and other effects on blood vessels, lowered cardiovascular risk factors in patients with diabetes more than another diabetes medicine, even though both drugs improved blood sugar control equally, according to a new study (PDF) in the June 21, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

21 Jun 2005

First blood test to help predict a patient's risk for ischemic stroke

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first blood test designed to help predict a patient's risk for ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke and one of the nation's leading causes of long-term disability affecting approximately 700,000 people per year.

19 Jun 2005

Two common gene variations are associated with the risk for developing chronic kidney disease

Two common gene variations are associated with the risk for developing chronic kidney disease, according to a study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. One variant increases risk and the other decreases risk with a similar effect in whites, African-Americans, diabetic and non-diabetic individuals.

14 Jun 2005

Teen-age boys with type 1 diabetes showed evidence of greater atherosclerosis

Youths with type 1 diabetes, especially boys, already show early signs of cardiovascular disease by their teen-age years, according to researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

13 Jun 2005

Tight glucose control lowers CVD by about 50 percent in diabetes

A significantly lower risk of heart disease can now be added to the list of proven long-term benefits of tight glucose control in people with type 1 diabetes.

12 Jun 2005

Study raises questions about food products meant to block cholesterol absorption

Plant sterols, which are naturally found in many foods but are also added to some foods intended to inhibit cholesterol absorption, are present in artery plaques, according to a new study (PDF) in the June 7, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

9 Jun 2005