Blood Pressure News and Research

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Blood Pressure is the force of circulating blood on the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure is taken using two measurements: systolic (measured when the heart beats, when blood pressure is at its highest) and diastolic (measured between heart beats, when blood pressure is at its lowest). Blood pressure is written with the systolic blood pressure first, followed by the diastolic blood pressure (for example 120/80).

Pepsico's initiative to reduce obesity, joins HWCF

PepsiCo, Inc., one of the world's largest food and beverage companies, today announced that it will expand its existing efforts to help reduce obesity in the United States by joining the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF).

6 Oct 2009

NYBC encourages people to organize community blood drives

With the school season underway, New York Blood Center would like to encourage students, teachers and faculty to please organize blood drives at their schools, a process that teaches community service and leadership skills, and offers a learning experience for both students and the surrounding community.

6 Oct 2009

Gene therapy to improve ailing heart's contractions of muscle cells

Scientists from the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota show in a research report published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) that gene therapy may be used to improve an ailing heart's ability to contract properly. In addition to showing gene therapy's potential for reversing the course of heart failure, it also offers a tantalizing glimpse of a day when "closed heart surgery" via gene therapy is as commonly prescribed as today's cocktail of drugs.

6 Oct 2009

Researchers identify novel circulation within human eye that provides new insight into glaucoma

Researchers at the University of Toronto, St. Michael's Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre have discovered a previously unidentified form of circulation within the human eye which may provide important new insights into glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness.

6 Oct 2009

Framingham Heart Study receives $1M grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) Framingham Heart Study (FHS) has received a two-year $1M challenge grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

6 Oct 2009

Sit-and-reach test to gauge age-related arterial stiffness

How far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position - normally used to define the flexibility of a person's body - may be an indicator of how stiff your arteries are.

6 Oct 2009

Group Health Research Institute to receive federal stimulus funds from ARRA

Group Health Research Institute, formerly Group Health Center for Health Studies, will receive more than $15 million in federal stimulus funding from ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

6 Oct 2009

Depression leads to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body: Study

To help solve this long standing chicken and egg conundrum, researchers led by Jesse Stewart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis asked two critical questions. Does depression lead to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body? Or does an increase in these proteins lead to depression? They found that the answer to the first question appears to be "yes," and the answer to the second question may be "no" among healthy adults.

6 Oct 2009

ResMed announces acquisition of Laboratoires Narval

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD), a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of sleep and respiratory medical equipment, announced today that it has acquired Laboratoires Narval. Based in France, Laboratoires Narval manufactures and distributes the Narval O.R.M.(TM), an innovative mandibular repositioning device (MRD) that offers a solution to patients for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), especially for those with mild OSA.

From ResMed Corp 6 Oct 2009

Cumberland to present clinical trial data of Caldolor at the AAPM annual meeting

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that data from two key clinical trials for Caldolor®, an intravenous formulation of ibuprofen approved for treatment of pain and fever in adults, will be presented at the American Academy of Pain Management's (AAPM) 20th Annual Clinical Meeting to be held in Phoenix, Ariz., on October 8-11, 2009.

5 Oct 2009

Preterm birth rate continues to rise

More than one million infants die each year because they are born too early, according to the just released White Paper, The Global and Regional Toll of Preterm Birth.

5 Oct 2009

Patients with chronic rhinosinusitis also suffer from asthma and hypertension

Patients who suffer from chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) also tend to suffer from other chronic illnesses, like asthma, hypertension, and arthritis.

5 Oct 2009

The Lewin Group issues recommendations to overcome barriers obstructing the lupus drug development

Today, The Lewin Group, a national health care consulting firm, issued recommendations on ways to overcome the barriers that have obstructed lupus drug development resulting in no new drug approval for this disease in more than 50 years - since the Eisenhower Administration.

From CSL Ltd 5 Oct 2009

Study finds that visual impairment in T1D patients may be decreasing

People diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in recent years are less likely to develop diabetes-related vision loss than those diagnosed in earlier years, says a new study funded by the National Eye Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health. Forecasts of visual impairment prevalence in T1D patients may need to be amended, the researchers suggest, since current predictions assume that the earlier incidence rates will continue.

3 Oct 2009

Rewarding healthy behavior with incentives helps lower healthcare costs

On September 30, the U.S. Senate voted to adopt a measure aimed at rewarding healthy behavior as part of the Obama Administration's overall healthcare reform legislation. The Senate Finance Committee voted for a bi-partisan amendment that would allow health plans to provide financial incentives for people to quit smoking, exercise more and engage in other healthy activities.

3 Oct 2009

70% of Americans underestimate the seriousness of SCA

More than 250,000 deaths occur each year as a result of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). In fact, SCA claims one life every two minutes, taking more lives each year than breast cancer, lung cancer or AIDS. Yet, according to a recent survey issued by the Heart Rhythm Society, more than 70 percent of Americans not only underestimate the seriousness of SCA, but also believe SCA is a type of heart attack.

3 Oct 2009

High-risk surgery patients have shorter hospital stays when their care was co-managed by hospitalists

A Loyola University Health System study has found that high-risk surgery patients experienced significantly shorter hospital stays when they were seen by general internists trained in managing medical complications in surgical patients.

3 Oct 2009

Research study suggests possibility of safely expanding donor kidney pool by 10 to 15 percent

Kidneys recovered from deceased donors with acute renal failure (ARF) - once deemed unusable for transplant - appear to work just as well as kidneys transplanted from deceased donors who do not develop kidney problems prior to organ donation, according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

3 Oct 2009

Study finds link between allergic inflammation and nephropathy in men with type 2 diabetes

For men with type 2 diabetes, a cell type linked to allergic inflammation is closely linked to a key indicator of diabetic kidney disease (nephropathy), suggests a study in the November Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (CJASN). "Allergy is a common disease that is increasing worldwide, so our findings may have important implications for diabetic nephropathy," comments Michiaki Fukui, MD (Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Japan).

3 Oct 2009

New (and old) ideas for health care show possibility of savings, improvements

The search for reform models continues, with news reports exploring the Veterans Administration's "government-run health care," Washington State's "reputation for lower-cost, higher-quality health care," and Kaiser Permanente's new money-saving approach to heart attack treatment.

3 Oct 2009