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Heart specialists reveal how pacemaker works at the biological level

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins have figured out how a widely used pacemaker for heart failure, which makes both sides of the heart beat together to pump effectively, works at the biological level.

15 Sep 2011

Researchers describe new function of HCN channels in the heart

The heartbeat is the result of rhythmic contractions of the heart muscle, which are in turn regulated by electrical signals called action potentials. Action potentials result from the controlled flow of ions into heart muscle cells (depolarization) through channels in their membranes, and are followed by a compensating reverse ion current (repolarization), which restores the original state. If the duration of the repolarization phase is not just right, the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death increases significantly.

12 Sep 2011

Creighton pharmacology professor receives AAF's Early Excellence Award

Yaping Tu, Ph.D., associate professor of pharmacology at Creighton University School of Medicine, has received a $450,000 Early Excellence Award from the American Asthma Foundation.

31 Aug 2011

Plants stop lethal bleedings after birth in Tanzanian women

Researchers at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, have examined a number of plants which are used for illegal abortions in Tanzania. The lab tests show that several of the plants can make the uterus tissue contract and that the plants therefore can be used to stop lethal bleedings after birth. This new knowledge is now to be conveyed in rural Tanzania where access to medicine often is difficult.

26 Aug 2011

Allergan receives FDA approval for Botox to treat specific form of urinary incontinence

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Botox injection to treat urinary incontinence in people with neurologic conditions such as spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis who have overactivity of the bladder.

25 Aug 2011

FDA approves Allergan's BOTOX to treat specific form of urinary incontinence

Allergan, Inc. today announced the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved BOTOX for injection for the treatment of urinary incontinence due to detrusor overactivity associated with a neurologic condition in adults who have an inadequate response to or are intolerant of an anticholinergic medication.

25 Aug 2011

Researchers demonstrate a way to control excitation and contraction in cardiac muscle cells

By employing optogenetics, a new field that uses genetically altered cells to respond to light, and a tandem unit cell (TCU) strategy, researchers at Stony Brook University have demonstrated a way to control cell excitation and contraction in cardiac muscle cells, the details of which are published in the early online edition of Circulation: Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology: "Stimulating Cardiac Muscle by Light: Cardiac Optogenetics by Cell Delivery."

19 Aug 2011

JAK protein triggers contractions in tumours and allows cancer cells to spread

Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have discovered that a protein called JAK triggers contractions in tumours which allows cancer cells to squeeze though tiny spaces and spread, in research published in Cancer Cell today.

17 Aug 2011

Allergan receives positive opinion from Irish Medicines Board for BOTOX

Allergan is pleased to announce that BOTOX has received a positive opinion from the Irish Medicines Board for the management of urinary incontinence in adults with neurogenic detrusor overactivity (NDO) resulting from neurogenic bladder due to stable sub-cervical spinal cord injury, or multiple sclerosis.

8 Aug 2011

Study: Compression stockings may improve OSA in patients with chronic venous insufficiency

Wearing compression stockings may be a simple low-tech way to improve obstructive sleep apnea in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, according to French researchers.

4 Aug 2011

New LEAP technique can restore heart rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation

A high-amplitude, and often painful, electrical shock is the only currently available method for treating certain cases of chronic cardiac arrhythmia. But now a new technique using much weaker impulses has been developed by an international team of physicists and cardiologists, including Alain Pumir, CNRS researcher at the ENS Lyon physics laboratory.

28 Jul 2011

Rats, fish oil and beetroot juice could lead to health breakthroughs for aging populations

Though rats, fish oil and beetroot juice read like ingredients in a witch's brew, to a Kansas State University research team, information from this combination could lead to health breakthroughs for aging populations and people suffering from heart failure and diabetes.

22 Jul 2011

Elite task force provides insights and guidance on deep brain stimulation for dystonia

Neurologist Michele Tagliati, MD, director of the Movement Disorders Program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, served on an elite international task force commissioned by the Movement Disorder Society to provide insights and guidance on deep brain stimulation for dystonia, an uncommon condition that causes sustained, sometimes crippling muscle contractions.

22 Jul 2011

Caffeine reduces women's chances of becoming pregnant

Caffeine reduces muscle activity in the Fallopian tubes that carry eggs from a woman's ovaries to her womb. "Our experiments were conducted in mice, but this finding goes a long way towards explaining why drinking caffeinated drinks can reduce a woman's chance of becoming pregnant," says Sean Ward, professor of physiology and cell biology, at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, who conducted the study.

21 Jul 2011

Researchers identify gene linked to muscle endurance

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a gene for endurance, or more precisely, a negative regulator of it.

19 Jul 2011

Scientists analyze structural changes in calcium channels caused by Timothy-mutation

The human genome encodes 243 voltage-gated ion channels. Mutations in calcium channels can cause severe inherited diseases such as migraine, night blindness, autism spectrum disorders and Timothy syndrome, which leads to severe cardiovascular disorders.

15 Jul 2011

Oxytocin does not boost prospects for normal births

A new Cochrane review says that oxytocin, a medication often used to quicken slow-paced labor in its early stages, doesn't boost the prospects for normal births. Riskier births that required cesarean section or the use of forceps didn't become less common.

15 Jul 2011

Redefinition of cardiac hypertrophy term needed

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Working Group on Myocardial Function is calling for a redefinition of the term cardiac hypertrophy which is currently used to describe changes to the morphology (structure) of the heart. Instead the position paper, published online today in the European Journal of Heart Failure, suggests that use of the general term myocardial remodelling should be preferred.

27 Jun 2011

Unprescribed methods to bring on labor may not be effective

More than half of the women in a recently published survey reported that near the end of their pregnancies, they took it upon themselves to try to induce labor, mostly by walking, having sex, eating spicy food or stimulating their nipples.

17 Jun 2011

Key heart failure therapies could prevent nearly 68,000 deaths each year

A national study has found that nearly 68,000 deaths potentially could be prevented each year by optimally implementing key national guideline-recommended therapies, including critical medications and cardiac devices, for all eligible heart failure patients.

7 Jun 2011