Cardiology News and Research

Latest Cardiology News and Research

Senate to keep working next week on debt talks

The Senate abandoned plans for a July 4 break as time dwindled for lawmakers to strike a compromise on avoiding a government default and reducing mammoth federal deficits. In a challenge to President Barack Obama, the chamber's top Republican invited him to the Capitol to discuss the impasse with GOP lawmakers.

2 Jul 2011

U-M researchers a step closer to developing treatments for aging and chronic diseases

As our bodies first form, developing cells are a lot like children put on the school bus with their names and addresses pinned to their shirts. The notes identify one as a future heart cell, another as a liver cell, a third as a neuron. And that's what they each grow up to be. But once those cells reach adulthood, changes to those original marching orders caused by aging, disease and other stressors like smoking can precipitate a kind of identity crisis, researchers at the University of Michigan Health System have found.

2 Jul 2011

Research roundup: Hospital care in U.S. territories lags; health spending unevenly distributed

This study examines the quality of hospital care in the U.S. territories -- Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Island, and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- and compares it to care in the states.

2 Jul 2011

Checklist to stay healthy and active in summer

The summer is a great season for getting in shape. Whether by playing a sport, doing an aerobic exercise routine, or just returning to that familiar running path -- this is the time for activity.

2 Jul 2011

STSI receives NIH grant to conduct heart-based research

Researchers looking to find a root cause for heart attacks and coronary artery disease will soon begin using a novel investigative approach that borders on science fiction as they work toward the holy grail of American medicine: preventing the nation's No. 1 killer.

2 Jul 2011

GWAS identifies 15 gene variants responsible for diversity of white blood cell counts

A trio of large-scale genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, have identified more than 15 gene variants responsible for the diversity of white blood cell counts among whites, African-Americans, and Japanese.

1 Jul 2011

New clot busting drug approved in UK

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice), UK, has approved a new drug which one study has suggested could reduce the risk of death from a second heart attack by 20 per cent. The drug is manufactured by AstraZeneca as Brilique. It works by maintaining cardiac blood flow and stopping new blood clots from forming.

1 Jul 2011

Lantheus commences flurpiridaz F 18 PET MPI Phase 3 trial for detection of coronary artery disease

Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., a worldwide leader in diagnostic imaging, today announced the initiation of the first of two Phase 3 clinical trials to assess myocardial perfusion using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging with flurpiridaz F 18 in patients with suspected or known coronary artery disease (CAD).

1 Jul 2011

Vitamin D-deficiency linked to deaths of famous musicians

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 - 5 December 1791), suffered from many infectious illnesses including catarrh, fever, sore throat, and bad colds from 1762 to 1791, the year of his death at 35 years of age.

1 Jul 2011

Genetic variation associated with increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest

A study by a global consortium of physician-scientists has identified a genetic variation that may predispose people to double the risk of having a sudden cardiac arrest, a disorder that gives little warning and is fatal in about 95 percent of cases.

1 Jul 2011

Study: Heart transplant patients more likely to get serious skin cancers

A new study published in the American Journal of Transplantation reveals that there is a significant risk of serious skin cancers, including cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma, in heart transplant patients.

1 Jul 2011

Sorbent expands $36M Series B financing

Sorbent Therapeutics, a private biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for cardiovascular and renal disorders, announced today that it has expanded the Company's Series B financing from September 2010 by $36 million.

30 Jun 2011

Study about U.S. attitudes toward human embryonic stem cell research

While research using human embryonic stem cells has roused political controversy for almost two decades, little has been done to scientifically assess American attitudes on the subject. New research from the University of Nevada, Reno provides decision-makers with a much clearer picture of how their constituents truly feel about the subject.

30 Jun 2011

Non-smoking women more likely to be obese: Study

According to the latest research non-smoking women are more likely to be obese and die of associated illnesses than those who smoke. About 8,000 women were recruited to the Renfrew and Paisley study from 1972 to 1976. Of these, 40% had never smoked.

30 Jun 2011

EHRA, Cardiostim partner to develop common scientific programme committee

EHRA-Europace and Cardiostim, Europe's leading congresses in "electrophysiology" and the treatment of heart rhythm disorders have formed a strategic alliance to ensure the development from year to year of a homogeneous congress programme devised under the direction of a common scientific committee.

30 Jun 2011

100 million Americans suffer pain - many in silence

According to a report released by the Institute of Medicine Wednesday, nearly a third of Americans experience long-lasting pain and too often feel stigma rather than relief from a health care system poorly prepared to treat them. Chronic pain is costing the nation at least $558 billion a year in medical bills, sick days and lost productivity, the report found. That's more than the cost of heart disease, the top killer.

30 Jun 2011

ESC Congress 2011 to spotlight 'controversial issues in cardiology'

The scientific programme for this year's ESC Congress, which will take place in Paris from 27-31 August, is now complete and promises to provide journalists with a rich source of front-page news stories and background for topical features.

30 Jun 2011

Sensitivity of bladder cancer cells linked to chemotherapy and expression of miR-34a gene

Researchers at the UC Davis Cancer Center have discovered a way of sensitizing muscle-invasive bladder cancer cells so that they succumb to the toxic effects of chemotherapy. The finding adds to mounting evidence that tiny strands of RNA - called microRNA - play key roles in some of the deadliest types of cancer.

30 Jun 2011

Diagnostic delay in women with tuberous sclerosis complex increases mortality risk

Women with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) are often misdiagnosed because the condition, commonly recognized in early childhood when it presents with seizures, manifests differently later in life, typically with renal angiomyolipomas - a benign tumor of the kidney - and pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) - a rare lung disease that affects almost exclusively women.

30 Jun 2011

Veterans who have attempted suicide may face risk of mortality

An estimated 18 American military veterans take their own lives every day -- thousands each year -- and those numbers are steadily increasing. Even after weathering the stresses of military life and the terrors of combat, these soldiers find themselves overwhelmed by the transition back into civilian life.

30 Jun 2011