Cardiology News and Research

Latest Cardiology News and Research

Cardiologist receives grant to study impact of erectile dysfunction drugs on muscular dystrophy patients

A Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute cardiologist has been awarded a three-year, nearly $1 million grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) to study whether drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction could also be used to improve muscle blood flow and reduce fatigue in muscular dystrophy patients.

25 Mar 2010

Biocompatible electronics could enable new surgical applications

Arrhythmic hearts soon may beat in time again, with minimal surgical invasion, thanks to flexible electronics technology developed by a team of University of Illinois researchers, in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Northwestern University.

25 Mar 2010

AGA Medical gets IDE approval to evaluate AMPLATZER Cardiac Plug

AGA Medical Holdings, Inc. today announced it has received conditional Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its AMPLATZER® Cardiac Plug, or ACP, to close the left atrial appendage.

25 Mar 2010

Evotec AG reports financial results and corporate updates for 2009

Based on the Action Plan 2012, Evotec decided in March 2009 to strengthen its discovery alliances, creating the central vehicle for growth, and to implement strict cost cutting and restructuring measures. The Company reduced headcount in administrative and clinical development functions, reprioritised its R&D activities, concentrated its operations in Europe and closed the former facility of Renovis, Inc. in South San Francisco.

25 Mar 2010

China, now the largest diabetic population in the world

With one in ten adults in China being diagnosed with diabetes the largest population of the world is also the largest diabetic population in the world. A report published by New England Journal of Medicine reported that 92 million people in China were diabetic. This means China has overtaken India which had a 50 million strong diabetic population to date.

25 Mar 2010

Canadian Diabetes Association launches new tools to help optimize diabetes care

Today the Canadian Diabetes Association launched new tools for people living with diabetes and healthcare practitioners to help optimize diabetes care across the country.

25 Mar 2010

Bariatric surgery may delay onset of type 2 diabetes, says study

A team of researchers, led by a UC Davis veterinary endocrinologist, has shown for the first time that a surgical procedure in rats that is similar to bariatric surgery in humans can delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

25 Mar 2010

Stretchable electronic device holds promise for treating irregular heart rhythms

The electronics can bend, stretch and twist. No small feat. Now the flexible and stretchable electronics can map waves of electrical activity in the heart with better resolution and speed than that of conventional cardiac monitoring technology.

24 Mar 2010

CryoLife retracts share proposal offer to acquire Medafor

CryoLife, Inc., an implantable biological medical device and cardiovascular tissue processing company, announced today that it has withdrawn its $2.00 per share proposal to acquire Medafor, Inc.

24 Mar 2010

Policymakers should determine risk-reduction initiatives to improve health systems, says new report

Tackling the increasing rates of cardiovascular disease in developing nations will require input from multiple partners, including the business community and international companies as well as global health and development agencies and the governments of these countries, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine.

24 Mar 2010

TYRX begins enrollment in CITADEL study for Aigisrx anti-bacterial agent

TYRX, Inc., a leader in the commercialization of implantable medical devices designed to help reduce infection, announced today that it has begun enrollment in CITADEL, the second of two large scale, prospective, multicenter studies.

24 Mar 2010

Research finds inverse association between supine systolic BP and acute chest pain

New research finds that there is an inverse association between the level of supine (lying face up) systolic blood pressure measured on admission to an intensive care unit for acute chest pain and risk of death at one year, with those patients having high systolic blood pressure having a better prognosis after a year, according to a study in the March 24/31 issue of JAMA.

24 Mar 2010

Elderly patients with moderate sleep apnea live longer than their counterparts, says study

Findings from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology could provide good news for elderly patients who suffer from sleep apnea. The research results from Prof. Peretz Lavie and Dr. Lena Lavie of the Faculty of Medicine show that elderly patients with moderate sleep apnea live longer than their counterparts in the general population.

24 Mar 2010

Optimism may be good for your health

Feeling better about the future might help you feel better for real. In a new study, psychological scientists Suzanne Segerstrom of the University of Kentucky and Sandra Sephton of the University of Louisville studied how law students' expectations about the future affected their immune response.

24 Mar 2010

High blood pressure lowers heart patients' death risk

Patients admitted to intensive heart care with chest pains have a better chance of surviving if they have high blood pressure. This is shown in a study by scientists at Linköping University in Sweden published in the world's largest medical journal JAMA.

24 Mar 2010

Leichhardt goes smoke free

It has been only a few days since the Waverly council responsible for Sydney’s popular Bondi Beach voted for a ban on smoking in restaurants and cafes starting this July. It is now Leichhardt Council that is responsible for the inner western Sydney suburbs that has come up with a similar ban.

24 Mar 2010

Bioheart to open five centers to provide cell therapy procedures for congestive heart failure patients

Bioheart, Inc., announced today plans for establishing five Centers of Excellence in Latin America to provide its cell therapy procedures to patients suffering from congestive heart failure and peripheral arterial disease beginning next month, April 2010. Bioheart entered into its first agreement with a leading treatment facilitator, Regenerative Medicine Institute of Tijuana, Mexico. Therapies for CHF and PAD patients will be made available at the Hospital Angeles Tijuana, a fully equipped state-of–the-art private specialties hospital. This will be the first of five Centers of Excellence with four additional Centers to be announced in the coming months.

24 Mar 2010

Majority of Pennsylvania women do not seek treatments for chronic pain

Results of a statewide pain survey revealed that chronic pain is widespread among Pennsylvania women but often left untreated.

24 Mar 2010

Medicare steps up efforts to monitor seniors' prescriptions

Writing for Kaiser Health News in collaboration with USA Today, Susan Jaffe reports on how Medicare is expanding a program to make sure that some older adults use the right drugs and take them correctly to prevent harmful side effects or interactions.

24 Mar 2010

Protein deficiency in Down syndrome patients could contribute to cognitive impairment and congenital heart defects

Conventional wisdom among scientists for years has suggested that because individuals with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome, the disorder most likely results from the presence of too many genes or proteins contained in that additional structure.

24 Mar 2010