Cardiology News and Research

Latest Cardiology News and Research

Virgin HealthMiles announces significant annual growth in 2009

Virgin HealthMiles, a leading provider of employee health and productivity programs that reward individuals for getting healthy, today announced significant annual growth in 2009, with a 30 percent year-over-year increase in new clients and a 163 percent year-over-year growth in the number of eligible program members.

28 Jan 2010

International congress reflects emerging importance of abdominal obesity

Clinical and basic science researchers from around the world will convene in Hong Kong from January 28 to 30 for the First International Congress on Abdominal Obesity: "Bridging the Gap between Cardiology and Diabetology."

28 Jan 2010

NCHC Action Fund calls for redoubling efforts to enact comprehensive health system reform

The effort to fix our dysfunctional, inequitable and unsustainable health system is at a crucial juncture. Without prompt and decisive leadership, defeat, as it has for over a century, will again prevail over reform.

28 Jan 2010

Abiomed integrates Opsens’ sensor technology into its Impella catheter

Abiomed, Inc., a leading provider of breakthrough heart support technologies designed for heart recovery, today announced a strategic partnership with Opsens, a leading developer of fiber optic sensors. Through this partnership, Opsens’ breakthrough sensor technology will be integrated into the Impella® catheter to provide robust blood pressure measurements that can be used to enhance Impella’s performance and ease-of-use.

28 Jan 2010

Patients with NAFLD have higher overall mortality rate, say researchers

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute determined that patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have a higher overall mortality rate compared with the general population.

28 Jan 2010

State news: A doctor shortage in New Jersey, a plan to expand health care in Iowa and more

News outlets report on a health care expansion plan in Iowa, an outcry over a possible hospital deal in New York, the impending doctor shortage in New Jersey, and an increase in new HIV infections in Minnesota.

28 Jan 2010

BG Medicine launches new, CE-marked galectin-3 test

BG Medicine, Inc., a privately-held developer of biomarker-based in vitro diagnostics, today announced the commercial launch in the European Union of a new, CE-marked test for the measurement of galectin-3 in human plasma or serum. Galectin-3 was first shown by researchers at the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, to play an integral role in the development and progression of heart failure.

27 Jan 2010

January is ‘Thyroid Awareness Month’

We often go to great lengths to look and feel our best. Yet many never realize that one of the keys to a healthy body and a productive life rests just below the neck.

27 Jan 2010

VentriPoint Diagnostics to present abstract on VMS clinical validation study

VentriPoint Diagnostics Ltd. today announced the abstract of a clinical validation study of the second application of the VentriPoint Medical System (VMS) will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 59th Annual Scientific Session, March 14 to 16 in Atlanta, Georgia. The study demonstrates the accuracy of the method used by the VentriPoint Medical System (VMS) to generate critical heart measurements in three dimensions from two-dimensional ultrasound images with significantly greater speed and accuracy and at considerably lesser cost than is otherwise possible.

27 Jan 2010

St. Jude Medical reports net sales of $1.203 billion in fourth-quarter of 2009

St. Jude Medical, Inc. today reported sales and net earnings for the fourth quarter and year ended Jan. 2, 2010.

27 Jan 2010

WellWorld Science officially launches Livea in the U.S.

After more than 30 years of research and an extensive open-label weight loss study, WellWorld Science® announces the official U.S. launch of Livea®, a doctor-developed, non-prescription, patent-pending appetite-control supplement that is unlike any other dietary supplement on the market.

27 Jan 2010

Treating septic shock patients with intensive insulin therapy does not reduce risk of in-hospital death

Treating adults with septic shock with intensive insulin therapy to counter elevated blood glucose levels associated with corticosteroid therapy did not result in a reduced risk of in-hospital death, compared to patients who received conventional insulin therapy, according to a study in the January 27 issue of JAMA.

27 Jan 2010

Social inequalities exist in diabetes care

People with lower socioeconomic status and those belonging to ethnic minority groups receive worse health care in the treatment of diabetes than the rest of patients in the world's most developed countries.

27 Jan 2010

Study could lead to better understanding of how certain birth defects occur in humans

Scientists have identified a gene family that plays a key role in one of the earliest stages of development in which an embryo distinguishes its left side from the right and determines how organs should be positioned within the body. The finding in mice likely will lead to a better understanding of how certain birth defects occur in humans.

27 Jan 2010

AFib: NAVISTAR THERMOCOOL Catheter provides better outcomes compared to drug therapy

According to data appearing today in JAMA, patients with a common heart rhythm disorder, called Atrial Fibrillation, who were treated with catheter ablation using the NAVISTAR® THERMOCOOL® Catheter, demonstrated significantly better outcomes at one year compared to those receiving drug therapy. In addition, the patients treated with catheter ablation reported markedly fewer symptoms and substantially improved quality of life.

27 Jan 2010

Mayo Clinic achieves new levels of excellence in service to humanity

Mayo Clinic announced today that it raised $1.35 billion in its first comprehensive fundraising campaign, surpassing the goal of $1.25 billion.

27 Jan 2010

PHI installs Infinix VF-i vascular X-ray system with12” x 12” mid-sized FPD

Increasing its ability to provide patients with the highest quality of care, Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta has installed the country’s first InfinixTM VF-i vascular X-ray system with the 12” x 12” mid-sized flat panel detector (FPD) from Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc. The new mid-sized FPD system is equipped with Toshiba’s Next Generation Advanced Image Processing (AIP) capabilities and marks the fourth Toshiba Infinix-i system installed by Piedmont Hospital.

27 Jan 2010

St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center opens Geriatric ED to treat senior patients

St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center, Paterson, NJ, recently opened the region's first dedicated Geriatric Emergency Department (Geriatric ED). Treating patients age 65 and older, the department is designed to meet the complex needs of older patients in a senior-friendly environment.

27 Jan 2010

NovaRay Medical and TRT develop real-time X-ray imaging system using Nethra Imaging’s MPPA devices

Nethra® Imaging, Inc. announced that NovaRay Medical and Triple Ring Technologies (TRT) have successfully developed a real-time X-ray imaging system using Nethra’s Am2045™ Massively Parallel Processor Array (MPPA) devices. The new system takes advantage of the highly scalable architecture of the Nethra devices by using 13,440 32-bit processors in parallel, contained in 40 Am2045 devices. The 40-TeraOPS system in an ATCA chassis has a sustained image reconstruction rate of 32 slices, each with 1000 x 1000 pixel resolution, every 1/20th second – helping to enable up to 10 times reduction in radiation exposure.

27 Jan 2010

Extensive gap exists between primary care practice and obesity care

Using combined and intensive treatments and restructuring care to treat obesity like other chronic diseases may help primary care clinicians and patients better address the condition, according to a commentary and three articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

27 Jan 2010