Cardiology News and Research

Latest Cardiology News and Research

Tools to educate employees about disability threats

The Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) is alerting all employers that disabling illnesses have become one of the fastest growing threats to employees' income. In fact, they now account for 55 percent of workplace absences.

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 examines roles of PCPs and hepatologists in post-transplant care

A recent study by researchers from the University of Colorado looked at post-transplant care to determine whether primary care physicians (PCPs) or hepatologists are better suited to manage the overall health care of patients who received a liver transplant (LT).

5 Oct 2009

Researchers engineer antidotes for blood-thinner aptamers

Imagine a surgical patient on a blood-thinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately - because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have engineered a way to do this for an entire, versatile class of drugs called aptamers and published their findings in Nature Medicine.

4 Oct 2009

HCRI commences patient enrollment in dual antiplatelet therapy study

The Harvard Clinical Research Institute (HCRI) announced today that the first patients have been enrolled in the DAPT Study, marking the official initiation of the four-year clinical trial to investigate the duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT, the combination of aspirin and a thienopyridine/antiplatelet medication to reduce the risk of blood clots) following drug-eluting stent implantations.

3 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

New study shows that NovoMix 30 is effective for type 2 diabetes patients who are to start on insulin

Data from a new study presented today at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) shows that type 2 diabetes patients starting insulin treatment with once-daily injection of NovoMix® 30 (biphasic insulin aspart) achieve a significantly greater HbA1c reduction compared to patients starting with a daily injection of insulin glargine.

3 Oct 2009

Bradycardia more likely in patients taking cholinesterase inhibitors

People taking one of several drugs commonly prescribed to treat Alzheimer's disease are more likely to be hospitalized for a potentially serious condition called bradycardia than patients not taking these medications.

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

Electronic medical records: A valuable asset to healthcare industry

Hundreds of billions of gigabytes of health information are now being collected in electronic medical records, and three-quarters (76%) of more than 700 healthcare executives recently surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP agree that the secondary use of this information will be their organization's greatest asset over the next five years.

3 Oct 2009

Study finds an independent link between self-perceived psychological stress and stroke

Many patients urgently admitted to hospital with cerebral infarction state that they were under great stress over a prolonged period prior to suffering their stroke, is shown in a unique patient study conducted in cooperation between the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden.

3 Oct 2009

University of Florida to study whether exercise can prevent disability in older people

The University of Florida will receive $29.5 million in federal stimulus funds over the next two years from the National Institute on Aging to begin a six-year study on whether a program of structured physical activity can prevent or delay major movement disability in older adults.

3 Oct 2009

CHI announces its speaker lineup for the 2009 California Healthcare Policy Forum

California Healthcare Institute today announced its speaker lineup for the 2009 California Healthcare Policy Forum to be held Nov. 5, at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco Hotel, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

3 Oct 2009

University HealthSystem Consortium awards UH Case Medical Center the 2009 Quality Leadership Award

University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center is one of five academic medical centers in the nation to receive the 2009 Quality Leadership Award from the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC). The prestigious award is given to teaching hospitals that demonstrate excellence in delivering high-quality care, as measured by the UHC Quality and Accountability Study conducted annually since 2005.

3 Oct 2009

CardioComm launches GEMS Air wireless ECG management system

CardioComm Solutions, Inc. announced today the addition of their wireless ECG management system to their suite of GEMS (Global ECG Management System) products. GEMS Air builds on the GEMS platform and incorporates software capable of continuously receiving and managing recordings of the heart’s activity (ECGs) over a wireless network instead of a land-line telephone network.

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

Clinical study data of Thymosin beta 4 presented

REGENERX BIOPHARMACEUTICALS, INC. today reported on several clinical studies with Thymosin beta 4 (Tβ4) presented the Second International Symposium on Thymosins in Health and Disease, in Catania, Italy.

3 Oct 2009

IMRISNV and IMRIScardio to be installed in BWH's AMIGO suite

IMRIS Inc. ("IMRIS" or the "Company") and Brigham and Women's Hospital, ("BWH") today announced a comprehensive agreement in support of BWH's vision of bringing the most advanced multi-modality image guided therapy suite in the world to its facility in Boston, Massachusetts.

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

USPTO grants Micardia's patent concerning reshaping the anatomy of the heart

MiCardia® today announced that The United States Patent Office granted patent number US7,594,887 B2, "Shape Memory Devices and Methods for Reshaping Heart Anatomy," on September 29th, 2009.

3 Oct 2009