Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Call for greater beta blocker use in COPD

Researchers say that stubbornly low rates of beta-blocker prescribing in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease could be contributing toward increased mortality in these patients following myocardial infarction.

27 Nov 2013

Support for personal recovery concept in bipolar disorder

Researchers have found that “respect, hope, and self-empowerment” is a key psychosocial factor in the personal recovery of adults with bipolar disorder.

27 Nov 2013

US may be losing ground as the leader in biomedical research

The United States may be losing ground as the leader in biomedical research and within the next five years will be second to China in the funds it spends for R&D, according to Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D, director of the National Institutes of Health.

27 Nov 2013

CPCs not powerful enough to be used as a single tool in diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction

Using chest pain characteristics (CPCs) specific to women in the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI, heart attack) in the emergency department does not seem to be supported by the findings of a study published by JAMA Internal Medicine, a JAMA Network publication.

27 Nov 2013

Health benefits of eating almonds

As Americans sit down to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, they often wish their family and friends good health and a long life. Good news! With nuts like almonds on the table, these sentiments are more than just a traditional toast.

27 Nov 2013

Advances in cardiovascular sciences to be discussed at University of Leicester

Advances in Cardiovascular Sciences are to be showcased in two public lectures at the University of Leicester.

27 Nov 2013

Implantable genetic circuit serves as early warning system for high blood-fat levels

Humankind has a weight problem - and not only in the industrialised nations, either: the growing prosperity in many Asian or Latin American countries goes hand in hand with a way of life that quite literally has hefty consequences.

27 Nov 2013

More nuts, more health benefits

In a large new study, observational researchers at Harvard University looked at how eating nuts may help reduce the risk of mortality, finding that those who ate nuts daily, such as pistachios, saw health benefits nearly double.

27 Nov 2013

Study highlights unique barriers for African Americans with hypertension

For African-Americans who have hypertension, controlling their high blood pressure is critical to avoid serious complications. However, a history of racial discrimination and/or mistrust in their physicians often causes them to skip taking their necessary medication, finds a new study in the American Journal of Public Health.

27 Nov 2013

European research project examines toxicity factor to fight AIDS

December 1st is the annual World AIDS Day, a perfect opportunity to look at how medical research is progressing to fight the disease.

27 Nov 2013

Novel micro-catheter fluorescent dye method to treat aneurysm in deep brain

In March 2013, Eric Wagner told his wife to call 9-1-1 because he was feeling the worst that he had ever felt. He was rushed by EMS to University Hospitals (UH) Ahuja Medical Center, and then airlifted to UH Case Medical Center, where brain scans showed that he had a ruptured aneurysm, a leaking blister on a blood vessel that was letting blood flow into his brain and causing a stroke.

27 Nov 2013

Study uncovers mechanisms that allow stem cells to keep dividing in perpetuity

The blood stem cells that live in bone marrow are at the top of a complex family tree. Such stem cells split and divide down various pathways that ultimately produce red cells, white cells and platelets. These "daughter" cells must be produced at a rate of about one million per second to constantly replenish the body's blood supply.

27 Nov 2013

Genetics and cardiovascular drugs: an interview with Nancy Lurker, CEO of PDI and Paul Kinnon, CEO of Transgenomic, Inc.

People inherit different versions of any particular gene, and some genes affect how patients process and metabolize medicines. This especially holds true for people with cardiovascular (CV) disease. They may be fast, slow or non-metabolizers and might also react badly (with serious adverse events) to certain drug therapies or not at all.

27 Nov 2013

State exchange news: Oregon's 'epic failure'; Kansas' next steps on canceled policies; rural challenge in Minnesota

Oregon once led the country in implementing Obamacare. Now it's just about dead last. Not one person has yet enrolled in the Cover Oregon insurance exchange - a major embarrassment to state policymakers who early on had wholeheartedly embraced the Affordable Care Act even as other states tried their best to hinder it. ... The uncertainty is leading to fears that Oregonians whose plans have been canceled as of Dec. 31 will find themselves without affordable coverage when the new year begins (Winfield Cunningham, 11/26).

27 Nov 2013

Edison initiates coverage of biotechnology company focused on adult stem therapies

Edison Investment Research, a leading international investment research firm, announces the initiation of coverage of Mesoblast (MSB: ASX), an Australian-headquartered biotechnology company focused on adult stem therapies.

27 Nov 2013

Troubled effort to devise new cholesterol guidelines

The New York Times explores what went wrong as a group of doctors struggled to find common ground on how heart issues should be treated. Other stories also look at consumer frustration about a landmark settlement on hip implants and concerns being reviewed by the FDA about emergency contraceptive pills.

27 Nov 2013

Drug interactions impact use of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs

A new study has found that many people who stopped taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs were also taking an average of three other drugs that interfered with the normal metabolism of the statins.

27 Nov 2013

Researchers develop prototype spacesuit biosensors to monitor astronauts' health

Kansas State University researchers are improving astronauts' outerwear for outer space. The collaborative team -- which includes electrical and computer engineering professors and more than a dozen students -- envisions a future spacesuit that could monitor astronauts' health and use body heat to power electronics.

27 Nov 2013

H1N1 virus killed more people globally than originally believed, confirms study

A research team consisting of more than 60 collaborators in 26 countries has estimated the global death toll from the 2009 outbreak of the H1N1 virus to be 10 times higher than the World Health Organization's count, which was based on laboratory-confirmed cases of this flu. The study, which appears online in PLOS Medicine, suggests that the pandemic virus caused up to 203,000 respiratory deaths around the world.

27 Nov 2013

Merck announces approval of NOXAFIL delayed-release tablets by FDA

Merck (NYSE:MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved NOXAFIL® (posaconazole) 100 mg delayed-release tablets.

27 Nov 2013