Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Clinical trial to study benefits of statins in prevention of heart attacks and strokes

Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., Dr.P.H., the first Sir Richard Doll Professor and senior academic advisor to the dean in the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University, recently published a commentary in the American Journal of Medicine, about the benefits of statins in the prevention of heart attacks and strokes in subjects previously thought at too low a risk to be treated.

28 Aug 2013

Researchers develop ddPCR technology to quantify rejection biomarker in organ transplant injury

A recently reported blood test for the early detection of organ transplant injury could enable more timely therapeutic intervention in transplant patients and thus help to avoid longer term damage. As described by scientists at the University Medical Center G-ttingen and Chronix Biomedical, a molecular diagnostics company, the new method uses Bio-Rad Laboratories' Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR-) technology to overcome the obstacles of earlier tests, which were both time-consuming and costly.

28 Aug 2013

UTHealth researchers find cause for rare type of bleeding disorder

Fifteen years ago, a hematologist came to Dianna Milewicz, M.D., Ph.D., with a puzzle: Multiple generations of an East Texas family suffered from a moderately severe bleeding disorder, but it wasn't hemophilia.

28 Aug 2013

High intensity interval training offers maximum benefits to women

Interval training is a well-known way to get the maximum benefits of exercise in the shortest amount of time. New research shows that when it comes to running, women may get more out of high intensity interval training (HIIT) than their male counterparts.

28 Aug 2013

New polymer additives enhance ability of oral drugs to reach bloodstream

All too often, when a person takes a pill full of a potent and effective drug, the drug passes straight through the body, not reaching the organ where it is needed — a waste of money and inconvenient if it is a cold medicine, but potentially dire if it is a treatment for a serious illness.

28 Aug 2013

Genetic variant linked with increased risk of CHD in type 2 diabetic patients

Joslin scientists, in collaboration with researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Italian research institutes, have identified a previously unknown genetic variant associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in type 2 diabetic patients.

28 Aug 2013

'Helper cells' improve survival rate of transplanted stem cells, finds study

Like volunteers handing out cups of energy drinks to marathon runners, specially engineered "helper cells" transplanted along with stem cells can dole out growth factors to increase the stem cells' endurance, at least briefly, Johns Hopkins researchers report.

28 Aug 2013

AACN offers online educational support for cardiac nurses

Nurses caring for acutely or critically ill cardiovascular patients can take heart: The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses offers online educational support for cardiac nurses interested in deepening their expertise and acquiring subspecialty certification.

28 Aug 2013

Daily doses of calcium and vitamin supplements may not prevent loss of BMD in women

Women undergoing treatment for breast cancer are widely prescribed calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent and manage osteoporosis, an unwanted side effect of breast cancer therapies.

28 Aug 2013

Researchers identify genetic locus associated with increased risk of CHD in type 2 diabetes patients

Researchers have identified a previously unknown genetic locus (the place a gene occupies on a chromosome) significantly associated with increased coronary heart disease risk among patients with type 2 diabetes, but the association was not found in individuals without diabetes, according to a study in the August 28 issue of JAMA.

28 Aug 2013

Covidien announces opening of first high-tech medical training center in Korea

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced the opening of the Covidien Center of Innovation Korea (CCI Korea), its first research & development and training & education center in Korea.

27 Aug 2013

Personalised management: The only way to close mortality gap for AF patients

Personalised management is the only way to close the mortality gap for patients with atrial fibrillation, according to an ESC consensus paper presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Paulus Kirchhof (UK).

27 Aug 2013

Companion diagnostics: an interview with Trevor Hawkins, SVP, Strategy, Innovation and Business Development for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics

Companion diagnostics is critical in helping to pave the way for personalized medicine, in which the treatment is adapted and precisely tailored to the patient.

From Siemens Healthineers 27 Aug 2013

Vanderbilt adds genetic screening for drug tacrolimus to PREDICT program

Vanderbilt has added genetic screening for the drug tacrolimus to its personalize medicine pharmacogenomics program PREDICT. The new drug screening protocol was added following data that shows a single genetic variation largely impacts different dose requirements for patients.

27 Aug 2013

FDA grants Priority Review designation to sNDA for Nexavar tablets

Bayer HealthCare and Onyx Pharmaceuticals today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Priority Review designation to the supplemental New Drug Application for the oral multi-kinase inhibitor Nexavar (sorafenib) tablets under evaluation for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

27 Aug 2013

Intracerebral injection of BSC may reduce post-stroke cognitive dysfunction

27 Aug 2013

Wait times for colorectal cancer procedures at VA hospitals increase to 32 days

A study published in the August print issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice shows that from 1998-2008, wait times for colorectal cancer operations at Veterans Administration hospitals increased from 19 to 32 days. But researchers think longer waits may be a reflection of several unmeasured variables including more careful care, staffing, and patient conditions or preferences.

27 Aug 2013

Unique computer technology opens up discovery of smarter drugs to treat illnesses

A unique computer technology that opens up the discovery of smarter drugs to treat major illnesses including heart disease has been invented by University of Strathclyde scientists.

27 Aug 2013

FDA approves Galderma's Mirvaso topical gel for facial erythema of rosacea

Galderma Laboratories, L.P. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Mirvaso (brimonidine) topical gel, 0.33% for the topical treatment of the facial erythema (redness) of rosacea in adults 18 years of age or older. Applied once daily, Mirvaso works quickly to reduce the redness of rosacea and lasts up to 12 hours. Galderma expects Mirvaso to be available in pharmacies September 2013.

27 Aug 2013

BSCs may offer new approach for reducing post-stroke cognitive dysfunction

Cognitive deficits following ischemic stroke are common and debilitating, even in the relatively few patients who are treated expeditiously so that clots are removed or dissolved rapidly and cerebral blood flow restored. A new study in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience demonstrates that intracerebral injection of bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells reduces cognitive deficits produced by temporary occlusion of cerebral blood vessels in a rat model of stroke, suggesting that BSCs may offer a new approach for reducing post-stroke cognitive dysfunction.

26 Aug 2013