Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Blocking PHD2 oxygen sensor can render cancer treatments more effective

Researchers in Leuven (VIB/KU Leuven) have confirmed their hypothesis that normalizing blood vessels by blocking oxygen sensor PHD2 would make chemotherapy more effective.

15 Aug 2012

Online weight management programmes show promise

Computer and web-based weight management programmes may provide a cost effective way of addressing the growing problem of obesity, according to a team of seven researchers who undertook a Cochrane systematic review.

15 Aug 2012

U of U researchers receive NIH grant to study cellular and molecular causes of blood clots

University of Utah Department of Medicine researchers have received $16 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to set up a translational research center to study the cellular and molecular causes of blood clots, a serious threat to millions of people who have diabetes, are obese or have other metabolic disorders.

15 Aug 2012

Roundup: Abortion-rights groups mostly silent on fetal pain laws; Conn. advocates worry over Medicaid cuts; Examining readmission penalties

When new limits on abortions are proposed, abortion-rights groups usually go all out to stop them. So why haven't they gone all out against state fetal-pain laws, enacted in nine states since early 2010? These laws ban abortion after 20 weeks, based on the controversial assertion that the fetus can then experience pain. They're handing victories to anti-abortion groups, and so far there's only one major challenge from an abortion-rights group: in Arizona, where the 9th Circuit Court early this month temporarily blocked the state law.

15 Aug 2012

Viewpoints: Romney's gamble; The return of 'Mediscare;' Klein and Roy offer competing views on differences in Ryan, Obama plans

It doesn't take a political genius to see where the contest between President Obama and Mitt Romney is heading. With Rep. Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket, the campaign is looking at a full-throated debate over the future of Medicare. Are Romney and Ryan ready?

15 Aug 2012

Mindfulness meditation prevents feelings of loneliness

Many elderly people spend their last years alone. Spouses pass and children scatter. But being lonely is much more than a silent house and a lack of companionship. Over time, loneliness not only takes a toll on the psyche but can have a serious physical impact as well.

15 Aug 2012

CD4 T cells orchestrate inflammatory attack on the artery wall

Most people probably know that heart disease remains the nation's No. 1 killer. But what many may be surprised to learn is that cholesterol has a major accomplice in causing dangerous arterial plaque buildup that can trigger a heart attack. The culprit? Inflammatory cells produced by the immune system.

15 Aug 2012

Scientists use supercomputers to reveal links between known risk factors and heart biology

About 25,000 Danes currently live with congenital heart defects. Both heredity and environment play a role for these malformations, but exactly how various risk factors influence the development of the heart during pregnancy has been a mystery until now.

15 Aug 2012

U-M Survival Flight helicopters can save lives of all the Great Lakes states

Three new maize-and-blue helicopters will soon be saving lives in the air above the Great Lakes states, and speeding patients toward advanced care at the University of Michigan Health System's hospitals.

15 Aug 2012

Cathepsins may attack one another instead of the bodily proteins

Researchers for the first time have shown that members of a family of enzymes known as cathepsins - which are implicated in many disease processes - may attack one another instead of the bodily proteins they normally degrade. Dubbed "cathepsin cannibalism," the phenomenon may help explain problems with drugs that have been developed to inhibit the effects of these powerful proteases.

15 Aug 2012

Compounds in cocoa may help decrease blood pressure

Compounds in cocoa may help to reduce blood pressure, according to a new systematic review in The Cochrane Library. The researchers reviewed evidence from short-term trials in which participants were given dark chocolate or cocoa powder daily and found that their blood pressure dropped slightly compared to a control group.

15 Aug 2012

Neurostimulator a significant step in treating sleep apnea

At Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin the first tongue pacemaker was implanted Europe-wide that prevents pauses in breathing during sleep and helps against snoring. Physicians at the Department of Otolaryngology used the device for a patient who suffers from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

15 Aug 2012