Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Data on veterans affairs hospitals shows high rates of readmissions

The Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated health care system in the country, has long employed many of the approaches Medicare is pushing on all hospitals to reduce unnecessary readmissions. But new data show VA hospital patients are just as likely to end up back in a hospital bed as are patients at private hospitals.

13 Sep 2011

Older drugs may be better than newly approved ones

It is a common belief that drugs given the okay by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are safer and more effective than they have to be to win approval, according to a new study. Especially in the first few years after a drug becomes available, researchers note, there are still questions about how well it will work and whether it will have any serious side effects warn experts. For example FDA-approved painkiller Vioxx was pulled off the market in 2004 after longer-term evidence showed that it may increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.

13 Sep 2011

African-Americans have higher risk of high blood pressure earlier

...

13 Sep 2011

High cholesterol and Alzheimer's disease

New research suggests that high cholesterol levels could boost the risk of Alzheimer's disease by creating more brain-clogging bits known as plaque. Researchers however didn't find any link between high cholesterol and tangles, which also clog the brain in those with Alzheimer's.

13 Sep 2011

Delcath announces updated Phase 2 trial results from metastatic neuroendocrine tumor cohort

Delcath Systems, Inc. announced that updated results from the metastatic neuroendocrine tumor (mNET) cohort of the Company's recently completed Phase 2 clinical trial were presented at the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) congress held this week in Munich, Germany.

13 Sep 2011

Researchers use MRI and PET/CT to assess safety, efficacy of heart drug dalcetrapib

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have for the first time used several imaging techniques to prove the efficacy of a promising new treatment for atherosclerosis—the build-up of plaque in artery walls that can lead to a heart attack.

13 Sep 2011

Majority of cryoballoon ablation patients show no signs of A-Fib year after procedure

Many patients are responding to a new, minimally invasive way of treating irregular heartbeats by freezing out the bad cells. Atrial fibrillation (A-Fib) is one such heart rhythm disorder, and it's the most common arrhythmia affecting Americans.

13 Sep 2011

Largest cardiology conference in Latin America

Against a background of high mortality rates from cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Brazil, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is to deliver an educational programme at the 66th Annual Congress of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology.

13 Sep 2011

UB transgenic mouse model of Timothy Syndrome improves understanding of autism

The first transgenic mouse model of a rare and severe type of autism called Timothy Syndrome is improving the scientific understanding of autism spectrum disorder in general and may help researchers design more targeted interventions and treatments.

12 Sep 2011

Low-dose aspirin increases risk for GI bleeding

The risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding needs to be considered when determining the potential preventive benefits associated with low-dose aspirin for cardiovascular disease and cancer.

12 Sep 2011

Dome9 Security announces multi-cloud security management platform

Dome9 Security, the leading provider of cloud security management for public and private clouds, as well as for dedicated and virtual private servers (VPS), today at TechCrunch Disrupt 2011 announced the general availability of its new first-of-its-kind, multi-platform security management service that automates cloud server security for both enterprises and cloud hosting providers.

12 Sep 2011

First Edition: September 12, 2011

Today's health policy headlines include reports about the pressures faced by the 'super committee' as well as the latest on how states are doing with the implementation of the health law.

12 Sep 2011

Genentech submits vismodegib NDA to FDA for treatment of advanced basal cell carcinoma

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced that the company has submitted a New Drug Application for vismodegib to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of people with advanced basal cell carcinoma (BCC) for whom surgery is considered inappropriate.

12 Sep 2011

Heart attack patients with psoriasis more likely to die from cardiovascular disease

Heart attack patients with psoriasis are 26 per cent more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, or suffer from recurrent heart attacks or strokes, and are 18 per cent more likely to die from all causes than those without the inflammatory skin disease.

12 Sep 2011

Chronic pain gene discovered

Scientists have found the gene responsible for chronic pain. It said that this could lead to drugs for treating long-lasting back pain.

12 Sep 2011

Huge economic, social and personal burden of AF-related strokes across Latin America

Urgent coordinated action from national governments, medical societies and patient organizations is needed to avoid a public health crisis resulting from the tide of preventable strokes that leave many people with atrial fibrillation (AF) mentally and physically disabled or dead, every year. How Can We Avoid a Stroke Crisis in Latin America?, a report from Action for Stroke Prevention - a group of health experts from around the world - reveals the huge economic, social and personal burden of AF-related strokes across the region.

12 Sep 2011

Researchers describe new function of HCN channels in the heart

The heartbeat is the result of rhythmic contractions of the heart muscle, which are in turn regulated by electrical signals called action potentials. Action potentials result from the controlled flow of ions into heart muscle cells (depolarization) through channels in their membranes, and are followed by a compensating reverse ion current (repolarization), which restores the original state. If the duration of the repolarization phase is not just right, the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and sudden cardiac death increases significantly.

12 Sep 2011

Common genetic variant may predispose people to acute dissections

Richard Holbrooke, John Ritter, Lucille Ball, Jonathan Larson and Great Britain's King George II were all taken by the same silent killer: an acute aortic dissection. Now, scientists led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Baylor College of Medicine have found an association with a common genetic variant in the population that predisposes people to acute dissections and can approximately double a person's chances of having the disease.

12 Sep 2011

Scientists identify 28 blood pressure-associated genetic variants

A new report from scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and their colleagues in centers around the world finds that common variants in 28 regions of DNA are associated with blood pressure in human patients.

12 Sep 2011

Researchers identify 29 DNA sequence variations linked with blood pressure

A study involving more than 200,000 people worldwide has identified 29 DNA sequence variations in locations across the human genome that influence blood pressure.

12 Sep 2011