Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

New clinical trial: Pycnogenol improves signs and symptoms of menopause

Half the population experiences menopause, and for those women, it is a condition they will experience for approximately one third of their lifetime. Alternative or natural remedies are an easy, effective way to improve signs and symptoms linked to the menopausal transition, without side effects.

7 Mar 2012

Ivabradine could save thousands of heart failure patients

Researchers behind a major trial of Procoralan believe the pill could save 10,000 lives a year in Britain alone. Ivabradine works by slowing the beating of the heart, helping it to pump blood more efficiently.

7 Mar 2012

Smoking and lung cancer notice turns fifty but 20% Britons still smoke: Report

According to health experts, it has been five decades after doctors issued their first warning about the dangers of cigarettes. Still more than 20 percent of Britons still smoke - and unless they quit, half of them will die from the habit. Smoking has killed more than six million people in Britain since 1962, when the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) published a landmark report about the health risks of tobacco.

7 Mar 2012

Are Americans overdosing on cholesterol lowering statins?

Eric Topol, Chief Academic Officer for Scripps Health and cardiologist, wrote an ‘op-ed’ in the New York Times Opinion Page addressing the risk of cholesterol-reducing statins such as Lipitor, Zocor and Crestor.

7 Mar 2012

Nitrogen balance occurs with a precise 24-hour rhythm in mammals

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine demonstrated that nitrogen balance, the process of utilizing amino acids and disposing of their toxic byproducts, occurs with a precise 24-hour rhythm - also known as circadian rhythm - in mammals. Disruption of this cycle has a direct impact on survival of organisms, and may predispose one to life altering diseases including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

7 Mar 2012

Pten gene can also fight against obesity, ageing process

This result, obtained after five years' research, is published in leading journal Cell Metabolism. The authors, led by Manuel Serrano (CNIO), believe it will open the door to new therapeutic options not only against cancer, but against obesity and even the ageing process.

7 Mar 2012

Supreme Court swing votes; The Medicaid challenge; And how other rulings might help handicap the action

On the last of three days of arguments on the Affordable Care Act later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will turn to the sleeper issue that could have the biggest impact on federal power -- Congress' authority under its spending power to require a big expansion of state Medicaid programs.

7 Mar 2012

Shire to commence two Vyvanse and Concerta Phase 4 comparison trials for ADHD

As part of its continued commitment to ADHD research, Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, today announced it is initiating two Phase 4 clinical trials to compare Vyvanse (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) Capsules, (CII) to Concerta (methylphenidate HCl) Extended-Release Tablets.

7 Mar 2012

Tree nut consumption may reduce weight and health risks

March is National Nutrition Month and as the spotlight shines on all things healthy, celebrate with a mindful snack that loves you back-California pistachios.

7 Mar 2012

Viewpoints: Contraception politics; Better food labels; Opposing stands on ultrasounds and abortion

Between the flap at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the squall about the Obama administration's directive that health insurance plans cover the cost of birth control, contraception is shaping up as one of the year's biggest political land mines.

7 Mar 2012

Marriage boosts survival following coronary artery bypass surgery

Married adults who undergo heart surgery are more than three times as likely as single people who have the same surgery to survive the next three months, a new study finds.

6 Mar 2012

Blocking Plexin B1 protein can prevent formation of breast cancer metastases

In particularly aggressive forms of breast cancer, cancer cells can settle in other organs and form metastases there. Once such metastases form, complete recovery is rare. Consequently, it is enormously important to prevent the metastasisation of the breast cancer cells. The success, however, achieved by using existing forms of therapy is limited.

6 Mar 2012

Metabolic syndrome predicts prevalence and incidence of CKD in elderly people

Elderly people with the metabolic syndrome-defined as having multiple risk factors associated with developing diabetes and heart disease-had an increased risk of chronic kidney disease, according to a recent study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

6 Mar 2012

State news: Several Mass. hospitals tie part of doctor pay to size of practice; Mass. officials push to alleviate crowds at ERs

Getting in to see a primary-care doctor at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals has for years been notoriously hard, with many popular practices closed to new patients. But now, reflecting dramatic shifts in health care, the prestigious hospitals are paying doctors more if they agree to accept new patients. The Harvard-affiliated hospitals are tying about 10 percent of doctors' salaries this year to the size of their practice and the complexity of their patients' illnesses.

6 Mar 2012

Study finds teenage girls sit or lie down for 19 hours a day

A study undertaken by UL researchers has found that teenage girls spend an average of 19 hours a day either sitting or lying down. Some 111 girls aged between 15 and 18 years took part in the study which measured the time they spent sitting, standing or lying down using a small accelerometer device. The researchers found that although total sitting and lying time was the same between weekdays and weekends, on week-days the sitting time was accumulated in longer bouts, lasting 20 minutes or more. These long bouts of sitting were more frequent during school time.

6 Mar 2012

UAB first hospital in Alabama to offer Melody Valve replacement

In many ways Dylan Fields is your typical 15-year-old boy. He loves sports, and plays baseball and soccer for his school, Tallassee High, in Central Alabama. What's not typical about Dylan is his heart defect and, now, the procedure used to repair his heart.

6 Mar 2012

Cenderitide may preserve cardiac function after heart attack

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has awarded a $2.5 million grant to Mayo Clinic's Cardiorenal Research Laboratory to conduct a highly innovative research project, "Cardiovascular Peptides and Myocardial Infarction."

6 Mar 2012