Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Vascular Magnetics to advance development of new drug delivery system for PAD

Vascular Magnetics, the first start-up company spun off by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, has raised $7 million to advance development of an innovative drug delivery system using magnetically targeted nanoparticles to treat peripheral artery disease.

28 Feb 2012

New protocol decreases sternum infections in kids by 61%

A two-year effort to prevent infections in children healing from cardiac surgery reduced sternum infections by 61 percent, a San Antonio researcher announced at the Cardiology 2012 conference Feb. 23 in Orlando, Fla.

28 Feb 2012

Research identifies factors in long-term transplant survival

Heart transplant patients who receive new organs before the age of 55 and get them at hospitals that perform at least nine heart transplants a year are significantly more likely than other people to survive at least 10 years after their operations, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

28 Feb 2012

Sleeping pills may increase risk of cancer-related death

People are relying on sleeping pills more than ever to get a good night's rest, but a new study by Scripps Clinic researchers links the medications to a 4.6 times higher risk of death and a significant increase in cancer cases among regular pill users.

28 Feb 2012

Strong link between BMI and asthma in Hispanic youth

Children and adolescents who are overweight or obese are more likely to have asthma than their healthy weight counterparts, according to a new Kaiser Permanente Southern California study published in the online edition of Obesity. The study, which included more than 681,000 children between ages 6 and 19, found that the association between asthma and body mass index varied by race and ethnicity.

28 Feb 2012

Hearing loss may increase risk of falls

Hearing loss has been linked with a variety of medical, social and cognitive ills, including dementia. However, a new study led by a Johns Hopkins researcher suggests that hearing loss may also be a risk factor for another huge public health problem: falls.

27 Feb 2012

FDA assigns Priority Review designation to JRD's XARELTO sNDA

Janssen Research & Development, LLC (JRD) announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has assigned a Priority Review designation to the supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) filed on December 29, 2011 for XARELTO (rivaroxaban), an oral anticoagulant, to reduce the risk of thrombotic cardiovascular events in patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS).

27 Feb 2012

State roundup: State tobacco funds scrutinized; More allegations against Calif.'s Prime Healthcare; Ore. CCOs get green light

A U.S. Surgeon General's report due to be released March 8 will come down hard on states that have cut anti-smoking funds in tough fiscal times, said Terry Pechacek, who oversees the report as director for Science in the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report can't result in sanctions, but it has proven to move public opinion in the past to force changes by tobacco companies in how they sell cigarettes, how states fund efforts and how the federal government regulates the trade.

27 Feb 2012

Anorexia on the rise among kids and anti-obesity campaigns blamed

According to Dr Jane Morris, chairwoman of the Scottish Eating Disorder Interest Group, healthy eating drives are causing anorexia in children. She said children were obsessing about their diet because of drives to combat obesity.

27 Feb 2012

Enrollment complete in Ikaria iNO Pivotal Phase III trial for BPD

Ikaria, Inc., a critical care company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for critically ill patients, today announced that it has enrolled the last patient into its Pivotal Phase III trial investigating the use of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) in premature infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD).

27 Feb 2012

Aesculap, Osseon partner to distribute VCF treatment devices

Osseon Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that the company has entered into an International Distribution Agreement with Aesculap AG to distribute its vertebral compression fracture (VCF) treatment devices, including its new CE-Mark approved device – Osseoflex SB (steerable balloon) in select regions of Europe and Asia.

From B. Braun Melsungen AG 27 Feb 2012

ATI commences European trial of neurostimulation system for migraine

Autonomic Technologies, Inc. (ATI), the developer of a novel miniaturized implantable stimulator for severe headaches, today announced initiation of a study in Europe to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the company's investigational neurostimulation system for the treatment of high frequency, high disability migraine.

27 Feb 2012

KIT, FZI to present innovations for everyday life in the future at CeBIT fair

At the CeBIT in Hanover, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the FZI Research Center for Information Technology will present innovations for our everyday life in the future.

27 Feb 2012

News briefs from featured presentations at Cardiology 2012

Pediatric cardiology researchers and clinicians from almost 50 centers from across the U.S. and around the world are gathering at the Cardiology 2012 Conference sponsored by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia on Feb. 22-26 in Orlando, Fla.

27 Feb 2012

Two-target approach may effectively stop pancreatic cancer metastasis

Simultaneous targeting of two different molecules in cancer is an effective way to shrink tumors, block invasion, and stop metastasis, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have found—work that may improve the effectiveness of combination treatments that include drugs like Avastin.

27 Feb 2012

CT scan as effective as MRI in predicting recurrent stroke risk

New research from the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) shows that using a CT (computerised tomography) scan, doctors can predict if patients who have had a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke, with neurological symptoms such as weakness or speech issues, are at risk for another more severe stroke.

27 Feb 2012

Statins may reduce risk of depression in patients with heart disease

Patients with heart disease who took cholesterol-lowering statins were significantly less likely to develop depression than those who did not, in a study by Mary Whooley, MD, a physician at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

27 Feb 2012

The Lancet publishes Takeda's TAK-875 Phase 2 data on type 2 diabetes

Phase 2 clinical data of an investigational type 2 diabetes therapy, TAK-875 of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, were published online first in The Lancet.

27 Feb 2012

Lung function, obstructive airway diseases linked with increased risk of heart failure

A large population-based study has found that lung function and obstructive airway diseases are strongly and independently associated with increased risk of heart failure. Importantly, say the investigators, this association was even evident in never-smokers and was still evident after adjustment for smoking status and number of years smoking. This, they add, indicates "that our results are not primarily confounded by smoking".

26 Feb 2012

Exelixis announces cabozantinib preclinical data on pancreatic cancer

Exelixis, Inc. today announced the company's lead compound, cabozantinib, is highlighted in a new peer-reviewed publication demonstrating that simultaneous inhibition of MET and VEGF signaling reduces tumor invasiveness and metastasis in preclinical models of pancreatic cancer.

26 Feb 2012