Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

IN.PACT drug-eluting balloons show promising results for superficial femoral artery disease treatment

Advancing research on drug-eluting balloons for the treatment of coronary and peripheral artery disease, Medtronic, Inc., today announced the latest results from the IN.PACT drug-eluting balloon (DEB) clinical program presented last week at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2010 conference.

29 Sep 2010

AccessClosure enters agreement with Benrikal Services for Bengal Radial Compression Band distribution

AccessClosure, Inc., the market leader in extravascular closure devices, announced today an exclusive agreement with Benrikal Services to distribute the Bengal Radial Compression Band in the United States.

29 Sep 2010

Pulmokine receives NIH SBIR grants to develop novel treatments for PAH

YM BioSciences Inc., today reported that Pulmokine Inc. (Slingerlands, New York), a licensee of several small molecule compounds from YM, has been awarded two National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants. The grants, totaling more than US$650,000, are Phase I awards to develop novel treatments for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH).

29 Sep 2010

New program offers options for fertility preservation in children with cancer

It is estimated that 1 in 500 children will be diagnosed with a form of childhood cancer. Fortunately, with the use of aggressive treatment modalities, more than 75% of these children will be cured. Therefore, many of these children and parents are looking beyond the cancer at important quality of life issues and guiding their treatments to assure "normal" post-cancer survivorship.

29 Sep 2010

XOMA completes patient enrollment in XOMA 052 Phase 2a trial

XOMA Ltd., a leader in the discovery and development of therapeutic antibodies, announced that patient enrollment was recently completed for the company's Phase 2a trial of XOMA 052 in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

29 Sep 2010

Predisposition of individuals from various ethnic groups to heart disease in later life: Study

Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire will carry our research into the predisposition of individuals from various ethnic groups to heart disease in later life when it carries out screening this week.

29 Sep 2010

Cedars-Sinai physicians to lead St. Jude Medical's transcatheter aortic valve implantation clinical trial

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced that physicians from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute will lead the company's transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) clinical trial. The study will evaluate the safety and efficacy of the St. Jude Medical transcatheter aortic valve for patients who experience severe aortic stenosis and who may be at an elevated risk for open-heart surgery.

29 Sep 2010

BAC completes feasibility study on CaptureSelect affinity ligands for Genmab

BAC BV, the leading provider of antibody-based affinity purification technology, today announced that it successfully completed a feasibility study in its collaboration with Genmab A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark), an international biotechnology company developing human antibody therapeutics for the potential treatment of cancer.

29 Sep 2010

Study finds broader statin use as a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke

A new analysis suggests that broader statin use among adult patients may be a cost-effective way to prevent heart attack and stroke. The Stanford University School of Medicine study also found that using a popular test - a screening for high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or CRP - to identify patients who may benefit from statin therapy would be cost-effective, but only under certain scenarios.

29 Sep 2010

Ready-to-Use Cardene I.V. lowers acutely elevated blood pressure: CLUE study

Results from the CLUE study, a head-to-head comparison between Ready-to-Use Cardene I.V. (nicardipine) and labetalol in the emergency room, showed that Ready-to-Use Cardene I.V. lowers acutely elevated blood pressure more effectively than labetalol. These data were presented today at the annual meeting of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

29 Sep 2010

Unexpected social rejection reflects transient slowing of heart rate: Study

Social rejection isn't just emotionally upsetting; it also upsets your heart. A new study finds that being rejected by another person makes your heart rate drop for a moment. The study is published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

29 Sep 2010

New genetic screening program to reduce risk associated with Plavix

Beginning this month, all patients undergoing cardiac catheterization at Vanderbilt University Medical Center will be tested for a genetic variation that can affect their response to Plavix, the most commonly prescribed clot-preventing drug for heart patients and one of the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide.

29 Sep 2010

Critical piece of puzzle in treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy

University of Missouri researchers believe they have found a critical piece of the puzzle for the treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - the leading genetic cause of infantile death in the world. Nearly one in 6,000 births has SMA, and it is estimated that nearly one in 30 to 40 people have the trait that leads to SMA.

29 Sep 2010

CRP levels vary between ethnically-diverse populations: Study

C-reactive protein (CRP) levels vary between ethnically-diverse populations, and are only partly due to known differences in heart risk among these groups.A single risk level of CRP at 2 mg/L may over or under estimate the need for statin medication in different ethnic groups, especially if other risk factors are not considered.

29 Sep 2010

Study finds ultrafine air particulates exposure may increase risk of heart disease in firefighters

Firefighters are exposed to potentially dangerous levels of ultrafine particulates at the time they are least likely to wear protective breathing equipment. Because of this, researchers believe firefighters may face an increased risk for heart disease from exposures during the fire suppression process.

29 Sep 2010

Firefly stem cells may help doctors to heal damaged hearts: Research

Stem cells that glow like fireflies could someday help doctors heal damaged hearts without cutting into patients' chests.In his University of Central Florida lab, Steven Ebert engineered stem cells with the same enzyme that makes fireflies glow. The "firefly" stem cells glow brighter and brighter as they develop into healthy heart muscle, allowing doctors to track whether and where the stem cells are working.

29 Sep 2010

USFDA approves Sun Pharmaceutical's ANDA to market Rilutek tablets

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that USFDA has granted a tentative approval for its Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) to market a generic version of Sanofi Aventis's Rilutek® tablets 50 mg.

29 Sep 2010

PolyMedix begins PMX-30063 Phase 2 clinical trial for bacterial infections

PolyMedix, Inc., an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs to treat acute cardiovascular disorders and infectious diseases, has initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial in Canada with its novel defensin-mimetic antibiotic, PMX-30063.

28 Sep 2010

NIH Stroke Scale helps to predict mortality risk in hospitalized stroke patients

A new study finds a risk model developed using Get With The Guidelines-Stroke data is a practical bedside tool that can identify patients at the highest risk for dying when hospitalized after a stroke.

28 Sep 2010

Study establishes link between swearing and pain tolerance

While swearing is often a common response to pain, Richard Stephens and his colleagues, John Atkins and Andrew Kingston, were surprised to discover that no links had been established between swearing and the actual experience of physical pain.

28 Sep 2010