Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Health risk assessments

At various points in our lives, we're curious about our health risks, wondering about our susceptibility for everything from high cholesterol to a deadly inherited disease. We might want to learn more about our risks when we reach a certain age or experience a bout of bad health; when we hear about a friend or co-worker coping with a dreaded illness; or read the latest headlines about disease research.

13 Sep 2010

Scientists discover SNP association with primary open-angle glaucoma risk

Scientists at deCODE genetics and academic colleagues from Iceland, China, Sweden, the UK and Australia today report the discovery of the most important single-letter variation (SNP) in the sequence of the human genome yet associated with risk of primary open-angle glaucoma. This is the most common form of glaucoma and a major cause of blindness worldwide.

13 Sep 2010

PCRI to host educational event on prostate cancer therapy

Dean Ornish MD, recognized for establishing the impact of diet on prostate cancer (and heart disease), along with over a dozen internationally recognized prostate cancer experts will meet with over 800 prostate cancer survivors and their significant others at the Los Angeles Marriott near LAX on September 11th and 12th to discuss the latest thinking on prostate cancer treatment.

13 Sep 2010

Oral health impacts systemic diseases: Report

It's not news that there is a significant link between one's oral health and overall health. Though studies are ongoing, researchers have known for quite some time that the mouth is connected to the rest of the body.Your mouth is the entry point of many bacteria,said Dr. Steven Grater, Pennsylvania Dental Association (PDA) member and general dentist from Harrisburg. To keep this bacteria from going into your body, cleaning your mouth (brushing, flossing and rinsing) is necessary.

13 Sep 2010

FDA approves CorMatrix ECM for Pericardial Closure

CorMatrix Cardiovascular, Inc., a medical device company developing and delivering unique extracellular matrix (ECM) biomaterial devices that harness the body's innate ability to repair damaged cardiovascular tissue, announced today that FDA has granted conditional approval for the start of a multi-center, prospective, randomized clinical trial to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the CorMatrix ECM for Pericardial Closure to reduce the incidence of new onset postoperative atrial fibrillation.

13 Sep 2010

Victoria tightens smoking bans

The Monash City Council will decide this week whether to start community consultation on a ban on smoking in alfresco dining areas, shopping strips, and sports clubs. Cr Micaela Drieberg said more public areas would be covered. She added that Eaton Mall in Oakleigh would be one of the areas. She said, “I think people want to be able to enjoy a meal or a coffee or just sitting outside with friends and family, especially as the weather is getting warmer, and not have to be exposed to second-hand smoke… They have just as much right to fresh air as a smoker has the right to smoke in certain places.”

12 Sep 2010

Resverlogix announces key changes to Phase 2 ASSURE trial

Resverlogix Corp. announces that the Company's Phase 2 clinical trial, called ASSURE (ApoA-1 Synthesis Stimulation in Acute Coronary Syndrome patients), has made important modifications to the design of the trial which have the potential to demonstrate a more powerful endpoint for the planning of future clinical trials for RVX-208.

10 Sep 2010

McGill researchers pioneer anesthetics via videoconferencing

Videoconferences may be known for putting people to sleep, but never like this. Dr. Thomas Hemmerling and his team of McGill's Department of Anesthesia achieved a world first on August 30, 2010, when they treated patients undergoing thyroid gland surgery in Italy remotely from Montreal. The approach is part of new technological advancements, known as 'Teleanesthesia', and it involves a team of engineers, researchers and anesthesiologists who will ultimately apply the drugs intravenously which are then controlled remotely through an automated system.

10 Sep 2010

Doctor works to measure outcomes of provider care

Forbes profiles "the most powerful doctor you never heard of," a Yale cardiologist who does "outcomes research" in which he measures "how well doctors are doing in the real world, outside of controlled trials--what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong and what they are forgetting to do entirely."

10 Sep 2010

IASIS Healthcare signs agreement to acquire Brim Holdings

IASIS Healthcare today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Brim Holdings, Inc., which operates Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, and Pikes Peak Regional Hospital in Woodland Park, Colorado, in a cash-for-stock transaction valued at approximately $95 million, subject to customary closing conditions and working capital adjustments. Combined revenue of the two facilities is approximately $120 million.

10 Sep 2010

Zargis enters agreement with OTN for testing of telemedicine stethoscope system

Zargis Medical Corp., a majority-owned subsidiary of Speedus Corp., today announced that it has signed an agreement with the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) providing for the delivery and testing of Zargis' award-winning telemedicine stethoscope system.

10 Sep 2010

Mexican-American stroke survivors with atrial fibrillation at increased risk for second stroke

Mexican-American stroke survivors with a heart rhythm disorder have more than twice the risk for another stroke compared to non-Hispanic whites, according to a study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

10 Sep 2010

VCU Pauley Heart Center to investigate portable, mechanical driver for powering artificial hearts

The Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center is the lead institution in a national clinical trial of technology that will allow artificial heart patients to recuperate, rehabilitate and wait in the comfort of their own homes until a donor heart becomes available for transplant.

10 Sep 2010

Study finds misclassification of risk groups for heart diseases

The widespread use of a simplified clinical tool to estimate future coronary risk could lead to the classification of millions of Americans into different risk groups than when using the original, "gold-standard" tool. Millions of patients may have been misclassified into higher-risk groups and therefore potentially over-treated, while others may have ended up in lower-risk groups and therefore potentially under-treated for heart disease. The study-, led by William Gordon from Weill Cornell Medical College in the US and colleagues, is published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine-, published by Springer.

10 Sep 2010

GE Healthcare to showcase molecular imaging portfolio at WMIC

Reinforcing its commitment to researchers and clinicians, GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company is showcasing a comprehensive molecular imaging portfolio—encompassing tracer development, pre-clinical imaging and highly advanced imaging equipment— to provide insight into the origins of disease, at the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC), Booth #212, September 8 through 11 in Kyoto, Japan.

10 Sep 2010

Translational Research issue focuses field of stem cell research, therapy

The use of stem cells for research and their possible application in the treatment of disease are hotly debated topics. In a special issue of Translational Research published this month an international group of medical experts presents an in-depth and balanced view of the rapidly evolving field of stem cell research and considers the potential of harnessing stem cells for therapy of human diseases including cardiovascular diseases, renal failure, neurologic disorders, gastrointestinal diseases, pulmonary diseases, neoplastic diseases, and type 1 diabetes mellitus.

10 Sep 2010

PediaWorks, Medikit form PediaCath to develop pediatric catheters

PediaWorks and Medikit Co., Ltd. announced the formation of PediaCath, Inc., a joint venture to help alleviate the severe shortage of medical devices for use in pediatric patients.

10 Sep 2010

Avinger initiates enrollment in Wildcat Catheter trial for chronic total occlusions in femoropopliteal lesions

Avinger, Inc., a medical device company focused on the development of innovative devices to combat peripheral artery disease, announces the enrollment of the first patient in the CONNECT (Chronic TOtal OcclusioN CrossiNg with thE WildCat CatheTer) clinical trial. The CONNECT trial is a prospective, multi-center, non-randomized study intended to evaluate the Wildcat Catheter's ability to cross chronic total occlusions in femoropopliteal lesions.

10 Sep 2010

Children with severe, therapy-resistant asthma more likely to have poorer lung function: SARP

A subset of children with asthma suffers from severe, treatment-resistant disease associated with more illness and greater allergic hypersensitivity, according to the results of the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute's Severe Asthma Research Program, presented in a recently published article in Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc..

10 Sep 2010

Method to predict risk of major coronary event may underestimate risk for millions of Americans: Study

A method that is widely used to predict the risk of a major coronary event may over- or underestimate risk for millions of Americans, according to a study directed by a researcher at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

10 Sep 2010