Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

First hospital in Mexico to use GORE HELEX Septal Occluder for transcatheter closure of ASD

W. L. Gore & Associates (Gore) today announced that Instituto Nacional De Cardiologia in Mexico City, Mexico, is the first hospital in the country to use the GORE® HELEX Septal Occluder for the transcatheter closure of an atrial septal defect (ASD). Department Chief, Dr. Carlos Zabal and Dr. Jose Garcia Montes of the Instituto Nacional de Cardiologia, in Mexico City, achieved the milestone procedure in March, 2010.

14 Jun 2010

New path involving "innocent spectators" to defeat systemic sclerosis

There is a new path to defeat systemic sclerosis, also called scleroderma because of the hardening of the skin of the patients (from Greek skleros, "hard", and derma, "skin"). This path involves the B-cell of the immune system, so far only considered "innocent spectators," as Catholic University rheumatologist Gianfranco Ferraccioli, among the authors of the important research, puts it.

14 Jun 2010

Programs try cash incentives to get forgetful patients to take meds

The New York Times reports on a new approach to getting patients to take their medications consistently: financial incentives. "One-third to one-half of all patients do not take medication as prescribed, and up to one-quarter never fill prescriptions at all, experts say. Such lapses fuel more than $100 billion dollars in health costs annually because those patients often get sicker. Now, a controversial, and seemingly counterintuitive, effort to tackle the problem is gaining ground: paying people money to take medicine or to comply with prescribed treatment."

14 Jun 2010

Esperion, Cleveland Clinic collaborate to research new HDL therapies for cardiovascular disease

Esperion Therapeutics, a privately held biopharmaceutical company working to discover, develop and commercialize treatments for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, today announced the establishment of a collaborative research agreement with Cleveland Clinic, one of the world's leading academic medical centers. The collaboration will work to advance research targeting new HDL therapies to treat cardiovascular disease.

14 Jun 2010

Upsher-Smith commences global USL255 Phase III clinical trial for management of epilepsy

Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc. today announced the initiation of a global Phase III clinical trial for USL255 (extended-release topiramate), an internally developed program for the management of epilepsy in adults, using the company's proprietary formulation technology. USL255 is designed to provide convenient once-daily dosing and reduce fluctuations in topiramate blood levels observed with currently available topiramate options.

14 Jun 2010

Lantheus Medical Imaging reports new Phase 4 data from DEFINITY study

Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc., a worldwide leader in diagnostic medical imaging, today announced new data from a Phase 4, open-label safety study evaluating the effect of DEFINITY® Vial For (Perflutren Lipid Microsphere) Injectable Suspension, an echocardiography contrast agent, on pulmonary and systemic artery hemodynamics in patients with either normal or increased baseline pulmonary artery pressure.

14 Jun 2010

FDA clears U.Va.'s SpermCheck Fertility at-home test

Couples will soon have a new tool in diagnosing male infertility - without the expense and inconvenience associated with a trip to a specialist's office.

14 Jun 2010

Study evaluates correlation between EverOn system and detection of patient deterioration in hospitals

EarlySense, developer of the EverOn contact-free, patient supervision system for hospital and post acute care, announced today the results of a multicenter study conducted at several hospitals in the United States and Israel. The data were recently made public by Drs. Eyal Zimlichman, Martine Szyper-Kravitz, Howard Amital, and Yehuda Shoenfeld at the American Thoracic Society Conference in New Orleans in a presentation titled, Recognizing Specific Respiratory Patterns Preceding in Hospital Clinical Deterioration, a Multicenter Study.

14 Jun 2010

New analysis contradicts study that brain consumes extra glucose when people exert self-control

Contradicting a popular model of self-control, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist says the data from a 2007 study argues against the idea that glucose is the resource used to manage self control and that humans rely on this energy source for will power.

14 Jun 2010

ARBs increase risk of cancer: Study

University Hospitals Case Medical Center cardiologists have uncovered new research showing an increased risk of cancer with a group of blood pressure medications known as angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs).

14 Jun 2010

Nexavar does not meet primary endpoint in Phase 3 NExUS trial for advanced NSCLC

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the final analysis of the Phase 3 NExUS (NSCLC research Experience Utilizing Sorafenib) trial evaluating Nexavar® (sorafenib) tablets in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed that the study did not meet its primary endpoint of improving overall survival in the first-line setting.

14 Jun 2010

Children born after ART at increased risk of congenital malformation

Couples considering undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment should be informed about the increased risk of congenital malformation posed by the use of ART, the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics will hear today (Monday). Dr. G-raldine Viot, a clinical geneticist at the Maternit- Port Royal hospital, Paris, France, will say that she believed that most doctors working in ART clinics in France only told couples about such risks if they were asked specific questions.

14 Jun 2010

Discarded livers have potential to be reengineered into usable replacement organs: Researchers

A team led by researchers from the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital has developed a technique that someday may allow growth of transplantable replacement livers. In their report that will be published in Nature Medicine and is receiving early online release, the investigators describe using the structural tissue of rat livers as scaffolding for the growth of tissue regenerated from liver cells introduced through a novel reseeding process.

14 Jun 2010

In vitro fertilization ups the risk of birth defects: study

Researchers have found from a large scale study that in vitro fertilization of IVF is associated with an increased risk of birth defects in the baby. They urge doctors treating patients with infertility to routinely warn them about these risks. The study involved 33 centers for IVF in France and covered over 15,000 births from 2003 to 2007. This study is the largest till date.

14 Jun 2010

Telmisartan reduces hypertension, cardiovascular risk in ACE-intolerant patients: Boehringer Ingelheim

Telmisartan, an angiotensin receptor blocker, is one of the best researched drugs worldwide. It has been studied in clinical trials in more than 50,000 patients. Its positive safety profile has been confirmed also in a market exposure of 34.5 million patient years. Convincing safety data for patients with a high cardiovascular risk were collected in the three long-term outcome trials ONTARGET, PRoFESS and TRANSCEND which followed some of the patients for up to five years.

14 Jun 2010

Asymptomatic perioperative arrhythmias can lead to sudden cardiac death after surgery: Researchers

Vascular surgery may be accompanied by cardiovascular complications, like ventricular tachyarrhythmia. Though, these arrhythmias initially might be asymptomatic, they can lead to increased risk for late sudden cardiac death after surgery. Researchers from the Netherlands believe that cardiac high-risk patients with new-onset perioperative VT might benefit from preemptive cardioverter defibrillator implantation in addition to optimal focused medical therapy.

14 Jun 2010

Chiasma successfully completes Phase I clinical study of Octreolin

Chiasma, Inc., a privately held biopharma company, announced that it has successfully completed a Phase I clinical study evaluating the safety and pharmacokinetics (PK) of its proprietary product Octreolin, which contains the active ingredient octreotide actetate and is administered orally

14 Jun 2010

Lack of access to primary care leads reasons for poorer health in US

Why do other countries spend less on health care and yet achieve near-universal coverage and often better outcomes than the United States? This question has come up repeatedly during the health reform debate, and yet the answers still aren't clear. How much of a factor is the health care system? Population differences? These are some of the questions addressed in Health Care in World Cities, a new book co-authored by Hastings Center scholar Michael Gusmano and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.

11 Jun 2010

DRIVE4COPD initiative aims to raise awareness of COPD

In just four months since its launch, DRIVE4COPD has already encouraged more than 100,000 people to be screened to see if they may be at risk for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The country's newest health initiative that aims to raise awareness of COPD in the hopes that people will talk to their doctor and get diagnosed instead of suffering in silence. Currently, half of the estimated 24 million Americans who may have COPD remain undiagnosed and untreated, and most are not diagnosed until they have lost half their lung function.

11 Jun 2010

Phase II study results of riociguat for CTEPH and PAH published online

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that the study "Riociguat for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary arterial hypertension: a phase II study" was published online this week by the European Respiratory Journal. Results of this study to assess the safety, tolerability and the feasibility of individual dose titration of riociguat were previously presented at the 2009 International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.

11 Jun 2010

Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

First hospital in Mexico to use GORE HELEX Septal Occluder for transcatheter closure of ASD

New path involving "innocent spectators" to defeat systemic sclerosis

Programs try cash incentives to get forgetful patients to take meds

Esperion, Cleveland Clinic collaborate to research new HDL therapies for cardiovascular disease

Upsher-Smith commences global USL255 Phase III clinical trial for management of epilepsy

Lantheus Medical Imaging reports new Phase 4 data from DEFINITY study

FDA clears U.Va.'s SpermCheck Fertility at-home test

Study evaluates correlation between EverOn system and detection of patient deterioration in hospitals

New analysis contradicts study that brain consumes extra glucose when people exert self-control

ARBs increase risk of cancer: Study

Nexavar does not meet primary endpoint in Phase 3 NExUS trial for advanced NSCLC

Children born after ART at increased risk of congenital malformation

Discarded livers have potential to be reengineered into usable replacement organs: Researchers

In vitro fertilization ups the risk of birth defects: study

Telmisartan reduces hypertension, cardiovascular risk in ACE-intolerant patients: Boehringer Ingelheim

Asymptomatic perioperative arrhythmias can lead to sudden cardiac death after surgery: Researchers

Chiasma successfully completes Phase I clinical study of Octreolin

Lack of access to primary care leads reasons for poorer health in US

DRIVE4COPD initiative aims to raise awareness of COPD

Phase II study results of riociguat for CTEPH and PAH published online

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

How industrial hygiene flow calibration supports defensible exposure data

How electrical engineering ensures accurate calibration and patient safety

The importance of ketones from a clinical and medical perspective

Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Industry Focus eBook - Cell & Gene Therapy (1st Edition) eBook

How industrial hygiene flow calibration supports defensible exposure data

How electrical engineering ensures accurate calibration and patient safety

The importance of ketones from a clinical and medical perspective

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