Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

FDA approves manufacture of Amneal Pharmaceuticals' Nizatidine Oral Solution

Amneal Pharmaceuticals is pleased to announce that it has received U.S. FDA approval to manufacture Nizatidine Oral Solution in the 15 mg/mL strength effective November 18, 2009. It is an AA-rated, therapeutically equivalent alternative to Axid® Oral Solution (a licensed trademark of Braintree Labs). Nizatidine Oral Solution is the first available generic in oral solution form and marks Amneal’s fourth liquid approval.

3 Dec 2009

Breastfeeding reduces a woman's risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome

Breastfeeding a child may lower a woman's risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome, a condition linked to heart disease and diabetes in women, according to a Kaiser Permanente study that was published today online ahead of print and will appear in the February issue of Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association (link: http://dx.doi.org/10.2337/db09-1197).

3 Dec 2009

Hyperion Therapeutics commences enrollment in its HPN-100 episodic hepatic encephalopathy trial

Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in its phase II clinical trial of investigational compound HPN-100 (glycerol phenylbutyrate).

3 Dec 2009

Enrollment closed early in Cubist Pharmaceuticals' ecallantide Phase 2 program

Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the early closing of enrollment in its ecallantide Phase 2 program. Ecallantide, in development as therapy to reduce bleeding in on-pump cardiac surgery, is now known as CB-500,929. After a regularly scheduled review meeting, the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) contacted the company to recommend a temporary suspension in enrollment in one of the CB-500,929 trials, CONSERV-2.

3 Dec 2009

Analysis shows fewer victims survive out-of-hospital cardiac arrests

The chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has not improved since the 1950s, according to a report by the University of Michigan Health System.

3 Dec 2009

Sodexo launches 'Better Tomorrow Plan' to meet the challenges of community and environmental practices

Sodexo (PARIS:SW) (OTCBB:SDXAY), world leader in Quality of Life solutions, announced today the creation of the "Better Tomorrow Plan," designed to better respond to the challenges of proper Nutrition, Health and Wellness, Local communities and Environment.

3 Dec 2009

Care Support of America's outpatient palliative care coordination model improves the quality of life for seniors

Care Support of America's model of outpatient palliative care coordination, Advanced Illness Coordinated Care (AICC), has been shown to reduce hospitalizations in the last years of life as well as improve the quality of life for seniors and their family caregivers without increasing mortality. These are the principal findings of a new study published in American Journal of Managed Care (November 2009).

3 Dec 2009

Study: Stem cells from donor bone marrow may help repair heart damage

Adult stem cells may help repair heart tissue damaged by heart attack according to the findings of a new study to be published in the December 8 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Results from the Phase I study show stem cells from donor bone marrow appear to help heart attack patients recover better by growing new blood vessels to bring more oxygen to the heart

3 Dec 2009

Lunasin may have important health benefits, two new studies report

Two new University of Illinois studies report that lunasin, a soy peptide often discarded in the waste streams of soy-processing plants, may have important health benefits that include fighting leukemia and blocking the inflammation that accompanies such chronic health conditions as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

3 Dec 2009

More than 80 abstracts highlighting Bristol-Myers Squibb's oncology compound to be presented

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company today announced that more than 80 abstracts highlighting compounds from the company’s oncology portfolio will be presented at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) to be held December 5-8 in New Orleans.

3 Dec 2009

NHLBI awards new federal grant to improve the quality of stored transfusion blood

A new, $2.8 million, four-year federal grant will support researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and their collaborators at Wake Forest University as they study why the quality of stored transfusion blood degrades over time and how to address the problem.

3 Dec 2009

NHLBI approves award of 13 contracts to improve asthma control

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health has approved the award of 13 contracts to local organizations across the country to develop, implement, and test science-based approaches to improve asthma control using evidence-based national guidelines for diagnosing and managing asthma.

3 Dec 2009

Waterpipe tobacco smoking as deadly as cigarette smoking

Smoking tobacco through a waterpipe exposes the user to the same toxicants - carbon monoxide and nicotine - as puffing on a cigarette, which could lead to nicotine addiction and heart disease, according to a study led by a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher published in the December issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

3 Dec 2009

SJH and Pharos Innovations team up to enhance care and reduce healthcare costs

According to Stephen F. Jencks, MD, MPH, in a recent New England Journal of Medicine article, America's healthcare crisis is fueled by unnecessary and costly hospitalizations, including re-admissions -- 90% of which are unplanned and at a price-tag of $17.4 billion. To enhance care and combat readmissions, South Jersey Healthcare (SJH), a leading regional healthcare provider in southern New Jersey, has entered a partnership with Pharos Innovations that aims to reduce healthcare costs while improving quality of life for patients.

3 Dec 2009

Chinese 'herbal' cigarettes are just addictive and no safer than regular cigarettes, find researchers

Despite popular belief and some marketing claims, researchers have found that Chinese "herbal" cigarettes that combine medicinal herbs with tobacco are just as addictive and no safer than regular cigarettes.

3 Dec 2009

Youths highly exposed to targeted alcohol advertisements, say researchers

Alcoholic beverages popular among youths are more likely to be advertised in magazines with high youth readership than alcoholic drinks consumed mainly by adults, resulting in disproportionately high youth exposure to such targeted alcohol ads, according to a new study.

3 Dec 2009

Research study compares genetic make-up of humans and primates

In spite of their genetic similarity to humans, chimpanzees and great apes have maximum lifespans that rarely exceed 50 years. The difference, explains USC Davis School of Gerontology Professor Caleb Finch, is that as humans evolved genes that enabled them to better adjust to levels of infection and inflammation and to the high cholesterol levels of their meat rich diets.

3 Dec 2009

Beta blockers and stress tests before non-cardiac surgeries should be avoided, according to study

Physicians should "throttle back" from routinely ordering stress tests and prescribing beta blockers to patients before non-cardiac surgeries, according to a report by the University of Michigan released online this week.

3 Dec 2009

AMICAS announces new contract with Washington Radiology Associates

AMICAS, Inc., a leader in image and information management solutions, today announced a new contract with Washington Radiology Associates (Fairfax, VA). This agreement will extend Washington Radiology Associates' long-standing partnership with AMICAS to include AMICAS PACS(TM).

3 Dec 2009

Yale researchers survey door-to-balloon times in 831 hospitals

Healthcare professionals using new time-saving strategies to coordinate care for patients having a heart attack saw dramatic improvement in "door-to-balloon" (D2B) times-the time from when a patient enters the hospital to the time blood flow is restored to the heart by opening a blockage with angioplasty. The faster patients are treated, the more likely they are to survive. The results are published by Yale researchers and their colleagues in the December 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

3 Dec 2009