Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Cardiovascular Systems to build new manufacturing facility in Texas

Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSI), a medical device company developing and commercializing innovative interventional treatment systems for vascular disease, has signed a 10-year lease agreement for a new 46,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Pearland, Texas.

6 Oct 2009

Gene therapy to improve ailing heart's contractions of muscle cells

Scientists from the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota show in a research report published online in the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) that gene therapy may be used to improve an ailing heart's ability to contract properly. In addition to showing gene therapy's potential for reversing the course of heart failure, it also offers a tantalizing glimpse of a day when "closed heart surgery" via gene therapy is as commonly prescribed as today's cocktail of drugs.

6 Oct 2009

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy causes sudden cardiac death in children and young adults

Since Congress declared October “National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month” one year ago, more than 250,000 Americans have suffered SCA. For too many, the underlying cause was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), an inherited disease that affects one out of 500 Americans. What makes it all the more troubling is that early diagnosis of HCM through simple and inexpensive screening can reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death.

6 Oct 2009

Direct Flow Medical releases clinical results of its new Percutaneous Aortic Valve System

Direct Flow Medical, Inc., www.directflowmedical.com, released its 12 month data from the initial clinical trial for a new device to treat valve disease without invasive thoracic surgery. Direct Flow Medical is a privately held, emerging medical device company developing a next-generation, catheter based, percutaneous delivered prosthetic aortic valve.

6 Oct 2009

Boston Scientific begins patient enrollments for MADIT-RIT clinical trial

Boston Scientific Corporation today announced its exclusive sponsorship and first enrollments of the MADIT-RIT clinical trial. This new trial follows in the tradition of three previous landmark trials: MADIT, MADIT II and MADIT-CRT, each exclusively sponsored by Boston Scientific and conducted under the leadership of Principal Investigator Arthur J. Moss, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester.

6 Oct 2009

New institutional advertising campaign based on real stories

NYU Langone Medical Center will launch a new institutional advertising campaign based on real stories from the Medical Center beginning on October 5, 2009. The campaign, “Any Given Moment,” captures and conveys some of the most powerful, intimate and uniquely human experiences to emerge from the Medical Center and features the Medical Center’s core clinical care and research strengths.

6 Oct 2009

Individuals who follow the Mediterranean dietary pattern at reduced risk to develop depression: Study

Individuals who follow the Mediterranean dietary pattern—rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and fish—appear less likely to develop depression, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

6 Oct 2009

Framingham Heart Study receives $1M grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Boston University School of Medicine's (BUSM) Framingham Heart Study (FHS) has received a two-year $1M challenge grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

6 Oct 2009

Summa Health System to implement ProVation MD software

Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today that Summa Health System has selected ProVation® MD software for Cardiology procedure documentation and coding.

6 Oct 2009

Winner of 2009 NAMS award

Michael Holick, PhD, MD, director of the Bone Healthcare Clinic and the Vitamin D, Skin and Bone Research Laboratory at Boston University School of Medicine BUSM recently received the 2009 NAMS/Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc.Vitamin D Research Award from the North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

6 Oct 2009

Alcohol-impaired drivers account for higher emergency department costs

The costs of drinking and driving are all too apparent, with alcohol involved in 41 percent of all motor vehicle crash fatalities in 2006. In addition to the mortality and morbidity associated with drinking and driving, the economic impact of alcohol impaired driving is considerable, estimated at $51 billion, with medical costs accounting for 15 percent of that figure.

6 Oct 2009

Sit-and-reach test to gauge age-related arterial stiffness

How far you can reach beyond your toes from a sitting position - normally used to define the flexibility of a person's body - may be an indicator of how stiff your arteries are.

6 Oct 2009

Molecular biologist receives 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Molecular biologist Elizabeth H. Blackburn, PhD, 60, of the University of California, San Francisco, today was named to receive the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

6 Oct 2009

Schering-Plough receives FDA recommendation approval for PEGINTRON

Schering-Plough Corp. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) recommended approval by a vote of six to four for PEGINTRON® (pegylated interferon alfa-2b) in the adjuvant treatment of patients with Stage III malignant melanoma.

6 Oct 2009

Group Health Research Institute to receive federal stimulus funds from ARRA

Group Health Research Institute, formerly Group Health Center for Health Studies, will receive more than $15 million in federal stimulus funding from ARRA, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

6 Oct 2009

Depression leads to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body: Study

To help solve this long standing chicken and egg conundrum, researchers led by Jesse Stewart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis asked two critical questions. Does depression lead to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body? Or does an increase in these proteins lead to depression? They found that the answer to the first question appears to be "yes," and the answer to the second question may be "no" among healthy adults.

6 Oct 2009

General Mills launches Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation to address obesity

Reinforcing General Mills’ on-going commitment to helping Americans achieve a healthy weight through energy balance, the company joined retailers, non-government organizations and peer food and beverage manufacturers today to launch the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (HWCF).

6 Oct 2009

ResMed announces acquisition of Laboratoires Narval

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD), a leading developer, manufacturer and distributor of sleep and respiratory medical equipment, announced today that it has acquired Laboratoires Narval. Based in France, Laboratoires Narval manufactures and distributes the Narval O.R.M.(TM), an innovative mandibular repositioning device (MRD) that offers a solution to patients for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), especially for those with mild OSA.

From ResMed Corp 6 Oct 2009

Eat strawberries to improve cholesterol levels

According to a new study published in the October 2009 issue of Nutrition Journal, women with metabolic syndrome had reduced total cholesterol levels - including LDL - after a brief period of daily consumption of a strawberry-based beverage.

6 Oct 2009

GE Healthcare announces FDA clearance of CARESCAPE Monitor B850

GE Healthcare today announced the FDA-cleared CARESCAPE™ Monitor B850, which provides caregivers with a unique level of integration between patient monitoring data and hospital information systems. Unlike traditional patient monitors, CARESCAPE Monitor B850 directly links hospital networks, electronic medical records (EMRs), diagnostic images, lab results and third-party devices with real-time patient monitoring data, to support efficient clinical decision-making.

6 Oct 2009