Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Medical prescription of heroin does not pose neighborhood risk

Providing heroin to drug addicts at medically supervised clinics does not pose risks to surrounding neighbourhoods, according to a new study by Serge Brochu, a researcher at the Université de Montréal School of Criminology.

18 Feb 2009

GlaxoSmithKline starts phase III trial of Syncria (albiglutide) type 2 diabetes medication

GlaxoSmithKline has announced initiation and dosing of the first patient of the Phase III clinical trial programme to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the investigational GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide 1) agonist Syncria (albiglutide) in men and women with type 2 diabetes.

18 Feb 2009

Opportunities for the health system in a sick economy

With the interim report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission published yesterday the time for implementing reform could hardly be better.

18 Feb 2009

FDA clears new immune response claim for CryoValve SG pulmonary human heart valve

CryoLife, Inc. has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared a new claim for the CryoValve(R) SG pulmonary human heart valve.

18 Feb 2009

Enzyme activates stress response and hypertrophy of the heart

An enzyme makes the mouse heart prone to chronic cardiac insufficiency – if it is suppressed, the heart remains strong despite increased stress.

18 Feb 2009

Weight loss improves nonalcoholic steatohepatitis

In a recent study, Saint Louis University researchers found that weight loss of at least 9 percent helped patients reverse a type of liver disease known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a finding that will allow doctors to give patients specific weight-loss goals that are likely to improve their livers.

17 Feb 2009

Video imaging technique provides dynamic view of airway obstruction

A video imaging technique demonstrates that the soft palate, the tissue at the back of the roof of the mouth, is more elongated and angled in patients with obstructive sleep apnea both when they sleep and when they are awake, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

17 Feb 2009

VAP cholesterol test helps find link between a rare gene mutation and heart protection

Using the VAP Cholesterol Test from Atherotech, Inc., University of Maryland researchers have found an association between a rare gene mutation and heart protection.

17 Feb 2009

Discovery of novel genetic markers linked to increased risk of heart attack

An international team of researchers including scientists of Helmholtz Zentrum München has succeeded in identifying new gene variants associated with an increased risk for myocardial infarction (MI), or heart attack.

17 Feb 2009

Hormone aldosterone linked to high blood pressure and blood vessel disease in African Americans

Researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have linked higher levels of the hormone aldosterone to high blood pressure and blood vessel disease in African Americans.

17 Feb 2009

Experimental antiarrhythmic drug dronedarone reduces death rate in patients with atrial fibrillation

Results from the ATHENA trial, reported in the 12th February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine , suggest that the (as yet unlicensed) antiarrhythmic drug dronedarone can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular-related hospitalisation or death in patients with atrial fibrillation.

16 Feb 2009

Senior patients benefit from selective use of early revascularization

The elderly represent a growing proportion of patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction (MI) complicated by cardiogenic shock (CS).

16 Feb 2009

Does gene show link between migraine and stroke or heart attacks?

New research looks at whether a gene variant may affect the link between migraine and stroke or heart attacks.

16 Feb 2009

Dendritic cells as a new player in arteries and heart valves

In 1973, Ralph M. Steinman launched a new scientific discipline when he published his discovery of the dendritic cell, an odd-shaped player in the immune system.

16 Feb 2009

Clot-buster boosts survival, decreases disability for deadly subset of stroke

New results from a multicenter study led by Johns Hopkins show that patients who got an experimental clot-busting treatment for a particularly lethal form of stroke were not only dramatically more likely to survive but also continued to shed lingering disabilities six months later.

16 Feb 2009

Closure of patent foramen ovale may benefit migraine sufferers

Reducing the frequency and severity of disabling migraines is crucial for quality of life.

16 Feb 2009

Obesity, a major risk factor for diabetes and other ills, targeted by study

Waistlines are expanding at such an alarming rate across the globe that, if trends hold, almost 58 percent of the world's population will be overweight or obese by 2030, according to researchers at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

16 Feb 2009