Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

New insights on heart's 'fight or flight' response to stress

Even for those without a heart condition, it's a peculiar feeling when your heart "races" in response to stress.

10 Mar 2009

Metabolic and neurological disorders may share common risk factors

Metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes appear to share risk factors with and may influence the development of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, according to several reports published in the March issue of Archives of Neurology.

10 Mar 2009

Glass-fiber-reinforced plastic guide wires allow surgeons to insert catheters without X-rays

Have the patient's coronary vessels, heart valves or myocardial muscle changed abnormally?

10 Mar 2009

New procedure for eliminating reblockage of arteries

An easily implementable technique to avoid reblockage of arteries that have been cleared through angioplasty and stent insertion has been developed by researchers led by Prof. Boris Rubinsky of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

10 Mar 2009

BDNF gene shows promise as target for treating obesity

With obesity reaching epidemic levels, researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center are studying a potentially long-term treatment that involves injecting a gene directly into one of the critical feeding and weight control centers of the brain.

10 Mar 2009

Relationship between depressive symptoms and cardiac events

New data published in the March 17, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggest that relatively healthy women with severe depression are at increased risk of cardiac events, including sudden cardiac death (SCD) and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD).

10 Mar 2009

Air pollution and headaches

A new study shows that higher temperatures and lower barometric air pressure may lead to a higher, short-term risk of headaches, but air pollution may not have a significant effect on headache.

10 Mar 2009

Diabetes and elevated levels of cholesterol linked to faster cognitive decline in Alzheimer's patients

A history of diabetes and elevated levels of cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol, are associated with faster cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study from Columbia University Medical Center researchers.

10 Mar 2009

Diabetes and elevated levels of cholesterol linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's

10 Mar 2009

Anger and hostility associated with higher risk for coronary heart disease

Anger and hostility are significantly associated with both a higher risk for coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy individuals and poorer outcomes in patients with existing heart disease, according to the first quantitative review and meta-analysis of related studies, which appears in the March 17, 2009, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

10 Mar 2009

Breakthrough improves effectiveness of tuberculosis vaccine

A breakthrough strategy to improve the effectiveness of the only tuberculosis vaccine approved for humans provided superior protection against the deadly disease in a pre-clinical test, report scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in Nature Medicine 's Advance Online Publication March 1.

8 Mar 2009

Advances in stem cell research

Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston are on the forefront of stem cell research, developing novel therapies designed to generate heart cells, repair traumatic lung injuries, grow new bone and stanch the spread of cancer cells.

8 Mar 2009

Abdominal obesity puts the squeeze on lungs

There's more bad news for people who carry excess weight around their waists: Not only is abdominal obesity associated with diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and a host of other health problems collectively known as "metabolic syndrome," a new study has found that a high waist circumference is strongly associated with decreased lung function-independent of smoking history, sex, body mass index (BMI) and other complicating factors.

8 Mar 2009

Simplified treatment for sleep apnea

Diagnosing and treating obstructive sleep apnea may soon become much less expensive and arduous, thanks to new research showing that a simplified program using experienced nurses, home ambulatory diagnosis and auto-titrating continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines to titrate CPAP pressures is not inferior to the traditional model which relies on specialist physicians and sleep studies.

8 Mar 2009

Hopkins community nursing showcases public health principles

Public Health Week, April 7-13, annually highlights health promotion, disease prevention, and early intervention, but for the faculty and students at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing (JHUSON), every week is public health week.

8 Mar 2009

Saving heart attack patients in the middle of the night

When Joyce Moss recently arrived at Loyola University Hospital with a life-threatening heart attack, it took just 42 minutes to perform an emergency balloon angioplasty.

5 Mar 2009

Challenge of a cure for HIV infection

A group including leading academic and industry scientists has issued a challenge to researchers in the field of HIV/AIDS: find a way to effectively purge latent HIV infection and eliminate the need for chronic, suppressive therapy to control this disease.

5 Mar 2009

Discovery of new gene associated with Lou Gehrig's disease

A collaborative research effort spanning nearly a decade between researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT, the Broad Institute, King's College London (KCL) and other institutions has identified a novel gene for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease).

5 Mar 2009

Racial disparities in ER length of stay point to added risks for minority patients

Sick or injured African-American patients wait about an hour longer than patients of other races before being transferred to an inpatient hospital bed following emergency room visits, according to a new national study published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine.

5 Mar 2009

Pulmonary hypertension in children may result from reduced activity of gene regulator

Too little activity by gene regulators called PPARs appears to be a major player in the irreversible lung damage that can occur in children with heart defects, researchers say.

5 Mar 2009