Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Sex could motivate obese men to lose weight

A specialist in men's health suggests that warning overweight men about the consequences of fat on their sex lives may help them shed their kilos where other strategies have failed.

11 Mar 2008

Gene could spell new chapter in fight against gout

Researchers have found why some people are more susceptible to gout than others. The scientists looked at the genetic codes of more than 12,000 people after identifying a gene linked to uric acid levels in the blood.

10 Mar 2008

New rapid blood test for tuberculosis

A new blood test could enable doctors to rule out tuberculosis (TB) infection within days rather than weeks, according to a new study published this week in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

10 Mar 2008

The potential for cannabinoids as medicines

Smokers trying to quit in the future could do it with the help of cannabis based medicines, according to research from The University of Nottingham.

10 Mar 2008

Cardiac effects associated with breast cancer treatment appear lower

A new pilot study by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) found that breast cancer patients can be treated safely with a “dose-dense” regimen of standard chemotherapy agents and the antibody trastuzumab (Herceptin®), a drug that has previously been shown to cause cardiac toxicity.

10 Mar 2008

Moderate alcohol consumption in middle-age lowers cardiovascular risk

A Medical University of South Carolina's (MUSC) Department of Family Medicine study concluded that people who began moderately consuming alcohol in middle-age experience a quick benefit of lower rates of cardiovascular disease morbidity with no change in mortality after four years.

10 Mar 2008

Once-a-week arthritis pill significantly reduces the risk of heart attacks

A once-a-week pill to treat rheumatoid arthritis significantly reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke for people with the painful joint condition.

10 Mar 2008

A glass of wine a day protects middle-aged teetotallers from heart disease

Scientists say that middle-aged 'teetotallers' can quickly reduce their risk of heart disease by having a daily tipple.

10 Mar 2008

Refined carb diet increases risk of common diseases

Eating foods the body quickly converts into blood glucose - such as highly processed breakfast cereals and most white breads - leads to a greater risk of diabetes, heart disease and some types of cancer.

9 Mar 2008

Women are treated less frequently than men with statins, aspirin and beta-blockers

Women and men experience a similar prevalence of adverse drug reactions in the treatment of coronary artery disease; however, women are significantly less likely than their male counterparts to be treated with statins, aspirin, and beta-blockers according to a new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center.

6 Mar 2008

Risks of long-term hormone therapy continue to outweigh benefits

New results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) confirm that the health risks of long-term use of combination (estrogen plus progestin) hormone therapy in healthy, postmenopausal women persist even a few years after stopping the drugs and clearly outweigh the benefits.

6 Mar 2008

New way to assess a woman's risk for invasive breast cancer

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a way to quickly estimate a woman's risk for invasive breast cancer.

6 Mar 2008

Exercise doesn't stop the clock on aging, but it seems to slow it down

Evidence continues to mount that exercise provides many benefits to help people look and feel younger. The March issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource offers a recap of the many benefits of regular exercise.

6 Mar 2008

Worried about your cholesterol?

You may want to schedule a few appointments with a registered dietitian, to get some sound advice about how to shape up your eating habits, according to a new national study led by University of Michigan Health System researchers.

6 Mar 2008

How much and how often people drink influences mortality risk

How much and how often people drink - not just the average amount of alcohol they consume over time - independently influence the risk of death from several causes, according to a new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

6 Mar 2008

Researchers discover molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function

University of Iowa researchers have identified a molecular pathway in blood vessels that controls blood pressure and vascular function and may help explain why certain drugs for type II diabetes also appear to lower patients' blood pressure.

6 Mar 2008

New potential drug target for atherosclerosis

A nuclear receptor protein, known for controlling the ability of cells to burn fat, also exerts powerful anti-inflammatory effects in arteries, suppressing atherosclerosis in mice prone to developing the harmful plaques, according to new research by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the Harvard School of Public Health.

6 Mar 2008

Five steps to get on track with preventive screenings

Five health prevention strategies could save more than 100,000 lives a year, according to recent research reported in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource.

6 Mar 2008

Novel imaging technique provides comprehensive diagnosis of heart disease

In the current issue of the journal Circulation, a research team from the Medical University of South Carolina's (MUSC) Heart & Vascular Center report their initial experience with a novel imaging technique that enables comprehensive diagnosis of heart disease based on a single computerized tomographic (CT) scan.

6 Mar 2008

Cancer risk slightly higher for women in discontinued hormone treatment trial

A follow up study of participants in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) clinical trial led by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher has found that women who were taking the combined hormone therapy of estrogen plus progestin may have an increased risk of cancer since the intervention was stopped, compared to participants in the trial's placebo group.

6 Mar 2008