Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Urine protein microalbuminuria may be present before hypertension diagnosis in at-risk adolescents

A protein that is an early indicator of kidney dysfunction in adults may predict hypertension in black adolescents, Medical College of Georgia researchers have found.

28 Feb 2008

UCLA to study health care disparities affecting minorities

The UCLA Department of Family Medicine, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has launched the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare, a group that will study health care disparities affecting minorities with chronic diseases.

28 Feb 2008

Scientists devise approach that stops HIV at earliest stage of infection

Their study, which appears this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), may re-energize attempts to create a preventive/therapeutic vaccine against HIV, say the authors.

28 Feb 2008

Overweight Hispanic children shown to have vascular inflammation

Overweight Hispanic children with normal blood glucose (sugar) levels showed elevated markers for blood vessel inflammation that may predispose them to developing both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, says a new study led by researchers from the Joslin Diabetes Center.

28 Feb 2008

New radiology center puts research scanners in hospital

Whether it's needed to track the activity of a drug, the growth of a tumor, or the progress of a medical disorder, high-tech imaging equipment often is an essential component of advanced clinical research.

28 Feb 2008

New view of human brainstem

A team of scientists from Princeton University has devised a new experimental technique that produces some of the best functional images ever taken of the human brainstem, the most primitive area of the brain.

28 Feb 2008

Exercise and caloric restriction may be treatment method for metabolic syndrome

Published in the March/April issue of AJLM, the article, written by Peter M. Janiszewski, MSc, Travis J. Saunders BSc, and Robert Ross, PhD, at Queen's University, reviews existing evidence that exercise and caloric restriction can be a valid treatment strategy for metabolic syndrome.

28 Feb 2008

Are cataract rates on the decline?

Should glaucoma patients seeking alternative therapies trust what they find online? Are seatbelts still important to protect eyes in auto accidents, now that most cars have airbags? What's the connection between hearing loss and one form of glaucoma? These are among the topics explored in the March 2008 issue of Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

28 Feb 2008

URMC cardiac team celebrates 100th heart transplant

The Program in Heart Failure and Transplantation at the University of Rochester Medical Center has reached a milestone, performing its 100th cardiac transplant surgery.

27 Feb 2008

Heart disease in Europe

New figures published by the European Society of Cardiology and the European Heart Network this month, highlighted the significant differences in cardiovascular disease across Europe.

27 Feb 2008

Hormones produced by the heart eliminate pancreatic cancer in mice

Hormones produced by the heart eliminated human pancreatic cancer in more than three-quarters of the mice treated with the hormones and eliminated human breast cancer in two-thirds of the mice, according to researcher David Vesely, a doctor at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa and a professor at the University of South Florida (USF).

27 Feb 2008

Risks of CVD for COX-2 inhibitors lower than previously reported

In an article published in the March issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology and Therapeutics, researchers from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) assess the totality of evidence, including strengths and limitations of different types of evidence contributing to the debate about cardiovascular disease (CVD) risks of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

27 Feb 2008

New understanding of structure and behavior of collagen

The structure and behavior of one of the most common proteins in our bodies has been resolved at a level of detail never before seen, thanks to new research performed at the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.

27 Feb 2008

Nanoemulsion vaccines show increasing promise

A novel technique for vaccinating against a variety of infectious diseases - using an oil-based emulsion placed in the nose, rather than needles - has proved able to produce a strong immune response against smallpox and HIV in two new studies.

27 Feb 2008

Heart attack rates drop following national smoking bans in France

French researchers announced a striking 15% decrease in admissions of patients with myocardial infarction to emergency wards since the public ban on smoking came into effect in restaurants, hotels and casinos in France last January.

27 Feb 2008

Adult-onset obesity seen in mice when gene ubiquitin disrupted

Texas and California scientists who disrupted one type of the gene ubiquitin (Ubb) in mice observed neuronal death in the hypothalamus, impaired control of energy balance and adult-onset obesity in the rodents.

27 Feb 2008

Adult stem cells may be beneficial for certain cardiovascular disorders and autoimmune diseases

A review of previously published research suggests that stem cells harvested from an adult's blood or marrow may provide treatment benefit to select patients for some autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disorders, according to an article in the February 27 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

27 Feb 2008

Cognitive impairment among older Americans is declining

Rates of cognitive impairment among older Americans are on the decline, according to a new study supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) comparing the cognitive health of older people in 1993 and 2002.

27 Feb 2008

Spinal cord injury may not increase risk of heart disease

Americans who live with spinal cord injury do not appear to be at greater risk of developing carbohydrate and lipid disorders such as insulin resistance, diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance, and high or low blood cholesterol levels - risk factors for heart disease - than able-bodied persons, according to a new evidence review by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

27 Feb 2008

Enzyme Cdk1 may lead to new cancer therapies

With a four-year, $707,000 grant from the American Cancer Society, Yanchang Wang, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the Florida State University College of Medicine, hopes to learn how a particular enzyme could possibly help put the brakes on the runaway cell division process that occurs in many forms of cancer.

27 Feb 2008