Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Researchers initiate gene therapy trial in patients with advanced skin cancer

Researchers at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center are the first in the region to have joined a nationwide clinical trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a gene therapy in patients with advanced melanoma which is aimed to help a patient ' s own immune system fight their cancer.

18 Dec 2007

New findings on myotonic muscular dystrophy

New research from the University of Virginia Health System shows that, in cases of Type 1 myotonic muscular dystrophy (DM1), a well known heart protein does several surprising things. DM1 is the most common form of muscular dystrophy in adults and affects approximately 40,000 adults and children in the U.S.

18 Dec 2007

Short legs linked to an increased risk of liver disease

Short legs are linked to an increased risk of liver disease, suggests a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health .

18 Dec 2007

Severe psoriasis associated with increased risk of death

Patients with severe psoriasis appear to have an increased risk of death compared with patients without the skin condition, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Dermatology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

18 Dec 2007

What makes us shiver?

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University's Neurological Sciences Institute have uncovered the system that tells the body when to perform one of its most basic defenses against the cold: shivering.

18 Dec 2007

New drug that cuts risk of cardiovascular disease shows promise

The first clinical trial of a new kind of drug to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease has been found safe and effective at dropping levels of "bad" low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by as much as 40 percent.

18 Dec 2007

New mechanical insights into wound healing and scar tissue formation

New research published today in the Journal of Cell Biology illuminates the mechanical factors that play a critical role in the differentiation and function of fibroblasts, connective tissue cells that play a role in wound healing and scar tissue formation.

18 Dec 2007

Oral diabetes medication - new guidelines

A pair of plain-language guides that outline the latest scientific evidence on the effectiveness and safety of oral medications for adults with type 2 diabetes are now available from HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

18 Dec 2007

Brisk walking cuts rate of metabolic syndrome

Research from Duke University Medical Center shows that even a modest amount of brisk walking weekly is enough to trim waistlines and cut the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS), an increasingly frequent condition linked to obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

18 Dec 2007

Engineered blood vessels

MIT scientists have found a way to induce cells to form parallel tube-like structures that could one day serve as tiny engineered blood vessels.

18 Dec 2007

Discovery reveals how fat is stored in cells

In discovering the genes responsible for storing fat in cells, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have answered one of biology's most fundamental questions.

18 Dec 2007

Elderly at risk for physical disabilities exercise, improve physical function

Elderly adults at risk for physical disabilities are able to adhere to a regular program of moderate exercise for one year, a recent study of 213 men and women suggests.

18 Dec 2007

Controlling lupus - new drug targets found

Investigators at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified two new targets for drugs aimed at controlling lupus.

17 Dec 2007

Genetic cause of Kawasaki disease

Researchers from Japan's RIKEN SNP Research Center, collaborating with a team at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), have discovered a new genetic variation that affects a child's risk of getting Kawasaki disease (KD), an illness characterized by acute inflammation of the arteries throughout the body.

17 Dec 2007

Highly promising Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research

The TI Pharma project is a large-scale study into the brain material of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's patients, who gave permission to the Netherlands Brain Bank for their tissue to be used for scientific research.

17 Dec 2007

For babies with specific complex heart defects, death risk is far lower at most experienced hospitals

Each year, thousands of babies are born with severe heart defects that must be operated on within days or weeks of their birth.

17 Dec 2007

Cholesterol affects your hearing

Levels of cholesterol in the membranes of hair cells in the inner ear can affect your hearing, said a consortium of researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Rice University and Purdue University in a report in the print edition of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

17 Dec 2007