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Cardiovascular Disease: Diet, Nutrition And Emerging Risk Factors

Despite improvements in death rates from cardiovascular disease (CVD) around the world, CVD remains a leading cause of death and ill health in the UK, where death rates are amongst the highest in the world. Reducing death rates from this disease remains high on the Government’s agenda, yet attention to the classical risk factors may not provide all the answers.

6 Apr 2005

Diuretics work better for high blood pressure

Study results by faculty members of the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston suggests that the older, cheaper diuretics remain the drug of choice for both black and non-black patients in treating high blood pressure and reducing risk of heart disease, and confirms earlier findings that diuretics rather than newer, more expensive drugs such as ACE inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, or beta blockers should be preferred as a first therapy for most patients.

5 Apr 2005

Pneumonia jab now available for over 65s in UK

People over 65 in the UK are to be offered a routine jab to help protect against diseases, including pneumonia, meningitis and septicaemia. Two in 1,000 over-65s are admitted to hospital with pneumococcal pneumonia each year and the infection can cause serious diseases.

5 Apr 2005

Cryoablation may be safer alternative for stopping abnormal electrical patterns

Freezing abnormal electrical pathways in the hearts of young patients may be a safer alternative to zapping them with powerful radiofrequency probes in order to treat tachycardias and other arrhythmias, according to a new study in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Apr 2005

Modest triglyceride elevations linked to coronary artery disease risk

Even modest increases in blood levels of triglycerides, as well as a type of high cholesterol known as type III hyperlipidemia, are strongly associated with coronary artery disease in people with a family history of the disease, according to a new study in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Apr 2005

Gene therapy shows effect in heart patients

The first double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized trial of VEGF gene injections into the heart muscle of patients with coronary artery disease with the intention of spurring growth of new blood vessels showed significant effects on heart wall motion, although blood flow was not significantly better in treated patients, according to a new study in the April 5, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

5 Apr 2005

Britain becoming "pill for every ill" society

A report by the influential Commons Select Committee on Health, criticises the drugs industry for promoting the wider use of medication in a bid to increase its profits, and says Britain is being turned into "pill for every ill" society by the multibillion-pound drugs industry, which encourages patients to take medication even for "unhappiness".

5 Apr 2005

Cognitive therapy to treat moderate to severe depression works just as well as antidepressants

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, challenges the American Psychiatric Association guidelines that antidepressant medications are the only effective treatment for moderately to severely depressed patients.

5 Apr 2005

Research supports the practice of Pilates to achieve some health benefits

Pilates is a beneficial exercise to enhance flexibility and muscular fitness and endurance, particularly for intermediate and advanced practitioners, but may have limited potential to notably increase cardiovascular fitness and reduce body weight.

5 Apr 2005

UK study links heart conditions with common ‘hidden’ hormone disorders in the elderly

A study of nearly 6000 elderly people in Birmingham has shown that ‘hidden’ thyroid disorders are common in over-65s and that there is a strong link between one type of abnormality and irregular heartbeat. The work will be presented at the British Endocrine Societies 2005 meeting in Harrogate on Wednesday.

5 Apr 2005

Organ donors must document their wishes

According to the results of a new survey by the Coalition on Donation, an alliance of national and local organ and tissue donation education groups, even though many Americans support organ and tissue donation and are willing to become donors themselves, many have not taken the steps required to ensure that their wishes will be carried out after their death.

5 Apr 2005

Researchers have identified a new clinical syndrome

Researchers have identified a new clinical syndrome that produces serious and sometimes fatal symptoms in a variety of seemingly unrelated diseases. The syndrome, described in the April 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is caused by hemolysis, the destruction of red blood cells.

5 Apr 2005

How heart is formed in the embryo helps explain congenital heart disease

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh Cardiologist Bradley B. Keller, MD, and his research team are discovering details in the lab that explain how the heart is formed in the embryo. This knowledge improves the chances of doctors identifying fetuses who can benefit from intervention to treat congenital defects.

5 Apr 2005

Kids have upswing in golf-related head injuries

Children’s increasing interest in golf is resulting in an unfortunate upswing in golf-related head injuries, according to a review of sports injuries treated over six years at an academic medical center in Georgia.

5 Apr 2005

Dallas heart study researchers find no link between Lp(a), calcium

The latest findings from the historic Dallas Heart Study have ruled out one of the most prominent explanations of why elevated levels of a fat-carrying protein called "lipoprotein(a)" lead to increased risks for heart attacks among whites but not among African-Americans.

5 Apr 2005

Sildenafil prevents anti-cancer drug induced heart damage

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that the popular impotence drug Viagra prevents damage to the heart from a potent chemotherapeutic agent frequently used in the treatment of breast cancer, leukemia and sarcomas.

5 Apr 2005

Weight loss surgery is the most effective treatment available for obesity say experts

A panel of experts charged with reviewing all the available evidence on morbid obesity and weight loss surgery today concluded weight loss surgery is the most effective treatment available and can result in the improvement or complete resolution of diseases associated with obesity, according to a consensus statement published in the April edition of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).

5 Apr 2005

First evidence that preeclampsia can leave a persistent and potentially fatal imprint in the pulmonary circulation of the fetus

Children born of mothers who had preeclampsia during their pregnancy are more likely to have pulmonary hypertension than similar children born from normal pregnancies, according to a study conducted in Bolivia by Swiss and Bolivian researchers.

4 Apr 2005

Effect of individualized diets on chronic disease risk

Today at the 2005 Experimental Biology Conference, the Dairy Council of California sponsored a thought-provoking symposium titled "Individualized nutrition as a tool to prevent and treat chronic disease."

4 Apr 2005

Infants under one year of age can accept heart transplants from donors of different blood groups

A study showing that infants under one year of age can accept heart transplants from donors of different blood groups without the risk of organ rejection means a better chance of survival for infant patients and more efficient use of donor organs overall.

4 Apr 2005