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Cholesterol-lowering drug might not promote healthy hearts

Antioxidants, such as beta-carotene and Vitamin E, have been touted for their ability to protect against heart disease.

13 Apr 2006

Loneliness is a unique predictor of age-related differences in systolic blood pressure

Loneliness is a major risk factor in increasing blood pressure in older Americans, and could increase the risk of death from stroke and heart disease, new research at the University of Chicago shows.

13 Apr 2006

Angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors may reduce cardiovascular risk

Angiotension-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, medications commonly used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure), may reduce cardiovascular risk and the risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease, according to a new analysis of previously conducted clinical trials reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

13 Apr 2006

Compounds derived from legume interaction with rhizobium bacteria may help cancer treatment

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research (CILR) has lodged a complete patent application for compounds to treat cancer.

13 Apr 2006

Simple screening process opens door to treating rare metabolic diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Fabry and Gaucher syndromes

Rare metabolic diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Fabry and Gaucher syndromes are caused by enzyme deficiencies and typically have crippling, even fatal, consequences starting at very early ages.

13 Apr 2006

First evidence that circulating endothelial microparticles lead to heart valve disease

Under normal physiological conditions, low levels of microparticles are continually being shed into the blood from the endothelium - the cells that line the inside of blood vessels and some organs -and appear to cause no problems.

13 Apr 2006

No evidence that taking estrogen alone increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

The findings come three years after a related WHI study found that a different type of hormone therapy - which combined estrogen and progestin - did result in a higher risk of breast cancer among postmenopausal women.

13 Apr 2006

Research provides clues to obesity's cause

Hot fudge sundaes and french fries aside, new research suggests obesity is due at least in part to an attraction between leptin, the hormone that signals the brain when to stop eating, and a protein more recently associated with heart disease.

13 Apr 2006

Maintaining high blood pressure treatment may reduce the risk of dementia in old age

Lead author of the study Rita Peila, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the National Institute on Aging (NIA), said "For every year of hypertension treatment, there is increased protection against dementia."

13 Apr 2006

A drink or two a day may be associated with better cognitive function in women

"Women who had up to two drinks a day scored about 20 percent higher on the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) than women who didn't drink at all or who consumed less than one drink a week," said Clinton Wright, M.D., M.S., lead author of the study.

13 Apr 2006

Physicians with more experience are better able to detect a third heart sound that is an indicator of heart disease

Physicians with more experience are better able to detect a third heart sound that is an indicator of heart disease, according to a study on stethoscope accuracy in cardiac patients at UCSF Medical Center.

13 Apr 2006

Cardiocerebral resuscitation improves survival of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Survival rates following the most common form of cardiac arrest increased three-fold when emergency medical personnel used a new form of CPR developed at The University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center.

13 Apr 2006

Sildenafil improves blood flow after heart attack in an animal model

Dogs treated with sildenafil, a drug most commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction, had better blood flow in coronary arteries than control animals, following an induced artery obstruction and treatment that modeled a heart attack and standard medical care given to people

13 Apr 2006

Swine disease in China caused toxic shock syndrome

A large and deadly outbreak of Streptococcus suis disease, in Sichuan province in China last year alarmed health officials worldwide and now scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other Chinese institutions have published the first scientific details of the outbreak.

12 Apr 2006

Study assesses formularies across Medicare drug plans

Medicare's new private stand-alone drug plans vary significantly - in terms of covered drugs, out-of-pocket costs for specific medications, and restrictions placed on the use of certain drugs - according to a new analysis released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

11 Apr 2006

Statins may be able to play a role in preventing or slowing heart valve disease

Research to be published in the April 18 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology provides the first explanation of an active rather than passive process that leads to heart valve degeneration, furthering a Northwestern researcher's effort to lead a paradigm shift in the medical community's beliefs about the cause of valve disease.

11 Apr 2006

New insights into how anti-rejection drug daclizumab (Zenapax) helps MS patients

A research team led by the University of Cincinnati's Bibiana Bielekova, MD, report new insights into the role of the MS drug daclizumab (Zenapax) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

11 Apr 2006

Dasatinib provides significant benefit in chronic myeloid leukemia patients resistant to Gleevec

A study led by researchers from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has found that dasatinib provides significant benefit in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients resistant to Gleevec. (imatinib), according to a study presented during the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

11 Apr 2006

Estrogen-alone hormone therapy does not increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

The results contrast with the previously reported WHI Estrogen plus Progestin Trial, which found an increase in breast cancer over about 5 years among those taking combined hormone therapy.

11 Apr 2006

Researchers identify the role of a protein in hemoglobin gene silencing

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have identified the role of a protein in hemoglobin gene silencing that may one day be a potential target for the treatment of genetic blood disorders like sickle-cell anemia and beta-thalassemia on the molecular level.

11 Apr 2006

Blood News and Research

Cholesterol-lowering drug might not promote healthy hearts

Loneliness is a unique predictor of age-related differences in systolic blood pressure

Angiotension-converting enzyme inhibitors may reduce cardiovascular risk

Compounds derived from legume interaction with rhizobium bacteria may help cancer treatment

Simple screening process opens door to treating rare metabolic diseases such as Tay-Sachs, Fabry and Gaucher syndromes

First evidence that circulating endothelial microparticles lead to heart valve disease

No evidence that taking estrogen alone increases the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

Research provides clues to obesity's cause

Maintaining high blood pressure treatment may reduce the risk of dementia in old age

A drink or two a day may be associated with better cognitive function in women

Physicians with more experience are better able to detect a third heart sound that is an indicator of heart disease

Cardiocerebral resuscitation improves survival of patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest

Sildenafil improves blood flow after heart attack in an animal model

Swine disease in China caused toxic shock syndrome

Study assesses formularies across Medicare drug plans

Statins may be able to play a role in preventing or slowing heart valve disease

New insights into how anti-rejection drug daclizumab (Zenapax) helps MS patients

Dasatinib provides significant benefit in chronic myeloid leukemia patients resistant to Gleevec

Estrogen-alone hormone therapy does not increase the risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women

Researchers identify the role of a protein in hemoglobin gene silencing

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Automating research - solutions and best practices

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