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Advances in the management of diabetes mellitus

The need for long term studies to establish the best means of treating Diabetes, was underlined by Prof John Cleland from the University of Hull at the ESC Congress in Munich. Prof Cleland listed the latest treatment available for patients and voiced his concern about the side-effects and efficacy of available anti-diabetic drugs.

1 Sep 2008

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement - a new frontier in cardiovascular medicine

Replacing heart valves without the substantial trauma of opening the chest and the heart were little known concepts until the groundbreaking pulmonary and aortic transcatheter valve replacements performed during 2000 and 2002, respectively by Philipp Bonhoeffer and Alain Cribier.

1 Sep 2008

Fluvastatin XL use is associated with improved cardiac outcome after major vascular surgery

The DECREASE III Study which took place in the Netherlands between June 2004 and April 2008, showed that patients treated with Fluvastatin showed an improved cardiac outcome after surgery.

1 Sep 2008

Drug eluting stents: New elements in the debate

Results announced at the 2006 ESC meeting in Barcelona questioned the long-term safety of drug eluting stents (DES) and sparked intense discussion.

31 Aug 2008

Best use of drug-eluting stents: When should they be avoided?

Compared with bare metal stents, drug-eluting stents substantially reduce the risk of angiographic and clinical recurrence but do not affect mortality or the short term or long term risk of myocardial infarction.

31 Aug 2008

DES in diabetic patients

The issue of using or not using DES in patients with diabetes will be debated between Professor Wijns, who discourages DES and Professor Silber, who feels that they should be used.

31 Aug 2008

Genetic testing for sudden cardiac death

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is a major contributor to mortality in industrialized nations, affecting around 500,000 individuals annually in the Western World, and causing more deaths than AIDS, lung and breast cancer and stroke together.

31 Aug 2008

Positive exercise testing in athletes: What does that mean?

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) during sports activity is an uncommon, but catastrophic event. Different efforts to reduce the risk of SCD related to sports have been undertaken. What is the role of the exercise test in this context? What does a positive exercise test mean?

31 Aug 2008

The BEAUTIFUL study: Ivabradine and the reduction of cardiovascular events

The results of the much awaited BEAUTIFUL (morBidity-mortality EvAlUaTion of the If inhibitor ivabradine in patients with CAD and left ventricULar dysfunction) trial have shown that coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) and a heart rate more than 70 bpm have a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular death and other cardiovascular events and in these patients (heart rate above 70 bpm) treatment with ivabradine further reduces the risk of the most important coronary events such as fatal and non-fatal myocardial infarction and coronary revascularisation by one third, even when these patients are already receiving optimal therapy.

31 Aug 2008

The GISSI-HF trial: Effects of n-3 PUFA in 6,975 patients with symptomatic chronic heart failure

Researchers involved in the GISSI trial, concluded that simple, safe and cheap treatment with n-3 PUFA can provide a moderate beneficial advantage in terms of mortality and admission to hospital for cardiovascular reasons in patients with chronic heart failure, in a context of usual care.

31 Aug 2008

Magnesium sulfate decreases preterm infants' risk for cerebral palsy

Preterm infants born to mothers receiving intravenous magnesium sulfate - a common treatment to delay labor - are less likely to develop cerebral palsy than are preterm infants whose mothers do not receive it, report researchers in a large National Institutes of Health research network.

28 Aug 2008

Thiazolidinediones - diabetes drugs carry significant cardiovascular risks

A class of oral drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes may significantly increase the risk of serious cardiovascular events, according to an editorial published online in Heart Wednesday by two Wake Forest University School of Medicine faculty members.

28 Aug 2008

Social injustice is killing people on a grand scale reports WHO's Commission

A child born in a Glasgow, Scotland suburb can expect a life 28 years shorter than another living only 13 kilometres away. A girl in Lesotho is likely to live 42 years less than another in Japan. In Sweden, the risk of a woman dying during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 17 400; in Afghanistan, the odds are 1 in 8. Biology does not explain any of this. Instead, the differences between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age.

28 Aug 2008

Uganda's Makerere University receives AMANET grant for malaria vaccine trial

The College of Health Sciences at Uganda's Makerere University will receive a grant from the African Malaria Network Trust to begin trials of the malaria vaccine candidate GMZ2 in Uganda's Iganga and Mayuge districts, Wen Kilama, managing trustee of AMANET, said Monday at the opening of the sixth Basic Research Ethics Workshop for African Ethics Committees, the New Vision reports.

28 Aug 2008

Health risk behaviors such as smoking and obesity associated with lower prostate specific antigen awareness

According to a study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, health risk behaviors such as smoking and obesity are associated with lower awareness of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA), which could lead to a lower likelihood of undergoing actual prostate cancer screening.

27 Aug 2008

Breakthrough discovery may lead to new drugs to fight bird flu, other epidemics

Researchers at Rutgers University and The University of Texas at Austin have reported a discovery that could help scientists develop drugs to fight the much-feared bird flu and other virulent strains of influenza.

25 Aug 2008

Alcohol consumption can cause too much cell death, fetal abnormalities

The initial signs of fetal alcohol syndrome are slight but classic: facial malformations such as a flat and high upper lip, small eye openings and a short nose.

25 Aug 2008

Infant deaths in clinical drug trials in India raise concern about ethical standards

The revelation that 49 babies died at a top Indian hospital during drug tests has shocked many and raised issues concerning ethical standards at the hospital.

25 Aug 2008

Study to look at health care system trust among Hispanics with HIV

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in September will begin a two-year study to determine whether a lack of trust of the U.S. medical system is a factor behind a higher mortality rate among Hispanics with HIV/AIDS, the Winston-Salem Journal reports.

13 Aug 2008

Window of opportunity for newly diagnosed diabetics

According to health researchers in the U.S., people who lose weight soon after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are far more likely to reach satisfactory blood glucose and blood pressure goals.

13 Aug 2008