Cardiology News and Research

Latest Cardiology News and Research

Johns Hopkins awarded $12 million to study how stem cell therapies can be used to treat hearts damaged by heart attack

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins Heart Institute have been awarded more than $12 million from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to study how stem cell therapies can be used to treat hearts damaged by heart attack or heart failure.

4 Oct 2005

United States has a major weight problem and it will get worse

A large, community-based study -- considered the first study to assess the long-term risk of developing overweight and obesity in adults -- found that over 30 years, nine out of 10 men and seven out of 10 women were overweight or became overweight. In addition, more than one in three were obese or became obese.

4 Oct 2005

Mayo Clinic researchers find earliest sign of nerve change due to diabetes

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that subtle change in nerve conduction is the first reliable sign of nerve complications from diabetes and that this change can be measured long before other symptoms or signs of nerve damage develop.

3 Oct 2005

Discovery of mechanisms causing portal hypertension

A physician-scientist at UT Southwestern Medical Center and his research team have identified mechanisms causing a potentially deadly type of hypertension that results from liver damage – findings that could lead to its prevention.

3 Oct 2005

Behavior-based means of cutting the risks of tobacco

Three researchers who study behavior-based means of cutting the risks of tobacco use have made a case for counseling patients about the health risks of exposure to secondhand smoke when they're asked about direct tobacco use.

3 Oct 2005

Researchers set out to determine the effectiveness of endomorphin 1, with a painkilling capacity equal to or greater than morphine

Nearly one third of the world's adult population suffers with the pain of arthritis. While NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors offer the promise of relief, these drugs also bring the risk of adverse effects, from stomach ulcers to heart attack.

3 Oct 2005

Lack of oxygen in body tissues creates a defect of red blood cells that further exacerbates the condition by constricting blood vessels in the lung

What's more, the team demonstrated through studies in people and animals that inhalation of a 'souped up' form of nitric oxide, which targets red blood cells, reverses the blood abnormality to restore normal lung pressure.

3 Oct 2005

The biomedical and sociological effects of sleep restriction

In spring 2005 a large European research and training network was established to investigate the causes and implications of poor sleep from the medical as well as from the social point of view.

3 Oct 2005

Doctors should encourage teens to limit their intake of food prepared away from home and to eat family dinners together

New research shows that adolescents who eat large amounts of fried food away from home are heavier and more likely to have a poor-quality diet.

3 Oct 2005

Greasing the gears that drive the interferon signal

Interferon -- a critical protein that mediates the body's defense against a wide variety of infectious agents and tumors -- may soon have greater therapeutic value as the result of a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

3 Oct 2005

Steroids significantly reduce heart damage in children with Kawasaki's disease

When added to standard treatment, steroids significantly reduce the odds of developing heart damage in children with Kawasaki's disease, according to a study in the October issue of Pediatrics. These findings address a gap in knowledge.

3 Oct 2005

Organosilicon compounds help improve lithium battery technology

With the help of new silicon-based compounds, scientists -- and patients -- are getting a significant new charge out of the tiny lithium batteries used in implantable devices to help treat nervous system and other disorders.

3 Oct 2005

Concerta, a once-daily form of the drug methylphenidate, successfully controlled ADHD symptoms

A new study has found that an all-day, extended-release stimulant for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) remains effective for up to two years without significant side effects.

3 Oct 2005

Children enrolled in fitness-oriented gym classes showed greater loss of body fat

Overweight children who took part in lifestyle-focused, fitness-oriented gym classes showed significant improvement in body composition, fitness, and insulin levels, according to a study in the October issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

3 Oct 2005

MRI may better enable physicians to plan care for infants with heart defects

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques can provide real-time measurements of volume in a fetal heart, and may better enable physicians to plan care for infants with heart defects, according to a new study.

3 Oct 2005

No specific antiretroviral drug-related "Crix belly" syndrome

Contrary to the concerns of many HIV-infected patients, there appears to be no specific antiretroviral drug-related "syndrome" of changes in body fat distribution in men wherein leg and arm fat decrease as belly fat increases, reports a study in the October issue of Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS).

28 Sep 2005

Nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence

Associate Professor Athina Markou, Ph.D., who is in the Scripps Research Molecular and Integrative Neurosciences Department at Scripps Research’s La Jolla Campus, and Paul Kenny, Ph.D., a former Research Associate in her laboratory, report in an upcoming issue of the journal Neuropsychopharmacology that nicotine has an unusual psychological property that may drive dependence.

28 Sep 2005

Music helps people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease focus on their breathing

Before the music can begin, the harmonica teacher makes sure everyone is in position. "Sit up straight. Feet on the floor. Try to breathe from the belly," she says.

28 Sep 2005

HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device

Nine years ago this week, a team of University of Michigan doctors gave a dying heart patient a second chance at life by implanting a high-tech pump in his chest. The high-risk procedure was the first in Michigan performed using a new blood-pumping device called a HeartMate XVE left ventricular assist device, which helped the patient live until he received a heart transplant five weeks later.

28 Sep 2005

Nanoparticles as an invisible diet

Utah State University researchers are in the early stages of scientifically tricking the body into eating less and finding a treatment for obesity without dangerous side effects.

28 Sep 2005