Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

New genetic discovery may help explain why some people develop high blood pressure and others don't

It also gives new insight into how the kidneys govern the balance of salt in the body, a crucial task for regulating blood pressure. And, it reveals how a gene already linked to behavior and mental health can play a role in the body, as well as the brain.

17 Oct 2005

Significant step forward in the genome era

In what promises to be a significant step forward in the genome era, the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) today announced plans to devote a portion of its large-scale sequencing capacity to efforts aimed at identifying the genetic roots of specific diseases that have long eluded gene hunters.

17 Oct 2005

New glaucoma risk calculator

High eye pressure is the leading risk factor for glaucoma, and is the only modifiable one. If glaucoma is untreated, vision loss may continue, leading to blindness in some individuals.

17 Oct 2005

dnaJP1 - novel drug for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have announced successful completion of Phase II clinical trials of a novel drug for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), one that works without suppressing the patient's immune system.

16 Oct 2005

Ethnic differences in cardiovascular risk factors

Heredity plays a major role in determining the blood lipid profile and heart rate variability of blacks and whites, two major risk factors for coronary artery disease, researchers say.

16 Oct 2005

High blood pressure is higher in many Asian countries than in Australia

A new study on risk factors in cardiovascular disease in Asia has found that blood pressure is more strongly related to coronary heart disease and stroke in Asia, as compared with Western countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

16 Oct 2005

Cell phones speed heart attack treatment

A Michigan hospital has cut in half the time it takes to begin life-saving treatment of heart attack patients by using cell phones to transmit electrocardiograms (ECGs) from the field

16 Oct 2005

4D ecography for the diagnosis of prenatal cardiopathy

One of the most recent novelties in ecographic studies has been the application of a fourth dimension, i.e. movement added to three-dimensional reconstruction. According to Dr. Alcázar, "the development of the STIC system, carrying out the spatio-temporal correlation of images, adds movement to 3D ecography.

13 Oct 2005

First gene mutation associated with Tourette syndrome

Researchers have identified the first gene mutation associated with Tourette syndrome - opening a new avenue for understanding the complex disorder that causes muscle and vocal tics.

13 Oct 2005

Cancer survivors have unique and long-term cancer-specific side effects.

Patients surviving childhood Hodgkin disease suffer strokes later in life at rates about four times that of the general population, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

13 Oct 2005

Moderate drinking has effects on blood coagulation, primarily as a "blood thinner"

Population studies have shown that moderate drinkers tend to have lower rates of heart disease but higher rates of bleeding-type strokes than abstainers. A potential mediator of these two contrasting effects of alcohol may be platelet function.

13 Oct 2005

No shred of evidence that HIV-positive men who lose fat in their legs reciprocally gain fat in their bellies

There is no syndrome that causes increased belly fat and decreased facial and limb fat among HIV-positive men who take antiretroviral drugs, according to a study by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

13 Oct 2005

Russian moonshine contributes to very high death rate among Russians

Heavy alcohol consumption contributes to numerous problems in Russia, not the least of which is a very high death rate.

13 Oct 2005

Biologists uncover pivotal role of a gene called "Cut"

A DNA-binding protein, Cut interprets and transcribes the developmental signals sent through the "Notch" gene, which regulates a layer of epithelial cells as they replicate and divide. But when Cut garbles those signals the result is uncontrolled cell proliferation, sometimes with dire genetic and health consequences.

12 Oct 2005

Severe hypoglycemia - complication of gastric bypass surgery

Physicians monitoring patients who have undergone gastric bypass surgery should be on the alert for a new, potentially dangerous hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) complication that, while rare, may require quick treatment, according to a new study

12 Oct 2005

Long-term smoking linked to diminished mental proficiency

The association between long-term smoking and diminished mental proficiency in 172 alcoholic and non-alcoholic men was a surprising finding from a study that set out to examine alcoholism's long-term effect on the brain and thinking skills.

11 Oct 2005

Erectile dysfunction may be a sign that coronary artery disease is developing

"We think that erectile dysfunction represents the 'tip of the iceberg' of a systemic vascular disorder; thus potentially preceding severe cardiovascular events. Erectile dysfunction should be part of a cardiovascular risk assessment.

11 Oct 2005

Obesity associated with a threefold increase in SCD1 expression in obese muscle

The gene encoding an enzyme that hinders muscle from burning fat manufactures three times more enzyme in the muscle of obese people than lean people, researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Louisiana State University have found. This causes the obese muscle tissue to both store more fat and burn less fat, the researchers said.

11 Oct 2005

Very low LDL cholesterol levels appear to be safe for heart patients on statin therapies

"There was no apparent safety concern for patients whose resultant LDL on intensive therapy was lower than current guidelines. There was a trend toward improved clinical outcomes in the lowest LDL groups," said Stephen D. Wiviott, M.D., from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

11 Oct 2005

New discoveries help explore the function of regulatory T cells in autoimmune disease and in cancer

More than 150 years after the discovery of Hassall's corpuscles in 1849, the function of these round blobs of cells in the human thymus gland has now been explained. The answer, in turn, ends an intense hunt for the origin of regulatory T cells that has been under way for years.

11 Oct 2005