Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Chromium helps muscles become more efficient

Researchers found that daily use of chromium picolinate enhanced muscle sensitivity to insulin in obese, insulin-resistant rats

7 Feb 2006

Biosense Webster receives FDA approval for technology to treat heart rhythm disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved an innovative combination of technologies that will enhance a doctors' ability to treat patients with abnormal heart rhythms (cardiac arrhythmias).

7 Feb 2006

High blood pressure and kidney disease increase risk for heart disease and stroke in older Americans

Older Americans with high blood pressure and moderate to severe chronic kidney disease have a greater chance of developing heart disease than people with normal kidney function. This finding is one of three in a new paper published in the Feb. 7 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

7 Feb 2006

Many at-risk people aren't getting adequate cholesterol treatment

Even though treatment for cholesterol disorders can reduce the risk of heart and blood vessel disease by about 30 percent over five years, many at-risk people aren't getting adequate treatment, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues reporting in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

7 Feb 2006

Pollution may increase heart attack risk for obese

A University of Alberta researcher believes obese humans face same dangers from diesel exhaust and coal emissions.

7 Feb 2006

Infant transplant patients resist infections that kill adult AIDS patients - possible new treatments for debilitating diseases

Investigators have discovered that some type of protective system goes into action in some cases when a baby's immune system is deficient.

7 Feb 2006

Common cardiac sodium channel variant associated with sudden infant death in African Americans

Steve A.N. Goldstein and colleagues from the Pritzker School of Medicine in Chicago have found that a specific mutation, called S1103Y, in a heart protein known as SCN5A is associated with a dramatic, 24-fold increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in African American infants.

7 Feb 2006

Eosinophilic esophagitis gene discovery

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have discovered the first gene associated with eosinophilic esophagitis, one of a number of eosinophil-related diseases in which the body produces abnormally large amounts of white blood cells that can lead to allergy related illnesses.

7 Feb 2006

Two-drug treatment could help asthma and chronic bronchitis sufferers

Current treatments for asthma and chronic bronchitis aren't able to address the ultimate source of the problem--they can only alleviate symptoms.

7 Feb 2006

Can marriages be saved by treating snoring?

The husband snores. The wife nudges him to flip over. Both wake up feeling grouchy the next morning. It's a common occurrence that may have more of an impact on the marriage than most couples think.

7 Feb 2006

Chronic disease is becoming a major focus in health care

More funding, increased workforce resources and further reform of the health system are needed if the national chronic disease strategy is going to deliver better care to patients suffering from diseases such as diabetes, asthma and cancer, according to an international primary health expert.

7 Feb 2006

Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with metabolic syndrome

Nearly 50 million Americans have metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors placing them at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

7 Feb 2006

Soy's cardiovascular benefits may have been overestimated

Many soy food products carry health claims stating that they reduce the risk of heart disease. A review of the evidence, however, suggests that soy's cardiovascular benefits may have been overestimated by the early studies that formed the basis for its health claim.

7 Feb 2006

Diet rich in whole-grain foods may lower heart disease risk in elderly people

With the recent revision of the Food Guide Pyramid, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans have for the first time provided the public with a quantitative recommendation for whole-grain intake.

7 Feb 2006

Imaging technology detects subtle brain changes in Type 1 diabetics

Although people with diabetes are twice as likely as the general population to develop depression, the cause of this increased risk is not well understood.

7 Feb 2006

Engineered heart tissue offers insights into irregular heartbeats

Engineers who have induced heart cells in culture to mimic the properties of the heart have used the tissue to gain new insight into the mechanisms that spawn irregular heart rhythms.

7 Feb 2006

38 million Americans with health conditions that put them at increased risk for cardiovascular disease

An estimated 63 million adults have low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels higher than what would be ideal as recommended by the National Institutes of Health.

7 Feb 2006

Study shows one third of candidates are unlikely to benefit from ICD

Last year, about 170,000 people in North America had devices surgically implanted to stop potentially fatal arrhythmias. For many, these were life-saving, but for others they were unnecessary, uncomfortable, and sometimes dangerous.

7 Feb 2006

Alternative method to produce heparin

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered an alternative way to produce heparin, a drug commonly used to stop or prevent blood from clotting.

7 Feb 2006

Seven per cent of men having a heart attack drove themselves to hospital

The study, which looked at 890 heart attack patients admitted to six major teaching hospitals in Dublin, Southern Ireland, also found that it took women five times as long as men to go to casualty departments after their symptoms first started. But only one per cent got behind the wheel and drove to the hospital.

7 Feb 2006