Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Statins not associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia

The use of statins and other lipid-lowering agents by older adults was not associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, according to a study in the July issue of Archives of Neurology.

11 Jul 2005

Study compares four standard measures for heart failure treatment

UCLA investigators found large gaps and marked variation in U.S. hospitals' heart failure treatment based on adherence to four standard quality measures. The study points to the need for hospitals to establish education programs and systems to improve quality of care for this patient population.

11 Jul 2005

Obese men may not process carbohydrates as efficiently as obese women

A new study published in the July issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), showed that severely obese men were more carbohydrate intolerant and had less physical endurance than severely obese women, leading researchers to believe that gender plays a strong role in physical fitness and a person's ability to metabolize carbohydrates.

11 Jul 2005

Lack of a blood clotting protein may protect against clogged arteries

Reporting in the July 18 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, a group of scientists in Wurzburg, Germany show that the lack of a blood clotting protein may protect against clogged arteries with no risk of excessive bleeding.

11 Jul 2005

New approach to preventing or reversing heart failure

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a new protein that plays a critical role in enabling the heart to respond to such external stimuli as exercise or stress, as well as in the progressive loss of heart function that is heart failure, the researchers said.

11 Jul 2005

Vioxx safe enough for Canadian market says health panel

A canadian health advisory panel says that Merck's arthritis drug Vioxx should be allowed to go on sale again in the country, 10 months after the company withdrew the blockbuster painkiller over reports that it increased the risk of heart disease.

11 Jul 2005

Genes decide the shape you're in!

According to a study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of identical twins, the reason why some people can eat all the chocolate and chips they want and not increase their cholesterol levels, is all down to their genes.

11 Jul 2005

Low dose birth control pill raises heart attack risk, especially in some women

A new review suggests that low-dose birth control pills, which are generally considered to be safer than the pill of the past, still carries an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.

11 Jul 2005

Fat in the bloodstream linked to heart attacks

New research, by Dr. Sotirios Tsimikas of the University of California, San Diego, has produced the first convincing evidence that a type of fat in the bloodstream can trigger the earliest conditions that lead to clogged blood vessels, the highest cause of heart attacks.

7 Jul 2005

Researchers clarifiy role of Notch protein in T-cell development

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have recently clarified the role of the Notch protein in T-cell development. T cells are required for many aspects of immunity, including fighting viral infections, providing cancer surveillance, and regulating multiple aspects of the immune response.

6 Jul 2005

Vitamin E fails to deliver benefits for major cardiovascular events or cancer

In an article in the July 6 JAMA, I-Min Lee, M.B.B.S., Sc.D., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from the vitamin E component of the Women's Health Study, which tested whether vitamin E supplementation decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer among healthy women.

6 Jul 2005

Research discovers new deadly link to sickle cell disease

A new study led by a researcher at Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland is the first to find that an amino acid deficiency in sickle cell disease is the result of hemolysis, a process where red blood cells rupture and release their contents into the blood stream. Low availability of the amino acid arginine is associated with lung disease and death in adult sickle cell patients.

6 Jul 2005

Having normal blood pressure may prolong life

People in their 50s who have normal blood pressure could live up to five years longer than those with hypertension (high blood pressure), an international study has found.

6 Jul 2005

Study details safety and efficacy of new Merci Retriever treatment for stroke patients

The recently released July issue of "Stroke," the official journal of the American Stroke Association, published new data on the safety and efficacy of the Merci Retriever System, the first medical device cleared by the FDA to remove blood clots from the brain in patients suffering an ischemic stroke.

6 Jul 2005

Aspirin can help prevent heart disease, but vitamin E no protection against cancer

It may have taken 12 years, but researchers now say that studies involving nearly 40,000 women in the U.S. has found that regular, low doses of aspirin do not prevent cancer, and vitamin E is pretty ineffective in warding off both heart disease and cancer.

6 Jul 2005

Antidepressants will cheer you up and stop a repeat heart attack

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression and heart disease have long been associated, and one can often lead to the other.

6 Jul 2005

Obese older women may be more prone to frailty

Obesity is associated with frailty in obese older women, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

6 Jul 2005

Experimental treatment shown to reverse the loss of nerve fibres in Parkinson's Disease

Analysis of the brain of a patient suffering from Parkinson's Disease has shown that the experimental treatment he received caused regrowth of the nerve fibres that are lost in this disease. The findings are reported in the July issue of Nature Medicine.

6 Jul 2005

Vasodilators first choice for some heart patients

Few front-line medications exist for treating hospitalized patients with acute decompensated heart failure, a stage of heart failure marked by heightened severity and often-lengthy hospital stays with frequent readmissions. Now, a study suggests the list of preferred drugs for treating the disease might be even shorter.

6 Jul 2005

Call for greater use of angiograms in Canada

More tests need to be prescribed to save and prolong the lives of Canadians living with coronary artery disease, says a study released from the University of Alberta.

6 Jul 2005