Heart Disease News and Research

Latest Heart Disease News and Research

Genes influence how heart failure patients respond to drugs

Genes dictate the color of our hair and eyes. They factor into whether we get cancer or heart disease. And, scientists increasingly recognize, they also ensure some patients will benefit from a prescription drug, while others develop adverse reactions or simply fail to respond at all.

21 Apr 2005

FDA expert panel to review Abiomed's artificial heart

Abiomed, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will convene an expert panel of cardiovascular surgeons and cardiologists to review the groundbreaking technologies and clinical trial data behind the AbioCor artificial heart.

20 Apr 2005

Antibiotic treatment does not reduce risk of secondary cardiac events

Taking antibiotics weekly for one year does not reduce the risk of a heart attack or other cardiac event for patients with stable coronary artery disease, according to a study funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. It is published in the April 21, 2005, edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

20 Apr 2005

Men estimate men's risks of common disorders higher than women do, and vice versa

New research from University of Glasgow researchers on lay perceptions about gender differences in health reveals that both men and women believe health risks are higher for their own sex than for the opposite sex. But, it also shows that males think that men are fitter and females think women are more athletic.

20 Apr 2005

Heart attack victims face increased risk of death with Natrecor

In a recent study Jonathan Sackner-Bernstein, a doctor at North Shore University Hospital in New York says that Natrecor, heart failure treatment produced by drug company Johnson & Johnson may be linked to a greater risk of death when compared with standard therapy.

20 Apr 2005

No strong evidence linking blood mercury levels with worse neurobehavioral performance in older adults

In a study of older adults, researchers did not find a definitive association between blood mercury levels, which can become elevated with fish consumption, and adverse neurobehavioral effects, according to a study in the April 20 issue of JAMA.

19 Apr 2005

Cardiovascular risk factors have declined substantially over past 40 years

Prevalence of high cholesterol levels, hypertension and smoking, particularly among overweight and obese adults, have declined considerably over the past 40 years, according to a study in the April 20 issue of JAMA. This trend was not true for diabetes, which has had a stable prevalence.

19 Apr 2005

Have a laugh a day, it will do you good !

It used to be an apple a day which kept the doctor away now scientists at University College London have found that being happy might be equally beneficial.

19 Apr 2005

Researchers identify marker of heart disease in low-birthweight babies

Some low birth weight infants have large particles rich in apolipoprotein C-1, a blood protein that could put them at risk for heart disease later in life, according to a national study led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center researchers.

19 Apr 2005

New method for the study of ion channel gating kinetics

An ion channel is a protein pore that lets ions (charged atoms such as calcium) pass through a cell's membrane. The method fits data to a new class of models, called manifest interconductance rank (MIR) models, which will give researchers a better understanding of the mechanisms by which ion channels open and close.

19 Apr 2005

Marker of heart disease in low-birthweight babies identified

19 Apr 2005

Patients' lives at risk from substandard drugs

Global action is needed to counter the dangers of substandard life-saving drugs that are putting patients' lives and health at risk, according to heart specialists writing in the new (19 April) issue of Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal.

19 Apr 2005

Babies who gain weight rapidly during their very first week of life may be more likely to be overweight as young adults

Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Iowa studied 653 adults, ranging in age from 20 to 32. The subjects, all of whom were white, had been measured as newborns while participating in infant formula studies in Iowa. Those who had gained weight more rapidly during their first week were significantly more likely to be overweight decades later.

19 Apr 2005

Tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing diabetes

Add another line to the list of benefits from drinking tea: New research in animals suggests that tea may be a simple, inexpensive means of preventing diabetes and its ensuing complications, including cataracts.

19 Apr 2005

One-meter waistline predicts high risk of diabetes and heart disease

People with a waistline of one meter or more are at serious risk of insulin resistance - an early stage in the development of diabetes and heart disease, finds a study published online by the BMJ.

19 Apr 2005

Can hospital data detect poor performing doctors?

For over 20 years, routine data sources such as the hospital episode statistics have been widely perceived as being of little value because of problems with completeness and accuracy, and the Department of Health has in the past dismissed their use for identifying poor quality services.

19 Apr 2005

Smoking doubles the risk of macular degeneration

Smoking doubles the risk of the progressive and irreversible eye condition, macular degeneration, and may account for almost 30,000 cases in the UK, suggests research in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

19 Apr 2005

Obesity in China common - around 18 million adults

Around 18 million adults in China are obese, 137 million are overweight, and 64 million have metabolic syndrome—a condition where a number of risk factors for heart disease are present, suggests a study published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 Apr 2005

Rimonabant appears to reduce risk factors for heart disease in obese people

A new drug could substantially reduce the bodyweight, waist circumference, and risk factors for heart disease in obese people, according to results of a randomised trial published in this week’s issue of The Lancet.

19 Apr 2005

Prisoners executed by lethal injection in the US may have experienced awareness and unnecessary suffering because they were not properly sedated

Lethal injection is the most common way people are legally put to death in the USA. It has eclipsed all other methods of execution because of public perception that the process is relatively humane and does not violate the US Constitution’s Eight Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

19 Apr 2005