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A drug-sensitive 'traffic cop' tells potassium channels to get lost

Our brains are buzzing with electrical activity created by sodium and potassium ions moving in and out of neurons through specialized pores. To prevent the constant chatter from descending into chaos the activity of these ion channels has to be tightly regulated.

3 Sep 2007

Baby's conception and birth influences mother's dreams

The conception and birth of a child are emotional events that influence the dreams of most new mothers. In a surprisingly high number of cases, this influence reflects negative aspects of maternal responsibility, depicting the new infant in dreamed situations of danger and provoking anxiety in the mother that often spills over into wakefulness.

3 Sep 2007

Immediate emergency angioplasty can save the lives of those experiencing MI

We have demonstrated that patients who have an acute myocardial infarction and are admitted to a hospital which has no possibility to perform direct angioplasty, benefit from being transferred immediately after having received thrombolytics to a hospital where angioplasty (percutaneous coronary intervention, PCI, often including stent implantation) can be immediately performed.

3 Sep 2007

Do we harm women when we treat them in the same way as men?

Half of the female population in the western world die of cardiovascular disease. Neither the women themselves, nor society at large recognizes this fact. Maybe because of this, research on women with acute coronary syndromes is scarce and thus we lack knowledge about the best way to properly treat women with an acute myocardial infarction.

3 Sep 2007

How to optimally prepare a patient for planned coronary angiography and subsequent angioplasty?

A Czech study compared two anti-clotting treatment regimens, currently used before coronary angiography / angioplasty to find the optimal balance between preventing ischemic versus bleeding complications of these procedures. The study was conducted in five Czech tertiary cardiology centers.

3 Sep 2007

Blood-flow detector software shows promise in preventing brain damage

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Cambridge University in England have designed an automated means of continuously tracking potentially dangerous changes in blood flow to the brain in real time, a system that shows promise for preventing brain damage and death in children with head injuries.

3 Sep 2007

Canadian dental hygiene celebrates independence

Dental hygienists have achieved independence after a 14-year campaign to remove the restrictions that tie dental hygiene to dentistry.

3 Sep 2007

First European guidelines on the management of valvular heart disease

Today valve disease still represents an important health problem; valve patients are getting older and older with more and more comorbities, which contribute to increased operative risk and render the decision-making process more difficult.

3 Sep 2007

Guidelines on the management of non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes

New guidelines for the management of non-ST segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) were released by the European Society of Cardiology in June 2007 replacing previous guidelines of 2002.

3 Sep 2007

New ESC CVD prevention guidelines provide the key to maintaining a healthy heart

The new (Fourth) Joint European Society's Guidelines on Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in clinical practice were launched at the ESC Annual Conference today.

3 Sep 2007

DES: friend or foe?

The current FDA approved stents (CYPHER and TAXUS) have been associated with late stent thrombosis (LST) (>30days following implantation) however, the mechanisms predictive of LST are poorly understood. Pathologic studies are one of the best methods for detailed analysis of morphologic changes that occur after placement of Drug Eluting Stents to determine the causes of LST.

3 Sep 2007

Discovery suggests location of genes for breast density, a strong risk factor for breast cancer

Studying the DNA of 889 people, gene hunters at the Mayo Clinic and H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Centers have identified a region on chromosome 5p that is significantly associated with dense breast tissue, a known risk factor for breast cancer.

2 Sep 2007

3,000 kidney transplants performed at NYP/Weill Cornell

More than 3,000 lives have been saved through the kidney transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and its medical partner The Rogosin Institute.

2 Sep 2007

The burden of diabetes in heart disease in Europe

Diabetes is becoming one of the major health problems in the European and US populations. It is frequently associated with overweight, hypertension and high serum cholesterol levels, representing a dangerous combination of risk factors for the development of heart and vascular diseases.

2 Sep 2007

Risk stratification in acute heart failure

Hospitalization for acute heart failure is the most relevant burden for the health systems in both Europe and North America. Despite its dramatic impact on patient survival, quality of life and health costs, relatively few studies have been conducted in patients with this clinical condition in order to identify effective therapeutic strategies able to improve not only symptoms but also patient survival.

2 Sep 2007

Long term follow up of additional Swedish registry data does not indicate an increased

Four years of follow up including additional patients in the Swedish Coronary angiography and angioplasty registry (SCAAR) does no longer indicate any increased mortality in patients treated with drug eluting stents compared to patients treated with bare metal stents.

2 Sep 2007

Blood pressure drugs cut death rate in diabetes

The largest-ever study of treatments for diabetes has shown that a fixed combination of two blood pressure lowering drugs reduces the risk of death, as well as the risks of heart and kidney disease. Results from the ADVANCE (Action in Diabetes and Vascular Disease) Study were presented today at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2007 in Vienna.

2 Sep 2007

The first clinically available oral direct renin inhibitor shows promise in heart failure

Drugs that block a hormonal cascade, known as the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), help patients with heart failure. Direct renin inhibitors (DRIs) block the RAAS at its first and rate-limiting step.

2 Sep 2007

Clinical reality of coronary prevention in Europe : A comparison

Dr Kornelia Kotseva, Consultant Cardiologist and the Project Manager for the EUROASPIRE III survey commented "despite the increase in prophylactic drug therapy, the majority of coronary patients in Europe have still not achieved the blood pressure target and two out of five are not achieving the total cholesterol goal".

2 Sep 2007

Efficacy of non-invasive ventilation in patients with acute cardiogenic pulmonary oede

Acute cardiogenic pulmonary oedema, or "fluid on the lung", is a common, extremely distressing and often fatal condition that is a major consumer of health care resources. The aim of the 3CPO trial was to establish whether high-pressure oxygen, given by a simple facemask, could help reduce the death rate in patients with this condition.

2 Sep 2007