Heart Watch Blog

August 4, 2011, 8:13 AM CT

Questions about animal models in cardiovascular research

Anyone who follows science has read enthusiastic stories about medical breakthroughs that include the standard disclaimer that the results were obtained in mice and might not carry over to humans.

Much later, there might be reports that a drug has been abandoned because clinical trials turned up unforeseen side effects or responses in humans. Given the delay, most readers probably don't connect the initial success and the eventual failure.

But Igor Efimov, PhD, a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis who studies the biophysical and physiological mechanisms that underlie heart rhythm disorders, is acutely aware of the failure of once-promising drugs to pass clinical trials.

"The problem is the difference in gene expression between the mouse and the human is very very large," Efimov says.

Mice are the most popular animal model in cardiovascular research in part because it is easy and cheap to create a transgenic mouse, and these mice allow research questions to be asked and answered precisely and quickly.

To avoid the "mouse trap," Efimov has established connections with local institutions that supply his lab with human hearts. The hearts are either diseased ones removed from patients undergoing heart transplants or "non-failing" hearts that have been donated for research but are considered unsuitable for transplantation......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

April 3, 2011, 9:02 AM CT

Routine periodic fasting is good

asting has long been linked to religious rituals, diets, and political protests. Now new evidence from cardiac scientists at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute demonstrates that routine periodic fasting is also good for your health, and your heart.

Today, research heart specialists at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute are reporting that fasting not only lowers one's risk of coronary artery disease and diabetes, but also causes significant changes in a person's blood cholesterol levels. Both diabetes and elevated cholesterol are known risk factors for coronary heart disease.

The discovery expands upon a 2007 Intermountain Healthcare study that revealed an association between fasting and reduced risk of coronary heart disease, the leading cause of death among men and women in America. In the new research, fasting was also found to reduce other cardiac risk factors, such as triglycerides, weight, and blood sugar levels.

The findings were presented Sunday, April 3, at the annual scientific sessions of the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans.

"These new findings demonstrate that our original discovery was not a chance event," says Dr. Benjamin D. Horne, PhD, MPH, director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, and the study's principal investigator. "The confirmation among a new set of patients that fasting is linked to lower risk of these common diseases raises new questions about how fasting itself reduces risk or if it simply indicates a healthy lifestyle"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 28, 2011, 8:06 AM CT

Walnuts are top nut for heart-healthy antioxidants

A new scientific study positions walnuts in the No. 1 slot among a family of foods that lay claim to being among Mother Nature's most nearly perfect packaged foods: Tree and ground nuts. In a report here today at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, scientists presented an analysis showing that walnuts have a combination of more healthful antioxidants and higher quality antioxidants than any other nut.

"Walnuts rank above peanuts, almonds, pecans, pistachios and other nuts," said Joe Vinson, Ph.D., who did the analysis. "A handful of walnuts contains almost twice as much antioxidants as an equivalent amount of any other commonly consumed nut. But unfortunately, people don't eat a lot of them. This study suggests that consumers should eat more walnuts as part of a healthy diet".

Vinson noted that nuts in general have an unusual combination of nutritional benefits � in addition those antioxidants � wrapped into a convenient and inexpensive package. Nuts, for instance, contain plenty of high-quality protein that can substitute for meat; vitamins and minerals; dietary fiber; and are dairy- and gluten-free. Years of research by scientists around the world link regular consumption of small amounts of nuts or peanut butter with decreased risk of heart disease, certain kinds of cancer, gallstones, Type 2 diabetes, and other health problems......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 15, 2011, 10:44 PM CT

Factors that Affect Heart Attack Survival

A new Yale University study looks at why there is such a big difference in the mortality rates among patients treated for heart attacks in hospitals across the country. The study appears in the recent issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Until now, little has been known about the factors that may influence this variation in death rates. The Yale team evaluated 11 hospitals through interviews and site visits. Those selected were among the best and worst performers, as rated by the federal agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid.

"Prior research looked at whether hospital characteristics like urban location, teaching status, geographical region, and socio-economic status of patients are correlation to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) mortality rates, but these factors don't explain much of the variation in mortality," said Leslie A. Curry, Ph.D., research scientist at the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute (http://www.yale.edu/ghli) and main author on the paper. "We were especially interested in the roles of social interactions and organizational culture, which are difficult to measure using common research approaches like surveys".

Hospitals in the high- and low-performing groups differed substantially in five ways: organizational values and goals, senior management involvement, broad staff presence and expertise in AMI care, communication and coordination, and problem solving......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 7, 2011, 7:11 AM CT

Gene regions that predispose to heart attacks

Thirteen new gene regions have been convincingly associated with coronary atherosclerosis in a massive, new, international genetics study involving researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The results of the study, to be published online March 6 in Nature Genetics, provide 13 vital new clues on the etiology of this disease, the most common cause of death worldwide. The study doubles the number of gene regions previously known to predispose people to this condition. Coronary atherosclerosis is the process by which plaque builds up in the wall of heart vessels, eventually leading to chest pain and potentially lethal heart attacks.

The study was conducted by an international consortium, which pooled resources to analyze data from 14 genome-wide association studies. Consortium researchers examined the complete genetic profiles of more than 22,000 people of European descent with coronary heart disease or a heart attack history and 60,000 healthy people � close to 10 times more than the next-largest whole-genome study to date.

"These new discoveries will allow researchers worldwide to eventually better understand the root causes of coronary atherosclerosis, possibly leading to important new drug therapies that may profoundly reduce the risk of having a heart attack," said Thomas Quertermous, MD, the William G. Irwin Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford. Quertermous is the principal investigator of the Stanford/Kaiser ADVANCE study of heart disease, which joined this consortium early in its formation......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 10, 2011, 7:42 AM CT

Cardiac Catheter That Can Do It All

In an improvement over open-heart surgery, heart specialists now use catheters to eliminate damaged heart tissue in certain patients, such as those with arrhythmias. But this, too, can be a long and painful procedure as a number of catheters, with different functions, need to be inserted sequentially.

Now an interdisciplinary team including scientists from Northwestern University has developed one catheter that can do it all. This tool for cardiac ablation treatment has all necessary medical devices printed on a standard balloon catheter: a device for eliminating damaged tissue using heat, temperature and pressure sensors, an LED and an electrocardiogram (EKG) sensor.

The multifunctional catheter makes a minimally invasive technique for heart surgery even better. Both diagnostic and therapy capabilities are combined in one. The stretchable electronics developed by Yonggang Huang of Northwestern and John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign make it possible.

The research is reported in the journal Nature Materials.

"The use of one catheter to achieve all these functions will significantly improve clinical arrhythmia treatment by reducing the number of steps in the procedure, thereby saving time and reducing costs," said Huang, Joseph Cummings Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. He led the Northwestern portion of the work......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 5, 2011, 5:07 PM CT

Having A Healthy Heart Is Essential To A Long Life

Having a healthy heart is one of the biggest gifts that you can give yourself and family. A healthy heart is something that is not a hard accomplishment and there are many small things you can do to guarantee a full and happy life. It does not matter what age you are, taking care of your heart is essential.

Heart attacks and other heart related issues are the number one cause of death and this is why it is important to begin thinking about the health of your heart from a very early age. If there is a history of heart disease in your family, you will want to take all steps necessary to ensure that you do not become a victim of heart disease and this can improve the quality of life you experience.

Your doctor will likely run some extra tests if there is heart disease in your family and this can include a blood test or stress test that can show what condition your heart is in right now. This can be very eye opening and your heart may not be in the condition that you would like, but this is always something that can be changed.

The diet you consume each day will help contribute or eliminate heart problems now and later. A diet of high fatty foods can be detrimental to your heart health. Increasing more natural foods and eliminating fattening, processed foods can help you to keep your heart in the best shape possible.

Exercise is another very important factor and your heart is a muscle that needs exercise just like any other muscle in your body. You should make sure that your exercise includes something that will get your heart pumping and some cardio is not a bad idea. There are some exercises that are made to keep your heart healthy and this is something that you might want to check into.

If you work with a personal trainer, you will want to inform them that you are interested in keeping your heart healthy and there can be some exercises that they can recommend to help you keep your heart healthy.

Having a healthy heart is something that everyone should be concerned with. Heart problems can happen at any age and you can decrease the odds of this occurring with proper diet and exercise. Making some very minor changes can have big benefits and your heart is one of the most important muscles in your body. Posted by: Julia      Read more         Source

March 1, 2011, 9:34 PM CT

Who Receive Greatest Benefit from Heart Failure Treatment?

Mild heart failure patients with a particular condition that results in disorganized electrical activity throughout the heart benefit substantially from cardiac resynchronization treatment with defibrillator (CRT-D), as per a research studyreported in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

In patients with the condition, known as left bundle branch block or LBBB, CRT-D treatment reduced heart failure progression and the risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmias, fast and potentially life-threatening heart rhythms. Heart failure patients without LBBB did not receive any benefit from the treatment.

The analysis, based on the major study which tested the device - the MADIT-CRT trial - led the FDA to extend the approval of the CRT-D in September 2010 to patients with mild heart failure and LBBB to prevent progression to advanced heart failure. The device, developed by Boston Scientific, was originally approved to treat patients with severe heart failure.

"This study allowed us to identify the specific set of patients that receive the greatest benefit from this device," said Wojciech Zareba, M.D., Ph.D., lead study author and director of the Heart Research Follow-up Program at the University of Rochester Medical Center. "Our analysis highlights the fact that this treatment is not equally effective in all mild heart failure patients and was the basis of the FDA's approval of the treatment only in patients with left bundle branch block"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 18, 2011, 7:44 AM CT

Platelet-rich plasma for heart attacks

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in collaboration with BioParadox, Inc., have published data supporting the use of platelet-rich plasma as a promising biologic therapy for myocardial infarction (heart attack).

The findings were published online in Cardiovascular Revascularization Medicine and will be presented at The Sixth International Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease at Columbia University Medical Center, New York City, on January 20, 2011.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been identified as a novel biologic therapy for wound healing and sports-related injuries. Studies indicate PRP stimulates cell repair via growth factor release and by attracting reparative cells. Only recently, however, have researchers begun to study PRP's potential in repairing damaged cardiovascular tissue.

Working with colleagues at Stanford University Medical Center, main author Allan Mishra, MD, a leading PRP researcher, studied the effects of RevaTen PRP (a proprietary formulation of concentrated platelets and white blood cells) on cardiac function after inducing cardiac ischemia (damage to myocardial tissue caused by blood restriction) in mice. The research was conducted under the direction of Robert Robbins, MD, chairman of the department of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford University......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

December 10, 2010, 7:56 AM CT

Working Out without Working Hard

We all know that diet and exercise are important to a healthy heart, but it is sometimes unrealistic to find the time and money for everything that is theoretically "good for us." If you're using your busy lifestyle or a tight budget as an excuse for not fitting balanced workouts into your day, the Flex Belt is going to make that a bit more difficult.

What is the Flex Belt?
The Flex Belt is an FDA-approved device that sends signals to your abdominal muscles through positioned gel pads. The muscles contract and then relax in a natural manner, and all of the abdominal muscles are worked simultaneously. While it works, you will feel a pulse and then your muscles will tighten. You can adjust the intensity of the muscle contractions (from 1 to 100) as your abdominal muscles get stronger.

Is it safe?
As mentioned, the Flex Belt has met the rigorous standards of the Food and Drug Administration and is the first device approved for abdominal toning. A clinical trial was conducted and, when the Flex Belt was used as directed, 100% of participants had results.

When can I expect results and what will I look like?
If you use the belt daily, you may begin to see results in four to eight weeks. You will have to continue to use the belt (or do an abdominal workout program) a few times a week thereafter to maintain the look. Results could include a decrease in your waist size, increases in your ability to do sit ups and your overall abdominal strength, and more abdominal tone.

How much does the Flex Belt cost?
If you purchase one Flex Belt, the cost is roughly $200. You may be able to get a 25% discount on additional Flex Belts if you would like to buy them as gifts for your spouse, partner, friends, or family members. Eventually, you will need to purchase additional gel pads to optimize your workout. Gel pads start at about $15 for a replacement set.

Can I use the Flex Belt after pregnancy?
Yes, but you will need to wait six weeks to three months depending on whether you had a C-section. Because everyone's situation varies, ask your doctor when you can begin to safely use your Flex Belt.

How can I learn more?
To see the product in action, you can watch the contour abs YouTube video.
Posted by: April      Read more         Source

October 8, 2010, 7:49 AM CT

Fetal Heart-Cell Proliferation Could Help Regenerate Cardiac Cells

Heart muscle cells do not normally replicate in adult tissue, but multiply with abandoned during development. This is why the loss of heart muscle after a heart attack is so dire-you can't grow enough new heart muscle to make up for the loss.

A team of scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine describe the interconnections between three-molecules that control fetal, heart-muscle-cell proliferation in a mouse model that will help heart specialists better understand the natural repair process after heart attacks and help researchers learn how to expand cardiac stem cells for regenerative therapies.

The research team, led by Jonathan Epstein, MD, chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Chinmay Trivedi, MD, PhD, an Instructor in the same department, report their findings in the cover article of the most recent issue of Developmental Cell.

The Penn team showed that an enzyme called Hdac2 directly modifies a protein called Gata4, and a third protein called Hopx, which appears to have adopted a new function. Hopx is a member of a family of ancient, evolutionally conserved proteins that normally bind DNA. In this case, however, rather than binding to DNA, it works to bring two other proteins, Hdac2 and Gata4, together. By performing this unexpected matchmaker function, Hopx helps to control the rate at which heart muscle cells divide......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

September 25, 2010, 8:02 AM CT

Disparities in heart attack treatment

The well-documented disparities in cardiac care appears to begin almost as soon as patients arrive at hospital emergency rooms. As per a research findings published in Academic Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) scientists report that African-American and Hispanic patients assessed for chest pain were less likely than white patients to be categorized as requiring immediate care, despite a lack of significant differences in symptoms. Such practices directly violate American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guidelines specifying immediate electrocardiogram (ECG) examination for any patient with chest pain.

"In this first nationally representative sample of emergency room patients, we found persistant racial, gender and insurance-coverage based differences in triage categorization and cardiac testing," says Lenny Lopez, MD, MPH, of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at MGH, the study's main author. "Emergency room triage is the critical step that determines the whole cascade of clinical decisons and testing that happens next, so if patients are misclassfied on arrival, they won't receive the care they need when they need it."

A number of studies have documented racial, ethnic and gender-based differences in the likelihood that patients with cardiac symptoms will receive procedures like cardiac catheterization, angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery. The current study was designed to evaluate whether the initial, emergency-room triage decision a quick evaluation to determine which patients need to be seen immediately and which can wait has a role in these disparities. The scientists reviewed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Health Care Survey of Emergency Departments (NHAMCS-ED) covering 1997-2006, including the age, gender, race/ethnicity and insurance status of patients coming to the surveyed hospital departments (EDs) with chest pain......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

August 31, 2010, 7:01 AM CT

During angioplasty operations

A landmark international study, coordinated by McMaster University, has observed that lower doses of a blood thinner called unfractionated heparin (UFH) during angioplasty did not reduce bleeding or vascular complications in comparison to standard dose UFH in patients initially treated with a blood thinner, fondaparinux.

In a previous study, the OASIS 5 trial, scientists from McMaster University showed that a blood thinner fondaparinux in comparison to another blood thinner, enoxaparin, reduced serious bleeding and prevented deaths in patients with heart attacks. A limitation of this new agent, fondaparinux, was its higher rates of clot formation in equipment during angioplasty. As a result, an additional blood thinner UFH had been recommended during angioplasty to prevent clotting in those who had received fondaparinux, but there was uncertainty about the optimal dose.

Even though UFH has been used during angioplasty since the procedure was first performed, little is known about the optimal dose of the agent.

An international group of scientists from 18 countries found patients undergoing angioplasty did not benefit from a lower dose of UFH in comparison to a standard dose in those on fondaparinux.

Importantly, the addition of either low or standard dose UFH to fondaparinux did not increase serious bleeding and prevented clot formation in equipment during angioplasty when in comparison to patients treated with fondaparinux alone in OASIS 5. As a result, adding standard dose UFH to fondaparinux maintains the major advantage of fondaparinux (lower bleeding) while preventing clotting during the angioplasty procedure......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

July 1, 2010, 6:56 AM CT

Higher testosterone may raise risk of heart disease

A large U.S. multicenter study shows that older men with higher testosterone levels are more likely to have a heart attack or other cardiovascular disease in the future. The results were presented at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

"The study finding contradicts smaller studies that have shown that testosterone levels are not linked to higher rates of cardiovascular disease," said presenting author Kristen Sueoka, MD, a resident doctor at the University of California, San Francisco.

"A number of in the general public are using testosterone supplements for various medical problems, including low sex drive and mood disorders, which are not life-threatening. These men may unknowingly be placing themselves at higher risk for cardiovascular disease," she said.

Study participants were age 65 or older and included 697 community-dwelling men who were participating in the National Institutes of Health-funded study, Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS). None of these men were receiving testosterone treatment, as per the study abstract.

All subjects had blood tests to determine their testosterone levels. The researchers then divided the men into quartiles, or four groups, of testosterone range to observe trends in rates of coronary heart disease events. This type of heart disease results from plaque-clogged or narrowed coronary arteries, also called atherosclerosis. A coronary heart disease event included a heart attack; unstable angina, which is chest pain commonly due to atherosclerosis and which doctors consider a prelude to a heart attack; or an angioplasty or bypass surgery to clear blocked arteries......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

June 28, 2010, 7:47 AM CT

Omega-3 in women with type 1 diabetes

Consuming higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids does not appear to lower heart disease risk for women with type 1 diabetes, as per a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study being presented at the 70th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

The study, abstract number 1757-P, included 601 men and women enrolled in the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications Study, a long-term prospective examination of childhood onset type 1 diabetes that began in 1986. Participants were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 1950 and 1980.

Omega-3 fatty acids, primarily found in fish, promote heart health by preventing the buildup of cholesterol in the arteries. Little is known about the effect of consuming omega-3 in people with type 1 diabetes, who are at much greater risk for heart disease.

During the course of the study, 166 participants (27.6 percent) were diagnosed with cardiovascular disease. Generally, omega-3 intake among participants was low. The occurence rate of heart disease was lowest in men who consumed the highest quantities of omega-3 more than 0.2 grams per day. Women who consumed similar amounts of omega-3 did not have lower rates of heart disease.

"Eventhough omega-3 is typically linked to decreased risk for cardiovascular disease, this may not be the case for women who have type 1 diabetes," said Tina Costacou, Ph.D., main author of the study and assistant professor of epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. "Importantly, our study suggests we shouldn't assume men and women with type 1 diabetes are the same"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

June 24, 2010, 9:50 PM CT

Flight-or-Fight Hormone Response to Combat Heart Failure

We've all experienced the strong heartbeat that accompanies emotions such as fear and rage. But can the body's natural response to these emotions be used to combat heart failure? Results of a study published online today in the journal Circulation Research present a strong case.

In the study, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center observed that two experimental drugs have the potential to restore pumping strength to failing hearts in part by harnessing the fight-or-flight response that makes hearts beat stronger.

At the center of this finding is the hormone adrenalin, which normally maintains the heart's pumping strength and makes the heart beat with greater force during crisis. The newly identified drugs ensure that adrenalin's ability to drive heartbeat strength is maintained, and not thwarted, as it typically is in heart failure patients. The two therapies, when tested in human-like mouse models of heart failure, were found to slow, and in some cases halt, the progression of the disease.

"Considering the limited efficacy of current drug therapies for heart failure, this discovery is both exciting and promising," said Burns C. Blaxall, Ph.D., associate professor within the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Medical Center, and senior author of the study. "We are now taking a closer look at how these compounds compare to standard heart failure therapies, such as beta blockers, to further determine their efficacy in treating the disease"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 19, 2010, 7:36 AM CT

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillator

A new treatment that reduces the risk of mortality and heart failure in patients with mild cardiac disease received a thumb's up this week from an advisory panel to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The panel recommended that the cardiac resynchronization treatment defibrillator (CRT-D), tested extensively nationwide under the leadership of heart specialist Arthur Moss, M.D., professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, be approved for use in patients with mild heart failure in the United States.

The device under review was developed by Boston Scientific and is already approved to treat patients with severe heart failure. With device approval by the FDA, nearly 4 million more Americans could be candidates for therapy with the CRT-D. The recommendations by its panels are often, but not always, followed by the FDA.

In the major study which tested the device - the MADIT-CRT trial - patients who had a cardiac resynchronization device combined with a defibrillator (CRT-D) implanted had a 34 percent reduction in their risk of death or heart failure in comparison to patients receiving only an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Heart failure alone was reduced by 41 percent in all patients, with a remarkable 63 percent reduction of heart failure in women. The study results were published last year in the New England Journal (NEJM)......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 14, 2010, 8:15 PM CT

Family history of obstructive coronary artery disease

In the largest study of its kind to date using cardiac computed tomography angiography, people with a family history of early signs of coronary artery disease are at higher risk of developing obstructive coronary artery disease and plaque in their arteries, Henry Ford Hospital scientists say.

Scientists analyzed the data from more than 8,200 patients who underwent cardiac computed tomography angiography and observed that those with a family history of coronary artery disease, or CAD, have a 28 percent chance of developing the disease themselves than those with no family history. Family history of CAD also was independently linked to an increased prevalence of plaque in the arteries.

The study is presented at the Sunday at the 59th annual American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions in Atlanta.

"This is the first study to show that family history of premature coronary artery disease is a significant predictor of obstructive coronary artery disease using coronary computed tomography," says Mouaz Al-Mallah, M.D., director of Cardiac Imaging Research at Henry Ford and main author of the study.

While family history is a well-known risk factor for premature coronary artery disease, Henry Ford scientists examined whether family history was associated with obstructive coronary artery disease in patients who underwent cardiac computed tomography angiography, a diagnostic imaging tool that looks at the coronary arteries and evaluates the amount of blockage from plaque. For the study scientists analyzed data of patients using the Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Consortium, which is funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 12, 2010, 8:09 AM CT

Thyroid Hormone Analogue for Against High Cholesterol

An experimental thyroid drug reduces cholesterol without the troublesome side effects experienced by some people on statins, as per a research studypublished recently in The New England Journal (NEJM). An international team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Karolinska University Hospital and Institute, and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research tested a substance called Eprotirome in patients with high cholesterol.

Following 189 people with high cholesterol over a three-month period, they found that it lowered cholesterol levels without the classic thyroid risks to the heart and bone, The study was supported by Karo Bio in Sweden, a company that is developing the drug for its cholesterol-lowering effects.

Over three decades, Irwin Klein, MD, an endocrinologist at the Feinstein Institute, has been at the forefront of researching the correlation between thyroid and heart health. It seemed that people with underactive thyroid glands also had high cholesterol levels. These high cholesterol levels were dramatically reduced with thyroid hormone replacement. But the problem in using thyroid hormone for cholesterol lowering is the side effects of an overactive thyroid gland: people can become anxious and have heart palpitations, muscle weakness and bone thinning......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

March 12, 2010, 8:03 AM CT

A New Beat in Heart Research

Sudden Cardiac Arrest syndrome (SCA) is poorly understood, but it's a real danger for the otherwise young and healthy. For no apparent reason, the heart suddenly stops beating, and without therapy death may follow within minutes. It's why some athletes drop dead on the track and why a young man, without any warning, suddenly dies while sitting at his desk. SCA accounts for approximately 300,000 deaths per year in the U.S.

Dr. Joel Hirsch of Tel Aviv University's Department of Biochemistry has teamed up with Prof. Bernard Attali of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine Department of Physiology and Pharmacology to investigate the cause and effects of the fatal syndrome. Not the same as a heart attack - in which heart muscles continue to pump, however erratically - SCA normally occurs with no warning.

This team is hot on the trail of understanding how a multi-gene syndrome, one of the causes for SCA, operates inside the body. Once they figure out how the disorder operates and describe its molecular system in detail, they hope to develop a drug or treatment to stop this condition before it strikes.

Solving the mystery of sudden death

"SCA is not as uncommon as most people think," Dr. Hirsch says. "It may explain a lot of mysterious occurrences in which people, even very young people, drop dead for no apparent reason. Doctors have started screening athletes for this condition, which can be exaggerated under physical exertion. Our research into the biological mechanisms of SCA can add to the toolbox of diagnostic possibilities - and we hope that it will help science find a new drug to treat it......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 10, 2010, 8:21 AM CT

Early life stress and heart disease

Early life stress could be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in adulthood, scientists report.

"We think early life stress increases sensitivity to a hormone known to increase your blood pressure and increases your cardiovascular risk in adult life," said Dr. Jennifer Pollock, biochemist in the Vascular Biology Center at the Medical College of Georgia and corresponding author on the study published online in Hypertension.

The studies in a proven model of chronic behavioral stress separating rat pups from their mother three hours daily for two weeks showed no long-term impact on key indicators of cardiovascular disease such as increased blood pressure, heart rate or inflammation in blood vessel walls.

But when the rats reached adulthood, an infusion of the hormone angiotensin II resulted in rapid and dramatic increases in all key indicators in animals that experienced early life stress. Stress activates the renin-angiotensin system which produces angiotensin II and is a major regulator of blood vessel growth and inflammation both heavily implicated in heart disease. "They cannot adapt to stress as well as a normal animal does," Dr. Pollock said. Within a few days, for example, blood pressure was nearly twice as high in the early-stress animals......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 8, 2010, 7:54 AM CT

Women with gout an risk of heart attack

Women with gout are at greater risk of a heart attack than men with the disease, indicates research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases

Gout is known to boost the risk of a heart attack in men. But to date, little has been known about the impact of gout on women's cardiovascular health.

Gout is common and caused by inflammation in the joints as a result of excess uric acid deposits. Uric acid is a by-product of purines, which are abundant in a Western diet.

Obesity, weight gain, high alcohol intake, high blood pressure, poorly functioning kidneys and certain drugs can all precipitate its development.

The authors base their findings on a population study of more than 9500 gout patients and 48, 000 people without the disease, aged 65 and older.

All participants were drawn from the Canadian British Columbia Linked Health Database, which covers the entire province of British Columbia (population 4.5 million) and contains long term information on healthcare use.

The cardiovascular health of all the participants was tracked for an average of seven years, during which time 3268 fatal and non-fatal heart attacks occurred. Of these, just under a third (996) were in women.

Compared with women who did not have gout, those who did were 39% more likely to have a heart attack of any kind and 41% more likely to have a non-fatal heart attack......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 4, 2010, 8:07 AM CT

Tiny Constraints In Heart Blood Flow

Heart specialists and heart imaging specialists at 15 medical centers in eight countries, and led by scientists at Johns Hopkins, have enrolled the first dozen patients in a year-long investigation to learn whether the subtle squeezing of blood flow through the inner layers of the heart is better than traditional SPECT nuclear imaging tests and other diagnostic radiology procedures for accurately tracking the earliest signs of coronary artery clogs.

Each year, nearly 800,000 American men and women with coronary artery disease suffer a heart attack, resulting in more than 150,000 deaths.

The latest international study of so-called CT perfusion imaging will involve the participation of some 400 men and women identified as being at higher risk of coronary artery disease because they have had symptoms of the illness, such as shortness of breath, chest pain or fatigue. All qualify for a more detailed inspection of their heart's blood vessels by cardiac catheterization, an invasive procedure in which a thin plastic tube is directly inserted into the heart's blood vessels to detect blockages and help widen each artery as needed.

"Our study goal is to figure out how well various imaging tests measure the degree of blockage or narrowing in any particular artery and therefore which is more useful in predicting patients who need catheterization or angioplasty, or bypass surgery," says heart specialist and senior study investigator João Lima, M.D. "Some patients would do just as well or better with drug treatment to maintain a healthy blood flow to the heart, but we need to better sort out who they are with more accuracy"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

February 3, 2010, 8:05 AM CT

Lifestyle changes for teens critical

Pamphlets detailing the warning signs linked to heart disease may soon end up in an unexpected location: your child's pediatrician's office. As per new research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in five American teens has at least one risk factor for developing heart disease in adulthood.

With heart health front-and-center this month in honor of American Heart Month, most media coverage will focus on at-risk adults. But that's a mistake as per Sarah Wally, a dietitian with the National Association for Margarine Manufacturers.

"Eventhough heart disease is typically diagnosed in adulthood, its roots often begin in childhood," says Wally. "Heart disease is the result of a lifelong process and intervention strategies to reduce risk should begin as early as possible."

The new CDC report, released earlier this year, highlights the need to intervene early. The report reveals that twenty percent of children and teens in the U.S. have an abnormal lipid profile a sign of high triglycerides, low levels of good cholesterol or high levels of bad cholesterol and a strong marker for future heart disease risk.

Small changes in daily habits are the key to helping young Americans modify their risk of heart disease, as per Wally. "Incremental changes in diet and exercise habits are much more effective and successful over the long term," she says. "Something as simple as swapping from butter to a soft spread margarine can have a lasting impact in improving the nutritional quality of your diet"......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 19, 2010, 8:30 AM CT

Nanoparticles that can cling to artery walls

Scientists at MIT and Harvard Medical School have built targeted nanoparticles that can cling to artery walls and slowly release medicine, an advance that potentially provides an alternative to drug-releasing stents in some patients with cardiovascular disease.

The particles, dubbed "nanoburrs" because they are coated with tiny protein fragments that allow them to stick to target proteins, can be designed to release their drug payload over several days. They are one of the first such particles that can precisely home in on damaged vascular tissue, says Omid Farokhzad, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an author of a paper describing the nanoparticles in the Jan. 18 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Farokhzad and MIT Institute Professor Robert Langer, also an author of the paper, have previously developed nanoparticles that seek out and destroy tumors.

The nanoburrs are targeted to a specific structure, known as the basement membrane, which lines the arterial walls and is only exposed when those walls are damaged. Therefore, the nanoburrs could be used to deliver drugs to treat atherosclerosis and other inflammatory cardiovascular diseases. In the current study, the team used paclitaxel, a drug that inhibits cell division and helps prevent the growth of scar tissue that can clog arteries......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 14, 2010, 8:14 AM CT

Gender-biased heart damage

A man's male hormones may ward off heart damage by helping vessels around the heart regenerate, suggest Australian scientists in a report posted January 13 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (www.jem.org).

While studies have shown that estrogen helps blood vessels regenerate, both in the uterus after menstruation and around the heart after wear and tear, little is known about whether or not men make up for a lack of the female hormone. Some scientists have theorized that this disparity accounts for why men tend to suffer worse heart attacks more often and earlier in life than women. However, Sieveking and his colleagues find that this trend appears to be due to a drop in androgens, a collective term for male hormones, as men age.

Cells derived from the umbilical cord of a human male fetus responded to androgens by moving and multiplyingactivities linked to new vessel growth. Furthermore, castrated mice, which produced fewer androgens, fared poorly after the scientists inflicted vessel damage intended to resemble injuries that occur during a heart attack or a stroke. And treating the castrated mice with androgens hastened their recovery.

Therefore, the authors suggest that androgen replacement treatment might one day be used to treat men at risk for heart disease. The treatment currently receives attention for possibly inducing other rejuvenating benefits, such as increased energy and muscle mass. However, it's been approached with caution as androgens have been shown to assist in tumor growth in prostate cancerperhaps by stimulating tumor-promoting vessel growth......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

January 12, 2010, 8:54 AM CT

Growth factor also protects heart

A growth factor that is a common target of cancer drugs also plays an important role in the heart's response to stress, scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report online this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation

In a number of cancers, the body makes too much platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR), a type of protein that controls cell growth, allowing cancer cells to increase uncontrollably. Several chemotherapy agents, including Sutent(r) (sunitinib), Nexavar(r) (sorafenib) and Gleevec(r) (imatinib), work by targeting and inhibiting PDGFR. This slows the growth of cancer - as well as angiogenesis, which is the growth of new blood vessels.

"Recently, some of these targeted anti-cancer drugs have been linked to heart failure," said Aarif Khakoo, M.D., assistant professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Cardiology and corresponding author on the study, said. "But the role of PDGFR signaling in the heart has been largely unexplored until now."

In this study, Khakoo and colleagues showed that, while PDGFR-inhibiting agents may slow the growth of cancer cells, they also may impair the heart's ability to respond to stress. Since these agents also often cause elevated blood pressure, this causes a double bind of added stress to the heart and lessened capacity to deal with this stress......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

October 29, 2009, 5:44 PM CT

Finding the Right Insurancespecialists

If you are looking for an auto insurance coverage, it is very important for you to research on various insurance specialists available on the internet. You could also compare the policies and their features in the available insurancespecialists websites. You will actually become an expert of some sort if you are willing to put in a bit of time and efforts.

Many people do not have complete information on the coverage types and they end up making the wrong decisions. It becomes even more difficult if they associate themselves with the insurance agents who are looking to make quick money.

Primarily, you will need to plan carefully so that you do not get end up paying more than what is really needed.

Some vital information that you will need to know before talking to anyone in the insurance business includes:.

Complete coverage:.

This is an added extra which can be added on top of your existing insurance coverage. It is going to cost you more but it will give you coverage for those unexpected events like natural calamities, fire, objects falling, and burglary.

Various insurances will have different comprehensive levels of coverage and therefore it is very important for you to consult the right insurancespecialists before buying any policies......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

May 8, 2009, 5:25 AM CT

What caused the massive decline in coronary death in Iceland?

In the 25 years between 1981 and 2006 mortality rates from coronary heart disease (CHD) in Iceland decreased by a remarkable 80% in men and women aged between 25 and 74 years. How could such a huge decline be explained? Were the health services of Iceland so much better, or were its citizens reducing their risks?1.

To find out Dr Thor Aspelund and his colleagues from the Icelandic Heart Association and the University of Iceland applied a validated CHD analysis model (the IMPACT mortality model) to official Icelandic death statistics, national quality registers, published trials and meta-analyses, clinical audits and a series of national population surveys.2.

Results of the study are presented at EuroPRevent 2009 and show that approximately three-quarters of the mortality decrease in Iceland was attributable to reductions in risk factors throughout the general population. These were principally (36%) in the reduction of cholesterol levels, smoking (20%) and systolic blood pressure (26%) and in the greater uptake of physical activity (5%).

In addition, approximately one quarter of the decrease in CHD deaths in Iceland was attributable to therapy in individuals - 7% to secondary prevention (ie, medical therapy or surgery following a heart attack or other CHD event), 6% to therapys for heart failure, 5% to initial therapys of acute coronary syndrome, and 1% to treating hypertension......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source

April 27, 2009, 5:25 AM CT

How new heart cells are created?

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have identified for the first time key genetic factors that drive the process of generating new heart cells. The discovery, published in the current issue of the journal Nature, provides important new directions on how stem cells appears to be used to repair damaged hearts.

For decades, researchers were unable to identify a single factor that could turn nonmuscle cells into beating heart cells. Using a clever approach, the research team led by Benoit Bruneau, Ph.D., observed that a combination of three genes could do the trick. This is the first time any combination of factors has been found to activate cardiac differentiation in mammalian cells or tissues.

"The heart has very little regenerative capacity after it has been damaged," said Dr. Bruneau. "With heart disease the leading cause of death in the Western world, this is a significant first step in understanding how we might create new cells to repair a damaged heart".

Two of the three genes encode proteins called transcription factors, which are master regulators that bind to DNA and determine which genes get activated or shut off. The two transcription factors, GATA4 and TBX5, cause human heart disease when mutated and also cooperate with each other to control other genes. When Dr. Bruneau and postdoctoral fellow Jun K. Takeuchi added different combinations of transcription factors to mouse cells, these two seemed important for pushing cells into heart cellsbut they were not enough......... Posted by: April      Read more         Source