Better Management of Coronary Heart Disease
Despite widespread use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, a significant number of cardiac patients continue to suffer heart attacks and stroke. Researchers theorize that high levels of an enzyme found in coronary plaques may be to blame, by making plaques more likely to rupture and block blood flow. The drug darapladib may offer a way to fight that risk, according to new research led by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
Researchers at the Penn and several other international sites have found that the drug may be a useful adjunct to treatment with statin drugs. The new findings, published in a recent issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, show that the drug safely and effectively lowers the activity of Lp-PLA2, an enzyme associated with inflammation activity and an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
Popularity: 16% [?]
May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Disease | Leave a CommentProtein Limits Heart Attack Injury
Medical College of Wisconsin researchers in Milwaukee have shown for the first time that thrombopoietin (TPO), a naturally occurring protein being developed as a pharmaceutical to increase platelet count in cancer patients during chemotherapy, can also protect the heart against injury during a heart attack.
The study, led by John E. Baker PhD, professor of pediatric surgery in the division of cardiothoracic surgery, was published in the January 2008 issue of Cardiovascular Research. The importance of these findings was underscored in an accompanying editorial.
Popularity: 20% [?]
May 8, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Attack | Leave a CommentFolic Acid, B Vitamins Fail to Reduce Risk of Heart Problems
Women at high-risk of cardiovascular disease who took a daily supplement of folic acid and vitamin B6 and B12 for 7 years did not have an overall reduced rate of cardiovascular events.
These women experienced the same amount of heart-related health problems as those who took placebos.
Popularity: 18% [?]
May 7, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Disease | Leave a CommentHelping Depressed Heart Failure Patients
Aerobic exercise combined with cognitive behavioral therapy may improve physical function, reduce depressive symptoms and enhance quality of life in depressed heart failure patients, researchers reported at the American Heart Association’s 9th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.
In a new study, researchers divided 74 heart failure patients with depression into four groups: one group received a 12-week, home-based program of exercise and psychological counseling; a second received psychological counseling alone; a third received exercise alone; and a fourth received usual care.
Popularity: 15% [?]
May 6, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Failure | Leave a CommentSome Women Miss or Ignore Heart Attack Warning Signs
Many women under age 55 aren’t seeking timely treatment for heart attack because they expect the warning signs and their reaction to follow a Hollywood script — tightening in the chest, shortness of breath, clutching the chest while dropping to one knee.
That’s the finding of researchers who presented their study at the American Heart Association’s 9th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research (QCOR) in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke.
Popularity: 16% [?]
May 5, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Attack | Leave a CommentHigh Blood Pressure Still Sneaking Past Doctors
Despite the well-known dangers of high blood pressure, major shortfalls still exist in the screening, treatment and control of the disease even when patients are getting a doctor’s care, according to a study from the Stanford University School of Medicine.
In a unique look at how blood pressure, or hypertension, is being addressed once a patient steps into a doctor’s office, the study reported a lack of routine blood pressure screening and a low percentage of patients who are achieving recommended blood pressure goals after diagnosis.
Popularity: 17% [?]
May 4, 2008 | Filed Under Blood Pressure | Leave a CommentApples, Apple Juice Prevent Early Atherosclerosis
A new study shows that apples and apple juice are playing the same health league as the often-touted purple grapes and grape juice. The study was published in the April 2008 issue of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research.
Researcher Kelly Decorde from the Universite Montpelier in France was part of the European research team that found apples have similar cardiovascular protective properties to grapes. The researchers also observed that processing the fruit into juice has the potential to increase the bioavailability of the naturally-occurring compounds and antioxidants found in the whole fruit.
Popularity: 18% [?]
May 3, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Research | Leave a CommentObesity Linked to Heart Failure Risk
Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged inflammation of heart tissue and the subsequent damage leading to failure of the body’s blood-pumping organ.
The latest findings from the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), to be published in the May 6 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, appear to nail down yet one more reason for the estimated 72 million obese American adults to be concerned about their health, say scientists who conducted the research.
Popularity: 18% [?]
May 2, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Failure | Leave a CommentExercise Lowers Heart Disease Risk in Overweight Women
The risk of heart disease in women associated with being overweight or obese is reduced but not eliminated by higher levels of physical activity, according to a report in the April 28 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Both obesity and physical inactivity are modifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease, according to background information in the article. “Obesity is recognized as a major public health issue owing to its dramatically rising prevalence and deleterious impact on many chronic diseases, including coronary heart disease,” the authors write. “In addition, the majority of Americans are inactive and not meeting the Surgeon General’s goal for adequate physical activity.”
Popularity: 20% [?]
April 30, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Disease | Leave a CommentOsteoporosis Drug Associated with Irregular Heartbeat
Women who have used Fosamax are nearly twice as likely to develop the most common kind of chronically irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation) than are those who have never used it, according to research from Group Health and the University of Washington published in the April 28 Archives of Internal Medicine.
Merck markets Fosamax, the most widely used drug treatment for the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, explained study leader Susan Heckbert, MD, PhD, MPH, a professor of epidemiology and scientific investigator in the Cardiovascular Health Research Unit at the University of Washington. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first generic versions (called alendronate) in February.
Popularity: 19% [?]
April 29, 2008 | Filed Under Heart Research | Leave a Comment
