Feature Channels: Heart Disease

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Lawrence Livermore researchers have successfully modeled a human heart on an engineered chip and measured the effects of chemical exposure on functions of heart tissue using microelectrodes, a development scientists hope will decrease the time needed for new prescription drug trials and ensure potentially lifesaving drugs are safe and effective, while at the same time reducing the need for human and animal testing.

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By combining a patient’s traditional risk score with the Intermountain Mortality Risk Score (IMRS), physicians and patients are better equipped to evaluate a patient’s individual risk of stroke, bleeding, and mortality with atrial fibrillation, according to a new study of more than 80,000 patients from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City.

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The University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System is the first hospital in the Midwest to offer an improved minimally invasive treatment for atrial fibrillation, also called AF or AFib.

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Cooling down the body may reduce brain injury for people in a coma after being revived from cardiac arrest, according to a new guideline developed by the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and published in the May 10, 2017, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The guideline recommends that families ask if their loved one qualifies for the procedure. The guideline is endorsed by the Neurocritical Care Society.

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PinnacleHealth CardioVascular Institute in Harrisburg, PA, enrolled the first patient in Pennsylvania in a trial assessing the safety and effectiveness of a new stent to treat patients with coronary heart disease who are at higher risk for bleeding.

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A new study finds that dietary nitrate—a compound that dilates blood vessels to decrease blood pressure—may reduce overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system that occurs with heart disease. The research team looked specifically at beetroot juice, a source of dietary nitrate, to explore its use as a future targeted treatment option for people with cardiovascular disease.

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CRF will hold a free seminar, “Broken Hearts: Living with Heart Failure,” on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 for heart failure patients and caregivers at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The seminar will focus on providing both patients and caregivers a deeper understanding of heart failure, its symptoms, and treatment options.

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The Women’s Heart Fund will host its signature event, the Heart of Rock and Roll cocktail reception, on Friday, June 2, from 7-10 p.m. at the Asbury Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ. The Women's Heart Fund Board is excited to announce that this year's event will feature special guests Chazz Palminteri of the hit Broadway musical, A Bronx Tale, and his wife Gianna Palminteri, who will serve as honorary chairs. With more than 50 movies to his credit, Bronx-born and raised Chazz was destined to continue the long line of prominent actors in the film industry. Well known for Bullets Over Broadway, The Usual Suspects and A Bronx Tale, he is the only artist who has had his work go from a one-man show to a major motion picture film to a hit Broadway musical.

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For people going through a divorce, a technique called narrative expressive writing—not just writing about their emotions, but creating a meaningful narrative of their experience—may reduce the harmful cardiovascular effects of stress related to marital separation, reports a study in Psychosomatic Medicine: Journal of Biobehavioral Medicine, the official journal of the American Psychosomatic Society. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

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The Image Gently Alliance, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and a coalition of pediatric medicine and cardiology organizations* have launched the “Have-A-Heart” campaign. This multi-society effort would help providers appropriately use and optimize performance of computed tomography (CT), fluoroscopy and nuclear medicine exams in diagnosing and treating heart disease in children.

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The third annual Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering Symposium met at the University of Alabama at Birmingham last month, a gathering of noted physicians and scientists who share the goal of creating new tissues and new knowledge that can prevent or repair heart disease and heart attacks.

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Research at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, conducted in a Pennsylvania Amish community where virtually no women smoke, finds effects of secondhand smoke differ between men and women.

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The 5-year grant from the NHLBI to the labs of Jennifer and David Pollock also includes a third project at the University of Utah, bringing together 3 highly successful research entities

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As children with single-ventricle disease, a complex and severe heart defect, undergo a series of three reconstructive surgeries, pediatric researchers have detected higher rates of brain abnormalities at each stage. The scientists also found associated changes in the infants’ cerebral blood flow that could offer important clues to improving long-term neurological outcomes in these children.

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Social smokers’ risk for high blood pressure and high cholesterol is identical to those who light up every day, new research has found.

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Sudden cardiac death resulting from fibrillation – erratic heartbeat due to electrical instability – is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Now, researchers have discovered a fundamentally new source of that electrical instability, a development that could potentially lead to new methods for predicting and preventing life-threatening cardiac fibrillation.

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A study revealed that while dietary gluten does not increase heart disease risk in people without celiac disease, limiting whole grains may increase their heart risk.

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Less than half of individuals with peripheral artery disease, which is a narrowing of arteries to the limbs, stomach and head, are treated with appropriate medications and lifestyle counseling. These findings highlight the need to improve the quality of care for this high-risk group of individuals.

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Patients can maximize chances of high-quality mitral valve repair through referral to surgeons with large annual repair rates

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Cigarette smoking accounts for about one fifth of cases of coronary heart disease (CHD), one of the leading causes of death worldwide, but precisely how smoking leads to CHD has long been unclear. Now, a team has uncovered a molecule that may at least partly explain the smoking-CHD connection.

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Smoking counteracts the effect of a gene that normally protects against heart disease, according to a group of researchers.

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Using a mouse heart attack model, researchers have shown that knocking out one particular lipid-modifying enzyme, along with a short-term dietary excess of a certain lipid, can improve post-heart attack healing and clear inflammation.

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This year’s AATS Centennial, the annual meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, features a presentation from a team of doctors and other medical professionals who have been travelling to Rwanda for the past 10 years as part of a surgical outreach program aimed at treating patients affected by rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and building a foundation for sustainable cardiothoracic care throughout the country.

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If not for a heart transplant, Drew Wilson would have been dead last fall.

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Johns Hopkins researchers report that an analysis of survey responses and health records of more than 10,000 American adults for nearly 20 years suggests a “synergistic” link between exercise and good vitamin D levels in reducing the risk of heart attacks and stroke

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A program that penalizes hospitals for high early readmission rates of heart attack patients may be unfairly penalizing hospitals that serve a large proportion of African-Americans and those with more severe illness, a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggests.

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University of Illinois at Chicago researchers are conducting a study to determine whether binge drinking is related to cardiovascular disease in young adults who are not predisposed to the condition.

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Media registration is now open online for TCT 2017 (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics), the annual Scientific Symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF).

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The Gold-Headed Cane Award is the most distinctive honor granted by ASIP, in recognition of long-term contributions to pathology, including meritorious research, outstanding teaching, general excellence in the field and leadership in pathology. The 2017 recipient of the Gold-Headed Cane Award is Dr. Michael A Gimbrone, Jr, Director of the Center for Excellence in Vascular Biology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Elsie T Friedman Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

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Dr. Richard Shemin, the Robert and Kelly Day Professor of Surgery at the David Geffen UCLA School of Medicine at UCLA and chief of cardiac surgery, has been named to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons

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Dr. Abbas Ardehali, a professor of surgery and medicine in the division of cardiothoracic surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, has been selected a 2017 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor by the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations.

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A multidisciplinary research team at UAB looks to address obesity as it is genetically passed from mother to child.

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Brad Sutton, M.D., and colleagues have found that regions with a high degree of unregistered automated external defibrillators also show a much greater chance that these devices will fail if needed.

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Researchers from Georgia State University’s Center for Molecular & Translational Medicine have received a four-year, $2.8 million federal grant to study diabetic cardiomyopathy, diabetes-related changes in the structure and function of the heart muscle.

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Featured research includes a ‘neuroprosthetic’ device that restores cardiac function in patients with spinal cord injuries, 3-D printed heart valves, new leads for the treatment of clogged arteries, advances in stem cell therapy and new ways to visualize immune system dynamics.

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The CRF Women’s Heart Health Initiative is holding a yoga fundraiser on Tuesday, April 25th led by noted expert and senior instructor Tanya Boulton at Pure Yoga West in New York City. This is a wonderful opportunity to reduce stress and take care of your heart while raising money for heart disease research and education for women.

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Researchers are still trying to fully understand anomalous aortic origin of a coronary artery (AAOCA) and its relationship to adverse health outcomes in humans, especially children. Using the most up-to-date literature, as well as the input of leading experts in the field, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) has released practical guidelines for the identification and treatment of AAOCA, including an overview of the latest data surrounding population-based risk.

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To better manage empyema in the face of rising demand for treatment, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Guidelines Committee called for the formation of the Empyema Management Guidelines Working Group. The group was tasked with analyzing the latest literature about empyema and issuing new evidence-based clinical guidelines. The resulting Consensus Statement is published in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

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. While there is no cure for atrial fibrillation, many successful treatments are available, including surgical ablation. A growing population of patients means an increased demand for care. In an effort to provide practitioners with the most up-to-date information, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) assembled an expert board to study the available literature and develop evidence-based guidelines and best practices on surgical ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation.

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Physicians Perform World’s First Robotic Surgery to Remove Kidney Cancer Extending into the Heart, Saving Patient from Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death The 10-hour procedure redefines surgical limits, combining cutting-edge robotic expertise with top-notch, multi-disciplinary collaboration.

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Denise Smith, professor of health and exercise sciences at Skidmore College, recently co-authored a study titled, “Firefighting and the Heart: Implications for Prevention.” The study was featured in the scientific journal, Circulation.

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A team of biomedical engineering researchers, led by the University of Minnesota, has created a revolutionary 3D-bioprinted patch that can help heal scarred heart tissue after a heart attack. The discovery is a major step forward in treating patients with tissue damage after a heart attack.

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People living in areas that restrict trans fats in foods had fewer hospitalizations for heart attack and stroke compared to residents in areas without restrictions, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine and Yale School of Medicine.

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• In 2013, reduced kidney function was associated with 4% of deaths worldwide, or 2.2 million deaths. • More than half of these deaths were cardiovascular deaths.

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Atherosclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries, has long been seen as a strong indicator of coronary artery disease, as compared to the traditional risk factors of race, age, gender and metabolic profile.

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In patients experiencing a worsening of heart failure, the primary objective of treatment should be the patient-centric goal of symptom relief, says the author of an editorial in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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At a glance: People who suffer heart attacks and cardiac arrests in the vicinity of major marathons are more likely to die within a month. The bleaker survival odds are linked to delays in transportation to nearby hospitals. The delays are believed to stem from widespread road closures within the radius of the race. The study findings underscore the need for citywide strategies that ensure rapid transport for medical emergencies in the vicinity of major public events.

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More than 1,800 individuals carrying loss-of-function mutations in both copies of their genes, so-called “human knockouts,” are described in the first major study to be published by an international collaboration. The program, which has so far sequenced the protein-coding regions of over 10,500 adults living in Pakistan, is illuminating the basic biology and possible therapeutics for several different disorders.

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A study of more than 13,000 veterans with heart disease revealed that for those who also had depression, gaining access to and affording healthcare and medications is more difficult than those without depression.

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An international clinical trial, called REFLECT, studies the safety and efficacy of the Keystone Heart TriGuard™ cerebral embolic protection device to minimize the risk of cerebral damage during TAVR and other cardiovascular procedures.