Feature Channels: Cardiovascular Health

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Certain measures of the blood biomarker cardiac troponin T (cTnT), a cardiac-specific protein, using a highly sensitive test, are associated with the development of heart failure or cardiovascular death in older adults, according to a study that will appear in the December 8 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online because it will be presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting.

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Although some data have suggested that omega-3 fatty acid supplements, such as from fish oil, may improve treatment of atrial fibrillation, a randomized trial with more than 600 patients finds that treatment with high-dose prescription omega-3 did not reduce the recurrence of atrial fibrillation over six months, according to a study that will appear in the December 1 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online because it will be presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting.

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Scientists studying genetic data from nearly 50,000 people have uncovered several DNA sequence variations associated with the electrical impulses that make the heart beat. The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, may pave the way for a greater understanding of the mechanisms for abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death.

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Low levels of vitamin D, the essential nutrient obtained from milk, fortified cereals and exposure to sunlight, doubles the risk of stroke in whites, but not in blacks, according to a new report by researchers at Johns Hopkins.

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An examination of the heritability of atrial fibrillation (AF) among more than 4,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study finds the occurrence of AF in first-degree relatives was associated with AF risk after adjustment for established AF risk factors and AF-related genetic variants, according to a study that will appear in the November 24 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online because it will be presented at the American Heart Association’s annual meeting.

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Heart experts at Johns Hopkins say that physicians might be drawing conclusions too soon about irreversible brain damage in patients surviving cardiac arrest whose bodies were for a day initially chilled into a calming coma.

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Resistance exercise (such as lifting weights) produces a different pattern of blood vessel responses than aerobic exercise, suggesting that it may have specific and important benefits for cardiovascular health, according to a study in the November issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, official research journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

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A hormone already responsible for increasing blood pressure by prompting the kidneys to retain salt appears to moonlight as a major stimulator of the brain centers that control the vascular system and blood pressure.

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When the heart is stopped and restarted, the patient's life may be saved but the brain is often permanently damaged. Therapeutic hypothermia, a treatment in which the patient's body temperature is lowered and maintained several degrees below normal for a period of time, has been shown to mitigate these harmful effects and improve survival in adults. Now, in the first large-scale multicenter study of its kind, physician-scientists are evaluating the effectiveness of the technique in infants and children.

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Using PPIs and antiplatelet drugs together is an appropriate way to treat patients with cardiovascular disease who are at high risk of upper GI bleeds, despite recent concerns about an adverse interaction between these two types of drugs, according to a joint publication by the American College of Cardiology Foundation, the American College of Gastroenterology , and the American Heart Association.

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The use of urate lowering therapy might successfully prevent death from cardiovascular disease in people with gout, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta.

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The inactive form of the blood-regulating protein thrombin and its molecular structure are the focus of ground-breaking research from Saint Louis University.

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Personalized medicine: Cardiovascular disease patients who have a genetic defect that makes them less responsive to blood thinners may be helped with an increased dosage, according to a pilot study led by a cardiologist at UTHealth.

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ISHIB today released new recommendations recognizing that high blood pressure among African Americans is a severe health problem. The new consensus statement suggests that treatment should start sooner and be more aggressive among African Americans.

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New data presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Atlanta show that systemic inflammation and rheumatoid arthritis disease activity may contribute to the progression of atherosclerosis in people with RA. The data also show that this progression may be modified favorably by TNF inhibitors and detrimentally by glucocorticoids.

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An analysis of data from previously published studies indicates that use of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel for patients who have common genetic variants of a certain gene and are undergoing a procedure such as coronary stent placement have an associated increased risk for major adverse cardiovascular events, particularly development of blood clots in stents, according to a study in the October 27 issue of JAMA.

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Neighborhood barbers, by conducting a monitoring, education and physician-referral program, can help their African-American customers better control high blood pressure problems that pose special health risks for them, a new study from the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute shows.

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In the largest human study to date on the topic, researchers have uncovered evidence of the possible influence of human sex hormones on the structure and function of the right ventricle (RV) of the heart.

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A Nova Southeastern University (NSU) researcher has announced a breakthrough discovery to block a protein that can contribute to heart failure. His discovery will appear in an upcoming issue of the prestigious medical journal, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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Heart attack patients whose hearts have stopped beating and who receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders fare better if their resuscitators skip the rescue breaths and do only chest compression, according to a study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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No matter how you slice it, watermelon has a lot going for it –– sweet, low calorie, high fiber, nutrient rich –– and now, there’s more. Evidence from a pilot study led by food scientists at The Florida State University suggests that watermelon can be an effective natural weapon against prehypertension, a precursor to cardiovascular disease.

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University of Illinois at Chicago physical therapist Shane Phillips received a $1.25 million NIH grant to conduct a comprehensive, 5-year study of obese adults under age 40. He'll compare the effects of low fat and low carbohydrate diets on the cardiovascular health of participants.

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Scientists have identified an important microRNA that may allow us to better control cholesterol levels in blood.

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Ethnicity is a contributing risk factor of cardiovascular problems in kidney recipients of South Asian origin post-transplant, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN).

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Use of pine bark extract, at a dose of 200 milligrams per day, appears safe but did not improve risk factors for heart disease, according to a report in the September 27 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

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To understand the health effects of high cholesterol levels, doctors first need to assess malnutrition and inflammation status in their chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN).

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How well are doctors doing in advising patients to eat better and exercise? It can depend on the physician's own personal habits, according to a study by the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center. Factors that predicted confidence in counseling included the doctor’s own exercise time, being overweight, and if the doctor had adequate training in counseling.

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The fine particles of pollution that hang in the air can increase the risk for sudden cardiac arrest, according to a new study conducted by a team from Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center and The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.

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A molecule known to be involved in progressive heart failure has now been shown to also lead to permanent damage after a heart attack, according to researchers at Thomas Jefferson University.

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Scientists at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) have found a gene that causes high levels of bad cholesterol to accumulate in the blood as a result of a high-cholesterol diet.

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Repairing small, seemingly benign holes in a child’s heart may be more clinically important than previously thought, as dysfunction could be lurking out of sight. These are the findings from a study conducted by doctors and researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Ohio State University Medical Center examining a subset of the most common form of congenital heart disease, ventricular septal defect.

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David H. Adams, MD, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Professor and Chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, has performed the first implantation of the Medtronic Tri-Ad Semi-Flexible Tricuspid Annuloplasty Ring in the United States.

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High levels of the stress hormone cortisol strongly predict cardiovascular death among both persons with and without pre-existing cardiovascular disease according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

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Clinical descriptors can assist clinicians in identifying patients with various stages of atherothrombosis (abnormal fatty deposits in an artery) who are at high-risk of future cardiovascular events, according to a study that will appear in the September 22 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Stockholm.

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A growing epidemic of the world’s most common heart rhythm disorder is resulting in an alarming number of hospital admissions in Australia, according to cardiology researchers.

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A study of a subset of women in the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS), suggests that as BMI increases, so do platelet reactivity and thrombogenic microvesicles and activated protein C in the blood—all of which contribute to the formation of atherothrombosis and associated cardiovascular events.

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Using computer models to study the strengths and weaknesses of different stent structures could help manufacturers optimize stent design and help doctors choose the right stents for their patients.

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Data of 3.1 million individuals reviewed with newer predictive scoring system.

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Commonly prescribed drugs used to lower blood pressure can actually have the opposite effect—raising blood pressure in a statistically significant percentage of patients. A new study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University suggests that doctors could avoid this problem—and select drugs most suitable for their patients—by measuring blood levels of the enzyme renin through a blood test that is becoming more widely available. The study appears in the online edition of the American Journal of Hypertension.

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Mayo Clinic researchers found that healthy young people who put on as little as 9 pounds of fat, specifically in the abdomen, are at risk for developing endothelial cell dysfunction. Endothelial cells line the blood vessels and control the ability of the vessels to expand and contract.

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For patients with a certain type of heart attack, delay in the time between first contact with emergency medical service to initiation of therapy such as balloon angioplasty is associated with an increased risk of death, according to a study in the August 18 issue of JAMA.

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Researchers have uncovered a mechanism that regulates the processing of microRNAs (miRNAs), molecules that regulate cell growth, development, and stress response. The discovery helps researchers understand the links between miRNA expression and chronic disease.

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Expensive brand-name medications to lower blood pressure are no better at preventing cardiovascular disease than older, generic diuretics, according to new long-term data from a landmark study.

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An elevated resting heart rate that develops or persists during follow-up is associated with a significantly increased risk of death, whether from heart disease or other causes, researchers from the Ronald O. Perelman Heart Institute at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center found studying outcomes in more than 9,000 patients.

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At least a quarter of patients who have suffered a stroke stop taking one or more of their prescribed stroke prevention medications within the first three months after being hospitalized – when the chance of having another stroke is highest – according to a new study by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues.

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Along with skeletal muscles, it may be important to monitor heart function in patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). These are the findings from a study conducted by Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published online ahead of print in Human Molecular Genetics. This is the first study to report cardiac dysfunction in mouse models of SMA.

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A new optical imaging technique described in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments holds the potential to greatly improve angioplasty, a surgery commonly performed to treat patients with a partially or completely blocked coronary artery that restricts blood flow to the heart.

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Engineers and physicians at the University of Washington have built a scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells. The scaffold supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals.

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New study suggests that disparities in cardiovascular disease risk in the United States are due less to race or ethnicity than to socioeconomic status.

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Dr. Amar Sethi, VP of Science and Technology at Pacific Biomarkers, Inc, observed that in ischemic heart disease patients untreated with statins, there is a difference in the way bad cholesterol is removed from the body by the HDL particle. They found that a particle called pre-β1 HDL is increased, while LCAT—the enzyme that packs cholesterol into the core of the HDL particle—is reduced.