Feature Channels: Cardiovascular Health

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A diabetes drug may have benefits beyond lower blood sugar in patients with HIV. New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests the drug may prevent cardiovascular problems because it works to reduce inflammation that is linked to heart disease and stroke in these patients. The drug both improved metabolism and reduced inflammation in HIV-positive adults on antiretroviral therapy.

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Adults over 50 who have persistent symptoms of depression may have twice the risk of stroke as those who do not, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Researchers found that stroke risk remains higher even after symptoms of depression go away, particularly for women.

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The study followed almost 140,000 adults aged 35 to 70 over four years in 17 countries. Their muscle strength was measured using a handgrip dynamometer. They were taking part in the institute’s Prospective Urban-Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: Statin drugs and cancer, concussions, women in business, tracking ebola, precision medicine, nursing, Nepal earthquake, and Oak Ridge National Lab researchers working on LHC experiments.

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The culmination of two decades of research, a new study reveals the genetic causes of a curious, rare syndrome that manifests as hypertension (high blood pressure) accompanied by short fingers (brachydactyly type E). Six, unrelated families with the syndrome come from across the globe – United States, Turkey, France, South America, and two from Canada – yet share mutations that cluster in a small region of phosphodiesterase 3A (PDE3A). Functional studies imply the mutations change resistance of blood vessels, an underappreciated mechanism for regulating blood pressure. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, suggest new directions for investigating causes of hypertension in the general population.

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The Lariat device is associated with a significant incidence of death and urgent cardiac surgery during its frequent off-label use to prevent stroke in patients with the irregular heartbeat known as atrial fibrillation. Following a systematic review of case reports and an FDA safety database, researchers are calling for formal controlled investigations into the safety and efficacy of off-label use of the Lariat device, which has never been approved for treatment of this condition.

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Frailty among older people with cardiovascular disease appears to be more predictive than age for gauging their risk of heart attack, stroke and death, according to an international study that included researchers at Duke Medicine.

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In the midst of the growing and often conflicting data around the benefits of statins, researchers are developing gene-based resources to help improve statin efficacy and cost-effectiveness and to reduce the incidence of adverse effects – some of which can be fatal.

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Oxidative stress has been long known to fuel disease, but how exactly it damages various organs has been challenging to sort out. Now scientists from Johns Hopkins say research in mice reveals why oxidation comes to be so corrosive to heart muscle.

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A national survey released today by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center shows that most women don’t know the risks or symptoms females face when it comes to having a stroke. The survey of 1,000 women was released in time for Stroke Awareness Month in May.

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Review concludes that intramuscular injection of testerosterone replacement therapy confers greater health benefits and lower cardiovascular risks than transdermal administration by skin patch or gel.

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Mice that are given the lipid Resolvin D1 after experimental heart attacks have substantially reduced amounts of inflammation and heart failure.

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Refining the results of a 2013 study, researchers have found that atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat, is associated with only one type of heart attack – the more common of the two types.

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Stroke is a frequent and dreaded complication of atrial fibrillation. But predicting which of the estimated six million Americans with a-fib are at highest risk has long challenged physicians weighing stroke risk against the serious side effects posed by lifelong therapy with warfarin and other blood thinners.

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Researchers performing sophisticated motion studies of heart MRI scans have found that specific altered function in the left atrium of the heart may signal stroke risk in those with atrial fibrillation and, possibly, those without it.

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Trending news releases with the most views in a single day. Topics include: exercise and obesity, Focused Ultrasound to treat uterine fibroids, neurology, diet supplements and cancer (day 4 in top 10), genetics, geology, skin cancer, sleep and Alzheimer's, and water conservation.

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Researchers from Drexel University demonstrate that ultrasound can increase the rate at which heart cells beat and describe the settings that can do so most effectively.

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Stroke can happen to anyone at any age.

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Every year, more than 120 million prescriptions are written worldwide for thiazide drugs, a group of salt-lowering medicines used to treat high blood pressure. These drugs are often very effective. But in some patients, they don't work. The reasons for this have remained a mystery. Now, a new study by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) has revealed a key mechanism for this failure.