http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A long-standing system for assessing the risk of cardiovascular disease amongst older people should be replaced with something more accurate, according to a study published today on bmj.com. http://www.physorg.com/news150695292.html Medicine & Health Fri, 09 Jan 2009 03:48:12 EST news150695292 Avoiding detection just got harder for drug cheats who try to use a particular range of untested, but potentially enhancing, compounds. In the past, tests have been developed once a drug is known to be in circulation. Now a German research team has developed tests for a class of drugs that they believe could be used in the near future. http://www.physorg.com/news150616173.html Medicine & Health Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:49:33 EST news150616173 (PhysOrg.com) -- Cellular engineers at the University of Pennsylvania have determined that cardiomyocytes, the specialized cells that form the heart muscle, thrive when cultured in an environment that mimics their own elastic nature but falter, weaken or die when `grown` on stiffer or softer materials. http://www.physorg.com/news150568853.html Biology Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:40:53 EST news150568853 An innovative approach for implanting a new aortic heart valve without open-heart surgery is being offered to patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. Known as the PARTNER (Placement of AoRTic traNscathetER valves) trial, this Phase 3 multicenter study is being led by national co-principal investigators Dr. Martin Leon and Dr. Craig Smith and is focused on the treatment of patients who are at high risk or not suitable for open-heart valve replacement surgery. http://www.physorg.com/news150561085.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:31:25 EST news150561085 A compound designed to prevent chest pains in heart patients has shown promising results in animal studies, say scientists. In the second issue of the British Journal of Pharmacology to be published by Wiley-Blackwell, researchers from the Centre de Recherche Pierre Fabre in France, show that the novel compound F15845 has anti-angina activity and can protect heart cells from damage without the unwanted side effects often experienced with other drugs. http://www.physorg.com/news150536526.html Medicine & Health Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:42:06 EST news150536526 Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) can improve survival in patients with heart damage - even those in their 70s - according to research reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. http://www.physorg.com/news150482825.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:47:05 EST news150482825 Men with type 2 diabetes and men with previous heart attack or stroke had a 3 to 4 fold risk of cardiovascular death compared to men without either disease in the years following the first acute event, according to a study in CMAJ. http://www.physorg.com/news150398280.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:18:00 EST news150398280 If you're committed to fitness, the decision to climb a couple of flights of stairs rather than take the elevator is clear. But if you develop chest pain on the way up, deciding how to treat the symptoms of clogged arteries in your heart is much more complicated. http://www.physorg.com/news150398197.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:16:37 EST news150398197 Johns Hopkins and other researchers report what is believed to be the first direct evidence in lab animals that the erectile dysfunction drug sildenafil amplifies the effects of a heart-protective protein. http://www.physorg.com/news150398115.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:15:15 EST news150398115 A study in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Sleep demonstrates that the frequent arousals from sleep that occur in heart failure patients with central sleep apnea (CSA) may reflect the presence of another underlying arousal disorder rather than being a defensive mechanism to terminate apneas. http://www.physorg.com/news150024559.html Medicine & Health Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:29:19 EST news150024559 A new clinical trial suggests that long-term use of candesartan, a drug currently used to treat hypertension, may significantly reduce the symptoms of genetic heart disease. The related report by Penicka et al, "The effects of candesartan on left ventricular hypertrophy and function in non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a pilot, randomized study," appears in the January issue of The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. http://www.physorg.com/news149838893.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Dec 2008 05:54:53 EST news149838893 Fish oil protects against deaths from heart problems, but doesn't provide a clear benefit in heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias), according a study published on bmj.com today. http://www.physorg.com/news149311364.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:22:44 EST news149311364 Embryonic stem cells could provide a new way of testing drugs for dangerous side effects, according to a leading British researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news148804610.html Medicine & Health Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:36:50 EST news148804610 A study recently published online in the journal Risk Analysis estimates that eating one egg per day is responsible for less than 1 percent of the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in healthy adults. Alternatively, lifestyle factors including poor diet, smoking, obesity and physical inactivity contribute 30 to 40 percent of heart disease risk, depending on gender. This study adds to more than thirty years of research showing that healthy adults can eat eggs without significantly affecting their risk of heart disease. http://www.physorg.com/news148641987.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:26:27 EST news148641987 Anyone will tell you that stress is bad for the heart. Many people also know about the toxic effects of anxiety and depression. But how exactly do these negative emotions cripple the cardiovascular system -- and what can be done about it? http://www.physorg.com/news148584981.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:36:21 EST news148584981 The next person who reminds you to floss might be your cardiologist instead of your dentist. Scientists have known for some time that a protein associated with inflammation (called CRP) is elevated in people who are at risk for heart disease. But where's the inflammation coming from? A new research study by Italian and U.K. scientists published online in The FASEB Journal shows that infected gums may be one place. Indeed, proper dental hygiene should reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, stroke and heart disease independently of other measures, such as managing cholesterol. http://www.physorg.com/news148578252.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:44:12 EST news148578252 Atherosclerosis - a disease that includes the buildup of fatty, cholesterol-laden lumps of cells inside the artery wall - is the underlying cause of heart attacks and strokes. http://www.physorg.com/news148571589.html Medicine & Health Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:53:09 EST news148571589 In the aftermath of a heart attack, the body's own defenses may contribute to future heart failure. Authors of a new study believe they have identified a protein that plays an important role in a process that replaces dead heart muscle with stiffening scar tissue. The researchers are hopeful that the findings will lead to the development of new therapies to prevent this damage. http://www.physorg.com/news148571329.html Biology Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:48:49 EST news148571329 A heart damaged by heart attack is usually broken, at least partially, for good. The injury causes excessive scar tissue to form, and this plays a role in permanently keeping heart muscle from working at full capacity. http://www.physorg.com/news148487985.html Medicine & Health Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:39:45 EST news148487985 Up until today scientists assumed that the adult heart is unable to regenerate. Now, researchers and cardiologists from the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany) have been able to show that this dogma no longer holds true. Dr. Laura Zelarayán and Assistant Professor Dr. Martin W. Bergmann were able to show that the body`s own heart muscle stem cells do generate new tissue and improve the pumping function of the heart considerably in an adult organism, when they suppress the activity of a gene regulator known as beta-catenin in the nucleus of the heart cells. http://www.physorg.com/news148228129.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:28:49 EST news148228129 A University of Iowa study provides insight into a calcium-sensing enzyme already known to play a role in irregular heartbeats and other critical functions. The researchers showed that the enzyme, calmodulin kinase II (CaM kinase II), contributes to arrhythmia in an extremely rare disease called Timothy syndrome and that inhibiting the enzyme prevents irregular heartbeats. http://www.physorg.com/news148224152.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:22:32 EST news148224152 An implantable hemodynamic monitor (IHM) may help to guide medical treatment in a large subgroup of patients with heart failure -those with diastolic heart failure (DHF), reports a study in the December Journal of Cardiac Failure (http://www.onlinejcf.com/), published by Elsevier. http://www.physorg.com/news148220841.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:27:21 EST news148220841 People who have been diagnosed with panic attacks or panic disorder have a greater risk of subsequently developing heart disease or suffering a heart attack than the normal population, with higher rates occurring in younger people, according to research published in Europe's leading cardiology journal, the European Heart Journal today. http://www.physorg.com/news148193239.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:47:19 EST news148193239 Living in a household with several generations of relatives triples a woman's risk of serious heart disease, suggests research published ahead of print in the journal Heart. http://www.physorg.com/news148192676.html Medicine & Health Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:37:56 EST news148192676 Men and women have about the same in-hospital death rate for heart attack - but women are twice as likely to die if hospitalized for a more severe type of heart attack, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. http://www.physorg.com/news147979977.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:32:57 EST news147979977 Just as the emotions it represents are dynamic, the heart's development requires dynamic shifts in proteins that prompt alternative spicing, a mechanism that allows a given gene to program the cell to make several proteins, said a group of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news147979902.html Medicine & Health Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:31:42 EST news147979902 Scientists have identified 12 new genes that are somewhat strange bedfellows: Some link gallstones and blood cholesterol levels, others link melatonin and sleep patterns to small increases in glucose levels and larger jumps in the risk of diabetes. http://www.physorg.com/news147885016.html Medicine & Health Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:10:16 EST news147885016 A medication used for high blood pressure does not improve a common form of heart failure, according to new results from a large, international study. http://www.physorg.com/news147616869.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:41:09 EST news147616869 There is a direct relationship between thickening of blood vessel walls - atherosclerosis - in the coronary arteries and the cholesterol levels in the blood. This was demonstrated for the first time in research carried out by the University of Twente and Medisch Spectrum Twente (Netherlands). Using intravascular ultrasonics (IVUS), PhD student Marc Hartmann could accurately monitor the increase or decrease in atherosclerosis. http://www.physorg.com/news147454831.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:40:31 EST news147454831 Researchers at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) have shown in both fruit flies and humans that genes involved in embryonic heart development are also integral to adult heart function. The study, led by Rolf Bodmer, Ph.D., was published in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. http://www.physorg.com/news147447947.html Medicine & Health Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:45:47 EST news147447947