Heart

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The heart is a muscular organ in all vertebrates responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods. The term cardiac (as in cardiology) means "related to the heart" and comes from the Greek καρδιά, kardia, for "heart."

The heart of a vertebrate is composed of cardiac muscle, an involuntary striated muscle tissue which is found only within this organ. The average human heart, beating at 72 beats per minute, will beat approximately 2.5 billion times during a lifetime (about 66 years). It weighs on average 250 g to 300 g in females and 300 g to 350 g in males.

For more information about Heart, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with heart

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Study Finds Eating Fruits and Vegetables Lowers Risks of Heart Disease

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (7) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of adults aged 70 or older found that increased servings of fruits and vegetables were significantly associated with a decrease of cognitive impairment, and that those eating three or more servings ...


Ginkgo biloba doesn’t prevent cardiovascular events but may have potential peripheral artery disease benefits

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 26, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ginkgo biloba didn’t prevent cardiovascular death or major events such as heart attack and stroke in people age 75 and older, but the herb may affect peripheral vascular disease, according to research reported ...


The tall and short of diseases

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Research shows that being taller means a fatter pay check and an increased risk of some cancers.


New genetic cause of cardiac failure discovered

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Over the course of a lifetime, the heart pumps some 250 million liters of blood through the body. In the order to do this, the muscle fibers of the heart have to be extremely durable. The research group headed by Dr. Wolfgang ...


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Alcohol helps lower heart disease risk for men: study

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 7

Men who drink alcohol every day see a nearly one-third average reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease, according to a long-term study among Spanish men published on Thursday.


Tobacco smoke exposure before heart transplantation may increase the risk of transplant failure

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

A study conducted at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore provides the first direct evidence that cigarette smoke exposure prior to a heart transplant in either the donor, recipient, or both, accelerates ...


Bottling up work woes increases heart risk: study

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Men who bottle up frustrations about unfair treatment at work are twice as likely to have a heart attack, a study published in Britain on Tuesday suggests.


Reduced skin infections in Northern Australian Aboriginal children

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A community-based program aimed at reducing the burden of skin disease across remote communities in Australia's Northern Territory has been successful according to a study published November 24 in the open-access journal ...


New tool for helping pediatric heart surgery

Physics / General Physics

created Nov 24, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Stanford University has developed a way to simulate blood flow on the computer to optimize surgical designs. It is the basis of a new tool that may help ...


Saving the single cysteine: new antioxidant system found (w/ Video)

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- We've all read studies about the health benefits of having a life partner. The same thing is true at the molecular level, where amino acids known as cysteines are much more vulnerable to damage when single ...


Smoking remains potent risk factor for death from heart disease, cancer

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity 1 / 5 (1) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Smoking persists as a major risk factor for death from heart disease and cancer in adults who already have heart disease and receive good medical therapy, according to research reported in Circulation: Jo ...


Stable plaque or heart attack plaque? USC researcher builds new sensor to tell which is which

Stable plaque or heart attack plaque? Researcher builds new MEMS sensor to tell which is which

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 23, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

University of Sourthern California biomedical engineer and cardiologist Tzung "John" Hsiai hopes to develop a new tool to help clinicians distinguish cardiac emergencies requiring immediate surgery from chronic ...


How fish is cooked affects heart-health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids

Medicine & Health / Health

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (10) | comments 1

If you eat fish to gain the heart-health benefits of its omega-3 fatty acids, baked or boiled fish is better than fried, salted or dried, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions ...


Dentists can help to identify patients at risk of a heart attack

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created Nov 25, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Dentists can help to identify patients who are in danger of dying of a heart attack or stroke, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy. Thanks to the study, six men who thought they were completely healthy were able ...


Your own stem cells can treat heart disease

Medicine & Health / Research

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0

The largest national stem cell study for heart disease showed the first evidence that transplanting a potent form of adult stem cells into the heart muscle of subjects with severe angina results in less pain and an improved ...