Heart Disease :: Tiny clue reveals new path toward heart disease
Geneticists have discovered a new gene that may put individuals at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Atherosclerosis
Heart Disease :: Researchers find heart disease in a marathon runner — is too much exercise a bad thing?
Doctors at the University of Maryland Medical Center had a mystery on their hands. A 51-year-old physician colleague who looked the picture of health?no cardiovascular risks, a marathon runner who had exercised vigorously each day for 30 years?had just flunked a calcium screening scan of his heart.
Dementia :: High Uric Acid Levels – A Possible New Dementia Biomarker
Researchers at Yale and at Johns Hopkins, led by Barry Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of Therapeutic Cognitive Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins, have found that a simple blood test to measure uric acid, a measure of kidney function, might reveal a risk factor for cognitive problems and dementia in old age.
Insulin :: Stress-signaling fat is a culprit behind insulin resistance
A new study in the March issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, published by Cell Press, has identified a common link between multiple assaults on the body, including saturated fats, obesity, and certain types of drugs, all of which can lead to insulin resistance. The researchers found that these metabolic stresses lead to an upswing in production of a particular kind of fat molecule, known as ceramide.
Heart :: Cocoa may lead to sustained improvement in blood vessel function
Drinking a specially-made cocoa beverage daily may have the potential to reverse impairments in the functioning of blood vessels, according to a first-of-its-kind study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.
Gum Disease :: Treatment for gum disease could also help the heart
Scientists at University College London (UCL) have conducted the first clinical trial to demonstrate that an intensive treatment for periodontitis (gum disease) directly improves the health of blood vessels.
Smoking :: Pregnant smokers raise their child’s risk of stroke, heart attack
Women who smoke during pregnancy can cause permanent vascular damage in their children ? increasing their risk for stroke and heart attack, researchers said at the American Heart Association?s 47th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.
Meditation :: Transcendental meditation reduces congestive heart failure
A widely practiced, stress-reducing meditation technique significantly decreases the severity of congestive heart failure, according to a first-of-its-kind randomized study published in Ethnicity & Disease (Winter 2007).
Cardiac :: Researchers find predictor of mortality in cardiac patients
Researchers at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn have determined that low levels of a protein in the blood is a predictor of cardiac death in patients with coronary artery disease.
Heart Disease :: Reduction of body iron stores and cardiovascular outcomes
The reduction of body iron stores through phlebotomy (blood removal) in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) does not appear to decrease the risk of death plus nonfatal cardiovascular events, according to a study published in the February 14 issue of JAMA.