Obesity :: Body-weight regulation scientists give perspective on obesity-related research

When obesity overloads the body with excess nutrients, parts start to fail. Obesity contributes to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure, some cancers, liver disease, immune dysfunction, painful joints, and a host of other problems. With so many parts of the body affected, studies of the health effects of obesity that concentrate on one body organ or system may overlook common underlying events occurring at the cellular level throughout the body.

Heart :: Aging heart changes shape, shrinks and loses pumping function too

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have evidence to explain why the supposedly natural act of aging is by itself a very potent risk factor for life-threatening heart failure.

Heart Disease :: Taking the stress out of choosing the right stress test

Stress tests are good front-line tests indicators of heart disease, but just how good depends on ordering the right one, researchers say. Thirty percent of all women, for example, have a false positive exercise treadmill test, in which they walk for several minutes at a slightly increasing incline with an electrocardiogram measuring the electrical activity of the heart, they say.

Breast Cancer :: Breast cancer awareness calls for cardiovascular awareness

Women who overcome breast cancer have every reason to celebrate. But a heart filled with joy may also be a heart damaged by life-saving cancer therapies, a growing body of research shows.

Blood Pressure :: Women with high or increasing blood pressure are up to three times more likely to develop diabetes

One of the largest studies to investigate the relationship between blood pressure and type 2 diabetes has found that women who have high blood pressure levels are three times more likely to develop diabetes than women with low blood pressure levels. This effect was independent of body mass index and other conditions that are known to predispose people to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Healthcare :: $22 million gift from Alfred Taubman launches new biomedical research institute

A new and extraordinary $22 million gift to the University of Michigan Health System is making possible a new and extraordinary institute — one with a mission of supporting fundamental research to advance the understanding of the causes, treatment and prevention of a broad range of human diseases.