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.

Folic Acid :: Folic Acid Lowers Blood Arsenic Levels in Bangladesh

A new study conducted in Bangladesh finds that folic acid supplements can dramatically lower blood arsenic levels in individuals chronically exposed to arsenic-contaminated drinking water. Arsenic is a toxic element that is naturally present in some soils and water. Arsenic-contaminated drinking water is currently a significant public health problem in at least 70 countries, including several developing countries and also parts of the United States.

Heart Disease :: Negative aspects of close relationships may be associated with heart disease risk

Individuals whose close relationships have negative aspects, such as conflict and adverse exchanges, appear to have an increased risk of heart disease than those with more positive close relationships, according to a report in the Oct. 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Folic Acid :: Folic acid lowers blood arsenic levels

A new study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health finds that folic acid supplements can dramatically lower blood arsenic levels in individuals exposed to arsenic through contaminated drinking water. This toxic element, naturally present in some aquifers used for drinking, is currently a significant public health problem in at least 70 countries, including several developing countries and also parts of the U.S.

Heart Disease :: Left main coronary artery disease can double or treble heart risk in siblings

German researchers have found that heart disease of the left main coronary artery is often an inherited condition that clusters in families. Moreover, they discovered that initially healthy siblings of a person with the condition were 2.5 times more likely to go on to develop some form of heart disease than were siblings of a patient with heart disease that did not relate to the left main coronary artery.