Hospitals that provide the most rapid emergency angioplasty have specific strategies to expedite the care of patients with heart attacks, researchers at Yale School of Medicine report in the November 13 New England Journal of Medicine.
A drug commonly used to increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin may slow the progression of cardiovascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.
Researchers have long sought to find a reliable way to see inside the human heart without having to insert tubes, inject dyes or expose patients to potentially dangerous radiation. One possible solution is the whole-heart MRI, which provides 3-D images of the heart and its blood vessels without the risk of an invasive procedure.
A peptide known to play a role in anxiety is overly plentiful in a mouse model of the inherited neurological disorder Rett syndrome and appears to underlie the anxiety-like behavior in these mice, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The finding could provide a clue to treatment for this symptom.
A medication given to diabetics to improve their body’s sensitivity to insulin also appears to slow the thickening of their artery walls, according to a study posted online today by JAMA. The study is being released early to coincide with its presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Session. It will be published in the December 6 print issue of JAMA.
The rate of colorectal cancer screening appears to be increasing among Veterans Affairs patients, although use of colonoscopy is less common than other screening procedures, according to a report in the Nov. 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. A second report in the same journal shows that younger veterans with other illnesses and reduced life expectancies may not necessarily benefit from such screening and may even be harmed, but continue to be screened at high rates.
Influenza vaccine is associated with a small but increased risk for hospitalization with the potentially debilitating neurological disorder known as Guillain-Barr? syndrome, although the absolute risk associated with the vaccine is very low, according to a report in the Nov. 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Retinoids, a derivative of vitamin A, may provide little clinical benefit for patients with emphysema, shows a new study.
New research shows that patients who are HIV positive may be at an increased risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Johns Hopkins scientists have successfully grown large numbers of stem cells taken from adult pigs’ healthy heart tissue and used the cells to repair some of the tissue damage done to those organs by lab-induced heart attacks. Pigs’ hearts closely resemble those in humans, making them a useful model in such research.