Matters of the Heart

waltky · Nov 5, 2012

Thought that was what the pacemaker was needed for...

Heartbeat 'could power pacemaker'
4 November 2012 - A device which could harness energy from a beating heart can produce enough electricity to keep a pacemaker running, according to US researchers.

Repeated operations are currently needed to replace batteries in pacemakers. Tests suggested the device could produce 10 times the amount of energy needed. The British Heart Foundation said clinical trials were needed to show it would be safe for patients. Piezoelectric materials generate an electric charge when their shape is changed. They are used in some microphones to convert vibrations into an electrical signal. Researchers at the University of Michigan are trying to use the movement of the heart as a source of electricity.

In tests designed to simulate a range of heartbeats, enough electricity was generated to power a pacemaker. The designers now want to test the device on a real heart and build it into a commercial pacemaker. Dr Amin Karami told a meeting of the American Heart Association that pacemaker batteries needed to be replaced approximately every seven years. "Many of the patients are children who live with pacemakers for many years. You can imagine how many operations they are spared if this new technology is implemented."

Prof Peter Weissberg, the medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: "Advancing technology over recent years has meant people with pacemakers need to change their battery less often. This device could be another step forward along this path. "If researchers can refine the technology and it proves robust in clinical trials, it would further reduce the need for battery changes."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20182529
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waltky · Nov 6, 2012

Using stem cells from strangers to repair hearts...

Study: Stem cells from strangers can repair hearts
6 Nov.`12 Researchers are reporting a key advance in using stem cells to repair hearts damaged by heart attacks. In a study, stem cells donated by strangers proved as safe and effective as patients' own cells for helping restore heart tissue.

The work involved just 30 patients in Miami and Baltimore, but it proves the concept that anyone's cells can be used to treat such cases. Doctors are excited because this suggests that stem cells could be banked for off-the-shelf use after heart attacks, just as blood is kept on hand now. Results were discussed Monday at an American Heart Association conference in California and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study used a specific type of stem cells from bone marrow that researchers believed would not be rejected by recipients. Unlike other cells, these lack a key feature on their surface that makes the immune system see them as foreign tissue and attack them, explained the study's leader, Dr. Joshua Hare of the University of Miami. The patients in the study had suffered heart attacks years earlier, some as long as 30 years ago. All had developed heart failure because the scar tissue from the heart attack had weakened their hearts so much that they grew large and flabby, unable to pump blood effectively.

Researchers advertised for people to supply marrow, which is removed using a needle into a hip bone. The cells were taken from the marrow and amplified for about a month in a lab at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, then returned to Miami to be used for treatment, which did not involve surgery. The cells were delivered through a tube pushed through a groin artery into the heart near the scarred area. Fifteen patients were given cells from their own marrow and 15 others, cells from strangers.

About a year later, scar tissue had been reduced by about one-third. Both groups had improvements in how far they could walk and in quality of life. There was no significant difference in one measure of how well their hearts were able to pump blood, but doctors hope these patients will continue to improve over time, or that refinements in treatment will lead to better results. The big attraction is being able to use cells supplied by others, with no blood or tissue matching needed. "You could have the cells ready to go in the blood bank so when the patient comes in for a therapy there's no delay," Hare said. "It's also cheaper to make the donor cells," and a single marrow donor can supply enough cells to treat as many as 10 people.

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Richard Powell · Nov 27, 2012

This seems an achievement in medical science . Through stem cell of any stranger doctors can repair heart. This technology will surely bring revolution in this field of health care.

waltky · Dec 16, 2012

Researchers created a new pacemaker inside the heart...

Virus rebuilds heart's own pacemaker in animal tests
16 December 2012 - A new pacemaker has been built inside a heart by converting beating muscle into cells which can organise the organ's rhythm, US researchers report.

The heartbeat is controlled by electrical signals and if these go awry the consequences can be fatal. Scientists injected a genetically-modified virus into guinea pigs to turn part of their heart into a new, working pacemaker. The study was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

A human heart is made up of billions of cells, but researchers say fewer than 10,000 are responsible for controlling the heartbeat. Age and disease can lead to problems such as the heart pumping too fast or too slow - and it can even stop completely, in what is known as a cardiac arrest. The solution is an implanted battery-powered pacemaker which will jolt the heart to keep it in line.

Hearty solution

Instead a team of researchers at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute tried to restore the heart's own ability to dictate the beat by creating new pacemaker cells. They used a virus to infect heart muscle cells with a gene, called Tbx18, which is normally active when pacemaker cells are formed during normal development in an embryo.

When heart cells were infected with the virus they became smaller, thin and tapered as they acquired the "distinctive features of pacemaker cells", the report said. When the virus was injected into a region of the hearts of seven guinea pigs, five later had heartbeats which originated from their new pacemaker.

More http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20713986#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Durandal · Dec 17, 2012

waltky said: ↑

Researchers created a new pacemaker inside the heart...

Virus rebuilds heart's own pacemaker in animal tests
16 December 2012 - A new pacemaker has been built inside a heart by converting beating muscle into cells which can organise the organ's rhythm, US researchers report.
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That's a use I was not expecting for gene therapy.

But I'm left wondering what Granny has to say about it

Richard Powell · Dec 21, 2012

Heart attacks possibilities can be resolved with the healthy diet scheduled .Regular exercise and oil free food can cure better heart diseases.

New York Drug Rehab

waltky · Feb 2, 2013

Storing up heart problems?...

Unhappy childhood linked to heart risk in later life
1 February 2013 - Emotional behaviour in childhood may be linked with heart disease in middle age, especially in women, research suggests.

A study found being prone to distress at the age of seven was associated with a significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease in later life. Conversely children who were better at paying attention and staying focused had reduced heart risk when older. The US researchers said more work was needed to understand the link. Their study looked at 377 adults who had taken part in research as children. At seven they had undergone several tests to look at emotional behaviour. They compared the results from this with a commonly used risk score for cardiovascular disease of participants now in their early 40s.

After controlling for other factors which might influence heart disease risk, they found that high levels of distress at age seven were associated with a 31% increased risk of cardiovascular disease in middle-aged women. For men with high levels of distress in childhood - which included being easily frustrated and quick to anger - the increased risk of cardiovascular disease was 17%. For 40-year-olds who had been prone to distress as a child, the chances of having a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years increased from 3.2% to 4.2% for women and 7.3 to 8.5% for men.

Adversity

The researchers also looked at positive emotional factors such as having a good attention span and found this was linked with better cardiovascular health, although to a lesser degree. Other studies have linked adversity in childhood with cardiovascular disease in adults. And research in adults as linked poor emotional wellbeing with higher levels of cardiovascular disease, the researchers pointed out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Study leader Dr Allison Appleton, said more research would now be needed to work out the biological mechanism that may underpin the finding. "We know that persistent distress can cause dysregulation of the stress response and that is something we want to look at." Maureen Talbot, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said it was already known that a child's health could often have a bearing on their future wellbeing.

But she added that more research was needed before it could be clear that any possible link existed between emotions in childhood and the risk of cardiovascular disease in later life. "There are positive steps parents can take to protect their child's future heart health. "What we learn when we're young can often set the tone for our habits later in life, so teaching children about physical activity and a balanced diet is a great place to start."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21299549
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waltky · Feb 22, 2013

Cardiac hydrogel can repair damage from heart attacks...

Researchers Develop Injectable Gel to Repair Damaged Hearts
February 21, 2013 - People who suffer heart attacks are at increased risk of having a second and potentially fatal occurrence because of the damage the heart attack does to cardiac muscle tissue. Now scientists at the University of California San Diego have developed a new biomaterial - an injectable hydrogel - that can repair the damage from heart attacks, and help promote the growth of new heart tissue.

Millions of people around the world suffer heart attacks every year and survive. These traumatic events occur when blood supply to the heart muscles is somehow blocked, robbing them of oxygen and causing them to die. They raise the possibility of subsequent heart attacks, as well as heart failure, and a higher likelihood of death within five years. The problem, say experts, is the development of scar tissue in the damaged cardiac muscle. Initially helpful in healing the heart, the tough scar tissue actually weakens the supportive protein scaffold, or matrix, that normally exists in the space between heart muscle cells. This scaffold can support and promote the growth of new cells -- except when it's destroyed by post-heart attack scar tissue.

So we thought the best thing to deliver to the heart would be what was initially there in the first place," said Karen Christman, who is a biomedical engineer interested in tissue regeneration. "And so we developed this liquid form of this cardiac extracellular matrix that once it goes into the tissue can reassemble into that natural scaffold. Christman and colleagues at the University of California San Diego made the hydrogel from a portion of pig heart tissue by first stripping it of all its cells with a detergent, revealing a feathery, translucent web of connective tissue. This matrix was then freeze-dried and milled into a powder.

Next, the material was liquefied and injected directly into the hearts of subject pigs who had experienced heart attacks. When the cardiac liquid reached body temperature, Christman says, it became a semi-solid gel that formed a new scaffold in damaged areas of the heart. That encouraged new cell growth, she adds, and a more normal, less scar-prone tissue repair. When we looked after three months after we had given the treatment, we found a significant increase in cardiac muscle as well as a decrease in scar tissue," she said. "And while we were hoping to see that, that was an exciting new finding since ideally after a heart attack you want to reduce as much scar as possible and get as much muscle as possible.

Christman says she and her colleagues hope to begin human trials with this minimally-invasive heart repair technique sometime later this year in Europe. The injectable gel would again be produced from pig-heart tissue. Porcine heart valves are frequently used to repair human hearts because they don't cause serious rejection problems in transplant recipients. The University of California's Karen Christman made her comments in an interview with the journal Science Translational Medicine, which published the article on the cardiac hydrogel.

http://www.voanews.com/content/research-injectable-gel-repair-damaged-hearts/1608470.html
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waltky · Feb 25, 2013

possum's favorite Mediterranean food is a Greek lamb gyro...

Mediterranean-style diets found to cut heart risks
Feb 25,`13 : Pour on the olive oil, preferably over fish and vegetables: One of the longest and most scientific tests of a Mediterranean diet suggests this style of eating can cut the chance of suffering heart-related problems, especially strokes, in older people at high risk of them.

The study lasted five years and involved about 7,500 people in Spain. Those who ate Mediterranean-style with lots of olive oil or nuts had a 30 percent lower risk of major cardiovascular problems compared to those who were told to follow a low-fat diet but who in reality, didn't cut fat very much. Mediterranean meant lots of fruit, fish, chicken, beans, tomato sauce, salads, and wine and little baked goods and pastries. Mediterranean diets have long been touted as heart-healthy, but that's based on observational studies that can't prove the point. The new research is much stronger because people were assigned diets to follow for a long time and carefully monitored. Doctors even did lab tests to verify that the Mediterranean diet folks were consuming more olive oil or nuts as recommended.

Most of these people were taking medicines for high cholesterol and blood pressure, and researchers did not alter those proven treatments, said one study leader, Dr. Ramon Estruch of Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. But as a first step to prevent heart problems, "we think diet is better than a drug" because it has few if any side effects, Estruch said. "Diet works." Results were published online Monday by the New England Journal of Medicine and were discussed at a nutrition conference in Loma Linda, Calif. People in the study were not given rigid menus or calorie goals because weight loss was not the aim. That could be why they found the "diets" easy to stick with - only about 7 percent dropped out within two years. There were twice as many dropouts in the low-fat group than among those eating Mediterranean-style.

Researchers also provided the nuts and olive oil, so it didn't cost participants anything to use these relatively pricey ingredients. The type of oil may have mattered - they used extra-virgin olive oil, which is minimally processed and richer than regular or light olive oil in the chemicals and nutrients that earlier studies have suggested are beneficial.

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waltky · Mar 11, 2013

Mummies had clogged arteries...

Study: Even ancient mummies had clogged arteries
Mar 10,`13 -- Even without modern-day temptations like fast food or cigarettes, people had clogged arteries some 4,000 years ago, according to the biggest-ever study of mummies searching for the condition.

Researchers say that suggests heart disease may be more a natural part of human aging rather than being directly tied to contemporary risk factors like smoking, eating fatty foods and not exercising. CT scans of 137 mummies showed evidence of atherosclerosis, or hardened arteries, in one third of those examined, including those from ancient people believed to have healthy lifestyles. Atherosclerosis causes heart attacks and strokes. More than half of the mummies were from Egypt while the rest were from Peru, southwest America and the Aleutian islands in Alaska. The mummies were from about 3800 B.C. to 1900 A.D. "Heart disease has been stalking mankind for over 4,000 years all over the globe," said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City and the paper's lead author. The mummies with clogged arteries were older at the time of their death, around 43 versus 32 for those without the condition. In most cases, scientists couldn't say whether the heart disease killed them.

The study results were announced Sunday at a meeting of the American College of Cardiology in San Francisco and simultaneously published online in the journal Lancet. Thompson said he was surprised to see hardened arteries even in people like the ancient Aleutians who were presumed to have a healthy lifestyle as hunter-gatherers. "I think it's fair to say people should feel less guilty about getting heart disease in modern times," he said. "We may have oversold the idea that a healthy lifestyle can completely eliminate your risk." Thompson said there could be unknown factors that contributed to the mummies' narrowed arteries. He said the Ancestral Puebloans who lived in underground caves in modern-day Colorado and Utah, used fire for heat and cooking, producing a lot of smoke. "They were breathing in a lot of smoke and that could have had the same effect as cigarettes," he said.

Previous studies have found evidence of heart disease in Egyptian mummies, but the Lancet paper is the largest survey so far and the first to include mummies elsewhere in the world. Dr. Frank Ruehli of the University of Zurich, who runs the Swiss Mummy Project, said it was clear atherosclerosis was notably present in antiquity and agreed there might be a genetic predisposition to the disease. "Humans seem to have a particular vulnerability (to heart disease) and it will be interesting to see what genes are involved," he said. Ruehli was not connected to the study. "This is a piece in the puzzle that may tell us something important about the evolution of disease." Other experts warned against reading too much into the mummy data.

Dr. Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation said calcified arteries could also be caused by other ailments including endocrine disorders and that it was impossible tell from the CT scans if the types of calcium deposits in the mummies were the kind that would have sparked a heart attack or stroke. "It's a fascinating study but I'm not sure we can say atherosclerosis is an inevitable part of aging," he said, citing the numerous studies that have showed strong links between lifestyle factors and heart disease. Researcher Thompson advised people to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible, noting that the risk of heart disease could be reduced with good eating habits, not smoking and exercising. "We don't have to end up like the mummies," he said.

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See also:

Studies tie stress from storms, war to heart risks
Mar 10,`13 -- Stress does bad things to the heart. New studies have found higher rates of cardiac problems in veterans with PTSD, New Orleans residents six years after Hurricane Katrina and Greeks struggling through that country's financial turmoil.

Disasters and prolonged stress can raise "fight or flight" hormones that affect blood pressure, blood sugar and other things in ways that make heart trouble more likely, doctors say. They also provoke anger and helplessness and spur heart-harming behaviors like eating or drinking too much. "We're starting to connect emotions with cardiovascular risk markers" and the new research adds evidence of a link, said Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center and an American Heart Association spokeswoman. She had no role in the studies, which were discussed Sunday at an American College of Cardiology conference in San Francisco.

The largest, involving 207,954 veterans in California and Nevada ages 46 to 74, compared those with PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, to those without it. They were free of major heart disease and diabetes when researchers checked their Veterans Administration medical records from 2009 and 2010. Checked again about two years later, 35 percent of those with PTSD but only 19 percent of those without it had developed insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes and hardening of the arteries. Doctors also saw higher rates of metabolic syndrome - a collection of heart disease risk factors that include high body fat, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar levels. About 53 percent of veterans with PTSD but only 37 percent of those without it had several of these symptoms.

The numbers are estimates and are not as important as the trend - more heart risk with more stress, said one study leader, Dr. Ramin Ebrahimi, a cardiologist at the Greater Los Angeles VA Medical Center and a professor at UCLA. It shows that PTSD can cause physical symptoms, not just the mental ones commonly associated with it. "Twenty or 30 years ago PTSD was a term reserved for combat veterans. We have come to realize now that PTSD is actually a much more common disorder and it can happen in veterans who did not undergo combat but had a very traumatic experience" such as losing a friend, he said.

That goes for others who suffer trauma such as being raped, robbed at gunpoint or in a serious accident, he said. Nearly 8 million Americans have PTSD, the National Institute of Mental Health estimates. They include survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Tulane Medical Center doctors led a study of their hospital's patients that suggests heart attack incidence is three times higher in New Orleans than it was in the two years before the 2005 storm.

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waltky · Mar 11, 2013

Oops...

... here's the link...

Studies tie stress from storms, war to heart risks

waltky · Apr 3, 2013

Type A blood more prone to heart disease...

Heart problems tied to blood type A: research
Mon, Apr 01, 2013 - STAYING ALIVE: Given the findings, doctors have advised people with type A blood to avoid eating fatty foods, take regular exercise and refrain from smoking

People with blood type A are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and prone to having heart attacks, according to results of a study by Taiwanese researchers at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. The study was conducted on 277 Taiwanese adults (men younger than 45 years and women younger than 55 years), who underwent coronary angiography (X-ray imaging of coronary arteries) at the hospital between 2005 and 2008. According to the study, patients with blood type A had a significantly greater risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI), also known as heart attacks, than individuals who do not have type A blood. The result is in accordance with findings from medical teams in Europe and North America, which indicate similar risks for certain blood types, despite the different ethnic and genetic backgrounds.

The findings were announced earlier in an article titled Association of Blood Group A with Coronary Artery Disease in Young Adults in Taiwan in Volume 15 No. 14 of the Internal Medicine Journal, a publication from the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. For young Taiwanese adults, the study found there was a significantly different distribution for those with cardiovascular diseases (O: 30.1 percent, A: 39.7 percent, B: 26.5 percent and AB: 3.7 percent), than the control population (O: 42.6 percent, A: 24.0 percent, B: 27.1 percent and AB: 6.2 percent). According to the findings, people with blood type A are at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack than those with non-A blood groups. Even after adjustments for common cardiovascular risk factors, such as age, gender, hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, body mass index, family history and lipid profiles, the study found people with blood type A were still at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.

Chiu Tsung-chieh, head of Division of Transfusion Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said other international studies had found that people with blood type A were at a greater risk of developing stomach cancer. He said the studies still require further research, but that the statistics are revealing. Ho Yi-cheng, family practitioner at Shu Tien Clinic in Taipei, said that blood groups differ by the antigens in the red blood cells. For example, people with blood type A have have A antigens in their red blood cells, while people with blood type B have B antigens. Those people with both A and B antigens are part of the AB blood group. Those people who do not have either A or B antigens are in the blood group O, he said. The studys findings are a good reminder for individuals with blood type A to take preventive measures against the onset of cardiovascular disease.

Doctors recommend reducing the intake of fatty foods, eating more fruit and vegetables, taking regular exercise and avoiding smoking. In addition, people with blood type A who already suffer from hypertension or diabetes or who smoke or are overweight, should seek medical advice and be proactive in making lifestyle adjustments, doctors said. The different characteristics of the various blood groups have been published in medical journals. Studies have shown that O type blood does not coagulate as easily as other blood groups, thus people with blood type O should not regularly take aspirin, ginkgo biloba pills or other anti-blood clotting medicine.

More http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/04/01/2003558521
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waltky · Apr 18, 2013

Heart tissue regeneration gene discovery...

Gene Controls Regeneration of Heart Tissue
April 17, 2013 - Researchers have identified a gene that regulates the heart's ability to regenerate after an injury, such as a heart attack.

Scientists at the University of Texas, led by Dr. Hesham Sadek, had previously shown that a newborn mammal's heart could regenerate and repair injuries through cell division, but rapidly lost that ability as the newborn developed. They noticed that the gene called Meis1 became significantly more active in heart cells soon after birth, when the heart muscle cells stop dividing, and wondered about its role.

Model of a human heart.

Sadek's team deleted Meis1 from the hearts of newborn mice and demonstrated that the regenerative period was lengthened. The researchers were also able to re-activate the regenerative process in adult mouse hearts by removing the gene.

"Meis1 controls several genes that normally act as brakes on cell division," Sadek explains, comparing it to an on-off switch for making adult heart cells divide. The finding could provide a new approach to heart regeneration research, which currently focuses on the use of stem cells to replace damaged heart cells. Sadek says it "could introduce a new era in treatment for heart failure." The findings of Sadek and his colleagues are published online in the journal Nature.

http://www.voanews.com/content/gene-controls-regeneration-of-heart-tissue/1643447.html
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waltky · Apr 30, 2013

Virus engineering to heal hearts...

Gene therapy: 'Heart-healing virus' trial starts
30 April 2013 - Patients in the UK have been enrolled into a trial to see if an engineered virus can be used to heal their damaged and struggling hearts.

The trial will use a virus to introduce genetic material into heart muscle to reverse the organ's decline. The British Heart Foundation said the idea had "great potential" but needed to be proven in clinical trials. Heart failure affects more than 750,000 people in the UK and can leave some people too weak to climb the stairs. It occurs when the organ is damaged, for example after being starved of oxygen in a heart attack, and becomes too weak to effectively pump blood around the body. There have been huge medical leaps in keeping patients alive after a heart attack, but the consequence is a rapidly growing number of people living with heart failure.

Researchers at Imperial College London found levels of the protein SERCA2a were lower in heart-failure patients. So they devised a genetically modified virus, with the instructions for producing more of the protein, that can infect the heart. The virus will be released into the damaged heart muscle of the 200 patients involved in the trial via a tube inserted into the leg and pushed up through the blood vessels. Prof Sian Harding, from Imperial College London, said: "It's bringing [the heart] back to the point where patients were pretty well, just after the initial damage occurred. "We think this is a treatment that can improve quality of life for quite a lot of people."

Heart failure is increasingly common

Dr Alexander Lyon, a cardiologist at Royal Brompton Hospital, where some patients will take part in the trial, said: "This is the first ever gene therapy trial for heart failure. "Our goal is to fight back against heart failure by targeting and reversing some of the critical molecular changes arising in the heart when it fails." The Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank is also taking part in the trial. Dr Mark Petrie said: "As a national service treating Scottish patients with the most serious heart failure, it is vital that we are at the forefront of new research and developments."

Prof Peter Weissberg, the medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "Whilst drugs can offer some relief, there is currently no way of restoring function to the heart for those suffering with heart failure. "Gene therapy aims to improve the function of weak heart muscle cells, whereas our Mending Broken Hearts Appeal is aimed at finding ways to replace dead heart muscle cells after a heart attack. "Both approaches are novel and both offer great potential for the future."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22336300
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waltky · May 27, 2013

Brits develop new heart attack drug that may reduce tissue damage...

Heart attack drug may reduce tissue damage
27 May 2013 - A new drug that could help reduce damage to the body after a heart attack, stroke or major surgery has been developed by UK scientists.

Tests in mice suggest the compound protects the heart when blood flow is restored suddenly after a period when tissue has been starved of oxygen. MitoSNO has yet to be tested on humans, but could lead to a whole new class of medicines. The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine. One of the problems after a heart attack is the damage caused to heart tissue when blood flow is restored suddenly after a prolonged period without oxygen.

Blood flowing back into the tissues triggers production of harmful molecules, called free radicals, which are generated inside mitochondria - the powerhouses of the cell. The new drug works by temporarily "switching off" the mitochondria for a few minutes to prevent a build-up of free radicals. In the study, researchers tested the compound in a mouse model of heart attack. There were marked reductions in the total area of damaged heart tissue in mice given the drug compared with controls.

The researchers now hope to test their new compound in early human trials. "MitoSNO effectively flicks a switch in the mitochondria, slowing down reactivation during those critical first minutes when blood flow returns and protecting the heart tissue from further damage," said Dr Mike Murphy from the Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit, who led the study. "We think a similar process happens in other situations where tissue is starved of oxygen for a prolonged period, for example after a stroke or during surgery where major arteries are clamped to prevent blood loss. "We are hopeful that if human trials of MitoSNO are successful it could eventually be used in many other areas of medicine."

Commenting on the study, the British Heart Foundation, which part-funded the research, said the drug appeared promising. "It could potentially treat people immediately after a heart attack when blood flow to the heart is restored as part of routine treatment," said research adviser Shannon Amoils. "This could mean fewer heart attack survivors go on to live with the burden of heart failure, which for many is a debilitating and distressing condition."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22655582
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waltky · May 30, 2013

Ibuprofen and diclofenac not good for the hard in high doses over a long period of time...

Common painkillers 'pose heart risk'
29 May 2013 > Two common painkillers, ibuprofen and diclofenac, can slightly increase the risk of heart problems if taken in high doses for a long time, data suggests.

People with severe arthritis often take the drugs, which also calm inflammation, to go about daily life. The researchers said some patients would deem the risk acceptable, but they should be given the choice. A study, published in the Lancet, showed the drugs posed even greater risks for smokers and the overweight. The risks have been reported before, but a team of researchers at the University of Oxford analysed the issue in unprecedented detail in order to help patients make an informed choice. The group investigated more than 353,000 patient records from 639 separate clinical trials to assess the impact of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

They looked at high-dose prescriptions levels, rather than over-the-counter pain relief, of 150mg diclofenac or 2,400mg ibuprofen each day. They showed that for every 1,000 people taking the drugs there would be three additional heart attacks, four more cases of heart failure and one death as well cases of stomach bleeding - every year as a result of taking the drugs. So the number of heart attacks would increase from eight per 1,000 people per year normally, to 11 per 1,000 people per year with the drugs. "Three per thousand per year sounds like it is quite a low risk, but the judgement has to be made by patients," said lead researcher Prof Colin Baigent. He added: "So if you're a patient and you go and sit in front of your doctor and discuss it, you are the one who should be making the judgement about whether three per thousand per year is worth it to allow you, potentially, to go about your daily life."

He said this should not concern people taking a short course of these drugs, for example for headaches. However, he did warn that those already at risk of heart problems would be at even greater risk as a result of the high-dose drugs. High blood pressure, cholesterol and smoking all increase the risk of heart problems. Prof Baigent said: "The higher your risk of heart disease, the higher your risk of a complication. Roughly speaking, if you've got double the risk of heart disease, then the risk of having a heart attack is roughly doubled." He said patients should consider ways to reduce their risk, which could include statins for some patients.

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waltky · Jul 23, 2013

Granny says, "Dat's right - eat yer breakfast...

Skipping breakfast may increase heart attack risk
22 July Another reason to eat breakfast: Skipping it may increase your chances of a heart attack.

A study of older men found those who regularly skipped breakfast had a 27 percent higher risk of a heart attack than those who ate a morning meal. There's no reason why the results wouldn't apply to other people, too, the Harvard researchers said. Other studies have suggested a link between breakfast and obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems seen as precursors to heart problem. "But no studies looked at long-term risk of heart attack," said Eric Rimm, one of the study authors at the Harvard School of Public Health. Why would skipping breakfast be a heart attack risk?

Experts aren't certain, but here's what they think: People who don't eat breakfast are more likely to be hungrier later in the day and eat larger meals. Those meals mean the body must process a larger amount of calories in a shorter amount of time. That can spike sugar levels in the blood and perhaps lead to clogged arteries. But is a stack of syrupy pancakes, greasy eggs and lots of bacon really better than eating nothing? The researchers did not ask what the study participants ate for breakfast, and were not prepared to pass judgment on whether a fatty, sugary breakfast is better than no breakfast at all.

Other experts agreed that it's hard to say. "We don't know whether it's the timing or content of breakfast that's important. It's probably both," said Andrew Odegaard, a University of Minnesota researcher who has studied a link between skipping breakfast and health problems like obesity and high blood pressure. "Generally, people who eat breakfast tend to eat a healthier diet," he added. The new research was released Monday by the journal Circulation. It was an observational study, so it's not designed to prove a cause and effect. But when done well, such studies can reveal important health risks. The researchers surveyed nearly 27,000 men about their eating habits in 1992. About 13 percent of them said they regularly skipped breakfast. They all were educated health professionals like dentists and veterinarians and were at least 45.

Over the next 16 years, 1,527 suffered fatal or non-fatal heart attacks, including 171 who had said they regularly skipped breakfast. In other words, over 7 percent of the men who skipped breakfast had heart attacks, compared to nearly 6 percent of those who ate breakfast. The researchers calculated the increased risk at 27 percent, taking into account other factors like smoking, drinking, diet and health problems like high blood pressure and obesity. As many as 18 percent of U.S. adults regularly skip breakfast, according to federal estimates. So the study could be important news for many, Rimm said. "It's a really simple message," he said. "Breakfast is an important meal."

http://news.yahoo.com/skipping-breakfast-may-increase-heart-attack-risk-210037837.html
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waltky · Sep 4, 2013

25% of deaths related to heart disease preventable...

CDC: 1 in 4 US Deaths From Heart Disease Preventable
September 03, 2013 About one in four U.S. deaths from heart disease could be avoided with better prevention efforts and treatment, a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

The first-of-its-kind report estimated that preventable deaths from heart disease in 2010 amounted to as many as 200,000 individuals who might have been spared an early death from a heart attack or stroke. CDC officials said that the launch of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law in 2014, which is expected to provide better access to treatment for millions of uninsured Americans and routine coverage of preventive screenings, could help bring those numbers down. Beginning in October, the health insurance marketplaces will provide a new way for people to get health insurance so more patients have access to quality health insurance and coverage beginning as early as January 2014, CDC Director Dr Tom Frieden said in a conference call with reporters.

Overall, the rate of preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke - those that could have been avoided by treating high blood pressure and cholesterol and by discouraging smoking - fell nearly 30 percent between 2001 and 2010. But there were widespread differences in rates by age, location, race and gender. While those who are age 65 to 74 still have the greatest rate of heart attack and stroke, more than half of the preventable deaths - about 6 in 10 - happen in people under the age of 65, Frieden said. Frieden said preventable deaths declined much faster in people aged 65 to 74, which may well be because they have access to health insurance through their Medicare coverage, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for nearly 800,000 deaths a year, or about 30 percent of all U.S. deaths. The report looked at preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke defined as those that occurred in people under age 75 that could have been prevented by more effective public health measures, lifestyle changes or medical care. It found that the state in which a person lives plays a major role in the rate of avoidable deaths from heart disease. This rate ranged from 36.3 deaths per 100,000 population in Minnesota to 99.6 deaths per 100,000 in the District of Columbia. By U.S. county, the highest rates of avoidable deaths in 2010 were mostly in southern Appalachian region and much of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Oklahoma.

The lowest rates of such deaths were in the West, Midwest, and Northeastern regions of the United States. Men were more than twice as likely as women to die from heart disease and strokes that could have been prevented by treating high blood pressure and cholesterol and through smoking prevention efforts. The rate of such deaths for U.S. men in 2010 was 83.7 per 100,000 in 2010 compared with 39.6 per 100,000 for women. The report found blacks were twice as likely as whites to die from preventable heart disease and strokes. In 2010, the rate of avoidable deaths from heart disease and stroke in black men was about 80 percent higher than that of white males and black females.

http://www.voanews.com/content/one-in-four-us-deaths-from-heart-disease-preventable/1742769.html
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waltky · Sep 9, 2013

Not as many pills to remember to take helps heart patients stay on medication...

Heart Patients More Likely to Take Medication When in Single Pill
September 07, 2013
WASHINGTON Many patients who have heart disease or who have suffered a stroke dont take their medications as regularly as prescribed. One study shows that a number of stroke patients stop taking their pills within three months after having a stroke. A new study in Britain finds that if patients with heart disease can take a single pill instead of several pills, they are more likely to stay on their medication.

Patients at risk for heart attack or stroke may be taking a lot of pills. Some could reduce blood pressure. Other pills could control cholesterol. Still others might be prescribed to prevent a heart attack. Henryk Pycz, who has both high blood pressure and diabetes, participated in a study to see if he could do better in managing his health by reducing the number of pills he had to take. "When I was taking the medication consisting of a variety of tablets, I'd have either five, six or seven tablets to take," he said.

Dr. Simon Thom, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at the Imperial College in London, knew it was hard for patients to manage all those medications. "We know there's a big shortfall in the coverage and continued usage of preventative medication, particularly in lower middle income countries," he said.

Dr. Thom led a study that involved more than 2,000 patients. Almost 90 percent of them had suffered a stroke or had heart disease. The other 10 percent had a high risk of having one. Half of the participants received a combination daily medication known as a polypill that contained statins, blood pressure medication and another drug like aspirin to prevent blood clots. The other participants were told to continue taking their regular medications. Dr. Thom says the results clearly favored the polypill. More patients at the end of the trial were taking indicated medications in the form of the fixed dose combination polypill than were in the usual care group, he said.

The patients who took the polypill had improvements in control of both blood pressure and cholesterol. Pycz said he also learned something. "It helped me to understand that controlling your medication is important. The polypill meant that I was never out of sync I always had the correct amount of tablets to take, he said. Dr. Thom says the study has huge implications, especially for those who skip their medications. The polypill has a big public health opportunity to bridge the gap of under usage of indicated and effective therapeutic medication, he said. Dr. Thom says that's because those who made the biggest gains in taking in taking their medications as prescribed were the ones who were most likely to skip them at the beginning of the trial. The study appears in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

http://www.voanews.com/content/hear...medication-when-in-a-single-pill/1745209.html
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RPA1 · Sep 10, 2013

Buy a Blood Pressure cuff, they're cheap. Check regularly.

wyly · Sep 11, 2013

RPA1 said: ↑

Buy a Blood Pressure cuff, they're cheap. Check regularly.
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after a unexpected visit to the ER for a suspected stroke(no stroke) MDs informed me I was on track for an imminent stroke/cardiac arrest/organ failure due to dangerously high blood pressure...55lb weight loss, regular meds and monitored by a home blood pressure device my Bp is now under control and normal, I should have a normal lifespan...

wyly · Sep 11, 2013

waltky said: ↑

Not as many pills to remember to take helps heart patients stay on medication...

Click to expand...

I bought a pill dispenser labeled for seven week days...simple foolproof device that reminds me if I miss a day of medication and it only cost me one dollar...

RPA1 · Sep 11, 2013

wyly said: ↑

after a unexpected visit to the ER for a suspected stroke(no stroke) MDs informed me I was on track for an imminent stroke/cardiac arrest/organ failure due to dangerously high blood pressure...55lb weight loss, regular meds and monitored by a home blood pressure device my Bp is now under control and normal, I should have a normal lifespan...
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Good for you! Glad to hear you're doing better now.

waltky · Dec 24, 2013

Artificial heart goes into 75 year old man...

Patient progressing after new artificial heart implant
Mon, Dec 23, 2013 - A 75-year-old man who last week became the first person to receive an artificial heart developed by French biomedical firm Carmat was progressing well, doctors said on Saturday.

The patient was progressing and recuperating, said surgeon Christian Latremouille, who was among the 16-strong team of doctors who performed the operation at the Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris on Wednesday last week. Artificial hearts have already been in use for many years as a temporary fix for patients with chronic heart problems.

The Carmat product aims at providing a longer-term solution to bridge the wait for a donor heart and enable hospitalized patients to return home and maybe even resume work. He was nearing the end of his life, Latremouille told a press conference, adding that the surgery had gone according to plan. The intervention took place in good conditions. There were no complications linked to the innovative nature of the implant operation, he said. He is not walking yet, but we will try to get him sitting and then standing soon enough. The objective is for him to have a normal life, the surgeon said.

The artificial heart, a self-contained unit implanted in the patients chest, uses soft biomaterials and an array of sensors to mimic the contractions of the heart. The goal is to lessen the risk of blood clots and rejection by the immune system. The patient will have to wear a belt of lithium batteries to power the heart. Nearly 100,000 people in Europe and the US are in need of a heart transplant, according to Carmat.

A US rival to Carmat, an artificial heart called AbioCor, is authorized in the US for patients with end-stage heart failure or life expectancy of less than 30 days, who are not eligible for a natural heart transplant and have no other viable treatment options.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2013/12/23/2003579605
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waltky · Mar 29, 2014

Granny says, "Den why is the divorce rate so high?...

Study: Married folks have fewer heart problems
28 Mar.`14 ~ Love can sometimes break a heart but marriage seems to do it a lot of good. A study of more than 3.5 million Americans finds that married people are less likely than singles, divorced or widowed folks to suffer any type of heart or blood vessel problem.

This was true at any age, for women as well as for men, and regardless of other heart disease risk factors they had such as high cholesterol or diabetes, researchers found. "It might be that if someone is married, they have a spouse who encourages them to take better care of themselves," said Dr. Jeffrey Berger, a preventive cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. But "we can't prove by any means cause and effect," he said.

This is the largest look at marriage and heart health, said Dr. Carlos Alviar, a cardiology fellow who led the study with Berger. Previous studies mostly compared married to single people and lacked information on divorced and widowed ones. Or they just looked at heart attacks, whereas this one included a full range from clogged arteries and abdominal aneurysms to stroke risks and circulation problems in the legs.

Researchers used health questionnaires that people filled out when they sought various types of tests in community settings around the country from an Ohio company, Life Line Screening Inc. Some of these screening tests, for various types of cancer and other diseases or conditions, are not recommended by leading medical groups, but people can still get them and pay for them themselves.

The study authors have no financial ties to the company and are not endorsing this type of screening, Berger said. Life Line gave its data to the Society of Vascular Surgery and New York University to help promote research. The results are from people who sought screening from 2003 through 2008. Their average age was 64, nearly two-thirds were female and 80 percent were white. They gave information on smoking, diabetes, family history, obesity, exercise and other factors, and researchers had blood pressure and other health measures.

The study found:
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