Feature Channels: Cardiovascular Health

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The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano† enters 2016 with a rare and valued quality achievement, recognition by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons as a three-star quality program in coronary bypass surgery (CABG), aortic valve replacement (AVR) and aortic valve replacement and coronary bypass grafting (AVR+CABG). Only one percent of the 1013 cardiac surgery hospitals in the United States reporting to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ registry received three-star ratings in all categories based on the Society’s quality methodology.

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New document outlines appropriate use of diagnostic imaging.

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Kyoto University and Panasonic Corporation demonstrate new remote-sensing technology.

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Potentially deadly tumours or abnormal growths found in the heart or heart valves can either originate in the heart or spread to the heart from cancer found elsewhere. While considered rare, cardiac tumours remain prevalent and can be difficult to treat depending on their size and location. They also require precise medical expertise ― not widely available ― to properly treat patients. With this specific knowledge and skill among its internationally-renown staff, the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre along with the University of Toronto, are jointly hosting the first Toronto Cardiac Tumour Conference, which will take place on January 21, 2016.

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Most people know that high blood pressure and cholesterol are risk factors for heart disease. But what they often don’t think about is starting prevention in childhood.

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Using a new computer science approach, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, Columbia University and Stanford University discovered a distinctive molecular feature — a biomarker — that identified colon cancer patients who were most likely to remain disease-free up to five years after surgery. The biomarker, a protein called CDX2, also helped the researchers identify Stage II colon cancer patients who are most likely to benefit from chemotherapy after surgery.

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Research shows blacks are nearly three times more likely to have a stroke at age 45 than whites.

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Adults with long-term exposure to ozone (O3) face an increased risk of dying from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, according to the study “Long-Term Ozone Exposure and Mortality in a Large Prospective Study” published online ahead of print in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

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Diseased hearts may be thrown out of rhythm by structural differences — now visible for the first time — in protein groups that connect heart muscle cells, according to the authors of a study to be published in the journal Nature Communications online Jan. 20.

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MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center will be the first site in the U.S. to initiate a clinical trial, examining the safety and effectiveness of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, or TAVR, for patients who are considered at low risk for death from surgery.

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A pioneer in developing life-saving therapies for a deadly heart arrhythmia has called on electrophysiologists to reexamine a widely used technique to guide the treatment of the faulty electrical impulses responsible for these abnormal heart beats.

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Columbia Engineering researchers have shown, for the first time, that electrical stimulation of human heart muscle cells engineered from human stem cells aids their development and function. Led by Biomedical Engineering Professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, they used electrical signals, designed to mimic those in a developing heart, to regulate and synchronize the beating properties of nascent cardiomyocytes, the cells that support the beating function of the heart. (Jan 19, Nature Communications)

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Bradycardia – a slower than normal heartbeat – does not increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a study conducted by researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The study is published in the Jan.19 online edition of the Journal of American Medical Association Internal Medicine.

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Study recommends improving the accessibility of AEDs.

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American College of Cardiology Sports and Exercise Cardiology Council encourages physical activity for heart disease prevention.

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On the 100th anniversary of the Endurance expedition to Antarctica led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, doctors writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine believe the inspirational explorer may have had the congenital defect commonly known as a 'hole in the heart'.

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For a team of Vanderbilt investigators trying to generate heart muscle cells from stem cells, a piece of broken equipment turned out to be a good thing.

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Study led by world-renowned cardiologist Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, to investigate how worksite-based lifestyle intervention and imaging techniques can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease

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Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a previously unrecognized small protein in cells of the human heart that plays a key role in heart muscle contraction.

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Researchers at the Technion have used mechanical stimulation to “train” cardiac cells to beat at a given rate. The findings reveal the importance of mechanical communication, and could drive the development of new therapies for cardiovascular diseases.

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Patients between the ages of 40 and 70 who undergo aortic valve replacement (AVR) may fare better with tissue-based valves rather than metal-based valves

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Using statins before and after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery can help reduce cardiac complications, such as atrial fibrillation, following surgery and also can reduce the risk of death during and after surgery

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A novel therapy tested by University of Guelph scientists for treating a fatal heart disorder in dogs might ultimately help in diagnosing and treating heart disease in humans.

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The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) dietary pattern, which is high in fruits, vegetables and low fat dairy foods, significantly lowers blood pressure as well as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In a study to be published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition’s (AJCN) February issue, researchers at the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) found that a higher fat DASH diet lowered blood pressure to the same extent as the DASH diet, but also reduced triglycerides and did not significantly raise LDL cholesterol.

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In a study to be published in February's American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at the UCSF Benioff's Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI) found that a higher fat DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet lowered blood pressure to the same extent as the DASH diet, but also reduced triglycerides and did not significantly raise LDL-C.

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On Jan. 14-15, leading scientists and clinicians from across the globe will come to the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City for the Utah Cardiac Recovery Symposium (U-CARS). Now in its fourth year, the one-of-a-kind conference has been described as a “think tank” where hundreds of cardiologists, surgeons, radiologists, anesthesiologists, ER physicians, nurses, pharmacists, research scientists and more converge to push forward the field of heart recovery.

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Researchers from the Duke Global Health Institute and their international collaborators are launching a study to find cost-effective ways of lowering blood pressure in adults living in rural in South Asia.

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Each year approximately 1 in 1,000 pregnant women will experience peripartum cardiomyopathy, an uncommon form of often severe heart failure that occurs in the final month of pregnancy or up to five months following delivery. But the cause of peripartum cardiomyopathy has been largely unknown – until now. Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania analyzed the genetic variants that have been associated with another form of inherited cardiomyopathy, and determined that peripartum cardiomyopathy is often the result of a genetic mutation. The findings of this study are detailed in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

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Scientists have found that women who suffer unexplained heart failure towards the end of pregnancy or shortly after giving birth share certain genetic changes.

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A new study has revealed that cholsterol-lowering statins may help reverse the mechanisms that increase the risk of heart disease in people with sleep apnea.

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The study of 2,022 patients identified 63 who had genetic variations considered to be “potentially pathogenic” – capable of producing arrhythmias. Yet their electrocardiograms (ECGs) were no different from those who did not carry the “disease genes.”

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Cornell biomedical engineers have discovered natural triggers that could reduce the chance of life-threatening, congenital heart defects among newborn infants. Those triggers can override developmental, biological miscues, leading to proper embryonic heart and valve formation.

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For the first time, researchers have developed tests that could improve the diagnosis of two rare childhood diseases known as congenital disorders of glycosylation (CDGs) and metachromatic leukodystrophy, and that could even lead to new treatments for CDGs. The findings were published in the Mass Spectrometry issue of Clinical Chemistry, the journal of AACC.

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Heart attack patients who had previously undergone cardiac bypass surgery are about twice as likely to have a delay in receiving angioplasty, or another form of revascularization, compared to heart attack patients who had no history of bypass surgery or previous angioplasty.

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Largest study ever of pulmonary hypertension could lead to easier treatment of the heart disease that most often affects young women. The oral medication Selexipag significantly reduced hospitalizations and worsening symptoms.

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Johns Hopkins has demonstrated in animals that applying a pacemaker’s mild electrical shocks to push the heart in and out of normal synchronized contraction for part of each day may be an effective way to slow down the progression of heart failure, a disorder that afflicts millions of Americans.

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Dr. Valentin Fuster Is Honored with “The Cross of the Civil Order of Health”

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More than 375,000 American each year experience a heart attack, during which blood flow to a part of the heart is impeded by blocked arteries. Physicians often treat patients with stents, which prop open the arteries to allow blood to flow again. They use two approaches to place stents: transradial, or entry of the catheter which delivers the stent through the wrist, or transfemoral, in which the catheter is placed through the groin. In a comparison of bleeding complications and mortality between the two approaches, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that those at risk for more bleeding were often treated with a riskier procedure – the transfemoral approach – a demonstration of the so-called risk-treatment paradox. The findings, from the largest study of its kind, are detailed in this week’s Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Interventions.

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Long-Term Analysis Shows Cost-Effectiveness of WATCHMAN Left Atrial Appendage Closure Device over Warfarin, NOACs, in Reducing Stroke Risk in Non-Valvular Atrial Fibrillation Patients

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Top Cardiologist Dr. Valentin Fuster on a Mission to Promote a Full “Circle of Health” Around the Globe

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Feeling sad can alter levels of stress-related opioids in the brain and increase levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood that are linked to increased risk of comorbid diseases including heart disease, stroke and metabolic syndrome, according to a study by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).

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Learning how hagfish survive without oxygen could offer valuable insights for cardiovascular research, according to a new study co-led by a University of Guelph professor. It is the first known study to examine how the isolated hagfish heart functions for extended time periods with little or no oxygen. The results give insight into human cardiovascular health and strategies to protect tissue integrity after cardiac events.

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The presence or absence of the CAP2 gene causes sudden cardiac death in mice. In particular, the absence of the gene interrupts the animal’s ability to send electrical signals to the heart to tell it to contract, a condition called cardiac conduction disease. Since humans have the same CAP2 gene, what we learn from the mice could advance our understanding of heart disease.

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A new study assessing the antioxidant effects of pomegranate extract on cardiovascular risk factors and muscle function showed reductions in blood pressure and some atheroprotective benefits, but no effects on inflammation, oxidative strength, or muscle strength. The limited gains with pomegranate supplementation are detailed in an article published in Journal of Medicinal Food, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available to download for free on the Journal of Medicinal Food website until Jan. 14, 2016.

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Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death worldwide. The ability to repair a damaged heart is one of the grand visions of medical science. Cardiac regeneration is possible in fish and in newborn mice. But so far it has not been known whether human hearts can regenerate as well. Scientists at IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and the Innsbruck Medical University have described the first complete clinical and functional repair of a human heart following an acute heart attack in an infant. This astonishing discovery nourishes hope that cardiac repair in humans might be possible in the future.

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Patients with mild heart failure stand to benefit from a new drug that can halt the progression of their disease and reduce their risk of cardiovascular-related death. But the drug -- a tablet that combines the agents valsartan and sacubitril, sold under the trade name Entresto by drugmaker Novartis -- may be too good to be true, according to Arthur M. Feldman, MD, PhD, Executive Dean of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM), Chief Academic Officer of the Temple University Health System, and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Medicine at LKSOM.

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Researchers have found a number of genetic mutations that explain why many children with congenital heart disease also have other significant health challenges, including neurodevelopmental disorders and other congenital problems. The study was published in the December 3rd online edition of Science.