Cardiovascular

Study highlights: * Measuring blood flow in the ankle may identify stroke survivors at risk of subsequent events. * This test, the ankle brachial index, compares blood flow in the ankle to blood flow in the arm to detect poor circulation caused by fatty plaque buildup in the lower ...

US doesn’t fare as well as Japan and Australia Despite many medicines and other treatments for patients with vascular disease, a large international study shows these patients have a surprisingly high rate of recurring events such as strokes, heart attacks and hospitalizations as well as mortality. Also unexpected: patients in North America (including the U.S.) experienced ...

The Framingham and National Cholesterol Education Program tools, NCEP, do not accurately predict coronary heart disease, according to a study performed at the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, CT.

Got high cholesterol? You might want to consider a bone density test. A new UCLA study sheds light on the link between high cholesterol and osteoporosis and identifies a new way that the body’s immune cells play a role in bone loss. Published Aug. 20 in the journal Clinical Immunology, the research could lead to ...

People who have a reduced lung capacity may have a greater risk of heart attack and stroke because they show evidence of inflammation, reveals a study published online ahead of print in Thorax. This association is not related to smoking, respiratory diseases or obesity. The New Zealand researchers took measurements of lung capacity and inflammation ...

Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in processed foods contain trans fatty acids that interfere with the regulation of blood flow. A new report reveals a new way in which these “trans fats” gum up the cellular machinery that keeps blood moving through arteries and veins. In the August 2009 issue of the international journal Atherosclerosis, University ...

A long-standing system for assessing the risk of cardiovascular disease amongst older people should be replaced with something more accurate, according to a study published published on the British Medical Journal website. The Dutch study looked at several hundred people with no history of cardiovascular disease aged 85 over a five year period to see ...

A moderate aerobic exercise program, without weight loss, can improve insulin sensitivity in both lean and obese sedentary adolescents, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that permits glucose to enter cells to be used for ...

A harmless shard from the shell of a common childhood virus may halt a biological process that kills a significant percentage of battlefield casualties, heart attack victims and oxygen-deprived newborns, according to research presented Sunday, September 6, 2009, at the 12th European meeting on complement in human disease in Budapest, Hungary. Introducing the virus’s shell ...

Growing evidence shows that exposure to lead in the environment is associated with cardiovascular disease, including increased risk of hypertension. However, those studies have looked at lead concentrations in blood, not bone lead, a better indicator of cumulative lead exposure over time. In a new study, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) ...

Researchers in Hong Kong are reporting new evidence that green tea — one of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide and now available as a dietary supplement — may help improve bone health. They found that the tea contains a group of chemicals that can stimulate bone formation and help slow its breakdown. The beverage ...

After two decades of improvement, the percentage of Americans without major heart disease risk factors is dropping, according to a report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. “From a preventive health point of view, it’s important that individuals achieve as many of these goals as possible, and it’s disappointing that less than 10 ...