Cardiovascular

Pumping ability reduced in those with undesirable blood levels, analysis shows. Abnormal cholesterol levels can significantly increase the risk of heart failure, a new study has found. U.S. researchers analyzed data on 6,860 participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study. None of the participants, average age 44, had coronary heart disease at the start of the study. After about 26 years of follow-up, 680 people had developed heart failure.

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) researchers have confirmed that a diet rich in polyphenols and polyunsaturated fatty acids, patented as an LMN diet, helps boost the production of the brain's stem cells -neurogenesis- and strengthens their differentiation in different types of neuron cells. The research revealed that mice fed...

In a new study, researchers report that a class of heart medications called beta-blockers can have a helpful, or harmful, effect on the heart, depending on their molecular activity. The study, which appears in the journal Circulation Research, found that beta-blockers that target both the alpha- and beta-receptors on the heart muscle offer the most benefit to cardiac patients, while those that target...

A newly discovered chemical pathway that helps protect heart tissue can be stimulated by two of 20 common beta-blockers, drugs that are prescribed to millions of patients who have experienced heart failure. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center tested 20 beta blockers and found that two of them -- alprenolol and carvedilol -- could stimulate a...

A new type of immune cell that can be out of control in certain chronic inflammatory diseases, worsening the symptoms of conditions like psoriasis and asthma, is described for the first time this week in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The authors of the study, from Imperial College London, the...

Scientists have revealed how environmental irritants such as air pollution and cigarette smoke cause people to cough, in research published November 23 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The authors of the study...

Many scientists view atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, as a localized disease characterized by the build up of fatty plaques in the arteries, which can eventually cause heart attacks and strokes. Now, in a finding that challenges conventional knowledge, researchers in New York and North Carolina report that plaques formed in arteries are...

In fatal cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza, the virus can damage cells throughout the respiratory airway, much like the viruses that caused the 1918 and 1957 influenza pandemics, report researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. The scientists reviewed autopsy reports, hospital records and other clinical data from...

Gingivitis, which may affect more than one-half of the U.S. adult population, is a condition commonly attributed to lapses in simple oral hygiene habits. However, a new study shows that development and reversal of gingivitis at the molecular level is apparently much more complicated than its causes might indicate.

Polyphosphate from blood platelets plays a key role in inflammation and the formation of blood clots, scientists from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have shown. The study, which is presented in the scientific journal Cell, describes how this mechanism can be used in treatment.

Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is the most common type of abnormal heart beat. It is characterized by scarring of the atrial region of the heart (a hallmark known as atrial fibrosis). Although atrial fibrosis is thought to perpetuate Afib, exactly how it develops has not been determined. Some research has suggested...

Just three months of physical activity reaps heart health benefits for older adults with type 2 diabetes by improving the elasticity in their arteries -- reducing risk of heart disease and stroke, Dr. Kenneth Madden told the 2009 Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the...