HIV/AIDS Experts, Doctors Voice Concerns About Health Problems Seen Among Long-Term HIV/AIDS Survivors

Some experts and doctors recently have voiced concerns that people who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the early years of the epidemic are experiencing “prematur[e]” or “disproportionate numbers” of ailments associated with aging, the New York Times reports. CDC estimates show that the number of people ages 50 and older living with HIV increased by [...]

Heart Disease Risk May Increase With Lack Of Vitamin D

The same vitamin D deficiency that can result in weak bones now has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Framingham Heart Study researchers report in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased cardiovascular risk, above and beyond established cardiovascular risk factors,” said Thomas J. Wang, M.D., [...]

CryoCor Reports Publication In Circulation For Treatment Of Atrial Fibrillation

CryoCor, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRYO), a medical device company focused on the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, announced the publication of a European study of atrial fibrillation patients treated with CryoCor’s Cardiac Cryoablation System. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the role of atrial flutter in the recurrence of atrial fibrillation and the effectiveness of [...]

Do It Yourself Cardiac Bypass Surgery

When cholesterol-clogged plaque narrows an artery that feeds the heart, the body responds by trying to bulk up tiny blood vessels in the heart. As these so-called collateral vessels grow more muscular and interconnected, they begin to reroute some of the blood flow around the blockage. Scientists have been trying for years to nudge collateral [...]

Cardiac Stem Cell Therapy Closer To Reality

Since the year 2000, much has been learned about the potential for using transplanted cells in therapeutic efforts to treat varieties of cardiac disorders. With many questions remaining, the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol.16 No. 9), The Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease, presents research aimed at answering [...]

Patient With AIDS Finds Heart-Assit Device Is An Option When Transplant Is Not

Josh Bristow was in the late stages of heart failure when he came to the Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Aug. 25, 2007. Medications and the earlier implantation of a pacemaker had given him some time, but the 51 year old Studio City man’s heart could no longer supply the blood and oxygen [...]

Expert Evidence To House Of Lords Committee States Aspirin Of Doubtful Value To Prevent DVT

A University of Leicester academic has given evidence to the House of Lords’ Science and Technology Committee.
Dr William Toff, Senior Lecturer in Cardiology, gave expert evidence to the inquiry on Air Travel and Health. He told the committee that, “for the average traveller, the use of aspirin is a relatively ineffective intervention” in the prevention [...]

NDA Accepted For Tolvaptan, Investigational Drug For Worsening Heart Failure And Hyponatremia

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. announced recently that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted a new drug application (NDA) for the company’s investigational oral once-daily medication tolvaptan, a selective V2-vasopressin receptor antagonist, for two indications: treatment of adults with worsening heart failure and treatment of hyponatremia1. These indications are based on data [...]

An International First At The CHUM Promising Treatment In Regeneration Of The Myocardium Through The Use Of Stem Cells

The Centre hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal (CHUM) announces the beginning of a phase II randomized double blind trial with the potential of providing a therapeutic alternative after a first acute myocardial infarction. One patient has already undergone this technique, which consists of implanting immature stem cells from the bone marrow to regenerate heart muscle. [...]

Women With Heart Disease Get Poorer Treatment Than Men

A paper in the latest issue of Menopause International argues that women with cardiovascular disease (CVD) have a worse outcome and are more likely to die than men once diagnosed.
CVD is the most common cause of death in women, yet there is a tendency to assume that it is a disease more likely to affect [...]