http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Among patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF; a measure of how well the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each contraction), initiation of the medication aliskiren in addition to standard therapy did not reduce cardiovascular death or HF rehospitalization at 6 or 12 months after discharge, according to a study published online by JAMA. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-combination-therapy-heart-failure-cv.html Cardiology Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:10:01 EST news282221431 New Orleans residents continue to face a three-fold increased risk of heart attack post-Katrina—a trend that has remained unchanged since the storm hit in 2005, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-higher-heart-years-katrina.html Cardiology Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:11:07 EST news281884261 Patients who take a triple combination of blood pressure drugs and common painkillers are at an increased risk of serious kidney problems, especially at the start of treatment, finds a study published in BMJ today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-triple-blood-pressure-drugs-painkillers.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:30:04 EST news276875011 (HealthDay)—Taking too many medications at the same time could lead to repeated fainting episodes, a new study reveals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-fainting-tied-meds.html Medications Mon, 05 Nov 2012 10:50:01 EST news271332427 Nearly 5 percent of pregnant women are prescribed drugs to treat high blood pressure, including some drugs that aren't considered safe for mothers or their babies, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Hypertension. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pregnant-women-high-blood-pressure.html Cardiology Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:00:09 EST news266501123 At the 1st ECRC "Franz-Volhard" Symposium on September 7, 2012 at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch, Professor Ken Bernstein reported that in mice an excess of ACE led to a much stronger immune response than usual. In animal experiments, not only could bacterial infections be combated more effectively, but also the growth of aggressive skin cancer (melanoma) in mice could be contained by a stronger response of the immune system. In contrast, if the mice lacked ACE, the immune cells worked less effectively. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-roles-key-regulatory-enzyme-blood.html Medical research Sat, 08 Sep 2012 04:44:40 EST news266298173 Spinal cord stimulation improves heart function and could become a novel treatment option for heart failure, according to research presented at the ESC Congress 2012 today, August 25, by Professor Hung-Fat Tse from Hong Kong. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-spinal-cord-heart-function.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 11:20:06 EST news265282904 Renal denervation leads to better outcomes than standard drug treatment in patients with advanced heart failure, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2012. The results of the Olomouc I pilot study were presented by Dr Miloš Táborský from the University Hospital Olomouc. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-renal-denervation-outcomes-drugs-advanced.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Aug 2012 09:47:19 EST news265279633 The very oldest in our society are missing out on simple heart treatments which can prolong and improve their quality of life, Newcastle heart experts say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-quarter-elderly-undiagnosed-treatable-heart.html Cardiology Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:00:01 EST news262369789 The National Institutes of Health has awarded more than $2 million to a team of scientists from Washington University in St. Louis and InvivoSciences, a biotechnology startup with WUSTL roots, to construct artificial tissue models that will allow the rapid testing of new drugs for heart failure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-scientists-role-switching-cells-heart-failure.html Cardiology Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:23:28 EST news261649402 Traumatized people who take a class of common blood pressure medications tend to have less severe post-traumatic stress symptoms, researchers have found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-blood-pressure-drugs-linked-ptsd.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 01 May 2012 16:30:01 EST news255106121 Treatment with an ACE inhibitor for lowering high blood pressure showed a significant mortality reduction in patients with a high prevalence of hypertension, according to a report published in the European Heart Journal, the flagship journal of the European Society of Cardiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-hypertension-treatment-raas-inhibitors.html Cardiology Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:41:52 EST news253928500 (HealthDay) -- At least one in 10 U.S. adults is estimated to have chronic kidney disease, but whether screening and monitoring people in the earlier stages of the disease provides a benefit just isn't clear, a new review of the available clinical trials revealed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-role-screening-early-kidney-disease.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:00:01 EST news253881510 Observational epidemiologic studies relating wine and alcohol to health all suffer from the fact that they, of necessity, compare people who prefer certain beverages, but not the beverages themselves. While there have been many intervention trials in animals, randomized trials in humans are less common. Randomized crossover trials, in which each subject receives all interventions in sequence, can be especially important as they tend to avoid baseline differences among subjects and can detect effects of different interventions with smaller numbers of subjects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-alcohol-polyphenols-red-wine-decreases.html Cardiology Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:19:06 EST news246016974 "Up until now infarct size has only been measured as part of clinical studies and not in routine clinical practice. The reason being that the reference method of gadolinium based contrast agents in MRI is expensive, takes a great deal of time to perform, and can only be undertaken by imaging specialists," explains EAE president Dr Luigi Badano, from the University of Padua, Italy. "The advantages of STE over MRI is that it's far quicker to use, cheaper, and can be used by cardiologists at the bedside with portable machines, and repeated serially when ever needed." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-echocardiography-future-infarct-size-quantification.html Cardiology Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:00:02 EST news242455549 A type of medication known as angiotensin-receptor blockers could reduce risk of mortality in people with a heart disease called calcific aortic stenosis (AS) by 30 per cent over an eight-year period, Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Philippe Pibarot told delegates at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress. The condition is currently managed with open heart surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-duty-blood-pressure-drugs-revolutionize.html Cardiology Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:18:20 EST news238735085 Women with high blood pressure (hypertension) in the early stages of pregnancy are more likely to have babies with birth defects, irrespective of commonly prescribed medicines for their condition, finds new research published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-high-blood-pressure-early-pregnancy.html Obstetrics & gynaecology Tue, 18 Oct 2011 18:30:05 EST news238179015 A major new international study involving researchers from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska University Hospital has revealed that aspirin, statins, beta blockers and ACE inhibitors are prescribed far too infrequently. They are cheap, preventive medicines that could prevent a huge number of deaths from heart attacks and strokes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cheap-drugs-thousands-sweden.html Medications Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:06:58 EST news234616010 Drugs used to treat blood pressure could offer significant benefits to patients with one of the most common forms of valvular heart disease, new research at the University of Dundee and NHS Tayside has revealed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-blood-pressure-drugs-benefits-valvular.html Medical research Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:40:06 EST news231417169 When doctors give heart drugs to patients, the time of day can make a big difference, according to new research by University of Guelph scientists. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-heart-medication-bedtime-reveals.html Cardiology Mon, 09 May 2011 16:16:04 EST news224176545 The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor drug, ramipril, is particularly effective in lowering the risk of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in obese patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-renal-failure-obese-patients.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:25:53 EST news223230336 ACE inhibitors, commonly used to control high blood pressure and heart failure in women, may be associated with an increased risk of recurrence in women who have had breast cancer, according to a study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-ace-inhibitors-recurrence-breast-cancer.html Cancer Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:04:00 EST news222509025