http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Long-term use of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART) does not appear to be associated with impaired heart function in children and adolescents in a study that sought to determine the cardiac effects of prolonged exposure to HAART on children infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), according to a report published Online First by JAMA Pediatrics. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-highly-antiretroviral-therapies-cardioprotective-hiv-infected.html Pediatrics Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:00:02 EST news285854971 Federally funded safety-net clinics for the uninsured lag behind other health care providers in controlling blood pressure among the low-income patients who rely on them for care, a new Michigan State University analysis suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-blood-pressure-safety-net-clinics.html Health Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:31:38 EST news285427892 (Medical Xpress)—A group of doctors and public health experts are urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take immediate action to protect young people from the effects of caffeinated energy drinks. In a letter signed by 18 medical doctors and public health professors delivered to the FDA today (March 19), experts cite research that links consumption of highly caffeinated energy drinks to rapidly increasing numbers of emergency room visits and even deaths. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-fda-urged-curb-caffeine-energy.html Health Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:22:54 EST news282982959 Minimally invasive islet transplantation for patients with type 1 diabetes achieves insulin independence and reverses the progression of atherosclerosis in the first few years after transplant, according to a University of Illinois at Chicago study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-islet-transplant-atherosclerosis.html Diabetes Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:04:04 EST news278597037 The treatment of inflammatory pain can be improved by endogenous opioid peptides acting directly in injured tissue. Scientists at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Université Paris Descartes showed that pain can be successfully treated by targeting immune and nerve cells outside the brain or spinal cord. The study is published in the current issue of the FASEB Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-approach-therapy-pain.html Medical research Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:50:01 EST news273832436 (HealthDay)—Patients with diabetes who were treated with the popular oral medication metformin face a lower risk of heart attack, stroke or death than those taking sulfonylureas, another common option, according to a large, multi-year study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-popular-diabetes-meds.html Diabetes Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:20:01 EST news271441451 A University of Illinois study suggests avoiding cooking methods that produce the kind of crusty bits you'd find on a grilled hamburger, especially if you have diabetes and know you're at increased risk for cardiovascular disease because of your diagnosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-crusty-foods-worsen-heart-problems.html Diabetes Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:19:46 EST news270137842 Heart attacks during pregnancy are uncommon, but the prevalence of heart disease in pregnant mothers has increased over the past decade as more women delay pregnancy until they are older. These women, who are generally less physically active than their younger peers, tend to have higher cholesterol levels and are at greater risk of heart disease and diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-heart-late-pregnancy.html Cardiology Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:45:03 EST news260451895 In a study of more than 18,000 patients having surgery for hip fracture, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that the use of regional anesthesia versus general anesthesia, was associated with a significant reduction in major pulmonary complications and death. The new study will be published in the July issue of the journal Anesthesiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-regional-anesthesia-complications-death-hip.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:42:36 EST news259400492 Over the past decade, there has been a steady stream of information promoting the health benefits of fish oil capsules. According to Dr. Louise Moist, a Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, fish oil may also improve outcomes for kidney patients undergoing hemodialysis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-everyday-fish-oil-capsule-kidney-related.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 01 May 2012 16:40:01 EST news255108546 If you have stable cardiovascular disease, it is more than likely that you can safely engage in sexual activity, according to an American Heart Association scientific statement. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-sexual-safe-heart-patients.html Cardiology Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:00:01 EST news246209378 Because some clinicians fail to stick to official recommendations for blood pressure monitoring, a number of patients are misclassified, which could have an impact on decisions about their treatment. According to Gretchen Ray and colleagues, from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy, when routine blood pressure monitoring in clinics is compared with measurements based on the latest guidelines, 93 percent of patients have different blood pressure readings. The findings appear online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, published by Springer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-blood-pressure-room.html Health Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:10:01 EST news242912344 (Medical Xpress) -- A study involving University of Sydney cardiac researchers has shown the loss of a loved one can really break your heart. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-broken-heart.html Health Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:20:24 EST news241676416 For years doctors have warned that too much salt is bad for your heart. Now a new McMaster University study suggests that both high and low levels of salt intake may put people with heart disease or diabetes at increased risk of cardiovascular complications. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-sodium-intake-guidelines.html Health Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:05:20 EST news241203899 Adding regular testing for blood levels of a biomarker of cardiac distress to standard care for the most common form of heart failure may significantly reduce the incidence of cardiovascular complications, a new study finds. The report from investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Heart Center, appearing in the Oct. 25 Journal of the American College of Cardiology, describes how adjusting therapy to keep levels of the protein NT-proBNP below 1,000 pg/ml reduced hospitalizations for heart failure symptoms by half, along with lowering rates of arrhythmias, stroke, heart attack and cardiac death. Preliminary results of the study – results of which were so striking that enrollment was halted halfway through the planned schedule – were presented in November at the American Heart Association 2010 Scientific Sessions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-biomarker-guided-heart-failure-treatment-significantly.html Cardiology Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:00:01 EST news238080813 A new non-invasive technique for measuring how well the heart and blood vessels function in patients already suffering from coronary artery disease could, in a single test, identify which abnormally narrowed blood vessels are the most likely to lead to further cardiovascular complications. According to Dr. Aaron So, at Lawson Health Research Institute and Robarts Research Institute in London, Canada, and colleagues, their technique could reveal functional problems in the circulatory system below the limit of detection of the currently most sensitive method, invasive angiography (or blood vessel x-ray). The work is published online in Springer's journal European Radiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-stage-heart-function.html Cardiology Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:47:22 EST news237552435 A new study from Rhode Island Hospital researchers suggests that controlling cholesterol may be important for heart health in patients who are taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as naproxen. The findings are based on a study on the safety of NSAID medications in clinically relevant animal models when high cholesterol is a factor. The study is published in the current issue of the journal Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-cardiovascular-nsaid.html Cardiology Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:22:54 EST news236258556 Roughly 5 million people in the United States live with heart failure, a condition in which the heart is unable to pump blood around the body effectively. The causes and types of heart failure vary greatly, and treatment must be tailored to each patient. In some cases, doctors will prescribe a class of diuretic drugs called aldosterone antagonists. However, these diuretics may cause dangerously high levels of potassium in the blood (hyperkalemia) of certain patients, putting them at risk for sudden cardiac death. Therefore, it is crucial that doctors weigh the risks and benefits of prescribing aldosterone antagonists for their patients who have heart failure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-bolsters-case-aldosterone-antagonists-heart.html Cardiology Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:15:49 EST news235649639 Elevated blood cholesterol levels are regarded as a risk factor for heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. However, this does not necessarily mean that every cholesterol-lowering drug can also prevent heart attacks. For example, the benefit of the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe is unclear. In particular, proof is lacking that patients have a greater benefit if they take ezetimibe in addition to statins for the prevention of heart attacks. This is the result of the final report published by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) on 12 September 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-elevated-cholesterol-benefit-ezetimibe-proven.html Medications Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:45:09 EST news235215866 A new international report from scientists around the world finds that common variants in 28 regions of DNA are associated with blood pressure in human patients. Of the identified regions, most were completely unsuspected, although some harbor genes suspected of influencing blood pressure based on animal studies. In the study receiving advance online publication in Nature, members of the International Consortium for Blood Pressure Genome-Wide Association Studies (ICBP-GWAS) analyzed genetic data from over 275,000 individuals from around the world. They also identified for the first time the involvement of an important physiologic pathway in blood pressure control, potentially leading to a totally new class of hypertension drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-international-gene-hypertension-treatment.html Genetics Sun, 11 Sep 2011 13:00:58 EST news234964755 Doctors should be cautious about prescribing intensive glucose lowering treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes as a way of reducing heart complications, concludes a new study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-intensive-treatment-patients-diabetes.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 26 Jul 2011 18:30:01 EST news230919315 When taken with higher doses of aspirin (more than 300 milligrams), the experimental antiplatelet drug ticagrelor was associated with worse outcomes than the standard drug, clopidogrel, but the opposite was true with lower doses of aspirin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-potent-antiplatelet-drug-effective-low-dose.html Cardiology Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:00:03 EST news228392704 National Institutes of Health researchers have identified a new pathway that sets the clock for programmed aging in normal cells. The study provides insights about the interaction between a toxic protein called progerin and telomeres, which cap the ends of chromosomes like aglets, the plastic tips that bind the ends of shoelaces. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-nih-clues-aging.html Medical research Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:57:35 EST news227188620