Heart Disease Weekly articles from April 2002

Heart Disease Weekly archives from April 2002

Plan reduces attacks by 40%.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- New research published in the British Journal of General Practice revealed that patients on the York Angina Plan, compared with those receiving a conventional educational session, reported a 40%...

Carotid arteries subject to becoming clogged in hepatitis B virus carriers.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Physicians have now added hepatitis B virus (HBV) to the list of pathogens that may contribute to the onset of vascular disease. While several studies have...

Mayo Clinic study finds heart disease burden shifting toward women, elderly.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The heart attack rate for women increased by 36% during the 1980s and early 1990s, a time when heart attacks among men were declining by 8%, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic study published in the...

New training recommendations raise the bar for next generation of cardiologists.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American College of Cardiology (ACC) has released a comprehensive set of recommendations to ensure that all cardiology fellows receive consistently excellent training, including exposure to the most...

Device allows low-risk balloon trip to the heart.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Patients who are at high risk of having a heart attack or who require a bypass must undergo a coronary angiography. A new balloon catheter, recently presented at the MEDTEC exhibition, allows this to...

Stopping statins may cause rebound that triples risk of death.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Heart disease patients who discontinue using cholesterol-lowering drugs while they were hospitalized for chest pain have triple the risk of death or heart attack as people who keep taking their...

Percutaneous method, smaller volume increase agent retention in heart.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Smaller volumes of percutaneous injections of protein or gene therapy delivered into the myocardium may stand the best chance of being retained after...

Smokers disillusioned and over-optimistic about quitting.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Most smokers are disenchanted with smoking and would not smoke if they had their time again, according to a letter in the British Medical Journal (Effectiveness of smoking cessation initiatives, Br Med...

Tobacco industry deceived public with 'low tar' cigarettes.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The tobacco industry has deliberately deceived the public with "low tar/light" cigarettes, reveals an analysis in a special supplement to Tobacco Control (The dark side of marketing seemingly 'light'...

American Heart Association issues results from Generx trial for stable angina.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Collateral Therapeutics (CLTX) announced that the American Heart Association (AHA) issued a press release featuring results from the phase I-II clinical trial for Generx, which appeared in a rapid...

Stress could increase risk of heart disease in women.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Reduced estrogen levels during women's premenopausal years may set the stage for heart disease later in life, reported Jay Kaplan, PhD, from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in the March...

Health and fitness facilities need defibrillators, say medical groups.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A scientific statement urging fitness clubs to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and train staff to use them has been released by the American Heart Association and the American College...

Program to treat heart attack patients in hospitals recognized by U.S. Health and Human Services.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An American Heart Association program designed to improve hospital care of heart attack patients was recently recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare...

Many patients still fail to use aspirin therapy.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite substantial evidence that aspirin saves lives and reduces the risk of heart attacks, a study conducted by Duke University Medical Center researchers indicated that, as of 1999, one in five...

Boston Scientific submits amended IDE for paclitaxel-eluting stent system.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) announced that it submitted an amended application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of an investigational device exemption (IDE) to support a...

Arrow International announces agreement to sell its implantable drug infusion pump business, LionHeart update.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Arrow International, Inc., (ARRO) announced that it has agreed to sell its implantable drug infusion pump business. The closing is expected in April 2002. Although implantable drug pumps represent...

Antisense control of phospholamban expression restores cardiac response.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Antisense gene therapy inhibiting the expression of phospholamban can restore heart muscle contractility. Researchers affiliated with the Massachusetts...

American Kidney Fund cites studies as cause for concern.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The American Kidney Fund (AKF) pointed to two studies, released only days apart, as signs that the incidence of kidney disease in Americans will continue to rise. The first study, from the American...

Narrowed eye arteries linked to risk in women.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A narrowing of tiny blood vessels in the eye may be a warning sign of the presence of heart disease in women. Some experts said the finding, while still preliminary, may one day help doctors better...

Key clinical trial results for Triage BNP test presented at ACC.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Biosite, Inc., (BSTE), a leader in the drive to improve medical diagnosis, announced that results of the BNP (Breathing Not Properly) Multinational Study: B-type Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) in the...

Alcohol linked to decreased hypertension risk in young women.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Moderate alcohol consumption can lead to a reduced risk of developing hypertension in young women, according to researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women's Hospital...

Top blood pressure figure is best indicator, study suggests.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study of 4714 French men bolsters evidence that the top number in blood pressure readings is better than the bottom number at predicting heart disease risk, even in middle-age patients. For years...

Ranbaxy enters Nifedipine marketing agreement.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (PPCO) and Ranbaxy Laboratories, Ltd., have entered into an agreement granting Ranbaxy exclusive marketing rights to Nifedipine XL in select markets. Nifedipine XL,...

Challenge for newlywed women: How to avoid weight gain after the big day.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- For newlyweds across the country, life after the wedding holds a number of similarities. The gown has been put away, maybe for a daughter to wear someday. Thank-you notes have been sent. Photo albums...

Quinton Cardiology Systems, Inc., files registration statement.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Quinton Cardiology Systems, Inc., has announced that it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. ...

'Microbleeds' may be risk for serious complications.
April 7, 2002... 2002 APR 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Clot-busting therapy is an effective treatment for ischemic stroke, but complications such as bleeding in the brain may occur. But a marker may identify individuals who are more likely to have...

ACE inhibitors could slow muscle decline in elderly.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, a class of drugs used to lower blood pressure, could also be protective against the decline in muscle strength in elderly women, suggest authors of a...

Myocarditis plus pulmonary hypertension means transplant sooner.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Pulmonary hypertension can predict death for people with myocarditis and suggests the need for a heart transplant or other aggressive therapy sooner, according to a report in the March 19, 2002,...

Study attempts to close gaps in heart attack care.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- As they rush to the hospital, today's heart attack patients may assume they'll get all of the best, most scientifically proven treatments available. But in reality, they may not. For a number of...

Three-month antibiotic treatment reduces risk of future heart attack.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An antibiotic prolonged life and reduced risk of future heart attacks in people hospitalized for heart attack or unstable angina, according to a report in the March 12, 2002 rapid-access issue of...

Report: Thousands of heart failure patients may not be receiving ideal therapy.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Despite strong evidence that demonstrates the benefits of adding beta-blockers to standard therapy, thousands of heart failure patients are not receiving this class of drugs as part of their treatment...

Newer procedure has limited effectiveness in preventing cognitive decline.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A newer procedure that avoids placing patients on an artificial heart pump during coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery does not reduce cognitive decline as measured 1 year postsurgery, according...

Poor patients twice as likely to die from heart disease.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the first analysis of its kind, Duke University Medical Center researchers have shown that the poorest of poor Americans are more than twice as likely to die of severe heart disease than similar...

Researchers find age is related to platelet activity.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, Maryland, have discovered elderly patients have fewer active platelets, which could directly affect the way doctors treat them if they are suffering from...

Ad5FGF-4 shows improvement in myocardial perfusion in phase II study.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Schering AG (SHR; FSE: SCH), its U.S. affiliate Berlex Laboratories, Inc., and Collateral Therapeutics, Inc., (CLTX), announced results from a phase II double-blind, placebo-controlled study...

Coronary artery stent design plays key role in preventing blood clots.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sinai Hospital of Baltimore researchers have found that the type of coronary artery stent placed in a patient may make a difference in the prevention of blood clots. Results of the study were...

Gene therapy to prevent restenosis gets U.S. patent.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Bioengineers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Jacobs School of Engineering have developed a gene therapy to prevent restenosis following angioplasty, and the University has recently...

Blood test diagnoses heart failure in 15 minutes.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A 15-minute blood test allows emergency room doctors to accurately judge whether patients with severe shortness of breath are suffering from congestive heart failure. The test "is the most...

New pacemaker reduces risk of worsening heart failure, researchers say.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers say heart failure victims who get a new kind of pacemaker have only half the usual risk of being hospitalized with worsening heart trouble. The device, Medtronic's InSync pacemaker, has...

Women may have poorer quality of life than men after bypass surgery.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- While researchers are still unsure whether coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is associated with more unfavorable outcomes in women than in men, a new study by a team of Emory and Yale researchers...

Treadmill test seen as good gauge for longevity.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A study says that an individual's peak exercise capacity as measured on a treadmill test is a more powerful predictor of how long that person will live than risk factors such as heart disease, high...

McGill performs Canada's first heart pump implant for long-term use.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) announced that it has performed Canada's first heart pump implant for long-term support of patients with heart failure. Dr. Renzo Cecere, surgical...

Fifth implantable replacement heart patient continues to have lung-related problems.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Louis Samuels, surgical director of the cardiac transplant team at MCP Hahnemann University, operated by Drexel University, announced that James Quinn, the fifth recipient of the AbioCor implantable...

Statin use may protect against cognitive impairment.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Women with high levels of serum lipoprotein (high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein [LDL]) and no dementia are at higher risk of developing cognitive impairment than women who have lower...

Sexual dysfunction seen in men with high blood pressure.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Sexual activity plunged as testosterone levels went down in middle-age men with high blood pressure, researchers report in the American Journal of Hypertension's March 2002 issue. Men with high...

Patent infringement lawsuit filed against Barr Laboratories.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (KOSP) announced that it has filed a lawsuit in New York against Barr Laboratories, Inc., (BRL) for infringement of two Kos patents. The lawsuit is a result of an...

Hormone therapy may be most protective in women with healthiest blood vessels.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- When it comes to protection against heart disease, women with the healthiest blood vessels may have the most to gain from estrogen replacement therapy, reported Mary S. Anthony, PhD, from Wake Forest...

Study shows lower mortality rate at major teaching hospitals.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan have released the results of a study that concludes that major...

Diabetes takes a toll on cardiovascular system.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Lynn Yoffee, senior medical writer - A huge percentage of diabetic Americans die from heart attacks every year and most never knew that there's a link between the two diseases - or what they could...

Orbus introduces 2.0- and 2.25-mm diameter stents.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Orbus Medical Technologies, a leading technology company in the field of vascular disease treatment, announced CE mark approval of the R stent small vessel system (SVS). The R stent, currently...

Medinol receives European regulatory approval for Nirflex.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medinol, Ltd., announced that it has received European regulatory approval to independently market the company's next generation Nirflex stents across Europe. This marks the first time Medinol...

Multiple benefits provided by calcium channel blocker benidipine.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Doctors in Japan have announced that benidipine, a calcium channel blocker, protects the heart on multiple levels in animal models of type 2 diabetes. ...

College of Cardiology, Heart Association issue new guidelines.
April 14, 2002... 2002 APR 14 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An update to practice guidelines on the management of unstable angina is now available from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA). Sometimes research...

Genetic markers linked to heart attacks.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In the largest study of its kind to date, an international team led by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin has localized a region of the human genome linked to the development of heart...

Drugs' effects on angiogenesis are differential depending on dose.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Medical investigators at Stanford University School of Medicine in California recently made that announcement in the journal Circulation. The new findings may have implications for patients taking...

Low-nicotine cigarettes studied as a smoking cessation tool.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Two studies designed to measure the strength of the habit of smoking versus the craving for nicotine have shown that low-nicotine cigarettes could possibly be used in smoking cessation therapy to...

Effects of alcohol on heart may be linked to neovascular mechanics.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Alcohol can stimulate the production of several angiogenic growth factors independently of exercise-induced effects, according to a new study conducted at the...

Young women at greater risk of dying after bypass surgery than men.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have noted that younger women who suffer heart attacks are more likely to die in the hospital than their male counterparts. Now there's evidence that younger women are also about three...

New medications help prevent kidney damage in African Americans.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Hypertension is not an equal opportunity disease. If you are African American, everything about high blood pressure is more dangerous for you, says Kenneth Jamerson, MD, an associate professor of...

Thrombomodulin loss responsible for early problems after vein grafts.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Vein graft failure attributed to thromboresistance may arise due to a lack of thrombomodulin expression, a multicenter research team says. Investigations...

HMO offers benefit to help people quit smoking.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CHA Health has announced it will help pay for nicotine patches worn by its members wanting to quit smoking. The health maintenance organization, based in Lexington, Kentucky, hopes the upfront...

Heart drugs might help.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A cardiologist became curious why heart patients who had been givenpacemakers were suddenly snoring less. What he found out could transform doctors' understanding of apnea and point the way to drug...

CardioOptics names new director to board.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- CardioOptics, developer of the Trans-Blood Vision system, announced the appointment of John H. Parrish to its board. Parrish has more than 25 years of experience in the medical products field and has...

Lexicon Genetics discovers target for the development of drugs to treat heart disease.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Lexicon Genetics Inc., (LEXG) announced that the company has identified and validated in vivo a secreted protein from the human genome as a new target for the development of drugs to treat...

Emergency hospital team halves mortality rate.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Early intervention by a medical emergency team can reduce deaths from unexpected cardiac arrest in hospital by half, finds a study in the British Medical Journal. Researchers in Australia recorded...

New poll indicates diabetics misjudge heart disease.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Even though heart disease and stroke are the leading killers of diabetics, a new poll says that two out of three diabetics don't consider cardiovascular disease a serious threat. That may be...

Vista Medical reports 2001 revenue increase: 78% for the fourth quarter, 42% for the year.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vista Medical Technologies, Inc. (VMTI) reported record financial results for its fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2001. For the quarter, revenues were $3,040,000 compared with revenues of...

Latest U.K. performance indicators show key improvements in cancer, heart disease.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- National Health Service (NHS) performance figures published in February 2002 show that fewer NHS patients are dying following hospital surgery, more patients are getting the heart operations they need...

Baylor Health Care System launches women and heart disease education program.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Baylor Health Care System medical centers are launching a new program to raise awareness about and change women's understanding of heart disease, the number-one killer of women. Women's...

Stress causes heart-damaging fats to stay in blood longer.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study has found the first evidence that short periods of psychological stress can cause the body to take longer to clear heart-damaging fats from the bloodstream. Researchers at Ohio State...

HRT improves blood flow to the heart in postmenopausal women.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A new study appearing in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association shows that use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in postmenopausal women with no coronary risk factors improves blood...

Vitamin E reduces high blood pressure.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- High doses of vitamin E significantly reduce high blood pressure in rats with chronic kidney failure, a University of California Irvine (UCI) College of Medicine study has found. The study...

Court sets June date to decide contract issues in paclitaxel-coated stent dispute.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) announced that the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has scheduled June 6, 2002, rulings on summary judgment motions in the dispute...

Heart patients fare better in centers that perform more surgeries.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Deaths among young children undergoing heart surgery in England are lower in hospitals that carry out a high number of these operations, confirms a study in the British Medical Journal. However, this...

Mouse model developed.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Using new technology to monitor blood pressure, University of Iowa (UI) scientists and their colleagues have discovered that a lab-bred mouse with borderline hypertension may be a very good model for...

FDA issues approvable letter for Remodulin.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- United Therapeutics Corp. (UTHR) announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an approvable letter for Remodulin (treprostinil sodium) Injection for the treatment of pulmonary...

Canadian health authority accepts Remodulin NDS for priority review.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- United Therapeutics Corp. (UTHR) announced that the Canadian Therapeutics Products Directorate (TPD) has accepted for review the Remodulin new drug submission (NDS). Remodulin is being reviewed...

Nicotine makes angiogenic growth factor levels become unbalanced.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - New evidence points to nicotine and its metabolic by-product cotinine for sending the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into an...

Study finds certain coping strategies impact recovery.
April 21, 2002... 2002 APR 21 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Following a stroke, almost two-thirds of people turn to religion on a regular basis and about 12% frequently use humor to cope with the stress that results from having a stroke. That's according...