Harvard Heart Letter articles from October 2004

Harvard Heart Letter archives from October 2004

New lowdown on cholesterol.
October 1, 2004... Advisory ratchets down targets for LDL (bad) cholesterol for some people, not others; no one-size-fits-all recommendation yet. Advice on cholesterol tackles a contentious question in heart disease: How low should cholesterol levels go? For...

Take pressure off your sex life.
October 1, 2004... High blood pressure can contribute to sexual problems, as can some treatments for it. If you have high blood pressure, odds are you don't feel it. That's one of the big problems with this common condition: The absence of immediate symptoms...

Positive winds of change for pulmonary hypertension.
October 1, 2004... Treatments that offer help and hope for people with high blood pressure in the lungs. High blood pressure is never a good sign. It's especially dangerous when it appears in the blood vessels in the lungs. This condition, called...

Chest pain isn't all bad.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... When it comes to exercise, that old chestnut "No pain, no gain" is passe. But it may still apply to heart attacks. People who have chest pain (angina) with activity in the months or weeks before a heart attack tend to have smaller heart...

Heart beat; Beta blockers and heart failure.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Not that long ago, beta blockers were believed to make heart failure worse. By slowing the heart rate, reducing the force of the heart's contractions, and relaxing blood vessels, so the thinking went, these drugs contributed to the...

Heart beat; Inherited fibrillation?(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... If one or both of your parents had the heart rhythm problem known as atrial fibrillation, will you have it, too? Information from the Framingham Heart Study indicates that your chances are, indeed, higher than those of someone whose parents...

Heart beat; Blood pressure drugs may fight cancer, too.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Research showing that a hormone involved in controlling blood pressure also blunts the growth of lung cancer cells could mean dual roles for two common blood pressure drugs -- ACE inhibitors and angiotensin-receptor blockers. The hormone,...

Heart beat; Brain bonus with niacin?(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Niacin, one of the first effective treatments for high cholesterol and one of the only treatments for low HDL (good) cholesterol, may also benefit the brain. In a study of more than 6,000 older adults living in Chicago, those with the highest...

Ask the doctor; Does coated aspirin get into my system?
October 1, 2004... Q Every day I take a baby aspirin (81 milligrams) that is coated to protect my stomach. Out of curiosity, I dropped a tablet into a glass filled with equal parts water and vinegar. Two days later, it hadn't dissolved. That has me wondering if...

Ask the doctor; Are drugs for alcoholism safe for the heart?(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Q I need to quit drinking, but don't think I can do it on my own. Can I use a drug like Antabuse even though I have heart disease? A Antabuse (also known as disulfiram) helps people stop drinking by making them feel sick when they consume...