Body

The proportion of adult smokers dramatically decreased during the past three decades in at least one metropolitan area — with more quitting and fewer picking up the habit, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010.

Eating smaller amounts of salt each day as a teenager could reduce high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke in adulthood, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2010.

Conducting a sophisticated computer modeling analysis, researchers projected the nationwide health effects of a 3-gram reduction in dietary salt from processed foods consumed by adolescent boys and girls.

People who sleep poorly or do not get enough sleep have higher levels of inflammation, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke, researchers have found.

Data from a recent study are scheduled to be presented Sunday, Nov. 14 at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago by Alanna Morris, MD, a cardiology fellow at Emory University School of Medicine.

OTTAWA – November 14, 2010 – One of the largest, most extensive worldwide investigations into heart failure, led by the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), conclusively proves that a new therapeutic implant synchronizes and strengthens a fading heart beat while reducing risk of death by 24% compared to the current treatment.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 2010 — With chitlins about to make their annual appearance on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day menus, scientists have good news for millions of people who love that delicacy of down-home southern cooking, but hate the smell. They are reporting the first identification of an ingredient in cilantro that quashes the notoriously foul odor of chitlins — a smell known to drive people from the house when chitlins are cooking. Their report appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

An examination of the heritability of atrial fibrillation (AF) among more than 4,000 participants in the Framingham Heart Study finds the occurrence of AF in first-degree relatives was associated with AF risk after adjustment for established AF risk factors and AF-related genetic variants, according to a study that will appear in the November 24 issue of JAMA. The study is being released early online because it will be presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting.

The Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital recently implanted a patient with two of the smallest experimental ventricular assist devices (VADs) currently available for study in humans. VADs are designed to assist either the right (RVAD) or left (LVAD) ventricle, or both (BiVAD) at once. This is the first time that two Heartware™ VADs have been implanted in the left and right ventricles anywhere in North America—a "game changer" in the realm of heart assist devices according to Patrick M.

James "Jimmy" Armstrong hadn't missed a "Mac" in 28 years. At 44, he's one of the youngest "goats" in the Chicago Yacht Club. Sailors receive the designation of "goat" once they've completed 20 or more "Macs", the 333-mile boat race from Chicago to Mackinac, Mich. Armstrong has sailed the race every year since he was 16. But, he wasn't among the sailors this past July. Instead, he was in intensive care awaiting heart transplant following a harrowing experience spurred by severe case of myocarditis—a little-known condition causing inflammation of the heart muscle.

CHAPEL HILL – An imbalance of salt and water in patients with cystic fibrosis makes their lungs clog up with sticky mucus that is prone to infection. The cause of the offending imbalance is a well-known genetic error, one that blocks the molecular expressway for tiny chloride ions to move across the surface of the lungs.

Gadonanotubes (GNTs) developed at Rice University are beginning to show positive results in a study funded by a federal stimulus grant through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) last year.

The study has determined GNTs are effective in helping doctors track stems cells through the body by making them 40 times better than standard contrast agents used in magnetic resonance imaging. Contrast agents help doctors spot signs of disease or damage in MR images.

PHILADELPHIA - The potential for harmful side effects associated with anti-psychotic medications for treating schizophrenia is a frustration for mental-health professionals who must balance this with the positive benefits of drugs. For example, the issue of the antipsychotic drug ziprasidone lengthening the QTc interval, a possible indicator of life-threatening heart arrhythmias, has demanded much attention among clinicians since the drug was introduced in 2001.

COLLEGE STATION -- A virus that normally deforms or kills plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants isn't all bad: A gene within the virus has been found useful for allowing foreign genes to be introduced into a plant without harmful effects, according to Texas AgriLife Research scientists.

The technology ultimately could lead the way toward a "cheap, green alternative" for pharmaceutical development, said Dr. Herman Scholthof, AgriLife Research virologist.

Chemical reactions are happening all over the place all the time--on the sun, on the Earth and in our bodies. In many cases, enzymes help make these reactions occur. One family of enzymes, called cytochrome P450s (P450), is important because they help us eliminate toxins.

We know P450s are important to life of all kinds because they have been found in animals, plants, fungi and bacteria, but they are of special interest to humans because they are responsible for metabolism of about 75 percent of known pharmaceuticals.

Powdery mildew is a fungus that infects both crop and ornamental plants. Each year, powdery mildew and other plant pathogens cause immense crop loss. Despite decades of intense research, little is known of the plant molecules that allow fungal hyphae to invade the host's epidermal cells. A European research group lead by Ueli Grossniklaus, a plant geneticist at the University of Zurich, now published a study in Science shedding a new light on mildew susceptibility in plants and its surprising link to reproduction.

The American Heart Association should develop a comprehensive hospital certification program with policies and evidence-based criteria for cardiovascular disease and stroke care in the United States, according to an American Heart Association Presidential Advisory published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.