Featured series 
Tag: Cardiology
-
Health
Broken hearts may mend after all
Although adult muscle cells become inflexible after differentiation, these cells temporarily loosen the structure to divide in fetal development. Mark T. Keating found that in some lower vertebrates, heart tissue regenerates without the scarring seen in mammals. This seems to occur by proliferation of existing cardiomyocytes, not stem cells. Felix Engel, an HMS research fellow…
-
Health
Antibiotics do not prevent heart attacks; New findings from the PROVE IT-TIMI 22 clinical trial
Christopher P. Cannon, M.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, noted that the fact that many patients do not exhibit identifiable risk factors for arteriosclerosis has prompted ongoing research to find additional markers that will help clinicians identify and then stop progression of cardiovascular disease. Specifically, chlamydia…
-
Health
Blood test can accurately diagnose heart failure in emergency patients
“We found that testing with the NT-proBNP assay was an extremely accurate way to identify or exclude heart failure in patients with shortness of breath,” says James Januzzi Jr., M.D., of the MGH Cardiology Division and the paper’s lead author. Since current standards of treatment are inconsistent, Januzzi says, this new test could prove a…
-
Health
Low-dose aspirin shown to reduce risk of first stroke in women
The Women’s Health Study is a large, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial funded by both the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Cancer Institute to evaluate the benefits and risks of low dose aspirin as well as vitamin E supplementation in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The trial included healthy women 45…
-
Campus & Community
Simple test predicts heart attack
White cell counts can be easily measured by inexpensive, widely available tests, raising the possibility of lowering the toll of heart disease fatalities, the leading cause of death among women in the United States. “For years, researchers have suspected a link between elevated white blood cell count and heart attack,” notes JoAnn Manson, one of…
-
Campus & Community
Hearing loss tied to heart disease
Two members of a family who suffered progressive hearing loss and then underwent heart transplants got Christine Seidman, a Harvard professor of medicine, interested in the strange connection. Their hearing loss began early in life. It progressed for at least 10 years before they started to experience shortness of breath, chest pains, and other symptoms…
-
Health
Long-term Celebrex use increases cardiovascular event risk
The findings prompted the suspension of Celebrex within the Adenoma Prevention with Celecoxib (APC) Trial, in which participants were to take celecoxib or placebo for three years. “These data suggest that there may be an increase in cardiovascular risk associated with the use of celecoxib. This information should be viewed in light of other studies…
-
Health
Phobic anxiety increases risk of sudden cardiac death in women
According to lead author Christine M. Albert, M.D., M.P.H., an epidemiologist at BWH and an electrophysiologist and cardiologist at MGH, “Phobic anxiety is associated with coronary heart disease risk factors. However, in this study, in which these risk factors were controlled, we found a correlation between higher levels of phobic anxiety and death from CHD,…
-
Health
Sudden death among military personnel often caused by exercise and an identifiable cardiac abnormality
According to the study’s lead author BWH’s Robert E. Eckart, D.O., they had expected that most of the sudden deaths would stem from structural heart abnormalities, but that in actuality, a large number of the deaths defied this theory and could not be identified by today’s screening methods. “The findings suggest genetic abnormalities that affect…
-
Health
Elevated BMI may not increase risk of death among men with heart attack or stroke
“This study does not eliminate a small amount of risk for being overweight or obese,” said author Howard D. Sesso, Sc.D., M.P.H., of BWH. “However, it does tell physicians that BMI may not have a prominent role in predicting the future risk of death among men who may have already experienced the cardiovascular complications of…
-
Campus & Community
C-reactive protein, high blood pressure linked
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital found a strong link between levels of C-reactive protein in the blood and the future development of high blood pressure. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an indicator of inflammation and has already been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The research,…
-
Health
Is your heart in the right place?
In a frog, the position of the heart is determined within the first hour in the womb, Harvard scientists have discovered. Researchers all over the world believe that frogs and humans develop in a similar way. Experiments show, for example, that some of the same mechanisms put the hearts of both creatures on the left…
-
Campus & Community
Students fly in NASA’s weightless environment
Harvard Extension School students Mario Garcia, So-One Hwang, Lily Kang, and Manoj Ramachandran in July 2003 experienced the weightlessness of microgravity through NASA’s Reduced Gravity Student Flight Opportunities Program, which provides research opportunities for college students aboard its Boeing KC-135A aircraft based in Houston. The Harvard team proposed to research the effectiveness of a one-person…
-
Health
Researchers find that sleep deprivation or excess in women may be associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease
Chronic sleep deprivation is common in today’s society. It is reported that a third of Americans sleep six or less hours per day. Previous research has shown that the effects of short-term reduced sleep duration include increased blood pressure, heart rate variability, decreased glucose tolerance and increased cortisol levels. Yet, little is known about how…
-
Health
Animal study demonstrates carbon monoxide may help heart patients
Restenosis — reclogging of the heart’s arteries — is a vexing problem for patients who have undergone balloon angioplasty for the treatment of coronary heart disease. The condition apparently develops as a result of the angioplasty itself, in which a balloon is inserted inside the artery in order to widen the clogged vessel. If, during…
-
Health
Protein predicts heart disease better than cholesterol
C-reactive protein’s claim to fame is based on its power to predict a woman’s risk of developing heart attack and stroke. In fact, high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) were found to presage a woman’s chances of developing heart disease more accurately than that reigning oracle of the cardiology world, cholesterol. Researchers Paul Ridker, Nader…
-
Health
Outpatient cardiology care improves survival odds after heart attack
Previous research suggests that patients may live longer if they are under a cardiologist’s care while hospitalized for myocardial infarction. In a new study, John Ayanian, Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine in the Department of Health Care Policy, and colleagues examined the records of patients covered under Medicare to see whether this held…
-
Health
Specific types of exercise can significantly reduce risk of heart disease among men
A pool of 44,452 men from the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study were monitored via questionnaire every two years from 1986 to 1998 to determine potential coronary heart disease risk factors and type and intensity of leisure time activity. While studies have been conducted on the beneficial relationship of exercise and risk of CHD, there is…
-
Health
Early administration of clot-buster drug may improve outcome for heart attack patients
The immediate goal of the treatment of heart attack patients is reperfusion, or the swift opening of the blocked artery and the restoration of blood flow to the heart muscle. Early reperfusion minimizes the extent of heart muscle damage and preserves the pumping function of the heart. Optimal benefit is obtained if reperfusion can be…
-
Health
Imaging test may detect gene for genetic cardiac disease
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common cause of cardiac death among young people and affects one in every 500 individuals, including professional athletes. It is characterized by an enlargement of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber. This enlargement results in a thickening of the walls of the heart, which then prevents the…
-
Health
Heart attack patients may benefit from drinking tea
A study published in the May 7, 2002, issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association found that tea consumption is associated with an increased rate of survival following a heart attack. The key to this protection appears to lie with a group of antioxidants known as flavonoids, which are plentiful in both black…
-
Health
Research suggests optimistic attitude can reduce risk of heart disease in older men
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, working with colleagues from the Department of Veterans Affairs, studied some 1,306 Boston area men who were part of the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. In 1986, the volunteers completed a questionnaire that judged whether they were optimistic or pessimistic. They all were healthy individuals with no…
-
Health
“Heart of glass” may be more than just a metaphor
Jeffrey Fredberg is a professor of bioengineering and physiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. His primary research interest is asthma. Fredberg was intrigued by the plasticity of the smooth muscle cells that surround the lung’s airways, and which are impaired in asthma, so he and some colleagues began to probe the mechanical properties…
-
Health
Cardiovascular risks seen from marathon running
Researchers analyzed the blood of marathon runners less than 24 hours after they had finished a race. They found abnormally high levels of inflammatory and clotting factors of the kind that are known to set the stage for heart attacks. “My concern is for people who exercise thinking ‘more is better,’ and that marathon running…
-
Science & Tech
Study suggests pacemaker and defibrillator recalls on the rise
As more heart patients receive pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) generators, more recalls are being issued for the devices, according to a study led by a Harvard Medical School instructor based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Pacemakers and ICDs are two of the most remarkable medical and technological advances of the 20th century.…
-
Health
Green vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin C reduces risk of heart disease
Regularly eating fruits and vegetables, in particular green leafy vegetables and fruits that contain vitamin C, reduces the risk of coronary heart disease, according to researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health. In a study, individuals who increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by one additional serving per day helped reduce their risk for…
-
Science & Tech
Handheld calculator measures risk of heart attack
When a patient goes to a hospital emergency room with worsening chest pain, doctors must quickly decide whether that person should be given medication and sent home, or whether he or she should undergo aggressive treatment. Now a new diagnostic tool helps physicians to decide the proper course of action. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s…
-
Science & Tech
Radiation limits narrowing of arteries after stent
The results of a trial directed by the Harvard Clinical Research Institute and the Cardiovascular Data Analysis Center indicate there may be an effective alternative to placement of a stent to prevent artery narrowing after angioplasty. That alternative is intracoronary radiation therapy, or “brachytherapy.” The first-of-its-kind trial tested the safety and efficacy of the delivery…
-
Health
Studies show new players and patterns in vertebrate heart development
Cell biologists have identified proteins capable of promoting heart development — at least in frogs and birds. They report that the proteins Dkk1 and Crescent, which inhibit regulatory proteins of the Wnt family, can induce formation of a beating heart in tissue culture from Xenopus laevis and chick embryos. Other Wnt antagonists lacked this activity.…
-
Health
Lowering iron levels does not cut heart attack risk for men
Men who give blood reduce the amount of iron in their bodies, but that does not result in a reduction in their risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart attack. Iron levels in the body had once been thought to explain the difference in CHD rates among men and women. “The results of this…