Mild heart failure patients with a particular condition that results in disorganized electrical activity throughout the heart benefit substantially from cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT — D), according to a study published …
Tag Archives | failure
Researchers pinpoint patients who receive greatest benefit from heart failure treatment
Simple blood test at discharge could help reduce hospital readmissions for heart failure patients
An inexpensive, routine blood test could hold the key to why some patients with congestive heart failure do well after being discharged from the hospital and why others risk relapse, costly readmission or death within a year, new Johns Hopkins resea…
How do consumers react when friends provide poor service in a business arrangement?
When your friend is a service provider, things can get complicated. According to a new study in the Journal of Consumer Research, a problem can lead to feelings of betrayal or empathy, depending on the circumstances.
“Imagine that you are planning…
Cancer breakthrough to prevent heart failure and increase survival rates
A breakthrough by scientists at Queen’s University Belfast could help reduce heart failure in cancer patients around the world, and ultimately increase survival rates.
Scientists at Queen’s Centre for Vision and Vascular Science have discovered …
Researchers unlock the potential for exploring kidney regeneration
Boston, MA – It is estimated that up to 10 percent of the U.S. population may have some form of renal disease, with 450,000 patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring hemodialysis. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachuset…
Why does dialysis fail?
A protein implicated in the development of vascular diseases may also contribute to the failure of arteriovenous (AV) fistulas created for vascular access in dialysis patients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of th…
Researchers create new high-performance fiber
Researchers at Northwestern University have nanoengineered a new kind of fiber that could be tougher than Kevlar.
Working in a multidisciplinary team that includes groups from other universities and the MER Corporation, Horacio Espinosa, James N. …
Scientists learn more about how kidneys fail and how new drugs may intervene
Scientists are learning more about how protein gets in the urine when the kidneys begin to fail and how a new drug blocks it.
“We have known for a long time that renal failure comes with protein in your urine, especially in diabetes,” said…
New blood test may help predict heart failure in apparently healthy older adults
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore report that a new, highly sensitive investigative blood test may help predict the risk of heart failure and cardiovascular death much earlier than previously possible in older…
Synchronizing a failing heart
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 strengthen…
Myocarditis can attack hearts without warning
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 …
Study suggests sensitivity to bodily symptoms of anxiety may make a difference in treatment
Montreal − Levels of anxiety sensitivity may be important in choosing medical treatment for patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation (AF), Montreal Heart Institute researchers today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, c…
Medical researchers break down costs to care for heart failure patients at the end of life
As the population ages, health care epidemiologist Padma Kaul and cardiologist Paul Armstrong, researchers in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta, want health-care professionals to talk to their patients about their opti…
Molecule involved in heart failure now implicated in heart attack damage
(PHILADELPHIA) A molecule known to be involved in progressive heart failure has now been shown to also lead to permanent damage after a heart attack, according to researchers at Thomas Jefferson University.
To prove this novel conclusion, the r…
Stopping smoking cessation treatments too soon may reduce odds of success for 45 percent of smokers
PORTLAND, Ore. — A study led by researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Smoking Cessation Center may change the way clinicians make treatment decisions for their patients who smoke.
Their findings published online in the journal …
Heart attacks jump in young Italian women
(Philadelphia) — August 31 — The incidence of acute myocardial infarction in Italy sharply increased, particularly among young women, between the years 2001 and 2005, according to a comprehensive study funded by the Human Health Foundation (HHF), …
Structural defects precede functional decline in heart muscle
The disruption of a structural component in heart muscle cells, which is associated with heart failure, appears to occur even before heart function starts to decline, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and L…
Failing to meet HIV prevention goals could cost nation $18 billion
Failure to reduce new HIV infections in the United States by 50 percent in the next two years not only will have substantial human consequences, but could cost the nation more than $18 billion. A study by Emory University Rollins School of Public Health professor David Holtgrave, PhD, analyzed the fiscal implications of the failure to meet this national goal set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2001. The results will be published in the June issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
Mouse model offers new explanation for kidney disease and failure
Mice lacking only one copy of the gene for CD2-associated protein (CD2AP) appear to be significantly more susceptible to kidney disease and failure than normal mice. Moreover, the mutation appears to impair the elimination of proteins that accumulate in the kidney, a previously unidentified process.
Stem cells improve heart function of seriously ill heart failure patients
Injecting a person?s own stem cells directly into heart muscle appears safe and useful in treating end-stage heart failure, according to a rapid track report today from Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Mechanical Support Induces Genetic Changes in Failing Hearts
Using new DNA microarray technology, researchers have found significant changes in the expression pattern of hundreds of genes in heart muscle cells after mechanical pumps are used to take over from failing hearts. This finding represents a first step, they say, in a line of research that could help predict how heart failure patients will respond when supported by a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). These devices are employed when the heart’s left ventricle — the chamber of the heart that pumps blood throughout the body — is too weak to pump enough blood to nourish the body’s tissues. They have been used as successful short-term “bridges to heart transplant” and are increasingly being considered as long-term heart failure destination therapy, also known as “bridge to recovery.”
Drug cuts deaths, hospital stays in heart attack patients
A drug that blocks a heart-harming hormone can significantly reduce the risk of death and hospitalization in heart attack patients who have heart failure, with minimal side effects, a new international study released today shows. The life-saving effect began soon after patients begin taking the drug, called eplerenone, following their heart attacks. The effect was especially strong if patients were also on other heart medications, according to the results of the randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 6,632 patients in 37 countries.
Exercise, the right prescription for patients with heart failure
Exercise is good medicine for heart failure patients ? even while they await heart transplantation ? according to a new statement from the American Heart Association published in today’s print issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Mutant protein linked to heart failure
A rare case of familial heart failure has shown that a loss of calcium regulation in heart cells may directly cause this hereditary form of the disease. The researchers who studied the case, from the Harvard Medical School lab of Christine Seidman, professor of medicine, and Jonathan Seidman, the Bugher Foundation professor of genetics, developed transgenic mice for their work that now offer a model for further investigation of heart failure and calcium signaling. The study, led by research fellow Joachim Schmitt and published in the Feb. 28 Science, suggests a specific protein target for future heart disease therapies.
ACE inhibitor drug reduces heart failure in high-risk patients
The drug ramipril significantly reduced the onset of debilitating and often-fatal heart failure in a large group of high-risk patients, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. Ramipril, trade-named Altace, is one of a family of high blood pressure medications known as ACE inhibitors. The drugs reduce the risk of death from heart failure ? the inability of a weakened or damaged heart to pump enough blood through the body ? in people who suffer heart attacks. The American Heart Association estimates that nearly 5 million people in the United States have congestive heart failure.
Sleep apnea may be a cause, rather than just an effect, of heart failure
An interruption in normal breathing patterns during sleep which is often seen in heart failure patients may contribute to heart failure rather than just being a result, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic study.
“We are now finding that central sleep apnea, which has been previously understood as a symptom of heart failure, may contribute to the development of heart failure in people at risk,” said the study’s lead researcher.