Tag: Cholesterol

A clinical trial of more than 1,000 patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) found that the drug ranolazine (commonly used to treat chest pain; brand name Ranexa®) was safe but didn’t significantly decrease the likelihood of the first occurrence of ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation or death in this high-risk population. The study was published recently

Decades after scientists discovered hundreds of different fatty acids in vegetable oils, two that had managed to elude detection have finally revealed themselves to a team led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Huazhong Agricultural University in China. Named for the sites of the two leading institutions, Nebraskanic acid and Wuhanic acid make up nearly

A sedentary lifestyle combined with a diet dominated by processed foods has widely resulted in a range of conditions including diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure, which are known collectively as metabolic syndrome. Although many insights into the causes of metabolic syndrome have been made, much remains to be understood about the complex interplay among

Physicians typically advise that people maintain high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol on the basis of the assumption that it prevents heart disease and stroke. This protective effect is thought to be due to the HDL molecules, which “flush” cholesterol from the blood into the liver and out of the body. However, little is

Saliva is crucial for tasting and digesting food, but scientists have now found that it may have another, more subtle role. Salivary proteins could be part of a feedback loop that influences how food tastes to people — and by extension, what foods they’re willing to eat. The researchers hope that, one day, their findings

While pigs still cannot fly, researchers have discovered that the hearts of newborn piglets do have one remarkable ability. They can almost completely heal themselves after experimental heart attacks. This regenerative capacity is short-lived — disappearing by day three after birth, say teams of researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and at several

(HealthDay)—Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is independently and inversely associated with total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in children, according to a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Sonja Soininen, M.D., from the University of Eastern Finland in Kuopio, and colleagues examined the

Diet modification can be a vital step to prevent cardiovascular disease. While various biological, economical, physical, social and psychological factors influence food choices, interventions targeting these factors can lead to meaningful improvements in long-term eating habits, according to a review paper published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Research has consistently

Researchers report in Nature Communications they figured out why air sacs in the lungs clog up with a thick substance called surfactant in a brutal disease called Pulmonary Alveolar Proteinosis (PAP), and they show taking cholesterol-busting pills called statins can effectively treat the disease. That’s good news for people with PAP because at present the

Pregnant women who had low plasma levels of long chain n-3 fatty acids in their first and second trimesters were at a significantly higher risk of early preterm birth when compared with women who had higher levels of these fatty acids, according to new research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in collaboration

New knowledge about biological processes related to the heart’s electrical activity has been gained through a major genome science study. The research had the largest sample size ever of a project of this type. The molecular mechanisms explored in this study offer insights into cardiac electrical diseases and could suggest avenues of drug research for

Researchers have developed a 3D map of the gene interactions that play a key role in cardiovascular disease, a study in eLife reports. The map will help researchers identify the most important genes to focus on for the development of new treatments for heart attacks, heart failure and heart rhythm disorders. More than 500 genetic

Taking multivitamin and mineral supplements does not prevent heart attacks, strokes or cardiovascular death, according to a new analysis of 18 studies published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal. “We meticulously evaluated the body of scientific evidence,” said study lead author Joonseok Kim, M.D., assistant professor of cardiology in the

Researchers from the University of Michigan found that serum levels of two biomarkers of traumatic brain injury, tau and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1, are elevated following high-acceleration head impacts, even when there is no clinical diagnosis of concussion. Their complete findings are reported today in the Journal of Neurosurgery, in the article “Elevated markers of

Poor sleep quality appears to be an important risk factor for atrial fibrillation, report scientists in the first study of its kind to demonstrate a relationship between poor sleep quality independent of sleep apnea and a higher risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). Their findings are published in HeartRhythm. AF is an irregular, rapid heart rate

Scientists have zeroed in on a culprit that spurs damaging inflammation in the heart following a heart attack. The guilty party is a type of immune cell that tries to heal the injured heart but instead triggers inflammation that leads to even more damage. Further, the researchers have found that an already approved drug effectively

There is a link between higher serum vitamin D levels and lower plasma cholesterol levels in primary school children, new research from the University of Eastern Finland shows. Children whose serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels exceeded 80 nmol/l had lower plasma total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels than children whose serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were

A collaborative research team is on a quest to collapse a tiny pocket between cardiac cells that can cause big problems. Called the perinexus, the structure spans only tenths of a millimeter — all the space it needs to disrupt a person’s heartbeat. The researchers were the first to identify the perinexus in humans. They

There is a link between higher serum vitamin D levels and lower plasma cholesterol levels in primary school children, new research from the University of Eastern Finland shows. Children whose serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels exceeded 80 nmol/l had lower plasma total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels than children whose serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were

The balance between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in the tissues of female mammals, which previous research has suggested can impact the incidence of obesity in their offspring, appears to do so through its effect on the microbial population of the infant’s gastrointestinal tract. In the open-access journal Microbiome, a team of investigators from Massachusetts