(Press-News.org) In patients with an acute heart attack, remote ischemic conditioning – intermittent inflation of a blood pressure cuff to cut off blood flow to the arm during transportation to hospital for acute balloon dilatation – reduces subsequent cardiac symptoms and mortality after acute heart attack. The results are presented by researchers from Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University in European Heart Journal on-line 12 September 2013.
Activating the body's defense mechanism
Lack of oxygen for short periods of time in a distant organ by intermittently stopping blood flow to a limb, can protect another organ (i.e., the heart), during a prolonged period of lack of oxygen as it is the case during a heart attack. Professor Hans Erik Bøtker and his research team have previously demonstrated that remote ischemic conditioning reduces cardiac tissue damage on average 30% in patients undergoing acute balloon treatment for a heart attack. In patients treated with conditioning, a blood pressure cuff was placed around the upper arm and inflated to 200 mmHg for 5 minutes to cut off blood flow, and then released. The arm then rested for 5 minutes, and then the blood pressure cuff was re-applied. This procedure was repeated 4 times.
The rate of complications is halved
The researchers have now followed 251 patients assigned to receive conditioning or no conditioning in addition to usual care during transportation to the heart centre for up to 4 years. During the follow-up period the initial salvage of heart tissue by conditioning was translated into a clinical benefit for the patients. The occurrence of new heart symptoms was reduced by 51% in the conditioning group compared to the control group. The total number of deaths was low and death caused by heart disease was reduced by 61%.
The underlying mechanisms are thought to involve activation of endogenous protective systems that induces resistance towards tissue damage in the heart during a heart attack and in particular when re-opening the occluded heart vessel by balloon dilatation. Ph.D student Astrid Drivsholm Sloth, who conducted the present study, characterizes the treatment as promising and predicts that it will have widespread potential in the treatment of heart attacks. However, larger studies are required confirm the clinical implications of this smaller pilot trial such that it can be clarified whether the new intervention can reduce mortality and the development of heart failure after a heart attack.
INFORMATION:
For further information please contact:
Professor Hans Erik Bøtker, MD, Ph.D.
Department of Cardiology
Aarhus University Hospital Skejby, Denmark
Blood pressure cuff may save lives in patients with acute heart attack
2013-09-20
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Promising new alloy for resistive switching memory
2013-09-20
WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 20, 2013 -- Memory based on electrically-induced "resistive switching" effects have generated a great deal of interest among engineers searching for faster and smaller devices because resistive switching would allow for a higher memory density.
Researchers have tested a number of oxide materials for their promise in resistive switching memories, and now a team of researchers in Singapore have demonstrated how conductive nano-filaments in amorphous titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films could be utilized for resistive switching device applications.
Yuanmin ...
Densest array of carbon nanotubes grown to date
2013-09-20
WASHINGTON, D.C. Sept. 20, 2013 -- Carbon nanotubes' outstanding mechanical, electrical and thermal properties make them an alluring material to electronics manufacturers. However, until recently scientists believed that growing the high density of tiny graphene cylinders needed for many microelectronics applications would be difficult.
Now a team from Cambridge University in England has devised a simple technique to increase the density of nanotube forests grown on conductive supports about five times over previous methods. The high density nanotubes might one day replace ...
Microfluidic platform gives a clear look at a crucial step in cancer metastasis
2013-09-20
CAMBRIDGE, Mass-- Cancer cells metastasize in several stages -- first by invading surrounding tissue, then by infiltrating and spreading via the circulatory system. Some circulating cells work their way out of the vascular network, eventually forming a secondary tumor.
While the initial process by which cancer cells enter the bloodstream -- called intravasation -- is well characterized, how cells escape blood vessels to permeate other tissues and organs is less clear. This process, called extravasation, is a crucial step in cancer metastasis.
Now researchers at MIT ...
Personality a key factor in health care use
2013-09-20
Psychiatrists and psychologists have long understood that an individual's personality can define how he or she views the world around them, reacts to situations, and interacts with others. It now appears that personality traits can be linked to the frequency with which older adults use expensive health care services.
A study, published today in the journal The Milbank Quarterly, finds that certain measurable personality characteristics can be correlated to health care consumption, in some instances increasing use high cost health care services such as emergency room ...
3 new species of tiny frogs from the remarkable region of Papua New Guinea
2013-09-20
Three new species of tiny frogs from Papua New Guinea are described in the latest issue of Zookeys. Dr Fred Kraus, University of Michigan, who in 2011 in Zookeys described the world's smallest frogs Paedophryne dekot and Paedophryne verrucosa, now adds another 3 species from the genus Oreophryne to the remarkable diversity of this region.
The three new species Oreophryne cameroni, Oreophryne parkopanorum and Oreophryne gagneorum are all rather minute, with total body lengths of around 20 mm. These tiny frogs, however are still substantially larger than the species that ...
NASA sees super-rapid intensification of Supertyphoon Usagi
2013-09-20
The radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured an image of Supertyphoon Usagi near the end of a 24-hour period in which Usagi intensified by 65 knots. This is more than twice the commonly used 30-knot threshold for defining rapid intensification.
The TRMM data was used to create a 3-D image. The data was collected at 1035 UTC/6:35 a.m. EDT on Thursday, September 19, 2013, when Usagi was at category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale. A few hours later, Usagi completed its lightning-fast intensification to category 5, the ...
NSF report details increase in business research and development
2013-09-20
According to a recent study published by the National Science Foundation (NSF), businesses spent more on research and development (R&D) in 2011 than they did in 2010.
Companies spent $294 billion on R&D performed in the United States during 2011, compared with $279 billion during 2010. Data are from the Business and R&D and Innovation Survey (BRDIS), which is co-sponsored by NSF and the U.S. Census Bureau.
BRDIS revealed that during 2011, companies in manufacturing industries performed $201 billion, or 68 percent, of domestic R&D. Companies in nonmanufacturing industries ...
Lithosphere interprets earth
2013-09-20
Boulder, Colo., USA -- The October 2013 Lithosphere is now online. Locations studied include the Central Iberian Massif in Spain; Arctic Alaska; the Wet Mountains of Central Colorado, USA; the Basgo Formation in northwest India; Crystal Geyser in southeastern Utah, USA; Knight Inlet in the southwestern Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia, Canada; and three crustal-scale shear zones in the western Canadian Shield of northern Saskatchewan. Lithosphere is published bimonthly in hardcopy; articles are posted online as they become available.
Abstracts are online at ...
Researchers identify a switch that controls growth of most aggressive brain tumor cells
2013-09-20
DALLAS -- Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a cellular switch that potentially can be turned off and on to slow down, and eventually inhibit the growth of the most commonly diagnosed and aggressive malignant brain tumor.
Findings of their investigation show that the protein RIP1 acts as a mediator of brain tumor cell survival, either protecting or destroying cells. Researchers believe that the protein, found in most glioblastomas, can be targeted to develop a drug treatment for these highly malignant brain tumors. The study was published online ...
Geoscience Workforce Currents #75 and #76
2013-09-20
Alexandria, VA - The American Geosciences Institute (AGI) has released two final reports on the results of an April 2012 workshop for a cohort made up of underrepresented minority individuals seeking careers in academia. The workshop was hosted by AGI and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to disseminate information about opportunities available to future geoscience faculty from member societies, the federal government and by developing campus leadership. Over a 13-month period participants were polled on questions related to how they engaged these entities and what ...