SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- An investigational device that deflects debris away from the brain during transcatheter aortic valve replacement seems to improve in-hospital safety outcomes and cognitive scores at discharge, according to preliminary findings from a small randomized study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The valve replacement procedure, known as TAVR, dislodges minute particles from the clogged valve, freeing them to float through the bloodstream. Much of this debris travels "downstream" from the heart, but ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- Five-year data suggest that the SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve is a feasible option for patients with severe aortic stenosis deemed to be at high risk for open-heart surgery, though valve leakage was more common with the first-generation valve evaluated in this study than with surgery, according to research from PARTNER I presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. When the blockage of an aortic valve becomes severe, replacement is the only real treatment choice, but many elderly and frail people are ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) -- Two-year data show a continued survival advantage for self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) over standard surgery in high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Aortic stenosis--a problem that occurs when the valve in the heart's main artery doesn't open fully--forces the heart to work harder to pump blood and is life-threatening over time. Valve replacement is common when this condition becomes severe, but the ...

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2015) --The commercial track record with transcatheter mitral valve repair, approved for patients at high risk for surgery, compares favorably with pre-approval reports, according to findings from a U.S. registry presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Healthy valves function as one-way gates that keep blood moving forward through the heart. Severely damaged mitral valves don't close properly, allowing blood to leak backward. If the valve isn't repaired or replaced, the condition can cause serious health ...

Police are ill-equipped to investigate non-criminal deaths and face a challenge to avoid re-traumatising bereaved families as well as emotionally protecting themselves, according to QUT research. Investigating death: the emotional and cultural challenges for police found it was usually junior officers sent to sudden death investigations and tasked with not only gathering evidence, but also comforting family members and explaining the coronial process. The research has been published in the journal of Policing and Society. "The vast majority of deaths are neither ...

NEW YORK, NY - Researchers have built a new computational tool that identifies 800 different ways people are at increased risk for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), permitting for the first time a personalized prediction guide. Results from the study out of NYU Langone Medical Center are published online (date) in the journal BMC Psychiatry. "Our study shows that high-risk individuals who have experienced a traumatic event can be identified less than two weeks after they are first seen in the emergency department," says Arieh Y. Shalev, MD, the Barbara Wilson ...

NEW YORK, March 15, 2015 - Most physicians are aware of the importance of lifestyle factors in preventing cardiovascular disease (CVD) -- and believe diet is as important as statin therapy and exercise, according to a new survey from NYU Langone Medical Center. Researchers found that a majority of doctors would welcome additional training in diet and nutrition so that they can effectively inform patients on the subject. The study will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session as a poster presentation. The 28-question online survey, ...

NEW YORK, March 4, 2015 - Air pollution has been linked to a dangerous narrowing of neck arteries that occurs prior to strokes, according to researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center. The scientists analyzed medical test records for more than 300,000 people living in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. They found that people living in zip codes with the highest average levels of fine-particulate-matter pollution were significantly more likely to show signs of narrowing (stenosis) in their internal carotid arteries, compared to those living in zip codes with the lowest ...

March 16, 2015, New York, NY - Exploring the fundamental mechanism by which a cell-surface receptor transmits its signal, an international team of Ludwig researchers and their colleagues has established proof of concept for an entirely new approach to drug design. They report that a class of synthetic molecules known as diabodies can, from outside the cell, latch onto a target receptor and manipulate it in such a manner as to induce distinct and varying effects within cells and tissues. Led by Christopher Garcia of Ludwig Stanford, the researchers show in lab experiments ...

Carnivorous plants have strange-shaped leaves, and they can grow on nutrient-poor environments by trapping and eating small animals. Charles Darwin, often called "the father of evolution", was also interested in carnivorous plants, and he wrote a book titled "Insectivorous Plants" published in 1875. Since then a lot of researches have been done, but how such strange-shaped leaves were altered during evolution remained unknown. A research team in Japan has revealed how carnivorous pitcher leaves are formed in Sarracenia purpurea, a carnivorous plant native to North America. ...

Establishing protected areas in forests is one way to keep deforestation at bay and safeguard biodiversity. However, a study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has revealed that such a measure is ineffective in the case of biodiversity-focused protected areas in Indonesia. The research, led by Assistant Professor Roman Carrasco of the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science and Assistant Professor Alex Cook of NUS' Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, found that the monitoring and prevention of road construction ...

According to a meta-analysis published in BMC Family Practice, high dose zinc acetate lozenges may help shorten diverse symptoms associated with the common cold. The common cold is an infection caused by over a hundred viruses, and it is a major cause of days off school or work and visits to a doctor. A previous meta-analysis of three randomized trials found that high dose zinc acetate lozenges shorten the duration of colds by 42%. Since all of the three studies reported the duration of diverse respiratory symptoms and of systemic symptoms such as muscle ache and headache, ...

To increase the biomass of fish, contemporary ecological theory predicts that either the amount of food or the quality of the food has to increase. In a recent experiment, researchers at Umeå University doubled the fish biomass under identical food supply and food quality by only controlling how much of total food supply that was channelled to juvenile and adult fish, respectively. The results have major implications for the exploitation (harvest) of fish populations and the coexistence of predatory fish and their prey. To increase the biomass of a population, contemporary ...

A means of reprogramming a flawed immune response into an efficient anti-tumoral one was brought to light by the results of a translational trial relating to breast cancer. Thanks to the innovative combination of mathematical modelisation and experimentation, only 20 tests were necessary, whereas traditional experimentation would have required 596 tests to obtain the same results. The study was jointly conducted by Doctor Marie-Agnès Doucey (Experimental oncology, Centre Ludwig de l'UNIL pour la recherche sur le cancer), Professor Ioannis Xenarios (UNIL, SIB, Vital-IT) ...

The Menetries's tiger moth (Borearctia menetriesii) is the most rare and enigmatic representative among the Palearctic Arctiinae. During an expedition in almost inaccessible wild taiga area of Eastern Siberia, Russian scientists had the luck to encounter it. During their studies they also recorded feeding larva of this mysterious species on a native devil's helmet host plant for the first time. The study was published in the open access journal Nota Lepidopterologica. The Menetries's tiger moth (Borearctia menetriesii) is the most rare and enigmatic representative among ...

Amsterdam, March 16, 2015 - Elsevier journal Maturitas, today announced the publication of a position statement by the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) covering the ten- point guide to the integral management of menopausal health. This has been written to mark the 10th EMAS Congress in Madrid May 20-22, 2015. With increased longevity and more women becoming centenarians, management of the menopause and post-reproductive health is of growing importance as it has the potential to help promote health over several decades. Women have individual needs and the ...

The studies below will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session the morning of Saturday, March 14. 1. Depression May Influence Cardiovascular Outcomes A new study adds to the evidence that depression may influence cardiovascular outcomes, prompting authors to call on cardiologists to pay closer attention to depression when managing patients with heart disease. Researchers at Care Institute of Medical Sciences in India found depression to be independently associated with a greater chance of cardiovascular death and lower quality ...

Patients with symptoms of heart disease have similar outcomes in terms of death and major cardiac conditions regardless of whether they undergo a functional stress test or a computed tomographic scan, but the scan may be better at ruling out the need for subsequent tests and procedures in patients who are free of heart disease, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego. The PROMISE trial is the first-ever randomized controlled trial to compare clinical outcomes in patients receiving functional stress ...

SAN DIEGO (March 14, 2015) -- Adding the antiplatelet drug ticagrelor to aspirin as long-term therapy after a heart attack significantly reduced the rate of subsequent death from cardiovascular causes, heart attack or stroke, with the benefit appearing to accrue for nearly three years, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The double-blind PEGASUS-TIMI 54 trial recruited 21,162 patients who had experienced a heart attack in the previous one to three years. Each had another factor, such as age or diabetes, ...

SAN DIEGO (March 14, 2015) -- A study comparing the overall economics of computed tomographic angiography with functional stress tests for evaluating patients with symptoms suggestive of possible blocked coronary arteries found no significant differences in costs over three years. The study was presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Although the angiography, scans of the heart referred to as CT angiography, initially appeared to provide some cost savings, this didn't hold up once the costs of subsequent testing and procedures ...

The studies below will be presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session the afternoon of Saturday, March 14. 1. Energy Drink Shown to Raise Resting Blood Pressure Medical reports have linked energy drink consumption to adverse cardiac events such as changes in heart rhythm, heart attacks and even deaths in otherwise healthy people. To investigate how energy drinks affect the heart, researchers alternately gave a can of commercially available energy drink or a placebo drink to 25 healthy young adults (age 19-40 years) and assessed changes ...

Scientists of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory have taken to kites that they fly above lava flows blanketing the Hawaiian landscape to unravel the past mysteries that shaped Mars. A kite, equipped with off-the-shelf instruments such as a camera, a GPS, and orientation sensors, scans the terrain from high above. The team then employs parallel computing and powerful software algorithms to assemble tens of thousands of images into extremely detailed and accurate 3D digital terrain models. In terms of studying volcanic landscapes, the project is ...

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (March 16, 2015)-- As the nation's headlines turn more and more to issues of tolerance -- race, religion, free speech, same sex marriage -- research by San Diego State University Psychology Professor Jean M. Twenge shows that Americans are actually more tolerant than ever before. In a paper released this month by the journal Social Forces, Twenge, along with Nathan T. Carter and Keith Campbell from the University of Georgia, found that Americans are now more likely to believe that people with different views and lifestyles can and should have the same ...

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Some of social media's greatest stars aren't even old enough to tweet: Pictures of kids playing dress up, having meltdowns and even in the bathtub adorn Facebook walls. Diaper-donning toddlers dancing to the likes of Beyonce and Taylor Swift rack up YouTube views. Countless blogs share stories about everything from potty training to preschool struggles. Today's University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health finds that this so-called "sharenting" isn't going anywhere anytime soon, with more than half of mothers ...

After many years of speculation, it has finally been established that hydrazine is not a prevalent contaminant in contemporary smokeless tobacco products (STPs). The presence of hydrazine has only been reported once in a limited sample of cigarette tobacco and tobacco smoke some 40 years ago1. But this study has been cited many times as evidence that hydrazine is present in smokeless tobacco products. To date, no one has examined STPs for its presence. Hydrazine is found in maleic hydrazine, which is used as a sucker growth inhibitor on tobacco crops - suckers are ...