Research: New research has revealed how the Emperor Penguin is able to dive to depths of over 500m and stay under water for up to 27 minutes – deeper and longer than any of its fellow avian species. Researchers from the University of California will be presenting their new findings at the International Penguin Conference (IPC) which begins in Bristol today [02 September]. It's the first time the conference has been held in Europe, with 200 delegates from 30 countries sharing their latest research and knowledge at the University of Bristol and Bristol Zoo Gardens between ...

Seattle, Wash. — September 1, 2013 — A study published online in Nature Methods today demonstrated that Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR™) technology can be used to precisely and reproducibly quantify microRNA (miRNA) in plasma and serum across different days, paving the way for further development of miRNA and other nucleic acids as circulating biomarkers. "In the field of circulating microRNA diagnostics, droplet digital PCR enables us to finally perform biomarker studies in which the measurements are directly comparable across days within a laboratory and even among different ...

STANFORD, Calif. — A new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine could help pinpoint ways to counter the effects of the antibiotics-driven depletion of friendly, gut-dwelling bacteria. A number of intestinal pathogens can cause problems after antibiotic administration, said Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology and the senior author of the study, to be published online Sept. 1 in Nature. Graduate students Katharine Ng and Jessica Ferreyra shared lead authorship. "Antibiotics open the door for these pathogens ...

Demystifying the chemical processes that create a wine's aroma, and the invaluable potential application of that understanding in winemaking, is the new objective of scientists in Uruguay who, with European partners, also recently sequenced the genome of the high-value Tannat grape, from which "the most healthy of red wines" are fermented. Meanwhile, a quick, $1 test in development by researchers in Paraguay and Uruguay promises to reduce the economic and health burden of 3 million cases of syphilis in Latin America -- a disease readily treated and cured if diagnosed ...

A drug proven effective for treatment of adults and children with sickle cell anemia reduced hospitalizations and cut annual estimated medical costs by 21 percent for affected infants and toddlers, according to an analysis led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The report appears today in the advance online edition of the journal Pediatrics. The study is the largest ever focusing on the economic impact of the drug hydroxyurea in children with the inherited blood disorder. The result supports expanded use of the drug to extend the length and quality of life for ...

Hamilton, ON (September 2, 2013) – Despite living with the highest risk factors for heart disease, people in high income countries suffer less from serious cardiovascular disease, says an international study by the global PURE (Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology ) collaboration and led by McMaster University researchers. At the same time, the study found that people in low income countries, although living with fewer risk factors for heart disease, have a higher incidence of serious cardiovascular disease including death. "These findings were a total surprise," ...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Monday 2 September 2013: Metabolically healthy women have the same cardiovascular disease risk regardless of their BMI, according to research presented at the ESC Congress today by Dr Søren Skøtt Andersen and Dr Michelle Schmiegelow from Denmark. The findings in more than 260,000 subjects suggest that obese women have a window of opportunity to lose weight and avoid developing a metabolic disorder, which would increase their CVD risk. Dr Schmiegelow said: "Obesity and/or metabolic disorders (hypertensive disorders [hypertension, gestational ...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Monday 2 September 2013 : Pacemakers implanted for slow heart rhythm restore life expectancy to normal levels, reveals research presented at ESC Congress 2013 today by Dr Erik O. Udo from the Netherlands. The findings provide a new reference point for the prognosis of modern pacemaker patients. Dr Udo said: "Previous studies describing the survival of pacemaker patients used data that is more than 20 years old and cannot be used anymore for patient counselling and benchmarking. There have been considerable changes in pacemaker technology ...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, 2 September2013 – The search continues for an agent that increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and reduces arterial plaque, after the experimental apolipoprotein A1 (apoA1) inducer, RVX-208 failed to do so in the ApoA1 Synthesis Stimulation and Intravascular Ultrasound for Coronary Atheroma Regression Evaluation (ASSURE) study. The lack of efficacy of RVX-208 is "disappointing and surprising, given promising earlier findings," noted lead investigator Stephen Nicholls MBBS, PhD, Deputy Director at the South Australian Health and Medical Research ...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands - A common drug that is used to treat high blood pressure in the general population has been found to significantly reduce a dangerous and frequently fatal cardiac problem in patients with Marfan syndrome. Results of the COMPARE (COzaar in Marfan PAtients Reduces aortic Enlargement) study reveal that patients treated with losartan (Cozaar) had a significantly reduced rate of aortic enlargement after 3 years compared to patients who did not receive the treatment. "Our study is the first large, prospective randomized study to assess the effects ...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – Patients with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk due to recent acute coronary syndromes had similar rates of cardiovascular events when treated with the anti-diabetic agent alogliptin compared to placebo according to results of the Examination of Cardiovascular Outcomes with Alogliptin versus Standard of Care (EXAMINE) trial presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress. "Compared with placebo, treatment with alogliptin resulted in similar rates of the primary endpoint, which was a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial ...

To win the war against weight gain, it turns out that every skirmish matters – as long as the physical activity puts your heart and lungs to work. In a new study published today in the American Journal of Health Promotion, University of Utah researchers found that even brief episodes of physical activity that exceed a certain level of intensity can have as positive an effect on weight as does the current recommendation of 10 or more minutes at a time. "What we learned is that for preventing weight gain, the intensity of the activity matters more than duration," says ...

Use of the novel anticoagulant otamixaban did not reduce ischemic events compared with unfractionated heparin plus eptifibatide but increased bleeding among patients with non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes undergoing a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries), according to a study published by JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2013 "Major progress has been made in ...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Sunday 1 September 2013 : Having a big belly increases the risk of death in heart attack survivors, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Tabassome Simon and Professor Nicolas Danchin from France. The findings from the FAST-MI 2005 registry suggest that lifestyle interventions in heart attack patients should focus on losing abdominal fat. Professor Simon said: "The impact of obesity on long term mortality and cardiovascular complications in the general population has been the object of recent debate. Much emphasis ...

Professor Deljanin Ilic said: "In the setting of cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular disease the endothelium loses its normal function.1 Since endothelium derived nitric oxide is necessary to maintain an adequate vascular response, correction of endothelial dysfunction has become a goal of therapy." She added: "Exercise training has been shown to improve endothelial function and is the cornerstone of a multifaceted programme of cardiovascular rehabilitation. However, little is known about the role of music in cardiovascular rehabilitation or the effects of ...

Dr Laukkanen said: "Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for approximately 50% of deaths from coronary heart disease. SCD typically occurs shortly after the onset of symptoms, leaving little time for effective medical interventions, and most cases occur outside hospital with few or no early warning signs. Finding ways to identify individuals at elevated risk of SCD would allow early interventions on risk factors to be implemented." The current study investigated the impact of high leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) combined with cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on risk ...

Professor Claeys said: "Air pollution and temperature changes are the most frequently reported environmental triggers for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Epidemiologic studies have focused mainly on one environmental condition, but most environmental triggers are related to each other and may attenuate or reinforce the triggering effect of a single environmental factor." He added: "Better knowledge of the impact of environment on AMI will help medical care providers and policy makers to optimise prevention strategies for a target risk population." The present study ...

Dr Marques-Vidal said: "Deaths from cardiovascular disease are higher in winter and lower in summer. We decided to conduct a large scale study to see whether cardiovascular risk factors have a seasonal pattern which could explain the seasonality in deaths." The study used cross-sectional data from 10 population based studies in 7 countries. Information was obtained on cardiovascular risk factors in 107,090 subjects aged 35 to 80 years. The country breakdown was as follows: 21,128 subjects in Belgium, 15,664 in Denmark, 1,626 in France, 18,370 in Italy, 25,532 in Norway, ...

Amsterdam, The Netherlands – Sunday 1 September 2013: Survival for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is just 7%, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2013 by Professor Xavier Jouven and Dr Wulfran Bougouin from France. Professor Jouven said: "Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is an important public health problem, accounting for more than 400,000 deaths every year. The main cause is ventricular tachyarrhythmias which are often triggered by acute ischaemic events that can occur in persons with or without known heart disease. The survival rate from cardiac arrest has remained ...

Dr Min said: "Smoking is an established risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Studies have identified that quitting smoking can reduce heart attacks and death but have not examined the relationship of this salutary effect on the presence and severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). Our study aimed to find out what impact stopping smoking had on the risk of cardiovascular events, death and the severity of CAD." The prospective CONFIRM (Coronary CT Evaluation for Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter Study) registry of 13,372 patients from 9 countries in Europe, ...

Aortic stenosis is the most common heart valve disease in the elderly. It is associated with congenital bicuspid aortic valve and previous rheumatic heart disease, but is also often caused by calcification of a normal valve. Calcification of a normal valve may be associated with atherosclerotic changes in the portion of the aorta closest to the valve. Dr Ranthe said: "Genetic factors may play a role in the development of aortic stenosis. A single nucleotide polymorphism in the lipoprotein(a) locus has been associated with aortic valve calcification and aortic stenosis.1 ...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – In patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE- ACS), pre-treatment with the P2Y12 antagonist prasugrel prior to catheterization, significantly increases the risk of life-threatening bleeding without reducing the risk of major ischemic events, according to the results of the ACCOAST (A Comparison of Prasugrel at PCI or Time of Diagnosis of Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction) trial. The findings point to a "paradigm shift" away from pre-treatment in such patients which will not only be "hard to believe and destabilizing ...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – Heart attack patients with ST elevation who undergo a preventive procedure to unblock additional coronary arteries have significantly better outcomes than those whose treatment is confined to the culprit blockage only, according to the results of the Preventive Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction (PRAMI) Trial. The findings, presented today at the ESC and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine, provide information that will help guide clinical practice and resolve uncertainty over how to approach percutaneous coronary ...

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands – A shortened pre-surgical interruption of anti-thrombotic therapy, compared to the more traditional one-week interruption, has no influence on perioperative complications in cardiac patients, according to the results of the PRAGUE 14 trial. "Thus, there is no evidence to support changing the traditional approach of interrupting antithrombotic therapy one week before surgery," said lead investigator Petr Widimsky, MD., DrSc., from the Cardiocenter of Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic. The results shed light on a persistent dilemma ...

"The study was designed to show a better 4-hour survival in the group treated with mechanical chest compressions, and this was not achieved," said lead investigator Sten Rubertsson, MD, PhD, professor and specialist consultant at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital. "But we now have the scientific support to allow us to use mechanical chest compressions and defibrillate during ongoing compressions," he said, adding that this could potentially increase the efficiency and safety of emergency personnel as they deliver care during transportation of patients. ...