Television advertising may drive over-diagnosis of high cholesterol and over-treatment with statins, according to a new study¹ by Dr. Jeff Niederdeppe from Cornell University in the US and colleagues. It appears that a trip to the doctor enquiring about statins advertised on TV often leads to a prescription. The work appears online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine², published by Springer. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, and high levels of LDL-cholesterol, or 'bad' cholesterol, are a major contributor. Statins have been proven ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) —Patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a significantly higher risk of developing insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, placing them at greater risk for heart disease and diabetes, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Researchers say public health interventions are urgently needed to prevent PTSD-related metabolic disorder at its early, reversible stage. This retrospective study included 207,954 veterans in Southern California and Nevada ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Pregnant women who have a reduced number of capillaries under their skin during pregnancy may be at heightened risk for preeclampsia, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Researchers say monitoring such changes in small blood vessels early in pregnancy may allow for medical intervention long before the potentially life-threatening condition occurs. The study, conducted by researchers in England, evaluated 305 women early in pregnancy to determine whether measuring ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — African-American women who survive breast cancer are more likely to develop heart failure than other women who have beaten the disease, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. All told, these women have a 1.4-fold greater risk for heart failure compared to their white counterparts, though the likelihood of dying after developing heart failure is roughly the same. This trend remained even after taking other potential contributing factors into account, including age, high ...

A network of seismographic stations recorded spectacular signals from the blast waves of the meteor that landed near Chelyabinsk, Russia, as the waves crossed the United States. The National Science Foundation- (NSF) supported stations are used to study earthquakes and the Earth's deep interior. While thousands of earthquakes around the globe are recorded by seismometers in these stations--part of the permanent Global Seismographic Network (GSN) and EarthScope's temporary Transportable Array (TA)--signals from large meteor impacts are far less common. The meteor ...

Researchers from the University of Granada (UGR) have developed a new material using doped carbon that allows low-cost energy to be produced and also reduces the amount of CO2 released into the atmosphere. The recently-patented material is a gel that enables the CO2 to be turned back into hydrocarbons via electro-catalytic transformation, with great savings both in time and money At present, power stations run using renewable energies (wind, solar or wave) produce energy peaks that are wasted, since they do not coincide with the energy needs. Storing this energy in batteries ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Poor dental health, especially tooth loss, is associated with several established cardiovascular risk factors, including diabetes, smoking, blood pressure, obesity and other novel risk factors, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Although several studies have proposed a link between periodontal disease and coronary heart disease, knowledge about periodontal disease in patients with established heart disease is lacking. Researchers investigated the prevalence of self-reported ...

Research done in the Universities of Granada (Spain), Freiburg (Germany) and University College London (UK) has demonstrated that when we have a low opinion of somebody, we are more likely to reject their money, even though the offer is attractive, because the social information we have on that person influences our decision. Furthermore, people are prepared to even lose money rather than accept it from those they do not hold in high consideration. The article has been published in the journal Frontiers in Decision Neuroscience, based on a study in which the researchers ...

Women, persons with disabilities and three racial and ethnic groups--African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians--continue to be underrepresented in science and engineering (S&E) according to a new report released by the National Science Foundation. The report, Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2013, highlights the most recent data on S&E education and employment patterns for these groups. Data in the report demonstrate that women earn a smaller proportion of degrees in many S&E fields of study, although their participation ...

Geneva, Switzerland (07 March, 2013) – French women are less likely to spend any time on physical activities including sport, exercise or even household chores, compared to women in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the UK, according to a new survey. The multi-national survey on sport and exercise habits also reveals that more than 50 per cent of French women did not play competitive sport or spend any time on intensive workouts such as running or cycling in a given week. As the French women's football team prepare for this summer's UEFA Women's EURO in Sweden, the countdown ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Nonsmokers, beware. It seems the more you are exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke—whether it was during your childhood or as an adult, at work or at home—the more likely you are to develop early signs of heart disease, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Researchers found that 26 percent of people exposed to varying levels of secondhand smoke had signs of coronary artery calcification (CAC), compared to 18.5 percent in the general population. The new data also shows ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) —The use of electronic discharge orders aimed at providing evidence-based decision support and clear instructions to heart failure patients helped increase compliance with quality care measures and lowered hospital readmission rates, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Despite more widespread use of standardized discharge orders and evidence suggesting their effectiveness, little is known about how they impact adherence to quality measures or hospital readmission rates ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) – Using a telemedicine system to engage people in underserved, urban communities to measure and report their blood pressure remotely—outside of the doctor's office—appears to help them achieve blood pressure goals and improve adherence to lifestyle changes and medication recommendations, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Overall, researchers say that just being in a system of care, with or without telemedicine, can result in important reductions in blood pressure. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) —Women with coronary artery disease who completed a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program were two-thirds less likely to die compared to those who were not referred to the program. In addition, the mortality benefit derived from this evidence-based program appears to be much more striking in women than men with the same condition, yet referrals and attendance among women fall short, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. "Cardiac rehabilitation can be a lifesaver, especially ...

Using zoning laws to shape the type of development and activity that occur in a neighborhood may be one way to reduce crime in urban areas, according to a new RAND Corporation study. Studying high-crime areas in the city of Los Angeles, researchers found that city blocks that included both residential and commercial zoning purposes experienced less crime than nearby blocks zoned primarily for commercial purposes. Crime was lowest in blocks zoned for residential-only uses, even in relatively high crime neighborhoods. The study found that single-use commercially zoned ...

Spouses, family members and others who provide informal care to U.S. military members after they return home from conflict often toil long hours with little support, putting them at risk for physical, emotional and financial harm, according to a new RAND Corporation report. Researchers estimate there are between 275,000 and 1 million women and men who are providing care or have provided care for military members or veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Caregivers include spouses, children and parents of military members and veterans. Despite the serious challenges ...

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is a potentially curable disease in nearly every patient at the time of diagnosis, yet despite the most aggressive efforts, up to 30-50 percent of patients may ultimately succumb to the disease. For diseases where outcomes are so uncertain, medical science frequently addresses the need by intensifying therapy. In the case of head and neck cancer, one of the great questions of the current day is whether or not addition of multiple drugs to radiation therapy is superior to the current standard ...

Cold Spring Harbor, NY – In collaboration with colleagues at Cornell University, a team of cancer researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has discovered cells with stem-cell properties in the ovary that can mutate to form tumors. The team demonstrated that when two important tumor suppressor genes are inactivated, a previously unknown subset of ovarian stem-like epithelial cells undergoes cancerous transformation. The findings, published today in the journal Nature, have important implications for our knowledge about ovarian cancer. "Sources of cells that ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Modest financial incentives offered over an extended period of time were significantly more likely to encourage sustained participation in a weight-loss program and long-term maintenance of weight loss than an identical program that did not offer financial rewards, according to a study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. One hundred healthy adult employees or dependents aged 18-63 years with a body mass index between 30 to 39.9 kg/m2 were each assigned to one of four weight loss groups: ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Being overweight, especially from a young age, appears to lead to a bigger heart later in life, a condition that has been linked to serious heart problems and even death, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. Results of this longitudinal study found that people who carry excess weight over their lifetime are much more likely to have increases in left ventricular mass and relative wall thickness — both strong and independent predictors of cardiovascular morbidity and ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Suppressing a hunger-stimulating hormone with a minimally invasive procedure was safe in humans and led to significant weight loss for at least six months in a small preliminary study being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. More than two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese, conditions that total more than $147 billion in medical costs each year. Excess weight also increases the risk for other conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes. "Weight ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013) — Cholesterol levels seem to fluctuate significantly with the turning seasons, which may leave some people with borderline high cholesterol at greater cardiovascular risk during the winter months, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. While prior studies have shown that heart attacks and heart-related deaths increase during the winter months, researchers in Brazil were interested in finding out whether the prevalence of high cholesterol—a well-known cardiovascular risk ...

A new study from the University of Utah shows that individuals who describe themselves as being more mindful have more stable emotions and perceive themselves to have better control over their mood and behavior throughout the day. Higher mindful people also describe less cognitive and physiological activation before bedtime, suggesting that greater emotional stability during the day might even translate into better sleep. The study results will be presented later this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society. Prior studies of mindfulness—paying ...

SAN FRANCISCO (March 7, 2013)—New Orleans residents continue to face a three-fold increased risk of heart attack post-Katrina—a trend that has remained unchanged since the storm hit in 2005, according to research being presented at the American College of Cardiology's 62nd Annual Scientific Session. The new data—an update to previous analyses comparing the behavioral and heart health of people before and after the storm—show this heightened risk persists even though post-Katrina patients are more likely to be prescribed medications known to prevent heart attacks such ...

A study from the University of Utah sheds new light on the health risks faced not only by military veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but by their partners as well. Results of the study will be presented later this month at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society. The study compared emotional and physiological responses of two groups of military veterans and their partners during and after engaging in a "disagreement task" set in a clinically-monitored environment. The veterans in one group had been diagnosed with PTSD, and those in the ...