Scientists have found important genetic differences that significantly raise the risk of stroke, and they are found in millions of people.
The study is the first to identify common genetic variants influencing stroke risk in the United States and may lead to better treatments, they reported on Wednesday.
While other stroke-related genes have been discovered, none involved such a wide portion of the population, said Eric Boerwinkle of The University of Texas Health Science Center.
Whether you drive, take the bus, or bicycle, being in heavy traffic triples your risk of heart attack within one hour.
Air pollution from car fumes is the likely culprit, suggest Annette Peters, PhD, and colleagues at the Institute of Epidemiology, Helmholtz Center, Munich, Germany.
In a previous study, Peters and colleagues found that a sizeable proportion of heart attacks — about 8% — could be attributed to being in traffic.
To follow up, the researchers interviewed 1,454 people who survived heart attacks. In the hour before their heart attack, many of the survivors had been in heavy traffic.
Short of living in a bubble, there are no cures for allergies.
Even with shots and medicines, patients living with allergies still experience flare-ups and symptoms, especially if their allergies are seasonal.
Dr. Clifford Bassett, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Long Island College Hospital, offered these seven tips, which may alleviate the severity of allergy symptoms, making it a little easier for allergy sufferers to enjoy life.
Warfarin is an anticoagulant — or “blood thinner” — that’s frequently prescribed for people with atrial fibrillation.
An estimated 2.2 million Americans have the cardiac condition, which causes the heart’s two upper chambers to flutter, rather than beat efficiently. This leaves people vulnerable to a blood clot in the brain that can result in an ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke.
That’s where warfarin comes in — helping to prevent those clots.
But, ironically, as use of warfarin has risen in recent years, so has the number of another type of stroke called hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel ruptures in the brain.
GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) widely prescribed drug Advair is safe enough for treating asthma but two lesser-used medicines are too risky, a U.S. advisory panel ruled on Thursday.
Evidence of asthma-related deaths and serious complications led the panel of experts to warn against continued use of Glaxo’s Serevent and Novartis AG’s (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) Foradil for adults, adolescents and children with asthma.
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – AstraZeneca’s cholesterol fighter Crestor dramatically cut deaths, heart attacks and strokes in patients with healthy cholesterol levels but who had high levels of a protein associated with heart disease, researchers said on Sunday.
Crestor, known chemically as rosuvastatin, reduced heart attack, stroke, need for bypass or angioplasty procedures and cardiovascular death by a surprising 45 percent over less than two years.
People who get their annual flu shot may reap an extra benefit: a reduction in their risk of developing a blood clot.
The benefit appeared stronger in those under the age of 52, according to research that was presented Sunday at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions, in New Orleans.
The findings, the first to demonstrate such an effect, may help explain why the flu shot lessens the risk of cardiovascular events in people with coronary artery disease, but the real current value of the data may lie in it convincing more people to get their annual shot.
The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide (H2S), can be a little too familiar, as it is expelled by bacteria living in the human colon and eventually makes its way, well, out.
The new research found that cells lining mice’s blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents’ blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). This gas is “no doubt” produced in cells lining human blood vessels too, the researchers said.
A piece of dark chocolate a day — a very small piece — keeps the doctor away.
An Italian study shows that dark chocolate can significantly reduce the inflammation that leads to cardiovascular disease. The ideal amount is 6.7 grams per day (0.23 ounces). A typical Hershey chocolate bar weighs about 43 grams. That means eating one dark chocolate bar over the course of 6 1/2 days to get 6.7 grams per day.
New discoveries about the genetic roots of gout may lead to new gout treatments and new tests to gauge a person’s risk of developing gout.
Researchers including Abbas Dehghan, MD, of Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands report that news in tomorrow’s online edition of The Lancet.
Dehghan’s team studied gene data from three long-term health studies that together included more than 26,700 participants in the U.S. and the Netherlands.
