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Chocolate Good for the Heart and Brain Michael O'Riordan   August 29, 2011 (Paris, France) — In a city renowned for its love of food, it is only fitting that researchers presented the results of a new study in Paris, France, showing that chocolate is good for the heart and brain. In a presentation at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2011 Congress, British investigators are reporting that individuals who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of stroke compared with individuals who ate the least amount of chocolate. In the study, published online...

According to a recent UC Davis study published online in BMC Cardiovascular Disorders, people with lower socioeconomic status are at greater risk of developing heart disease compared to those who are wealthier or better educated. The likelihood of heart disease persists, even with long-term progress in addressing traditional risk factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol.

TAU researchers develop a vaccine that staves off stroke as wellOne in eight Americans will fall prey to Alzheimer's disease at some point in their life, current statistics say. Because Alzheimer's is associated with vascular damage in the brain, many of them will succumb through a painful and potentially fatal stroke. But researchers led by Dr. Dan Frenkel of Tel Aviv University's Department of Neurobiology at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences are working on a nasally-delivered 2-in-1 vaccine that promises to protect against both Alzheimer's and stroke. The new vaccine repairs vascular damage in the brain by...

WEDNESDAY, July 1 (HealthDay News) -- For the first time, researchers have identified a single "master" stem cell in humans that is capable of differentiating into all three major cell types that make up the human heart. "This is a very simple but very important and fundamental finding, and that is understanding how the human heart is built, how it is made, what are the progenitor cells which give rise to the human heart," said Dr. Kenneth Chien, head of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute's cardiovascular disease program and senior author of a paper in the July 2 issue of...

Cardiovascular Benefits Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Reviewed ScienceDaily (Mar. 12, 2008) — Thousands of research studies have documented how the oils known as omega-3 fatty acids can benefit the cardiovascular system, particularly among people diagnosed with coronary artery disease. The incredible volume of research on this topic creates difficulty for many physicians and patients to stay current with findings and recommendations related to these oils. In the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, contributors briefly summarize current scientific data on omega-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular health, focusing on who benefits most from their protective effects, recommended guidelines for administration and...

A team of researchers from Wake Forest University, the National Institutes of Health and other institutions has discovered a previously undetected chemical process within the oxygen-carrying molecule haemoglobin that could have far-reaching implications for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In a paper published online 4 Nov. in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, senior authors Daniel Kim-Shapiro, professor of physics at Wake Forest, and Mark Gladwin, chief of the Vascular Medicine Branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH, describe how haemoglobin, through a catalytic reaction that does not change its own chemical properties, converts nitrite salt...

Source: American Academy Of Dermatology Date: April 18, 2007 Psoriasis Linked To Diabetes And Serious Cardiovascular Condition Science Daily — Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition characterized by thick, red, scaly plaques that itch and sometimes bleed, causing considerable discomfort and emotional stress for patients. In addition to the daily chore of dealing with the physical symptoms of this condition, new research suggests an association between psoriasis and two potentially serious medical conditions – diabetes and atherosclerosis, also known as hardening of the arteries. For the 2 percent to 4 percent of the worldwide population affected by psoriasis, these findings...

2006 DEC 4 - (NewsRx.com) -- Johns Hopkins scientists have successfully grown large numbers of stem cells taken from adult pigs' healthy heart tissue and used the cells to repair some of the tissue damage done to those organs by lab-induced heart attacks. Pigs' hearts closely resemble those in humans, making them a useful model in such research. Following up on previous studies, Hopkins cardiologists used a thin tube to extract samples of heart tissue no bigger than a grain of rice within hours of the animals' heart attacks, then grew large numbers of cardiac stem cells in the lab...

As you may recall, in my last vanity, ”Confessions of a Crunchy Con, or, You Can't Judge a Conservative by his Birkenstocks”, I discussed how I became a “crunchy con”—someone who endorses certain cultural and lifestyle values which have traditionally been associated with the left. In this piece, I follow up with some thoughts about health and lifestyle issues, with application to American society at large. Taking fish oil supplements, despite my misgivings, and finding how successful it was at rejuvenating me, was a real eye-opener. In fact, it got me thinking not just of my own health, but the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Diabetics are at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, one of the world's biggest killers, 15 years earlier than other people, according to a scientist on Friday. So a person with diabetes aged 40 has the same odds of having a stroke or heart attack as a healthy person of 55. "Diabetes confers the same risk of cardiovascular disease as aging 15 years," said Gillian Booth of the Institute of Clinical Evaluation Sciences in Toronto, in an interview. But she added that not all people with diabetes are at high risk. Those that are do not reach the...

One of the most important factors to achieving a healthy lifestyle is a good eating and fitness plan. Staying fit and eating healthy, not only makes you look good but also makes you feel good. There is no better feeling than ending your fitness routine, with a sense of achievement. There are a lot of ways to stay healthy and enjoy staying healthy; finding the sport or exercise that interests you the most makes fitness fun and healthy. If you do not enjoy the exercise program you do, then try another! There are hundreds of ways of keeping fit from...

Patients who have blocked carotid arteries, the major source of blood flow to the brain, even if there are no symptoms, experience significant improvements in intellectual functioning after they undergo surgery to correct this problem, investigators reported Friday at the Society of Interventional Radiology's annual meeting in Toronto. In fact, younger patients and those who have not had a stroke appear to experience the most benefit from the procedure. Carotid stenting involves placement a "stent," a device use to prop open the blocked vessels. Strokes can occur when plaques that have formed in the carotid arteries, which lie on each...

A breakthrough in computational medicine is helping one University of Houston professor pave the way to uncover a ticking "time-bomb" in the heart. Ioannis A. Kakadiaris, an associate professor of computer science at UH and director of the Computational Biomedicine Laboratory (CBL), and doctoral student Sean O'Malley are collaborating with Dr. Morteza Naghavi and other leading cardiologists from the Association for Eradication of Heart Attack (AEHA) in this research effort. With cardiovascular disease accounting for twice as many deaths as all cancers in the United States, this group has developed computer technology to alert physicians to heart attack risk. "This...

In 1980, a man from a small town called Limone Sul Garda in northern Italy went to a doctor for some problem, not heart related. Testing of his blood showed very high levels of triglycerides, and very low levels of HDL, the good form of cholesterol. By all rights, the man should have either been dead from, or in imminent danger of a heart attack. But his arteries were clear. Analysis of his blood showed he had a very special form of Lipoprotein, a type of HDL. And further work with this particular type of Lipoprotein revealed astounding results. In...

In the battle between sound science and the trial bar, it was probably too much to hope that Merck would win the lawsuit whose verdict came down Friday. There was no direct causal link between Vioxx and the arrythmia that the autopsy showed had caused the death of a Texas man whose wife brought the suit. The only evidence for such a link was the speculation from the medical examiner that Vioxx had caused a heart attack that she had not been able to detect and had not bothered to put on the death certificate. But no matter. This was...

Warning signs of an ischemic stroke may be evident as early as seven days before an attack and require urgent treatment to prevent serious damage to the brain, according to a study of stroke patients. Warning signs of an ischemic stroke may be evident as early as seven days before an attack and require urgent treatment to prevent serious damage to the brain, according to a study of stroke patients published in the March 8, 2005 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Eighty percent of strokes are ischemic, caused by the narrowing of the...

How Fish Oil Protects Your Heart   While there are many (unnecessary) pharmacological treatments for the prevention and management of coronary heart disease, both health professionals as well as the public believe simple dietary interventions may prove to be more beneficial. Specifically, omega-3 fatty acids from fish and fish oils can protect against cardiovascular disease.Omega-3 Protects Your HeartFollowing are just some of the benefits omega-3 has to offer: Antiarrhythmic: counteracting or preventing cardiac arrhythmia Antithrombotic: tending to prevent thrombosis (a blood clot within a blood vessel) Antiatherosclerotic: preventing fatty deposits and fibrosis of the inner layer of the arteries...

HOUSTON (AP) -- Doctors at the Texas Heart Institute hope the success they've had with sending patients home after they received an experimental heart pump will result in a dependable alternative to transplants. Physicians at the institute, based at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, recently made their case for the benefits of the Jarvik 2000 heart pump with the help of Richard Brown, who received the device in April and was able to go home in June. He was one of the first heart pump patients in the country to be allowed to go home. "I feel like I'm a blessed...