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Pay Attention to Your Ticker Heart attacks don't always strike out of the blue -- there are many symptoms we can watch for in the days and weeks leading up to an attack. But the symptoms may not be the ones we expect. And they can be different in men and women, and different still in older adults. Last year, for example, a landmark study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Institute found that 95 percent of women who'd had heart attacks reported experiencing symptoms in the weeks and months before...

Paramedics drop organ in front of photographers after it was rushed to hospital by police helicopter for transplantIt was a heart-stopping moment – or nearly so: rushing from a helicopter, two Mexican medics dropped a human heart being ferried to hospital for a transplant. And to compound their embarrassment, press photographers were there to capture the mishap. Thankfully, the transplant was carried out successfully, although that has not stopped the medics being widely ridiculed online. The heart was being transported by a police helicopter to a hospital in Mexico City on Wednesday, in what police described as "a rapid,...

Cutting back on salt may not be as beneficial for your heart as once thought, a new study suggests. While a diet low in salt reduces blood pressure, it increases the levels of cholesterol, fat and hormones in the blood that are known to increase the risk of heart disease, the study found. Overall, the good and bad consequences of a low-salt diet may cancel each other out, so the diet has relatively little effect on the development of disease, said study researcher Dr. Niels Graudal, of Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.

Every three days, more Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest than the number who died in the 9-11 attacks. You can lessen this recurring loss by learning Continuous Chest Compression CPR, a hands-only CPR method that doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest. It’s easy and does not require mouth-to-mouth contact, making it more likely bystanders will try to help, and it was developed at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "This video is worth sharing," said Gordon A. Ewy, MD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and one of the research pioneers who developed this method....

Enlarge Image Heart attack. Following a big meal, oily nutrients in the bloodstream of Burmese pythons (shown) spur massive growth of their hearts. Credit: Stephen M. Secor At the end of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the titular villain undergoes a literal change of heart. His blood-pumping organ swells to three times its prior size. The ticker of the Burmese python (Python molurus) similarly balloons, but the cause isn't Christmas cheer—it's a big meal. A new study of recently fed snakes suggests that a precise mixture of fatty acids in the blood drives this cardiac growth, unveiling...

Heart Attack Grill Owner Serves 8,000-Calorie BurgerBy Mikaela Conley | ABC News – Tue, Oct 11, 2011 If you’re going to laugh in the face of obesity by opening a restaurant that serves an 8,000-calorie burger, you might as well open it in Sin City. And that’s just what Heart Attack Grill owner Jon Basso is doing. On Wednesday, the owner opens the doors to his third Heart Attack Grill location, this time in Las Vegas. The restaurant offers a Quadruple Bypass Burger that contains four beef patties, cheese, bacon and reportedly, about 8,000 calories. Along with its staple sandwich,...

A doctor from Israel says: "In Israel the medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's testicles; we put them into another man, and in 6 weeks he is looking for work." The German doctor comments: "That's nothing, in Germany we take part of the brain out of a person; we put it into another person's head, and in 4 weeks he is looking for work." A Russian doctor says: "That's nothing either. In Russia we take out half of the heart from a person; we put it into another person's chest, and in 2 weeks he is...

US President Barack Obama says the US economy has suffered a "heart attack" and survived but is not recuperating quickly enough, as he geared up to unveil a major jobs plan. Obama appeared on the Tom Joyner Morning Show in what also appeared to be an effort to reach out to black voters (Snip) "This is a situation where the economy essentially had a heart attack, and the patient lived, and the patient is getting better, but it's getting better very slowly." Obama is preparing a major speech on jobs and deficit cutting next week which is designed to revive

PARIS -- Willy Wonka may have been on to something with that chocolate factory, according to a meta-analysis that suggests chocolate can provide a heart benefit. In six studies, people who ate the most chocolate -- about two pieces of chocolate per week -- had a 37% lower risk of any cardiovascular disease compared with those who ate less (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.90), according to Oscar Franco, MD, PhD, of the University of Cambridge in England. And in three studies, those who consumed the most had a 29% lower risk of stroke (RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.52...

In Sept. 2008, Roger Fisher said that he was happy to receive the publicity for the song "Barracuda", co-written with the Wilson sisters from Heart, which was being used by the McCain/Palin campaign. The Wilson sisters said that "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women." Roger told Reuters back then that he pledged to give part of the royalties from the song's use by McCain/Palin campaign to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign. I wonder if he and the Wilson sisters feel the same way about Barack Obama these days...

The letter she wrote to her family before the birth of Trig gives us a glimpse into the soul of the penultimate "NON-quitter." In her email Palin imagines a letter from God to the family about to launch on its challenging child-rearing experience together. "Then, I put the idea in your hearts that his name should be 'Trig', because it's so fitting, with two Norse meanings: "True" and "Brave Victory"." "I've given Trig's mom and dad peace and joy as they wait to meet their new son. I gave them a happy anticipation because they asked me for that.I'll give...

If a person's blood becomes too thick it can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart attacks. But a Temple University physicist has discovered that he can thin the human blood by subjecting it to a magnetic field. [snip] Because red blood cells contain iron, Tao has been able to reduce a person's blood viscosity by 20-30 percent by subjecting it to a magnetic field of 1.3 Telsa (about the same as an MRI) for about one minute. Tao and his collaborator tested numerous blood samples in a Temple lab and found that the magnetic field polarizes the...

CLEVELAND - Contrary to what we’ve been told, eliminating or severely limiting fats from the diet may not be beneficial to cardiac function in patients suffering from heart failure, a study at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reports. Results from biological model studies conducted by assistant professor of physiology and biophysics Margaret Chandler, PhD, and other researchers, demonstrate that a high-fat diet improved overall mechanical function, in other words, the heart’s ability to pump, and was accompanied by cardiac insulin resistance. “Does that mean I can go out and eat my Big Mac after I have a heart...

Which is more dangerous: dietary salt or the government’s dietary guidelines? A new study confirms some old truths. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (May 4), reports that among 3,681 study subjects followed for as long as 23 years, the cardiovascular death rate was more than 50 percent higher among those on who consumed less salt. The researchers concluded that their findings, “refute the estimates of computer model of lives saved and health care costs reduced with lower salt intake” and they do not support “the current recommendations of a generalized and indiscriminate reduction...

NEW ORLEANS (AFP) – A new type of heart valve made with cow tissue and inserted by catheter was hailed on Sunday as a major breakthrough that could eliminate the need for open heart surgery in some patients, US doctors said Sunday. The method is aimed at high-risk patients who suffer from severe aortic stenosis, a clogged valve that impedes the pathway of oxygen-rich blood by making the heart work harder to pump blood through a narrowing opening. The condition affects nine percent of Americans over 65. Without treatment, up to half of patients die within two years. The technique...

Strokes are rising dramatically among young and middle-aged Americans while dropping in older people, a sign that the obesity epidemic may be starting to shift the age burden of the disease. The numbers, reported Wednesday at an American Stroke Association conference, come from the first large nationwide study of stroke hospitalizations by age. Government researchers compared hospitalizations in 1994 and 1995 with ones in 2006 and 2007. The sharpest increase — 51 percent — was among men 15 through 34. Strokes rose among women in this age group, too, but not as fast — 17 percent. "It's definitely alarming," said...

February is “American Heart Month,” and our e-mail inboxes are filling up with information about all sorts of cardiovascular-related events, including a celebrity-studded game of Capture the Flag at UCLA. Apparently, actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, singer Natasha Bedingfield, actor Ryan Kwanten and others will serve as captains of CTF teams that will compete for money to fund heart research at UCLA and UC Davis. CTF games will also be played in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston, according to a news release. The part that caught my eye was the source of the research money at stake in these games –...

Vitals Major Finding: Eplerenone reduced the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization by 37%, compared with placebo. Data Source: Phase III randomized trial in 2,737 patients with NYHA class II heart failure. Disclosures: EMPHASIS-HF was funded by Pfizer. Dr. Zannad reported receiving grants from and consulting for Pfizer. Two coauthors are Pfizer employees, and several others reported Pfizer grants and consultancy. CHICAGO — Adding eplerenone to standard therapy significantly cut the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization by more than one-third in patients with mild heart failure in the phase III EMPHASIS-HF trial. The primary composite...

Cheney Back in Public, Thinner, With Heart Pump *snip* The LVAD is implanted next to the heart to help its main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, pump blood through the body. Such devices are used mainly for short periods, to buy potential transplant candidates time as they await a donor organ. Cardiologists said that in Cheney's case, the pump is likely a "bridge" that will keep him alive until he can receive a heart transplant. Many cardiac experts said at the time of his surgery that Cheney may be only one step away from a transplant but could find himself...

San Francisco (AP) Nearly 15 years after sentencing, an inmate is getting an unexpected chance at freedom - and the judge a shot at redemption. Students at San Francisco's novel Three Strikes Project, which has successfully overturned 14 life prison terms handed down for non-violent crimes under California's unforgiving sentencing law, are joined by an unusual coalition in their latest bid.

Dick Cheney's new implant—a ventricular assist device—needed 'cause his heart is screwed, "leaves most recipients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart's own pulsatile beat."

  The First Friday Devotion in the Catholic Church History of First Friday First Friday devotions among Catholics are related to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ. First Friday practices date to the last decades of the 17th century, when Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and spoke to her of His Sacred Heart. Among the promises Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary, the 12th specifically referenced practices for Fridays:In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the...

Chest tight and short of breath. No pain in chest or extremeties. Heart enzymes at 5.8.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is rebounding from five weeks in the hospital this summer, and plans about 10 stops on the speaking circuit in coming months – along with some hunting trips as well, according to friends. Cheney spent much of the summer at Inova Fairfax Heart and Vascular Institute, a stay that was prolonged by a bout of pneumonia. He had a left ventricular assist device implanted, a pump that is used in dire cases, and that can be used as a bridge to a heart transplant. The former vice president hasn’t decided whether to seek a heart...

Soy does not lower cholesterol, does not prevent heart disease, and does not deserve an FDA-approved soy heart-health claim. This amazing announcement comes from none other than the American Heart Association (AHA) published in the Jan. 17, 2006, issue of its journal Circulation. Athletes at Risk Not long before this announcement, University of Colorado researchers reported in the January issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation that soy worsens cardiomyopathy, a form of heart disease that is very much on the rise, afflicting 1 in 500 Americans. Cardiomyopathy, defined as a weakening of the heart muscle or change in structure...

Ralph and Wynona Passow bought their first camels a decade ago to rid their farm of weeds. The camel herd has grown to more than 30.Lanky legs and neck sprawled too far forward, then too far backward. That black, furry newborn was going to stand and nurse somehow, Passow decided. The mother camel blinked long, dreamy eyelashes and watched carefully as Passow coaxed the big baby to the mother's side. "The females are lovely," Ralph Passow said, watching his wife try to turn the baby toward the patient mother. "But the male camels will kill you." About 30 minutes earlier,...

Enlarge Image Cellular alchemy. A cocktail of three genes can turn common structural cells in the heart into beating muscle cells. Credit: M. Ieda et al., Cell,142 (6 August 2010) ©Elsevier Inc. Cell biologists often seem like modern-day alchemists. Instead of turning lead or straw into gold, they're looking for ways to turn one kind of cell into another, potentially more useful, cell. Now, one research team has found a way to turn a very common heart cell into a cell missing in injured hearts. A healthy heart is a mix of several kinds of cells, including cardiomyocytes, the muscle...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney is still in the hospital after heart surgery in early July. Daughter Liz Cheney says her 69-year-old dad is out of intensive care and hopes to return home this week. She tells "Fox News Sunday" that he's already planning trips for fly fishing and hunting later this year. Dick Cheney has had five heart attacks since he was 37. In his recent surgery at a northern Virginia hospital, Cheney had a small pump installed to help his heart work.

Every five years, the federal Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services revise their Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a publication that sets the direction for federal nutrition-education programs. In an age when aggressive government agencies in places like New York City seek a greater hand in shaping Americans’ diets, the next set of guidelines, published later this year, could prove more controversial than usual because increasing scientific evidence suggests that some current federal recommendations have simply been wrong. Will a public-health establishment that has been slow to admit its mistakes over the years acknowledge the new research...

While channel-surfing last night I wanted to see which Conservative Rachel Maddow was trashing and lying about. To my astonishment, she was doing her best impression of 'Poor Dick Cheney' and his heart condition. The segment included a heart specialist explaining Cheney's new hardware as Rachel sat listening intensely and sympathetically. This was the most phony BS concern I've ever seen. Watching her, you knew what she was really thinking, 'When is this bastard gonna die?'Rachel Maddow's Dick Cheney Death Watch

Former Vice President Dick Cheney underwent surgery last week to have a tiny pump implanted to assist in the functioning of his heart, a family spokesman says. The surgery implanted what's called a left ventricular assist device.

As President Obama concluded his Rose Garden statement revealing that he had replaced Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top American commander in Afghanistan, a reporter shouted an impromptu question. "Can the war be won?" he yelled. The president didn't answer — perhaps because he doesn't know. You can watch the non-answer here. (video at link) The moment comes as the president starts to walk away: Obama is trying to stick to a July 2011 deadline to draw down troops in Afghanistan — but the McChrystal flap was the latest setback for an administration trying desperately to regain momentum in a...

We must remember that salvation itself is both subjective and objective, for it consists not only of what Christ did FOR His people—but also what He by the Holy Spirit did IN them...The one who can say "I am crucified with Christ" judicially, can also add "Christ lives in me" (experimentally), and my living by faith in Him is proof that "He loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). The heart is the center of man's moral nature, of the personality; it equals the whole inner man, it is the fount out of which everything else comes, and...

4/2/2010 - KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFNS) -- Tech. Sgt. James Harrell Jr. was on his way home from here after a shift with the 81st Security Forces Squadron about 5:15 a.m. March 26. As he traveled west on Pass Road, he turned south onto Rodenberg Avenue -- not his normal route home to Gulfport, Miss. "I can't explain it ... I just decided to turn there," Sergeant Harrell said. Sergeant Harrell is assigned to the 908th Airlift Wing at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., but is on temporary duty at Keesler AFB. As he approached Irish Hill Drive,...

3/22/2010 - TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) -- In an age when Americans are able to vote for a healthcare bill when they are dissatisfied with the current plan, many people around the world, including in Kyrgyzstan, struggle to afford surgery without any health insurance at all. So, American Airmen from the Transit Center have rallied together, raising or donating funds for what are now 150 heart surgeries for children in Kyrgyzstan, totaling more than $75,000. The 150th surgery happened March 17 when 14-year-old Firuza Nurahunova, who suffered from congenital heart disease since birth, successfully underwent an aortic valve...

WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney is recovering from a "mild heart attack" — his latest bout in a long battle against heart disease. Cheney was feeling fine on Tuesday and likely to be sent home from a Washington hospital within a day or two, aides aid. He experienced chest pain on Monday, and lab results revealed evidence of the heart attack, spokesman Peter Long said. "The whole family has been working with heart disease for decades, and they are vigilant and attuned to treatment," said political consultant Mary Matalin, a friend and former counselor to Cheney. She added...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been hospitalized for chest pains. He is said to be resting comfortably in a hospital in Washington D.C., according to a statement released by Cheney's office. Cheney's hospitalization was reported hours after news broke that fellow GOP figure Bob Dole was recovering from pneumonia at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. A source close to the family has quoted the Cheney's daughter Liz Cheney as saying her father is undergoing tests but is "doing fine," CBS News' Mark Knoller reports.

ALBERT LEA, Minn.- A Minnesota farmer's wife has received a valentine possibly only a farmer's wife could appreciate -- a half-mile-wide heart outlined in cow manure. Bruce Andersland spent hours with a manure spreader hitched to his tractor Wednesday and Thursday creating the heart, the Albert Lea Tribune, Minn., reported. It is in a square-mile field 12 miles outside of Albert Lea that has belonged to his family for 87 years. Once he finished the job, Andersland hired a pilot to take a picture of the heart from the air, the only place to see it properly. Beth Andersland, who...

This is an excellent video regarding an updated and more effective version of CPR that doesn't require blowing in someone's mouth. Pass it on.

For his wife this Valentine’s Day, a farmer has created a half-mile wide arrow-pierced heart recognizable from the sky about 12 miles southwest of Albert Lea. Following plans he jotted on scratch paper, Bruce Andersland drove his tractor and manure spreader earlier this week in the special shape for his wife, Beth.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is set to undergo heart surgery this week in the United States. CBC News confirmed Monday that Williams, 60, left the province earlier in the day and will have surgery later in the week. The premier's office provided few details, beyond confirming that he would have heart surgery and saying that it was not necessarily a routine procedure. Deputy Premier Kathy Dunderdale is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday morning. She's expected to provide more details about Williams's condition, as well as how the provincial government will function during his absence. CBC reporter...

A Queens man is accused of ripping out a woman's heart and lungs after she turned down his romantic advances and didn't find him a job, according to investigators. After harassing 46-year-old victim Qian Wu for years, 47-year-old suspect Huang Chen is accused of bludgeoning and stabbing her to death and removing her organs, which have not been recovered. Chen, who lives two doors away from Wu's Flushing apartment, met the woman in 2006 when he went to an employment agency she ran out of her home. Apparently, Wu was unable or unwilling to find Chen a job, and the...

A molecule designed to find, latch onto, then treat hardened arteries could offer a new way to tackle heart disease, say its inventors.Nanoburrs, developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), target only damaged cells in blood vessel walls.Once attached, they can release drugs in precisely the right place. But the British Heart Foundation warned the technology was some years from being used in patients. The hardening of the arteries which supply the heart, or atherosclerosis, can eventually lead to blockages which can cause heart attacks. The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal says specialists...

Israeli scientists have discovered a way to create beating heart cells using human skin cells reprogrammed to become stem cells. The findings could lead to advances in disease research, and could in theory be used to repair damaged or diseased tissues. Published in the latest issue of Circulation, the findings by Professor Lior Gepstein of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology could make it possible to clinically repair damaged human hearts...

Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speed up heart not make live longer; that like say you can extend life of car by driving faster. Want live longer? Take nap. Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does cow eat? Hay and corn. What are these? Vegetables. So, steak nothing more than efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to system. Need grain?...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Good news for men who farm U.S. fields. Regular exposure to pesticides used commonly on the farm does not appear to increase the risk of heart attack. As part of the Agricultural Health Study, between 1993 and 1997, researchers asked more than 54,000 male farmers what pesticides they used regularly, how much time they spent using tractors and other farm equipment, and whether they raised poultry or other livestock. Dr. Jane A. Hoppin, of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and colleagues surveyed roughly 32,000 of these men...

Veteran actor Sean Connery has refused to give up his favourite red wine even after been diagnosed with a heart condition. The former James Bond star has been warned to stop drinking alcohol by medics but he refuses to give up, as he believes it is good for his health. “I do drink red wine because of my friend David Murray, who owns two French wine estates. He showed me the evidence that it was good for the health,” the Daily Express quoted him as telling Wine Spectator magazine. “I favour Merlots from Chile for their value and I keep...

Dear Heart GiovannaNicoletta, et al . . . It occurs to me I might should comment yet again but in a bit of a different way on a recurring feature of these fun threads . . . 1. I can't think of a single FREEPER I don't greatly care for and wouldn't be willing to die for, if God called me to do so. 2. Of course, for some of us, living with one another can be more difficult than dying for one another! LOL. However, on that score, too, I find the tableau of individual personalities hereon very...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Could it be good news for smokers? Current and past-smokers with coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, or peripheral artery disease have less than half the cardiovascular mortality than never-smokers, the initial findings from a new study suggest. But don't be so quick to tell your patients to light up: After accounting for potential confounders, the association was not statistically significant. "The relationship between smoking habit and outcome in patients with established arterial disease remains controversial," Dr. M. Monreal, of Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues write in the September issue of...

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The impact of statin therapy on mortality in patients with decompensated heart failure is limited to those who have ischemic heart disease, say researchers from Israel. Dr. Roman Nevzorov and colleagues from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva analyzed 1-year mortality rates in 887 patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure. ..."The clinical question is whether a statin should be prescribed to every patient with heart failure," the investigators say. "Based on the recent randomized trials and results of our analysis the answer is probably no in the case of heart failure of non-ischemic...