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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A man accused of making more than $7 billion off the investment schemes of jailed financial manager Bernard Madoff drowned after having a heart attack, authorities said Monday. Jeffry Picower, 67, was found at about noon Sunday by his wife, Barbara, at the bottom of a pool at their oceanside mansion. She pulled him from the water with help from a housekeeper. He died a short time later at a nearby hospital. An autopsy conducted Monday found he suffered a heart attack and drowned, said Dr. Michael Bell, chief medical examiner for Palm Beach County....

PARIS (AFP) – Heart attack survivors who eat chocolate two or more times per week cut their risk of dying from heart disease about three fold compared to those who never touch the stuff, scientists have reported. Smaller quantities confer less protection, but are still better than none, according to the study, which appears in the September issue of the Journal of Internal Medicine. Earlier research had established a strong link between cocoa-based confections and lowered blood pressure or improvement in blood flow. It had also shown that chocolate cuts the rate of heart-related mortality in healthy older men, along...

Reform: If the world's most famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, is a shining example of British health care, how is it that others in the U.K. are repeatedly denied critical care and medicine?In commenting on efforts to overhaul American's health care system, we have tried to pull back the curtain and pay attention to those trying to clone the systems of Canada and Britain. But supporters of government-run health care frequently ignore some of the less-pleasant facts. Much has been made of this statement in one of our Aug. 3 editorials: "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance...

August 07, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Government Medicine KillsThe U.K. and Canada prove it. By Deroy Murdock Imagine that your two best friends are British and Canadian tobacco addicts. The Brit battles lung cancer. The Canadian endures emphysema and wheezes as he walks around with clanging oxygen canisters. You probably would not think: “Maybe I should pick up smoking.� The fact that America is even considering government medicine is equally wacky. The state guides health care for our two closest allies: Great Britain and Canada. Like us, these are prosperous, industrial, Anglophone democracies. Nevertheless, compared to America, they suffer higher...

So many times you hear of someone having a heart attack just a few weeks after they have had medical exam or even a stress test that gave a clean bill of health. In most cases the doctor is not at fault, the growing heart problem was not detectable by present methods. A Doctor in Heart Institute at the Sheba Medical Center Israel, has found a solution, looking at the arteries in your arm. An accurate correlation between the elasticity of the endothelial lining of the brachial arteries in the arm has been shown scientifically to be a good predictor...

7/28/2009 - JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (AFNS) -- Whether Joint Base Balad servicemembers have a wingman or a battle buddy, the ethos of helping a comrade in need arose during a basketball game here July 14. Headed by their coach, Army Sgt.1st Class Anthony Jones of the 699th Maintenance Company, a basketball team compiled of Airmen and Soldiers aided their fellow team member, Army 1st Sgt. Eric Colvin of the 699th Maintenance Co., after he showed heart-attack symptoms during a game at the west side gym. "I knew he had a heart attack years ago," Sergeant Jones said. "Actually, it...

Heart attack symptoms vary. Most people know about extreme chest- and left arm pain, although there may be no pain in the chest during a heart attack. Other signs include intense jaw pain, as well as nausea and profuse sweating. The latter may occur less frequently; nevertheless, it is important to be aware of these potential danger signs. What happens if you are sleeping when you have a heart attack? The majority of people (about 60 percent) who had a heart attack during their sleep did not wake up. However, severe pain may wake you from a deep sleep. If...

DEVELOPING: Michael Jackson has been rushed to a Los Angeles hospital, according to a report from TMZ. The legendary singer, 50, reportedly went into cardiac arrest and had to receive CPR in the ambulance. According to E!, he was rushed to UCLA hospital. According to TMZ, he was picked up at his home in Holmby Hills. A rep for Jackson was unavailable for comment. FOXNews.com has not yet confirmed this information. This is a developing story. Please click refresh for updates.

Breaking AP Wires: Michael Jackson suffers major heart attack in Los Angeles...listed in critical condition...

The Triple and Quadruple Bypass Burgers are advertised at Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, Arizona June 17, 2009. The restaurant is known for their hospital theme and enormous burgers.

CBNNews.com - Men should start taking a daily aspirin at age 45 to lower the risk of heart attack by 20 percent, according to recent U.S. Preventive Services findings. Doctors add that women should start a daily aspirin regimine at age 55 to protect against strokes. However, some medical experts have concerns.

WEIRTON, W.Va. - A Pennsylvania truck driver is being called a hero, credited with saving a woman's life after she suffered a medical emergency behind the wheel of her car. And the entire incident was caught on tape. George Lantzy, a truck driver from Monroeville, Penn., says he was driving along US 22 in West Virginia when he noticed a white car weaving in and out of the eastbound lanes. As other drivers pulled over and tried to jump out and stop the car, Lantzy said he knew something was very wrong and jumped into action. "When I was coming...

For a disease that begins with a bite from the deceptively sweet-sounding kissing bug, Chagas disease is a major killer in some parts of the world. The bug deposits a parasite that can lurk silently in the body for decades before causing the heart to enlarge — and sometimes the colon or esophagus as well. Chagas, which afflicts millions in Latin America, was long thought to be largely confined there. But a recently approved test to screen blood donors has identified hundreds of cases across the United States — including eight in Bexar County. The sudden appearance of these cases...

The other day the guys from BaconToday.com contacted me in search for some barbecue bacon recipes. Of course I have plenty of great uses for bacon in a barbecue pit, but the longer I thought about it, the more I wanted to step it up a notch and clog a few arteries for those guys. Behold, BACON EXPLOSION!!! Here’s what you’ll need…2 pounds thick cut bacon 2 pounds Italian sausage 1 jar of your favorite barbeque sauce 1 jar of your favorite barbeque rub

DAYTON — The second time Keison Wilkins acted as his own attorney for a felonious assault trial didn't work out so well.Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Katherine Huffman sentenced Wilkins to 42 years in prison Monday, June 30. The sentencing capped off a week of Wilkins' antics, which frequently caused Huffman to clear the courtroom. At one point he began yelling about lynchings. On Thursday, he apparently faked a heart attack, collapsing to the floor while uninterested observers watched. After the "attack," during which medical personnel checked him out and found nothing wrong with him, Wilkins sat in a...

Study: Stem Cells Used To Fix Your Broken Heart It's Called The Marvel Study The Largest Clinical Trial Investigating Adult Stem Cells To Treat Congestive Heart Failure For More Info, Call Jim Moran Heart & Vascular Center At (954) 229-8400 MIAMI (CBS4) ― Doctors are discovering a new way to fix your broken heart. A study is underway in South Florida that could revolutionize the way heart attack patients help their damaged hearts by using their own stem cells. It's called The Marvel Study and under the direction of Dr. Alan Neiderman with the Jim Moran Heart & Vascular Research...

After 21 years of unsuccessful heart treatments, including several heart procedures, 68-year-old Coenie de Jongh was desperate. So when his cardiologist suggested a last-resort experimental therapy, it represented a literal life line.  Coenie, from Bloubergstrand near Cape Town, had his first heart attack at the young age of 40. A bypass operation followed and his condition improved, but seven years later Coenie’s health started deteriorating again. More operations and more intense treatment followed, but in 2002 his health took a real turn for the worse.  His condition was so bad he struggled to find a cardiologist who was willing to...

Given the great strides that have been made in preventing and treating heart disease, what explains Tim Russert’s sudden death last week at 58 from a heart attack? The answer, at least in part, is that although doctors knew that Mr. Russert, the longtime moderator of “Meet the Press” on NBC, had coronary artery disease and were treating him for it, they did not realize how severe the disease was because he did not have chest pain or other telltale symptoms that would have justified the kind of invasive tests needed to make a definitive diagnosis. In that sense, his...

Brian Kortan Gets Second Chance to Live Dream At U.S. Open By EDDIE PELLS The Associated Press Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. SAN DIEGO - Brian Kortan felt the pain in his chest, then his jaw, then the heaviness in his arms. He put on his T-shirt and shorts, walked upstairs to his buddy's room and said, "C'mon, we've got to get to the emergency room." He was having a heart attack, and when a man is 35 years old and having a heart attack - a so-called "widow maker" that's caused by blockage of the left...

A spokesman for Kelsey Grammer says the “Frasier” star is recovering in a Hawaii hospital after a mild heart attack this weekend. Stan Rosenfield says Grammer is “resting comfortably” in an undisclosed hospital after being stricken Saturday. Rosenfield says the 53-year-old actor will be released early this week. Rosenfield says Grammer — the star of “Cheers,” “Frasier” and the recently canceled Fox sitcom “Back to You” — was paddle-boarding with his wife, Camille, when he experienced symptoms. The couple lives in Kona, on Hawaii’s big island. Rosenfield says Grammer was immediately taken to an area hospital where it was determined...

A SICK actor collapsed on stage - at the same time as his character was meant to have a heart attack and die. Steve Dineen was taken to hospital after he keeled over during the dramatic finale of Mike Leigh's famous comedy Abigail's Party.

Hispanics With Clogged Arteries At Greatest Risk Of Stroke, Heart Attack, Study Shows ScienceDaily (Mar. 22, 2008) — Hispanics who have even a small amount of plaque build-up in the neck artery that supplies blood to the brain are up to four times more likely to suffer or die from a stroke or heart attack than Hispanics who do not have plaque, according to a study published in the March 19, 2008, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. For the study, researchers used ultrasound to determine the thickness of the plaque in the...

Younger ER patients with heart attack symptoms should be asked if they've recently used cocaine, which can cause similar chest pain, the American Heart Association warns doctors. For these patients, honesty can be a matter of life or death: Some heart attack treatments can be deadly to someone using cocaine. New guidelines published online Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation say that emergency room doctors need to be aware that symptoms of a heart attack in younger patients with no heart disease risk factors may be caused by cocaine use. The drug can cause chest pain, shortness of...

Younger ER patients with heart attack symptoms should be asked if they've recently used cocaine, which can cause similar chest pain, the American Heart Association warns doctors. For these patients, honesty can be a matter of life or death: Some heart attack treatments can be deadly to someone using cocaine. New guidelines published online Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation say that emergency room doctors need to be aware that symptoms of a heart attack in younger patients with no heart disease risk factors may be caused by cocaine use. The drug can cause chest pain, shortness of...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryFebruary 1, 2008 Mrs. Bush's Radio Address to the Nation   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español MRS. BUSH: Good morning. This is Laura Bush. For the weekly radio address, President Bush has handed the mic over to me. And today, I'd like to talk about something that's close to my heart -- America's heart health. February is American Heart Month -- a time to start heart-healthy habits, and to learn about the risk factors for heart disease. These risk factors include smoking, being overweight, lack of exercise, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, family history,...

2007 ended on a sad note for the family and friends of Ric Williamson, the chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission who died Sunday after a heart attack. Given his aggressive and often controversial role in reshaping Texas highway construction, his death leaves the state and Gov. Rick Perry with an important question about how to move forward after Williamson’s memorial service today. Williamson, 55, a successful business owner and former state representative from Weatherford, was appointed to the transportation commission in 2001 by his good friend Perry and was named chairman in 2004. He became a passionate advocate of...

As chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Ric Williamson made major and often controversial decisions about the future of state roads. He died Sunday of a heart attack, at age 55, in his hometown of Weatherford, leaving a legacy as the hard-charging official that steered Gov. Rick Perry's divisive vision of toll roads across Texas into state policy. It was stressful work, and Mr. Williamson suffered two heart attacks while serving. He had known his health was fragile. "I'm trying to avoid the third one, which the doctors tell me will be fatal," he told Texas Monthly in a June...

DALLAS — Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson has died of an apparent heart attack, officials said Sunday. He was 55. Williamson, a former Texas House member, died at his home in Weatherford on Saturday, Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Chris Lippincott said.

  Prayer Requested by Shyla Received this from shyla in a private message..."Please keep Jim in your prayers. He had a heart attack this morning. Need prayers please. He is doing well at the moment, and will have a battery of tests tomorrow"  

LOS ANGELES - Longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek was hospitalized Tuesday after a minor heart attack, a spokesman for the game show said. Trebek, 67, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center late Monday night and was expected to remain there about two days for tests and observation, said show spokesman Jeff Ritter. "Thankfully it was a minor heart attack," Ritter said. He did not give other details. A post on the official "Jeopardy!" Web site said Trebek was "resting comfortably in a Los Angeles hospital, and he will be back in the studio for the next scheduled tapings in January."...

Flu doubles risk of heart attack and stroke By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent Last Updated: 3:01am GMT 06/12/2007 A bout of flu doubles the immediate risk of having a heart attack or stroke, a groundbreaking study has found. Sufferers are four times more likely to be affected within three days of falling ill with the flu and are at double the risk for up to a week, according to the study of two million people. More than 15 million flu jabs will be given to elderly and vulnerable patients in the next two months Flu dislodges fatty deposits that build...

In an ideal world, every heart attack would end like Willard "Ziggy" Hill's. Within 90 minutes of arriving at a small community hospital in North Carolina, he was having a blocked artery reopened at Duke University Medical Center 25 miles away. "It was like being a car in a pit stop at NASCAR," he said. "I thought 'I am in really good hands.'" Two years ago, he might not have been. North Carolina was a bad place to have a heart attack, scoring below national norms of fast care. Now it may be one of the best. The reason is...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - People who experience the anxiety, racing heartbeat and rapid breathing of a panic attack have a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke, researchers said on Monday. "Our study adds panic attacks to the list of emotional states and psychiatric symptoms that have been linked to excess risk of cardiovascular disease and death," wrote study author Dr. Jordan Smoller of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Previous research found people with persistent feelings of depression, anger and hostility are at higher risk of heart attack, according to the study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The...

Continuous-Use Contraceptives to be Introduced in Britain Within Months By Hilary White LONDON, September 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The first contraceptive pill that provides a dose of active hormones every day that would halt menstruation, could be in use in Britain within a few months, according to the New Scientist. The drug, called Lybrel, is lauded for its ability to interrupt a woman’s normal fertility cycle and entirely stop her menstruation, potentially permanently. Its supporters say that once freed from their normal biological functions, women will be better able to compete with men in the workplace. The US Food and...

(CBS) PHILADELPHIA Doctors in Philadelphia are testing a revolutionary new treatment that is restoring life and bringing people back from the dead. CBS Station KYW-TV in Philadelphia Medical Reporter Stephanie Stahl has details. During cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating. It's a trauma alert and people are often declared dead within minutes. But now doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital are bringing people back from the dead. Dr. Lance Becker and his team are challenging fate with breakthrough new treatments that could save hundreds of thousands of lives. 61-year-old Bill Bondar is living proof that people...

Online Video: Noted Endocrinologist Dispels the Myth of Health Benefits of the Pill - Part 2 By Elizabeth O'BrienOTTAWA, August 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The lecture of noted endocrinologist Dr. Maria Kraw, speaking at the Humanae Vitae Conference "A New Beginning" last year, described the serious medical risks involved in taking hormonal birth control. It also debunked the common myths of the so-called "health benefits" of the pill. She began by noting that one of the major risks of taking hormonal contraceptives is an increased risk of cancer. Looking at 54 studies of the pill, she observed that researchers found...

Noncontroversial research wins another convert. Alabama event planner Carron Morrow was hanging Japanese lanterns for a wedding last summer when she suffered her fourth heart attack. A week later, the doctor told the 58-year-old mother of two she was a walking time bomb: The right side of her heart was functioning at less than 50 percent. They tried stents and a defibrillator. Then she was put on the heart transplant list.   "All I could do was cry," she says. "I just thought, 'I'm about to die.' There's 100,000 people waiting for a heart."  By fall, she grew worse.  "I...

/begin my translation Japanese Weekly "Kim Jong-il had heart surgery" S. Korean government official, "We have no particular indication of Kim's health trouble" Yonhap News 2007.06.08 16:29 Japanese weekly news magazine 'Shukan Gendai' reported that Kim Jong-il suffered myocardial infarction (heart attack) last May and was hospitalized at Kim Man-you hospital in Pyongyang, and had an operation. In its June 13th issue, the latest edition, the magazine reported, "Kim suffered a heart attack in early May and had a coronary bypass surgery in secret. Those involved were put on strict gag order, but it is the medical team dispatched from...

/begin my translation N. Korea: Kim Jong-il Suffered Heart-attack and Hospitalized Recently N. Korean leader Kim Jong-il was rushed to a hospital recently due to myocardial infarction, according to June 8th report of Shukan Gendai, an weekly magazine. According to this report, doctors from Berlin were brought in to perform an operation. 65 year-old has been in poor health, including diabetes, according to reports so far. Shukan Gendai drew an attention last year by disclosing for the first time the picture of Kim Jong-il's new wife Kim Ok. /end my translation

Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in both men and women, with over 450,000 deaths in the United States each year. Improving the treatments available to patients who have survived a heart attack is therefore imperative. Researchers from the National Center for Regenerative Medicine (NCRM) have identified two innovative and distinctly different methods to help treat patients recovering from a heart attack.  The first study showed that cell-based gene therapy to regenerate damaged cardiac muscle tissue and improve mechanical cardiac function was feasible using skeletal muscle stem cells modified to express a stem cell honing signal. The second...

TONY EASTLEY: If you're over 65, chances are you or your spouse has coronary artery disease. One in two older Australians have the condition and heart disease is still the number one cause of premature death and disability in this country. Scientists have already managed to create heart tissue that beats, and they believe stem cells could be the missing piece of a puzzle that will finally allow them to make a new heart muscle from a person's own tissue. Jane Cowan reports. JANE COWAN: One of the things that makes heart disease so difficult to treat is that heart...

As potential girlfriends go, Belinda Stronach would rank as a true catch. She is single, youngish (she just turned 40), attractive, wealthy, impeccably well-connected and politically ambitious - glamorous in every respect. Two years ago, Time magazine listed her as one of the 100 most powerful people on the planet. The tabloids cut to the chase: they called her the "blonde bombshell" or "Bubba's blonde." Bubba, of course, is Bill Clinton. He has been photographed with Stronach (right) several times. The sightings seem to be getting more frequent, leading to press speculation that their relationship has moved beyond official "friendship"...

DNA test to identify heart attack risk By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:14am BST 04/05/2007 Scientists are to develop a DNA test to determine if someone has an inherited vulnerability to heart attacks, it was disclosed yesterday. Researchers have identified a stretch of DNA as a major risk factor for coronary artery disease and heart attacks. The test will help to identify people at high risk of heart disease, enabling them to change their lifestyles. Heart disease kills more than 200,000 people in the UK each year. The studies, which involved looking at the genetic make-up of about...

CHICAGO - In just six years, death rates and heart failure in hospitalized heart attack patients have fallen sharply, most likely because of better treatment, the largest international study of its kind suggests. The promising trend parallels the growing use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, powerful blood thinners, and angioplasty, the procedure that opens clogged arteries, the researchers said. “These results are really dramatic, because, in fact, they’re the first time anybody has demonstrated a reduction in the development of new heart failure,” said lead author Dr. Keith Fox, a cardiology professor at the University of Edinburgh. The six-year study involved nearly...

High doses of ibuprofen raise heart attack risk By Celia Hall, Medical Editor Last Updated: 2:05am BST 05/04/2007 The common pain killer ibuprofen has been found to increase an existing risk of having a heart attack or a stroke in people who suffer from arthritis, research shows today. For some the risk was nine times higher. The findings bring more anxiety to the millions of arthritis sufferers in Britain as they follow a series of research studies that have shown increased risk of heart disease from the pain killers they take to ease the condition. The latest evidence comes from...

Trial involves injecting patients' own (autologous) stem cells into areas of their hearts with poor blood flow CHICAGO - Rush University Medical Center is one of the first medical centers in the country, and currently the only site in Illinois, participating in a novel clinical trial to determine if a subject’s own stem cells can treat a form of severe coronary artery disease. The Autologous Cellular Therapy CD34-Chronic Myocardial Ischemia (ACT34-CMI) Trial is the first human, Phase II adult stem cell therapy study in the U.S. designed to investigate the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of blood-derived selected CD34+ stem cells...

U-M team reports success of rapid 3-D cell-growth technique that produces pulsing, organized tissue A length of bioengineered heart muscle, or BEHM, grown at the University of Michigan using rat cardiac muscle cells and a fibrin gel base. Click here for more information. ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It looks, contracts and responds almost like natural heart muscle – even though it was grown in the lab. And it brings scientists another step closer to the goal of creating replacement parts for damaged human hearts, or eventually growing an entirely new heart from just a spoonful of loose heart cells.  This...

Amino acids: Key to a healthier heart? Could taking a few B vitamins cut your risk of a heart attack or a stroke? That's the suggestion from a study published last week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).  The key is an amino acid called homocysteine, a substance made when the protein we eat is digested — already there is growing evidence to link it with cardiovascular disease, and even stroke. Homocysteine — with the help of the B vitamins including B12 and folate — is rapidly turned into other useful compounds such as the amino acids cysteine and...

Cardiologists are increasingly using adult stem cells in clinical trials to repair hearts following heart attacks, but no one has understood how the therapy actually works. Now, in animal experiments, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have deconstructed the process, describing how the stem cells fuse with heart muscle cells to create new cells that repopulate the ailing organ. In a paper posted at Online First of the journal Circulation Research, investigators found that this fusion is only possible if two cell adhesion proteins that stick to each other like Velcro are available to attach...

Big 75 Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, celebrates three-quarters of a century of living today. (If it's any consolation, women overheard in Mr. Kennedy's company of late say the senator has never looked better. What is it about him and Bill Clinton?). "Sen. Kennedy began his career setting a high standard when it comes to birthdays," fellow Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry observes in a birthday tribute to his colleague. "It was when he reached the minimum constitutional age -- 30 -- that he first came to the Senate: 1 of just 16 senators elected at such a tender age...