Swimming Lowered Blood Pressure In Sedentary Over 50s

Older adults who don't do much exercise, and whose blood pressure is getting to the point where they may need treatment, should perhaps consider swimming as a way to help bring it back down, at least that is what a small US study of sedentary over-50-year-olds might suggest. The study was published early online in The American Journal of Cardiology earlier this month. Swimming is an ideal form of exercise for older, sedentary people because it puts little weight-bearing stress on the body and is not likely to lead to overheating.

A First For Ontario: Cardiac Stem Cell Transplant Performed At The Peter Munk Cardiac Centre

Heart failure is a leading cause of death in Canada. As part of the ongoing IMPACT-CABG clinical trial to treat advanced heart failure, physicians at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre performed the first cardiac stem cell transplant in Ontario last week using stem cells derived from the patient's own bone marrow, isolated completely within the operating room, and implanted into the heart at the time of coronary bypass surgery. Researchers hope that stem cell therapy may be developed into a novel treatment for the 50, 000 Canadians diagnosed each year with advanced heart failure.

A Biomarker Test For Atherosclerosis To Seek Out The Silent Killer

Furring of the arteries, atherosclerosis, is a leading cause of death across the world. Atherosclerosis leads to peripheral arterial disease, coronary heart disease, stroke and heart attacks. However, atherosclerosis is a sneaky killer - most people do not realize they have it until they have cardiovascular disease (CV). New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medical Genomics has identified a set of biomarkers which can be used to test for early stage atherosclerosis.