Alcohol And Your Heart: Friend Or Foe?
A meta-analysis done by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) into the relationship between alcohol consumption and heart disease provides new insight into the long-held belief that drinking a glass of red wine a day can help protect against heart disease. "It's complicated, " says Dr. Juergen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at CAMH. Dr. Rehm's paper, co-authored by Michael Roerecke, was recently published in the journal Addiction. "While a cardioprotective association between alcohol use and ischaemic heart disease exists, it cannot be assumed for all drinkers, even at low levels of intake, " says Dr.
MS Drug Prevented Fatal Heart Condition In Lab Study
A drug used to treat multiple sclerosis may also be effective at preventing and reversing the leading cause of heart attack, a new study has found. Scientists found that Gilenya, a drug recently approved in the US for treating MS, was effective at reversing the symptoms of ventricular hypertrophy in mice. Ventricular hypertrophy is a fatal cardiac disorder that can result in an abnormal heart rhythm ( arrhythmia ) and cardiac arrest. It is caused by sustained pressure on the heart due to stresses or diseases, such as hypertension ( high blood pressure ), valvular heart disease or myocardial infarction (heart attack), and is the leading cause of sudden cardiac death worldwide.
New Appropriate Use Criteria Reflect Latest Scientific Data On Restoring Blood Flow To Heart
Updated appropriate use criteria released recently offer detailed guidance on when to use an invasive procedure to improve blood flow to the heart and how to choose the best procedure for each patient. The clinical scenarios, written by a group of cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, affirm the role of revascularization for patients with acute coronary syndromes and significant symptoms. "This document helps patients, physicians, and payers determine when it's reasonable to do a procedure that is intended to improve the patient's quality of life, health status, and long-term survival, " said Manesh Patel, M.