all heart stories

New source of heart stem cells discovered

404132862 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:00:44 -0400

Harvard Stem Cell Institute(HSCI) researchers at Children’s Hospital Boston are continuing to document the heart’s earliest origins. Now, they have pinpointed a new, previously unrecognized group of stem cells that give rise to cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells. These stem cells, located in the surface of the heart, or epicardium, advance the hope of being able to regenerate injured heart tissue.

Previously unknown regulator of fat and cholesterol production discovered in mice

404132862 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:13:03 -0400

Researchers have discovered an unknown regulator of fat and cholesterol production in the liver of mice, a significant finding that could eventually lead to new therapies for lowering unhealthy blood levels of cholesterol and fats.

The team led by scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) showed how this might work in an animal model, demonstrating that turning off the regulatory molecule — known as XBP1 — dramatically reduced blood levels of cholesterol and triglyceride fats. Importantly, there were no apparent adverse effects on the liver.

Video game technology may help surgeons operate on beating hearts

50443248 — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 14:20:48 -0400

Surgery has been done inside some adults’ hearts while the heart is still beating, avoiding the need to open the chest, stop the heart and put patients on cardiopulmonary bypass. But to perform intricate beating-heart operations in babies with congenital heart disease or do beating-heart complex repairs in adults, surgeons need fast, highly sophisticated real-time imaging that allows them to see depth.

Stem cells open window on disease processes

404132862 — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:54:34 -0400

A panel of Harvard Stem Cell Institute experts said recently that stem cell research’s biggest impact on patients’ health likely won’t come from therapies that inject stem cells or implant tissues made from them, but rather from the knowledge gained by examining diseased tissues grown from the cells.

Gene responsible for statin-induced muscle pain identified

404132862 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:19:08 -0500

Statins, the popular class of drugs used to lower cholesterol, are among the most commonly prescribed medications in developed countries. But for some patients, accompanying side effects of muscle weakness and pain become chronic problems and, in rare cases, can escalate to debilitating and even life-threatening damage.

Eating whole-grain cereals may help men lower heart failure risk

404132862 — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:14:44 -0400

Men who consume a higher amount of whole grain breakfast cereals may have a reduced risk of heart failure, according to a report by Harvard researchers published in the October 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

"The lifetime risk of heart failure is estimated at 20 percent (one in five) for both men and women aged 40 years," according to background information in the article. Studies have suggested that the risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, hypercholesterolemia (high blood cholesterol) and mortality can be reduced with a diet rich in grain products.

Stem cells may enhance capability of heart cells to regenerate

jake — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:21:50 -0400

During a fatal heart attack, at least 1 billion heart cells are killed in the left ventricle, one of the heart’s two big lower pumping chambers that move blood into the body.

In less severe coronaries, dead cardiac cells are replaced by connective tissue cells that form scar tissue in the damaged heart. But the result is never very satisfactory. Scarred ventricular walls are thin, and don’t contract very well — a problem in a workhorse organ designed for sustained pumping.

Inadequate heart repair concerns British-trained developmental biologist Christine Mummery, who has made cardiac cells her specialty. She’s the Harvard Stem Cell Institute Radcliffe Fellow, and will be in residence at Harvard for a semester.

Research links panic and heart attack in older women

jake — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 11:46:39 -0400

New research has linked panic attacks in older women with an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death from all causes, adding panic attacks to the growing list of mental and emotional conditions with potentially deadly physical effects.

A study of more than 3,300 women ages 51 to 83 indicated that panic attacks were relatively common, suffered by about 10 percent of those in the study. While heart attacks and strokes were relatively rare, those suffering panic attacks had four times the risk of heart attack, three times the risk of heart attack or stroke, and twice the risk of dying from any cause as those who didn’t.

Stem cells make new heart valves

404132862 — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:00:56 -0400

Harvard researchers have coaxed adult stem cells into forming artificial heart valves that could one day mean fewer surgeries for children suffering from heart defects.

The scientists, at Harvard-affiliated Boston Children’s Hospital, grew the valves from a type of stem cell that normally gives rise to the inner lining of blood vessels. They used a biodegradable scaffold to give the cells shape and a mix of proteins and growth factors to stimulate the cells to grow into the proper tissue type.

Sleeping your way to heart health

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:43:16 -0400

A new Harvard School of Public Health study indicates that there's more than just olive oil and red wine keeping heart disease rates down in Mediterranean countries. There's the naps, too.

A study that followed more than 23,000 people for six years showed that regular napping can cut deaths from heart disease by as much as 37 percent, providing a benefit in the same order of magnitude as that linked to lowering cholesterol, eating a healthy diet, or exercising.

Marathon running can damage a heart

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:56:27 -0400

Running 26.2 miles is not for the faint of heart.

Abnormalities in heart structure and function were found in men and women who ran the Boston Marathon in 2004 and 2005 by Harvard Medical School researchers.

For some 2,500 years, scientists have written about possible unhealthy outcomes of running for tens of miles when nothing is chasing you. But more and more people are doing it. In 2005, 382,000 runners completed a marathon, 80,000 more than in 2000. That has not led to a massive increase in heart attacks. In fact, Arthur Siegel, an assistant clinical professor of medicine, says the risk of dying from a heart attack is a scant one in 50,000 runners.

Research reveals how stem cells build a heart

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 16:11:35 -0400

Master cells that give rise to the three main cell types in a human heart have been discovered by Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists working independently at two Harvard-affiliated hospitals. Together they found that a single progenitor stem cell differentiates into cells that cause a heart to beat, that make up its internal surface, and form its blood vessels.

The master cells arise during an early stage of embryo growth. As-yet-undiscovered signals then stimulate them to form the main building blocks of the heart, the first identifiable organ in the development of human life. Once started, that life-sustaining muscular pump beats more than 2,500 million times during an average lifetime.

Study says moderate drinking reduces men's heart attack risk

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 07:10:56 -0400

Even as studies have consistently found an association between moderate alcohol consumption and reduced heart attack risk in men, an important question has persisted: What if the men who drank in moderation were the same individuals who maintained good eating habits, didn't smoke, exercised and watched their weight?

How would you know that their reduced risk of myocardial infarction wasn't the result of one or more of these other healthy habits?

A new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) helps answer this question. Reported in the Oct. 23, 2006, issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, the findings show for the first time that among men with healthy lifestyles, those who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol - defined as between one-half and two drinks daily - had a 40 percent to 60 percent reduced risk of heart attack compared with healthy men who didn't drink at all.

"This latest research speaks to how robust the link is between moderate drinking and heart attack risk," explains lead author Kenneth Mukamal, MD, MPH, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "The fact that we found the association [between alcohol consumption and heart attack] to be just as strong in this tightly controlled group of men as we've found it to be in more general studies suggests that physicians should not avoid alcohol consumption as a topic for discussion when talking with patients about ways to reduce their risk of myocardial infarction."

Anger can break your heart

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:28:18 -0400

Think about this the next time someone cuts you off in traffic or in a grocery store line: Anger can bring on a heart attack or stroke.

That's the conclusion of several studies at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere. One study of 1,305 men with an average age of 62 revealed that the angriest men were three times more likely to develop heart disease than the most placid ones.

Fatty foods feed heart attacks, researchers say

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 06:26:30 -0400

Hold the french fries, doughnuts, and cookies, and save as many as 228,000 heart attacks and deaths from heart disease. That's the message from a team of researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

"Given the 1.2 million annual [heart attacks] and deaths from coronary heart disease in the United States, near-elimination of industrially produced trans fats might avert between 72,000 and 228,000 coronary heart events each year," the researchers report. Trans fats are also thought to play a role in unexplained sudden deaths and diabetes.

The major sources of trans fats include deep-fried fast foods, bakery products, packaged snack foods, margarines, and crackers. French fries, breaded fish burgers, breaded chicken nuggets, Danish pastries, pies, doughnuts, and cookies are the big offenders. Hamburgers, steaks, lamb chops, and dairy products contain only small amounts of natural trans fats so they don't make the list of "worsts." "The presence of beneficial factors in dairy and these meats may balance the effects of the smaller amount of trans fats they contain," according to Dariush Mozaffarian, lead author of the report that appears in the April 13, 2006, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Ten to 19 percent of the coronary heart disease in the United States (120,000 to 228,000 heart attacks) could be averted by reducing the intake of trans fats, says Walter Willett, head of the research and Fredrick Stare Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

According to the evidence that Mozaffarian, Willett, and their colleagues gathered from studies in the United States and Europe, the "adverse health effects of trans-fatty acids are far stronger on average than those of food contaminants or pesticide residues, which have in some cases received considerable attention. Furthermore, trans fats have no intrinsic health value above their calories."

The research team suggests that trans fats be reduced or eliminated from foods sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines. Opposing arguments from food manufacturers and restaurants maintain that this would raise costs and lower taste. Recent experiences in Europe indicate that such concerns are overstated, say the researchers. They mention Denmark as a prime example. In that country, all oils and fats used in locally made or imported foods must contain less than 2 percent of industrially produced trans fats.