Tag Archives: atherosclerosis

Yoga: How true it reduces heart disease risk

The most common form of heart disease affecting humans is the Coronary Artery Disease. The disease portrays acute build-up of cholesterol in the layers of the arteries constituting the heart. The blockage induces a phenomenal slowed down blood circulation. The left auricle functions in generating the signals dubbed as heart beats. As a result of the incrementing inadvertent blockage the muscles keep panting due to the lack of supply of blood to the muscles. Since the blood supply to the muscles are snapped to an instance, the muscles are forced to reciprocate to the bodily functions. The plaques present in the arterial walls of all humans suffice huge pressure in the process which may lead to weakening and thereby a crack in the arterial wall. Again this may concur with unforeseen blood clot in the region. This compromising blood clot, topped with blockage sustaining in the arteries lead to the preponderances of heart attacks. (more…)

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Bilirubin Can Prevent Damage from Cardiovascular Disease, MU Researchers Find

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— Each year, about 610,000 Americans suffer their first heart attack, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart attacks and other symptoms of cardiovascular disease can be caused when blockage occurs in the arteries. In a new study from the University of Missouri, a scientist has discovered a natural defense against arterial blockage: bilirubin.

Bilirubin is typically something parents of newborns hear about when their children are diagnosed with jaundice. Generated during the body’s process to recycle worn-out red blood cells, bilirubin is metabolized by the liver and, usually, leaves the body harmlessly. (Many babies’ livers are not developed enough to metabolize the bilirubin, which results in the infants being diagnosed with jaundice, or high levels of bilirubin in their systems.) Now, MU scientists have found that bilirubin can be used to inhibit the clogging of arteries, and thus prevent the deadly consequences often experienced by individuals with cardiovascular disease. (more…)

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Heart Failure Patients with Diabetes May Benefit From Higher Glucose Levels

Lowering glucose levels for people with diabetes is normally critical to improving health outcomes. But for diabetes patients with heart failure, that might not always be the case, say UCLA researchers.

A new study found that for advanced heart failure patients with diabetes, having higher blood glucose levels may actually help improve survival rates. (more…)

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Ferroelectric Switching Discovered For First Time in Soft Biological Tissue

The heart’s inner workings are mysterious, perhaps even more so with a new finding. Engineers at the University of Washington have discovered an electrical property in arteries not seen before in mammalian tissues.

The researchers found that the wall of the aorta, the largest blood vessel carrying blood from the heart, exhibits ferroelectricity, a response to an electric field known to exist in inorganic and synthetic materials. The findings are being published in an upcoming issue of the journal Physical Review Letters. (more…)

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Yale Researchers Find Genetic Link Between Heart Disease and Brain Aneurysms

Yale School of Medicine researchers have discovered that a variant of a gene linked to heart disease also increases the risk of deadly aneurysms of blood vessels in the brain. The discovery of this link raises hopes for new treatments for intracranial aneurysms, which affect more than a half million people worldwide annually.

“Existing drugs already target this common pathway and, in the future, could help treat or prevent aneurysms in people who are at risk,” said Murat Gunel, professor of neurosurgery, genetics and neurobiology and senior author of the study, published the week of Nov. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

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