The world’s smallest pacemaker

Maryland: The University of Maryland Medical Center’s Stephen Shorofsky, MD, PhD, was one of the first doctors in Maryland to implant the world’s smallest pacemaker for patients with bradycardia. Recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) is a new type of heart device that provides patients with the most advanced pacing technology at one-tenth the size of a traditional pacemaker. Micra is the only leadless pacemaker approved for use in the U.S.

A prototype robotic sleeve to help the heart keep beating

Leeds: A prototype robotic sleeve, which can wrap around a weak heart before synchronising with its natural motion to help it keep beating, has been developed by an international team of engineers. Dr Ali Alazmani, a University Academic Fellow from the Faculty of Engineering at Leeds, is central to the team, which includes researchers from Harvard and the Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr Alazmani said: “We took the inspiration for how the heart itself already operates, to take a new approach to providing support for the muscle rather than trying to circumvent it as current devices do.”

Short-term Sleep Deprivation Affects Heart Function

RNSA: Too little sleep takes a toll on your heart, according to a new study to be presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). People who work in fire and emergency medical services, medical residencies and other high-stress jobs are often called upon to work 24-hour shifts with little opportunity for sleep. While it is known that extreme fatigue can affect many physical, cognitive and emotional processes, this is the first study to examine how working a 24-hour shift specifically affects cardiac function.

Food chemical protects the heart

Nature: A compound found naturally in legumes, grains and mature cheese helps rodents to maintain a healthy heart. The chemical, spermidine, extends the lifespans of yeast, flies and worms by promoting autophagy, a cellular process that degrades and recycles old components of the cell and toxic products. Frank Madeo at the University of Graz in Austria and his collaborators found that aged mice that regularly drank water containing spermidine had improved heart function compared to untreated mice of the same age, and that the compound lowered blood pressure in rats prone to developing heart failure.

Worldwide study reveals new genes for heart function

London: This is the conclusion of a worldwide study in which data from 73,518 individuals from all across the world were used to search for new heart genes. The results have been published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. This study serves as an important basis for new cardiac research. An ECG of a patient’s heart enables cardiologists to identify abnormalities in the muscle mass and pulse conduction of the heart. These abnormalities are often a forewarning of heart failure and eventual death. In the research, Dr Yalda Jamshidi of St George’s, University of London and more than a hundred colleagues from 133 research departments compared the ECGs of patients with their genetic makeup.

Scientists find oxidants aren’t always the ‘bad guys’ when it comes to the heart

Manchester: Scientists funded by the British Heart Foundation have discovered that oxidants, which have historically been blamed for heart disease, have a vital role ensuring the heart pumps blood around the body effectively. The discovery, by researchers working collaboratively in Manchester and London, opens up the potential for new treatments. The researchers now hope to develop drugs based on their discovery that could lower blood pressure and treat conditions caused by the heart not pumping properly, including certain forms of heart failure.

Most heart muscle cells formed during childhood

Stockholm: New human heart muscle cells can be formed, but this mainly happens during the first ten years of life, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet. Other cell types, however, are replaced more quickly. The study, which is published in the journal  Cell , demonstrates that the heart muscle is regenerated throughout a person’s life, supporting the idea that it is possible to stimulate the rebuilding of lost heart tissue. During a heart attack, when parts of the heart muscle are starved of oxygen, many heart cells die and are replaced by scar tissue. As this impairs functionality, many researchers are interested in the possibility of stimulating the regeneration of lost heart muscle cells. But is it possible?

Growing a heart

Scimex: International scientists, including Australians, have discovered a way to stimulate muscle cell growth in the adult heart, limiting the damage to this vital organ after a heart attack. The reseachers used mouse hearts to study a heart's signalling system, and found that stimulating the system during a heart attack lead to replacement of lost muscle cells.

Turbo-charging hormone can regrow the heart

UNSW: Researchers have discovered a way to stimulate muscle regrowth in the heart of a mouse, opening up prospects of new treatments for the 55,000 Australians who experience a heart attack each year.

The animal study found it was possible to regenerate muscle cell numbers in the heart by up to 45%, by ‘turbo-charging’ a hormone called neuregulin,  that helped coordinate cell growth. This is an important step toward repairing a broken heart.

New Approach to Promote Regeneration of Heart Tissue

Pennsylvania: The heart tissue of mammals has limited capacity to regenerate after an injury such as a heart attack, in part due to the inability to reactivate a cardiac muscle cell and proliferation program. Recent studies have indicated a low level of cardiac muscle cell (cardiomyocytes) proliferation in adult mammals, but it is insufficient to repair damaged hearts.

Endurance sport causes strain in right side of the heart

Adelaide: Otherwise healthy people who exercise strenuously for more than 90 minutes suffer from a post-exercise drop in heart performance, but only in the right side of the heart, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide. The findings could have implications for long-term heart health of athletes and may help researchers to better understand the mysterious link between people involved in sports such as running, cycling or triathlons and an increased risk of heart arrhythmias.

Stressed teens risk heart disease, even with exercise

Scimex: British and Swedish scientists have found that the more poorly a person deals with stress when they are a teen, the more likely they will develop coronary heart disease later in life. The researchers looked at over 230,000 men and found the association remained even after they adjusted the results to take into account physical fitness and other established heart disease risk factors.

A new way to look at broken hearts

Scimex: Scientists have developed a new way of measuring how information is communicated as electric signals between cells in the heart, because conventional electrocardiographs are not able to accurately detect all the signals in irregularly beating hearts. They say that the success of the new system suggests that it can be used to "guide development of clinically useful diagnostic and therapeutic interventions for complex heart rhythm disorder".

Heart to heart: A Q&A with a Yale cardiologist

Yale University. US: Most people are familiar with chest pain as a symptom of heart attack. What are other signs?
There can be a whole set of other signs. Chest discomfort is the most common. Most people don’t describe it as pain, but as chest pressure or unusual chest discomfort. Other signs include nausea, vomiting, profuse sweating, neck discomfort, arm discomfort or heaviness, and back discomfort.

Mammalian Heart Regenerative Capacity Depends on Severity of Injury

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. US: A new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has shown that neonatal mouse hearts have varying regenerative capacities depending upon the severity of injury. Using cryoinjury – damaging the heart through exposure to extreme cold in order to mimic cellular injury caused by myocardial infarction – investigators found that neonatal mouse hearts can fully recover normal function following a mild injury, though fail to regenerate after a severe injury.

Simple model explains complex problems in an ageing heart

Imperial college. UK: Scientists at Imperial College London have developed a model that helps explain why we are more likely to develop an abnormal heartbeat with age. The simple mathematical model also suggests why current treatments for the condition are not always successful.

Fight or Fligh Response Control Center for the Heart

Johns Hopkins. US: Discovery in mice aids search for new therapies to stop “racing” heart rates. An animal study led by Johns Hopkins investigators has uncovered what controls the ability of healthy hearts to speed up in response to circumstances ranging from fear to a jog around the block.

Metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) means the presence of multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease (stroke, hypertension,coronary artery disease...). The report from the american National Cholesterol Education Program’s Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III) identified 6 components of metabolic syndrome that are related to Cardio Vascular Disease: abdominal obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia (high triglyceride, high cholesterol), raised blood pressure, insulin resistance (diabetes), glucose intolerance (diabetes), a pro-inflammatory state and a prothrombotic state. MetS increases the risks of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Some studies have also suggested that it may be related to some gastrointestinal tract diseases, such as fatty liver, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, and unexplained liver cirrhosis

Healthy heart, healthy brain

Cardiovascular health (CVH) plays a critical role in brain health. Several cardiovascular risk factors, including hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, are related to higher risk for cognitive decline (impairment of memory, decisions, judging the time, completing a complex task, visual perception...).
Prevention strategies targeting modifiable factors and behaviors are important for reducing risks for cognitive decline and dementia.
Life's Simple 7 is a new metric based on modifiable health behaviors and factors that the American Heart Association uses to promote improvements to cardiovascular health (CVH): nonsmoking, healthy diet, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), total cholesterol, and fasting glucose.
 Compared with low cardiovascular health, intermediate and high levels of cardiovascular health are both associated with substantially lower incidence of cognitive impairment.
Source: American Heart Association