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Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which can include symptoms such as pain in the legs, who participated in supervised treadmill exercise improved their walking endurance and quality of life, according to a study in the January 14 issue of JAMA. The treadmill exercise also improved walking performance for PAD patients without the classic symptoms of pain in the leg muscles.

Lower extremity PAD (a condition that develops when the arteries that supply blood to the legs become completely or partially blocked as a result of plaque build-up) affects 1 in 16 U.S.

Current research suggests that inflammation increases the risk of plaque rupture in atherosclerosis. The related report by Ovchinnikova et al, “T cell activation leads to reduced collagen maturation in atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE-deficient- mice,” appears in the February 2009 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

Atherosclerosis is a disease of arterial blood vessels where fats, cholesterol, blood cells, and fibers form hardened plaques on the artery wall. These plaques restrict blood flow to tissues such as the heart and brain by narrowing the artery.

Coronary bypass surgery may carry less risk of serious complications if stents coated with a drug that suppresses cell growth are used in the procedure rather than bare-metal stents, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers and colleagues have found.

The study, appearing online and in an upcoming issue of The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, is the first large, multicenter trial comparing two types of commonly used stents. Stents are small mesh tubes that reinforce the walls of blocked blood vessels.

Images that for the first time show bleeding inside the heart after people have suffered a heart attack have been captured by scientists, in a new study published today in the journal Radiology.

The research shows that the amount of bleeding can indicate how damaged a person’s heart is after a heart attack.

Heart disease is the number one killer in the world and India carries more than its share of this burden. Moreover, the problem is set to rise: it is predicted that by 2010 India’s population will suffer approximately 60% of the world’s heart disease.

In a year-long study conducted in Dallas County, Texas, women who called 911 for suspected heart-related symptoms had a 52 percent greater likelihood of experiencing delays in emergency medical services (EMS) compared with their male counterparts, even after adjusting for a number of factors.

Delays in EMS care “could lead to harm for a patient with serious heart disease,” Dr. Thomas W.

Heart disease is the nation’s number one killer for women. The well-known heart attack symptoms – acute pain, tightness, burning and a dull ache in the chest – describe what men typically experience during an attack. For many women the signs of a heart attack are completely different and can go unrecognized. Dr. Karla Kurrelmeyer, cardiologist at the Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center in Houston, offers the following information for women:

Symptoms

Nausea, shoulder pain and exhaustion can be the only signs a female experiences during an attack.

February is usually associated with Valentine’s Day and a plethora of hearts and a sea of red can be found abound. What people may not know is that February is also American Heart Month.

Using a measure of the hormone N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to guide therapy for older patients with heart failure did not improve overall clinical or quality of life outcomes compared to patients receiving conventional symptom-guided therapy, according to a study in the January 28 issue of JAMA.

BNP is produced predominantly by the heart muscle cells, and levels of BNP are increased in patients with congestive heart failure.

Individuals with Medicaid insurance and those who live in neighborhoods with lower household incomes appear less likely than others to reach the hospital within two hours of having a heart attack, according to a report in the September 22 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Patients tend to have better outcomes after an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack) if they receive medical treatment in a timely manner, according to background information in the article.