• Oral cancer screening at UCF: Highlights new link between cancer and HPV

    Updated: 2010-10-29 17:21:55
    Although drinking alcohol and smoking were once thought to the leading causes of oral cancer, you can add another risk factor: Oral transmission of human papilloma virus. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Universisty have linked  the oral transmission of HPV (through oral sex and even French kissing) to  an increasing rate of oral cancer. That’s why doctors and [...]

  • If You Can’t Beat Them…Change the Rules

    Updated: 2010-10-28 14:56:06
      In a famous scene from the Star Trek series, Mr. Spock explained how it was that Admiral Kirk, then a Starfleet Cadet, beat the test of the Kobayashi Maru.  The test was designed to evaluate how someone in command deals with a “no win scenario”.  Kirk did not believe that any scenario was “no win”. [...]

  • True Blood convention will take blood — blood donations, that is

    Updated: 2010-10-26 22:45:42
    Join stars of the popular HBO series and find out that “True Blood” really does save lives. During the three-day True Blood convention  –  being held Nov. 5-7 at the Florida Hotel in Orlando — a team from Florida’s Blood Centers will be accepting blood donations at the convention.  Each registered donor will receive the free limited [...]

  • Inflammatory bowel disease: Nemours receives grant to improve kids’ outcomes

    Updated: 2010-10-26 21:22:25
    Nemours , which operates children’s specialty clinics in Orlando and is opening a children’s hospital at Lake Nona, will be part of a nationwide experiment that could help kids with inflammatory bowel disease. The idea, funded by a $12 million grant from the federal government, is to create an  electronic medical records system that can help [...]

  • Barbers Could Be Ally in Controlling Blood Pressure: Study

    Updated: 2010-10-26 19:36:05
    According to a new study, black men who have hypertension may get help for the condition from an unlikely source--their barbers.

  • Pradaxa Approved for Patients with Atrial Fibrillation

    Updated: 2010-10-26 18:53:03
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug called Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate) for the prevention of stroke in people with atrial fibrillation.

  • Internet Tool Could Predict Stroke Patients' Risk of Death

    Updated: 2010-10-26 18:28:05
    Canadian researchers have developed a new Internet-based tool that can more accurately predict which stroke patients are more at risk of dying in the hospital.

  • Skipping Breakfast May Put the Heart at Risk

    Updated: 2010-10-26 18:13:00
    According to a new Australian study, people who report skipping breakfast during childhood and adulthood had more risk factors for heart disease than people who ate a morning meal at both time points in their lives.

  • A Rainy Night in Georgia

    Updated: 2010-10-26 16:55:34
      Twenty five years is a long time, but I still well up with emotion when I think about what happened.  I have the same feeling now as I type this.  On October 27, 1985, while flying his private plane with his new wife returning from St. Simon Island, Georgia, Andreas Gruentzig flew into a thunderstorm [...]

  • Cardiac wakeup call for Canadian kids

    Updated: 2010-10-26 15:00:08
    Poor sleep patterns and lack of proper sleep could be threatening thousands of Canadian adolescents with premature heart disease and stroke, warns Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Brian McCrindle, a pediatric heart specialist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. "Sleep disorders in kids are on the increase. They are marching hand in hand with other increasing cardiovascular risk factors such as overweight and obesity, lack of physical activity, a poor diet, and high levels of unhealthy cholesterol," Dr. McCrindle today told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society........

  • Statins, Aspirin Before Heart Surgery Improves Outcomes: Study

    Updated: 2010-10-26 05:49:03
    Two new studies have found that patients who took aspirin before having heart surgery had fewer heart attacks, stroke, and other problems after their procedures, and patients who took statins had better survival rates.

  • FDA Approves New Blood Thinner for Atrial Fibrillation

    Updated: 2010-10-25 08:00:00
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has just given the go-ahead for a new blood thinner - dabigatran - to prevent blood clots and strokes in a common heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation.

  • Left Main - The Last Frontier

    Updated: 2010-10-21 15:29:07
      There are some things that fall into the category of, just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should.  However, what you can do and should do, can be a moving target.   In general, those individuals who are found to have what is known as Left Main Coronary Disease are subjected to coronary artery bypass [...]

  • How to Manage Outpatient CHF

    Updated: 2010-10-19 14:44:15
      One of the goals in managing the illness of CHF is patient involvement.  Education and outpatient care are felt to be the best weapons as they are less expensive than inpatient care.  An article was published in 2001 in Med Care 2001 Nov; 39(110:1234-45) regarding the use of three different technologies for the care of this illness.   The [...]

  • Forget the ABC's of CPR: Now It's C-A-B

    Updated: 2010-10-19 14:15:37
    Chest compressions are the No.1 task in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to new guidelines issued by the American Heart Association. Remember the old "ABC's" of bystander resuscitation? "Airway...Breathing...Circulation (chest compressions)." Now it's C first: chest compressions. 

  • Taking Hypertension Meds at Bedtime Increases Effectiveness: Study

    Updated: 2010-10-19 04:15:03
    According to a new study, taking blood pressure drugs at night rather than in the morning may help users better control their hypertension and reduce their risk of stroke and heart attack.

  • Almost 1 in 5 West Virginia 5th Graders Have High Blood Pressure

    Updated: 2010-10-19 04:02:02
    The study was started because West Virginia's population tends to be heavier than that of many other U.S. states, and it also has a significantly higher age-adjusted rate of death from heart disease than the national average.

  • Chest Pain Treated Unequally in U.S. Hospitals, Study Finds

    Updated: 2010-10-19 03:52:04
    Blacks, Hispanics, Medicaid patients, and people who are uninsured who seek care for chest pain in U.S. emergency rooms are less likely to be classified as needing immediate care than white patients, a new study has found.

  • Folic Acid Supplements Don't Help the Heart: Study

    Updated: 2010-10-19 03:42:03
    A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine has found that folic acid supplements do not reduce the risk for heart disease, cancer, or death.

  • Recession Pushing Many Americans in U.S. Healthcare System

    Updated: 2010-10-19 02:39:03
    Researchers found that 3.69 million people enrolled in Medicaid last year, bringing the total of Americans enrolled in the program to more than 48 million.

  • Invasive Dental Procedures May Cause Short-Term Heart Risks

    Updated: 2010-10-19 01:43:01
    Results from a new study suggest that invasive dental procedures designed to treat gum inflammation may raise people's risk for stroke and heart attack.

  • CPR Should Concentrate on Chest Compressions: Experts

    Updated: 2010-10-19 01:32:00
    According to new guidelines from the American Heart Association, the average untrained person can save the life of a person in cardiac arrest by focusing on chest compressions first.

  • Don’t Try This at Home

    Updated: 2010-10-14 18:53:08
      Cardiologists are the proud owners of the most costly diagnosis in the Medicare Population.  More than 5 million people and roughly 550,000 new cases a year are afflicted by it.  The cost is over a staggering 40 billion dollars a year.  It is the most common cause for hospitalization in someone over 65 years of age.  The [...]

  • Fibrosis markers in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)

    Updated: 2010-10-14 15:35:34
    HCM is the commonest cardiac single-gene disorder, with a prevalence of approximately 1 in 500 in the general population. The diagnosis depends on the identification of unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy, but this finding is present only in people with established disease and is typically absent in childhood. In contrast, genetic diagnosis can identify carriers without [...]

  • No role for routine balloon pump in high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)

    Updated: 2010-10-14 15:23:32
    In patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction, PCI is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, particularly if large amounts of viable myocardium are supplied by the diseased coronary arteries. Although observational studies have suggested that intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) insertion may decrease patient risk in this setting, no previous randomised controlled trial has examined this [...]

  • All You Ever Wanted to Know About Pradaxa

    Updated: 2010-10-12 21:10:10
      Let’s get one thing straight at the start.  This drug (Pradaxa) is only being approved for use in the treatment of atrial fibrillation.  Warfarin is used in many different medical scenarios: valve anticoagulation, prevention of deep vein thrombosis and treatment after pulmonary embolism, to name a few.  The only use of Pradaxa is to prevent [...]

  • No heart benefits for folic acid supplements

    Updated: 2010-10-12 14:30:34
    Use of folic acid supplements appears to lower blood levels of the amino acid homocysteinetheorized to be a risk factor for heart and blood vessel diseasebut does not appear to be linked to reduced rates of cardiovascular events, cancer or death over a five-year period, as per a meta-analysis of previously published studies in the October 11 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals........

  • Insulin Resistance May Triple Stroke Risk

    Updated: 2010-10-12 05:22:03
    Insulin resistance appears to increase the risk of stroke three times, even independently of heart-disease risk factors such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes.

  • Does Overweight Lead to Strokes?

    Updated: 2010-10-11 08:00:00
    The latest research shows that being obese increases the risk of having a stroke by 64%. ust being overweight, but not to the degree we call obesity, increases stroke risk by 22%. 

  • You want resources? We got resources!

    Updated: 2010-10-09 03:06:27
    You want resources? We've got resources. Check out this list of books, blogs, recipes and other resources on paleo-style nutrition and health. Related posts:The top fourteen foods

  • Diabetics and Coronary Disease

    Updated: 2010-10-07 15:51:18
      The onslaught of illness is headed our way with the massive obesity that surrounds us and the developed world.  Although we have means at our disposal to decrease this coming way of extraordinary illness, but cost the mechanisms in place are cumbersome and poorly united.  The saying goes, “it takes a long time to turn an [...]

  • Anti-Inflammatory Drugs and Heart Disease: A Dangerous Duo

    Updated: 2010-10-06 14:30:01
    The withdrawal Vioxx (an anti-inflammatory pain pill) rom the U.S. market n 2004 raised the question whether other similar medications are also harmful. Vioxx was linked to higher cardiovascular illness rates, including death. Recent studies indicate that naproxen is one of the safest nti-inflammatory pain ills for the both the general public and heart patients, at least in terms of avoiding cardiovascular disease and drug-related death.  

  • Social Rejection Slows Down the Heart: Study

    Updated: 2010-10-05 21:07:03
    Dutch researchers have found that waiting for another person's opinion slows down the heart, and the waiting person's heart rate will drop even further if he or she is rejected.

  • Doctors Should Treat Hypertension in Blacks Aggressively: Study

    Updated: 2010-10-05 20:59:00
    Officials with the International Society of Hypertension in Blacks are calling for earlier and more aggressive intervention for the black community, since high blood pressure is such a serious problem for members of this community.

  • Dead Cows and Progress

    Updated: 2010-10-05 15:45:46
      It has taken us 90 years to develop a new oral anticoagulant.  No one can accuse us of moving too quickly.  As I have discussed in previous blogs, Dabigatran has been unanimously approved by the FDA advisory panel and will soon be available.  But first let’s go back in time, back to the dead cows [...]

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