Cincinnati, OH, March 31, 2011 -- Roughly 15% of children suffer from migraines, and approximately one-third of these affected children have migraines with aura, a collection of symptoms that can include weakness, blind spots, and even hallucinations. Eventhough the causes of migraines are unclear, a newly released study soon to be published in The Journal of Pediatrics suggests a correlation between migraine headaches in children and a heart defect called patent foramen ovale, which affects 25% of people in the U.S........ 
Ever since the fable about the Emperor having no clothes, there has been reluctance to speaking the truth at times. In this era of the intersection of both political correctness and over share, we often don’t know what to say or when.
In general doctors are loath to tell patients that they are responsible for their [...] Visionaries in the field of cardiac therapeutics have long looked to the future when a damaged heart could be rebuilt or repaired by using one's own heart cells. A study reported in the recent issue of Circulation, a scientific journal of the American Heart Association, shows that heart stem cells from children with congenital heart disease were able to rebuild the damaged heart in the laboratory........ Heart failure patients admitted to general wards are twice as likely to die as those admitted to cardiology wards, shows a national audit of the therapy of the condition, published online in the journal Heart Women fared worse than men when it comes to appropriate investigations and therapy, the findings suggest, eventhough death rates were similar........ Researchers have identified the first DNA sequence variant common in the population that is not only linked to an increased risk of heart failure, but appears to play a role in causing it. The variant, a change in a single letter of the DNA sequence, impairs channels that control kidney function. "It's not a heart gene," says Gerald W. Dorn II, MD, the Philip and Sima K. Needleman Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a lead investigator on the study. "It's a kidney gene. This protein is not even expressed in the heart. Nobody has previously considered that kidney-specific gene defects might predispose you to heart failure"........ Hypertension - or high blood pressure - is a main cardiovascular diseases worldwide. It leads to stroke and heart disease and costs more than $300 billion each year. Around a quarter of the adult population is affected globally - including 10 million people in the UK and one in three US adults. Published next month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the new findings show that bioactive compounds in blueberries called anthocyanins offer protection against hypertension. Compared with those who do not eat blueberries, those eating at least one serving a week reduce their risk of developing the condition by 10 per cent........ Patients with diabetes, kidney disease and anemia who don't respond to therapy with an anti-anemia drug have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease or death, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. The results suggest that testing such patients' responsiveness to the drug and keeping blood iron levels a little low might reduce their risk, said Dr. Robert Toto, professor of internal medicine and clinical sciences and a senior author of the study, which appeared in the New England Journal (NEJM)....... People with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder linked to obesity, have more non-calcified or "bad" plaque in their coronary arteries, as per a research studypresented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "Our study reveals that individuals with obstructive sleep apnea are prone to developing an aggressive form of atherosclerosis that puts them at risk for impaired blood flow and cardiovascular events," said U. Joseph Schoepf, M.D., professor of radiology and medicine and director of cardiovascular imaging at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, S.C........ 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........ 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........ High levels of the stress hormone cortisol strongly predict cardiovascular death among both persons with and without pre-existing cardiovascular disease as per a newly released study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM)........ The occurence rate of acute myocardial infarction in Italy sharply increased, especially among young women, between the years 2001 and 2005, as per a comprehensive study funded by the Human Health Foundation (HHF), a nonprofit Italian charity for biomedical research and health education in Spoleto, Italy. The results were published in Aging Clinical Experimental Research....... 
As we were discussing, “nothing comes between me and my jeans.” Now it seems that Ms. Shields might be correct. Published in Circulation in the subset concerning cardiovascular genetics is just such an article. (Circ Cardiovasc Genet 2011; 4:74-80)
Brace yourself; this may be your worst nightmare. It seems that some genes that control HDL cholesterol [...] Insight into the complex biological mechanisms that cause heart disease has taken a major step forward with the discovery of 13 new genes that increase the risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). The influence of the majority of the new genes is independent of other established risk factors, suggesting new, unsuspected causes of CAD. The discovery more than doubles the number of genes known to affect the progression of heart disease........ 
A number of factors have been associated with the onset of myocardial infarction, including physical exertion, drug abuse, heavy meals, stress, or increases in air pollution. Which of these triggers is the most important or relevant has not previously been investigated either at the population or the individual level.
Nawrot and colleagues reviewed 36 epidemiological studies [...]