Heart Disease and Diabetes

Fewer than half of the patients who were prescribed beta blocker drugs following a heart attack and who had some prescription drug coverage were regularly taking them during the first year after leaving the hospital.

With diabetes disease-management programs becoming more commonly used among physician groups, the question arises: Just how effective are they at improving patient care?

Women who are non-smokers, exercise regularly, have a healthy diet, including moderate alcohol consumption, and otherwise live a healthy lifestyle may have a reduced risk of stroke.

Scientists are making headway in exploring the potential future use of stem cells to treat heart disease, according to a review article in the current issue of Nature.

Heart disease and diabetes are among the most common conditions plaguing Americans today, and they are related to a host of other diseases. Research now also demonstrates that these conditions can be warning signs for some types of digestive cancers.

A new tactic in the battle against cardiovascular disease – employing nanoengineered molecules called "nanolipoblockers" as frontline infantry against harmful cholesterol – is showing promise in early laboratory studies.

Selenium does not protect against cardiovascular disease, despite its documented antioxidant and chemopreventive properties, analysis of a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial covering 13 years has shown.

A rare gene variant in humans helps to protect against two of the country's top killers -- type 2 diabetes and heart disease -- as well as against hypertriglyceridemia and pancreatitis.

Researchers have shown that blocking the action of a critical protein can improve multiple inflammatory pathways in patients with the metabolic syndrome.

Paper published in "Neuroscience" reports on the role that the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil play in ``protecting cells in the retina from degenerative diseases like ``retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, the ``leading cause of loss of vision in those older than 65.

Men and women with elevated blood pressure who make healthy lifestyle changes and sustain them for up to a year and a half can substantially reduce their rates of high blood pressure and potentially decrease their heart disease risk.

Diabetes strongly increases the risk of heart failure in all ethnic groups, but early effects of diabetes on the heart may differ depending on whether the subjects are white, African-American, Hispanic or Chinese.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids may influence mood, personality and behavior, according to results of a study presented by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers at the 64th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Denver.

Taking aspirin to prevent coronary heart disease is beneficial and cost-effective for a wider range of men than is often recognized.

Individuals who have a genetic variation associated with slower caffeine metabolism appear to have an increased risk of non-fatal heart attack associated with higher amounts of coffee intake.

Being exposed to fine particle matter air pollution increases a person's risk for hospital admission for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.