medical

There may be a simple way to provide elderly Americans with extra protection against the annual flu virus: give them a higher dose of seasonal flu vaccine.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers are sounding an alert about side effects of shock wave lithotripsy: in a research study, they found this common treatment for kidney stones to significantly increase the risk for diabetes and hypertension later in life.

(NORTHBROOK, IL, August 8, 2005) - The American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) released today the first evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for the prevention and management of postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardiac surgery. Published in the August issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the ACCP, the guidelines offer specific recommendations on cardiac pacing, anticoagulation therapy, pharmaceutical prophylaxis,

Early diagnosis and new treatments can help battle heart failure -- a growing national problem that causes 1 million hospital admissions each year, according to new guidelines released today by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA).

Hospitalized patients with severe congestive heart failure did not experience a benefit from use of pulmonary artery catheterization, but had more adverse events, according to a study in the October 5 issue of JAMA.

Use of the amino acid supplement L-arginine following a heart attack does not improve certain cardiac functions and measurements and may be associated with an increased risk of death, according to a study in the January 4 issue of JAMA.

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, according to a study in the March 8 issue of JAMA.

If you're middle age and sleep five hours or less a night, you may be increasing your risk of developing high blood pressure, according to research reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Chest pain is one of the common complaints heard in medical OPDs as well as at the GP�s clinic. Chest pain causes a lot of anxiety in the patient as it is many a time related to �heart attack� or angina and people are quite aware of the serious consequences of the symptom.

An international team of researchers has found for the first time that a known cellular protein called SIK2 is important for cell division and that targeting it could improve response to chemotherapy in some patients with ovarian cancer.