New damaged heart repair treatment?

The result of a study carried out on mice and rats by the Children's Hospital Boston published int the journal Cell is giving hopes that a new way to repair damaged heart may be in the offing. The key lies in a protein called Neuregulin 1 or NRG1.

A team of Boston researchers tested the abilities of various molecules to spur cell divisions in cultured cardiomyocytes (cardiac muscle cells) and found that NRG1 produced the most significant effect. NRG1 was administered to animals which had suffered heart attacks and it was found to promote regeneration of the heart muscles, proving that adult heart cells of mice can be stimulated to reproduce itself. The researchers thus conclude that they have identified a new approach to promote myocardial regeneration.

The researchers now plan to test this new therapy in pigs which have more in common with humans than mice and rats.

While this finding point towards a possible new therapy (patients getting daily NRG1 infusions over period of weeks) for damaged hearts, researcher Dr. Bernhard Kühn cautioned that the safety of the therapy need to be tested before the study can proceed to testing in humans.



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Familial hypercholesterolemia: life saving cascade testing

Familial hypercholesterolemia

Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited condition characterized by very high blood bad cholesterol (LDL or low density lipoprotein) levels. It is estimated that 1 in 500 UK residents suffers from FH and will have dangerously high levels of bad cholesterol from an early age.

Most FH patients have a mutated LDLR gene. Victims with only one abnormal gene will likely suffers premature cardiovascular disease at the young age of 30 to 40. Those with 2 abnormal gene will likely suffer severe cardiovascular disease while at tender childhood.

It is estimated that 50% of men and 33% of women with familial hypercholesterolaemia will suffers a heart attack before reaching 60 years of age.

Treatment of familial hypercholesterolaemia

Patients with familial hypercholesterolemia can be treated with statin drug which can prolong the lifespan to almost normal. It is thus important to screen families if any member of the familial is tested positive for familial hypercholesterolaemia and anyone testing positive for FH should be put on statin drug.

Cascade testing (CT)

Lab medicine The sequencing of tests to diagnose a disease or process–eg, familial hypercholesterolaemia; Cascade Testing is appropriate when a 'gold standard' method is technically demanding and/or costly and the diagnosis can usually be established by simpler or more cost-effective strategies.

Dr Dermot Neely, consultant in clinical biochemistry and metabolic medicine at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Trust, said cascade testing with DNA diagnosis was very effective in practice.

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Cardiac arrest: Music can be you best medicine

If you suffered a heart attack, perhaps music can be your best medicine. A study conducted at the University of Illinois College of Medicine on doctors and medical students practiceing CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on mannequins while listening to Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees and timing their chest compressions with the beat can achieve very close to the rate recommended by the American Heart Association is 100 chest compressions per minute


If you are curious about the song, here is a video of Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees:



Apparently, even if not listening to the song but guided by mental recall of the song, the doctors and medical students can still achieved very close to the recommended rate by the American Heart Association

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Control hypertension without medicine - real life story

Here is my real life story about how I licked hypertension (high blood pressure). I belong to the high risk group because I am 60 years old and I have close relatives who have died from burst blood vessel in the brain plus a cousin who had been on hypertension medication for 20 years.

About 2 over months ago the doctor measured my blood pressure to be 150 over 90. A week later, it was 150 over 100. This would place me in the stage one hypertension. The doctor wanted to put me on medication, but I pleaded to try to control the blood pressure via diet plus exercise as once I go on hypertension medication, I would have to take it for the rest of my life. I was told to see him again in 2 months time.



I bought a digital blood pressure monitor and started avoiding fried food, oily stuff and reduced my intake of meat and took more toufu. I started exercising using my zero cost exercise machine. However, I am a widower and have to eat out, and thus cannot control my salt intake. The blood pressure was erratic - ranging from 140 over 90 to as low as 90 over 60. On the whole, however, it was better than the initial readings by the doctor.

When I saw the doctor again, he said the he will have to take the higher reading and wanted to put me on low dose medication. I pleaded to try dieting and exercising again and was told to see him again in 3 months time.

Now I started to cook my own food so that I can control my diet. I can say that my blood pressure is under control now.

More later.

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