Exercise Offsets Genetic Signal for Obesity

Scientific evidence is increasingly proving that the human body was engineered for action. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have recently added more evidence, with their study of the effect an active lifestyle has on a specific gene that causes less active people to gain excess weight. Read more

Advertising to Consumers Does Not Increase Drug Sales

Only in New Zealand and the United States can pharmaceutical companies advertise their products directly to potential consumers. Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) is extensive in the US but a new study from Harvard University has proven that advertising directly to consumers does not increase drug sales to any significant degree and it has no effect at all in some cases. Read more

Estrogen Spares Women’s Hearts, Risks Men’s

Estrogen, one of the sex hormones most closely associated with females, has long been thought to offer women protection from cardiovascular disease and is one of the main reasons many women undergo hormone replacement therapy when the body’s natural supply of estrogen diminishes after menopause.  A recent study reveals that men, too, feel the heart-associated effects of the estrogen their bodies make.  It’s just that, like so many other gender differences, the effect is different between the sexes.  The more estrogen in the bloodstreams of men, the more likelihood of developing heart disease. Read more

Vytorin: No Proof It Works, No Proof It Causes Cancer

In 2002, when the US Food and Drug Administraiton (FDA) approved the generic drug, ezetimibe, for its ability to lower cholesterol, the agency did so on the basis of just a few very small clinical trials of very short duration, all of them conducted by the very people who would market the drug. Since then, controversy has surrounded Vytorin and Zetia, two brand-name drugs containing ezetimibe. It seems that there is no conclusive proof that it works and no conclusive proof that it causes cancer. Or not. Read more

Viagra as Good for the Heart as the Love Life

Canadian researchers say the prescription drug, Viagra, is as good for the heart as it is for the love life.  Seems the way the drug influences the platelets in the bloodstream also minimizes the risk of heart attack and stroke. Read more

Broccoli-Rich Diet May Reverse Diabetics’ Blood Vessel Damage

People with diabetes are at increased risk of hyperglycemia, a condition marked by high levels of glucose in the bloodstream.  Hyperglycemia can damage the walls of blood vessels to the heart, increasing a diabetic’s risk of having a stroke or developing heart and kidney disease.  Certain molecules, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), are produced in excess, as much as three times the desired amount, when hyperglycemia is present and its these ROS molecules that damage the cells of the blood vessels. Read more

Drugs As Good As Stents For Angina Pain

Someone suffering from the frightening chest pain of angina is no doubt ready for a quick fix to make that pain go away. Many angina patients turn to stents for the quickest relief, opting out of drug therapy, which takes a little longer to take effect. New information made available in today’s New England Journal of Medicine says, in the long run, the pain-relieving effects of stenting, or angioplasty, disappears in two or three years’ time, eventually bringing no more relief than a steady course of drug therapy would have. Read more

Run to Slow Aging Process

The Stanford University School of Medicine has released the results of a long-term study that explores how a lifetime of running affects the aging process. The multitude of benefits derived from running have surprised even the research team. Read more

Instinct Guides ER Docs Treating Heart Patients

Instinct probably guides the average ER doctor when treating more than just the heart patients but there is no documented evidence to clarify this theory.  There is, however, documented evidence that instinct must be driving many of the calls to admit ordered by emergency department (ED) doctors when faced with a patient reporting chest pain. Read more

Vytorin Continues to Break Hearts at Merck, Schering

The bad news just seems to keep coming.  The results of the latest test of the prescription drug, Vytorin, show the drug produced no significant indication that it is effective in the treatment of aortic valve disease and heart disease.  The test also showed that Vytorin actually increased the number of heart events deemed “serious” when cancer patients take the drug. Read more

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