Now I have to be honest, I have not heard a heck of a lot about this but I did find it interesting. Heart failure and your immune system…
In some cases of heart failure, it is thought to be linked to ones own immune system in that it causes damaging inflammation to its own tissue. This then weakens the heart even further and inhibits its contractility and efficiency.
The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas has completed a study on over 1000 participants. They have attempted to reduce inflammation by “damping down” ones immune system.
The method involved taking blood from the …read more

I am sure you have seen this or heard about his, but in case you live inside a bubble… No one is above heart disease, not money nor fame. This is scary- we need to make sure that we think about all of the consequences before jumping up on that stretcher. Seriously, thinner thighs and perkier… well you know- they just aren’t worth it!
The autopsy results for Kanye West’s mother Donda have been released. Donda died on Nov. 10, the day after having extensive plastic surgery performed on her by a Dr. Jan Adams, who was not board certified in …read more

You say po-tae-to I say po-ta-to. Calcium supplements are now under fire. For years it has been thought that prescribing calcium to post menopausal women helped maintain bone health as well as possibly reducing the risk of high cholesterol. Apparently that news is ’so yesterday’.
Researchers at the University of Auckland examined the effects of calcium supplementation on heart attacks stroke and sudden death. 1,471 healthy post-menopausal women aged 55 years or over took part in the study. And just what did they find?
Dietary calcium intake was assessed and women were seen every six months over five years. Adverse …read more

This is very tongue in cheek. Anxiety increases your heart attack risk by 30-40%… but don’t worry over it! Oh boy.
The role of anxiety in hiking heart attack risk also goes beyond the effects of depression, anger, hostility, Type A behavior and other negative emotions. “These psychological factors are important in predicting the risk of heart disease, but anxiety is unique,” Dr. Shen said. “Older men with sustained and pervasive anxiety appear to be at increased risk for a heart attack even after their levels of depression, anger, hostility and Type A behavior are considered.”
And obviously the silver lining… …read more

Alex Trebek was hospitalized on Tuesday after a minor heart attack. The long time Jeopardy host is resting comfortably and undergoing tests for the next 2 days.  Apparently it was a rather small heart attack… According to the official Jeopardy website, Mr. Trebek will be back in the studios taping in January!
Do you think celebrities get preferential treatment in the hospitals? I bet they do, but I guess that is how the cookie crumbles.

Here are some links of new publications. All are ideas revisited by me from over the last few months. I read through a lot, and I mean a lot, of science journals and such this morning but the ones that I found the most interesting and news worthy were very similar to research I have shared previous. The new research takes things a step further…
Depression linked to death following heart attack…Depression nearly triples the risk of death following a heart attack, even when accounting for other heart attack risk factors, according to research presented today at the American College …read more

Man oh man! I feel like there is always some sort of research pointing to some other type of research that has already been accepted and totally disagrees with what we have been doing for years. Do you follow? hahah.
It seems that now researchers are suggesting that transfusions among bypass surgery patients are not as favorable as we thought…
The research found patients who received a red blood cell transfusion experienced a three-fold increase in complications arising from lack of oxygen to key organs — such as in a heart attack or stroke. This is a finding at odds with the …read more

Cocaine isn’t the only illegal drug out there that can cause a heart attack. Ecstasy or “XTC” as it is known has been making a comeback in the younger population. The emergencies rooms across the world are seeing more and more heart attacks and untimely deaths from this nasty little drug. Oh boy, I feel like I want to lock my daughters in their rooms until hey are 30!
Physicians in the emergency department should become familiar with this drug because of its emerging trend toward its use, advise the case report’s authors. Although it was once thought …read more

Over at my other site Diabetes Notes I quizzed my eldest daughter about her diabetic I.Q.. She did fairly well. I was impressed and had fun doing that with her so I have decided to do the same thing here at A Hearty Life with my middle cherub. She is 5 1/2 years old and in kindergarten. We will call her Siddy for short. Protection and all that! So here we go. Her cardiac I.Q. quiz is on…
1. Ok, Siddy… what does your heart do?
“Beats. It runs your body by the veins and blood”
2. How big is your heart?
“As big …read more

Do you worry yourself to death? Are you anxious and easily panicked? I am a very anxious person by nature and tend to worry about things that I can’t even control. But there is new research that states that women who have at least one full blown panic attack increase their risk for heart attack, stroke and an untimely death. Well, well, well… if that isn’t reason enough to get my worries under control, I don’t know what would be.
The results add panic attacks to the list of emotions and psychiatric symptoms that have already been …read more