Clinical cardiology
Feb 1, 2010 17:00 EST
More than 15 million people in the US alone take herbal remedies and/or vitamins at doses that may be interacting with their cardiovascular medications, potentially putting them at risk.

Washington, DC - The rising popularity of herbals and supplements in Western countries has become increasingly worrisome for physicians who have not traditionally thought to ask their patients whether they are taking any nonpharmaceutical products, despite the often potent effects of certain supplements and vitamins, a new review concludes [1].

Writing in a "state-of-the-art" paper published online February 1, 2010 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Dr Ara Tachjian (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN) and colleagues note that more than 15 million people in the US alone take herbal remedies and/or vitamins at doses that might be interacting with their cardiovascular medications, potentially putting them at risk. Read full article »

Inside: Heart failure
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Heart failure
Feb 8, 2010 17:00 EST
African American women have much higher odds of developing peripartum cardiomyopathy than non-African Americans, a new US study shows; the findings illustrate that race is by far the largest risk factor for this disease, say the researchers.
Clinical cardiology
Feb 8, 2010 17:00 EST
Two doctors from Mozambique are calling for concerted efforts to foster multidisciplinary research into neglected cardiovascular diseases that predominantly occur in Africa. These include newly emerging cardiac manifestations of infectious diseases, say the authors.
heartbriefs
Feb 5, 2010 10:30 EST
Thomas Medical is recalling certain lots of its SafeSheath CSG lead introducers in response to reports of fragmentation and embolization of the tip.
Arrhythmia/EP
Feb 5, 2010 09:30 EST
Non-procedure-related clinical issues, such as diabetes or device-related infection, are a major cause of poor procedural and clinical outcomes; still, the overall success rate is high, and complication rate is very low, suggests a multicenter experience of >1400 cases.
News
1 COMMENT - Feb 3, 2010 14:30 EST
A study comparing cardiovascular outcomes at the "best hospitals," according to two popular hospital ranking systems, shows that the systems do identify high-quality hospitals, but not all of them.
News
Feb 2, 2010 16:15 EST
The number of deaths predicted would be half as high, if the US population met goals set out 10 years ago in the Healthy People 2010 report, researchers say. Obesity and diabetes have proved to be the major obstacles.
Features
19 COMMENTS - Jan 29, 2010 14:15 EST
Most experts agree that reducing salt intake will cut blood pressure and in turn reduce the number of heart attacks and strokes. But messages to limit the amount of salt added to food have had little impact on sodium intake in the West, as more than 75% of salt in the diet there is contained in readily prepared foods. The UK has recently gotten tough with the food industry and cut salt intake by 10%; is it time the US and others took a similar stance? heartwire examines the issues.
News
9 COMMENTS - Jan 25, 2010 17:00 EST
A new review notes that unlike well-established standards for statistical significance, no guidelines exist for deciding what magnitude of difference is clinically meaningful or practically important. Composite end points and subgroup analyses also pose problems for clinicians trying to understand trial results.
Prevention
1 COMMENT - Jan 25, 2010 17:00 EST
The findings in a community-based cohort of people aged >65 highlight the dynamic nature of cardiovascular risk in that population; a substantial jump in levels from the first to the second test significantly increased the adjusted risks of both heart failure and CV death.
Medscape Medical News
5 COMMENTS - Jan 22, 2010 08:45 EST
The FDA's Medwatch sent an alert yesterday announcing that the diet drug labeling will now include contraindications for people with a history of CVD. Meanwhile, Europe's EMEA announced it plans to withdraw the drug from the market altogether.
Interventional/Surgery
Jan 21, 2010 13:30 EST
While it is impossible to compare the transfemoral and transapical outcomes from the nonrandomized, multicenter study, investigators note that the survival rates for both groups were similar at one and two years.
Heart failure and transplantation with Dr Ileana Piņa
Editorial Programs
Editorial series
Feb 4, 2010 15:00 EST
Dr Eric Topol talks to heartwire's Shelley Wood about remote monitoring, individualized medicine, and the changing face of cardiovascular care.
Editorial series
1 COMMENT - Jan 13, 2010 13:50 EST
heartwire's Shelley Wood speaks to Dr Bruce Wilkoff about PACE, new results from the REPLACE registry, and the exciting future for remote monitoring.
Editorial series
Dec 2, 2009 11:15 EST
AHA president Dr Clyde Yancy and CEO Nancy Brown share insights from the recent sessions and discuss ongoing initiatives with heartwire's Shelley Wood.
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