Cancer study stumbles onto potential way to regenerate heart cells

7E905F0D-7FBE-470C-8E84-A99B7A4D2E1B

New research could lead to a gene therapy treatment for heart disease

 Unfortunately for heart attack patients, heart cells don’t naturally replenish, so this vital organ stays permanently damaged. But now, Cambridge researchers have stumbled onto a gene that appears to trigger heart cell regeneration – and they did so by accident, while researching cancer treatments.

After a heart attack, the human heart will patch itself up with scar tissue. That helps keep the organ together, but this tissue doesn’t beat like healthy heart cells do. Over time, this leads to further attacks, heart failure and often death.

Scientists have been experimenting with ways to replenish heart cells, and promising leads so far include bioengineered scaffolds, placental stem cells, and boosting other cells around the heart.

Continue reading… “Cancer study stumbles onto potential way to regenerate heart cells”

No, the coronavirus is not the leading cause of death in the US, CDC says

94D90AA4-5887-4D8B-91FD-5F97ADCB09E7

US coronavirus deaths pass 14,000, but future projections are better than expected

(CNN)Even though the coronavirus pandemic continues to take lives across the United States, Covid-19 has not become the leading cause of death in the nation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed to CNN.

“There are no data to support that theory,” Jeff Lancashire, a spokesperson for the National Center for Health Statistics, said in an email on Friday.

False claims declaring that coronavirus has become the leading cause of death in the US have swirled as the US leads the world in coronavirus cases. Those claims are made by some experts comparing how many people die of coronavirus daily with the estimate of how many people may die daily on average of each leading cause of death, using CDC data.

Continue reading… “No, the coronavirus is not the leading cause of death in the US, CDC says”

Artificial intelligence detects heart failure from one heartbeat with 100% accuracy

D746977C-A3E9-4245-8ADA-AB73BFFA8C8B

Doctors can detect heart failure from a single heartbeat with 100% accuracy using a new artificial intelligence-driven neural network.

That’s according to a recent study published in Biomedical Signal Processing and Control Journal, which explores how emerging technology can improve existing methods of detecting congestive heart failure.

Led by researchers at the Universities of Surrey, Warwick and Florence, it shows that AI can quickly and accurately identify CHF by analyzing one electrocardiogram (ECG) heartbeat.

CHF is a chronic progressive condition affecting the way in which blood is pumped around the body. Research shows that, in the US alone, around 5 million people live with it.

Continue reading… “Artificial intelligence detects heart failure from one heartbeat with 100% accuracy”

Height, bone density, and more can be predicted using new DNA analysis algorithm

IMG_9364

A new computer model could accurately predict a person’s height to within one inch just by analyzing their DNA

AI-driven diagnostic tools are undeniably on the precipice of revolutionizing how doctors treat and manage patients. The ability for machine-learning algorithms to crunch immense volumes of patient data and find patterns not visible to the eyes of human clinicians is revealing new ways to predict everything from breast cancer risk to a person’s chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Now, a team of scientists from Michigan State University claims to have built a computer algorithm that can analyze a person’s complete genome and accurately predict how tall they are with only around a one-inch (2.5-cm) margin of error. The machine-learning system was trained on a dataset of nearly 500,000 adults.

Continue reading… “Height, bone density, and more can be predicted using new DNA analysis algorithm”

The most promising medical technology on the horizon today

telomerebiology

Discoveries in the field of telomere biology will have an impact on how we can stay young naturally and look younger than our chronological age.

Research in telomere biology has the potential to extend human life span, to dramatically lower rates of the great remaining killer diseases: heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s.  All three diseases increase exponentially with age, and their toll will be slashed as we we learn how to address the body’s aging clocks.

Continue reading… “The most promising medical technology on the horizon today”

Diet soda linked to heart disease: study

Diet-sodas

Link found between diet soda and cardiovascular disease.

The consumption of diet soft drinks may be associated with Type 2 diabetes and development of the condition known as metabolic syndrome — high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and other risk factors according to some studies. Now a 10-year epidemiological study has found a link between diet soft drinks and cardiovascular disease.

Continue reading… “Diet soda linked to heart disease: study”

Health of kids predicts parents’ future heart disease: study

parents

Study found kids’ weight, cholesterol and blood pressure helped predict the odds of a parent developing heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes over the next three decades.

When children have high cholesterol or blood pressure, their parents may have increased risks of diabetes and heart disease down the road, according to a new study.

Continue reading… “Health of kids predicts parents’ future heart disease: study”

Having children reduces a man’s risk of heart disease

fatherbaby

Having kids reduces a man’s risk of heart disease by 20%.

Having children could mean healthier hearts for men. A decade-long study of 135,000 men found that those who remained child-free had a higher risk of dying from heart disease than those who ‘sowed their oats.’  Men who had children reduced their risk of heart disease by 20%.

Continue reading… “Having children reduces a man’s risk of heart disease”