http://www.pennmedicine.org/news The latest news about Cardiovascular Medicine and Surgery from Penn Medicine - the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Health System. en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss rachel.ewing@uphs.upenn.edu (Rachel Ewing) 2009, The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania http://www.pennhealth.com/images/pennmedicine_logo.jpg http://www.pennmedicine.org/news Among eligible Medicare beneficiaries, increased use of carotid arterial stenting (CAS) procedures to treat carotid stenosis—the narrowing of the carotid artery—is associated with higher rates of mortality and adverse clinical outcomes, including heart attack and stroke, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/11/carotid-artery-stent-outcomes/ Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:00:00 GMT While studying how the heart is formed, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine serendipitously found a novel cellular source of atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common type of abnormal heart beat. Jonathan Epstein, MD, William Wikoff Smith Professor, and Chair, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, and Vickas Patel, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, have identified a population of cells in the atria of the heart and pulmonary veins of humans and mice that appear to be the seat of AF. The finding may lead to a more precise way to treat AF, with reduced side effects. Their findings appear online in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/11/atrial-fibrillation-cellular-source/ Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:30:00 GMT A brain-preserving cooling treatment called therapeutic hypothermia is a cost-effective way to improve outcomes after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, which claims the lives of more than 300,000 people each year in the United States and leaves thousands of others neurologically devastated. The treatment, which lowers body temperature to prevent damage to the brain and other major organs when blood flow is restored to the body following cardiac arrest, is considered a "good value" when compared to many other accepted and widely utilized medical treatments, including dialysis for kidney failure or complex heart surgeries, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research published this week in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/08/cooling-treatment-cost-effective/ Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:50:00 GMT Thomas Cappola, MD, ScM, an assistant professor in the division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been honored with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding early-career scientists and engineers, recognizes Cappola’s outstanding achievements in research on causes and treatment for heart failure, which is the leading cause of hospitalization among adults in the United States. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/07/cappola-presidential-award/ Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:30:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine will receive $2 million over the next four years from the American Heart Association and the Jon Holden DeHaan Foundation to study how heart muscle cell regeneration can help improve outcomes for heart attack and heart failure patients. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/heart-muscle-cell-regeneration.html Mon, 18 May 2009 16:00:00 GMT Women with chest pain are less likely than male patients to receive recommended, proven therapies while en route to the hospital, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Despite evidence showing that the drugs aspirin and nitroglycerin are important early interventions for people who may be having a heart attack, women don’t get them as often as men with the same types of symptoms, says a new study that was presented last week at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual conference. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/gender-disparities-chest-pain.html Mon, 18 May 2009 14:20:00 GMT The first long-term study following a large number of chest pain patients who are screened with coronary computerized tomographic angiography (CTA) confirms that the test is a safe, effective way to rule out serious cardiovascular disease in patients who come to hospital emergency rooms with chest pain, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine which was presented last week at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine’s annual conference. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/05/ct-scan-chest-pain-diagnosis.html Mon, 18 May 2009 14:20:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues have discovered that a type of prostaglandin – one of a family of fatty compounds key to the cardiovscular system – may play the role of increasing blood pressure and accelerating atherosclerosis, at least in mice. Mice that lack the receptor for the type of prostaglandin studied, PGF2a, have lower blood pressure and less atherosclerosis than their non-mutant brethren. The results suggest that targeting this pathway could represent a novel therapeutic approach to cardiovascular disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/04/new-blood-pressure-control-target.html Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT Over the next five years, Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Dermatology and Associate Scholar in the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will receive funding from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Heart Lung and Blood Institute to study the relationship between psoriasis, cardiovascular risk factors and cardiovascular outcomes. This research will build a deeper understanding of the relationship between inflammatory diseases like psoriasis and myocardial infarction (heart attack), potentially paving the way for improved disease management strategies for the over 7 million Americans with psoriasis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/03/psoriasis-associated-risks.html Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:30:00 GMT Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have unlocked the mystery of a puzzling human disease and gained insight into cardiovascular development, all thanks to a big-hearted fish. Mark Kahn, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, graduate student Benjamin Kleaveland, and colleagues report in the February issue of Nature Medicine that a human vascular condition called Cerebral Cavernous Malformation (CCM) is caused by leaky junctions between cells in the lining of blood vessels. By combining studies with zebrafish and mice, the researchers found that the aberrant junctions are the result of mutated or missing proteins in a novel biochemical process, the so-called Heart-of-glass (HEG)-CCM pathway. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/02/heg-ccm-pathway.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:00:00 GMT Efforts to fight the toll of cardiac arrest have typically focused on pre-hospital factors -- bystander CPR education and improvement, public defibrillation programs, and quicker EMS response. But new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine reveals that the hospital where patients are cared for after being resuscitated plays a key role in their chances of survival following these incidents, which take the lives of more than 300,000 Americans each year. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2009/01/cardiac-arrest-survival.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:00:00 GMT Psoriasis – a common skin disease characterized by thickened patches of inflamed, scaly skin – is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular conditions, especially when skin disease is severe, according to research by Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. An editorial consensus paper on the topic is published in the December 15th issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/psoriasis-cardiovascular.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:30:00 GMT Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is the only hospital in Philadelphia to be selected as one of the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” for cardiovascular care by Thomson Reuters, a leading news and information company. Each year, this award for cardiovascular services objectively measures performance on key criteria at the nation’s top-performing acute-care hospitals. This is the sixth year that Penn Presbyterian has been recognized with this honor. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/12/penn-presbyterian-top100-cardiac.html Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:30:00 GMT Results of a new study call into question recent clinical guidelines issued by leading cardiovascular groups, including the American Heart Association, which recommend patients with cardiovascular disease be screened for signs of depression and treated accordingly. The study, published in the November 12 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association and conducted by an international team of researchers including James Coyne, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, determined that there is no clear evidence that depression screening plays a conclusive role in improving cardiovascular patients' health. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/11/cardiovascular-depression-screening.html Using the drug darapladib, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues have inhibited a cholesterol-and immune system-associated protein, thereby reducing the development of heart-disease plaques that may cause death, heart attacks, and strokes in a pig model of atherosclerosis and diabetes. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/09/darapladib-artery-blockages.html Researchers have manipulated cell activity that occurs during the interruption of blood flow to strongly protect heart tissue in animal studies. The finding has the potential to become an emergency treatment for heart attack patients, particularly since already existing drugs might be pressed into service to produce the protective effects. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/07/hdac-heart-attack-protection.html The more than ten million Americans who’ve received drug-eluting stents to open their blocked coronary arteries have a bright future, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2008/05/drug-eluting-stents-benefits.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that a group of liver enzymes called proprotein convertases (PCs) may be the key to raising levels of good cholesterol (HDL-C). The pathway by which these proteins are able to achieve an increase in HDL cholesterol involves another enzyme that normally degrades HDL-C, and was also discovered at Penn. The newly recognized relationship between these enzymes and cholesterol represents another target for ultimately controlling good cholesterol. The study appears in the current issue of Cell Metabolism. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/liver-enzymes-cholesterol.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered a unique molecular pathway that detects and selectively eliminates defective messenger RNAs from red blood cells. Other such pathways -- known as surveillance pathways -- operate in a more general way, in many cell types. Knowing how this specific surveillance system works can help researchers better understand hereditary diseases, in this case, thalassemia, a form of anemia, which is the most common genetic disorder worldwide. The results appear in the most recent issue of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/aug07/red-blood-cell-pathway.html By manipulating a critical cell-to-cell signaling pathway, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have successfully increased the number cells required for the normal development of right-sided structures in the heart, including the right ventricle. Penn scientists were able to increase the numbers of a cardiac stem cell population, called Isl-1 positive cardiac progenitors, in the developing embryo and in tissue grown in a culture dish by activating the Wnt pathway. The finding suggests a potential therapeutic strategy whereby influencing this pathway would be used to generate specialized heart cells to repair or replace cells damaged by cardiac disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun07/cardiac-stem-cell-pathway.html Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found in a database study of women heart patients that COX inhibitors such as traditional nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) may undermine any purported protection against heart disease in participants taking estrogen therapy. The results were described this week in PLoS Medicine. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/may07/cox-weakens-hormone-therapy.html In the most recent issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the American Heart Association (AHA) reverses its recommendations for the prevention of infective endocarditis (IE), an uncommon but potentially lethal infection of the endocardium, which forms the lining of the heart and heart valves. Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH, Professor of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Chair of the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was a committee member on this study. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/infective-endocarditis-recommendations.html Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine have discovered that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) -- electric monitoring devices that deliver a lifesaving shock in the event of a cardiac arrest -- help patients with heart problems live longer more active lives. Further, the study found most patients living with ICDs enjoy a quality of life consistent with average Americans their age and have a high level of satisfaction with the device, offsetting longstanding perceptions that the technology extends but seriously impairs patients' lives. Peter Groeneveld, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of General Internal Medicine and his co-authors report their findings in the April 2007 issue of the journal Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/implantable-cardioverter-defibrillators.html Lance Becker, MD, Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been named Director of Penn's new Center for Resuscitation Science. The Center will focus on cellular research to aid in developing new and improved techniques to treat cardiac arrest. The Center will consist of three full-time labs and a clinical and administration branch. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/apr07/resuscitation-center.html Patient Gary Onufer received a donor heart on March 11, 2007. His recovery went well and he was discharged from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania on March 22, 2007. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart-release.html In this high-tech age of modern medicine, could it be possible to treat the leading cause of death in the U.S. through the power of meditation? According to a first-of-its-kind randomized study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a widely practiced, stress-reducing meditation technique can significantly reduce the severity of congestive heart failure. The study appears in the Winter 2007 issue of Ethnicity and Disease. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/mar07/meditation-heart-failure.html It has been known for decades that heart attacks and strokes occur most frequently in the early-morning hours. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have provided the first evidence for the role of our body’s internal molecular clock in controlling blood pressure and a mechanism by which this occurs. Published online next week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, this report points to the novel possibility of modifying blood pressure and the early-morning risk of heart attack. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/internal-clock-blood-pressure.html INCLUDES ON-LINE PRESS KIT: A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart-release.html In almost all forms of heart failure, the heart begins to express genes that are normally only expressed in the fetal heart. Researchers have known for years that this fetal-gene reactivation happens, yet not what regulates it. Now, investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that an enzyme important in fetal heart-cell development regulates the enlargement of heart cells, known as cardiac hypertrophy, which is a precursor to many forms of congestive heart failure (CHF). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/fetal-heart-cell-enzyme.html A 46-year-old former fitness instructor, suffering from biventricular end-stage heart failure and in irreversible cardiogenic shock, has become the first to receive a new temporary Total Artificial Heart in the Northeast U.S. by cardiac surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/feb07/temporary-total-artificial-heart.html Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH, a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has won the 2007 Red Dress Award from Woman's Day magazine. It is presented annually (this year to three individuals nationwide) to those who have made an exceptional contribution to fighting heart disease in women, the nation's leading killer. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/kumanyika-womans-day-award.htm How do blood clots maintain that precise balance of stiffness for wound healing and flexibility to go with the flow? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences have shown that a well-known protein structure acts as a molecular spring, explaining one way that clots may stretch and bend under such physical stresses as blood flow. They report their findings in a Letter in the latest online edition of the Biophysical Journal. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/blood-clot-flexibility.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated the potential of a new type of therapy for patients who suffer from high cholesterol levels. The findings are in the January 11 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). In this study, patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a high-risk condition refractory to conventional therapy, had a remarkable 51% reduction in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or 'bad cholesterol' levels. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jan07/MTP-inhibition-reduce-high-cholesterol.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have pinpointed a key regulatory protein that translates blood flow into gene expression. The investigators showed that in a model of mouse embryonic development a transcription factor called Klf2, which resides in cells that line blood vessels, is activated by rapid, pulsed blood flow, as reported in the December issue of Developmental Cell. Understanding Klf2’s role in blood vessel and muscle biology could help with fighting atherosclerosis. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/blood-flow-gene-expression.htm Topics include being sleepy behind the wheel, keeping your New Year's resolutions, winter skin, the risks in shoveling snow, and restless legs syndrome (RLS). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/holiday-season-health-experts.htm Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, part of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, is the only hospital in Philadelphia to be selected as one of the nation's '100 Top Hospitals' for cardiovascular care by Solucient, a Thomson healthcare business. Every year, the Solucient award for cardiovascular services objectively measures performance on key criteria at the nation's top-performing acute-care hospitals. This is the fifth year in a row that Penn Presbyterian has been recognized with this honor. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov06/presbysol.htm Clinical researchers at the University of Pennsylvania Health System are starting a trial utilizing a new mechanism to treat the heart when its electrical pulses essentially short-circuit, referred to as atrial fibrillation (A-Fib). http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/dec06/HIFU-ablation.htm The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) is now offering the newest multi-slice computed tomography (CT) imaging technology to patients, becoming the first hospital in Philadelphia equipped with pioneering dual x-ray source technology -- which produces amazingly detailed 3-D images of the heart. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/nov06/newCT.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine have found that heart transplant patients who receive a donor heart from a person with hepatitis C (HCV) have a lower rate of survival. Corresponding Author Leanne Gasink, MD, MSCE, of the University of Pennsylvania's Division of Infectious Disease and colleagues report their findings in the October 17th issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct06/hepc.htm Independence Blue Cross has recognized Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center as Blue Distinction CenterSM for Cardiac Care. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct06/BDCcardiac.htm Psoriasis is an independent risk factor for a heart attack, and this risk is greatest in young patients with severe psoriasis, according to Joel M. Gelfand, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and lead author of the study that appears in the October 11 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/oct06/psorlink.htm Penn is hosting a free screening event for members of the media to look for peripheral arterial disease. P.A.D. is a condition that develops when arteries in the legs become clogged with plaque, limiting the flow of blood to the legs. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep06/padITC.htm Building on previous work, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found that deleting an inflammation enzyme in a mouse model of heart disease slowed the development of atherosclerosis. What's more, the composition of the animals' blood vessels showed that the disease process had not only slowed, but also stabilized. This study points to the possibility of a new class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that steer clear of heart-disease risk and work to reduce it. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sep06/newNSAIDs.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are utilizing a protein to 'switch on' the ability to repair damaged heart tissue. By triggering the cell-cycle signal, researchers can manipulate cells in animal models to regenerate damaged heart tissue. If this research is someday successfully translated to humans, it could change the approach to treating heart disease, the nation's leading killer. The findings, now on-line, in a surgical supplement of Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jul06/CVI_regen.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine -- in the largest study to date of female heart failure patients who underwent a specialized stress test called oxygen uptake or VO2 -- concluded that women tend to have lower maximum exercise VO2 levels than men, yet their survival is significantly better than men. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/VO2.htm Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Queenand#8217;s University, Ontario, Canada report in the online edition of Nature Medicine this week that the COX enzymes - well-known for their contrasting role in cardiovascular biology - interact physically to form a previously unrecognized biochemical partnership and function in the development of blood vessels in a mouse model. http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/jun06/COXenz.htm