Cardiovascular Research: So long, stethoscope? New device, smartphone alter exams ♦ Improving safety, decreasing risks of new blood thinners

Angina is linked with abnormal heart blood flow in patients with female-pattern heart disease

Chest pain in female-pattern heart disease is linked with abnormal heart blood flow, demonstrated with a drug commonly used to alleviate chest pain patients with coronary artery disease, which was found to be ineffective in patients with moderate female-pattern heart disease, but may offer some relief for sicker patients.

Improving safety, decreasing risks of new blood thinners By reversing the effects of the blood thinners apixaban and rivaroxaban within minutes, this new antidote may help to save the lives of patients taking blood thinners that experience major bleeding complications.

So long, stethoscope? New device, smartphone alter exams A smartphone-based device known as Heart Buds performed just as well as traditional stethoscopes and better than a disposable model in identifying heart murmurs and other vital sounds during patient exams

Lowering body temperature increases survival, brain function in cardiac arrest patients with non-shockable heart rhythms Lowering the body's temperature in cardiac arrest patients with 'non-shockable' heart rhythms increases survival and brain function. Patients who received the treatment were about three times more likely to survive cardiac arrest and have better neurological function compared to those who did not receive it

Brain Research:Solving the next step in the mystery of prions ♦ Safety issue' with widely used MRI contrast agent ♦ Thinking tests may signal Alzheimer's 18 years prior to diseas

Brain scan can predict who responds best to certain treatment for OCD A certain detail from patients' brain scans could help clinicians identify which people are more likely to relapse after cognitive-behavioral therapy -- and why. Tens of millions of Americans will suffer at some point in their lifetimes from obsessive-compulsive disorder, a disorder characterized by recurrent, intrusive, and disturbing thoughts, and/or stereotyped recurrent behaviors .

Low scores on memory and thinking tests may signal Alzheimer's 18 years prior to disease Errors on memory and thinking tests may signal Alzheimer's up to 18 years before the disease can be diagnosed.

Solving the next step in the mystery of prions Working towards the ultimate goal to develop therapeutics to treat diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, and Mad Cow Disease, scientists are investigating the physical principles underlying the formation of misfolded protein aggregates. The aggregates of misfolded proteins -- proteins that clump together in the 'wrong' structure -- feature prominently in these fatal degenerative diseases.

Smartphone app may prevent dangerous freezing of gait in Parkinson's patients CuPID is striving to provide personalized rehabilitation for patients with Parkinson's disease who experience gait disturbances. It is a home-based personalized rehabilitation tool in the form of a smartphone app that harnesses wearable sensors, audio biofeedback, and external cuing to provide intense motivational training tailored to each patient.

Study highlights 'important safety issue' with widely used MRI contrast agents New results in animals highlight a major safety concern regarding a class of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents used in millions of patients each year. The study adds to concerns that repeated use of specific "linear"-type gadolinium-based contrast agents lead to deposits of the heavy-metal element gadolinium in the brain.