Cardiovascular Research: Look inside your heart ♦ Studying cardiac arrhythmias in nematodes ♦ Exercise and stop smoking to improve depression after heart attack

Look inside your heart Quantifying the damage caused to specific parts of the heart by cardiac arrest is key to providing effective treatment and accurate prognoses for millions of people worldwide. Now, researchers have developed a computational method that uses magnetic resonance imaging data to assess the extent of damage to the left ventricle, the heart’s powerhouse.

Studying cardiac arrhythmias in nematodes A simple model using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been developed that can be used to test substances for treating genetically-mediated cardiac arrhythmias. They used the nematode feeding apparatus for this purpose, a rhythmically active muscle pump that resembles the muscle cells in the mammalian heart.

Novel prosthetic heart valve developed for treatment of severe heart disorder A novel prosthetic heart valve has been developed, known as VeloX, which can be implanted through a small incision for the treatment of a serious heart valve disorder called mitral regurgitation. This is a condition in which the mitral valve on the left side of the heart does not close properly. The device is particularly beneficial to patients who are of high surgical risk or are unsuitable for existing clinical interventions

Transplantation of unique, newly discovered stems cells may lead to promising stroke therapy When rats modeled with stroke were transplanted with newly discovered and unique Muse cells, neuronal regeneration resulted in significant improvements in neurological and motor functions and did not cause cancer, as other cells often do, scientists report.

Exercise and stop smoking to improve depression after heart attack  Exercise and stop smoking to improve depression after a heart attack, experts urge.

Health Research: Diabetes linked to bone health ♦ New drug protects against the deadly effects of nuclear radiation ♦ How DNA 'proofreader' proteins pick and edit their reading material

New drug protects against the deadly effects of nuclear radiation 24 hours after exposure A new breakthrough has been reported in countering the deadly effects of radiation exposure. A single injection of a regenerative peptide was shown to significantly increase survival in mice when given 24 hours after nuclear radiation exposure.

Diabetes linked to bone health A link between diabetes and bone health has been found by researchers. Clinical trials have revealed a startling elevation in fracture risk in diabetic patients.

Improving cardiorespiratory fitness reduces risk of arrhythmia recurrence Obese atrial fibrillation patients have a lower chance of arrhythmia recurrence if they have high levels of cardiorespiratory fitness, and risk continues to decline as exercise capacity increases as part of treatment.

Impact of sleep disturbance on recovery in veterans with PTSD and TBI Poor sleep may impact treatment and recovery in veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). A review of extensive research on sleep in TBI and PTSD has found that sleep-focused interventions can improve treatment outcomes in veterans

How DNA 'proofreader' proteins pick and edit their reading material Researchers have discovered how two important proofreader proteins know where to look for errors during DNA replication and how they work together to signal the body's repair mechanism.

Cardiovascular Research:Researchers identify new genetic cause of arrhythmia ♦ Restless legs syndrome to increased risk of stroke ♦ New genetic mutation in aortic disease allows better diagnosis

Researchers identify new genetic cause of arrhythmia and develop therapy A rare and deadly form of inherited arrhythmia has been identified by researchers, who have developed a method to treat it. Arrhythmia is a malfunction of the heart's electrical system that causes irregular heartbeats.  

Study links severe restless legs syndrome to increased risk of stroke Increased restless legs syndrome severity is associated with subsequent increased risk of stroke, researchers report. The study group comprised 72,916 female registered nurses ages 41-58 years in 2005, free of diabetes, stroke, and pregnancy at the baseline.

Discovery of new genetic mutation in aortic disease allows better diagnosis and brings personalised medicine a step closer Thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD), an enlargement or tearing of the walls of the aorta in the chest, is, together with abdominal aortic aneurysms, responsible for about 2% of all deaths in Western countries. The aorta is the largest artery in the body, and carries blood from the heart. About one out of every five patients with TAAD has a family member with the same disorder, therefore indicating a genetic cause.  However, the relevant genetic mutations discovered so far only explain about 30% of all cases

. Images reveal structure of heart cells that may hold heart attack clues Newly released images revealing the 'bicycle spoke' structure of a heart cell may hold key clues to reducing damage from a heart attack. Using a novel type of electron microscopy, researchers produced 3D images of a healthy heart cell at nanoscopic scale which shows part of their structure is arranged like spokes on a wheel.