CVD News Watch for the Weekend 11 July 2008

Here is your compiled CVD news to enjoy over the weekend.

CVD lifestyle watch

“Heart-Friendly Cities Revealed”

The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement, through Sperling’s BestPlaces, conducted a study to determine how heart-friendly is your city.

And here are the results.

Top 3 most heart-friendly mega metros (= cities with population equal or greater than 1.5 million)

• Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
• Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
• San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland, CA

3 least heart-friendly mega metros

• Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
• St. Louis, MO-IL
• Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro, TN

Want to know whether your city is heart-friendly? Click here for a full list of heart-friendly cities in the US.

CVD patient watch

From CBC News: “Ontario woman gains East Coast accent following stroke”

This woman was very lucky to survive a stroke but at the expense of her accent. Her Ontario accent was replaced by a much slower Canadian East Coast accent.

“The rare syndrome affects people who have had a stroke, causing them to speak in a different accent than the one they had before the stroke. It usually occurs after a stroke damages the areas of the left hemisphere of the brain related to speech production, such as Broca’s area, pre-motor and motor areas and the basal ganglia.”

Small price to pay for surviving a stroke, I’d say.

CVD weight watch

From Reuters: “How weekend eating adds up”

We are eating more on weekends, especially on Saturdays, leading to weight gain that adds up to almost 10 lbs a year! Careful, today is Friday.

CVD medical device watch

“XIENCE^TM V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent now approved in the US”

The US FDA approves Xience V, the eluting coronary stent system containing the drug everolimus. According to the FDA

“The XIENCE V stent is used in patients who have a significant narrowing in their coronary arteries caused by coronary artery disease – a condition that occurs when the arteries that supply oxygen-rich blood and nutrients to the heart muscle become narrowed or blocked by a gradual build-up of ‘plaque’.”

For more information about this device, check out this video clip from Abbott.

CVD cholesterol watch

The New York Times “Cholesterol Drugs for Kids”

The American Academy of Pediatrics broadens existing guidelines to include more cholesterol screening for children starting at age 2 and the use of cholesterol-lowering medications in children as young as 8 years old. More about the AAP guidelines next week.

CVD clinical trial watch

From heartwire: “FDA advisory committee recommends cardiovascular safety studies for diabetes drugs”

After Avandia, the FDA is more wary about diabetic drugs. The regulatory body would require more clinical studies on new diabetes drugs to rule out cardiovascular risk before they can be approved for marketing.

Have a nice weekend.

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