CVD News watch, February 13

Don’t forget. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, the day of hearts. Be kind to your heart and to those of others.

CVD events watch

The Culture of a Woman’s Heart
Rush Medical Medical Center is organizing this informative program The Culture of a Woman’s Heart. Join women’s heart experts at Rush for an informative program that will outline your risk factors based on your ethnicity and explain how you can take charge of your heart health. This year’s keynote address by Annabelle Volgman, MD, “Prescription for a Happy, Healthy Heart,” will be followed by breakout sessions for African-American, Asian, Caucasian, Latina and South Asian women. Blood pressure screenings will also be provided for participants, with results discussed in the breakout sessions.

CVD trial watch

Multivitamin use: No effect on cancers or CVD in women
Talking about women, some more results from the Women’s Health Initiative trials, some more disappointing news about multivitamin supplements. Multivitamins have no effect on women’s risk for cancers and cardiovascular disease. It doesn’t harm but it doesn’t do any good either.

CVD regulators watch

Recent FDA Approvals – “Firsts”
The US FDA recently approved the first ablation catheters for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is usually treated with pharmacological agents. Catheter ablation should only be used when treatment with drugs fail to adequately control the symptoms.

Another FDA approval this month is for ATryn, “an anticoagulant used for the prevention of blood clots in patients with a rare disease known as hereditary antithrombin (AT) deficiency. These patients are at high risk of blood clots during medical interventions, such as surgery, and before, during and after childbirth.”. ATRyn is the first ever biological product produced by genetically engineered animals to be approved

CVD obesity watch

Arginine discovery could help fight human obesity
The amino acid arginine could help fight obesity, according to this study Texas AgriLife Research researchers. Incorporating arginine in the diet of rats led to decreased body fat gains. The diet can be easily used by humans as there are a lot of arginine-rich foods including “seafood, watermelon juice, nuts, seeds, algae, meats, rice protein concentrate and soy protein.” The results have been published in the February issue of the Journal of Nutrition.

CVD patient watch

New Approach Needed to Protect Patient Privacy in Health Research
A recent report from the Institute of Medicine says that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule is inadequate in protecting patient privacy in connection with health and medical research. The report urges the US Congress to “authorize the development of an entirely new approach to protecting the privacy of personal health information in research.” If policymakers decide to continue using the HIPAA regulation, “a series of changes to the rule and its application” is necessary, the report recommends.

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