The patients who had an additional stent implanted as emergency treatment for their stent thrombosis were at an increased risk for cardiac death or recurrent thrombosis, Dutch researchers said on Saturday.

Heart stents are tiny metal devices that are inserted into the arteries to keep them from clogging up with damaging plaque which can lead to heart attack. Companies manufacturing such devices in the U.S. include Boston Scientific Corp., Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic Inc. A fourth company, Abbot Laboratories Inc. is expecting approval to enter the market in the near future.

The researchers, led by Dr. Jochem Wouter van Werkum, a cardiologist at St. Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein in the Netherlands, analyzed 437 patients with various kinds of stents who had stent thrombosis between January 2004 and February 2007. They found that 74 of the patients, or about one in six, experienced multiple episodes of stent thrombosis. Sixty-one patients had two episodes, 12 had three episodes and one patient had four episodes. Read more » »

Irvine, Calif - /PRWEB/ScienceDaily/ - an online source for research news, reported on March 21 the findings of a Brigham Young University study in which professor, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, found that happily married adults have lower blood pressure than singles with supportive social networks, suggesting marriage may literally be a matter of the heart. Today, Steve Hochman, founder of Next Level Fitness in Irvine and a certified personal trainer, agrees with Holt-Lunstad’s findings based on his own experiences and suggests that putting a new relationship partner through a grueling fitness workout might help determine if the relationship could lead to a happy marriage.

Holt-Lunstad wrote, “There seem to be some unique health benefits from marriage. It’s not just being married that benefits health - what’s really the most protective of health is having a happy marriage.”

Various studies indicate that approximately 53% of marriages in California end in divorce. Most relationships start off really great, with the excitement that comes with a new relationship, but, once the novelty wears off, people find out whether they are truly compatible. Hochman, who as of today has been happily married for eight years, claims to have found a way to test Read more » »

The Michelle Reesman, RN, Executive Director, Passport Health Colorado, says far too many international travelers, from business travelers to the more adventurous types, leave home without taking the basic steps she suggests below. “People need to put the same kind of preparation into their health as they do into their destination choice, passport acquisition or flight plans,” Reesman advises.

1) Get advice from a travel health professional. Four to six weeks
before departure, consult a travel medicine specialist for the most
up-to-date immunization, malaria recommendations and consultation.
They can answer your questions and prepare you for a safe and healthy
trip. It’s important to get your immunizations early, as some of the
vaccines take time to effectively protect you..
2) Protect yourself from disease-bearing insects. Wear protective
clothing and use products containing 20-30% DEET, the insect repellant
permethrin and bed nets.
3) Never go barefoot, even on the beach. Read more » »

CHICAGO (AP) — Leading doctors urged a return to older, tried-and-true treatments for high cholesterol after hearing full results Sunday of a failed trial of Vytorin.

Millions of Americans already take the drug or one of its components, Zetia. But doctors were stunned to learn that Vytorin failed to improve heart disease even though it worked as intended to reduce three key risk factors.

“People need to turn back to statins,” said Yale University cardiologist Dr. Harlan Krumholz, referring to Lipitor, Crestor and other widely used brands. “We know that statins are good drugs. We know that they reduce risks.”

The study was closely watched because Zetia and Vytorin have racked up $5 billion in sales despite limited proof of benefit. Two Congressional panels launched probes into why it took drugmakers nearly two years after the study’s completion to release results. Read more » »

HealthDay News — Parkinson’s disease has been linked to exposure to pesticides in a new study comparing people with the neurological disorder and their unaffected relatives.

The study, published online in the open-access journalBMC Neurology, found the strongest ties to the use of herbicides and insecticides, such as organochlorides and organophosphates. Drinking well water or living or working on a farm, two common experiences for pesticide exposures, did not appear to be associated with Parkinson’s.

Many Parkinson’s disease cases are thought to be due to an interaction between genetic and environmental factors. By studying related individuals who share environmental and genetic backgrounds, researchers said they could identify specific differences in exposures between individuals with and without the disease.

“Previous studies have shown that individuals with Parkinson’s disease are over twice as likely to report being exposed to pesticides as unaffected individuals, but few studies have looked Read more » »

JAKARTA - Two Indonesian youths have died from bird flu, a health ministry official said on Monday, taking the confirmed death toll in the country worst affected by the virus to 107.

A 15-year-old boy from Subang, in West Java, died on Wednesday in an area where chickens had died, said Nyoman Kandun, director general of communicable disease control at the ministry.

An 11-year-old girl from Bekasi, east of Jakarta, who died on Friday also tested positive for the virus, the official said.

“There were dead chickens in the boy’s neighbourhood, but in the girl’s case it is still unclear,” Kandun said via a mobile phone text message. Read more » »

OxyContin contains oxycodone, a very strong narcotic pain reliever similar to morphine. OxyContin is designed so that the oxycodone is slowly released over time, allowing it to be used twice daily. You should never break, chew, or crush the OxyContin tablet since this causes a large amount of oxycodone to be released from the tablet all at once, potentially resulting in a dangerous or fatal drug overdose. careflorida