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Cardiology
Virtual hearts a game-changer for cardiac surgery
Twice a week, scores of people gather at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US to plan the most difficult cardiac surgeries. They analyse three-dimensional,...
Risk of heart attacks, deaths, for three years after Covid – US study
A large study has suggested that Covid-19 could be a powerful risk factor for heart attacks and strokes for as long as three years...
GLP-1 drugs may protect brain health – US review
Drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide) and Zepbound (tirzepatide) may offer benefits that go beyond weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes or...
Heart defect risk for babies conceived through IVF – Swedish study
Babies conceived through certain fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilisation, are more likely to have major heart defects, although cases are still rare, researchers...
Omega-3 cuts aggression by nearly 30% – US meta-analysis
A recent meta-analysis suggests that omega-3, available as dietary supplements via fish oil capsules and thought to help with mental and physical well-being, could...
Alcohol consumption linked to rising cancer cases – US study
Adults under 50 have been developing breast cancer and colorectal cancer at increasingly higher rates over the past few decades, and alcohol use may...
MIND diet slows cognitive decline for women, black people – US study
Sticking to the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems,...
Common medical practices that older patients should question
Some treatments and procedures become routine despite lacking strong evidence to show that they’re beneficial – and recent studies have called a few of...
Weekend sleep ‘catch-up’ may lower heart disease risk – Chinese study
Modern lifestyles mean many people are sleep-deprived on work or school days, and try to “catch-up” with compensatory sleep on weekends – which, shows...
Low-calorie sweetener raises blood clot risk – US study
A small study has found that the sugar substitute, erythritol, makes blood more susceptible to clotting, and may explain why it has been linked...
Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa saves its 100th life
The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa (TCCFA), which since 2019 has been offering lifesaving procedures to South African and African children suffering from congenital...
Plant-based meat alternatives less risky for CVD, Canadian study confirms
Studies comparing the impact of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) and animal-based meats consistently suggest that the former improve cardiovascular risk factors – which appears...
Why major HIV and statins finding may not apply in South Africa
One of the biggest stories in HIV in the past year was that statins could help reduce cardiovascular disease in people with the virus....
Atrial fibrillation tied to higher risk of stroke and dementia
After examining data on more than 5m people from British GP practices, researchers from the University of Birmingham found that patients with a common...
SA heart groups urge stricter testing to prevent ASCVD
SA heart groups are calling for stricter low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) targets and lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) testing to be incorporated into routine practice for preventing...
New SAMRC chief aims to ‘restore trust in science’
Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, who takes over the hot seat at the South African Medical Research Council in July, may be soft-spoken but he is unafraid...
Rush of anger may trigger heart attack – US study
In efforts to dig deeper into a previously observed link between anger and heart attacks, researchers from Columbia University Irving Medical Centre, Yale School...
Pollution linked to stress, heart disease deaths – US study
A study in more than 3 000 US counties, involving more than 315m residents, has suggested that air pollution is linked with stress and...
AFib rising among younger people – US study
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) – an abnormal heart rhythm that affects the heart’s upper chambers and can increase the risk of stroke and heart failure...
FDA heart pump recall after link to deaths and injuries
A pair of heart devices linked to hundreds of injuries and at least 14 deaths has received the FDA’s most serious recall, the agency announced...
Call to re-assess growing burden of AF and its consequences
Heart failure, not stroke, is the most common complication of atrial fibrillation – which affects 37m people worldwide – say experts, calling for the...
No benefits from 'outdated' beta-blockers after heart attack
Swedish researchers have described as outdated the standard practice of prescribing beta-blockers after a heart attack to lessen the risk of a future cardiovascular...
Vaping raises heart failure risk – US study
Vaping may cause a “substantial” increase in the risk of heart failure, research has suggested, with scientists saying that more studies are linking the...
Less invasive, new approach to diagnose heart disease – Irish study
A clinical trial that saw high resolution scanning technology used to identify heart disease has been welcomed as a potential game-changer for cardiac treatment,...
FDA flags heart pump linked to 49 deaths
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued its highest-level alert about a heart pump that has been linked to 49 deaths and...
Cardiotoxicity risks after chemo treatment
With advances in cancer treatments, comes the risk of long-term health effects, including "cardiotoxicity".
Steven Petrow, writing in The Washington Post, says in 1984, he...
Smokers more likely to carry belly fat linked to disease risk – Danish study
Smokers may have more belly fat – particularly visceral fat – than non-smokers, even if they tend to generally have lower body weight than...
Sugary drinks make boys more prone to diabetes than girls – US study
A long-term study of women and their children by Harvard University found sugary drinks increased insulin resistance and blood glucose levels in boys, but...
Value of lithotripsy for mitral valve stenosis
Until recently, there was sparse evidence of the value of a novel technology called intravascular lithotripsy-facilitated percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (IVL-PBMV) for treating patients with severe...
Frequent cannabis use bumps up heart attack risk – US study
American researchers have suggested that people who frequently smoke weed have a greater risk of heart attack and stroke, after their analysis of several...
Women need half as much exercise as men for longevity – US study
Women need to exercise only half as much as men to reap the same longevity benefits, suggests a recent study – with the researchers...
Cutting back on salt as effective as BP meds
Reducing salt consumption by just one teaspoon a day could lower your blood pressure as much as hypertension medication, according to research presented at...
Gene-editing cholesterol trial paves way for groundbreaking treatment
The treatment of a handful of patients with severe heart disease, who volunteered for an experimental cholesterol-lowering treatment using gene editing, has paved the...
Sleeping beats sitting when it comes to heart health: UK study
A cross-sectional study investigating the impact of movement behaviour on cardiometabolic health suggests that replacing 30 minutes of daily sitting with equal time standing...
AI tool could predict heart attack 10 years ahead: Oxford study
Artificial intelligence could help predict if a person is likely to have a heart attack up to 10 years before it happens, suggest British...
Evolving heart failure risk factors in Africa calls for management rethink
Heart failure prevention and management requires a context-driven approach in African countries where it is an evolving syndrome with changing predictive risk factors, and...
Four-stage classification of heart attack paves way for new therapy developments
Acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and a recently released consensus statement by experts now has...
7 000 steps a day can reduce early CVD death risk, global study finds
An international study has disclosed for the first time the best number of steps at which most people obtain the greatest benefits – and...
Pig-heart transplant man making progress
The second person to have received a transplanted heart from a pig is recovering steadily, according to the patient’s medical team at the University...
Less than one-third of patients have rehabilitation after TAVR – US study
Most people who have a minimally invasive heart valve replacement procedure do not undergo recommended cardiac rehabilitation, say US researchers, who used clinical registry...