Have you ever felt better after simply placing a bandage on a wound? Have you felt more energized the moment after taking a bright red pill? If so, you’ve experienced a form of the placebo effect. A placebo is an inactive treatment that mimics an active therapy. The placebo effect happens when patients believe a … Read More
Is Heart Disease In Your Genes?
Do you wonder why some smokers develop heart disease, but others don’t? Or how someone who thrives on burgers and fries can live to be 90, when a vegetarian has a heart attack at 40? The answer may be in the genes. And the fact is, we are only beginning to understand how they affect … Read More
Drugs Aim to Slow, Stop Alzheimer’s Before It Strikes
Medical researchers are trying a new strategy to combat Alzheimer’s disease. Instead of treating Alzheimer’s after it develops, scientists are exploring whether certain drugs can stop the deadly, debilitating disease before it starts, or slow its progress. Until now, the bulk of medical research focused on treating the disease once it took hold. But researchers now can identify … Read More
One Reason Why Kidney Disease May Contribute to Your Heart Attack
Few people know how closely heart health and kidney health are linked. Indeed, coronary artery disease is the Number One cause of death in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Even after starting dialysis or receiving a kidney transplant, their risk of heart attack remains sky-high. Gut bacteria may be a link Researchers at Cleveland … Read More
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How Science is Mending Broken Hearts
Have you ever heard of someone passing away from a “broken heart”? You may have thought it was a myth. But there actually is a medical condition called takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle brought on by extreme stress. Takotsubo often goes by the name “broken heart syndrome.” Cardiomyopathies (Greek for “affliction of … Read More
Medical Advances That May Affect You
Medicine changes so fast that doctors are hard-pressed to stay on top of the latest developments. That’s why they attend national medical meetings. At these meetings, they learn the latest information in their specialty. The annual meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA) is one of the largest in the world. From the thousands of … Read More
4 Ways Science Will Change Your Health in 2015
The path from laboratory to bedside can take years — even decades. If you follow health and science news, it’s easy to get excited about the groundbreaking studies published on a regular basis. If you are a patient, it’s also easy to get discouraged when you realize those studies are just the start of a … Read More
High Blood Pressure? Don’t Take Vitamin D for It (Video)
Sellers of vitamin D claim the nutrient can lower your blood pressure. But don’t believe the hype.
Why You Should Pay Attention to Chronic Inflammation
If you read health sites or follow celebrity doctors, you’ve probably heard the buzzword “inflammation.” You may even have heard people touting miracle cures such as the “anti-inflammatory diet.” Are you confused? Many people think of inflammation in terms of external signs: swelling, bruising and so on. But in truth, uncontrolled inflammation plays a role … Read More
Artificial Hearts Get Real
Shortly after graduating from Starfleet Academy in 2327, Jean Luc-Picard got into a fight and was stabbed in the heart. The future commanding officer of the Starship Enterprise was rushed into surgery where his native heart was replaced with a totally implantable mechanical heart (in the episode: “Tapestry”). Of course, Jean Luc-Picard is a fictional … Read More