Drug firm funded printing in journal
An article in the Boston Globe describes the intersection of "money and medicine" in recently published CVD guidelines. The guidelines promote computed tomography to monitor calcium deposits in blood vessels of the heart and ultrasound to determine the thickness of the carotid arteries, at a combined cost of approximately US$250-700 per patient...
Our conflicted medical journals
Leading medical journals seem to be having a difficult time disentangling themselves from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. If they cannot stop printing articles by scientists with close ties to these businesses, they should at least force the authors to disclose their conflicts of interest publicly so that doctors and patients are forewarned that the interpretations may be biased...
Bernard Lown and defibrillation
I suspect Bernard Lown is most proud of his achievements as a clinician and Nobel Peace Prize winner. But to those of us in resuscitation science, he is known for his contributions to defibrillation...
Are physicians asking about tobacco use and assisting with cessation? Results from the 2001-2004 national ambulatory medical care survey (NAMCS)
Researchers completed an analysis of the 2001-2004 national ambulatory medical care survey (NAMCS) data to determine if identifying tobacco use and providing cessation assistance by providers have improved following the release and update of the clinical practice guidelines...
Inflammation and cardiovascular disease mechanisms
Inflammation is among the issues that must be addressed in prevention of cardiovascular disease. The view of atherosclerosis as a lipid storage disease is now altered by growing evidence that inflammation participates centrally in all stages of this disease...
Appropriate research agenda for heart disease in Africa
Innovative research is needed into cardiac disorders that are either common or unique in black African people. Rheumatic heart disease, the cardiomyopathies, and tuberculous pericarditis are largely neglected...
AHA/ACC guidelines for secondary prevention for patients with coronary and other atherosclerotic vascular disease: 2006 update
Updated guidelines for secondary prevention for patients with coronary and other atherosclerotic vascular disease. based on new evidence from clinical trials that supports the use of risk-reduction therapies for patients with established cardiovascular diseases...
Facilitating change in school health: A qualitative study of schools' experiences using the School Health Index
Researchers of this article explored the increasing role of school-based initiatives in modeling healthy nutrition and physical activity practices for children...
Women in Pakistan have a greater burden of clinical cardiovascular risk factors than men
Education on heart healthy diet and the provision of safe, culturally acceptable venues for women to exercise would seem to be logical first steps...
Epidemiologic and economic consequences of the global epidemics of obesity and diabetes
Rates of overweight and obesity are rising dramatically worldwide. Complications of overweight and obesity most importantly include diabetes where "60% of all cases of diabetes can be directly attributed to weight gain." The worldwide increase in diabetes is expected to rise from 175 million in 2000 to 353 million by 2030...
Low-dose aspirin for the prevention of atherothrombosis
Among patients with occlusive vascular disease trials of antiplatelet therapy indicate that aspirin and other antiplatelet drugs reduce the risk of a vascular event (nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from vascular causes) by approximately 25 percent...
Dynamics of early childhood overweight
Children of overweight mothers were 3 times as likely to be overweight at ages 6-7 than children of normal weight mothers. Overweight children aged 4-5 years were six times more likely to be overweight at ages 6-7...
Hypertension in sub-Saharan Africa
In Africa, rural populations still have less hypertension than urban populations, but the environments of Africa that previously protected the population from hypertension have changed and are now conducive to it. Environmental changes are likely to outweigh genetic differences in Africa to account for the epidemic of hypertension...
Obesity, hunger, and agriculture: the damaging role of subsidies
Phasing out market support for agricultural producers in developed countries is necessary to reduce obesity, poverty, and hunger worldwide, and the money saved in taxes could be used for ensuring sound nutrition and health in developing countries and for reaching the millennium development goals...
Obesity, hunger, and agriculture: the damaging role of subsidies
Phasing out market support for agricultural producers in developed countries is necessary to reduce obesity, poverty, and hunger worldwide, and that the money saved in taxes could be used for ensuring sound nutrition and health in developing countries and for reaching the millennium development goals...
Efficacy of an e-mail intervention for the promotion of physical activity and nutrition behavior in the workplace context
Email is a promising mode of delivery for promoting physical activity and nutrition in the workplace...
Vitamin E in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and cancer
Given the rather striking benefit observed in the subgroup of women 65 and older, it seems reasonable to recommend vitamin E supplementation for primary prevention of CVD in older women...
Tackling cardiovascular disease in Africa
In the past four decades Africa has witnessed increasing urbanisation and changing lifestyles, factors which have, in turn, raised the incidence of non-communicable chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease...
Latin America's urbanization is boosting obesity
Obesity has become an alarming problem for Latin America and also for other developing regions of the world. This article discusses the epidemiological transition in Peru and Argentina
Tooth loss is associated with increased risk of total death and death from upper gastrointestinal cancer, heart disease, and stroke in a Chinese population-based cohort
Approximately 30,000 individuals from rural China were examined in order to test the association of tooth loss with total and cause-specific mortality over a 15 year period...
