Culture

MINNEAPOLIS, MN—October 31, 2013—A Paravalvular regurgitation, or leakage, commonly affects valvular prostheses, particularly artificial valves placed percutaneously according to data presented at the 2013 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference. Building on existing data, research cardiologist Paul Sorajja MD, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation delivered a presentation on current percutaneous techniques that sheds light on the complexities of the treatment of paravalvular prosthetic regurgitation, or heart valve leakage.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 31, 2013 – According to a new study, aspirating blood clots does not significantly reduce microvascular obstruction or reduce the risk of death in patients with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), when compared to standard percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) without thrombectomy.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – THURSDAY OCTOBER 31, 2013 – In a clinical trial, a second-generation transcatheter aortic valve demonstrated low rates of complications that are sometimes seen in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), including challenges with positioning, post-procedure paravalvular aortic regurgitation, vascular complications, and stroke.

Six states – Alaska, California, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Vermont – earned an "A" on the March of Dimes 2013 Premature Birth Report Card as their preterm birth rates met the March of Dimes 9.6 percent goal. The US preterm birth rate improved to the lowest rate in 15 years, but the change wasn't enough to earn it a better grade. The nation again earned a "C" on the Report Card.

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a severe chronic systemic disease caused by the protozoa (Leishmania infantum) in South America, the Mediterranean, southwest and central Asia. These parasites lodges in defense cells and compromises the spleen, liver and bone marrow, becoming fatal if left untreated. The parasites are transmitted to human and animal hosts by the bite of phlebotomine sand flies with dogs as the main urban reservoirs.

No one knows Americans like foreign psychologists - and they have shown it. A new paper in an open access journal declared that there are higher levels of racism in white Americans who own a gun and oppose greater gun control policies and they imply that correlation is causation.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 31, 2013 – A hybrid approach to treating coronary artery disease that involves a "hybrid procedure" combining a minimally invasive bypass surgery with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was found to be feasible and safe in a clinical trial. This is the first randomized study of the technique. These findings were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 31, 2013 – According to a new study of heart attack patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), free access to platelet function testing had only a modest impact on anti-clotting drug selection and dosing. Findings of the TRANSLATE-POPS trial were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 31, 2013 – According to a recent study of diabetic patients who underwent revascularization for multi-vessel coronary artery disease (CAD), patients treated with insulin experienced more major adverse cardiovascular events after revascularization than those not treated with insulin.

Attracting more talented foreign students to study at U.S. universities and encouraging them to launch entrepreneurial ventures here could help "revitalize innovation and economic growth" in this country, a trio of economists led by University of Colorado Boulder Professor Keith Maskus concludes.

Maskus and co-authors Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, associate professor at the Yale School of Management, and Eric T. Stuen, assistant professor at the University of Idaho College of Business and Economics, make this case in the Policy Forum of the Nov. 1 edition of the journal Science.

Knowing who your doctor is — and a couple of facts about that person — may go a long way toward improving patient satisfaction, according to a Vanderbilt study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

Faced with the knowledge that between 82 percent and 90 percent of medical patients are unable to correctly name their treating physician following inpatient admission, orthopaedic trauma surgeon Alex Jahangir, M.D., and his Vanderbilt colleagues studied the effects of giving a randomized group of patients a simple biosketch card about their doctor.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A new paper by an Indiana University professor sheds new light on the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of legal challenges to the Affordable Care Act, which many critics said threatens state sovereignty and individual liberties.

The paper comes at a time when problems with the act's implementation, particularly the creation of state health care exchanges, highlight the limits of federal capabilities and the importance of state cooperation in the success of domestic government programs.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 31, 2013 – According to a new study, patients that do not experience a major cardiac event in the first year after receiving drug-eluting stent (DES) may not need to receive prolonged dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT). Results from the ARCTIC-INTERRUPTION trial were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Being left-handed has been linked to many mental disorders, but Yale researcher Jadon Webb and his colleagues have found that among those with mental illnesses, people with psychotic disorders like schizophrenia are much more likely to be left-handed than those with mood disorders like depression or bipolar syndrome.

The new study is published in the October-December 2013 issue of the journal SAGE Open.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – OCTOBER 31, 2013 - A new study demonstrates that some patients may not need to receive prolonged anti-clotting therapy after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation with the Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stent, and that shortening the duration could reduce bleeding risks and treatment costs. The OPTIMIZE clinical trial findings were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium.