FDA Approves Blood Test That Gauges Heart Attack Risk

The screen is meant for people without history of heart disease, agency says.

  

Patients with Lp-PLA2 activity greater than the level of 225 nanomoles per minute per milliliter are at increased risk for heart attacks.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a new blood test that can help determine a person's future odds for heart attack and other heart troubles.
The test is designed for people with no history of heart disease, and it appears to be especially useful for women, and black women in particular, the agency said.
"A cardiac test that helps better predict future coronary heart disease risk in women, and especially black women, may help health care professionals identify these patients before they experience a serious [heart disease] event, like a heart attack," Alberto Gutierrez, director of the Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in an agency news release.

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Yoga May Cut Heart Disease Risk Factors

Review found those who took yoga classes saw improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, weight.

Yoga has long been believed to improve overall health, but a growing body of evidence shows the ancient practice may also help the heart, a new review finds.
In fact, the benefits were similar to those of conventional exercise such as brisk walking, said lead researcher Paula Chu, a doctoral candidate at Harvard University's Health Policy Program in Boston.
The review, of 37 clinical trials, found that people randomly assigned to take yoga classes saw improvements in their weight, blood pressure and cholesterol.
"This finding suggests that [people] who are physically limited in some way do not have to 'pound the pavement' in order to improve their cardiovascular risk profile," Chu said.
Still, studies so far have varied in quality and been relatively small and short-term, Chu's team reports in the Dec. 16 issue of the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

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Is BPA Bad for Your Heart?

Some evidence shows ill effects of the chemical, but the case is far from closed.

The container you use may expose you to the chemical known as BPA.

HIGHLIGHTS

Bisphenol-A (BPA) looks like estrogen to the body.

Early animal studies suggest BPA can affect heart function.

France will ban BPA from all products coming into direct contact with food as of 2015.

A new report, published in Hypertension in December 2014, links the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) from canned foods to spikes in blood pressure. The study has drawn attention to potential heart risks associated with the chemical.
You’ll find BPA in plastic bottles, food containers, the linings of cans, and even some cash register receipts. A 2005 study of the general U.S. population detected BPA in the urine of more than 95 percent of people tested.

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Excess Weight May Help Heart Failure Patients

'Paradoxical' finding suggests fat is protective, but doctors add it's no excuse gain weight.

Obese heart-failure patients appear to live longer than people of normal weight who develop the disabling condition, a new study suggests.
Researchers tracked nearly 1,500 heart failure patients, most of whom were overweight or obese before their diagnosis. They found that 38 percent of obese and 45 percent of overweight patients died over 10 years, compared with 51 percent of normal-weight patients.
The difference held even if they also had other health issues such as diabetes or high blood pressure.

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What You Need to Know About Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia is a type of cancer in which the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell).

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (also called CLL) is a blood and bone marrow disease that usually gets worse slowly. CLL is the second most common type of leukemia in adults. It often occurs during or after middle age; it rarely occurs in children.
Normally, the body makes blood stem cells (immature cells) that become mature blood cells over time. A blood stem cell may become a myeloid stem cell or a lymphoid stem cell.
A myeloid stem cell becomes one of three types of mature blood cells:

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All About Esophageal Cancer

Learn who is at risk for esophageal cancer and how to recognize the signs of this relatively uncommon cancer.

As you eat, you probably don't think much about how your food will get from your mouth to your stomach. But all the while, your body is at work in the fairly complex process that is digestion, and it all starts with your esophagus — the tube that carries the food into your stomach. And like many other parts of the body, the esophagus is susceptible to cancer.
There are two main types of esophageal cancer, squamous cell esophageal cancer and esophageal adenocarcinoma. Squamous cell esophageal cancer, the most common type, affects the cells that form the interior lining of the esophagus. Esophageal adenocarcinoma develops in the tissues found in the base of the esophagus, nearest the stomach.
Risk Factors for Esophageal Cancer

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What is Oral, Head, and Neck Cancer?

Oral, head, and neck cancer is a broad term that describes many different cancers that start in the head and neck. Learn about the different types and some common risk factors.

Most oral, head, and neck cancers begin in the cells that make up the moist tissues (mucosal surfaces) of the head and neck, including in the mouth, nose, and throat. Like other cancers, oral, head, and neck cancers occur when abnormal cells begin to grow and divide uncontrollably and form a mass, called a malignant tumor.
The National Cancer Institute estimates that 85 percent of oral, head, and neck cancers are linked to tobacco use. Men (age 50 or older) who use both tobacco and alcohol are at the highest risk.
Cancers of the brain, eye, thyroid, as well as the skin, bones, muscles and nerves of the head and neck are not included under the heading of "oral, head and neck" cancer.

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What You Need to Know About Pancreatic Cancer

Cancer Cells

Cancer begins in cells, the building blocks that make up tissues. Tissues make up the pancreas and the other organs of the body.
Normal cells grow and divide to form new cells as the body needs them. When normal cells grow old or get damaged, they die, and new cells take their place.
Sometimes, this process goes wrong. New cells form when the body doesn’t need them, and old or damaged cells don’t die as they should. The buildup of extra cells often forms a mass of tissue called a growth or tumor.

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