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Cutting back on salt may not be as beneficial for your heart as once thought, a new study suggests. While a diet low in salt reduces blood pressure, it increases the levels of cholesterol, fat and hormones in the blood that are known to increase the risk of heart disease, the study found. Overall, the good and bad consequences of a low-salt diet may cancel each other out, so the diet has relatively little effect on the development of disease, said study researcher Dr. Niels Graudal, of Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark.

Every three days, more Americans die from sudden cardiac arrest than the number who died in the 9-11 attacks. You can lessen this recurring loss by learning Continuous Chest Compression CPR, a hands-only CPR method that doubles a person’s chance of surviving cardiac arrest. It’s easy and does not require mouth-to-mouth contact, making it more likely bystanders will try to help, and it was developed at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. "This video is worth sharing," said Gordon A. Ewy, MD, director of the UA Sarver Heart Center and one of the research pioneers who developed this method....

Enlarge Image Heart attack. Following a big meal, oily nutrients in the bloodstream of Burmese pythons (shown) spur massive growth of their hearts. Credit: Stephen M. Secor At the end of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, the titular villain undergoes a literal change of heart. His blood-pumping organ swells to three times its prior size. The ticker of the Burmese python (Python molurus) similarly balloons, but the cause isn't Christmas cheer—it's a big meal. A new study of recently fed snakes suggests that a precise mixture of fatty acids in the blood drives this cardiac growth, unveiling...

Heart Attack Grill Owner Serves 8,000-Calorie BurgerBy Mikaela Conley | ABC News – Tue, Oct 11, 2011 If you’re going to laugh in the face of obesity by opening a restaurant that serves an 8,000-calorie burger, you might as well open it in Sin City. And that’s just what Heart Attack Grill owner Jon Basso is doing. On Wednesday, the owner opens the doors to his third Heart Attack Grill location, this time in Las Vegas. The restaurant offers a Quadruple Bypass Burger that contains four beef patties, cheese, bacon and reportedly, about 8,000 calories. Along with its staple sandwich,...

A doctor from Israel says: "In Israel the medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's testicles; we put them into another man, and in 6 weeks he is looking for work." The German doctor comments: "That's nothing, in Germany we take part of the brain out of a person; we put it into another person's head, and in 4 weeks he is looking for work." A Russian doctor says: "That's nothing either. In Russia we take out half of the heart from a person; we put it into another person's chest, and in 2 weeks he is...

US President Barack Obama says the US economy has suffered a "heart attack" and survived but is not recuperating quickly enough, as he geared up to unveil a major jobs plan. Obama appeared on the Tom Joyner Morning Show in what also appeared to be an effort to reach out to black voters (Snip) "This is a situation where the economy essentially had a heart attack, and the patient lived, and the patient is getting better, but it's getting better very slowly." Obama is preparing a major speech on jobs and deficit cutting next week which is designed to revive

PARIS -- Willy Wonka may have been on to something with that chocolate factory, according to a meta-analysis that suggests chocolate can provide a heart benefit. In six studies, people who ate the most chocolate -- about two pieces of chocolate per week -- had a 37% lower risk of any cardiovascular disease compared with those who ate less (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.90), according to Oscar Franco, MD, PhD, of the University of Cambridge in England. And in three studies, those who consumed the most had a 29% lower risk of stroke (RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.52...

In Sept. 2008, Roger Fisher said that he was happy to receive the publicity for the song "Barracuda", co-written with the Wilson sisters from Heart, which was being used by the McCain/Palin campaign. The Wilson sisters said that "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women." Roger told Reuters back then that he pledged to give part of the royalties from the song's use by McCain/Palin campaign to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign. I wonder if he and the Wilson sisters feel the same way about Barack Obama these days...

The letter she wrote to her family before the birth of Trig gives us a glimpse into the soul of the penultimate "NON-quitter." In her email Palin imagines a letter from God to the family about to launch on its challenging child-rearing experience together. "Then, I put the idea in your hearts that his name should be 'Trig', because it's so fitting, with two Norse meanings: "True" and "Brave Victory"." "I've given Trig's mom and dad peace and joy as they wait to meet their new son. I gave them a happy anticipation because they asked me for that.I'll give...

If a person's blood becomes too thick it can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of heart attacks. But a Temple University physicist has discovered that he can thin the human blood by subjecting it to a magnetic field. [snip] Because red blood cells contain iron, Tao has been able to reduce a person's blood viscosity by 20-30 percent by subjecting it to a magnetic field of 1.3 Telsa (about the same as an MRI) for about one minute. Tao and his collaborator tested numerous blood samples in a Temple lab and found that the magnetic field polarizes the...

CLEVELAND - Contrary to what we’ve been told, eliminating or severely limiting fats from the diet may not be beneficial to cardiac function in patients suffering from heart failure, a study at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reports. Results from biological model studies conducted by assistant professor of physiology and biophysics Margaret Chandler, PhD, and other researchers, demonstrate that a high-fat diet improved overall mechanical function, in other words, the heart’s ability to pump, and was accompanied by cardiac insulin resistance. “Does that mean I can go out and eat my Big Mac after I have a heart...

Which is more dangerous: dietary salt or the government’s dietary guidelines? A new study confirms some old truths. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (May 4), reports that among 3,681 study subjects followed for as long as 23 years, the cardiovascular death rate was more than 50 percent higher among those on who consumed less salt. The researchers concluded that their findings, “refute the estimates of computer model of lives saved and health care costs reduced with lower salt intake” and they do not support “the current recommendations of a generalized and indiscriminate reduction...

NEW ORLEANS (AFP) – A new type of heart valve made with cow tissue and inserted by catheter was hailed on Sunday as a major breakthrough that could eliminate the need for open heart surgery in some patients, US doctors said Sunday. The method is aimed at high-risk patients who suffer from severe aortic stenosis, a clogged valve that impedes the pathway of oxygen-rich blood by making the heart work harder to pump blood through a narrowing opening. The condition affects nine percent of Americans over 65. Without treatment, up to half of patients die within two years. The technique...

Strokes are rising dramatically among young and middle-aged Americans while dropping in older people, a sign that the obesity epidemic may be starting to shift the age burden of the disease. The numbers, reported Wednesday at an American Stroke Association conference, come from the first large nationwide study of stroke hospitalizations by age. Government researchers compared hospitalizations in 1994 and 1995 with ones in 2006 and 2007. The sharpest increase — 51 percent — was among men 15 through 34. Strokes rose among women in this age group, too, but not as fast — 17 percent. "It's definitely alarming," said...

February is “American Heart Month,” and our e-mail inboxes are filling up with information about all sorts of cardiovascular-related events, including a celebrity-studded game of Capture the Flag at UCLA. Apparently, actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, singer Natasha Bedingfield, actor Ryan Kwanten and others will serve as captains of CTF teams that will compete for money to fund heart research at UCLA and UC Davis. CTF games will also be played in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Boston, according to a news release. The part that caught my eye was the source of the research money at stake in these games –...

Vitals Major Finding: Eplerenone reduced the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization by 37%, compared with placebo. Data Source: Phase III randomized trial in 2,737 patients with NYHA class II heart failure. Disclosures: EMPHASIS-HF was funded by Pfizer. Dr. Zannad reported receiving grants from and consulting for Pfizer. Two coauthors are Pfizer employees, and several others reported Pfizer grants and consultancy. CHICAGO — Adding eplerenone to standard therapy significantly cut the risk of cardiovascular death and heart failure hospitalization by more than one-third in patients with mild heart failure in the phase III EMPHASIS-HF trial. The primary composite...

Cheney Back in Public, Thinner, With Heart Pump *snip* The LVAD is implanted next to the heart to help its main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, pump blood through the body. Such devices are used mainly for short periods, to buy potential transplant candidates time as they await a donor organ. Cardiologists said that in Cheney's case, the pump is likely a "bridge" that will keep him alive until he can receive a heart transplant. Many cardiac experts said at the time of his surgery that Cheney may be only one step away from a transplant but could find himself...

San Francisco (AP) Nearly 15 years after sentencing, an inmate is getting an unexpected chance at freedom - and the judge a shot at redemption. Students at San Francisco's novel Three Strikes Project, which has successfully overturned 14 life prison terms handed down for non-violent crimes under California's unforgiving sentencing law, are joined by an unusual coalition in their latest bid.

Dick Cheney's new implant—a ventricular assist device—needed 'cause his heart is screwed, "leaves most recipients without a pulse because it pushes blood continuously instead of mimicking the heart's own pulsatile beat."

  The First Friday Devotion in the Catholic Church History of First Friday First Friday devotions among Catholics are related to devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ. First Friday practices date to the last decades of the 17th century, when Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and spoke to her of His Sacred Heart. Among the promises Our Lord revealed to St. Margaret Mary, the 12th specifically referenced practices for Fridays:In the excess of the mercy of my Heart, I promise you that my all powerful love will grant to all those who will receive Communion on the...