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My wife age 81 recently developed the need to see a cardiologist for A-fib (non-valvular) which has been releasing blood clots into her lungs causing pulmonary edema and inability to breathe on two occasions requiring EMT intervention and hospitalization. These events have also caused her to lose most of her ability to ambulate and have also caused loss of mental clarity. The hospital has not provided us with a referral to a cardiologist only saying my wife needed to see one on an out-patient basis, and this despite having referred her the second time to a skilled nursing facility for...

Sen. John Fetterman shared a graphic recovery photo Saturday, two days after a fall near his Pennsylvania home sent him to a Pittsburgh hospital with a facial injury caused by a ventricular fibrillation flare-up. Fetterman, D-Pa., posted the close-up selfie on X Saturday, showing a stitched gash across his cheek as he held an iced coffee. "Twenty stitches later and a full recovery, I’m back home," he wrote, thanking doctors at UPMC for "putting me back together" and supporters for their well-wishes. He posted the image just two days after he was hospitalized early Thursday. A spokesperson said the senator...

A tailored approach of vitamin D3 supplementation in patients who have suffered a heart attack significantly reduces their risk of a second heart attack, a new study finds. In a large, randomized clinical trial, researchers found that treating heart attack patients in a "target to treat" fashion, where patients' blood levels of vitamin D were monitored and vitamin D3 dosing adjusted to achieve optimal levels, cut their risk of a second heart attack in half. The study, called the TARGET-D trial, enrolled patients from April 2017 to May 2023 and included 630 patients who had a heart attack within a...

In A Nutshell Sleeping with the lights on is linked to a 42% higher risk of heart attack compared to sleeping in darkness, based on a study tracking nearly 90,000 adults over 9 years. The brightest bedrooms also showed higher risks for heart failure, coronary artery disease, irregular heartbeat, and stroke. The connection held even after accounting for diet, exercise, smoking, and genetics, suggesting light at night is a factor worth managing for heart health. Simple fixes like blackout curtains, turning off devices, and keeping bedrooms dark may help protect your heart. Maybe it’s the glow from your alarm clock,...

NATIONAL NUT DAY National Nut Day is observed annually on October 22nd. This day is NOT about the neighbor that lives down the street or the co-worker who sings with their headphones on. It is a food holiday celebrating a healthy and nutritious snack. #NationalNutDay Nuts are a highly prized food and energy source and are a primary source of nutrients for both humans and wildlife. Many of them are used in cooking, eaten raw, sprouted, or roasted as a snack food, and pressed for oil that is used in cookery and cosmetics. The fats found in nuts, for the...

Could cocoa extract supplements rich in cocoa flavanols reduce inflammation and, in turn, prevent age-related chronic diseases? In a new study from the COcoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), investigators looked at changes in five age-related markers of inflammation among participants who received daily cocoa supplements over several years. They found that hsCRP—an inflammatory marker that can signal increased risk of cardiovascular disease—decreased in participants taking the cocoa extract supplement, suggesting its anti-inflammatory potential may help explain its heart-protective effects. Nutritional interventions have become an increasingly attractive solution for slowing inflammatory aging, so-called "inflammaging." Cocoa extract has been shown...

Intense light therapy after surgery can increase a critical protein that protects heart tissue while lowering levels of troponin, a protein indicating heart damage that's linked to higher mortality in patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery, according to a study. The results add to a growing body of evidence showing that intense light has a healing effect on the heart and blood vessels, a finding that could help reduce the number of cardiac events that happen after surgery. Myocardial Injuries in Noncardiac Surgeries (MINS) occur in about 20% of patients and significantly increase one-year mortality rates. "The risk of myocardial injury goes...

Cory Wong - guitar Yohannes Tona - bass Kevin Gastonguay - keys Petar Janjic - drums Alex Bone - alto sax, soprano sax Kenni Holmen - tenor sax, soprano sax, flute Jake Botts - bari sax, bass clarinet, tambo Jay Webb - trumpet, flugelhorn Michael Nelson - tromboneCory Wong - Live At Montreux Jazz Festival | 1:01:55 Cory Wong | 353K subscribers | 44,286 views | August 29, 20250:00 Assassin 3:49 Welcome 2 Minneapolis 8:28 Bluebird 11:46 Team Sports 21:12 Let's Go 25:39 Meditation 37:24 St. Paul 42:38 Brooklyn Bop 52:35 Flyers Direct 55:39 Lunchtime

Methotrexate, a common medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, has a newly recognized useful secondary effect of lowering blood pressure and potentially reduces the risk of heart disease in people with this condition. A new study led by researchers, has shown that methotrexate significantly lowers blood pressure when compared to another arthritis drug, sulfasalazine, marking the first clear evidence of this effect in newly diagnosed patients. Occurring in about 1 in 100 people, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common autoimmune disease which leads to inflammation and pain in the connective tissue of a patient's joints. Over six months, the researchers...

Digitalis has been used to treat heart failure for more than 200 years. The drug digitoxin also belongs to this group of active ingredients known as cardiac glycosides. Although there were indications that digitalis was beneficial in heart failure, it has only now been scientifically proven that digitoxin has a significant positive effect in heart failure due to reduced pumping function and insufficient emptying of the left ventricle—known in medical terms as HFrEF (heart failure with reduced ejection fraction). For 10 years, researchers thoroughly investigated the safety and efficacy of the active ingredient in a clinical study involving more than...

For years if not decades, coffee lovers everywhere have been confused.While growing research has linked our favorite morning drink to numerous health benefits from reduced inflammation to lower risk of serious diseases, like cancer, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, doctors have still warned against its high levels of caffeine.Why?Well, the theory has long been that the caffeine that gives your brain a jolt to get you started each morning might also give your heart a jolt that could cause rhythm problems, such as atrial fibrillation (AFib).So what’s a coffee lover to do?Well, rather than giving up your cup of joe, sit...

A team of investigators report that adults who later develop cardiovascular disease show declining physical activity levels beginning roughly 12 years before their event, with the gap versus their healthy peers persisting long afterward. Scientists analyzed data from 3,068 participants in CARDIA, a prospective study initiated in 1985–1986 with up to 10 physical activity assessments through 2020–2022. Participants were followed in four US cities with a median follow-up of 34.0 years. Physical activity decreased steadily from young adulthood into middle age, then stabilized in later years across the full cohort. Black men had a more sustained decline, while Black women...

Eight essential nutrients make up the suite of B vitamins also known as the B complex. Research has revealed that these B vitamins influence a vast spectrum of human health and disease. "It's hard to study the B vitamins in isolation," says gastroenterologist Joel Mason. "Four of these B-vitamins cooperate as co-factors in many critical activities in cells in what we call 'one carbon metabolism.'" One of the most active areas for B vitamin research is cognitive health. By the age of 75–80, 40% of people have a diminished ability to absorb food-bound B12, says Mason. This deficiency leads to...

Researchers have linked brighter night-time light exposure to elevated risks of five major cardiovascular diseases. Circadian rhythms govern fluctuations in blood pressure, heart rate, platelet activation, hormone secretion, and glucose metabolism. Long-term disruption of those rhythms in animal and human studies have produced myocardial fibrosis, hypertension, inflammation, and impaired autonomic balance. Researchers conducted a prospective cohort analysis to assess whether day and night light exposure predicts incidence of cardiovascular diseases and whether relationships vary with genetic susceptibility, sex, and age. Data came from 88,905 UK Biobank participants, average age 62.4 ± 7.8 years and 56.9% female, who wore wrist-based light...

As survival rates declined, excess cardiac arrest deaths nearly erased two decades of progress in lives saved.A new JAMA Cardiology study by McBride et al confirms what emergency physicians in King County, WA, have long hoped: survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) has steadily improved for two decades. From 2001 to 2020, survival to hospital discharge rose from 14.7% to 18.9%, with even greater gains for shockable rhythms—from 35% to 47.5%. This reflected massive regional investments in CPR training, AED access, EMS optimization, and post-arrest care. Twenty Years of Progress. One Year to Reverse It. In our 2024 study,...

Pfizer's Delayed Myocarditis Study A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing Now for the not-so-hidden easter egg. CDC’s Captain Dr. Sarah Meyer (CDC/NCEZID), during her recent ACIP presentation titled “COVID-19 safety update” regarding long-term outcomes from COVID-19 mRNA product myocarditis, assured the nation that post mRNA vaccine myocarditis, while a real risk, resolves completely without long-term problems. Frankly, that statement was verifiably false. Whether the post-Comirnaty-associated clinical myocarditis OR the post-COVID-associated clinical myocarditis afflicting those unfortunate few who develop this disease (note the hopeful, optimistic forward-looking statement…) fully recover without long-term consequences is not known. Because the...

A new multi-cohort study has found that exposure to certain metals, detected in urine, is associated with a higher risk of heart failure (HF). "In our analysis of over 10,000 adults we observed consistent associations between elevated urinary metal levels and increased HF risk over long-term follow-up." The study pooled data from three large cohorts with more than 20 years of follow-up. Key findings included: —Higher levels of the mixture of five metals in urine—arsenic, cadmium, molybdenum, selenium, and zinc—were associated with a 55% higher risk of heart failure in rural American Indian adults (SHS), a 38% higher risk in...

We believe that Jesus awaits us in the Holy Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle. This is a continuation of John Chapter 6: "…Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day." … "Many therefore of his disciples, hearing it, said: This saying is hard; and who can hear it?" … "After this, many of his disciples...

Intensive exercise- and sport changes the heart of an athlete. Research led by Amsterdam UMC shows that the hearts of female athletes have different characteristics than those of male athletes. Whereas a thickening in combination with a dilation of the heart muscle is characteristic in male top athletes, dilation of the heart chambers is mainly seen in female elite athletes. An important observation that can help doctors to better distinguish between normal sports-related changes and possible heart disease in female athletes. These results were published today in European Heart Journal Cardiovascular Imaging. Difference Between Men and Women Despite the growing...

Regularly smoking weed or consuming edibles may raise the risk of suffering a heart attack, a study suggests. The team from the University of California San Francisco who made the find warns it is 'more evidence cannabis use is not benign.' It also comes amid an alarming rise in unexplained heart attacks in young Americans, which experts are still trying to unpack.