In a sub-analysis of data from an earlier trial comparing the ability of three agents used to restore blood flow to patients soon after heart attacks, researchers have found that drugs used to prevent blood coagulation appear to have different effects in heart patients with diabetes. These findings, coupled with an assessment of ease of administration and cost compared to other drugs, has lead researchers to recommend the drug enoxaparin, which is a low-molecular weight heparin, for acute heart attack patients with diabetes.

Researchers have found that selective COX-2 inhibitors ? a class of medications widely prescribed for painful inflammatory conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis – interfere with the healing process after a bone fracture or cementless joint implant surgery. Their findings suggest that patients who regularly take COX-2 inhibitors should switch to a different medication, such as acetaminophen or codeine derivatives, following a bone fracture or cementless implant.

A study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health has found that postmenopausal women with heart disease who took hormone therapy and high dose antioxidant vitamins ? either alone or in combination with hormones ? did not have fewer heart attacks, deaths, or progression of coronary disease. In fact, both treatments showed a potential for harm. Although the actual numbers of deaths in the study were small, participants taking both active hormones and vitamins had the highest death rate while participants on placebo versions of both treatments had the lowest death rate.

By taking continuous electrocardiogram (ECG) readings for 24 hours after treating heart attack patients, researches have shown that giving a combination of a new drug that prevents platelets from clumping together, as well as a clot-busting drug, opens up clogged arteries faster and keeps them open longer.

Researchers have shown that an age-related loss of specific stem cells that continually repair damage to blood vessels is critical to determining the onset and progression of atherosclerosis. Stem cells are immature cells that have the potential to mature into a variety of different cells. This novel view of the disease, based on experiments in mice, constitutes a potential new avenue in the treatment of one of the leading causes of death and illness in the U.S., the researchers said.

The American Heart Association has issued a statement on a recent study announcing positive results from an Atkins-like, low-carbohydrate diet. “Media reports about a small study funded by the Robert C. Atkins Foundation may have created the erroneous impression that the American Heart Association has revised its dietary guidelines. This is not the case. This study was released as one of over 3,600 abstracts presented at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions, a forum for the presentation of research pertaining to heart disease and stroke for scientists and physicians. These scientific abstracts do not represent official positions or statements of the American Heart Association….

The rate of life-threatening heart rhythms more than doubled among New York heart patients the month after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, researchers have reported. The study evaluated patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). An ICD is an electrical generator the size of a pocket watch that is inserted into the heart to monitor heart rhythm. It detects life-threatening abnormal rhythms, called arrhythmias, and delivers an electrical shock to restore normal rhythm.

The National Human Genome Research Institute said today it has made several key personnel changes, including the appointment of a new scientific director to run its intramural research program, a new director for the extramural program that oversaw the Human Genome Project and new advisors in the Office of the Director.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a speaker at BioSecurity 2002, now underway in Las Vegas, discusses with Science Blog editor Ben Sullivan issues facing Israel and the Middle East in the biosecurity realm.

Beyond Iraq, to what extent do bioweapons represent a likely threat to Israel and other Middle East countries? Do you believe they are seen as a legitimate weapon by the powerplayers behind the intifada, for example, or does the region’s concentrated geography actually play against the likelihood of their use?

Iraq is clearly the major player of bio-weapon in the region. Syria might be interested in it as a part of its “Strategic Answer” vis a vis the per claimed nuclear capabilities of Israel, namely as a deterrence element. Palestinian terror might not be able to use it on major scale for the reasons you have mentioned…