Saturated Fats Linked To Heart Disease Once Again
–But critics say that observational studies can’t establish causal relationship. A prominent group of nutrition researchers have once again linked saturated fats to increased coronary heart disease. The new paper, published in BMJ, is the third paper in the past year to decry saturated fats. Along with the previous two papers, published in JACC and JAMA Internal...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 27, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes cholesterol diet dietary guidelines nutrition saturated fats Source Type: blogs

Guest Post: Two Nations Separated by 5.3 mm
Editor’s note: This guest post is by Saurabh Jha, MBBS, a radiologist at the University of Pennsylvania. This post will also be published on The Health Care Blog, where Jha is the associate editor. A popular meme is that the US spends more on healthcare than other developed nations but has nothing to show for...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 23, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes AAA Saurabh Jha screening Source Type: blogs

How The Internet Brought Us Donald Trump
Does the internet expand our world? Does it lead us to a broader and richer view of our world and ourselves? It seemed like a simple question. The year was 1994 and the internet was still new. I was sitting in a classroom full of MIT students as a guest during my year as a...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 20, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Uncategorized election internet Trump Source Type: blogs

How The Internet Brought Us To Donald Trump
Does the internet expand our world? Does it lead us to a broader and richer view of our world and ourselves? It seemed like a simple question. The year was 1994 and the internet was still new. I was sitting in a classroom full of MIT students as a guest during my year as a...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 20, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Uncategorized election internet Trump Source Type: blogs

Mixed Results For ApoA-1 Therapies
–It’s still not time to write the obituary for all HDL therapies. There was good news and bad news for a category of experimental drugs that attempt to mimic the putative beneficial effect of HDL at the American Heart Association meeting in New Orleans. Thirteen years after setting the field on fire with a promising...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 16, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes ACS Apo!-1 cholesterol CSL HDL Milano Source Type: blogs

Lunchroom Scandal At The AHA: Day Two Of Buttergate
–After a CardioBrief investigation the American Heart Association changes the lunchroom menu There is no better proof that journalism can change the world– both for the good and the bad– than Buttergate. Yesterday your intrepid reporter exposed the ongoing scandal of Buttergate taking place within the press lunchroom at the American Heart Association meeting in New...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 15, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes AHA american heart association dietary guidelines Fat nutrition sugar Source Type: blogs

More Progress For Novel PCSK9 Drug
–The PCSK9 synthesis inhibitor from The Medicines Company is getting close to phase 3 trials. More early information continues to accumulate about a novel cholesterol drug under development by The Medicines Company. The drug, which was initially created by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, uses RNA interference technology to inhibit the synthesis of PCSK9 in the liver. The main...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 15, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Alnylam inclisiran PCSK9 PCSK9si The Medicines Company Source Type: blogs

Is The American Heart Association Trying To Kill Health Reporters?
The answer is no. The AHA is not trying to kill us. But its dietary advice is consistently confusing and occasionally wrong, and health reporters in New Orleans may end up as collateral damage. Just take a look at what’s being served in the press room at the big American Heart Association meeting going on now...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 14, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Uncategorized AHA American Heart Assocition Fat low-carb nutrition nutrition guideline sugar Source Type: blogs

Statin Nation ‘ Census ’ Highlights Major Disparities
–Women, minorities treated at significantly lower rates Anyone reading this is almost certainly aware of the enormous importance of statins in the current health scene. But until now they may have had a hard time to bring precise numbers and statistics to this all important story. Now data from a large federal survey confirm that...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 14, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes primary prevention statins Source Type: blogs

No Cognitive Benefit from Heart Drugs in HOPE-3
–Substudy finds mental function unimproved by BP, cholesterol treatments NEW ORLEANS — A large substudy of the HOPE-3 trial found no benefit relating to cognitive function in patients who took cholesterol or blood pressure-lowering drugs. In recent years cognitive decline and dementia have emerged as a concern equal if not even greater than cardiovascular disease...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 13, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes antihypertensive drugs Cognition dementia primary prevention statins Source Type: blogs

Long-Term Benefit in HF Patients Elusive for Novel Vasodilator
–Investigational drug ularitide had no effect on mortality or clinical outcomes NEW ORLEANS — Short term vasodilator treatment for acute heart failure in the hospital did not lead to long term clinical benefits in the largest and most rigorous trial in the field yet performed, researchers said. In the TRUE-AHF trial 2,157 patients with acute...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 13, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Heart Failure acute heart failure ADHF Cardiorentis ularitide vasodilator Source Type: blogs

Debate Ensues As USPSTF Finalizes Statin Primary Prevention Guideline
–Broad disagreement about how, when, and if to use statins. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued final recommendations regarding the use of statins for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults. The recommendations, first proposed last December, are broadly consistent with the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines. But accompanying the...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 13, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes cardiovascular risk guidelines primary prevention statins USPSTF Source Type: blogs

Novel Cholesterol Therapy Flops And Company Ends Development
–13 years after ApoA-1 Milano sparked excitement the novel HDL therapy appears to be dead. After 13 years and despite the efforts of 3 separate companies, the novel cholesterol therapy known as ApoA-1 Milano appears to be dead. On Monday afternoon the Medicines Company announced that it had discontinued development of the drug and would...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 8, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes apo-A-1 Esperion HDL Medicines Company Pfizer Source Type: blogs

Cardiac Devices Could Become a Big Problem For Califf And The FDA
–Approvals with no strong evidence of efficacy: What could go wrong?  The FDA has a big problem. It likes to approve new drugs and devices. Approvals look good politically and allow the FDA to boast each year about their large number of approvals. But when the FDA approves a drug or device that doesn’t work...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 7, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Interventional Cardiology & Surgery People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Califf devices FDA FDA approval Source Type: blogs

Early Watchman Experience Reassuring, But Many Questions Remain
In the year and a half after its approval the Watchman left atrial appendage closure device was successfully implanted 95.6% of the time, or more than 3,600 times out of a total of 3,822 consecutive cases. The finding comes from procedural data collected by Boston Scientific and presented at TCT by Vivek Reddy (Mt. Sinai)...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - November 4, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Interventional Cardiology & Surgery People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Boston Scientific Left atrial appendage Watchman Source Type: blogs