FDA Okays First Extravascular ICD System The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Medtronic's novel "extravascular" implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (Aurora EV-ICD) system, which uses a single lead implanted substernally to allow anti-tachycardia pacing and low-energy defibrillation while avoiding the vascular space for lead placement.

New Tool to Guide Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Researchers developed TJ-ICE–guided TAVR to facilitate implanting a heart valve at an optimal depth, guided by direct visualization of the membranous septum (MS) during the procedure.

INFLAMATION MAY EXPLAIN MORTALITY-RISK LINK TO TV WATCHING Prolonged television viewing is associated with an increased mortality risk, including from cardiovascular disease (CVD), that may be at least partially mediated by inflammatory markers, suggest results from a large UK cohort study[1]. The findings, which were published online on June 9, 2017 inAtherosclerosis, demonstrate for the first time that over 15% of the association between mortality and increased TV viewing may be explained by C-reactive protein and fibrinogen levels. Dr Mark Hamer (National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine, East Midlands, Loughborough, UK) and colleagues note that previous research has shown that prolonged sitting is linked to the expression of genes associated with inflammatory responses. "Fibrinogen, the strongest predictor of mortality in the present study, may also have relevance in terms of elevated risk of vascular conditions, particularly venous thrombosis," they write. "Recent experimental data demonstrated increases in plasma fibrinogen with prolonged uninterrupted sitting that was attenuated with active breaks." While the researchers note that the study design does not allow the temporal relationship between TV viewing and the biomarkers to be determined, previous analyses of the same cohort revealed a prospective association between TV viewing and changes in inflammatory markers.

THE GENDER GAP IN CARDIOLOGY IS EMBARRASSING Since women make up about half of all medical students, the glaring gender gap in cardiology deserves attention. Dr Robert Harrington of Stanford called the dearth of women in cardiology a talent issue for our field. In a tweet, he noted that women make up 45% to 47% of internal medicine residents but less than 20% of cardiology fellows. And it"s worse in the lab-based subspecialties, where <10% of interventional cardiology or electrophysiology fellows are women.

Professor David Wood, WHF President, on participating in the 70th World Health Assembly Today marks the opening of the 70th World Health Assembly (WHA), one of the highlights of the global health calendar. At this annual conference, Ministers of Health, civil society and World Health Organization (WHO) experts will meet to discuss the most pressing health issues of our time, including cardiovascular disease (CVD). As President of the World Heart Federation, I am delighted to welcome a large delegation of member partners, members, Board and staff to the event. Through our leading position in cardiovascular health, we aim to raise the profile of CVD to ensure that global health policies meet the needs of patients and our global membership.

Genetic Risk Could Guide Heart Disease Prevention The use of genetic sequencing to identify which patients would benefit most from aggressive statin therapy for the primary prevention of a heart attack could soon be a clinical reality. And the discovery of genetic mutations associated with cardiovascular disease — but not linked to any known risk factors — opens the possibility of novel therapies to help people cut the risk for future events. "Among those at high genetic risk, statins confer a greater benefit for primary prevention of coronary heart disease," said Sekar Kathiresan, MD, from Massachusetts GeneralHospital in Boston and the Broad Institute in Cambridge.

On behalf of Cardioprogress Foundation let us sincerely congratulate you with the World Heart Day! On behalf of Cardioprogress Foundation let us sincerely congratulate you with the World Heart Day! World Heart Day is celebrated annually starting from 1999, more than in 100 countries around the globe in the last Sunday of September. And in 2011, the World Heart Day. And from 2011 it has its own confirmed date- the 29th of September. Events, that take place during the World Heart Day are attract attention to the problem of cardiovascular diseases, it"s the world"s biggest intervention against these conditions. It’s utterly important to show the world the importance of healthy life style, and the influence of bad habits on the cardiovascular system.

Trump Pick for CMS Would Ease Up on Physicians Seema Verma, MPH, President Donald Trump"s choice to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has mixed feelings about electronic health record (EHR) systems. It"s just one example of how she"s on the same page with many physicians regarding healthcare. "My doctor…is staring at her computer instead of looking at me," the healthcare policy consultant told the US Senate Committee on Finance during her confirmation hearing yesterday. Verma"s comment came in response to a question about the future of the CMS incentive program for meaningful use of EHRs, much criticized by physicians for turning them into data entry clerks. She also recounted seeing signs in physician waiting rooms that apologized for schedule delays due to EHR implementation. Yet another tech challenge she cited was the lack of EHR interoperability, which prevents different programs from freely exchanging data.

Mediterranean Diet With Olive Oil Boosted HDL Function? More research suggests that a Mediterranean-style diet supplemented with either virgin olive oil or mixed nuts enhances the function of HDL cholesterol[1]. In a subset of 296 patients at high risk of heart disease in thePREDIMED study, cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC), the first step in reverse cholesterol transport, was significantly increased at 1 year compared with baseline in those advised to eat a Mediterranean diet rich in virgin olive oil (VOO) (P=0.018) or mixed nuts (P=0.013) rather than a reduced-fat diet.

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