http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Since the heart is such a delicate and critical organ, clinicians usually opt not to intervene with the dead cells that remain after a heart attack or cardiac disease. "But we think that all heart attacks deserve some kind of treatment because it puts so much stress on the rest of the heart," said Thomas Webster, professor and chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering. Even a square centimeter of dead heart tissue can put significant strain on the rest of the heart, which has to pick up the slack, he said. http://phys.org/news287998232.html Nanotechnology Fri, 17 May 2013 08:50:05 EST news287998232 A new study by researchers at UCLA suggests that the elasticity of the physical matrix used for growing heart muscle cells outside of the body may be critical to the success of cardiac tissue engineering. The results were published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials this week. http://phys.org/news285229121.html Chemistry Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:30:03 EST news285229121 Using recent advances in marine biomechanics, materials science, and tissue engineering, a team of researchers at Harvard University and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have turned inanimate silicone and living cardiac muscle cells into a freely swimming "jellyfish." http://phys.org/news262177716.html Biology Sun, 22 Jul 2012 13:00:08 EST news262177716 (PhysOrg.com) -- Damaged human heart muscle cannot be regenerated. Scar tissue grows in place of the damaged muscle cells. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim are seeking to restore complete cardiac function with the help of artificial cardiac tissue. They have succeeded in loading cardiac muscle cells onto a three-dimensional scaffold, created using the silk produced by a tropical silkworm. http://phys.org/news247126548.html Chemistry Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:15:59 EST news247126548 Damaged heart tissue is not known for having much inherent capacity for repair. But now, scientists are closing in on signals that may be able to coax the heart into producing replacement cardiac muscle cells. Using a zebrafish model system, researchers have identified a family of molecules that can stimulate stem cells to develop into beating heart muscle cells. The research, published by Cell Press in the December 21st issue of the journal Chemistry & Biology, may pave the way towards new therapeutic approaches for cardiac regeneration and repair. http://phys.org/news243777618.html Chemistry Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:01:10 EST news243777618 Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), jointly with colleagues in the United States, have found out that inflammations of the heart muscle are caused by attacks of a specific type of immune cells. These immune cells attack the body's own tissue because during their maturation they did not have the chance to develop tolerance against a protein that is only found in the heart muscle. http://phys.org/news220610590.html Medicine & Health Tue, 29 Mar 2011 09:43:27 EST news220610590 It's one of the most vexing problems in medical science: How can you mend a broken heart? http://phys.org/news217530104.html Medicine & Health Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:30:01 EST news217530104 A research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has demonstrated the feasibility of a novel technology that a surgeon could use to deliver stem cells to targeted areas of the body to repair diseased or damaged tissue, including cardiac muscle damaged by a heart attack. The technique involves bundling biopolymer microthreads into biological sutures and seeding the sutures with stem cells. The team has shown that the adult bone-marrow-derived stem cells will multiply while attached to the threads and retain their ability to differentiate and grow into other cell types. http://phys.org/news211112101.html Medicine & Health Thu, 09 Dec 2010 10:15:31 EST news211112101 A research, led by R.J. Perz-Edwards, Ph.D., of Duke University Medical Center, explains how insect flight muscle works, in particular how insects accomplish something called 'stretch activation,' which has been a scientific mystery for more than 60 years. http://phys.org/news210954352.html Biology Tue, 07 Dec 2010 14:26:19 EST news210954352 Left ventricular non-compaction (LVNC), a cardiomyopathy about which little is fully understood, is associated with heart failure (HF), stroke and ventricular arrhythmias, according to a study to be presented Nov. 17 at the 2010 American Heart Association (AHA) Scientific Sessions in Chicago. The researchers also will report that advanced imaging technologies reveal that developing these cardiac risks appear to progress over time in patients with LVNC. http://phys.org/news209222130.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Nov 2010 13:16:02 EST news209222130 A clinical trial designed to replace the genetic defect causing the most common form of muscular dystrophy has uncovered an unexpected aspect of the disease. The trial, based on therapy designed by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, showed that some patients mount an immune response to the dystrophin protein even before they have received the gene therapy. http://phys.org/news205604815.html Medicine & Health Wed, 06 Oct 2010 17:40:01 EST news205604815 In research that one day may lead to the discovery of how to regenerate tissue damaged by heart disease, investigators at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles have identified PDGF as a key factor in the proliferation and transformation of epicardial cells, one type of cell that surrounds heart muscle and contributes to vessels. http://phys.org/news205517698.html Biology Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:15:55 EST news205517698 Tobias Brugmann and his colleagues from the University of Bonn's Institute of Physiology I used a so-called "channelrhodopsin" for their experiments, which is a type of light sensor. At the same time, it can act as an ion channel in the cell membrane. When stimulated with blue light, this channel opens, and positive ions flow into the cell. This causes a change in the cell membrane's pressure, which stimulates cardiac muscle cells to contract. http://phys.org/news205406759.html Medicine & Health Mon, 04 Oct 2010 10:50:02 EST news205406759 These days people usually don't die from a heart attack. But the damage to heart muscle is irreversible, and most patients eventually succumb to congestive heart failure, the most common cause of death in developed countries. http://phys.org/news200591642.html Medicine & Health Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:40:01 EST news200591642 Researchers have developed a new mathematical model that may provide a simpler and better way of predicting ventricular function during the cardiac cycle. The new model could help researchers improve treatment options for patients with heart disease. The article appears in the August issue of the Journal of General Physiology. http://phys.org/news199365477.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:18:10 EST news199365477 This fuel-preference represents an adaptation in high altitude mice to use oxygen more efficiently than their low-altitude counterparts. http://phys.org/news197206592.html Biology Thu, 01 Jul 2010 18:00:01 EST news197206592 One in 25 people from India and other south Asian countries carries a mutated gene that causes heart failure. http://phys.org/news195217316.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Jun 2010 12:40:01 EST news195217316 Apoptosis, the natural 'programmed' death of cells, is arrested in the aftermath of strenuous exercise. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Physiology studied peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), isolated from whole blood samples taken from people after finishing a marathon, finding that the balance between expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes is shifted after the race. http://phys.org/news192785113.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 May 2010 08:25:38 EST news192785113 Researchers have been able to see how heart failure affects the surface of an individual heart muscle cell in minute detail, using a new nanoscale scanning technique developed at Imperial College London. The findings may lead to better design of beta-blockers, the drugs that can slow the development of heart failure, and to improvements in current therapeutic approaches to treating heart failure and abnormal heart rhythms. http://phys.org/news186328485.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:00:01 EST news186328485 (AP) -- Surviving five heart attacks makes former Vice President Dick Cheney pretty unusual - showing that he has good medical care as well as a particularly aggressive form of heart disease. http://phys.org/news186176188.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Feb 2010 19:50:01 EST news186176188 Bioengineers from University of California, San Diego are developing new regenerative therapies for heart disease. The work could influence the way in which regenerative therapies for cardiovascular and other diseases are treated in the future. http://phys.org/news179511544.html Medicine & Health Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:20:00 EST news179511544 In a new study, researchers report that a class of heart medications called beta-blockers can have a helpful, or harmful, effect on the heart, depending on their molecular activity. http://phys.org/news177941049.html Medicine & Health Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:20:04 EST news177941049 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have grown a piece of heart muscle - and then watched it beat - by using stem cells from a mouse embryo, a big step toward one day repairing damage from heart attacks. http://phys.org/news174839103.html Medicine & Health Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:26:37 EST news174839103 Genes previously known to be essential to the coordinated, rhythmic electrical activity of cardiac muscle -- a healthy heartbeat -- have now also been found to play a key role in thyroid hormone (TH) biosynthesis, according to Weill Cornell Medical College researchers. http://phys.org/news172671924.html Medicine & Health Sun, 20 Sep 2009 13:26:31 EST news172671924 Men and women whose thighs are less than 60cm in circumference have a higher risk of premature death and heart disease, according to research published on BMJ.com today. The study also concluded that individuals whose thighs are wider than 60cm have no added protective effect. http://phys.org/news171225922.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:45:48 EST news171225922 A UCSF study for the treatment of heart failure after heart attack found that the extract derived from bone marrow cells is as effective as therapy using bone marrow stem cells for improving cardiac function, decreasing the formation of scar tissue and improving cardiac pumping capacity after heart attack. http://phys.org/news165512730.html Medicine & Health Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:00:01 EST news165512730 Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School have discovered a new therapy that shows potential to treat people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal disease and the most common form of muscular dystrophy in children. http://phys.org/news162569608.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 15:15:29 EST news162569608 (PhysOrg.com) -- Statins, used widely to treat elevated cholesterol, have been shown to prevent progression of coronary narrowing and to have other beneficial effects on the heart, such as reducing inflammation, that are independent of cholesterol. http://phys.org/news154630899.html Medicine & Health Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:02:11 EST news154630899 Based on a striking similarity between heart disease and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered that a new class of experimental drugs for heart failure may also help treat the fatal muscular disorder. http://phys.org/news153324060.html Medicine & Health Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:03:07 EST news153324060 Engineers at Purdue and Stanford universities have created stretchable electrodes to study how cardiac muscle cells, neurons and other cells react to mechanical stresses from heart attacks, traumatic brain injuries and other diseases. http://phys.org/news151852545.html Technology Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:16:29 EST news151852545