To coincide with coverage of the Canadian Women’s Heart Health Summit, this edition of “Rapids Beats” is dedicated to news related to women and heart disease. Why Women Are Less Likely to Receive Statin Therapy Statin drugs, which lower cholesterol, are equally effective in men and women at...
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As commentaries on radiation go, Peter Parker likely summed it up best: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Although no one at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute has had to deal with the complications of acquiring superpowers from a radioactive spider, the staff is profoundly aware...
The 9p21 risk variant is the strongest known common genetic risk factor for heart disease in Caucasians and Asians. Beginning with the discovery of 9p21 in 2007, studies have consistently shown that having one copy of a genetic variation in 9p21 increases a person’s risk of heart disease by 15 to 20...
The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) and the UOHI Foundation have established a $1M research chair to improve care and experiences for hundreds of thousands of patients who require life-saving heart surgeries and procedures each year. The J. Earl Wynands Associate Chair in Cardiac...
Roughly half of our risk of getting heart disease is due to our genetics. The other half is due to age, lifestyle and other environmental factors. Of the genetic half, some of the risk comes from rare genetic variants that have a big impact on a person’s individual risk. Some comes from the additive...
A research team at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute led by biochemist Yves Marcel, PhD, Director of the Heart Institute’s High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Biology Laboratory, has discovered a new function for a known cellular pathway: mobilization and exportation of cholesterol from cells.
For decades, researchers have known that the brain controls the diameter of the peripheral arteries, the vessels that carry blood to the arms, legs, hands and feet. Electrical impulses from the brain travel to these arteries through a network of nerves known as the sympathetic nervous system...
You have seven minutes, Dr. Chow. You may begin. Dr. Benjamin Chow was told he had seven minutes to pitch his idea. Seven minutes to describe and convey the importance of a groundbreaking medical technique. To explain how using it would improve access to healthcare for thousands of heart patients in...
The Heart Institute will hold its second annual Sharing is Caring cardiac rehabilitation research event on Thursday, February 27. Patients, families, caregivers, and community members are invited to take part.
Our editorial team is working from home to bring you a series of articles about the coronavirus. This article, about a breakthrough innovation that can decontaminate used surgical masks, is the first in the series. N95 surgical face masks are an example of personal protective equipment used to...
A recent study of close to 200,000 men and women found that shorter people are at higher risk of coronary artery disease than their taller counterparts, with every 2.5-inch (6.35-cm) change in height affecting their level of risk by 13.5%. This means that, if you are 5 feet tall, your risk of...
A good night’s sleep restores energy, improves performance and generally makes you feel better. Getting the right amount of sleep is also important for good heart health. A South Korean study of more than 47,000 adults found that people who sleep about seven hours a night have significantly fewer...
A recent study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests smartphone technology is diagnostically more accurate than traditional physical examination techniques to assess blood flow in arteries found in the wrist. The study was conducted at the University of Ottawa Heart...
So far in 2016, Heart Institute researchers have won more than $7 million in research funding, including major awards from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada. Perhaps most remarkable is the Institute’s...
For decades, patients taking the anti-clotting drug warfarin who required the implantation of a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter defibrillator have posed a dilemma. If they are at moderate to high risk of stroke caused by a blood clot, how are doctors to balance the risk of surgical bleeding...
In April of this year, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute expanded its ranks with a new surgeon who brings broad interests in new concepts and technologies that have the potential to improve patient outcomes. Crossing the Atlantic from the Clinique Saint-Luc Bouge in Namur, Belgium, David...
Modern medical imaging allows doctors to see deep within the body in exquisite detail. Using small amounts of radioactive material called tracers, cardiologists can see in real time how well a patient’s heart is functioning. The positron emission tomography (PET) imaging group at the University of...
It can be difficult to talk to a child about a heart event or diagnosis, treatments, the prognosis, and the possible changes that may occur in your family as a result. If you are in this situation, here are 10 tips for discussing your heart condition with your child.
If you are a caregiver, you may help your loved one with a variety of tasks, including helping with grocery shopping and cleaning, managing prescriptions and medical appointments, assisting with mobility and transportation, running errands, performing activities of daily living (such as personal hygiene and eating), and providing emotional support. Here are 10 tips for living well as a caregiver.
Since their first appearance in the late 1980s, the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins have become one of the most widely prescribed classes of drugs ever produced. The medication is used to treat coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis) by lowering the amount of LDL cholesterol—the “bad” cholesterol—in the bloodstream.