Smart seniors' guide to flu season
(11/20/09)

Getting immunized against seasonal flu is the most important step most people over 50 should take this flu season. Older people who come down with flu-like symptoms should call their primary care physician promptly, because they may be priority candidates for antiviral drugs.

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Sculpture of football legend Bo Schembechler unveiled
(11/19/09)

A bronze sculpture of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler will be unveiled Nov. 19 at the U-M Cardiovascular Center. Long after Schembechler led the U-M football team to prominence, he was working tirelessly to do the same for heart health.

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Chances of surviving a cardiac arrest at home or work unchanged in 30 years
(11/19/09)

The chance of surviving an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest has not improved since the 1950s, according to a report by the University of Michigan Health System. The analysis shows only 7.6 percent of victims survive an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

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Study shows mixed results in comparing surgeries for infant heart defects
(11/17/09)

Infants born with a severely underdeveloped heart are more likely to survive to their first birthday when treated with a new shunt procedure — yet it may not be the safest surgery long term, according to research by the University of Michigan Congenital Heart Center.

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Half of eligible patients not getting aortic valve replacement surgery
(11/11/09)

Fear about the risk of surgery is among the reasons half of eligible patients are not getting aortic valve replacement surgery, according to a study by physicians at the University of Michigan Health System. Two-thirds of the patients who did not have valve replacement were suffering symptoms such as shortness of breath that would have improved if they had undergone surgery.

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2 from U-M elected to Institute of Medicine
(10/27/09)

Two University of Michigan faculty members have been elected to the Institute of Medicine, one of the highest honors in the fields of health and medicine.

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U-M heart expert available to discuss Detroit race deaths
(10/21/09)

While the causes of death of three runners in the Detroit half-marathon are unknown, an inherited heart condition makes the top of the list for possible causes. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a genetic disease which results in a thickening of the heart muscle, accounts for 40 percent of on-the-field sports deaths. U-M has one of seven HCM clinics in the country.

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University of Michigan cardiologist invited to World Health Summit
(10/12/09)

Improving health care and medical research will be debated on the world stage this week during the first ever World Health Summit in Berlin. Stevo Julius, M.D., an active professor emeritus at the University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center, will be among 600 invited experts to discuss global health care challenges during the summit held Oct. 14-18.

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Patients who received donated pacemakers survived without complications
(10/08/09)

The argument for pacemaker reuse has been debated for decades. But the idea is gaining ground as experts at the U-M Cardiovascular Center report promising results of providing donated pacemakers to underserved nations. A series of 12 patients in the Phillippines who received donated pacemakers survived without complications from the devices.

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Scientists jump-start heart cells by gene transfer
(10/06/09)

Gene therapy may be used to improve an ailing heart's ability to contract properly, a new study suggests. In experiments with animal and human heart muscle cells, U-M and University of Minnesota scientists succeeded in introducing a gene that produced a protein whose function is to make heart cells to contract normally.

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