In a study to be published in the Nov. 12 special edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers at McGill University, Johns Hopkins University and six other institutions from around the world question the American Heart Association's recent suggestion that millions of North American cardiac patients be automatically screened for depression.

Heart patients are particularly vulnerable to depression and should be screened, and if necessary treated, to improve their recovery and overall health, according to a scientific advisory issued Monday by the American Heart Association and co-authored by a Yale School of Public Health researcher.

University of Florida doctors on Wednesday (Oct. 3) treated their first patient enrolled in a new study designed to test whether injecting stem cells into the heart helps restore blood flow to the organ by prompting new blood vessels to grow.

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are trying to determine whether a drug already available to heart patients can also be used to delay delivery in expectant mothers with severe preeclampsia. If so, this groundbreaking study would give hope to hundreds of thousands of women who experience this life-threatening disorder each year.

A DEVICE that sounds like a 21st century version of a medicinal leech may soon be set loose inside the chests of heart patients. Resembling a robotic caterpillar, it will crawl across the surface of their beating heart, delivering treatment without the need for major surgery.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Andy Tan said the heart pump's innovative design was based on a double-output centrifugal model that pushed the blood in a counter direction to ensure correct flow through both sides of the heart, and is the subject of a patent application.