Emergency department (ED) visits for atrial fibrillation (AF) appear to go up on days around some annual events in the United States that many people commemorate by consuming alcohol in excess — think Christmas, New Year's Day, and Super Bowl Sunday.

Scientists at University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City partnered with Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital physicians to use an artificial intelligence tool to examine whether a patient is susceptible to heart disease, according to a study published Jan. 18 in PLOS Digital Health.

HF may be associated with cancer incidence as well as risk for cancer-related mortality, especially among individuals aged 50 to 70 years, according to new data published in JACC: CardioOncology.

Los Angeles-based Sensydia designed CPS as a non-invasive cardiac monitoring device that reports critical heart performance measurements to physicians for the comprehensive evaluation of patients with advanced and persistent heart failure. It can make the measurements without an in-hospital catheterization procedure or ultrasound assessment, according to the company.

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When treating older heart failure (HF) patients, cardiac resynchronization therapy with a defibrillator (CRT-D) is associated with better outcomes than treatment with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) alone, according to new findings published in JACC: Heart Failure.

Mild and moderate COVID-19 infections can cause lingering changes to a patient’s heart and cardiovascular system, according to a new analysis published in European Heart Journal.

Advanced coronary artery disease and the cardiac hypertrophy often associated with it is the most common cause of sudden cardiac death. However, in some cases, less advanced coronary artery disease and cardiac hypertrophy are established among the underlying causes of sudden death. According to the study, specific rare genetic variants may increase the risk of fatal arrhythmias and sudden death in patients with less advanced coronary artery disease.

In a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society of postmenopausal women, those who reported a faster walking pace had a lower risk of developing heart failure.

HF-related events, the composite primary outcome of the study, included HF-related deaths, repeat hospitalizations, and emergency department visits for exacerbation of HF.

Women who breastfed were less likely to develop heart disease or a stroke, or die from cardiovascular disease than women who did not breastfeed, according to a meta-analysis published today in a pregnancy spotlight issue of the Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA), an open access, peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent approval of 68Ga-PSMA-11 to target PSMA during PET scans in men with prostate cancer enabled the researchers to fine tune their risk assessment categories. PSMA-PET scans, in turn, helped them to identify patients with early-stage, undetected cancer and distant metastatic disease.

A recent study published in the Journal of Clinical Neurology found that the severity of excessive daytime sleepiness was associated with Parkinsonian-like (P-L) symptoms in Korean adults aged 50-64 years. While the mechanisms behind this observation are not yet known, population-based studies using simple questionnaires could play a key role in future research, according to study authors.

Physical activity, nutrition and cognitively stimulating activities are all known to be good ways to prevent Alzheimer's disease and dementia. And older adults at risk can access a variety of lifestyle services to that end, including diet regimes and exercises for their body and mind.

Does one's body mass index (BMI) play a role in progressive cognitive decline as adults age? According to a new study, the answer seems to be yes. But rather than higher or lower BMIs being the issue, the main problem was that increases and decreases in BMI over time are what may be linked to speeding up a loss of cognition.

Inpatients with Parkinson disease (PD) were observed to exhibit reverse dipping, in which night-time systolic blood pressure (BP) increased, according to study findings published in Brain and Behavior.

Bereavement-related stress, particularly from the death of a child, may slightly increase risk for stroke, according to a bi-national, population-based cohort study published in Neurology.

The omicron surge this winter has not only swamped U.S. hospitals with record numbers of patients with COVID-19, it has also caused frightening moments and major headaches for people trying to get treatment for other ailments.

Hybrid PET/MR imaging with an experimental gallium-68 (Ga-68)-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) radiotracer outperforms standard molecular imaging for diagnosing gastric cancer, according to a study published in the January issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

The COVID-19 omicron variant appears to cause an unusual imaging pattern on FDG-PET/CT scans in cancer patients, according to a statement released January 14 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) COVID-19 Task Force.

The protein alpha-synuclein, which has a well-established role in the development of Parkinson’s disease, is necessary for the body to mount a normal immune response against infections.

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A genome-wide association study using data from thousands of patients in the US and abroad has identified a genetic risk factor of the loss of taste or smell that sometimes accompanies SARS-CoV-2 infection. In the study, which appears in this week's Nature Genetics, a team led by scientists from 23andMe analyzed online survey data from 69,841 individuals in the UK and US, identifying a genome-wide significant locus in the vicinity of the UGT2A1 and UGT2A2 genes. Both genes are expressed in the olfactory epithelium and play a role in metabolizing odorants, the researchers write. "Notably, the variant identified in this study also appears to be associated with general ability to smell, which may suggest that those with heightened smell or taste sensitivity may be more prone to notice a loss of these senses resulting from a SARS-CoV-2 infection." GenomeWeb has more on this, here.

A team at the University of Alabama-Birmingham has transplanted genetically modified pig kidneys into a brain-dead human patient, the Associated Press reports.

A connection between the human herpesvirus Epstein-Barr and multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been suspected but has been difficult to prove. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the primary cause of mononucleosis and is so common that 95 percent of adults carry it. Unlike Epstein-Barr, MS, a devastating demyelinating disease of the central nervous system, is relatively rare. It affects 2.8 million people worldwide. But people who contract infectious mononucleosis are at slightly increased risk of developing MS. In the disease, inflammation damages the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells, ultimately disrupting signals to and from the brain and causing a variety of symptoms, from numbness and pain to paralysis.

Almost 15 percent — or 886 of 6,033 — of hospitals reporting staffing levels in the U.S. are experiencing critical staffing shortages, according to HHS data posted Jan. 20.

Nearly three-quarters of healthcare data breaches reported to the federal government last year were attributed to hacking or information-technology incidents, according to a review of the latest data from the Health and Human Services Department's Office for Civil Rights.

Language norms used by providers in patient medical records have perpetuated racial and economic bias, identifying a need for clinicians to be more intentional at exploring and articulating the root of a person's health problems.

Texas doctors are concerned about the new dispute-resolution process’ focus on the “qualifying payment amount” — essentially the median contracted in-network rate for a service. Under Congress’ original intent, independent arbitrators were supposed to consider several factors before reaching a final reimbursement amount. But physicians believe the Biden administration’s interpretation of the final rule misunderstands lawmakers’ guidance, places too much weight on the QPA, and tips the scales in favor of insurers.

The end of the public health emergency will create an enormous amount of work for state Medicaid agencies and related departments. The agencies suffer from the same workforce shortages and high turnover seen in other industries right now, said Jeff Nelson, bureau director of eligibility policy for the Utah Department of Health, and Jeremy Vandehey, director of the health policy and analytics division for the Oregon Health Authority at a Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission meeting.

A quarter of Medicare Advantage plans now offer chronically ill beneficiaries healthy food, transportation and other special supplemental benefits in 2022, representing a nearly 40% year-over-year increase in carrier uptake of these unconventional services, a new study found.

A judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a temporary block of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requirement that employees at Medicare and Medicaid-certified facilities be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Texas.

House Democrats are ramping up pressure on the Biden administration to lower Medicare Part B premiums after the price for controversial drug Aduhelm was slashed in half.

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on Jan. 14 renewed a public health emergency declaration over the COVID-19 pandemic for the eighth time.

The declaration, set to expire Jan. 16, will now remain in effect for at least another 90 days.

The declaration grants healthcare providers resources and flexibility to care for COVID-19 patients, among other benefits.

The money, made available through the American Rescue Plan Act and distributed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, will be split among 45 grantees. The grants place a specific focus on programs in underserved and rural communities, according to a HRSA news release. The dollars will fund projects including hiring resiliency trainers to support healthcare staff, establishing health system-wide wellness programs and devising initiatives to overcome the stigma associated with healthcare workers seeking mental health treatment.