Pulmonary Hypertension

You never want to see your cat sick, so if you notice she's coughing or wheezing (or just having trouble breathing in general), of course you're going to be alarmed! As it turns out, just like in humans, cats can have have asthma — which means a trip to the vet is in order so she can get treated and feeling like her usual, healthy self. For more insight on asthma in cats, how it occurs and what you can do to help ease your cat's discomfort, we reached out to Ashley Callihan, CVT, licensed veterinary nurse with DodoVet. How cat asthma occurs Feline asthma is an acute or chronic inflammation of the airways and happens when a cat inhales allergens that stimulate the immune system. "Along with environmental allergens, like pollen and dust, asthma can be triggered by aerosols, including perfume, hair spray and air fresheners," Callihan told The Dodo. "Essential oils, incense and even cigarette smoke [affect] our cats as well." Unlike upper respiratory conditi...

For decades, scientists in Berlin have been researching a strange hereditary condition that results in half the members of certain families having unusually short fingers and extremely high blood pressure. If left untreated, the affected patients usually die of a stroke at the age of 50 years. Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC) in Berlin identified the cause of the disease back in 2015 and were able to prove their hypothesis five years later using animal models: a mutation in the phosphodiesterase 3A gene (PDE3A) causes its encoded enzyme to become overactive, affecting bone growth and causing blood vessel hyperplasia -- resulting in elevated blood pressure. Immune to hypertension-related damage "High blood pressure almost always leads to the heart becoming weaker," says Dr. Enno Klußmann, head of the Anchored Signaling Lab at the Max Delbrück Center and a scientist at the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). As it has to pump against a higher press...

In an interview with Pharmacy Times , allergist Maxcie Sikora, MD, discussed some risks associated with Halloween for children with food allergies. She also discussed precautions that parents can take as well as alternatives to candy. Q: What risks are associated with Halloween for children with allergies? Maxcie Sikora, MD: I would just say from a food allergy perspective, Halloween is very daunting for families of patients with food allergy. In general, you know, as you mentioned, it really does depend on the age. In the younger age group, they're much more likely to have the common kind of food allergy triggers like milk, egg, wheat, soy, and those allergens are typically outgrown as they become older. So, in the older child population, you know, meaning like elementary school and above, that's when the majority of those children should start outgrowing their food allergens, but they still have food allergies. As we all know, nut allergy, whether it's peanut or tree nut,...

Congenital absence of the coronary arteries has a low incidence and prevalence in society, with a 0.3-5.6% prevalence [1]. The incidence of a congenital absent left main coronary artery is between 0.02% to 0.07% in individuals undergoing coronary angiography [2]. These groups of anomalies may be benign or life-threatening. Some studies suggest that this anomaly group is a leading cause of death through premature atherosclerosis in some young, otherwise healthy athletes [3]. The diagnosis may be done using transthoracic echocardiography, and in the situation where this is equivocal, other approaches, including transesophageal echocardiography, computed tomographic (CT) angiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) is useful [3]. This is a 67-year-old gentleman referred to our facility for cardiovascular risk factor assessment. He was referred by his primary care physician (PCP) for an abnormal electrocardiogram (EKG) (inferior ST elevation, maybe ischemia vs. nonspec...

Despite significant advancements and the development of novel therapies, cardiovascular illnesses have remained the world's leading cause of death and morbidity for a decade [1]. Several treatments, including cell-based therapies, have been shouldered in the last 20 years; however, penurious subsister and injection of relocated cells in the ischemic environment of cardiac tissue have restricted their clinical usefulness [2]. One of the most pressing issues in the industry is the capacity to track the fate of modified tissue and its impact on the nursed organ after transplantation. Furthermore, when it is feasible to observe the activity of the implanted tissue, a tool to intercede in the therapy's outcome without the obligation for additional surgical mediation or ongoing medical attentiveness would prove to be highly advantageous to the therapy's effectiveness [3,4]. It has been almost six decades since the initial pacemaker was placed. Since then, pacemaker technology...

New clinical guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) include an algorithm for earlier detection in the community and a recommendation for expedited referral for high-risk or complex patients. The guidelines were published simultaneously in the European Respiratory Journal and the European Heart Journal . The 2022 guidelines from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS) integrate recent developments in detecting and managing PH and are an update to the 2015 version. Created by a task force that included cardiologists, pneumologists, a thoracic surgeon, methodologists, and patients, the 2022 guidelines cover the entire spectrum of PH, with an emphasis on diagnosing and treating pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thrombo-embolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). The guidelines were developed with use of the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, an...

Sign up for CNN's Sleep, But Better newsletter series. Our seven-part guide has helpful hints to achieve better sleep . CNN  —  The social media platform TikTok has helped spread yet another potentially dangerous idea: taping your lips shut to stop mouth breathing at night. "If you have obstructive sleep apnea, yes, this can be very dangerous," said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Obstructive sleep apnea, which is the complete or partial collapse of the airway, is one of the most common and dangerous sleep disorders: Over 1 billion people between the ages of 30 and 69  are thought to have the condition, according to a 2019 study published in the journal Lancet Respiratory Medicine. Millions more are undiagnosed, experts say. ...

(BakiBG/E+ via Getty Images) Telehealth care by pharmacists is an effective alternative to clinic-based care for managing high blood pressure, a new study has found. Scientists know that high blood pressure is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular-related deaths in the U.S. But controlling the condition, also known as hypertension, has been difficult. Nearly half of U.S. adults have high blood pressure, but only about 1 in 5 has their hypertension under control. For the new study, researchers compared two types of care for moderately severe, uncontrolled high blood pressure: traditional clinic-based care, using face-to face visits with doctors and medical assistants, and telehealth care, with home blood pressure telemonitoring and home-based care coordinated via telephone by a pharmacist or in some cases, a nurse. The research was conducted on 3,071 people, whose average age was 60, in a randomized trial involving 21 primary care clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin...

A health scare is defined as "a situation characterized by alarm or anxiety about the possibility of developing or being diagnosed with a particular illness or condition," and at some point in life most of us will have a health scare like we've been exposed to someone with COVID or we have signs of a serious health condition. Dr. Jagdish Khubchandani , MBBS, Ph.D., a professor of public health at New Mexico State University tells us, "Health scares can be of various types and also be looked at in different ways. For example, we can categorize health scares that are related to the leading causes of death or consider what American College of Emergency Physicians suggest on medical emergencies ." The emotional effects of a health scare or diagnosis of a major health issue can be disruptive and devastating, but there are ways to cope with the distress.  According to Help Guide , "Whatever your situation, you should know that experiencing a wide range ...