Category: Cholesterol

Mothers with low serum cholesterol levels are significantly more likely to deliver premature babies, or full-term babies with lower weight, according to the study, “Adverse Birth Outcomes Among Mothers With Low Serum Cholesterol.” Researchers studied 118 women with low total cholesterol (less than the 10th percentile) and 940 women with mid-range cholesterol levels.

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced the first safety results from its ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension (OLE) study of ISIS 301012 in patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) on stable maximally tolerated lipid-lowering therapies.

Pregnant women who have very low cholesterol may face a greater risk of delivering their babies prematurely than women with more moderate cholesterol levels, a team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), reported today.In a study published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics, NHGRI’s Max Muenke, M.D.; Robin J. Edison, M.D., M.P.H.; Kate Berg, Ph.D.

Making statin treatment available without a prescription could help the fight against heart disease, says Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart and Director of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute and the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Cardiovascular Health at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Writing in the September 1 edition of The American Journal of Cardiology, Dr.

Metabolex, Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for diabetes and related metabolic disorders, announced that it has begun a 180 patient Phase 2 trial of MBX-8025 in overweight or obese patients with high cholesterol and triglycerides to assess the drug’s effect on dyslipidemia, insulin-resistance and obesity.

Many U.S. women lack knowledge about cholesterol and screening efforts, according to a survey released Thursday by the Society for Women’s Health Research, CQ HealthBeat reports.

Cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis — a condition that greatly increases the risk of heart attack and stroke — by suppressing the activity of a key protein that protects the heart and blood vessels, researchers at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine have found.

Older adult American women are better informed about cholesterol and more likely to monitor it than younger adult women, but gaps remain in cholesterol knowledge and efforts to screen for it adequately, according to results of a national survey released today by the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington, D.C., based advocacy organization.

Scientists have provided new details about how a drug used against heart disease helps to unclog blood vessels from an excess of cholesterol and fats. The results help explain how the drug works and may provide ways to improve similar drugs in the future. A type of white blood cell called macrophage is responsible for the accumulation of fat in blood vessels, leading to inflammation and plaque formation on the inner linings of the vessel.

A molecule related to cholesterol can block the hormone estrogen from performing functions in blood vessels that keep them healthy and protected against heart disease, according to a study published Sunday online in the October issue of the journal Nature Medicine, the Wall Street Journal reports. For the study, David Mangelsdorf and colleagues at the University of Texas-Southwestern