Heart & Circulation, features and articles | Educational Science

Jun 26, 2019

Sitting in Front of the TV May Be Worse for Your Heart Than Sitting at a Desk

People with desk jobs may not need to feel so guilty about all those sedentary hours in an office chair: Sitting at work may not be as bad for the heart as sitting in front of the TV, a new study suggests. The study researchers analyzed information from more than...

Jul 3, 2019

Low Levels of 'Bad' Cholesterol May Have a Downside

When it comes to bad cholesterol, lower is usually better for heart disease risk. But a new study suggests it may be possible for cholesterol levels to be too low. The study researchers found that low levels of bad cholesterol, known as LDL cholesterol, were tied to an increased risk...

Sep 19, 2019

Gaming May Trigger Heart Rhythm Problems in Susceptible Kids, Report Says

Doctors have long known that playing high-intensity sports can trigger serious heart rhythm problems in people with certain underlying heart conditions. Now, a new report suggests that playing electronic games — particularly war games — may be a trigger as well. The report, from researchers in Australia, describes three unrelated...

Sep 20, 2019

Woman's Blood Turns a Shocking Shade of Blue After She Used Tooth-Numbing Gel

A woman in Rhode Island went to the emergency room when her skin and blood took on an odd hue: She was turning blue, according to a new report of the case. I'm weak and I'm blue, the 25-year-old told her doctors, according to Otis Warren, a physician at Miriam...

Sep 25, 2019

Woman Who Ate 'Unusually Large' Amount of Wasabi Developed Broken-Heart Syndrome

A woman got more than a burning mouthful when she mistook a serving of wasabi for avocado — the spicy food appeared to cause her to develop broken-heart syndrome, according to a new report of the case. The 60-year-old woman was attending a wedding in Israel when she ate a...

Oct 2, 2019

Bernie Sanders Had Two Stents Put In. Is It Serious?

UPDATE: On Oct. 4, the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign confirmed that the senator had suffered a heart attack and was treated for the condition at Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas. Campaign spokesman Mike Casca said that Sanders would travel to Burlington, Vermont to recover before returning to...

Jan 6, 2020

An Astronaut Got a Blood Clot in Space. Here's How Doctors on Earth Fixed It.

An unidentified astronaut aboard the International Space Station had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) — or blood clot — in the jugular vein of their neck, according to a new case study. The astronaut's identity and exactly when the incident took place are being kept secret for privacy reasons, so...

Feb 5, 2020

Anemia: Causes, symptoms and treatment

Anemia — also known as iron-poor blood — is a condition that develops when either the blood doesn't have enough red blood cells or the concentration of hemoglobin in red blood cells is very low. Hemoglobin is the iron-containing protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen from the lungs...

Feb 5, 2020

A 'normal' resting heart rate may not be so normal after all

Most healthy people experience little variation in their heart rates at rest, but a new study shows that normal resting heart rates can differ between individuals by an astonishing 70 beats per minute. The findings challenge the conventional approach to taking this simple vital sign — doctors typically check resting...

Jun 18, 2020

Tainted sexual enhancement supplements linked with dangerously low blood sugar in 17 men

More than a dozen men in Virginia developed dangerously low blood sugar after taking a male sexual enhancement supplement laced with prescription drugs, according to a new report. The outbreak began in August 2019, when men in Virginia started showing up to emergency rooms with symptoms of confusion, excessive sweating...

Oct 10, 2020

More humans are growing an extra blood vessel in our arm that 'feeds' our hands, study shows

Picturing how our species might appear in the far future often invites wild speculation over stand-out features such as height, brain size, and skin complexion. Yet subtle shifts in our anatomy today demonstrate how unpredictable evolution can be. Take something as mundane as an extra blood vessel in our arms,...

Nov 23, 2020

Man's 'heart attack' was really side effect from swallowed battery

When a man arrived at the emergency room, it looked to doctors like he was having a heart attack. But that was a false alarm: The man had actually swallowed a battery that messed with his electrocardiogram (EKG), a measure of the heart's electrical activity, according to a new report...

Jan 13, 2021

'Magic mushrooms' grow in man's blood after injection with shroom tea

A man brewed a tea from magic mushrooms and injected the concoction into his veins; several days later, he ended up at the emergency department with the fungus growing in his blood. The man spent 22 days in the hospital, with eight of those days in the intensive care unit...

Apr 16, 2021

Man's energy drink habit lands him in the hospital with heart failure

A young man's heart problems may have been triggered by his excessive consumption of energy drinks — he ended up in the hospital with heart failure after consuming four energy drinks per day for two years, according to a new report of the case. The findings add to a growing...

Feb 18, 2022

Insulin resistance: Risk factor for heart disease and diabetes

Insulin resistance is a condition in which the hormone insulin, which regulates blood sugar levels, is unable to do its job. Under normal circumstances, glucose (or sugar) enters the bloodstream after the body breaks down food that has been consumed. The pancreas secretes insulin to help glucose (the body's main...