Celera Corporation announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued United States Patent 7,781,168 relating to methods of determining heart attack risk by detecting the Ile4399Met genetic polymorphism in the protease-like domain of LPA. Studies have shown this variant of the LPA gene is associated with a two-fold higher risk of major cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke and cardiovascular death)1-4.

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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued its updated clinical guideline on the management of chronic heart failure in adults in primary and secondary care. In taking into account the wealth of new, high quality evidence that has been published since NICE’s original guideline in 2003, the new guideline provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date set of recommendations yet on the diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and monitoring of people with this condition.

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AF Stat™, a group of healthcare leaders and organizations working to improve the health and well-being of people affected by atrial fibrillation (AFib) has recently unveiled the “AFib Educator,” a smartphone app and desktop widget to help healthcare providers explain AFib to patients, their families and caregivers.

According to AFStat, although AFib is common, costly, progressive and often debilitating, healthcare professionals struggle to create a sense of urgency among their patients in treating the disease. They also believe that a  lack of knowledge and understanding of the disease is preventing the disease from being managed properly.

In addition, surveys indicate that healthcare providers don’t feel they have enough tools to explain the disease to their patients. Therefore, AFStat feels this new app will be of great value.

To learn more about the new app, click here.