Science

Abbott MitraClip Valve Clamp Offers Safe Alternative to Open-Heart Surgery Abbott Laboratories’ MitraClip cardiac clamp safely repaired leaking heart valves in a study, potentially providing a less invasive alternative to open-heart surgery.

Novartis Heart, Diabetes Drugs Fail to Prevent Disease in New Research Novartis AG’s top blood pressure pill Diovan failed to prevent heart attacks, strokes or deaths in high-risk patients, while its diabetes drug Starlix didn’t protect them from developing heart disease or diabetes in an international trial.

Abbott's TriCor With Statin Doesn't Reduce Heart Risks for Diabetics Adding Abbott Laboratories’ cholesterol drug TriCor to an older, cheaper cholesterol pill failed to cut the risk of heart attacks, strokes and cardiac deaths in diabetics, a study found.

World Trade Center Collapse May Be Linked to Heart Disorder, Study Finds Police officers who worked at the World Trade Center site in the weeks following its collapse from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack may be at greater risk for impaired heart function than other people, a study found.

Overweight Preteens Found to Be More Likely to Eat School-Provided Lunch Students who regularly eat lunch provided by their schools are more likely to be overweight and have higher levels of cholesterol than those who eat meals brought from home, a Michigan study found.

Running Marathons May Lead to Heart Complications, Research Suggests Marathon runners are at risk for high blood pressure and heart complications, as endurance training can stress the cardiovascular system, researchers said.

Birth-Control Pills Reduce Cancer, Lengthen Women's Lives in 40-Year Study Birth-control pills may lead to longer lives for women, according to a 40-year study that showed users were less likely to die of heart disease, cancer or a range of other medical ailments.

Unlocking Cancer Drug Mechanism May Avoid Birth Defect Risks, Study Says Scientists have uncovered how a drug used in blood cancer medicines leads to short or missing limbs in babies, moving closer to developing treatments without the risk of these birth defects.

Fat Surgery Urged for Obese Kids May Boost Allergan Sales, Trim Liability David Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children’s Hospital Boston, was against weight-loss surgery for kids, he says, because it ignored the real problem, a “toxic environment” jammed with junk food.

Family DNA Maps May Speed Discoveries of Rare Disease Links, Doctors Say Fewer genetic mutations are inherited than scientists previously thought, according to two family-based studies that promise to speed the discovery of so- called disease genes.