June 24th, 2013
Large NIH Trial Finds No Cardiovascular Benefits for Weight Loss and Exercise in Type 2 Diabetics
Larry Husten, PHD
A large NIH-sponsored trial has found that an intensive lifestyle intervention was no better than standard care in reducing cardiovascular events in people with type 2 diabetes. The results of the Look AHEAD trial were presented today at the American Diabetes Association meeting and published simultaneously in the New England Journal of Medicine. A total of 5,145 people with type 2 […]
June 20th, 2013
Hypertension and Cholesterol Guidelines Delayed Again as NHLBI Gets Out of the Guidelines Business
Larry Husten, PHD
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) will no longer issue guidelines, including the much-delayed and much-anticipated hypertension (JNC 8) and cholesterol (ATP 4) guidelines. Instead, the NHLBI will perform systematic evidence reviews that other organizations, including the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology, will use as a resource for their own guidelines. The […]
April 9th, 2013
The TACT Investigators Respond to Questions
Gervasio Antonio Lamas, MD, Daniel Mark, Christine Goertz, DC, PhD, Robin Boineau, M.D., M.A., Kerry L. Lee, Ph.D. and Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM
The publication in JAMA of the NIH’s Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) has reignited a heated debate about the trial. The TACT investigators have generously agreed to respond to questions posed by Harlan Krumholz.
March 26th, 2013
Controversial NIH Chelation Trial Published in JAMA
Larry Husten, PHD
Final results of the troubled NIH-sponsored Trial to Assess Chelation Therapy (TACT) testing chelation therapy for coronary disease have now been published in JAMA. Last November, when the preliminary results were presented at the American Heart Association meeting, the positive finding in favor of chelation therapy surprised many observers, though the investigators and senior AHA representatives expressed considerable caution […]
October 22nd, 2012
NIH Trial of Lifestyle Intervention for Type 2 Diabetes Stopped for Futility After 11 Years
Larry Husten, PHD
The NIH today announced the early termination of a large randomized trial testing a lifestyle intervention approach to weight loss in type 2 diabetics. More than 5,000 patients with type 2 diabetes were randomized to participate in an intensive lifestyle intervention program or a traditional program of diabetes support and education in Look AHEAD (Action for Health […]
July 24th, 2012
The Academic Squeeze Play
Shengshou Hu, M.D.
With fewer grant-funding opportunities for academic cardiologists, Wes Fisher takes an educated guess about where they may go.
April 5th, 2012
NIH Appoints Gary Gibbons As Next Director of the NHLBI
Larry Husten, PHD
Gary Gibbons will be the next Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). The selection of Gibbons was announced today by the National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins. Gibbons is the founder and current director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute, chairperson of the Department of Physiology, and professor of physiology and medicine at the […]
August 8th, 2011
Bernadine Healy, First Woman to Head the NIH, Dead of Brain Tumor
Larry Husten, PHD
Bernadine Healy, a cardiologist who was the first woman to head the NIH, died on Saturday from complications of a brain tumor. She was married to cardiac surgeon Floyd Loop, a former CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. She had two daughters, one from a previous marriage. Healy was born in 1944 and grew up in New […]
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