Heart Attack

For decades, those with high cholesterol have been given a list of don'ts when it comes to their diet: Don't eat cholesterol-rich eggs; don't eat butter; don't eat red meat or regular ice cream. Well, now researchers have identified a list of do's for the diet that may work to lower cholesterol levels better than avoiding those don'ts. In a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that eating cholesterol-lowering foods like nuts, soy protein, and certain fiber-rich items result in bigger drops in "bad" LDL cholesterol than avoiding...

NEW YORK — Alere Inc. is recalling 803,000 tests used to detect heart attacks and manage heart failure patients that failed to meet quality control guidelines. The recall covers 104 lots of the Alere Triage BNP, Alere Triage D-dimer, and Alere Triage cardiology panels that were produced in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, the Waltham, Mass.-based company said in a regulatory filing. The products failed to meet guidelines established by the Food and Drug Administration, the company said.

SANTIAGO, Chile -- Former dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose health problems have long helped him escape trial for abuses committed during his 1973-90 rule, was recovering yesterday from a heart attack, although doctors said his life is still in danger. While Pinochet was being treated at a Santiago hospital, the political divisions and passions the 91-year-old former strongman continues to inspire among Chileans bubbled to the surface . His foes and supporters brawled and lawyers argued over whether his latest health crisis is a legal maneuver to avoid prosecution.

Alere Inc. is recalling 803,000 tests used to detect heart attacks and manage heart failure patients that failed to meet quality control guidelines. The recall covers 104 lots of the Alere Triage BNP, Alere Triage D-dimer, and Alere Triage cardiology panels that were produced in 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, the Waltham-based company said Wednesday in a regulatory filing. The products failed to meet guidelines established by the US Food and Drug Administration, the company said.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Intermittent use of Vioxx or even a day's use of the painkiller could be enough to cause a heart attack, a prominent heart and medication expert testified yesterday on behalf of a man who is suing the maker of the drug, claiming it caused his heart attack. Vioxx breaks down so slowly in the body that it takes about 85 hours to clear out of the blood, testified Dr. Benedict Lucchesi, a professor at the University of Michigan who helped develop the first pacemaker.

TRENTON, N.J. -- New blood tests that doctors hoped would more accurately predict which patients are headed for a heart attack or a stroke are no better than cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and other conventional measurements, a study has found. In recent years, doctors have had high hopes over substances in the blood that appeared to be powerful new predictors of a heart attack. These substances included C-reactive protein, a measure of inflammation; homocysteine; and B-type natriuretic peptide.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Skip Prosser, who led Wake Forest to its first basketball No. 1 ranking three seasons ago, died yesterday of an apparent heart attack, the university said. He was 56. Prosser was found slumped on his office couch and unresponsive by director of basketball operations Mike Muse shortly after returning from his noon jog, athletics director Ron Wellman said. Medical personnel performed CPR and used a defibrillator on Prosser, who was taken to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m. Wellman said he was...

DALLAS -- Unusual fatigue and sleeplessness might be early warning signs of a heart attack in women, a study suggests. The study, published yesterday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, surveyed 515 women who had heart attacks and found that 95 percent had such symptoms as much as a month before they were stricken. Chest pains can be early indicator of a heart attack, but 43 percent of the women in the study said they never experienced chest discomfort, said researcher Jean C. McSweeney.

Too often, people pass a cardiac checkup only to collapse with a heart attack days later. Now scientists have found a clue that one day may help doctors determine if a heart attack is imminent, in hopes of preventing it. Most heart attacks happen when fatty deposits in an artery burst open, and a blood clot then forms to seal the break. If the clot is too big, it blocks off blood flow. The problem: Today's best tests can't predict when that's about to happen. "We don't have a way to get at whether an artery's going to crack, the precursor to...

By Jenna Duncan, Globe Correspondent Two state troopers resuscitated a Department of Transportation employee in Somerville this morning after the man suffered a possible heart attack. Troopers Thomas Loughran and Geoffrey Stokes were working a paid detail at the Assembly Square Mall when the 60-year-old South Boston man fell to the ground, striking his head and receiving a laceration. The troopers performed CPR, continuing rescue efforts until they were relieved by Somerville fire and rescue workers.

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that a blood thinner from Johnson & Johnson appears to reduce life-threatening blood clots in high-risk patients, although it also increases the risk of internal bleeding. The FDA posted its review of J&J's Xarelto for the new use ahead of a public meeting Wednesday where medical experts will vote on its safety and effectiveness. Along with bleeding risk, FDA regulators will also ask the experts about inconsistent findings and missing data from J&J's main study of Xarelto.

CAIRO - Legendary Algerian singer Warda has died in Cairo from a heart attack. She was 71. Egypt's state-owned MENA news agency said Warda died Thursday and her remains will be flown to Algeria on Friday for burial. Along with Lebanon's Fayrouz and Egypt's late Umm Kalthoum, Warda was one of the giants of Arab song. She lived in Egypt on and off since 1960. She earned both her cinematic and singing breakthroughs in Egypt, and gained fame throughout the Middle East.

The funeral of a 28 year-old waiter in southern Egypt turned into a celebration when he woke up after being declared dead. Hospital officials had pronounced dead Hamdi Hafez al-Nubi, who came from the village of Naga al-Simman in the southern province of Luxor, after he suffered a heart attack while working. His family says grieving relatives took him home and, according to Islamic tradition, washed his body and prepared him for burial Friday evening. A doctor sent to sign the death certificate found it strange that his body was warm.

A senior medical official says a top Palestinian peace negotiator has been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack. Dr. Ahmed Bitwai, head of Ramallah hospital in the West Bank, says Saeb Erekat had a "sharp" attack early on Tuesday and was taken to the hospital for a heart catheterization. He says the 57-year-old Erekat will remain in hospital for three days for supervision. Erekat has been a leading negotiator with Israel in talks over Palestinian independence during the past two decades.

Celebrity biographer Charles Higham, who wrote about the lives of Lucille Ball, Errol Flynn, Katharine Hepburn, Howard Hughes and others, has died in Los Angeles at age 81. Friend Todd McCarthy tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/KkEJw3) that Higham died of an apparently heart attack April 21 at his Los Angeles home. Higham was the author of dozens of biographies, many of them sensational tomes detailing political and sexual intrigue. In 1980's "Errol Flynn: The Untold Story," Higham wrote that the matinee idol was a Nazi spy. Flynn's ex-wife Nora...

Junior Seau's death is the eighth among the 1994 San Diego Chargers, who won the AFC title and lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl. The list of players: –– — Junior Seau, LB, 43, on Wednesday, from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. — Lew Bush, LB, 42, December 2011, apparent heart attack. — Shawn Lee, DT, 44, February 2011, heart attack. — Chris Mims, DE, 38, October 2008, enlarged heart. — Curtis Whitley, C, 39, May 2008, drug overdose.

A senior medical official says a top Palestinian peace negotiator has been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack. Dr. Ahmed Bitwai, head of Ramallah hospital in the West Bank, says Saeb Erekat had a "sharp" attack early on Tuesday and was taken to the hospital for a heart catheterization. He says the 57-year-old Erekat will remain in hospital for three days for supervision. Erekat has been a leading negotiator with Israel in talks over Palestinian independence during the past two decades.

When you think of a typical heart-attack victim, don't you imagine a man, 50 to 100 pounds overweight, sitting on the couch, with a butt in one hand, a beer in the other, cussing out the Patriots? After all, it's usually the men who have the heart attacks, right? Wrong. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, according to the American Heart Association. It kills more women than all forms of cancer combined, the association says. North Andover's Patricia Fox was the antithesis of that corpulent Patriots fan before suffering a heart attack at 54. "I...

Excerpted from the Short White Coat blog on boston.com. This year, about 6 million American adults will come to an emergency department with chest pain. Some of them will have full-blown heart attacks, a few will have life-threatening blood clots in their lungs. The majority will have acid reflux, muscle strain, or anxiety. The emergency room doctor must separate the scary medical issues from the ones that require Tums. As an internist working in the emergency department, I was reminded frequently that my job there was to focus on the most dangerous medical problem rather...

Athlete Alberto Salazar, who won the Boston Marathon in 1982, was at the Boston Public Library on Sunday to discuss his new memoir, "14 Minutes," which is named for the 14 minutes he was clinically dead after suffering a heart attack in 2007. Salazar, who appeared at the library with his "14 Minutes" coauthor, John Brant, is also one of two subjects in Brant's book "Duel in the Sun," which followed Salazar and competitor Dick Beardsley through the '82 race and its aftermath.