|
Featured Research
Gene Therapy Helps Patients With Hemophilia B
 Hemophilia is a rare inherited condition in which the blood doesn't clot normally. There are two main types, A and B. People with hemophilia B have a defect in the gene that makes clotting factor IX (FIX). As a result, these individuals are missing or have low levels of FIX, a protein produced by liver cells that is essential for normal blood clotting.
A new study shows that a single dose of an experimental gene therapy increased production of FIX in six people with hemophilia B. These promising results suggest that gene therapy may decrease or eliminate a patient's reliance on replacement therapy, thus providing a long-term solution for the prevention of bleeding episodes and, therefore, significantly improving a severely affected individual's quality of life.
Learn more about the research and gene therapy.
Upcoming American Heart Month Activities
 Announcement of Community Action Grants, Wednesday, February 1
Through a public-private partnership with the NHLBI in support of The Heart Truth®, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health will award grants across the United States to help communities raise awareness of heart disease and foster action, especially among women of color, women with low incomes, and women who live in rural areas.
National Wear Red Day®, Friday, February 3
Join The Heart Truth® on National Wear Red Day® by putting on a favorite red dress, red shirt, or red tie and spreading the critical message that “Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear—It's the #1 Killer of Women.®”
Red Dress Collection Fashion Show, Wednesday, February 8
The Heart Truth®'s Red Dress Collection Fashion Show 2012 will be held in New York City. More than 20 of today's hottest celebrities will walk the runway in designer red dresses to remind women that the truth isn't always pretty—more women die of heart disease than any other disease.
The Heart Truth® for Women: A Speaker's Kit (en Español)
This easy-to-use kit provides everything you need to hold a 1-hour session on heart disease—instructions, overheads, handouts, responses to likely questions, and a compelling video that features women telling their own stories about how heart disease changed their lives.
Popular NHLBI Resources
The DASH and TLC Diets
 For the second consecutive year, the NHLBI-supported Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan was named the Best Diet Overall, and also was recognized as the Best Diabetes Diet and the Best Diet for Healthy Eating, by U.S. News & World Report. The NHLBI-supported Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet was ranked the second best in the categories of Diet Overall, Heart-Healthy Diet, and Diet for Healthy Eating.
DASH is a flexible and balanced eating plan that is based on years of research. The plan was developed by the National Institutes of Health as a way to lower high blood pressure.
The TLC diet is part of the TLC program, which is designed to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. In addition to the TLC diet, the program includes physical activity and weight management components. The program provides a step-by-step way to lower LDL-cholesterol—and heart disease risk.
News and Events
Proposals Sought to Support Pain Management Education in Health Professional Schools.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pain Consortium is encouraging medical, dental, nursing, and pharmacy schools to respond to a new funding opportunity to develop Centers of Excellence in Pain Education (CoEPEs). CoEPEs will develop pain management curriculum resources for health care professionals that will advance the assessment, diagnosis, and safe treatment of pain. Case-based scenarios will form the backbone of the curriculum resources. Proposals are due March 5, 2012.
NIH-supported study finds no benefit for a liberal transfusion strategy after hip-fracture surgery.
A liberal strategy for providing red blood cell transfusions following hip-fracture surgery to patients at risk for cardiovascular disease neither lowered their post-surgical risk of death nor improved their recovery rates when compared with a restrictive transfusion strategy, according to new research supported by the NIH. (News release)
Join the conversation with the NHLBI
 on Twitter  on Facebook  Email Updates |
