This is a video of about pediatric Cardiac Arrhythmia and the symptoms to look for in a child. You really need to watch when they are either exercising or just playing around. If they start to get chest pain or anything to that effect you will really need to get it checked out to see if it is the arrhythmia or if it asthma.



FDA Approves Temporary Artificial Heart

Oct. 18, 2004 -- The FDA has approved a temporary partial artificial heart intended to keep hospitalized patients alive while waiting for a heart transplant. The device is called the CardioWest Total Artificial Heart. Made by SynCardia Systems of Tucson, Ariz., it's not intended to replace the human heart, and it's not a permanent solution. Instead, it serves as a "bridge transplant," keeping hospitalized patients alive until donated hearts become available. Implanted in the chest, the artificial heart replaces the bottom half of the heart and is sewn onto the top half of the patients original heart. Tubes running through the chest wall connect to a large power-generating console, which operates and monitors the artificial heart, according to an FDA news release. The artificial heart is expected to be used rarely.
It's seen as an option only in the most severe cases where all other approaches have failed and death is imminent within 30 days, according to news reports. Specifically, the artificial heart is intended for heart transplant candidates with irreversible heart failure from loss of function of the lower chambers of the heart. That is, the left and right bottom quadrants of their hearts don't work. About 4,000 people in the U.S. per year need heart transplants, but only about 100 of them might qualify for the artificial heart. The FDA is requiring SynCardia to continue to study and monitor the device. Prior to FDA approval, SynCardia tested the artificial heart on 81 patients at five U.S. medical centers; 79% of recipients lived long enough to receive a donor heart (an average of 79 days). In SynCardia's study, the longest length of time a recipient lived with the device was 400 days, according to news reports.
Infection was the most common complication, affecting 72% of participants in SynCardia's study. Bleeding was seen in 42% of patients, while 25% suffered neurological events such as major or minor stroke. The device malfunctioned in 18% of recipients, and 17 patients died before a donor heart could be found.

New York City Bans Trans Fats at Restaurants (HealthDay News)
New York City's Board of Health voted unanimously Tuesday to make the city the first in the United States to ban trans fats at restaurants. As of July 2007, restaurants will not be permitted to use most frying oils that contain artery-clogging trans fats and by July 2008 they won't be allowed to serve any foods that contain trans fats, the Associated Press reported. It's believed that trans fats increase the risk of heart disease by increasing bad cholesterol while lowering good cholesterol. The average American eats 4.7 pounds of trans fats per year, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has dismissed critics who say the city crossed a line by trying to legislate what people eat, the AP reported. "Nobody wants to take away your french fries and hamburgers -- I love those things too. But if you can make them with something that is less damaging to your health, we should do that," Bloomberg said recently. Chicago is considering a law to severely limit the amount of trans fats that can be used in restaurants. Many food makers and fast food chains have already stopped using trans fats or plan to stop using them.


Low Cholesterol Diet: How to Cut Out the Fat By Heather Reese
Obesity is a well-documented health crisis in America. Recent statistics show that 30 percent of U.S. adults are obese – this translates to more than 60 million Americans! Obesity impacts more than just your pant size – it also increases your risk of many chronic diseases including heart disease, which accounts for one million deaths in the United States each year.
Obesity not only increases your risk for heart disease, it also increases your risk for the risk factors associated with heart disease, including high cholesterol. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends a “heart healthy” diet to help keep blood cholesterol low and decrease your risk of developing heart disease. A heart healthy diet recommends:

• 30 percent of your total daily calories come from fat
• 8 to 10 percent of your total daily calories come from saturated fat
• Less than 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol per day
• 2400 milligrams of sodium per day
• Adequate calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight.

While a heart healthy diet recommends limiting dietary cholesterol, some researchers assert that dietary fat is a larger factor in your body’s cholesterol levels because it can increase your total cholesterol and LDL levels. There are two types of cholesterol: HDL and LDL. A high level of HDL decreases your risk of heart disease while a high level of LDL increases the risk of heart disease. To put it simply, you want high levels of HDL and low levels of LDL. To distinguish between the two types of cholesterol I find it helpful to refer to HDL as “healthy cholesterol” and LDL as “lousy cholesterol.”
Saturated Fats
The AHA recommends that we limit saturated fat to 8 to 10 percent of our total daily calories because these fats can increase both your total and your LDL cholesterol levels. Saturated fats are found in meat, poultry, full-fat dairy products and tropical oils. Other sources of saturated fat include:

• Lard
• Butter
• Meat fat
• Dairy products made from whole milk
• Chicken and turkey skins
• Palm and palm kernel oils
• Coconut oil
• Cocoa butter

Trans Fats
Trans fat, once considered to be a healthy substitute for saturated fat, has been found to raise cholesterol levels and has been associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Trans fat is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil, which is a liquid, to create a solid substance. It can be found in foods such as vegetable shortening, some margarine's, crackers, candies, baked goods, cookies, snack foods, fried foods, salad dressings and many processed foods. To determine whether a food item you are eating contains trans fat look for the following ingredients on the food label:

• Shortening
• hydrogenated vegetable oil
• partially hydrogenated vegetable oil

Unsaturated Fats
Many people assume that because a heart healthy diet recommends limiting fat, that all types of dietary fat are bad for your heart. However, quite the opposite is true. Unsaturated fatty acids have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Monounsaturated Fats
Monounsaturated fats reduce total cholesterol levels while maintaining your HDL levels. The AHA recommends that 10 to 15 percent of our total daily calories come from monounsaturated fats. They can be found in the following vegetable oils:

• Canola oil
• Olive oil
• Peanut oil

Polyunsaturated fats
Polyunsaturated fats also help to reduce total cholesterol levels; however, they also lower your HDL levels. The AHA recommends that we get no more than 10 percent of our total daily calories from polyunsaturated fats. This type of fat is found in nuts and vegetable oils. Sources of polyunsaturated fats include:

• Corn oil
• Cottonseed oil
• Safflower oil
• Sesame oil
• Soybean oil
• Sunflower oil

Too Little Vitamin D Puts heart at risk
For example, several large studies have shown that people with low vitamin D levels were twice as likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or other heart-related event during follow-up, compared with those with higher vitamin D levels.
"Vitamin D deficiency is an unrecognized, emerging cardiovascular risk factor, which should be screened for and treated," says researcher James H. O'Keefe, MD
Most of the body's vitamin D requirements are met by the skin in response to sun exposure. Other less potent sources of vitamin D include foods such as salmon, sardines, cod liver oil, and vitamin D-fortified foods like milk and some cereals. Vitamin D can also be obtained through supplements.
In a review article published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, researchers surveyed recent studies on the link between vitamin D deficiency and heart disease to come up with practical advice on screening and treatment.
They concluded that vitamin D deficiency is much more common than previously thought, affecting up to half of adults and apparently healthy children in the U.S.