A study among almost 50,000 people worldwide has identified DNA sequence variations linked with the heart’s electrical rhythm in several surprising regions among 22 locations across the human genome. The variants were found by an international consortium, including Johns Hopkins researchers, and reported Nov. 14 in the Nature Genetics advance online publication.

Duke Cameron, M.D., a long-time Johns Hopkins surgeon, internationally renowned for his work in surgical repair of the heart’s main blood vessel, the aorta, has been named the new cardiac surgeon in charge at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and director of the Division of Cardiac Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

Johns Hopkins researchers have discovered how statins, the most commonly prescribed class of medication in the United States, appear to trigger a rare but serious autoimmune muscle disease in a small portion of the 30 million Americans who take the cholesterol-lowering drugs.

Rolling back suggestions from previous studies, a Johns Hopkins study of 950 healthy men and women has shown that taking daily doses of a cholesterol-lowering statin medication to protect coronary arteries and ward off heart attack or stroke may not be needed for everyone.

Heart imaging specialists at Johns Hopkins have shown that a combination of CT scans that measure how much blood is flowing through the heart and the amount of plaque in surrounding arteries are just as good as tests that are less safe, more complex and more time-consuming to detect coronary artery disease and its severity.

In remarks prepared for the American Heart Association’s golden anniversary celebration of CPR, a Johns Hopkins cardiologist who learned the life-saving technique as a medical student 46 years ago from one of CPR’s pioneers suggests the future of the technique is as bright as its past.

Low levels of vitamin D, the essential nutrient obtained from milk, fortified cereals and exposure to sunlight, doubles the risk of stroke in whites, but not in blacks, according to a new report by researchers at Johns Hopkins.

Some 30 Johns Hopkins cardiologists, nurses, technical staff and administrative volunteers have for the first time partnered with Baltimore City Public Schools to screen for early signs of heart disease in as many as 2,000 high-school-bound Baltimore-area students.

A new study suggests yet another reason for Americans to abandon their current fatty diets in favor of one rich in fruits and vegetables and low in saturated fat. Choosing these healthier options appears to significantly reduce the long-term risk of heart disease in patients with mildly elevated blood pressure, particularly African Americans.

Once more — and for the 20th year in a row — The Johns Hopkins Hospital has taken the top spot in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of American hospitals, placing first in five medical specialties and in the top five in 10 others.

In what is believed to be the largest review of the human genetic code to determine why some people’s blood platelets are more likely to clump faster than others, scientists at Johns Hopkins and in Boston have found a septet of overactive genes, which they say likely control that bodily function.

Transplant surgeons at Johns Hopkins who have reviewed the medical records of more than 20,000 heart transplant patients say that it is not simply racial differences, but rather flaws in the health care system, along with type of insurance and education levels, in addition to biological factors, that are likely the causes of disproportionately worse outcomes after heart transplantation in African Americans.

A consortium of five Baltimore hospitals, led by the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine, has acquired and donated to Baltimore city new wireless technology able to transmit electrocardiograms from the field over the Internet to hospital-based medical specialists.

Johns Hopkins cardiac surgeons — none who are involved in the care of ABC ‘s Barbara Walters — are prepared to give background to reporters or comment on diseased aortic valves and aortic valve replacement surgery, performed at a rate of more than one a week at Johns Hopkins for many years.

Nicholas J. Fortuin, M.D., one of Johns Hopkins Medicine's most dedicated and admired clinical cardiologists, teachers and institutional leaders, died unexpectedly near Owings Mills Sunday while biking, his favorite sport and pastime. The cause of death was not known, but it is likely he suffered a heart attack, colleagues say.

A protein discovered in fruit fly eyes has brought a Johns Hopkins team closer to understanding how the human heart and other organs automatically "right size" themselves, a piece of information that may hold clues to controlling cancer.

The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been awarded a $9.7 million federal grant to study ways to improve cardiovascular outcomes among African-American patients and to understand and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in blood pressure management in Baltimore.

Cardiologists and heart imaging specialists at 15 medical centers in eight countries, and led by researchers at Johns Hopkins, have enrolled the first dozen patients in a year-long investigation to learn whether the subtle squeezing of blood flow through the inner layers of the heart is better than traditional SPECT nuclear imaging tests and other diagnostic radiology procedures for accurately tracking the earliest signs of coronary artery clogs.

To this day, it still shocks former Dunbar High School basketball coach Bob Wade when he thinks back to June 1993, when he first heard that his star former student, 27-year-old Reggie Lewis, 6'7" and 195 pounds, the top scorer and center for the Boston Celtics, had suddenly collapsed and died during basketball shoot-around.

A team of Johns Hopkins and other researchers have found in animal experiments that an antidepressant developed over 40 years ago can blunt and even reverse the muscle enlargement and weakened pumping function associated with heart failure.