Sex,Coffee,Smog Can All Trigger Heart Attack

A major analysis of data on potential triggers for heart attacks finds that many of the substances and activities Americans indulge in every day -- coffee, alcohol, sex, even breathing -- can all help spur an attack.

Because so many people are exposed to dirty air, air pollution while stuck in traffic topped the list of potential heart attack triggers, with the researchers pegging 7.4% of heart attacks to roadway smog.

But coffee was also linked to 5% of attacks, booze to another 5%, and pot smoking to just under 1%, the European researchers found.

Among everyday activities, exerting yourself physically was linked to 6.2% of heart attacks, indulging in a heavy meal was estimated to trigger 2.7%, and sex was linked to 2.2%.

Newborn heart muscle can grow back by itself

Healthy life "In a promising science-fiction-meets-real-world juxtaposition, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that the mammalian newborn heart can heal itself completely.
Researchers, working with mice, found that a portion of the heart removed during the first week after birth grew back wholly and correctly – as if nothing had happened.
"This is an important step in our search for a cure for heart disease, the No. 1 killer in the developed world," said Dr. Hesham Sadek, assistant professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study available online in the Feb. 25 issue of Science. "We found that the heart of newborn mammals can fix itself; it just forgets how as it gets older. The challenge now is to find a way to remind the adult heart how to fix itself again."