SATURDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) -- Acting U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Steven K. Galson recently released a "Call to Action" to reduce the number of cases of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in the United States.

The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) said it supports this initiative and offers tips for preventing these life-threatening conditions during air travel.

An experimental cholesterol drug developed by Merck & Co. has been rejected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

THURSDAY, Oct. 9 (HealthDay News) -- Three leading medical associations have created guidelines to help heart disease patients cut their risk of ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding from one the condition's most common treatments -- antiplatelets and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin.

The American College of Cardiology, the American College of Gastroenterology and the American Heart Association guidelines call on doctors to better assess the patient's risk factors before treatment starts. These include considering:

* age,

(HealthDay News) -- A test that measures the activity of genes in white blood cells might someday help doctors determine the proper treatment when someone complains of chest pain, researchers report.

The finding is interesting in part because of where it appears -- the first issue of a new American Heart Association journal, Circulation: Cardiovascular Genetics.

Sept. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Vitamin C may help lower high blood pressure by calming an overactive central nervous system, new Italian research suggests.

Using intravenously delivered vitamin C, "our study demonstrated for the first time in humans that we can reduce sympathetic nervous system overactivity, and consequently blood pressure, (by) targeting oxidative stress," said study lead author Dr. Rosa Maria Bruno from the University of Pisa.

Pneumonia Vaccine Lowers Chances of Heart Attack

byBy Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Oct. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Being vaccinated against pneumonia halves the risk of having a heart attack two years later, a new Canadian study finds.

The study compared 999 people admitted to Canadian hospitals for heart attacks, with 3,996 admitted for other reasons. It found no difference between those who did or did not have the pneumococcal vaccine in the previous year, but a 50 percent lower rate for those getting the vaccine two years earlier.

(HealthDay News) -- Being vaccinated against pneumonia halves the risk of having a heart attack two years later, a new Canadian study finds.

The study compared 999 people admitted to Canadian hospitals for heart attacks, with 3,996 admitted for other reasons. It found no difference between those who did or did not have the pneumococcal vaccine in the previous year, but a 50 percent lower rate for those getting the vaccine two years earlier.

(HealthDay News) -- A new technique may help doctors diagnose a rare form of leukemia in a matter of hours instead of weeks, researchers say.

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) occurs in children; symptoms include fevers, poor growth, and infections.

Early diagnosis of JMML is important, since the only cure is a bone marrow transplant. But JMML is currently diagnosed by monitoring the response of JMML cells to a growth-stimulating factor called GM-CSF, which involves two to three weeks of growing cells in the laboratory.

(HealthDay News) -- An animal study raises a warning sign that a new class of drugs that shows promise against a variety of ailments ranging from cancer to Alzheimer's disease might cause congenital heart defects, researchers report.

"We have no idea if there will be any risk, but the study suggests we should be aware of the possibility," said Dr. Thomas Force, a professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and lead author of an online report in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

(HealthDay News) -- A new statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) emphasizes the need to screen heart patients for depression.

Depressed people with heart disease have at least twice the risk of second cardiac events in the one to two years following a heart attack. And more severe depression is associated with more severe second events.

The new statement, published in the current issue of Circulation, includes the following recommendations, which are endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association:

* Early and repeated screening for depression in heart patients.