Medical researchers at U of Alberta discover potential treatment for pulmonary hypertension (Canada)

Researchers in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta are one step closer to a treatment for a deadly disease. Pulmonary arterial hypertension, which is high blood pressure in the lungs, currently has only a few treatment options but most cases lead to premature death. It is caused by a cancer-like excessive growth of cells in the wall of the lung blood vessels. It causes the lumen, the path where blood travels, to constrict putting pressure on the right ventricle of the heart which eventually leads to heart failure. Evangelos Michelakis, his graduate student Gopinath Sutendra and a group of collaborators have found that this excessive cell growth can be reversed by targeting the mitochondria of the cell, which control metabolism of the cell and initiate cell death - Science Centric

Heart and Stroke Foundation study explores women’s rare blood pressure condition

"In a rare condition known as idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, blood pressure is abnormally high in the pulmonary arteries (arteries that carry blood to the lungs for oxygenation). This makes it more difficult for blood to flow through the lungs, causing shortness of breath and fatigue. It can be fatal if it starts to affect the right ventricle of the heart, which is the pumping chamber to the lungs. This condition also affects women two to three times more often than men. Heart and Stroke Foundation funded research student Mavra Ahmed and her supervisor Dr. Susanna Mak have been researching how women's hormones may play a role in this condition"