Discovering a new way to thwart heart failure

Cardiovascular disease claims a life every 40 seconds. In the U.S. alone, every year 550,000 people have a heart attack for the first time. Preventing heart failure has been a major challenge in the management of cardiovascular diseases. Currently, β-adrenergic blockades — or β-blockers — are medications that have been used to treat abnormal heart rhythms to protect from a heart attack after a first heart attack has occurred. While β-blockers have proven effective in treating chronic congestive heart failure, the long-term benefit of decreasing contractile kinetics is not completely understood.