The federal government released updated guidelines on Jan. 7 recommending that people eat a healthy diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, grains, oils, fat-free or low-fat dairy and a variety of foods with protein such as seafood, lean meats and poultry.

Patients who were optimistic two weeks after an acute coronary syndrome were more likely to be physically active and less likely to be readmitted to a hospital for cardiovascular reasons, according to a prospective, observational study.

More than half of patients in a prospective, population-based study had warning symptoms in the four weeks before suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. However, only 19 percent of patients called emergency medical services to report their symptoms.

Although doctors are relying more on echocardiograms and pocket-size ultrasound devices, cardiologists and other providers also continue to use stethoscopes, the Washington Post reports. In fact, the FDA last year approved a stethoscope that reproduces sounds on a cellphone app and sends them to an electronic medical record.

Tal Golesworthy, a process engineer, delivered a TED talk about using his engineering skills to change the treatment paradigm for aortic dilatation. 

An analysis of outpatient cardiology patients found there was no association between overall practice volume and performance on quality measures for coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation or heart failure. However, providers with higher volumes of patients with coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation had better adherence to those respective performance measures.

Recent treatment advances have led to steep declines in cardiovascular disease-related death rates in the past decade. Still, heart disease and stroke accounted for the most deaths worldwide in 2013, according to an American Heart Association (AHA) report released on Dec. 16.

The FDA approved selexipag on Dec. 21 to treat adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), delay disease progression and reduce the risk of hospitalization for PAH.