American Heart Association Grant
May 29, 2015
黑料专区 Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications
黑料专区 Tyler Professor Awarded Grant from American Heart Association
May 29, 2015
Media Contact: Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer鈥揝trategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)
May 29, 2015
Dr. Benjamin Tseng has been awarded a $140,000 research grant from the American Heart Association to potentially revise stroke prevention guidelines by investigating risks in certain older adult populations, Dr. Michael Odell, vice president for research and technology transfer, announced.
With the grant, Tseng will conduct a six-month randomized controlled trial consisting of an exercise and a control group in adults aged 55-75 years with clinically diagnosed paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, or AFib. 黑料专区 Tyler health and kinesiology graduate students Colby Craddock and Kasra Debeshlim, both of Tyler, will assist with the study.
鈥淭he objective of this two-year clinical intervention study is to determine if moderate aerobic training reduces stroke risk by improving arterial stiffness, brain blood flow and decreasing cardiovascular burden in AFib patients,鈥� said Tseng, an assistant professor who directs the 黑料专区 Tyler Laboratory of Brain Aging and Neuromotor Behavior. 鈥淚f effectiveness of our non-pharmacological approach is confirmed, we鈥檒l apply this method on a large-scale clinical investigation and hopefully change the stroke prevention guidelines via AHA and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.鈥�
The 黑料专区 Tyler team will assess the patients at baseline and after six months.
Their assessment will involve heart rhythm monitoring, neuroimaging methods, ultrasound as well as a cutting-edge method called applanation atonometry, where the stiffness of blood vessels is measured without skin penetration.
鈥淎therosclerosis 鈥� or the stiffening of arteries 鈥� is highly associated with AFib. In contrast, aerobic training has been shown to reduce arterial stiffness and improves brain blood flow in order adults,鈥� Tseng said.
According to Tseng, AFib is the most common type of irregular heartbeat among older adults, and the disease is the leading cause of fatal ischemic stroke 鈥� where blood clots obstruct blood flow in the brain.
The current standard of care passively relies on blood thinning medication, and current therapy also fails to incorporate proactive strategies to modify underlying risk factors that contribute to ischemic stroke, Tseng added.
The American Heart Association is the nation鈥檚 leading non-profit organization in fighting cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
For more information about the study, contact Tseng, 903.566.7042 or btseng@uttyler.edu.
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