Heart attacks in middle aged women are on the rise according to recent reports.  Heart attacks have often been associated mainly with men but this is proving to be false more and more often. Heart attack causes can often be different for men and women. One of the main reasons that heart attacks in middle aged women are increasing is because obesity in this age group is also increasing. Some experts feel the two are linked together. This theory helps to prove the importance of living an overall healthy lifestyle. Eating right and exercising on a regular basis can help reduce the risk of not only heart attacks but other important health concerns.

Vulnerable plaque is not a every day term that people hear about. In fact many people who are fortunate enough not to have heart problems may never ever hear the term but it is a serious one. Vulnerable plaque is a collection of white blood cells and lipids (including cholesterol) in the wall of an artery. This can result in sudden serious problems such as a heart attack. Vulnerable plaque is believed to be cause by inflammation in the arteries which leads to the development of soft or vulnerable plaque.

Heart disease and heart attacks are often confused and the proper information about warning signs and the effects of the two are often misconstrued. Heart disease includes numerous problems affecting the heart and the blood vessels in the heart.  There are many different types of heart disease. One of these types in Coronary artery disease more commonly called (CAD) . It is the most common type of heart disease and one of the leading causes of heart attacks.  When an individual has coronary artery disease your arteries often become hard and narrow which results in blood having a hard time getting to the heart, so the heart doesn’t get all the blood it needs.

Heart disease and heart attacks in women are commonly overlooked. Most women feel these conditions apply only to men. This is completely untrue . There are many different heart attack symptoms in women and men. Here are five common signs of a heart attack:
1) Chest pain or discomfort
2) Pain or discomfort in the jaw, neck or back
3) Feeling weak, lightheaded, or faint
4) Pain or discomfort in the arms or shoulder
5) Shortness of breath

Here are some additional signs of a heart attack the are more common in women:

1) Shoulder or neck pain
2) Stomach upset
3) Unusual tiredness
If you have any of these symptoms call for emergency medical help immediately!

Boston Business Journal - by Eric Convey

Leaders of early-stage medical device companies are worried the Obama administration’s health system overhaul could devastate the industry and have formed a new lobbying organization whose goals include killing a proposed $40 billion, 10-year-tax targeting their products.

The issue could be extremely important for Massachusetts, with its big medical device sector. The 25 largest medical device companies in the state as compiled by the Boston Business Journal have annual sales of about $28 billion and employ more than 12,000 in Massachusetts.

The executives working with the new group are especially troubled that by taxing revenue rather than income — the plan as it stands would allocate the annual assessment based on market share — the measure would undermine the startup business model to the extent critical investors might be scared off.

“For small startups, it hits them at an extremely fragile stage — when they’re just beginning earnings,” said Dr. James E. Muller, a cardiologist and former Harvard Medical School professor who founded InfraReDx in Burlington and is an early member of Entrepreneurs for the Advancement of Medical Innovation, or EAMI. “It’s like putting the plant outside before it’s ready. The process of innovation has some very difficult years where you have to nurture the innovative process.”

Robert McNeil, managing director of Sanderling Ventures in San Mateo, Calif., and an investor in InfraReDx, said he helped launch EAMI because he fears a number of elements of the health overhaul effort will stifle innovation.

Another target will be Medicare funding rules that tend to ignore the cost of developing and testing new products, he said.

If the government undermines early-stage companies, McNeil said, venture capitalists will “just take our money and develop products in which you can earn a living.”

Supporters of the new tax say it only captures part of a windfall that companies will enjoy as the ranks of the insured grow.

Local executives at device companies already have sought help from U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

In an e-mail response to a question from the Boston Business Journal, Kerry said: “The medical device companies pave the way on new technology that saves lives and money, so anything that could stifle research and development concerns us in the short and long term.

“We should explore whether there are better ways to raise revenue than assessing across the board excise taxes on specific sectors of the health industry.”

Muller, a veteran activist who shared a 1985 Nobel Peace Prize for work against nuclear war and helped launch the once-high-profile lay Catholic group Voice of the Faithful, is no critic of activist government. He supports single-payer health care.

But the direction of the current debate has frustrated him.

Referring to his own 11-year-old company, he said: “It’s taken forever to build this device, and it’s cost an enormous amount of money. It’s taken work by 70 or more individuals — about 50 engineers, many MIT engineers, to build it. It’s a revolutionary technology that can find the plaques that cause heart attacks. And we certainly are not being helped by what’s going on in Washington.”

The new advocacy group was set up earlier this month and for now is being run by the law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.

There are many different signs of a heart attack. While some heart attack symptoms are common, symptoms can vary for each individual.  According to the American Heart Association and other medical experts the body usually sends warning signs before a heart attack occurs. Some of these heart attack symptoms include severe pressure, fullness, pain and/or discomfort in the center of the chest that last longer than a few minutes, pain or discomfort that spreads to the shoulders, neck, arms or jaw. Other heart attack symptoms include chest pain that occurs with any of these symptoms:

• sweating, cool, clammy skin
• nausea or vomiting
• rapid or irregular heart beat
• difficulty breathing
• shortness of breath

Symptoms can vary between men and women and can be different for each individual.