Search Media Items

The Environmental Polymorphisms Registry (EPR) is a long-term research project to collect and store DNA from up to 20,000 North Carolinians in a biobank. By donating blood to the project, you will help scientists discover changes in our genes as a result of environmental exposures that may increase or decrease our risk for common diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

If you are a man or woman, 18-55 years old, living in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area, and smoke cigarettes or use an electronic nicotine delivery system (e-cigarette), please join an important study on smokers being conducted by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

A study conducted by NIEHS where moms can help their daughters prepare for puberty and demystify a girl’s first period.

This study will find out more about calcinosis, the development of calcium deposits in various parts of the body, in people with dermatomyositis (DM) and juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM). Calcinosis can be painful and cause disabilities and other problems, so scientists want to find treatments for it.

Girls seem to be going through puberty a lot earlier these days and doctors think it may be related to body weight. This study researches whether overweight girls go through puberty earlier than normal weight girls.

This study evaluates subjects with adult- and childhood-onset myositis to learn more about their causes, and the immune system changes and medical problems associated with them.

CABG is a treatment but not a cure for ischemic heart disease. It is important to work with your doctor after CABG to help you stay healthy. This may include taking medicines prescribed by your doctor, making healthy lifestyle changes, getting regular medical checkups, and participating in cardiac rehabilitation.

After CABG surgery, you will need time to recover. There are also potential complications from surgery, including arrhythmia, heart attack, and infection.

During CABG, a surgical team will take one or more blood vessels from another part of your body and connect it to the blocked artery in your heart. CABG may be performed in one of three ways. In traditional CABG, the chest is cut open and a machine pumps your blood. In “off-pump” CABG, the chest is opened, but a machine for pumping blood is not used. With minimally invasive CABG methods, only small cuts are made in the chest, and a machine is not used.

Your doctor may use diagnostic tests or procedures before CABG to determine how serious your ischemic heart disease is and where the coronary arteries are narrowed. If you need CABG, talk to your doctor about how to prepare for the procedure.

People who have certain conditions may benefit from CABG, such as those who have obstructive coronary artery disease, a type of ischemic heart disease. Obstructive coronary artery disease occurs when plaque builds up in the coronary arteries that supply the heart with oxygen-rich blood.

If you have been diagnosed with a conduction disorder, it is important that you continue your treatment. Follow-up care may depend on your type of conduction disorder, your risk of a complication, and your response to treatment. If you have a conduction disorder whose cause is genetic, talk to your doctor and family members about possible genetic testing for your family members.

If you are diagnosed with a conduction disorder, your doctor may recommend lifestyle changes, medicines, surgery, or another procedure to treat your condition. Conduction disorders can be a medical emergency that requires immediate treatment in a hospital emergency department.

To diagnose a conduction disorder, your doctor will ask about your medical history, any signs and symptoms, and your family’s medical history, and he or she will perform a physical exam. Your doctor may also recommend tests to look at your heart’s electrical activity and structure and to determine if you have genetic changes that may signal a conduction disorder.

Many people who have conduction disorders, such as first-degree AV block, may have no obvious signs or symptoms. Others may have signs and symptoms that occur in specific situations, such as when you experience physical or emotional stress or when you sleep. Conduction disorders can lead to life-threatening arrhythmias if undiagnosed or untreated.