FACTS

Some of the most exciting advances in medicine have been in cardiology, the medical field that deals with diseases of the heart and blood vessels. For thousands of years, people with heart diseases did not even know they had such a problem. In the 1900's, doctors have learned to diagnose and treat certain heart conditions that once meant death. Discoveries of new drugs and the great progress in surgery have added years to the lives of many heart patients. Doctors have transplanted hearts and even developed machines that can temporarily do the work of the heart.


"The coagulation system is part of a tighly regulated pathway involving many enzymes," said Travis. "It has a so-called cascade pathway in the body, meaning that one enzyme turns on another, and then another and so forth. Normally these enzymes are present in an inactive form and are only activated when coagulation is required”. While the discovery is good news in potentially breaking the link between gum disease and heart disease, Travis said that P. gingivalis has a phenomenal ability to evade host defenses and even uses host enzymes for its own growth. In essence, it is telling the host to "kill me" and then evading the body's response and actually degrading host tissue.

Today, much research in cardiology focuses on learning about the causes of heart disease so that it can be prevented. Other research seeks to reduce death and disability from heart disease through the further development of new medicines and surgical techniques. For patients who have untreatable disorders, research continues into improving heart transplantation and producing an effective artificial heart. While periodontal disease is common in the U.S., particularly among the elderly, it is far worse in Third World countries, though its role in the development of cardiovascular disease in those countries is not yet clear.

The Human Heart is fully developed about eight weeks after conception, when the embryo is only about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) long. The heart begins to beat even earlier--four weeks after conception, when it is just a simple tube. Ancient Egyptians believed that the heart was the center of the emotions and the intellect. An illustration from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead shows the god Anubis weighing a dead person's heart against a feather, the symbol of truth. The Body's Entire Supply of Blood, about 5 quarts (4.7 liters), is pumped through the body every minute. In one day, the heart pumps nearly 2,000 gallons (7,600 liters) of blood. In a 70-year lifetime, the heart pumps about 51 million gallons (193 million liters) of blood and beats 2 1/2 billion times.