EurekAlert! In the Spotlight - Heart Health Month

In recognition of Heart Health Month, we’re spotlighting the importance of cardiovascular wellness. From risk factors and prevention to innovative treatments, we’re exploring the science and stories shaping heart health today.

DFG to fund 14 new research units

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Grant and Award Announcement

Topics ranging from immune responses in the heart in atherosclerosis to epistemologies of the divine in ancient Israel / Approximately €65.7 million for the initial funding period.

31-Mar-2026

Pancreatic fat linked to greater heart and metabolic health risks in children and adolescents with obesity

European Association for the Study of Obesity
Reports and Proceedings

Higher fat content in the pancreas of children and adolescents with obesity is associated with an increased level of heart and metabolic risk factors, including higher than average body mass index (BMI), elevated diastolic blood pressure, higher levels of abdominal and liver fat, and insulin resistance, according to new research presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May).

Meeting: European Congress on Obesity 2026 (ECO2026)

31-Mar-2026

Integration of single-cell multiomics data allows a more precise identification of rare cell types and states

Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute have demonstrated that combining data from different origins enables a more precise characterisation of cell type’s diversity into tissues and organs. The team also introduced scOMM, a new machine learning tool for classifying and compare cell types across the distinct data modalities. The tool is openly available to researchers worldwide and has been successfully tested in kidney tissue, one of the most cellularly diverse organs in the human body and validated in blood and heart tissue. As the results demonstrate, when it comes to understanding complex tissues, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Journal: Genome Biology

31-Mar-2026

Following 9 key steps for a lifetime of eating well can support heart health

American Heart Association
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Sustaining lifelong healthy eating patterns may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other chronic health issues, according to the latest updated dietary guidance offered in a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association.

Journal: Circulation

31-Mar-2026

Simple ECG test could flag racehorses at risk of exercise arrhythmias

University of Surrey
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A quick heart trace taken during a warm-up trot could identify racehorses at risk of cardiac arrhythmias during high-intensity exercise, according to a new study led by the University of Surrey.

Journal: Scientific Reports

31-Mar-2026

When the nervous system starves the brain: Autonomic dysfunction unmasked as a hidden driver of treatment-resistant depression

Genomic Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For more than two thousand patients who had cycled through years of antidepressant regimens without relief, the problem was never solely in their heads. A new study published in Brain Medicine tracked 2,197 individuals across six years and found that specific dysfunctions of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems, namely alpha-sympathetic withdrawal and parasympathetic excess, were starving the brain of adequate blood flow in ways that mimicked or magnified depressive states. Once clinicians identified and corrected those autonomic imbalances using low-dose pharmacologic and lifestyle interventions, 95 percent of subjects experienced symptom relief, plummeting from an average of 23.2 reported symptoms at baseline to 5.2 at final follow-up. The findings challenge the assumption that patients who fail standard antidepressants are simply treatment resistant.

Journal: Brain Medicine

Welcome to In the Spotlight, where each month we shine a light on something exciting, timely, or simply fascinating from the world of science.

Latest News Releases

DFG to fund 14 new research units

Pancreatic fat linked to greater heart and metabolic health risks in children and adolescents with obesity

Integration of single-cell multiomics data allows a more precise identification of rare cell types and states

Following 9 key steps for a lifetime of eating well can support heart health

Simple ECG test could flag racehorses at risk of exercise arrhythmias

When the nervous system starves the brain: Autonomic dysfunction unmasked as a hidden driver of treatment-resistant depression

Dr. Roxana Mehran is new American College of Cardiology president

New $20M effort aims to address critical gaps in care for people with single ventricle heart disease

Including AI-derived heart fat measurement improves accuracy of cardiovascular disease risk prediction

With help from AI, eye images offer window into cardiovascular risk