UofL and UofL Health student, faculty and staff participants wore matching t-shirts during the Sept. 21 event to show support of the many heart health initiatives across the organizations.

“I am deeply humbled by the impact our students, staff, trainees, faculty and partners in health care,” said Jeffrey Bumpous, executive vice president for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine, “Giving both their time and money to this cause further proves the systemwide dedication to improving the future of health care, one step at a time.”

The funds received by the American Heart Association, which celebrates 100 years, work to provide CPR trainings and support research, medical breakthroughs and equitable heart health.

UofL Vice President of Community Engagement, Douglas Craddock, said the university is proud to be a partner with an organization paving the way for heart health through important work and groundbreaking research.

“I am incredibly proud to see the University of Louisville come together for such a vital cause,” Craddock said. “Our partnership with the American Heart Association grows stronger each year, and the success of events like the Kentuckiana Heart Walk highlights our shared commitment to advancing health and wellness in the Louisville community.”

Story by Tonya Augustine, UofL School of Medicine.

• $2.4 million from the National Institute on Aging will support work by Bradford Hill to investigate how aging leads to reduced blood flow to the heart in older individuals. Hill will study these changes and how this dysfunction could be prevented or corrected. The work may lead to opportunities to prevent age-dependent decline in exercise capacity and promote healthy aging.
• $3.4 million from the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute was awarded for a clinical trial to test whether treatment with the nutritional supplement carnosine improves symptoms and progression in peripheral artery disease in which narrowing of arteries reduces blood flow to arms or legs. Aruni Bhatnagar, Shahid Baba and Amit Dwivedi will conduct the trial.
• $4.67 million from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences will support the Green Heart Louisville Project, which studies how an increase in the number of trees and shrubs affects heart health. The team, led by Bhatnagar, recently reported results from their work that began in 2018 in South Louisville. The new award will allow the team to continue to gather data on community health for the next five years as the planted trees continue to grow.
• $ 0.8 million from the Department of Defense was awarded to Daniel Conklin for a two-year project to investigate the role of inhaled agents in Gulf War Illness (GWI), a chronic condition affecting 25-32% of Gulf War veterans. GWI involves chronic pain, muscle fatigue, cognitive impairment, migraines and stroke. Conklin will investigate whether inhalation of volatile organic compounds and particulate matter from burning oil wells, burn pits, contaminated sand and chemical and biological weapons may have led to repeated local and systemic inflammation, causing the condition.

This most recent funding adds to the $11.6 in grants awarded to institute researchers announced earlier this year.

Periods of extreme heat often result in an increase in deaths, mostly related to heart conditions. A UofL research study shows that heat also can impair the immune system and increase damaging inflammation, according to Daniel Riggs, assistant professor of environmental medicine and affiliated with .

Riggs and his colleagues recorded levels of immune cells and biomarkers in the blood of 624 participants in Louisville during summer months. They then compared those levels with the Universal Thermal Climate Index for that day, which factors in air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and ultraviolet radiation levels as a measure of heat exposure.

They found that when it was hotter, the participants had higher levels of immune molecules in their blood, indicating a general immune response and inflammation, as well as lower levels of B-cells, which allow the body to fight specific infections. This means that with higher heat, people may be more susceptible to infection and more sensitive to environmental exposures, which in turn can contribute to worsened heart disease.

“We know that certain changes in the immune system and increased inflammation are a leading mechanism in many types of cardiovascular disease. Our findings suggest that heat exposure could be contributing to these processes that ultimately lead to greater risk of cardiovascular disease,” Riggs said.

Riggs presented at the American Heart Association Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health Conference in March.

“It’s a problem because the epidemiology shows that the more plaque you have, the more you increase your risk for having a heart attack,” Conklin said.

Conklin says e-cig cartridges are flavored, and that flavors like mango and blackberry pie appeal to the youth because they are more tasteful and fun than old-fashioned tobacco products. This creates the issue of developing a new generation of people addicted to nicotine products.

UofL Envirome Institute director Aruni Bhatnagar is overseeing the research. “It is important because you want to prevent a new generation of youth from being addicted to nicotine and nicotine products,” Bhatnagar said. “And, if there is a harm associated with the use these products, we should know what those harms are so that we can minimize it or we can appropriately regulate the use of tobacco products.”