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A Need for Heart Failure Prevention
Heart failure is a serious and often progressive heart muscle disease that causes inadequate blood circulation to the body. More than 5 million Americans have heart failure, and nearly 300,000 die from heart failure annually.
Heart failure is caused by coronary artery disease (including heart attacks), hypertension, and diabetes, among other causes. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, fatigue, exertional intolerance, and swelling of the legs and feet. Heart failure increases the risks for other serious conditions such as stroke, abnormal heart rhythms, and sudden death.
The condition is much easier to prevent than to treat. Drugs and surgery are not especially helpful. One-year heart failure mortality is about 20 percent, and mortality is 10 percent per year thereafter. Maintaining a low-fat vegan diet and regular exercise are cornerstones for prevention of all three major risk factors.
Epidemiological and pathological studies, human cell and tissue studies, preventive interventions, and treatment trials of heart failure patients have improved our understanding of means of prevention and treatment of heart failure.
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Queenie's Story
From Home to Laboratory
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June 15, 2009:
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Queenie was surrendered to Gratiot County Animal Shelter.
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June 25, 2009:
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Queenie was transferred to R & R Research, a Class B “random source” dog dealer.
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Sept. 16, 2009:
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R & R Research sold Queenie to Wayne State.
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Sept. 23, 2009:
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Laboratory personnel began forcing Queenie to run on a treadmill. They noted that she was “distressed.”
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Sept. 24 – Dec. 1, 2009:
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Queenie remained “spooky” during her treadmill training, according to laboratory personnel, even jumping off the treadmill when an experimenter entered the room.
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Dec. 1, 2009:
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Queenie had a left thoracotomy—a major surgery in which experimenters cut open her chest to implant devices in her heart. After the surgery, her face and paws were swollen, she was “whining [and] vocalizing,” and she vomited immediately after being placed in her cage.
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Dec. 8, 2009:
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Queenie was forced to get back on the treadmill with cables hanging out of her body, while still leaking fluids from the surgery.
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Dec. 15, 2009:
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Queenie underwent another procedure. This time, experimenters cut into her neck and leg to place more catheters in her arteries and veins.
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Dec. 16, 2009:
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Queenie was found lying on the floor and “reluctant to get up out of [her] cage,” whining when laboratory technicians tried to force her out. Queenie’s incisions constantly seeped large amounts of fluids. Sores developed on her paws and right hip.
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Dec. 2009–Feb. 2010:
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Queenie was forced to run on the treadmill once or twice per day for 35 to 45 sessions.
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March 2010:
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Hypertension was induced in Queenie by reducing the flow of blood to her kidneys.
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April 5, 2010:
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A laboratory technician noted that Queenie was “acting very timid—like she can’t get [up]…shakes while getting up (back legs)… won’t get up for me.” That same day, she underwent treadmill experiments again.
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April 7, 2010:
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Queenie’s leg got caught in the treadmill and she stumbled. For the next two weeks, Queenie was tiptoeing and limping, but she was still forced to run.
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June 22, 2010:
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Experimenters accidentally cracked one of the devices implanted in her body. They attempted to fix the device.
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June 28, 2010:
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The device broke again, retracting into Queenie’s body.
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June 29, 2010:
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Laboratory personnel killed Queenie.
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Good Medicine
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