Heart Disease Undetected In Many Women

Conventional tests won't uncover heart disease in as many as 3 million U.S. women — because instead of the usual bulky clogs in main arteries, these women have a hard-to-spot buildup in smaller blood vessels, researchers said Tuesday. These are the women who come to the doctor complaining of chest pain or shortness of breath but sometimes are sent away undiagnosed, not knowing they're actually at high risk for a heart attack in the next few years. "The No. 1 message for women is, 'Pay attention to your symptoms,"' said Dr. George Sopko, a heart specialist at the National Institutes of Health, which sponsored the research. "If you don't have visible blockages, that doesn't mean you're not at risk." Heart disease is the nation's leading killer, of both men and women. In fact, slightly more women than men die from cardiovascular diseases each year — more than 480,000 of them, according to the American Heart Association. Scientists are struggling to understand some disturbing gender disparities: Women are less likely to receive aggressive treatment for heart disease than men, are less likely to survive heart surgery, and respond differently than men to different risk factors and therapies. They frequently have different symptoms of a heart attack than men do, such as fatigue instead of the classic chest pain radiating down the arm. Even the test considered best at diagnosing heart disease — angiography, which lets doctors watch as blood flows through key arteries — is less accurate for women than for men. Tuesday, reviewing clues from some recent research, the NIH's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute highlighted why — and how many women are at risk after a misleadingly "clear" angiogram. In an ongoing study called WISE, the Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation, researchers have found that about two-thirds of women with chest pain pass an angiogram. But about half of them turn out to have a condition named "coronary microvascular syndrome," where plaque evenly coats very small arteries instead of forming more obvious obstructions in larger ones. Angiograms simply can't see these tiny arteries, Sopko explained. It's like seeing a pine tree's branches but not its needles. The narrowed small arteries mean less oxygen flow to the heart, explaining the women's chest pain. But this microvascular syndrome also seems to signal a dysfunction of the lining of the artery's inner wall, making the blood vessels not dilate the way they're supposed to in response to stress, said Dr. C. Noel Bairey Merz of Cedars-Sinai Medical in Los Angeles, who oversees the WISE study. "It appears to be primarily a woman's problem, which is probably why we've missed it all these years (that) we didn't bother to study women," Bairey Merz said, noting that men make up just 20 percent of microvascular syndrome patients, for unknown reasons.

S. Korea, U.S. To Begin Trade Talks

U.S. and European diplomats campaigned behind the scenes Thursday in a last-minute effort to gain the broadest possible consensus for reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council within days over concerns it is seeking nuclear weapons. The negotiations came as the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors began a two-day meeting on a European draft resolution calling for Tehran to be referred to the Security Council, which can impose sanctions. Senior U.S. officials tell CBS News they have counted the votes and have enough support to approve the measure. What the Security Council will do is not yet clear but the Iranians are already threatening retaliation, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar. Iran's chief delegate vowed to suspend all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA if his country is referred to the Security Council. While diplomats at the meeting said adoption of the resolution within the next few days was certain, Washington and the European Union, the key backers of referral wanted to build as much support as possible. The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the meeting opened a "window of opportunity" to defuse the crisis, stressing that even if the issue is referred, the Security Council would not take up the issue before next month. The IAEA board was expected to approve the motion easily because Russia and China — which have veto power on the Security Council along with the U.S., Britain and France — now support reporting Iran following months of opposition. But protracted back-room negotiations were being held to achieve broader consensus. Iran, which claims its program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity, has warned that referral would provoke it into doing exactly what the world wants it to renounce — starting full-scale uranium enrichment, a possible step to developing nuclear weapons. Iran's chief delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh also reiterated that his country would stop honoring an agreement allowing the IAEA thorough inspections on short notice if it is referred to the 15-nation council. Grigory Berdennikov, Russia's chief IAEA delegate, reinforced Moscow's position outside the meeting, telling reporters that referral to the Security Council would send Iran "a serious signal.

Iran Nuke Debate Heats Up

U.S. and European diplomats campaigned behind the scenes Thursday in a last-minute effort to gain the broadest possible consensus for reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council within days over concerns it is seeking nuclear weapons. The negotiations came as the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors began a two-day meeting on a European draft resolution calling for Tehran to be referred to the Security Council, which can impose sanctions. Senior U.S. officials tell CBS News they have counted the votes and have enough support to approve the measure. What the Security Council will do is not yet clear but the Iranians are already threatening retaliation, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar. Iran's chief delegate vowed to suspend all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA if his country is referred to the Security Council. While diplomats at the meeting said adoption of the resolution within the next few days was certain, Washington and the European Union, the key backers of referral wanted to build as much support as possible. The chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the meeting opened a "window of opportunity" to defuse the crisis, stressing that even if the issue is referred, the Security Council would not take up the issue before next month. The IAEA board was expected to approve the motion easily because Russia and China — which have veto power on the Security Council along with the U.S., Britain and France — now support reporting Iran following months of opposition. But protracted back-room negotiations were being held to achieve broader consensus. Iran, which claims its program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity, has warned that referral would provoke it into doing exactly what the world wants it to renounce — starting full-scale uranium enrichment, a possible step to developing nuclear weapons. Iran's chief delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh also reiterated that his country would stop honoring an agreement allowing the IAEA thorough inspections on short notice if it is referred to the 15-nation council. Grigory Berdennikov, Russia's chief IAEA delegate, reinforced Moscow's position outside the meeting, telling reporters that referral to the Security Council would send Iran "a serious signal.

Owners Agree to W. Va Mines

Most of West Virginia's 544 coal mines were expected to follow a request from Gov. Joe Manchin to close for safety checks before resuming operations, after two mine workers were killed in separate accidents on the same day. An industry group that represents 80 percent of the state's coal producers said its members would comply. "They were interrupting the shifts if they were in a working shift," said Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association. Spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said Manchin does not have the authority to shut down mines that do not heed the safety check request, but she was unaware of any companies refusing to do so. Both of Wednesday's accidents occurred in Boone County, about 50 miles south of the state capital. State mine safety officials said a bulldozer operator was killed at the Black Castle Surface Mine operated by Massey Energy Co. subsidiary Elk Run Coal Co. in Uneeda. An underground miner died after a wall support failed at Long Branch Energy's No. 18 Tunnel Mine in Wharton, officials said. The accidents brought to 16 the number of mining-related deaths in West Virginia since Jan. 2, and the first at a surface operation. Only three mining-related fatalities occurred in 2005, a record low for the state. Beyond the safety checks, Manchin also told state mine regulators to speed up their mine inspection schedule and review all 229 surface and 315 underground mines immediately. Each mine is scheduled to be inspected every three months, Manchin said in a statement, and the state will immediately begin "inspecting each mine in the state and their equipment, conditions, engineering plans, safety procedures and safe work practices." "We're going to check for unsafe conditions, and we're going to correct any unsafe conditions before we mine another lump of coal," Manchin said. "West Virginia remains committed to putting the safety of every one of our miners first and foremost, far above any production that might come from that mining operation," Manchin said at a news conference. David Dye, acting U.S. assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health, later urged coal mines nationwide to conduct safety and training sessions on Monday for workers at the beginning of each shift.