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On that November Sunday in 2015, Stephanie Thomas Nichols was 40 miles into her drive home to Townsend, Del., from her vacation cabin in Western Maryland when she felt an odd sensation in her upper body. “No pain, just pressure, heaviness,’’ recalls Nichols, who owns a software company. She couldn’t catch her breath. Within minutes, her left arm went numb. (Cimons, 2/19)

Cardiac rehabilitation is a medically supervised program of helping heart attack patients and those who have had heart procedures or surgeries adopt behaviors to avoid a recurrence. These programs typically include exercise training, education and stress counseling. They usually are conducted in a clinic or hospital rehab center with input from doctors, nurses, exercise experts, physical and occupational therapists, dietitians and mental health professionals. (Cimons, 2/19)

Women typically don’t develop heart disease — or high blood pressure, one of its major risk factors — until after menopause. But “if you have diabetes, that rule no longer applies,” says Christine Maric-Bilkan, a program officer in the vascular biology and hypertension branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (Cimons, 2/19)

Cardiovascular disease and mental illness are among the top contributors to death and disability in the United States. At first glance, these health conditions seem to lie at opposite ends of the medical spectrum: Treating the heart is often associated with lab draws, imaging and invasive procedures, whereas treating the mind conjures up notions of talk therapy and subjective checklists. Yet researchers are discovering some surprising ties between cardiac health and mental health. These connections have profound implications for patient care, and doctors are paying attention. (Morris, 2/18)

Scientists are developing a robotic sleeve that can encase a flabby diseased heart and gently squeeze to keep it pumping. So far it’s been tested only in animals, improving blood flow in pigs. But this “soft robotic” device mimics the natural movements of a beating heart, a strategy for next-generation treatments of deadly heart failure. (Neergaard, 2/18)