Mitral regurgitation - a "leaky" mitral valve - is the most common of the heart valve abnormalities, and can be one of the most difficult to evaluate and treat. It can lead to severe symptoms, heart failure, and heart arrhythmias. The appropriate treatment of mitral regurgitation requires careful and regular medical evaluations - and it requires you to pay attention to how you're feeling.

Read what you need to know about mitral regurgitation here.

Recently, conflicting news reports - and conflicting science - have given mixed messages on whether being a "little" overweight is a significant risk factor, or actually healthy. The confusion probably stems from the measure of "obesity" being used in these studies - the Body Mass Index, or BMI. The answer to the apparent conflict is actually quite simple. DrRich explains it here.

For years it has been "common knowledge" that people who are under a lot of stress have an increased risk of heart disease. But is this common knowledge correct? And if so, what kind of stress increases the risk of heart disease, how does it increase risk, and what can be done about it?

Sorting out the effect of stress on the heart is made complicated by three factors: 1) people mean different things by "stress;" 2) the kind of stress people think causes heart disease may not be the worst kind; 3) until recently, there has been little scientific evidence that stress causes heart disease. However, in recent years new information has come to light to help us understand how stress can contribute to heart disease, and what we can do to counter the negative aspects of stress. Read about it here.

Infectious endocarditis - which sometimes is also called subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE), or just "endocarditis" - is an infection of the endocardial surface (the interior lining) of the heart. Infectious endocarditis is always a serious medical problem, since the infection can destroy your heart valves or heart muscle.

Read here all about infectious endocarditis.