ISLAMABAD  – A possible new blood test based on the presence of a protein released after a heart attack, could help diagnose an attack, new research suggests.

Loyola University scientists said cMyBP-C (cardiac myosin binding protein-C) is a large protein. “This (cMyBP-C) potentially could become the basis for a new test, used in conjunction with other blood tests, to help diagnose heart attacks,” said study author Sakthivel Sadayappan, assistant professor in molecular physiology.
“A lot of additional studies will be necessary to establish cMyBP-C as a true biomarker for heart attacks,” Sadayappan said. Sadayappan co-authored the study with Suresh Govindan, postdoctoral researcher in Sadayappan`s lab, the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology reports.
The Loyola study is the first to find that cMyBP-C is associated with heart attacks. Its large molecular size helps quick detection in blood test, according to a Loyola statement. Between 60 and 70 per cent of all patients who complain of chest pain don’t have heart attacks. Many of them are hospitalized until a heart attack is ruled out.
An electrocardiogram can diagnose major heart attacks but not minor ones. Only one protein, now used in blood tests, called cardiac troponin-I, is specific to the heart. But it takes at least four to six hours for this protein to show up in the blood following a heart attack.
Mulethi” cuts ‘hot flushes and night sweats’ of menopause
Scientists have revealed that liquorice, known as “Mulethi” could help older women take some of the misery out of menopause. They found that a pill containing the sweet root cuts the number of hot flushes women experience by up to 80 percent, as well as helping to keep bones strong without any side effects.
Hot flushes and night sweats affect most women in the years leading up to and after their last period. Most women are bothered by them for four years, but they can disturb sleep, zap energy, cause embarrassment and reduce quality of life for up to 20 years.
The pill produced ‘remarkable’ results when taken daily by women who were close to or going through ‘the change’, the scientists claimed.
This is thought to be because plant chemicals in liquorice have a similar effect to the female sex hormone oestrogen, levels of which plummet around the menopause.
A US fertility conference heard that in future, liquorice-based supplements could provide women who cannot or will not take traditional, oestrogen-based hormone replacement therapy with an effective alternative. 
The researchers, from the University of Southern California, gave supplies of liquorice extract called licogen or a placebo pill to 51 women who were going through or who were close to the menopause.
Within a year, most of those taking the liquorice found that the number of hot flushes and night sweats they had each day fell by 80 per cent - or from an average of ten to just two.
And instead of waking an average of four times, their sleep was disturbed just once or twice. 
The findings were presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual conference in recent past..