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The article focuses on a report by Doctor Manish Ponda and colleagues published online on June 20, 2012 in "Circulation," which found that patients deficient in vitamin D had significantly higher total and low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, higher triglyceride levels, and lower levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol when compared with individuals not deficient in vitamin D. The authors explains that dyslipidemia might be responsible for low vitamin-D levels.

The article reports on the approval of lorcaserin by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of obesity as of June 2012.

The article focuses on research in the American Heart Association's "Circulation Heart Failure" journal which found that one could reduce his risk of heart failure if he drinks coffee regularly in moderation. Senior study author Murray Mittleman, Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) says they define moderate consumption as equal to about two typical 8-ounce American coffee shop beverages. The Association recommends heart failure patients to consume no more than a cup or two of coffee a day.

The article discusses research by clinicians from Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which found that earlier tracheostomy improved the outcomes for patients needing prolonged mechanical ventilation after heart surgery, without raising their risk of mediastinitis. The study was published online in the "Journal of the American College of Surgeons." The researchers compared postoperative morbidity and in-hospital mortality in propensity-matched cardiac surgery patients who had tracheostomies.

The article reports on the successful implantation of the world's smallest artificial heart in a 16-month-old boy with dilated cardiomyopathy, by doctors at Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome, Italy in April 2012, to keep the infant alive until a donor was found for a transplant.