November 26th, 2010 by Linda Burke-Galloway, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: American Dental Association, Birth Defects, Cleft Palate, Dental Fillings, Dental Problems, Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway, Facial Cleft, Facial Deformities, Fetal Exposure, Fetal Health, Fetus, First Trimester, Maternal-Child Health, Mercury, Norway, Ob.Gyn. News, OB/GYN, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Organogenesis, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Preventive Health, Preventive Medicine, Susan London, Women's Health
1 Comment »
Although the first trimester of pregnancy is sacred, there will be patients who will encounter problems at that time. During the first trimester, the brain and the central nervous system develops from 6 to 10 weeks, a time period commonly known as organogenesis. To minimize the risk of developing birth defects, medications and invasive procedures are usually postponed until the arrival of the second trimester.
A recent article in the October 2010 issue of Ob.Gyn. News reported some disturbing findings: Dental fillings in the first trimester were linked to the development of a cleft palate. A cleft palate is a birth defect that has a slit in the roof of the mouth because it failed to close during the first trimester.
The article by Susan London described a study in Norway where pregnant women had dental filings in the first trimester and their babies subsequently developed cleft palates. Ideally, dental problems should be addressed prior to becoming pregnant, however that is not always an option. Dental problems can occur during pregnancy because of the increased calcium requirements of the fetus as well as hormonal changes of the pregnancy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Linda Burke-Galloway*
November 25th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Calorie Consumption, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiology, Dietetics, Dr. Wes Fisher, Eating Habits, Food and Drink, General Medicine, Harvard, Healthy Diet, Heart Attack, Heart Health, High-Fat Diet, Holiday Eating, Indigestion, Lipids, Overeating, Thanksgiving, Washington Post, WesMusings
No Comments »
It seems the Washington Post, cloaked under an anonymous author, wants to use scare tactics to keep most of us from enjoying Thanksgiving with their ominously titled article, “And for dessert, a heart attack?” They spew all kinds of garbage with very little data about how eating a high-fat diet might give you a heart attack.
If you want to know more, consider this article* from some pretty smart folks at Harvard. Then eat, drink, and be merry without guilt (courtesy of Dr. Wes). Happy Thanksgiving!
– WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*REFERENCE: Renata, M. and Mozaffarian, D. “Saturated Fat and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors, Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes: a Fresh Look at the Evidence.” Lipids, 31 Mar 2010.
[Photo credit: Lambert]
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
November 24th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research, True Stories
Tags: Atlantic Magazine, Dr. Carl Elliott, Gary Schwitzer, HealthNewsReview.org, Medical Ghostwriter, Medical Ghostwriting, Medical Litigation, Medical Writers, Medication-Related Lawsuits, Moral Outrage, Pharmaceutical Research, Plagiarism, Playing Doctor, Science Writing
1 Comment »
Dr. Carl Elliott writes about ghostwriting in the December issue of The Atlantic magazine, “Playing Doctor: How to spin pharmaceutical research.” He profiles a young scientist (“David”) who became a ghostwriter about 10 years ago.
Excerpts:
“Ghostwritten articles surface again and again in litigation (in cases concerning Vioxx, Fen-Phen, Zyprexa, Premarin, Neurontin, and Zoloft, to mention just a few). Years before the Avandia scandal, GlaxoSmithKline paid $2.5 million to the State of New York to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had concealed studies suggesting an increased risk of suicidal behavior in children and teenagers taking Paxil, most notoriously in an article “authored” by Dr. Martin Keller of Brown University. One 2003 study in The British Journal of Psychiatry found that ghostwriters working for a single medical-communications agency had produced more than half of all medical-journal articles published on Zoloft over a three-year period.
To many critics, the moral outrage of ghostwriting is like that of plagiarism: academic physicians are getting credit for articles they didn’t actually write. To David, letting someone else take the credit for his work is a minor humiliation. The real problem, of course, is much worse: spinning data perverts science. It also downplays risks that can lead to serious injuries, and deaths. As David puts it, “The moral crime I was being asked to commit was to do with truthfulness.” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
November 24th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: AF, Alzheimer's Disease, Atrial Fibrillation, Benefits of Exercise, Cleveland Journal of Medicine, Clinical Trials, Cognitive Decline, Cognitive Function, Colinesterase Inhibitors, Coumadin, Dabigatran, Dialysis, Dr. Toni Brayer, Elderly People, Everything Health, Evidence Based Medicine, Family Medicine, Flu Vaccine, General Medicine, Geriatrics, Internal Medicine, Medical Research, Medical Science, Older Adults, Pradaxa, Preventing Falls and Fractures, Primary Care, Science and Medicine, Vitamin D, Warfarin
No Comments »
New clinical trials and published research are giving us information on how to improve health in elderly patients. Here are some brief points from the Cleveland Journal of Medicine that were surprising to me:
— Each year 30 percent of people age 65 or older fall and sustain serious injuries so preventing falls and fractures is important. Vitamin D prevents both falls and fractures, but mega doses of Vitamin D (50,000 mg) might cause more falls. A better dose is 1,000mg a day in people who consume a low-calcium diet.
— Exercise boosts the effect of influenza vaccine.
— The benefits of dialysis in older patients is uncertain, as it does not improve function in people over age 80. We don’t even know if it improves survival. Older patients who receive dialysis for kidney failure had a decline in function (eating, bed mobility, ambulation, toileting, hygiene, and dressing) after starting treatment.
— Colinesterase inhibitors (Aricept, Razadyne and Exelon) are commonly used to treat Alzheimer disease, but they all can have serious side effects. Syncope (fainting), hip fractures, slow heart rate, and the need for permanent pacemaker insertion were more frequent in people taking these drugs. The benefits of these drugs on cognition is modest.
— A new drug called Pradaxa (dabigatran) will likely prove to be safer than Coumadin (warfarin). Over two million adults have atrial fibrillation and the median age is 75. The blood thinner warfarin is critical for prevention of strokes but it caries a high risk of bleeding and drug levels have to be monitored frequently. Dabigatran will probably replace warfarin, but it will probably also be a lot more expensive.
As I often say, medicine and science are constantly changing and evolving. As new evidence comes forth, physicians and patients need to re-evaluate they way we do things.
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
November 24th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Barrier To Patient Care, Captain Chelsey Sullenberger, Chuck Yeager, Cookbook Medicine, Doctors As Cowboys, Dr. Atul Gawande, Dr. David Ring, Dr. Davis Liu, Dr. John Collins Warren, Dr. Peter Pronovost, Future Doctors, General Medicine, Infallable Doctors, Jeff Skiles, Massachusetts General Hospital, Medical Errors, Medical Schools, New England Journal of Medicine, Patient Safety, Performing the Wrong Operation, Primary Care, Procedures, Protocols, Quality Patient Care, Rescue Efforts, Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis, The Practice of Medicine, US Airways
1 Comment »
A recent medical error of a wrong-site surgery that occurred in one of the country’s best hospitals, Massachusetts General, reminded me why doctors need to be less like Chuck Yeager and more like Captain Sullenberger.
Growing up, I always wanted to be a fighter pilot, years before the movie “Top Gun” became a part of the American lexicon. My hero was World War II pilot Chuck Yeager, who later became one of the country’s premier test pilots flying experimental jet and rocket propelled planes in a time when they were dangerous, unpredictable, and unreliable.
Much like the astronauts in the movie “The Right Stuff,” Yeager and his colleagues literally flew by the seat of their pants, made it up as they went along, and never really knew if their maiden flight in a new aircraft might be their last. They were cowboys in the sky wrangling and taming the heavens.
Fast forward to January 2009, when shortly after takeoff, a one-in-a-million chance, a double-bird strike completely disabled a US Airways jetliner. Captain Chesley Sullenberger, with the help of his co-pilot Jeff Skiles, ditches the aircraft in the Hudson River in under four minutes even as the nation surely expected a tragedy. But not on that day. Not with that pilot. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
