Medical News

Undiagnosed CKD in Prediabetes

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Medical News: Kidney Disease Common in Undiagnosed and Prediabetes – in Nephrology, General Nephrology from MedPage Today

More than 40% of people with undiagnosed diabetes had chronic kidney disease, based on albuminuria or reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) — just as many as in those with diagnosed diabetes, according to Laura C. Plantinga, ScM, of San Francisco General Hospital and University of California San Francisco, and colleagues.

Notably, 56.2% of chronic kidney disease was stage 3 or 4 among those with prediabetes, indicated by a fasting plasma glucose between 100 and 126 mg/dl, and for whom kidney dysfunction was likely unsuspected.

Stay Active Stay Healthy

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Arch Intern Med — Abstract: Physical Activity at Midlife in Relation to Successful Survival in Women at Age 70 Years or Older, January 25, 2010, Sun et al. 170 (2): 194

Methods – A total of 13 535 Nurses’ Health Study participants who were free of major chronic diseases at baseline in 1986 and had survived to age 70 years or older as of the 1995-2001 period made up the study population. We defined successful survival as no history of 10 major chronic diseases or coronary artery bypass graft surgery and no cognitive impairment, physical impairment, or mental health limitations.

Conclusion – These data provide evidence that higher levels of midlife physical activity are associated with exceptional health status among women who survive to older ages and corroborate the potential role of physical activity in improving overall health.

Don’t Take Plavix if You Are a Poor Metabolizer

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A “poor metabolizer” does not effectively convert Plavix to its active form because of low CYP 2C19 activity.

How does someone figure out they are a “poor metabolizer”?

Read the FDA communication if you’re seriously interested in the answer to this question.

FDA Drug Safety Communication: Reduced effectiveness of Plavix (clopidogrel) in patients who are poor metabolizers of the drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added a Boxed Warning to the label for Plavix, the anti-blood clotting medication. The Boxed Warning is about patients who do not effectively metabolize the drug (i.e. “poor metabolizers”) and therefore may not receive the full benefits of the drug.

CTE = Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

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NFL Brain Collector Shows Violence in Slices of Gray Matter – Bloomberg.com

Healthy tau helps strengthen the neurons in the brain, like steel reinforcements in a concrete bridge. Repetitive trauma can lead to a change in tau, making it clump like tangles of yarn. The more tangles, the more the communication between cells is hampered. Functions such as memory and anger control can disappear; dementia and death can follow.

CTE is a unique pathological condition, according to Stern. The postmortem diagnosis of Alzheimer’s requires the presence of deformed tau and another protein, beta amyloid. The diagnosis of CTE requires only the presence of deformed tau.

Proximal PAD BAD

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Medical News: Proximal PAD Portends Worse Outcomes – in Cardiovascular, Peripheral Artery Disease from MedPage Today

A proximal location significantly increases the risk of poor outcomes in peripheral arterial disease (PAD), independent of risk factors and comorbidities, a review of records on 400 patients showed.

Proximal (aortoiliac) involvement tripled the risk of cardiovascular events compared with distal disease. The findings contrast with evidence of poorer limb prognosis in patients with distal PAD, according to an article published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.