A1C: Recommendations, Debates, and Questions — Diabetes Care
underwriting
Reduce Salt Intake – Lower Stroke, CVD
A decrease of 5 grams of salt a day (about one teaspoon) was associated with a 23% lower stroke rate and up to 17% less total cardiovascular disease, reported Pasquale Strazzullo, MD, of the “Federico II” University of Naples, Italy, and colleagues online in BMJ.
HSDD – Flibanserin
The drug was originally developed as an antidepressant. Animal experiments had suggested it might have a more rapid effect than serotonin reuptake inhibitors, but it failed to substantially reduce depression symptoms in a clinical trial.
However, the potential to increase female sexual desire became apparent during the study. Reportedly, trial participants were reluctant to return unused pills when the study was over.
It’s a Guy Thing
In this study, the overall lifetime risk among 40-year-olds was 12.3% for men and 4.2% for women.
Life is not fair.
J-point Elevation
During a mean follow-up of 30 years, 56.5% of the participants died. About a third of the deaths (32.1%) were attributed to cardiac causes. Of those, 40.4% were from sudden arrhythmia.
As in individuals with a J-point elevation of at least 0.1 mV, those with an elevation of greater than 0.2 mV in the inferior leads had an increased risk of death from cardiac causes (RR 2.98, 95% CI 1.85 to 4.92) and from sudden arrhythmia (RR 2.92, 95% CI 1.45 to 5.89).
Nearly half of those with an elevation of more than 0.2 mV (47.2%) died from cardiac causes, compared with 17.2% among those who did not have the early repolarization pattern (P<0.001).
And Yet Another Reason Why I Drink
Lose Weight (and possibly your life) with Meridia
Preliminary analysis of data from a placebo-controlled study of sibutramine (Meridia) suggested an excess risk of cardiovascular events including myocardial infarction and cardiac death among patients taking the diet drug, according to the FDA.
Ziprasidone (Geodon) – Think Bipolar
Ziprasidone comes with a long list of precautions and contraindications:
* It should not be used in patients with a known history of QT prolongation, recent acute myocardial infarction, or uncompensated heart failure, and should not be used with other QT-prolonging drugs.
* It should also be avoided in elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis, as studies have shown that ziprasidone increases the risk of death in such patients.
* Discontinuation should be considered in patients showing signs of tardive dyskinesia.
* Treatment should be stopped immediately in patients with symptoms of neuroleptic malignant syndrome, which include hyperpyrexia, muscle rigidity, diaphoresis, tachycardia, irregular pulse or blood pressure, cardiac dysrhythmia, and altered mental status.
* Patients and clinicians should be alert for hyperglycemia, rash, seizures, and orthostatic hypotension with ziprasidone.
Drugs and Falls
More than 30% of people ages 65 years and older experience a fall annually. Falls are associated with more than 40% of nursing home admissions, so research into risk factors “is urgently needed,” according the the researchers.
One More Reason Why the War in Mexico Bothers Me
Did US law spur Mexico’s meth sales? | csmonitor.com
The law of unintended consequences can be defined as unanticipated or unintended effects from a certain action. In other words, you do something and something else happens that is totally unexpected.
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