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Diabetology: An emerging, but stunted, new field
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareNew cases of diabetes have doubled during the last 30 years, mainly among obese people. This increase in diabetes prevalence has caused an emerging crisis in healthcare. About 14 years ago, one-year fellowship programs were created to afford primary care physicians the clinical skills to manage diabetes and its complications. Currently, there are four diabetes fellowship programs nationwide. But new research reveals that resistance among payers and other physicians may slow growth of this new specialty.
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CDC: More than 80,000 Americans died of flu last winter
Tammy Gibson Medical & Allied HealthcareExperts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced that more than 80,000 Americans died of the flu during the 2017-18 season. Federal health officials said this was the highest number in more than a decade. 90 percent of the deaths were in people over age 65, but the flu also killed 180 children and teenagers. The CDC does not count adult flu deaths directly, but estimates them based on the number of excess deaths during the flu season. Officials at the National Foundation for Infectious Disease (NFID) estimate that a record-breaking 900,000 people were hospitalized.
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Wave of complex street drugs complicates diagnosis of overdose
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareDrug overdoses are increasingly common and more lethal in nearly every area of the country. New research provides a snapshot of regional illegal drug use. The report also highlights the complexity of detecting and treating severe drug-related events at emergency departments. Begun in 2016, the study focuses on identifying illicit drugs causing patient overdoses at two hospital EDs in Maryland. At the time of the study, the emergency departments were seeing a spike in accidental drug overdoses and related deaths.
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Skin care sins clients commit that have serious consequences
Elizabeth Donat RetailIt's not commonplace for clients to readily admit some of the horrible and unsafe things that they do to their skin. But when they do — or when you have a suspicion that they do — it's important to encourage clear and honest communication about it. After all, if we do not have a complete understanding of our spa and medical spa clients' habits and lifestyle choices, then we cannot recommend and perform safe treatments.
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A single blood test could diagnose 8 different types of cancer
Tammy Hinojos Medical & Allied HealthcareCancer is such a mysterious disease. For many different types of cancer, diagnosis can be a long and challenging process. A new blood test, however, might offer a much-needed simpler and more effective diagnostic technique. Called CancerSEEK, this new blood test has the potential to identify eight cancer types using just one blood sample. In the study, researchers show how the test shows high levels of sensitivity and specificity for cancer detection in more than 1,000 participants with the disease.
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Research provides new insight into transplant rejection
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareSurgeons now perform more than 30,000 organ transplants a year, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and each of the recipients of those organs face the possibility of organ rejection. Not all organ transplant rejection is the same. Recipients of liver transplants rarely experience organ rejection, for example, while skin graft rejection rates are high. In a new study, published in Nature Communications, researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital reveal insights that may help explain the mechanisms behind skin graft failure.
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Tapering off opioids after surgery: The Transitional Pain Program
Dorothy L. Tengler PharmaceuticalPreoperative opioid use is reported in 23.1 percent of patients undergoing surgery. However, there is an increased incidence of patients who receive prescription opioids after surgery compared with nonsurgical patients. In fact, a study of health insurance claims showed that patients undergoing two of the most common types of surgery were at an increased risk of becoming chronic users of opioid painkillers. Although prescriptions for opioids are most often related to surgical care, recent data suggest that 6 percent of patients undergoing either major or minor elective surgical procedures develop long-term opioid dependence.
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Drugs and music: New study shows increased mentions of marijuana in chart-topping…
Dr. Denise A. Valenti PharmaceuticalLegal acceptance of adult use marijuana is moving from state to state, with nine states now having laws allowing for the recreational use of marijuana for adults. Along with this are indisputable cultural changes, and a recent study has shown this is reflected in popular music. The study, published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, looked at the Billboard Top 40 charts from 1986 and 2016 and screened for mentions of drugs or alcohol.
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FDA campaign targets teen e-cigarette use
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareThe commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently called the use of e-cigarettes among teens an "epidemic," and announced a campaign to educate young people along with an initiative to target retail and online sales of the addictive product. Is it really such a big deal? Yes. Some e-cigarette devices can contain as much nicotine as a pack of 20 regular cigarettes, according to information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
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CDC issues new recommendations for treating pediatric mild traumatic brain…
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareEpidemiological data indicate a market increase in the number of emergency department (ED) visits for pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) over the past decade, yet there are no evidence-based guidelines for diagnosing and managing these concussions. To address this, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now established the Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Guideline Workgroup. Children made nearly 3 million visits to the ED and more than 2 million outpatient visits for mTBI from 2005 to 2009. Because many patients seek treatment at a variety of settings, including in their schools, the actual number of mild TBIs cases in children is difficult to assess.
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