SAN FRANCISCO — The upcoming JNC 2013 update is likely to go with a hypertension treatment target of 140/90 mm Hg for all but older adults, a panel of experts on the guidelines committee suggested.
May
25
Absorbable Stents Take Spotlight at EuroPCR
Whether bioabsorbable scaffolds have anything to add to the already excellent results with metal stents will be the hot topic at this year’s EuroPCR meeting here, one of the course directors said.
May
25
Screening for risk of child abuse and neglect. A practicable method?
Selective primary prevention programs for child abuse and neglect depend on risk screening instruments that have the goal of systematically identifying families who can profit most from early help. Based on a systematic review of longitudinal studies, a set of established risk factors for earlychild abuse and neglect is presented. Nearly half of the items included in screening instruments can be seen as validated. Available studies indicate a high sensitivity of risk screening instruments. Positive predictive values, however, are low. Overall, the use of risk screening instruments in the area of primary prevention for families at risk represents a feasible method, as long as stigmatizing effects can be avoided and participating families also benefit beyond preventing endangerment.
Kindler H: Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2010 Oct;53(10):1073-9. doi: 10.1007/s00103-010-1132-x.
May
25
Do not ignore warning signals
Often people ignore warning signals and do not address them until they fall ill, often with grave consequences. Here are certain rules that you should follow.
- Never ignore any symptom or sign, which has occurred for the first time, unexplained or unusual.
- If you run and then get exhausted, this exhaustion is understandable. But if you get up exhausted after hours of rest, this needs to be investigated.
- The first episode of acidity after the age of 40 can be a heart attack.
- Acidity usually starts in young age but if it occurs after the age of 40 years, the symptoms may indicate underlying heart disease.
- You have been getting headaches for years but if the present episode of headache is unusual, severe and unexplained, you need immediate medical attention.
- It is expected whenever you go to your doctor for a particular disease, they may warn you about the following:
- Signals for emergent attention mean to call the doctor right away.
- Symptoms for urgent attention mean to contact the doctor same day.
- Symptoms for attention mean doctor to be informed in the next visit.
- One should be able to differentiate emergent from urgent symptoms and signs. Emergency warrants medical attention within minutes.
- The window period for cardiac arrest is 10 minutes, for heart attack 3 hours, for stroke 3 hours and for stoppage of bleeding 1 hour.
May
25
Zapping Renal Nerves Durably Drives Down BP
The dramatic blood pressure reduction with renal denervation appears sustained in longer-term results from early phase Symplicity and EnligHTN trials
May
25
Automated BP Device Not Cutting It
An automated BP cuff billed as an in-office substitute for ambulatory monitoring may substantially underestimate pressures, according to one center’s experience.
May
25
Sexual dysfunction in obsessive compulsive disorder and panic disorder
The study population consisted of 80 patients between 20 and 60 years of age with a diagnosis of OCD or PD who were followed and treated at the anxiety outpatient unit of Bakirkoy Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatric and Neurological Disorders between 2005 and 2006. The total study population comprised of 40 patients with OCD, 40 patients with PD, and 40 healthy volunteers as the control group. Of the two questionnaires used for study purposes, the first provided information on demographic data and certain parameters of sexual functioning, while the second was the validated Turkish translation of the Golombok-Rust Sexual Satisfaction Inventory with transliteral equivalence.
Male subjects with OCD had a lower age of first masturbation and first nocturnal ejaculation. Infrequency problem among female and male patients with OCD occurred in 63.6% and 57.1%, respectively. Corresponding figures for PD patients were 36% and 38%. Thus, infrequency problem was more frequent among OCD patients. Sexual avoidance was found in 60.6% of female OCD patients and in 64% of female PD patients. Anorgasmia was detected in 24.2% of the female subjects with OCD.
(Source: Aksoy UM, et al. Psychiatr Danub. 2012 Dec;24(4):381-5).
May
24
Govt reconstitutes MCI, ex-DGHS to head Board of Governors
The government today approved the reconstitution of Medical Council of India (MCI) with former Director General Health Services R K Srivastava replacing K K Talwar as Chairman of the Council’s Board of Governors.
“The formal notification in respect of the MCI reconstitution would be issued tomorrow by the Health Ministry,” a top Ministry official told PTI.
The new seven-member board to run the apex medical regulator, approved by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, will have a term of six months within which MCI elections is to be held and the original democratic structure of the Council restored.
The government has already moved a new bill in this regard which is yet to be passed in Parliament. An ordinance was today issued by the government for putting in place the new MCI Board of Governors (BoG) to run the medical regulator. The Union Cabinet had approved the issuance of such an ordinance.
The term of the last BoG expired on May 13, necessitating issuance of an ordinance to form a new board until Parliament passes the new Indian Medical Council Amendment Act, which provides for the restoration of elected MCI and fixes the tenure of its President to root out corruption.
The new Board of Governors approved today by the Health Ministry comprises only two members of the former BoG. BoG members who have been retained are Kailash Sharma of Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai and K Mohan Das, Vice-Chancellor, Kerala University.
The other new members of the Board of Governors are Raja Babu Panwar, Vice-Chancellor, Rajasthan Health University; B K Rao, former chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi and current chairman at Gangaram’s Critical Care Unit; A K Bardan, a West Bengal-based cardiologist and Manoj Singh, Professor of Pathology at AIIMS, New Delhi.
Top Health Ministry sources said the gazette notification on the MCI reconstitution would be formally issued tomorrow, allowing the new BoG to assume charge and start working. [PTI]
May
24
Hatha yoga reduces blood pressure in mildly hypertensive patients
Hatha yoga introduced to individuals with mild to moderate hypertension appears to lower blood pressure, and while the reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure aren’t earth-shattering, they might just be enough to avoid starting antihypertensive medications, say researchers. (Source: Medscape)
May
24
Daughters of smoking mothers have more gestational diabetes
Women who were exposed to tobacco smoking in utero were more likely to develop gestational diabetes when they became pregnant, new research shows. They were also more likely to be obese than the offspring of women who didn’t smoke during pregnancy. (Source: Medscape)
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