November, 2024

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Role of Testing in CSU Diagnosis

HCPLive

Panelists discuss the recommended diagnostic testing for chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), noting that extensive testing is not necessary and that routine blood counts, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), IgG anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO), and total IgE are adequate, while also addressing the limited role of biopsy; they further explore how disease severity is assessed using tools like Urticaria Activity Score (UAS7) and Urticaria Control Test (UCT).

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Stroke Risk Is Changing With the Climate

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- The world endured its hottest summer on record in 2024, and the transition to fall brought devastation from multiple hurricanes in the U.S. The growing effects of climate change are widespread and becoming more severe. Now, new.

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Unexplained changes in cholesterol may help identify older adults at risk for dementia

American Heart News - Heart News

Research Highlights: A study of older adults in Australia and the U.S. indicates that cholesterol levels that fluctuate significantly from year to year without a change in medication may someday help to identify those with a higher risk of developing.

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Should You Take A Statin To Lower Your Cholesterol?

Dr. Paddy Barrett

Let’s start with the fact that this is not a yes or no answer. To answer this question, you need to understand three key factors: What is your baseline risk? Over what time horizon are you looking to reduce risk? What is your attitude toward reducing that risk? Only when you have a clear idea of those three factors can you decide whether or not to take a medication to lower your LDL cholesterol.

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ECG Blog #455 — VT Until Proven Otherwise?

Ken Grauer, MD

I was asked to interpret the ECG in Figure-1 — told only that this 30-ish year old man had a history of having undergone a number of operations for CHD ( C ongenital H eart D isease ) as a child. QUESTIONS: In Figure-1 — Is the rhythm VT — or — SVT with aberrant conduction — or — potentially neither of these possibilities? IF told that this patient was hypotensive in association with the rhythm in Figure-1 — Does It Matter what the specific etiology of this rhythm is?

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'Radar stethoscope' could improve contactless health monitoring technology

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

A new advance in health monitoring which uses radar to "listen" to patients' heart sounds with remarkable accuracy could lead to a new generation of contactless medical monitoring equipment.

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Study Finds Most Children with Hep C have Developmental Disorder, Learning Difficulty

HCPLive

Research presented at NASPGHAN 2024 found most children with chronic hepatitis C had neurodevelopmental disorders, highlighting the need for proactive care.

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More Trending

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Cardiac arrest survival improved since COVID-19 pandemic waned, still lower than prior years

American Heart News - Heart News

This news release contains updated information and data not included in the abstract. Research Highlights: U.S. survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests fell significantly at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and only slightly.

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One Of The Biggest Impact Things You Can Do To Live Longer.

Dr. Paddy Barrett

“But what can I do to make a difference?” This is one of the most common questions I get as a cardiologist when talking about preventing heart disease and living longer. As a doctor, there are many things I can do, and only a doctor can do: Prescribe medications Order certain diagnostic tests. Perform or arrange medical procedures. And so on.

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ECG Blog #454 — Look for the "Break".

Ken Grauer, MD

I was sent this ECG recording — and asked for my interpretation of the rhythm in Figure-1. I had little clinical information. QUESTIONS: How was I able to guess the probable correct answer in less than 5 seconds? How was I then able to prove that my guess was correct? Figure-1: The initial ECG in today's case. ( To improve visualization — I've digitized the original ECG using PMcardio ).

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Boston Scientific Bolsters AFib Mapping with Cortex Acquisition

CardiacWire

Boston Scientific made what could become a major addition to its electrophysiology portfolio, acquiring AFib mapping startup Cortex, Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Cortex gives Boston Scientific a new mapping technology that detects AFib signs and triggers outside of the pulmonary veins, and can help EP teams develop ablation strategies for more complex AFib cases.

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Risankizumab Effectively Clears Psoriasis in Indirect Comparison to Deucravacitinib

HCPLive

Risankizumab achieves significantly higher rates of skin clearance and improved quality of life versus deucravacitinib in matching-adjusted indirect comparison analysis.

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FDA Adds New Warning to GLP-1 Drugs

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Labels of all GLP-1 receptor agonists now carry a warning about pulmonary aspiration during general anesthesia or deep sedation. The warning affects all treatments containing GLP-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide (Ozempic.

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Dog-owner interaction is reflected in heart rate variability

Science Daily - Heart Disease

A recent study showed that the heart rate variability of a dog and its owner adapt to each other during interaction. High heart rate variability is associated with relaxation, while low heart rate variability indicates stimulation. The study deepens our understanding of the emotional connection between a dog and its owner, including its underlying physiological mechanisms.

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Local innovators awarded $75,000 to combat community health disparities

American Heart News - Heart News

DALLAS, Nov. 7, 2024 — People of color in under-resourced communities have historically had less access to the most basic needs including healthy food, clean air and drinking water, quality education, employment, housing and health care affecting the.

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What's overweight enough for lower disability after stroke?

Science Daily - Stroke

Slightly overweight stroke survivors have a lower risk of sustaining disabilities. New research adds another aspect to the obesity paradox but also highlights the importance of considering the population's normal when recommending best practices.

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Epigenomic biomarkers of cardiometabolic disease: How far are we from daily practice?

Cardiovascular Diabetology

Determining whether someone has cardiometabolic disease (CMD), especially in the early stages, can be complicated. Risk stratification ordinarily depends on an extended process relying on medical history that.

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Dupilumab Reduces Itch in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria in Phase 3 Data

HCPLive

According to Phase 3 LIBERTY-CUPID trial results, dupilumab significantly reduces itch and hive activity from baseline in chronic spontaneous urticaria.

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GLP-1 Drugs Could Help People With Alcohol Use Disorder

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Some GLP-1 receptor agonists may hold promise as treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD), a Swedish observational study suggested. Among more than 200,000 individuals with AUD, those taking semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) had.

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Bystander CPR up to 10 minutes after cardiac arrest may protect brain function

Science Daily - Heart Disease

The sooner a lay rescuer (bystander) starts cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a person having a cardiac arrest at home or in public, up to 10 minutes after the arrest, the better the chances of survival and brain protection, according to an analysis of nearly 200,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases in the U.S. from 2013 to 2022.

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911 dispatcher assistance improved chances of receiving bystander CPR

American Heart News - Heart News

Research Highlights: A study of nearly 2,400 cardiac arrest cases in North Carolina found that when emergency dispatchers (telecommunicators) provided cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instructions to 911 callers, people were more likely to provide.

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A little more on the trial

Dr. Malcolm Kendrick

When the background information leading up to the libel trial was released to us, there was one trail of e-mails that struck me as very damning. It emerged that Barney Calman was very keen to find case histories where people had stopped taking statins and then suffered a catastrophic event, such as a heart attack or stroke, or dying. This ‘ stopping statins and dying’ concept was pretty much central to the articles.

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Advanced heart model can provide patient-specific simulations

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

A team led by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill have developed an innovative computer model of blood flow in the human heart that promises to transform how we understand, diagnose, and treat heart conditions. This new model, grounded in realistic mathematical descriptions of the heart's anatomy and physiology, successfully captures normal heart function and can predict how the heart responds to different levels of blood flow.

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Children Who Contracted COVID-19 Twice as Likely to Develop IBS, Study Finds

HCPLive

NASPGHAN 2024 data suggests children and adolescents with a history of COVID-19 were twice as likely to develop IBS during the follow-up period.

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Midlife Choices May Offset Genetic Risk for Dementia, Stroke, Late-Life Depression

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- Healthier lifestyle behaviors in midlife were linked with better outcomes in people with genetic predisposition for age-related brain diseases, longitudinal data from the U.K. Biobank showed. Over about 12 years of follow-up.

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Defibrillation devices can save lives using 1,000 times less electricity

Science Daily - Heart Disease

Researchers used an electrophysiological computer model of the heart's electrical circuits to examine the effect of the applied voltage field in multiple fibrillation-defibrillation scenarios. They discovered far less energy is needed than is currently used in state-of-the-art defibrillation techniques. The authors applied an adjoint optimization method and discovered adjusting the duration and the smooth variation in time of the voltage supplied by defibrillation devices is a more efficient mec

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AI-powered tool may offer quick, no-contact blood pressure and diabetes screening

American Heart News - Heart News

Research Highlights: A preliminary study combining a patent-applied, AI-powered algorithm with a high-speed, 5-to 30-second video of skin on the face and the palm of the hand detected if someone had high blood pressure as well as using a blood.

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Top-ranked hospitals for pacemaker placement, by state

Becker's Hospital Review - Cardiology

California and Florida have the most top-ranked hospitals for pacemaker or defibrillator placement in the U. S. , according to the WebMD Choice Awards.

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An extra five minutes of exercise per day could help to lower blood pressure

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

Adding small amounts of exercise into daily routine, such as climbing stairs or cycling errands, could help to reduce blood pressure, with just five additional minutes a day estimated to yield improvements, finds a new study from researchers at UCL and the University of Sydney.

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Phase 3 Data Shows TEV-‘749 Injection Improves Social Function in Schizophrenia

HCPLive

Teva presents 2 findings at Psych Congress 2024: TEV’749’s effects on social function and quality of life in adults with schizophrenia and risperidone adherence patterns.

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Early-Life Sugar Restriction Reduced Diabetes, Hypertension Risk

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- SAN ANTONIO -- Limiting exposure to sugar starting in utero reduced risk and delayed onset of type 2 diabetes and hypertension in adulthood, a study showed. Adults exposed to early-life sugar rationing in the U.K. for at least.

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Five minutes of extra exercise a day could lower blood pressure

Science Daily - Heart Disease

New research suggests that adding a small amount of physical activity -- such as uphill walking or stair-climbing -- into your day may help to lower blood pressure.

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El nivel socioeconómico durante el embarazo temprano puede desempeñar un papel importante en la salud cardíaca futura

American Heart News - Heart News

Puntos destacados de la investigación: El nivel socioeconómico de las madres primerizas en el embarazo temprano puede afectar su salud cardiovascular hasta siete años después. El nivel socioeconómico —nivel educativo, nivel de ingresos, estado del.

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What does a final diagnosis of STEMI vs. NSTEMI depend upon?

Dr. Smith's ECG Blog

Written by Pendell Meyers, few edits by Smith A woman in her 70s was woken from sleep by midsternal chest pain radiating to left arm with nausea. EMS arrived and recorded this ECG: What do you think? Queen of hearts explainability image. Overall High confidence OMI. Smith : this is an "Active OMI". The artery is occluded at this point in time. The ECG shows sinus rhythm, normal QRS, and signs of inferoposterolateral OMI.

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Lesbian, gay, bisexual veterans at greater risk for cardiovascular disease even when accounting for inequities

Medical Xpress - Cardiology

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) remains the leading cause of death among U.S. adults. Despite declining rates of ASCVD mortality, significant disparities across multiple social and demographic characteristics, such as race and income, persist.

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Population-Wide CKD Screening Cost-Effective When Started At Age 55 Years, Study Finds

HCPLive

Initiation of population-wide CKD screening followed by conventional CKD treatment plus SGLT2 inhibitors at 55 years of age was cost-effective.

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Omega-3 Supplements Show Benefit in APOE4 Carriers

Med Page Today

(MedPage Today) -- High-dose supplements of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid, penetrated the brain in both APOE4 carriers and non-carriers before dementia onset, the placebo-controlled PreventE4 trial showed. The treatment did.

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