LITFL Review 279
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Welcome to the 279th LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the blogosphere’s best and brightest and deliver a bite-sized chunk of FOAM.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beauts of the Week
An incredible talk from Tom Evens discussing how we train for the long game with a focus on margin...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 23, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Marjorie Lazoff, MD Tags: Education LITFL review LITFL R/V Source Type: blogs
Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 185
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog
LITFL: Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
Just when you thought your brain could unwind on a Friday, you realise that it would rather be challenged with some good old fashioned medical trivia FFFF…introducing Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 185 with an Easter twist.
Question 1
Where was Rapamycin discovered?
+ Reveal the Funtabulous Answer
expand(document.getElementById('ddet751945380'));expand(document.getElementById('ddetlink751945380'))
Easter Island (Papa Nui)
If you are lucky enough to climb upto the exti...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - April 14, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Frivolous Friday Five auricular amputations bunny chocolate easter easter island egg on a string rabbit Rapamycin theobromine transposition of the great arteries tularemia Source Type: blogs
FDA Cleared: Medtronic ’s Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor with TruRhythm Detection
Medtronic won FDA clearance for its Reveal LINQ Insertable Cardiac Monitor with TruRhythm Detection. The device is used to spot and analyze difficult to diagnose arrhythmias over periods as long as three years. It is an upgrade of the original Reveal LINQ, now sporting algorithms that significantly reduce the number of false positive cases of atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, and false pause episodes.
About as tall as a standard AAA, it is much thinner and is only about a third of its volume. It is implanted in the chest, just under the skin, not too far from the heart. The device continuously monitors the heart and uplo...
Source: Medgadget - March 14, 2017 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiology Medicine Source Type: blogs
Does Snoring Have Any Health Risks?
You're reading Does Snoring Have Any Health Risks?, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.
For a long time, people have categorized snoring as simply a minor health condition that will go away on its own. However, modern research has declared that snoring is not only irritation to the ears and to peaceful sleep but an indication of a number of complaints in your body. People who are overweight, who are regular smokers or have high cholesterol are prone to snoring, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). OSA is defined ...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - February 5, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dylan_moran Tags: featured health and fitness self improvement bodyweight health warnings illness pickthebrain sleep disorder snoring stop snoring Source Type: blogs
Optical defibrillation : An exciting possibility !
Cardiac arrhythmias are tackled by drugs, devices, electricity etc. How about using the light energy ?
It would be sort of revolution if we could tame dangerous cardiac arrhythmias by optical energy.Exciting new developments are happening at Jhon Hopkins.The emerging field is optogenetics.Preliminary mouse and human MRI models suggest red light has a unique property to interrupt electrical signals in cardiac tissues.(Tissue level induction of light sensitive protein?).It has been shown to revert ventricular arrhytmias.
Reference
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-09/uob-tol090816.php
A preview
Curious...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - January 15, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Venkat quotes future of cardiology light electricity interaction optical defibrillation Source Type: blogs
Medgadget ’s Best Medical Technologies of 2016
The year 2016 presented the world with a number of big surprises. Some positive, some negative, depending on whom one asks. Here at Medgadget, 2016 will be remembered for many amazing and pleasantly unexpected medical technology developments, many of which are foreshadowing cures for spinal cord injuries, effective treatment of diabetes, new ways to fight heart disease, and many other long sought-after medical solutions. Virtual and augmented reality systems, new imaging techniques, and innovative delivery approaches are changing the way doctors learn and take care of patients.
Looking back on the past year, we selected wh...
Source: Medgadget - December 26, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Exclusive Source Type: blogs
Things that Bug me 1 – improper use of diuretics
This month on our VA ward team we have had 3 admissions that involved complications of over diuresis for systolic dysfunction. We also see patients who do not have adequate diuresis.
Diuretics greatly help symptoms in patients with systolic dysfunction and volume overload. But diuretics are primarily symptom relief medications.
I often ask students and residents to write this sentence, memorize it, and use it:
The purpose of diuretic therapy in systolic heart failure is render the patient not wet, but not to make the patient dry.
The idea here is that we should only give enough diuretic therapy to relieve symptoms. ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - December 22, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
St. Jude ’s EnSite Precision Cardiac Mapping System Cleared in U.S.
St. Jude Medical won FDA clearance for its EnSite Precision cardiac mapping system and the Advisor FL Circular Mapping Catheter, Sensor Enabled. The electrophysiology system is intended to help identify ablation targets in patients with cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia. It can be used with any electrophysiology catheters, and built-in tools help reduce radiation exposure by relying less on fluoroscopy.
The EnSite Precision is based on the popular EnSite Velocity system, and now offers features such as EnSite AutoMap Module for helping to correlate the source of the electrical ...
Source: Medgadget - December 19, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
The PatSim200 Patient Simulator: Interview with Andrew Upton of Seaward Group
Patient monitors collect and record data on the vital signs of patients. This includes heart-rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and respiration. However, making sure that such devices are functioning correctly means careful testing and maintenance. Hooking monitors up to patients or volunteers for the purposes of finding faults in the equipment is not always practical or reliable. For the biomedical engineers and technicians responsible for the development and maintenance of such equipment, a patient simulator that can be plugged directly into patient monitors and that can emulate vital signs is an important tool. Ri...
Source: Medgadget - December 2, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Source Type: blogs
The doctor's dilemma: damned if you do, and damned if you don't
I was talking to a leading cardiologist about the recent controversy over treating patients with statins in order to lower their elevated cholesterol level. He finds himself in a bind, because he doesn't believe in prescribing them routinely. However, if he decides not to "treat" the patient's high cholesterol level, since he doesn't feel the need to "fix" abnormal lab reports, then some patients feel he is being sloppy and casual, because he has overlooked this finding . On the other hand, if he does feel the need for prescribing a statin, other patients believe he is needlessly overtreating them !Part of the proble...
Source: Dr.Malpani's Blog - November 9, 2016 Category: Reproduction Medicine Source Type: blogs
Differences Between Pediatrics and Adults
I am making a comprehensive list of excuses perfectly good reasons for why I, a senior pediatric resident (fearless leader of interns! attending in the making! resident of the month x 3! winner of a multitude of teaching awards given by med students!) – make a terrible adult neurology intern.
1: Adults with normal potasasium.. need more potassium. In peds, we are pretty much cool with anything over 3.2, and super scared of any number that starts with 5.
So in adult medicine this year, it wasn’t until the 3rd time I got a sign-out of “His K was 3.6, so we repleted IV” and reacted incredulously an...
Source: Action Potential - September 16, 2016 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Action Potential Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
TASER Electric Stun Gun Integrated with ECG Cardiac Monitoring
What if your friendly local police officer could tase you for being an idiot and detect a cardiac arrhythmia at the same time? This is now a possibility thanks to a prototype system from researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center that combines a TASER electric stun gun with ECG biomonitoring.
The cardiac monitor records the electric heart signals through the same electrodes that pierce the skin and deliver the electric shock. According to the researchers, this required little modification of the TASER, and in field tests conducted on a few very bold volunteers the researchers were able to confirm that the system w...
Source: Medgadget - August 12, 2016 Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Editors Tags: Emergency Medicine Military Medicine Source Type: blogs
Could Ablation for AF Be an Elaborate Placebo?
We know, atrial fibrillation is the commonest clinical cardiac arrhythmia , that is extensively studied , subjected to exotic investigations and state of the art treatment strategies.Interestingly , this arrhythmia also drags the economics of cardiology practice of a community in a big way with heavy influence on drug , device and usage.We know, RF ablation of pulmonary vein is one of the modern ways to manage this arrhythmia.
Iam sharing this article from medscape by an EP specialist Dr. Jhon Mandrola , surprisingly exposes our fundemental ignorance about this arrhythmia and the near futility of certain procedures.
http:...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - June 25, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
The Rigid Patient
A 24-year-old man with a history of schizophrenia presented with altered mental status. His mother said he had become more catatonic and rigid over the previous two days. She reported that he was prescribed Abilify 5 mg by mouth daily for three years, but a long-acting depot of Abilify 400 mg had been administered two days before by court order. His vital signs include a heart rate of 120 bpm, blood pressure 140/90 mm Hg, temperature 38.5°C, respiratory rate is 14 bpm, and SPO2 is 98% on room air. The patient is alert and diaphoretic. Pupils are 3 mm. Cogwheeling, rigidity, and two beats of ankle clonus are also o...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 2, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
