Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 17th 2017
This study assessed the prevalence of grey hair in patients with coronary artery disease and whether it was an independent risk marker of disease.
This was a prospective, observational study which included 545 adult men who underwent multi-slice computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography for suspected coronary artery disease. Patients were divided into subgroups according to the presence or absence of coronary artery disease, and the amount of grey/white hair. The amount of grey hair was graded using the hair whitening score: 1 = pure black hair, 2 = black more than white, 3 = black equals white, 4 = white more t...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 16, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Making Sense Of ‘Invisible Risk Sharing’
Before Congress recessed last week, the House of Representatives wanted to show some progress in reforming health care, so they left an early Easter surprise: an amendment to the pending American Health Care Act (AHCA) proposing an “Invisible Risk-Sharing Program,” funded with $15 billion over nine years. According to all-knowing Google, this phrase first surfaced just a few weeks ago when Representative Palmer (R-AL) introduced an earlier (and more specific) version of the amendment, based on ideas developed here.
Prospective Versus Retrospective
Despite its novel title, the program embodies an idea that has circulate...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 12, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Mark Hall and Nicholas Bagley Tags: Featured Following the ACA Insurance and Coverage AHCA high-risk pools invisible high risk pools Maine reinsurance Source Type: blogs
Promising Results from an Early Trial of a Stem Cell Heart Patch
Heart patches are one manifestation of the tissue engineering approach to regenerative medicine. Cells delivered to the patient are usually combined with a biodegradable scaffold material that provides support to help the cells survive and undertake beneficial signaling actions. A heart patch is some amount of this combined material applied to the exterior of the heart, in some cases simply by injection since the scaffold can be made to be a viscous fluid. The researchers here claim better results by abandoning the scaffolds, however, and implanting thin sheets of engineered cells. This paper reports on the results of an e...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 10, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Bohemian, Er, I Mean Health Tech Rhapsody
This post was originally published by Venture Valkyrie on April 2.
By Lisa Suennen
In my nearly 20 years in healthcare venture capital, I have heard at least 37 million pitches for technology solutions to help patients be healthy, get healthy, stay healthy, One of the questions I most frequently ask entrepreneurs is this: What patient research have you done? How many potential consumers/customers have you interviewed to know there is a market for your wares? Guess what the most common answer to this question is? Wait for it…
None. That is often the answer. Seriously. Second place is “one,” as in “my grandma had con...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - April 5, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
A tribute to the pharmacist
Dear pharmacist,
You just paged me and, I must admit, I’m not feeling excited to call back. I estimate that I probably get paged, called, texted or stopped in person by you exactly X·102 per day, where “X” is the number of days I’ve been on service. Despite all of the interactions over the years, I have never stopped to really consider our relationship. Here are a few of our most memorable moments:
You once paged me while I was driving home from clinic. I had just finished a hellish day filled with overbooked patients, prior authorization requests and last minute walk-ins. I was relieved just to make it to the end...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 24, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/taison-bell" rel="tag" > Taison Bell, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Hospital Medications Source Type: blogs
Value-Based Purchasing and “ Free Lunch Syndrome ”
By KIP SULLIVAN
Imagine that a drug company released a “study” that claimed to find that if all 75 million Americans with high blood pressure took the drug company’s hypertension drug the nation’s annual medical expenditures would drop by $20 billion. Imagine as well that the “study” failed to take into account the $40 billion cost to patients and insurers of buying all those hypertension drugs. Such a study would be roundly criticized for failing to take into account an essential component of cost – the cost of the intervention that led to lower medical expenditures.
But studies like the hypothetical drug c...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 15, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Invisible High-Risk Pools: How Congress Can Lower Premiums And Deal With Pre-Existing Conditions
As Congress and the Trump administration move forward with plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA), they are looking for proven state-led reforms that maintain access for those with pre-existing conditions in the current exchange market while also lowering premiums for everyone buying insurance in the individual market.
Maine faced similar challenges in 2011 as it sought to unwind failed experiments that pushed its market into a long-term death spiral. But by creating an invisible high-risk pool and relaxing its premium rating bands, Maine policymakers were able to cut premiums in half while still guarant...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 2, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Joel Allumbaugh, Tarren Bragdon and Josh Archambault Tags: Following the ACA Health Policy Lab Insurance and Coverage ACA repeal and replace high-risk pools pre-existing conditions Source Type: blogs
Towards Therapies Capable of Reversing the Progression of Fibrosis
Fibrosis is a significant component of many age-related conditions, a failure of the normal regenerative process that leads to the formation of increasing amounts of scar-like, fibrous connective tissue in organs. This disrupts normal tissue structure and degrades proper function. It features prominently in common forms of heart disease, kidney failure, and liver disease, among others. As is the case for many specific aspects of aging, there is no good treatment for fibrosis, if by this we mean a reliable way to turn back its progression and restore failing tissues to their former state.
The causes of fibrosis lie s...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 23, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Hospitals, Hospital Medicine, And Health For All
In September 2015, world leaders convened at the United Nations Summit to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals. Goal three, to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages,” is ambitious, and many in the field are asking how nations can contribute to achieving this target. The world has made great health gains, but in order to ensure health for all, the current and highly successful strategies of investing in primary health care (PHC), outreach, and implementing vertical, disease-oriented programs must be integrated with a safety net of high quality hospitals. We believe that the field of hospita...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 16, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Arian Hatefi, Madhavi Dandu and Robert Wachter Tags: Global Health Policy Health Professionals Hospitals Organization and Delivery Quality health system strengthening Hospital Care hospital medicine human resources sustainable development goals Source Type: blogs
Breast Cancer Fake News
The ' secret ' breast cancer cure, that the pharmaceutical industry has known about and hidden from patients in an effort to make money, has been revealed and been approved by the FDA. Now you can just get an (side effect free) injection and are immunized from any potential cancer diagnosis. One lifetimeCures are also in the works for congestive heart failure, emphysema, Alzheimers, AML, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, and fibromyalgia. These should be approved by the FDA by the end of the year.As a result the world ' s population is now increasing at an exponential rate. NASA is developing new plans for colonies on Mars in the ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - February 16, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: fake news wishful thinking Source Type: blogs
How Can We Increase The Use Of Palliative Care In Medicare?
In August, 2016, a 93-year-old woman—the grandmother of one of this Blog post’s authors—died of congestive heart failure, five weeks after she underwent surgery to receive a pacemaker. There were alternative care options, but they were not offered to her and her family in a timely manner, at least in part because of Medicare’s long-standing payment rules that value procedures over discussion of goals and alleviation of symptoms. Medicare paid for the surgery and pacemaker with no questions asked, even though the procedure was, in retrospect, unproductive, wasteful, and even harmful from the family’s persp...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 13, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Donald Taylor, Matthew Harker, Andrew Olson and Janet Bull Tags: End of Life & Serious Illness Medicare Alternative Payment Models Dying in America Medicare Part B Palliative Care Source Type: blogs
An Indirect Test to Assess Risk of Cardiac Transthyretin Amyloidosis
In this study, researchers identified that a specific blood protein named retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) can be used to determine the likelihood of ATTR amyloidosis in a patient with congestive heart failure.
In addition the research team developed a mathematical calculator that incorporates RBP4 and other commonly ordered clinical tests that can be used to estimate the probability of ATTR amyloidosis in a given patient. An important advantage of this algorithm is that it can be used in the context of a doctor's office visit at the point-of-care. According to the researchers, this discovery could guide clinical de...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 9, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
PORCN Inhibition Spurs Greater Heart Tissue Regeneration
Researchers here report on a fortuitous discovery made while searching for potential cancer therapeutics based on the suppression of mechanisms essential to growth and cellular replication, such as the Wnt signaling pathway. To the surprise of the research team, inhibition of the protein encoded by the porcupine (PORCN) gene, required for Wnt signaling, was found to spur greater heart tissue regeneration.
An anticancer agent in development promotes regeneration of damaged heart muscle - an unexpected research finding that may help prevent congestive heart failure in the future. Many parts of the body, such as bloo...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 6, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Why this physician can ’t be her family’s doctor
The day I got into medical school, my uncle said to me, “You are going to be a doctor! We finally have a doctor in the family. You are going to take care of your uncle in his old age.” Other family members echoed the same sentiment. First doctor in the family. Now, we will all have free medical advice.
As I progressed through medical school, then internship and residency, then finally to being an adult hospitalist, I often received questions from my family.
What’s this rash? Why does it hurt when I urinate? Is it bad to have blood in my stool? Even one night after my mom finished watching a medical dr...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 27, 2017 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/karen-yeter" rel="tag" > Karen Yeter, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Making Research Suppressed Again - US Secretary of Health Candidate Accused of Suppressing Clinical Research at Behest of Campaign Donor
This report is greater than 5 years old. Findings may be used for research purposes but should not be considered current. 'In particular,Gary Beck, a policy assistant to the congressman, first reached out to the federal research agency about the study in July, emails show. ' I have been in contact with representatives from Arbor Pharmaceuticals based in Georgia in regard to some issues they have with the study that is linked below, ' he wrote, adding that the company told him ' the study might be outdated ' and they wanted it removed from the website.' I wanted to get in touch with you to get a better grasp on the situatio...
Source: Health Care Renewal - January 20, 2017 Category: Health Management Tags: BilDil CHF conflicts of interest evidence-based medicine health care corruption Nitromed suppression of medical research Source Type: blogs
