Medicare Advantage Is a Superior Program (Part one)
By GEORGE HALVORSON
Former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson has written on THCB on and off over the years, most notably with his proposal for Medicare Advantage for All post-COVID. He wrote a piece in Health Affairs last week arguing with the stance of Medicare Advantage of Don Berwick and Rick Gilfillan (Here’s their piece pt1, pt2). Here’s a longer exposition of his argument. We are publishing part one today with part two coming soon – Matthew Holt
The evidence for Medicare Advantage being a superior program compared to standard fee-for-service Medicare is so overwh...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 11, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Medicare Don Berwick George Halvorson Medicare Advantage Rick Gilfillan Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, January 3rd 2022
In this study, we showed that the iPaD (inducing Plagl2 and anti-Dyrk1a) lentivirus substantially rejuvenated the proliferative and neurogenic potential of NSCs in the aged brain. Clonal analysis by a sparse labeling approach as well as transcriptome analysis indicated that iPaD can rejuvenate aged NSCs (19-21 mo of age) to a level comparable with those at 1 or 2 months of age and successfully improved cognition of aged mice.
Once rejuvenated and activated by iPaD, aged dormant NSCs can generate, on average, 4.9 neurons but very few astrocytes in 3-week tracing. Furthermore, these activated NSCs were maintained for ...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 2, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Look Back at 2021: Progress Towards the Treatment of Aging as a Medical Condition
Well, here we are again, at the end of another pandemic year, a year older and - hopefully - a year wiser and more knowledgeable. I said all that really needs to be said on the topic of COVID-19 as an age-related condition at the end of last year. We might hope that, given widespread vaccination, the pandemic will become a topic of diminishing importance as the year ahead progresses, even given the present round of variants, fears, and reintroduction of restrictions.
Advocacy for Aging Research
Have we finally made significant progress in convincing the world that aging is the cause of age-related disease, th...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 31, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Of Interest Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 20th 2021
In conclusion, the low dose, prolonged angiotensin II exposure is associated with the induction of senescence in kidneys and the promotion of an inflammatory microenvironment through both secreted factors and immune cells. Endothelial cells appear to be a major cell type impacted. The elimination of senescent cells in the INK-ATTAC transgenic model prevents these effects of angiotensin II and reveals a novel pathophysiologic mechanism amenable to targeting by senolytic drugs in development.
CYTOR Upregulation as a Path to Improved Muscle Function in Later Life
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2021/12/cytor-...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 19, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Cardiac failure Info desk : Diuretics never save lives, while Dapagliflozin does it in style !
An Interaction in IMCU
How is Mr. K, who was shifted from ward 102 ?
Yes sir, It was acute decompensated LV failure, Patient was in impending pulmonary edema. In fact, he developed. He is fine now,
How did he come around? He was too sick I thought.
“Just pushed 60 mg Frusemide IV, luckily he also had good BP, so with an infusion of NTG, titrated Carvedilol a little bit, he came out nicely. I guess it is Ischemic DCM”.
“Good, You have done a nice job”
“Don’t make me embarrassed sir. It is such a routine in our ER.
To make him curious, I asked “Which drug do you think that saved hi...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - December 17, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: cardiac failure Cardiology -guidelines cardiology -Therapeutics cardiology wisdom cardiology-ethics Cardiology-Land mark studies Ethics in Medicine evidence based cardiology acc aha esc guidelines on heart failure bumatanide Cardiac fa Source Type: blogs
Cardiac failure Info desk :Diuretics never save lives, while Dapagliflozin does it in style !
An Interaction in IMCU
How is Mr. K, who was shifted from ward 102 ?
Yes sir, It was acute decompensated LV failure, Patient was in impending pulmonary edema. In fact, he developed. He is fine now,
How did he come around? He was too sick I thought.
“Just pushed 60 mg Frusemide IV, luckily he also had good BP, so with an infusion of NTG, titrated Carvedilol a little bit, he came out nicely. I guess it is Ischemic DCM”.
“Good, You have done a nice job”
“Don’t make me embarrassed sir. It is such a routine in our ER.
To make him curious, I asked “Which drug do you think that s...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - December 17, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: cardiac failure Cardiology -guidelines cardiology -Therapeutics cardiology wisdom cardiology-ethics Cardiology-Land mark studies Ethics in Medicine evidence based cardiology acc aha esc guidelines on heart failure bumatanide Cardiac fa Source Type: blogs
ANGPTL2 as a Marker of Cellular Senescence
The accumulation of senescent cells is an important contributing cause of degenerative aging. Since these cells can be specifically targeted via a range of mechanisms, and selective destruction of senescent cells produces significant and rapid rejuvenation in animal studies, there is considerable interest in the research community in finding novel ways to measure the burden of cellular senescence. Senescent cells secrete a mix of pro-growth, inflammatory molecules into circulation, and so it is possible that some of those molecules can form the basis for low-cost assays conducted on blood samples.
Cellular senesce...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 16, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 13th 2021
In conclusion, there is a good amount of pre-clinical and clinical data showing a strong positive correlation between reduction of senescent cells frequencies and functional improvement of skin. Whether senescence of skin cells makes a significant causal contribution to skin ageing can still not be conclusively decided, however. Nonetheless, there is strong evidence existing today to assume that better understanding of cell senescence in skin may lead to a breakthrough in interventions into skin ageing.
Isomerization of Tau May be Involved in Alzheimer's Disease
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2021/12/isom...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 12, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Targeting Elastic Proteins as a Compensatory Therapy for Heart Failure
Researches here identify an interesting component of the detrimental changes that take place in heart tissue with age and dysfunction, leading to heart failure. Elastic proteins in the heart are produced in stiffer forms, leading to reduced function, and rebalancing the regulation of this system can improve the pumping of the failing heart. AS an intervention, this appears to be some way downstream from deeper causes, such as the accumulation of senescent cells in heart tissue. As is often the case, it is hard to draw a line of cause and effect leading from the fundamental underlying damage of aging to this alteration in t...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 9, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
What is this ST Depression? (Hint: there are 2 etiologies)
Discussion from above article by Manne JRR.Atrial repolarization wave (Ta wave) is usually not perceptible on the ECG as it has low magnitude of 100 –200 microvolts and is usually concealed by the ensuing QRS complex [1]. Occasionally, they are seen as shallow negative deflections right after the P wave in conditions with prolonged PR interval, but they are best seen in patients with complete heart block, when the Ta waves and QRS complexes are uncoupled [2]. In contrast to the QRS complex and T wave which under normal conditions have the same polarity, the polarity of the P wave is always opposite to that of t...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - December 9, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Innovation, mRNA, and Public Policy
Chris EdwardsThe main weapons against COVID-19 are the vaccines developed by Moderna and BioNTech after a decade of their research into mRNA technologies. That research was supported by more than $3 billion of private angel investment and venture capital.Democrats and Republicans both support medical research funding, and Republicans tout the Trump administration ’s Operation Warp Speed. But governments were not the key to mRNA development. Instead, we can thank the leaders and scientists at Moderna and BioNTech and the suppliers of private capital to them, as I discusshere andhere.TheWall Street Journal ’s A...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 6, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Cytomegalovirus Harmfully Alters Immune Cell Populations in the Aging Immune System
The aging of the immune system isn't just a matter of becoming vulnerable to commonplace infectious diseases, such as influenza. The immune system also removes senescent cells and cancerous cells, both of which present sizable risks to health in later life. Additionally, immune cells participate in normal tissue maintenance in a variety of ways. Further, the chronic inflammation characteristic of an aged immune system disrupts the normal function of many types of cell and tissue, contributing to a diverse range of age-related conditions.
For most people, cytomegalovirus (CMV) is an apparently innocuous persistent he...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 6, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Basics of hemodynamic evaluation
Though invasive hemodynamic evaluation was pushed to the backstage with the development of Doppler echocardiography, it is again coming to centre stage with newer therapeutic options being available in pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. A basic knowledge of the principles of hemodynamic evaluation is essential to understand cardiac physiology.
Hemodynamic evaluation usually includes both right and left heart catheterization, though in some cases only one may be done. While writing a report of hemodynamic evaluation, it is customary to note the catheter course as it gives valuable complementary information. Catheter...
Source: Cardiophile MD - December 6, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis Tags: General Cardiology Source Type: blogs
WTF Health: Early-Stage Med Device Startup Acorai is Turning Smart Phones into Heart Failure Monitoring Devices
By JESSICA DaMASSSA, WTF HEALTH
Acorai is an early-stage medical device startup working with Bayer to improve the way we manage the world’s 65 million patients living with heart failure by using their own smart phones. CEO Filip Peters shows the Acorai device, which is basically an extended smart phone case packed with four different kinds of sensor technologies that work together to measure the pressure inside a patient’s heart, by simply holding their phone against their chest. Of course, the real magic is the algorithm that turns these readings into early detection of a potential incident. How does this stack up ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 3, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Tech WTF Health Acorai Bayer G4A Bayer G4A Partnerships Program Jessica DaMassa Source Type: blogs
Treating Supraventricular Tachycardia in Newborns
Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) occurs when conduction of electrical impulses travels along an accessory connection from the atrium to the ventricle (atrioventricular reentry tachycardias) or when conduction takes place within the atrioventricular node (atrioventricular node reentry tachycardia). SVT is technically defined as pulse rates that exceed 180 bpm in children and adolescents and 220 bpm in infants.Infantile-onset SVT classically presenting in the first month or two of life is the most common sustained arrhythmia with an incidence of one in 250 infants. SVT is not uncommon with congenital heart disease, but ...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - December 1, 2021 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
