A New Gimish Model of Complex Disease?
By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD
The appeal of precision medicine is the promise that we can understand disease with greater specificity and fashion treatments that are more individualized and more effective.
A core tenet (or “central dogma,” as I wrote in 2015) of precision medicine is the idea that large disease categories – like type 2 diabetes – actually consist of multiple discernable subtypes, each with its own distinct characteristics and genetic drivers. As genetic and phenotypic research advances, the argument goes, diseases like “type 2 diabetes” will go the way of quaint descriptive diagnoses like “dropsy”...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Broad Institute CAD Circulation Disease Categories Gimish Model of Disease Kathiresan Khera Massachussetts General Hospital Source Type: blogs
A More Precise Definition of Precision Medicine?
By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD
The appeal of precision medicine is the promise that we can understand disease with greater specificity and fashion treatments that are more individualized and more effective.
A core tenet (or “central dogma,” as I wrote in 2015) of precision medicine is the idea that large disease categories – like type 2 diabetes – actually consist of multiple discernable subtypes, each with its own distinct characteristics and genetic drivers. As genetic and phenotypic research advances, the argument goes, diseases like “type 2 diabetes” will go the way of quaint descriptive diagnoses like “dropsy”...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Broad Institute CAD Circulation Disease Categories Gimish Model of Disease Kathiresan Khera Massachussetts General Hospital Source Type: blogs
Why “ Precision Health ” May Not Be the Precise Word
By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD
The appeal of precision medicine is the promise that we can understand disease with greater specificity and fashion treatments that are more individualized and more effective.
A core tenet (or “central dogma,” as I wrote in 2015) of precision medicine is the idea that large disease categories – like type 2 diabetes – actually consist of multiple discernable subtypes, each with its own distinct characteristics and genetic drivers. As genetic and phenotypic research advances, the argument goes, diseases like “type 2 diabetes” will go the way of quaint descriptive diagnoses like “dropsy”...
Source: The Health Care Blog - November 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: OP-ED Uncategorized Broad Institute CAD Circulation Disease Categories Gimish Model of Disease Kathiresan Khera Massachussetts General Hospital Source Type: blogs
Here ’s how to win the opioid war
Trump recently declared a national public health emergency. In this statement he was not talking about HIV or hepatitis C nor was he referring to the increased incidence of gun violence in the country. The president’s statements focused on a very different public health problem; he was talking about America’s high incidence of opioid-related deaths mostly from overdose.
This declaration has been met with various pronouncements including some statements from politicians and some individuals within the minority communities on the fact that the labeling of this problem as a public health emergency was only because the maj...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - November 28, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/dr-leonard-a-sowah" rel="tag" > Dr. Leonard A. Sowah < /a > Tags: Meds Pain Management Primary Care Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs
ICER Expanding Probe
A nonprofit group, the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), recently received a three-year $13.9 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to expand its ongoing investigative scope on drug pricing to include all new medicines and price increases on existing treatments.
Up until now, ICER hasn’t had the resources to review all new medicines. The additional funding “puts us on a new trajectory,” according to Steven D. Pearson, president of ICER. “Now we’re going to be able to cover the landscape.”
ICER was essentially founded with a $5.3 million grant from the Arnold Foundation in 20...
Source: Policy and Medicine - November 21, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Perpetual Revolving Motion: Yet More Transits Through the Health Care Revolving Door
The pace of people spinning through the US federalrevolving door seems unprecedented. Most were people going from the health care corporations to government positions regulating or making policy influencing those same corporations. Since our last roundup, of 11 days ago, we have found two more significant travelers from industry to government, and one from the previous administration to industry. In addition, we realized that the case of one of the travelers discussed only last month is more significant than we realized.Nina Devlin from Mylan to Senior Communications Adviser for the US Food and Drug Admini...
Source: Health Care Renewal - November 16, 2017 Category: Health Management Tags: DHHS Donald Trump FDA Mylan Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology OSHA revolving doors Source Type: blogs
Update on the viral connection to myeloma
Discussion part, perhaps this could be feasible in the early stages of the “chronic underlying infection”…But they also add that it might even be effective in later stages of MM. Boy, that would really be something, wouldn’t it?
Here are some excerpts from the Discussion (my highlights): “Overall, our findings imply that chronic stimulation by infectious Ag may promote MGUS and MM in certain patient subsets. Importantly, some of the identified infectious pathogens (HSV, HCV, H. pylori) can be effectively treated. This observation has obvious clinical consequences, since the detection of MGUS or SM patients with a...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll myeloma viral connection to myeloma virus Source Type: blogs
Have a methyl with your viral RNA
Chemical modification of RNA by the addition of methyl groups is known to alter gene expression without changing the nucleotide sequence. The addition of a methyl group to adenosine has been found to regulate gene expression of animal viruses, and most recently of plant viruses.
The illustration shows a methyl (CH3-) group added to the sixth nitrogen of the purine base adenine. The entire molecule, with the ribose, is called N6-methyladenosine (m6A).
The m6A modification is found in multiple RNAs of most eukaryotes. It has also been found in the genome of RNA animal viruses. The modification is added to RNAs by a multi-pro...
Source: virology blog - October 13, 2017 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information alfalfa mosaic virus Arabidopsis cucumber mosaic virus demethylase gene expression HIV-1 methylation N6-methyladenosine plant virus RNA viral viruses Source Type: blogs
Good news about the HPV vaccine
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Did you know certain viruses can cause cancer? Two common examples include hepatitis C (which is linked with liver cancer) and human papilloma virus (HPV, which causes cervical cancer). The discovery of these virus-cancer connections is particularly important, because if a vaccine can prevent these viral infections it may also prevent cancer. And there is preliminary evidence that the HPV vaccine is making this happen. More on that in a moment.
What is HPV?
HPV is a group of viruses that may cause warts (papillomas) and a variety of cancers, including those involving the throat, rectum, ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - October 11, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Health Infectious diseases Prevention Sexual Conditions Vaccines Source Type: blogs
Don ’t take opioids off the market. Make it harder to abuse them.
How can we combat the opioid epidemic?
One of the government’s most recent suggestions is to take Opana ER, an opioid indicated for very severe pain, off the market. The request, filed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June, was linked to concerns of abuse-related HIV and hepatitis C outbreaks.
But removing access to opioids altogether isn’t the solution. There are individuals suffering from chronic pain who need or strongly benefit from these drugs. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that a fourth of the nation’s population suffers from pain lasting longer than 24 hours. Millions more suff...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 8, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/zaina-qureshi" rel="tag" > Zaina Qureshi, PhD < /a > Tags: Meds Pain Management Primary Care Source Type: blogs
Round and Round It Spins - Our Latest Health Care Revolving Door Roundup
DiscussionThe revolving door has been a chronic problem for the US, but seems to only be getting worse. We saw plenty of examples of people transiting the door to or from the US executive branch during the George W Bush and Obama administrations. We are still seeing people transiting the door from the latter administration. However, the number of people transiting the door into the Trump administration seems unprecedented, although admittedly that impression is based on series of cases, not systematic quantitative studies.So, as I have said before, most recentlyin August, 2017,The revolving door is a spec...
Source: Health Care Renewal - October 8, 2017 Category: Health Management Tags: Donald Trump health care corruption regulatory capture revolving doors Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 58-year-old man with hepatitis C-related cirrhosis
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 58-year-old man is evaluated in follow-up for hepatitis C-related cirrhosis that is complicated by nonbleeding small esophageal varices and ascites. His ascites has recently worsened and has required large-volume paracentesis three times per month. He has been on a low-salt diet, spironolactone, and furosemide.
On physical examination, temperature is 36.8 °C (98.2 °F), blood pressure is 98/60 mm Hg, pulse rate is 65/min, and respiration rate is 16/min; BMI is 26. He appears chronically ill. Scleral icterus, ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 7, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Gastroenterology Hospital-Based Medicine Surgery Source Type: blogs
More on US Healthcare Prices
In a recent post, I showed two drugs that were much more expensive in the United States than elsewhere. One was for rheumatoid arthritis and the other for hepatitis C. Today we get to look at a cancer drug, Avastin, … Continue reading →
The post More on US Healthcare Prices appeared first on PeterUbel.com. (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - October 5, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Peter Ubel Tags: Health Care cancer healthcare costs Peter Ubel syndicated Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Real-World Evidence Complements Randomized Controlled Trials In Clinical Decision Making
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are considered the gold-standard study design for comparative effectiveness research, which involves directly comparing the effectiveness of one treatment to another. Despite their many benefits, RCTs have important limitations that can reduce their utility for certain types of comparative effectiveness research and limit the external validity of their findings. For this reason, real-world evidence—data about outcomes in actual patients who are receiving a treatment in a usual care setting—is gaining traction as a key source of evidence for comparative effectiveness research....
Source: Health Affairs Blog - September 27, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Daniel Blumenthal, Kristina Yu-Isenberg, John Yee and Anupam Jena Tags: Drugs and Medical Innovation chronic disease comparative effectiveness research efficacy-effectiveness gap health care innovation measuring care value randomized controlled trials real-world evidence Source Type: blogs
An Op-Ed Ghostwriter Speaks
By WILLIAM S KLEIN
Is it “a breach of trust” for a publication to publish an opinion piece that was written with the participation of public relations professionals? That was the conclusion of a recent article in Health News Review, a publication that bills itself as “Your Health News Watchdog.”(“Another ‘breach of trust’ at STAT: patient who praised TV drug ads says pharma PR company asked her to write op-ed”).
The article traces the origins of an op-ed that appeared in STAT, the respected medical blog published by the Boston Globe, headlined “You can complain about TV drug ads. They may have save...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 25, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Ghosting Ghostwriting Pharma William S. Klein Source Type: blogs
