Should patients admitted with inflammatory bowel disease exacerbation be tested for C diff?
(Source: Notes from Dr. RW)
Source: Notes from Dr. RW - March 21, 2018 Category: Internal Medicine Tags: gastroenterology infectious disease Source Type: blogs
Uncontrollable itching – part II
As we heard the history we stopped, prior to hearing the exam and labs, and developed a differential diagnosis. With the combination of itching, probable jaundice and pale stools we assume either intrahepatic or extrahepatic obstruction. Our differential diagnosis with commentary:
Primary biliary cirrhosis – much more common in women then men – but does often present at this age with uncontrollable itching
Primary sclerosing cholangitis – no history of ulcerative colitis or diarrhea symptoms, but still possible
Gallstone – not all common duct stones cause pain
Cholangiocarcinoma – ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - March 20, 2018 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
What patients — and doctors — need to know about vitamins and supplements
A recently published clinical guideline on vitamin and mineral supplements reinforces every other evidence-based guideline, research review, and consensus statement on this topic. The bottom line is that there is absolutely no substitute for a well-balanced diet, which is the ideal source of the vitamins and minerals we need.
The brief article, co-authored by nutrition guru Dr. JoAnn Manson, cites multiple large clinical trials studying multiple nutritional supplements’ effects on multiple end points. The gist of it is, our bodies prefer naturally occurring sources of vitamins and minerals. We absorb these better. And be...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 16, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Monique Tello, MD, MPH Tags: Complementary and alternative medicine Drugs and Supplements Health Healthy Eating Prevention Vitamins and supplements Source Type: blogs
Welcoming Bioelectronic Medicine
Valentin A. Pavlov, Managing Editor and Margot Puerta, Executive Editor
Can you tell us a bit more about the aims and history of Bioelectronic Medicine?
The field of bioelectronic medicine comprises basic research identifying the mechanisms of neural regulation and their translation into new treatments for many diseases and conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and paralyses.
The first successful examples of this translational approach are the recent clinical trials with vagus nerve stimulation in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The team-based efforts of immunologists, neur...
Source: BioMed Central Blog - March 15, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: Alice Ridgway Tags: Open Access Publishing Bioelectronic Medicine Source Type: blogs
How much can what we eat help inflammatory bowel disease?
Speaking at the event, Dr Alan Desmond, Consultant Gastroenterologist at South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, UK, suggested that active Crohn’s Disease (CD) can be successfully reversed by adopting a Whole Food Plant Based Diet (WFPBD).
He cited data from two trials which have shown diets like the WFPBD, which restricts animal protein, animal fat, omega-6 PUFAs, dairy, emulsifiers and food additives while providing dietary fibre can bring improvements in people with Crohn’s in just six weeks.
Patients in the trials obtained 50% of caloric intake from an enteral formula (an artificial ‘complete nutrition...
Source: Nursing Comments - March 13, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: M1gu3l Tags: Nutrition Source Type: blogs
Tropical Travel Trouble 004 Bloody Diarrhoea
LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
aka Tropical Travel Trouble 004
A medical student who has just returned from their elective in Nepal presents with 1 week of bloody diarrhoea. He has been in the lowlands and stayed with a family in the local village he was helping at. It started three days before he left and he decided to get home on the plane in the hope it would settle. He is now opening his bowels 10x a day with associated cramps, fevers and has started feeling dizzy.
Questions:
Q1. What is dysentery ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 12, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine amoebic dysentery bacillary dysentery e.histolytica entamoeba histolytica shigellosis Source Type: blogs
Knowing when to screen … and when to quit
Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling
Let us sing the praises of good medical screening tests.
These are the tests that can detect medical problems before they become untreatable and before they cause complications or even death. Even better are those screening tests that detect “predisease” — abnormalities that aren’t dangerous on their own but can lead to problems later.
According to the US Preventive Services Task Force, relatively few screening tests are considered good enough to routinely recommend for adults, including
mammography for breast cancer (women)
Pap smear for cervical cancer (women)
bone density test...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 1, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Cancer Health Prevention Screening Source Type: blogs
Buzzfeed sadly promoting #FakeScience of Colon Cleansing
I am sorry but why in the ever living $*#(@# is Buzzfeed thinking here.A 1st year PhD student at UC Davis Will Louie, who rotated in my lab earlier this year, sent this video around to me and the rest of my lab justifiably expressing concern over it. And he is dead right - this is stunningly bad stuff from Buzzfeed.The video promotes Colon Hydrotherapy as though it is a wonderful perfect treatment. For example there is a part where it claims some of the benefits of this include speeding up metabolism, increased energy, improved digestion and more.Later on they make the claim that it helps people lost weight too.&...
Source: The Tree of Life - February 25, 2018 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Medical education systematically ignores the diversity of medical practice
I remember the moment I first saw a female chest X-ray. It was my own. My lecturers in the first months of medical school showed a few chest films, but I failed to recognize that the bodies all looked the same. I proudly showed my sister my clear lungs. She laughed and said, “I can see your boobs.” I looked again at mine with new eyes, taking in the dull, gray color of adipose tissue that I had never seen before. Something was missing from all the previous images I had seen: diversity.
As second years, we practiced procedures on each other to gain experience before working with patients. We did abdominal ultras...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 30, 2018 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/rebekah-fenton" rel="tag" > Rebekah Fenton, MD < /a > Tags: Education Hospital-Based Medicine Pediatrics Primary Care Source Type: blogs
The Yogurt Diaries
I’ve been lately discussing how to take a single species of bacteria and amplify bacterial counts by making yogurt in the presence of prebiotic fiber. Here, for instance, I described my early experience cultivating a strain of Lactobacillus reuteri. For anyone new to this conversation, the method of making prebiotic-infused yogurt is discussed here; and why we choose higher fat starting liquids, such as half-and-half with around 18% fat, is discussed here. For anyone wishing to avoid dairy, you can also accomplish the same with coconut milk (canned, full-fat), though it requires longer to ferment (typically 48-72 hou...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - January 19, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Undoctored Wheat Belly Lifestyle bowel flora grain-free Inflammation lactobacillus prebiotic probiotic Source Type: blogs
Exponential Medicine 2017 Day 1 & 2 Conference Overview: Virtual Reality, Transcriptomics, and an Exciting Announcement by the ACS
Welcome to Medgadget’s overview of this year’s Exponential Medicine (ExMed) conference by Singularity University (SU), which took place, for its fifth year in a row, in San Diego, CA at the Hotel Del Coronado last month. This year ExMed brought together innovators from nearly 40 countries to discuss the technologies and trends reinventing the future of health and medicine. For those of your who were not able to tune into the live stream, this conference report, broken up into two segments, will provide an overview of the conference talks and topics, including additional details from a few select sessions we we...
Source: Medgadget - December 21, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Michael Batista Tags: Exclusive Medicine Source Type: blogs
What Diet Works Best, Part 1: Put Down The Grapefruit
Why is chosing a diet so hard?
The information we receive about diets, food, and nutrition is confusing. Millions of dollars are spent on weight loss schemes that never last. So, how do you choose a diet that will work? This post is the first in a series of articles exploring questions to ask when choosing a diet. Here goes…
Does the grapefruit diet work?
It’s not the grapefruit’s fault. This morning, however, I had three emails touting a celebrity with a “new” grapefruit diet to get in shape for the holidays. This sort of thing drives me crazy. First, celebrities aren’t e...
Source: Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative - December 13, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Eliz Greene Tags: Award Winning Blog Heart Health grapefruit healthy diet nutrition Source Type: blogs
What Diet Works Best, Part 1: Put Down The Grapefruit
Why is choosing a diet so hard?
The information we receive about diets, food, and nutrition is confusing. Millions of dollars are spent on weight loss schemes that never last. So, how do you choose a diet that will work? This post is the first in a series of articles exploring questions to ask when choosing a diet. Here goes…
Does the grapefruit diet work?
It’s not the grapefruit’s fault. This morning, however, I had three emails touting a celebrity with a “new” grapefruit diet to get in shape for the holidays. This sort of thing drives me crazy. First, celebrities aren’t e...
Source: Embrace Your Heart Wellness Initiative - December 13, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Eliz Greene Tags: Diet and Nutrition Tips Heart Health Women's Wellness grapefruit healthy diet Source Type: blogs
