Pump Up the Potassium
The element potassium plays a pivotal role in our bodies. It’s found in all our cells, where it regulates their volume and pressure. To do this, our bodies carefully control potassium levels so that the concentration is about 30 times higher inside cells than outside. Potassium works closely with sodium, which regulates the extracellular fluid volume and has a higher concentration outside cells than inside. These concentration differences create an electrochemical gradient, or a membrane potential.
Potassium is the primary regulator of the pressure and volume inside cells, and it’s important for nerve transmiss...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 21, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Molecular Structures Cellular Processes Element Proteins Source Type: blogs
Lithotripsy machine used to reduce urology elective waiting lists
NHS Confederation - King George Hospital introduced new equipment in the urology department that led to reduced elective backlog for patients with kidney stones, reduced the need for more invasive procedures, and enables both planned and emergency care.Case study (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - June 12, 2023 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Library Tags: NHS performance and productivity Source Type: blogs
Chest pain, among other symptoms. What do you see?
This patient had many complaints including chest pain.The computer called this ***Acute STEMI***What do you think?STEMI never has a very short QT. This QT interval is 320 ms, with a QTc of around 350, depending on which correction formula you use. (There is Bazett, Fridericia, Hodges, Framingham and Rautaharju -- see here at mdcalc: https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/48/corrected-qt-interval-qtcIf the ST Elevation here were due to STEMI, it would be an LAD Occlusion. You can use myLAD Occlusion/Normal Variant STE formula on this. I did, and the result was the lowest value I have ever obtained (1...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - February 17, 2023 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Supplementing physical and mental health
I’ve always been wary of taking vitamins and other supplements. There are good reasons not to do so, if you have a reasonably balanced diet. Excesses of some vitamins and minerals can lead to problems like kidney and liver damage, kidney stones, and some can interfere with the absorption and activity of prescription medicines.
However.
I have been feeling rather tired in recent months, becoming unaccustomedly exhausted after even light activity. I’m talking after a short walk, but sometimes even just after a shower. Was it long-COVID, was it my medication, was it just me getting older?
Mrs Sciencebase had an ir...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - November 22, 2022 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Health and Medicine Source Type: blogs
Beyond The 1-10 Pain Scale
How bad does it hurt? I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that this is, quite possibly, the most common question we ask in EMS. And it can be a difficult question to answer. How bad compared to what? How do we reconcile the patient with significant pain who winces and says it only hurts a little. Or what about the patient who is relaxed and seemingly comfortable while reporting the worst pain they have ever felt?
Not everyone feels pain the same way. Some patients feel pain more than others. And, perhaps even more significant, some patients fear pain more than others. What’s a clinician to do?
You and I aren...
Source: The EMT Spot - November 10, 2022 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Steve Whitehead Tags: EMT Source Type: blogs
AI-Powered Surgical Robot Excels at Tricky Kidney Stone Procedure
Clinical researchers at Nagoya City University in Japan have tested an AI-powered surgical robot in its ability to assist with percutaneous nephrolithotomy, which is a minimally invasive procedure to remove large kidney stones. The technique involves accessing the kidney through the skin, and typically requires a highly experienced surgeon. The robot, called the Automated Needle Targeting with X-ray (ANT-X) was developed by NDR Medical Technology, a medical startup based in Singapore. The company reports that the robot can assist with needle placement and can calculate needle targeting in a few seconds, using just one X-ra...
Source: Medgadget - June 21, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Medicine Radiology Urology nagoyacity_univ Source Type: blogs
Health Care Through the Back Door: The Dangers of Nurse Visits
By HANS DUVEFELT
In some practices, patients with seemingly simple problems are scheduled to be seen by a nurse or medical assistant. Sometimes they can even just drop off a urine sample in case of a suspected urinary tract infection.
This is a dangerous trap. What if the patient rarely gets urinary infections, has back pain and assumes it is a UTI instead of a kidney stone or shingles on their back just where one kidney is located; what if they have lower abdominal pain from an ovarian cyst or an ectopic pregnancy?
Another dangerous type of “nurse visit” is when patients focus on one symptom or parameter, thi...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 12, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Source Type: blogs
A man in his 50s with abdominal pain and a computer read of ***Acute MI ***
Submitted by Dr. Arjun J V, Written by Pendell MeyersA man in his 50s with history of diabetes presented with acute onset abdominal pain and nausea.Here is his ECG at triage:What do you think?Sinus bradycardia. The QRS is narrow but very abnormal with significant LVH. There are widespread, dramatic, and discordant ST and T wave deviations which are due to the LVH. Look at leads III and aVF here for a particularly important lesson for your eyes. In these leads, the QRS does not actually have radically large QRS voltage, but yet there is substantial (easily meeting STEMI criteria) ST elevation which is due to LVH ...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - January 8, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Pendell Source Type: blogs
Join the Undoctored Boot Camp January 5th to the 14th
Undoctored, as its name suggests, puts personal control over health back in your hands. We continue many of the strategies of the Wheat Belly lifestyle but expand them with lessons learned through this worldwide experience, while adding new dimensions and practices.
The Undoctored Wild, Naked, and Unwashed program causes you to revert back to the way humans were supposed to be eating and living all along to mimic the behavior and health of primitive people who have virtually no modern diseases such as diabetes, colon cancer, and obesity (still lived to old age if they did not succumb to injury or infection). Learn:
How...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 22, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: April Duval Tags: Open Undoctored Source Type: blogs
Join Dr. Davis ’ Infinite Health Boot Camp January 5th to the 14th
Undoctored is now Dr. Davis Infinite Health (www.DrDavisInfiniteHealth that goes live in early January) as its name suggests, puts personal control over health back in your hands. We continue many of the strategies of the Wheat Belly lifestyle but expand them with lessons learned through this worldwide experience, while adding new dimensions and practices. While we make the transition to Dr. Davis Infinite Health and away from Undoctored, the concepts and practices remain the same.
The Dr. Davis’ Wild, Naked, and Unwashed program causes you to revert back to the way humans were supposed to be eating and living all ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - December 22, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: April Duval Tags: Open Undoctored Source Type: blogs
Drop Acid: An Interview with Dr. David Perlmutter
In his newest book, neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter tells us how measuring uric acid—commonly measured in screening bloodwork but previously viewed as nothing more than a risk factor for gout and kidney stones—is actually a powerful index and determinant of metabolic health.
Dr. Perlmutter describes how several genetic mutations that we have acquired over many generations have made humans especially efficient at storing fat, a characteristic that increased survival during periods of unreliable food availability. But, in a modern world in which food availability for most of us is no longer threat...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - November 19, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Open insulin insulin resistance uric acid wheat belly Source Type: blogs
September 2021: Agonizing Belly Pain
“I need something for this pain. I think I need surgery."He looked like he was in agony. This 20-something patient looked like a kid, and he didn't seem like he would be crying unless it was excruciating.But his belly seemed pretty benign. I wouldn't have been surprised if he had had rebound because he motioned to his xiphoid. The picture could have fit a perforation. An ulcer could have done this to him. He didn't drink alcohol, so that put pancreatitis lower on the list.Kidney stones can make men look like they are giving birth, but no blood was in the urine, and he had only mid-abdominal pain. It did seem like...
Source: Lions and Tigers and Bears - September 1, 2021 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Cracking Calcium in Arteries Using Sound Waves: Interview with Shockwave Medical ’s Scott Shadiow
Shockwave Medical, a medtech company based in California, has developed a technique called intravascular lithotripsy, which involves delivering sonic waves to calcified plaque in an artery in much the same way that sound waves have been used to treat kidney stones for many years. The idea is to safely crack the calcified deposits so that a stent can then be inserted to open the artery.
At present, calcified coronary arteries are typically treated using high pressure balloons, which can sometimes struggle to disrupt calcified deposits and the high pressure involved can pose safety issues. Other techniques include using s...
Source: Medgadget - August 26, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Cardiac Surgery Cardiology Radiology Vascular Surgery Source Type: blogs
The Pain Is In Your Brain: Your Knees Know Next to Nothing
By HANS DUVEFELT
A “frozen shoulder” can be manipulated to move freely again under general anesthesia. The medications we use to put patients to sleep for such procedures work on the brain and don’t concentrate in the shoulder joints at all.
An ingrown toenail can be removed or an arthritic knee can be replaced by injecting a local anesthetic – at the base of the toe or into the spine – interrupting the connection between the body and the brain.
An arthritic knuckle can stop hurting and move more freely after a steroid injection that dramatically reduces inflammation, giving lasting relief long after any...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 14, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Patients Physicians Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Pain Management Source Type: blogs
Correlative Adventures with COVID
By ANISH KOKA
“The patient in room 1 should be a quick one, its an addon, they just need a prescription for ivermectin”
I’m a bit puzzled by this sentence from my assistant doing his best to help me through a very busy day in the clinic that I’m already behind in. I walk into the room, a script pad stuffed into my hand as I enter the room, to meet a very nice couple. The wife sits patiently with hands crossed on the exam table.
“So, you’re here for Ivermectin?”, I ask.
Why yes, a trip to Texas is planned.. COVID is in the air, the internet, and some important people who have ‘inside ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - March 5, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy Anish Koka COVID vaccine COVID-19 vaccine Ivermectin Source Type: blogs
