"Accelerating Medicines Partnership" and other Collaborations to Speed Discovery of New Therapies
AMP - Accelerating Medicines Partnership
In February, we wrote about the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announcement of a partnership with ten drug makers, as well as eight non-profit organizations, to accelerate the discovery of new therapies for Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. Under the collaboration, termed the Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP), the companies and the NIH have agreed to contribute scientists, along with relevant data and samples from clinical trials, and to share costs. The goal is to transform the current model for developing new...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 19, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, September 15, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Diabetes Pathogenesis Takes Center Stage. The research focus in diabetes may be shifting from developing new treatments to better understanding the pathogenesis of the disease.
The Yelp Phenomenon. Patients can complain about their medical experiences on Yelp, snap photos of doctor’s offices for their Instagram account, and even post pictures of a doctor conducting an exam to Facebook, all “invasions” of privacy that would be actionable if it were a doctor posting about a patient.
Prof Urges Future Docs to Shape Public Debate. What ethical issues in health and medicine do 18-year-old...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 15, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: Uncategorized Diabetes Endocrinology Rheumatology Source Type: blogs
Antigen-Specific Immunotherapy to Treat Autoimmune Disease
Autoimmunity as a term covers a broad range of ways in which the immune system can run awry to attack healthy tissues. It bears some semblance to cancer in that an autoimmune disorder can occur at any age, there are many, many different types, and the details of the biochemistry involved are enormously complex and comparatively poorly understood. There is no good consensus on why some of the most common autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis occur, for example, and the most successful of presently available treatments focus on suppressing the activities of the malfunctioning immune system in as targeted a way as ...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 4, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, August 25, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Futile ICU Care for Some Delays Care for Others. Providing futile care to ICU patients delayed care for other patients awaiting transfer into the ICU, according to a 3-month study of ICU practices at two hospitals.
Lupus and the Atomic Bomb? In the early 1950s, with the expanding arms race of the Cold War, the U.S. Department of Energy chose a rural site in Fernald, Ohio, to build a uranium-processing plant that would supply the nation’s proliferating nuclear arsenal. Decades later, Fernald was a Superfund site following long-denied environmental contamination, and efforts to identify and analyz...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 25, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Heart Rheumatology Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, August 12, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Low Obesity Risk Score Can Still Equal Major Health Problems. Young adults who scored slightly higher on an obesity risk assessment scale still had significantly worse dietary habits than those who were at lower risk.
Feds’ $10 Billion Search For Healthcare’s Next Big Ideas. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to mend what President Barack Obama called a broken healthcare system, but its best-known programs — online insurance and expanded Medicaid for the poor — affect a relatively small portion of Americans.
Maternal Obesity Ups CVD Risk Even in Healthy Weight Offspring. Male...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 12, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Heart Obesity Specialist Source Type: blogs
AdDRESSing the Causes of Rash
Conclusion: DRESS syndrome is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition with an estimated mortality rate of 10 percent. Suspicion must be high because it may present as a spectrum of nonspecific clinical and laboratory findings.Tags: rash, tox cave, DRESS, DRESS syndrome, RegiSCAR, hepatitis, myocarditis, myositisPublished: 8/7/2014 2:50:00 PM (Source: The Tox Cave)
Source: The Tox Cave - August 7, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
AdDRESSing the Causes of Rash
Conclusion: DRESS syndrome is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition with an estimated mortality rate of 10 percent. Suspicion must be high because it may present as a spectrum of nonspecific clinical and laboratory findings.Tags: rash, tox cave, DRESS, DRESS syndrome, RegiSCAR, hepatitis, myocarditis, myositisPublished: 8/7/2014 2:50:00 PM (Source: The Tox Cave)
Source: The Tox Cave - August 7, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Hemoptysis Pearls
There was a nice article over at Consultant360.com by Drs. Laren Tan and Samuel Louie on hemoptysis pearls. Learned quite a few things.
200 mls of blood (about a cupful) is enough to fill the dead space in the lungs and is therefore generally considered the minimum amount of blood to make the diagnosis of “massive” hemoptysis.
Hemoptysis with chest pain – think pneumonia/pleurisy, PE with pleurisy, pulmonary edema from an MI, or lung cancer
Hemoptysis with dyspnea – think either exacerbation of patient’s underlying medical problem or a precursor to respiratory failure
Hemoptysis with fever ...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - June 26, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: WhiteCoat Tags: Medical Topics Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, May 29, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Primary Pain Points: ‘Messing With the Computer’. “Messing with the computer takes the physician’s head out of the exam,” Jordan Grumet, MD, a primary care clinician in a small practice in Northbrook, Ill., told MedPage Today in response to the question “What frustrates you?”
No Link Seen Between Vaccines and Lupus. Recent vaccination was not associated with an increased risk for the development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).
More Brain Bleeds With Stroke Drug in ‘Real World’. In a real-world practice setting, the use of tissue plasminogen ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 29, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Heart Neurology Rheumatology Source Type: blogs
Can doctors ever work together with insurance companies?
Recently, I had what I’d call a true banner day in my office. One late afternoon, after I had finished seeing patients, I had started in on that iniquitous pile of paperwork that awaits all of us doctors after office hours. As usual, I was finding the task alternately arduous (can my patient comfortably carry five-to-ten pounds for five-to-ten minutes?), rewarding (the patient does not have lupus), and monotonous (there is a reason why doctors’ signatures are so illegible). But then, something unexpected caught my eye: Right there, in a stack of neatly arrayed faxes and envelopes, were four insurance company approval l...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 28, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Natalie Azar, MD Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
Battle of the Bulge: Olecranon Bursitis
Olecranon bursitis, also called baker’s or Popeye elbow, can be a painless or an irritating condition involving the bursa located near the proximal end of the ulna in the elbow over the olecranon. Normal bursae sacs generally are filled with a small amount of fluid, which helps the joint remain mobile. The sac can swell under the soft tissue from overuse or when the area sustains an injury from a bump or fall.
Normal bursae are usually small, but they can grow to be quite large, swollen, and occasionally even infected when they become irritated or inflamed. The swelling is obvious because the space in this area is l...
Source: The Procedural Pause - May 6, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Battle of the Bulge: Olecranon Bursitis
Olecranon bursitis, also called baker’s or Popeye elbow, can be a painless or an irritating condition involving the bursa located near the proximal end of the ulna in the elbow over the olecranon. Normal bursae sacs generally are filled with a small amount of fluid, which helps the joint remain mobile. The sac can swell under the soft tissue from overuse or when the area sustains an injury from a bump or fall.
Normal bursae are usually small, but they can grow to be quite large, swollen, and occasionally even infected when they become irritated or inflamed. The swelling is obvious because the space in this area is lim...
Source: The Procedural Pause - May 6, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Libman–Sacks endocarditis
is seen in:
a) Carcinoid syndrome
b) Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
c) Hypereosinophilic syndrome
d) Endocardial fibroelastosis
Correct answer: b) Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
Libman–Sacks endocarditis is a non-infective variety of endocardial involvement seen with SLE.
The plaques on valves seen in carcinoid syndrome are called ‘stuck on plaques’ because they appear as if ‘stuck on’ the endocardium of the valves with very little inflammation of adjacent tissue.
Endocardial and sub endocardial hyperechoic infiltrates can be seen in hypereosinophilic syndrome (Loeffler’s endocarditis). (Source: Cardiophile MD)
Source: Cardiophile MD - May 1, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Johnson Francis Tags: Cardiology MCQ DM / DNB Cardiology Entrance Source Type: blogs
Why I Enrolled in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program
A Buddhist proverb says that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
After five years of trying to learn and practice mindfulness — moment-to-moment awareness, or paying attention to the present moment on my own and ending up, well, different than the bald guys in the ocher and saffron robes, I decided that I was in desperate need of a teacher and some direction.
So I enrolled in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program (MBSR) at my local hospital.
All MBSR programs are modeled after the one founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. They aim to he...
Source: World of Psychology - March 20, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: General Health-related Mental Health and Wellness Mindfulness Personal Self-Help Stress Bipolar Disorder Elisha Goldstein heart Jon Kabat Zinn Major Depressive Disorder Mbsr Meditation Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Pain Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, March 13, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Whole-Genome Data Not Ready for Prime Time. Despite “huge” potential to identify hidden disease risks, whole-genome sequencing is not ready for its close-up.
Glucosamine Study: No Help for Knee Pain. The popular dietary supplement glucosamine showed no evidence of structural benefits on MRI among patients with chronic knee pain typical of osteoarthritis.
Data Confirm Spike in Opioid, Benzo Combo. The number of people taking both narcotic painkillers and tranquilizers grew substantially over the last decade.
New Antibody Shows Promise in Lupus. Initial clinical studies of epratuzumab in pat...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 13, 2014 Category: Family Physicians Tags: News Source Type: blogs
