Do you know about behcet ’s syndrome?
I was reading some medical records the other day and came upon a condition known as Behcet’s syndrome. It is actually a rare disease, but more frequent and severe in patients from the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia. Inherited (genetic) and environmental factors, such as microbe infections, are suspected to be factors that contribute to the development of Behcet’s. The syndrome is not proven to be contagious. The symptoms of Behcet’s syndrome depend on the area of the body affected. Behcet’s syndrome can involve inflammation of many areas of the body. These areas include the arteries that supply blood to the body’...
Source: Nursing Comments - January 24, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Stephanie Jewett, RN Tags: Advice/Education Caregiving General Public Nursing/Nursing Students Patients/Specific Diseases Behcet's disease Behcet's syndrome cortisone genital ulcers inflammation mouth ucerations skin test Source Type: blogs
Podcast (but not mine): I discuss ACA, HIPAA, consumerism in healthcare
Longtime readers know how I’ve railed against how the mainstream media’s coverage of healthcare reform in general and the Affordable Care Act in particular, notably the fact that Obamacare addresses a lot more than just insurance coverage. I’ve also railed against how hospitals have used HIPAA as an excuse not to give patients copies of their medical records, when, in fact, the privacy rule says the exact opposite, something HHS finally saw need to provide guidance on just this month.
Those of you who have followed me to MedCity News know that I’ve also been covering the Get My Health Data effort...
Source: Neil Versel's Healthcare IT Blog - January 19, 2016 Category: Information Technology Authors: Neil Versel Tags: consumerism health reform HIPAA Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act podcast Dale Wiley multiple system atrophy (MSA) patient engagement Source Type: blogs
Conjunctivitis
Pinkeye is another name for conjunctivitis and is a condition that causes inflammation and redness of the membranes inside the eyes. It causes the whites of your eyes to appear reddish or pink. The disease can be caused by a bacterial or viral infection in addition to an allergic reaction. Pinkeye caused by infection is highly contagious. Many children will develop pink eye at a daycare and spread it to others. For this reason, early diagnosis and treatment is extremely important. Pinkeye can affect one or both eyes. Many times it will start in one eye and then spread to the other. The most common symptoms of pink eye are ...
Source: Nursing Comments - January 2, 2016 Category: Nursing Authors: Stephanie Jewett, RN Tags: Advice/Education Caregiving General Public Nursing/Nursing Students Patients/Specific Diseases allergy bacterial burning conjunctivitis eye discharge eye disease eye drops gritty eyes infection itching matted eyes in morning Source Type: blogs
Was Martin Shkreli Arrested For Hiking Drug Prices?
By SAURABH JHA, MD
I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories. I never believed a second shot was fired. Nor do I believe that Bill Clinton was stalked on the grassy knoll. So I won’t speculate that Martin Shkreli’s arrest for alleged securities fraud that happened years ago is related to his raising Daraprim’s price by 5500 %.
Just because something isn’t suspicious doesn’t mean that it isn’t odd.
Shkreli is a perfect poster child for rapacious pharmacocapitalism – so perfect that it’s odd. He openly admits “I have a sworn duty to my shareholders to maximize profit.” Shkreli’s admission is odd not f...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB Saurabh Jha Source Type: blogs
Martin Shkreli and Pharmacocapitalism’s Inconvenient Truth
By SAURABH JHA, MD
I don’t subscribe to conspiracy theories. I never believed a second shot was fired. Nor do I believe that Bill Clinton was stalked on the grassy knoll. So I won’t speculate that Martin Shkreli’s arrest for alleged securities fraud that happened years ago is related to his raising Daraprim’s price by 5500 %.
Just because something isn’t suspicious doesn’t mean that it isn’t odd.
Shkreli is a perfect poster child for rapacious pharmacocapitalism – so perfect that it’s odd. He openly admits “I have a sworn duty to my shareholders to maximize profit.” Shkreli’s admission is odd not f...
Source: The Health Care Blog - December 22, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Simon Nath Tags: THCB Saurabh Jha Source Type: blogs
Concerns Over Valeant Lead to Troubles for Other Companies
With Valeant facing constant criticism about their business model, other pharmaceutical companies following similar business models are starting to come under the magnifying glass.
Horizon Pharma PLC and Mallinckrodt PLC are two large companies often compared to Valeant. Their shares of stock prices have fallen roughly 25% in the past three months. Concordia Healthcare Corp., another company frequently compared to Valeant, has seen its shares fall 42% in that three-month period. All together, the three aforementioned companies have lost more than $4 billion in market value since late August.
Similar to Valeant, Horizon, ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - December 8, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Interesting Comments by George Church
George Church is an important figure in the development of modern genomics and genetic engineering. Like a number of luminaries in the medical life sciences, in recent years he has become much more openly supportive of efforts to treat the causes of aging and extend healthy human life spans. You might recall the keynote he gave at the SENS6 rejuvenation research conference, and note that Church is a member of the SENS Research Foundation advisory board. With that context, I'll point you to recent remarks made to a journalist:
A Harvard professor says he can cure aging, but is that a good idea?
I mentioned to Church that ...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 2, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs
Why Do Women Matter in the Unfolding of Precision Care for Kids?
It’s great to be posting once again for Disruptive Women in Health Care and to be writing about Precision Care, a concept in which patient care is tailored to each individual’s unique characteristics. I’ve taken a five year break and it’s amazing to look back at my prior posts. In 2010, I wrote…”the promise of the $1,000 genome is over the horizon. …Yet while this addresses technological innovation, does it deliver impact on health care?” Now in 2015, both the $1,000 genome is here (at least the sequencing portion) and the work ongoing at my company, Claritas Genomics delivers genome knowledge tha...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - November 18, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
Re-Imagining the Life Sciences & Research: A New Disruptive Women in Health Care Series
When I think of the value of the Precision Medicine Initiative that President Obama announced earlier this year, the money involved isn’t the first thing that comes to mind (although over $200 million in proposed dollars to entities like the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute are worth cheering). Actually, the focus on precision medicine provides a tremendous opportunity to take a step back and consider the future of research, medicine and the life sciences.
That’s exactly what we’re going to be doing over the next several days here in the Disruptive Women in Health Care space. ...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - November 13, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Chronic Conditions Genetics Innovation Source Type: blogs
The Regulatory Burden Of The Priority Review Voucher Program
In a recent interview, an official from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expressed concern about the costs to the FDA of the priority review voucher program. The director of the Office of New Drugs said he’s worried the additional priority reviews are taking resources away from other important work. Furthermore, an FDA spokesperson wrote that “These programs allow sponsors to ‘purchase’ a priority review at the expense of other important public health work in FDA’s portfolio.”
But it doesn’t have to be that way, and it’s important to tackle these concerns because the FDA is critical to the success of ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - October 28, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: David B. Ridley Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Technology Featured FDA priority review voucher program Source Type: blogs
When doctors stalk their patients
I peeked. Several months ago, I met a 60-year old woman with shortness of breath. Her hospital stay was a whirlwind. She had lost weight, and a test detected her stool had blood in it. This was an ominous sign. Within a few hours, she underwent a colonoscopy that revealed she had colon cancer. The colorectal surgery team whisked her away from my general medicine team. I soon left that hospital for another medical rotation. Months later, when I returned to that hospital, her name popped up on my recent patient list on the electronic health record. I opened her chart on the computer, wondering what happened to her. The medi...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 16, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Kunmi Sobowale, MD Tags: Tech Health IT Primary care Source Type: blogs
Blame the system, not Martin Shkreli
Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite that causes opportunistic infection in helpless people. It may have met its match. The cost of treating toxoplasmosis, a rare but extant infection, just shot up exponentially. Drug-resistant strain, you ask? Have physicians in Infectious Disease gone mercenary, you wonder? No. A change in ownership.
Daraprim (pyrimethamine) is a nifty drug that kills parasites. It’s been around for eons. I still recall its name from my medical school pharmacology exam. The price of Daraprim, whose production barely costs a dollar, may rise from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill, after the rights to distribute t...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 8, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Dr. Saurabh Jha Tags: Meds Infectious disease Medicare Source Type: blogs
That $750 Generic Pill Is a Pure Artifact of Regulation
As you probably know if you follow the news, a man named Martin Shkreli in charge of a startup firm called Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to a drug called pyrimethamine (brand name Daraprim), used in the treatment of AIDS and malaria, and announced that he was jacking up its price from $13.60 to $750. Massive outrage resulted, which has echoed through social media for the past week.
Pyrimethamine is long since off patent. It is not difficult to manufacture, and sells cheaply in Europe. But under the distinctive food and drug laws of the United States you can’t just start turning out pills in your factory to com...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 29, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Treatment Options In Goodpastures.
Goodpastures Syndrome.
A rapidly progressive form of kidney disease associated with antibodies directed against the structural components of the functional subunits of the kidney and the lung. The disease therefore gives rise to both lung and kidney pathology a situation termed pulmonary renal syndrome.
The exact cause is unknown. It is considered an autoimmune disorder (other autoimmune disorder’s that affect the kidney include Lupus Nephritis). The bodies own immune system is responsible for targeting both lung and kidney tissues. The initial immune system activation may occur in response to viral infection or even the...
Source: All Kidney News - September 29, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: jadhavbca Tags: Kidney News Treatment Options Source Type: blogs
