An FDA Regulator's View of the Issues with the FDA in the Matter of Treating Aging
A charitable view of the FDA is that it is populated by well-meaning people who happen to believe that (a) any cost in lives, time, and funds is worth it in order to prevent harm by commission, and (b) zero risk is a possible goal in medicine. The Hippocratic Oath Enforcement Agency, if you like. There are much less charitable views, given the present state of regulatory capture that dramatically raises costs and slows development, as well as the invisible graveyard of countless lives lost to the absence of medical technologies that would otherwise exist and be widely available at reasonable prices.
There is no esta...
Source: Fight Aging! - January 21, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Dr Braunwald ’ s Grand rounds on future of cardiology
What is in store for the future of cardiology as of 2022?
Here is one of the rare lectures (A grand rounds by Houston Methodist) by legendary cardiologist Dr. Euegne Braunwald who shares his wisdom, vision, and research and finally his advice for the generation next cardiologist.
For those, who are short of time to listen to the father of modern-day cardiology, let me share a preview. The talk is divided into 6 subsets.
Polygenic risk score (PRS) Dr. Braunwald talks about how genetic risk profiling and risk factor interaction will help us identify susceptible populations. Here, ...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - January 16, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Uncategorized artificial intelligence chip clonal hematopoietic independent potential chip Dr Eugene Braunwald future of cardiology dr s venkatesan great lectures in cardiology polygenic risk factors Source Type: blogs
What a Waste of a Healthcare System
By KIM BELLARD
An essay in Aeon had me at the title: The Waste Age. The title was so evocative of the world we live in that I almost didn’t need to read further, but I’m glad I did, and I encourage you to do the same. Because if we don’t learn to deal with waste – and, as the author urges, design for it – our future looks pretty grim.
Healthcare included.
The essay is by Justin McGuirk, chief curator of the Design Museum in London, and accompanies an exhibit there: Waste Age: what can design do? Mr. McGuirk states:
…waste is not merely a byproduct of culture: it is culture. We have produ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 11, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Public Health Healthcare system Kim Bellard medical waste plastics Source Type: blogs
Medicare Advantage Is a Superior Program (Part one)
By GEORGE HALVORSON
Former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson has written on THCB on and off over the years, most notably with his proposal for Medicare Advantage for All post-COVID. He wrote a piece in Health Affairs last week arguing with the stance of Medicare Advantage of Don Berwick and Rick Gilfillan (Here’s their piece pt1, pt2). Here’s a longer exposition of his argument. We are publishing part one today with part two coming soon – Matthew Holt
The evidence for Medicare Advantage being a superior program compared to standard fee-for-service Medicare is so overwh...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 11, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Medicare Don Berwick George Halvorson Medicare Advantage Rick Gilfillan Source Type: blogs
Hyperacute T-waves -- missed. Myocardial Infarction with Non-Obstructive Coronary Arteries (MINOCA) may be due to transient thrombotic Occlusion MI.
Coronary thrombosis (twice in the same patient!!) without a stenosis or even a culpritDo not miss the last image at the bottom that shows the series of T-waves in V4-V6I recently had a discussion with an incredibly smart and fantastic ECG and Cardiology expert. He was skeptical that you can have OMI with Wellens waves without having a major stenosis on angiogram.I told him I ' ve seen it on occasion and that this happens due to thrombosis of non-obstructive lesions that lead to complete occlusion but that thencompletely lyse and do not show stenosis by the time of the angiogram. I said that even if there is not...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - December 29, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Two Small Pharma Firms Join The Struggle To Give Women Access to OTC Birth Control Pills
Jeffrey A. SingerTheNew York Timesreports today that two small oral contraceptive makers, Cadence and HRA Pharma, have been seeking to make their birth control pills over ‐the‐counter since 2016. The Food and Drug Administration has taken five years “dialoguing” with the pharmaceutical firms but has yet to give them “clearance” to formally apply for the switch. TheTimes article cites an FDA spokesperson as saying the agency hopes to reach a decision within 10 months of the companies submitting a formal application.As I have writtenhere, birth control pills are available over ‐the‐...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 14, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, December 6th 2021
In this study, they found these drugs can kill senescent cells from cultures of human fat tissue. The tissue was donated by individuals with obesity who were known to have metabolic troubles. Without treatment, the human fat tissues induced metabolic problems in immune-deficient mice. After treatment with dasatinib and quercetin, the harmful effects of the fat tissue were almost eliminated.
Targeting p21Cip1 highly expressing cells in adipose tissue alleviates insulin resistance in obesity
Insulin resistance is a pathological state often associated with obesity, representing a major risk factor for type 2...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 5, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Lack of Funding for Chronic Kidney Disease Research is Not an Outlier
In this commentary, scientists note the paucity of funding for chronic kidney disease research, given the widespread suffering and death caused by this presently incurable condition. This and many other areas of medicine are seen as solved problems by the powers that be simply because there is some form of treatment, even palliative treatment, in widespread use. That the treatment does little and many people die doesn't appear to motivate those who could fund progress. There is no sense of urgency and little sense of need. We might make the same comments in the case of atherosclerosis, a condition many consider to be adequ...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 30, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, November 8th 2021
In conclusion, in less common and visible cardiovascular diseases, it is crucial to recognize substantial progress and achievement, given that penetration of such information into clinical practice and the patient community can be inconsistent. Diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and ATTR cardiac amyloidosis, once linked to a uniformly adverse prognosis, are now associated with the opportunity for patients to experience satisfactory quality of life and extended longevity.
VitaDAO, a Novel Approach to Crowdfunding Life Science Research
https://www.fightaging.org/archiv...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 7, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Atherosclerosis, the As Yet Undefeated Monster
As you may know, I co-founded Repair Biotechnologies, a company presently focused on developing an approach to rapidly reverse the cholesterol content of atherosclerotic lesions, a goal that is impossible to achieve using the existing panoply of treatments for atherosclerosis. We use gene therapy techniques to provide cells with the ability to safely break down excess cholesterol, enabling the removal of pathological levels of intracellular cholesterol and localized deposits of extracellular cholesterol that characterize conditions such as atherosclerosis (in blood vessel walls) and NASH (in the liver). Atherosclerosis is ...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 2, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Healthy Life Extension Community Source Type: blogs
We Use Too Many Medications: Be Very Afraid of Interactions
By HANS DUVEFELT
I happened to read about the pharmacodynamics of parenteral versus oral furosemide when I came across a unique interaction between this commonest of diuretics and risperidone: Elderly dementia patients on risperidone have twice their expected mortality if also given furosemide. I knew that all atypical antipsychotics can double mortality in elderly dementia patients, but was unaware of the additional risperidone-furosemide risk. Epocrates only has a nonspecific warning to monitor blood pressure when prescribing both drugs.
This is only today’s example of an interaction I didn’t have at ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - October 21, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Medical Practice Physicians Primary Care Hans Duvefelt Medical Ethics medication pharmaceuticals Pharmacy Source Type: blogs
Let us Ignore this smart study on statins … one more time !
This study has this to conclude
Diabetogenic statins
Something* happens as the statins antagonize the HMG COA enzyme that resides within the delicate membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum inside the most specialized cells in our human body, called hepatocytes.
*What is that something?
Image source Umme Aiman et al Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics 5(3):181-5DOI: 10.4103/0976-500X.136097
How to go about this issue?
With-holding statin in as many as possible is the best thing for such diabetic (non-diabetic?) patients. But, the more pragmatic option is to ignore these negative stu...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - October 5, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Diabetes and Heart lipids lipid metabolism Medical ethics Uncategorized diabetes and statins JUPITER study risk of diabetes with statins statin induced diabetes new onset and progression statin side effects Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, October 4th 2021
In conclusion, premature thymic involution and chronic inflammation greatly contribute to increased morbidity and mortality in CKD patients. Mechanisms are likely to be multiple and interlinked. Even when the quest to fountain of youth is a pipe dream, there are many scientific opportunities to prevent or to, at least in part, reverse CKD-related immune senescence. Further studies should precisely define most important pathways driving premature immune ageing in CKD patients and best therapeutic options to control them.
Extending Life Without Extending Health: Vast Effort Directed to the Wrong Goals
https://ww...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 3, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Cerebral Small Vessel Disease as a General Microvascular Issue Rather than a Specifically Atherosclerotic Issue
The aging of large blood vessels in the brain, and their resulting dysfunctions, are quite different from those of the small vessels, the microvasculature. Large vessels are predominantly affected by atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty plaques that weaken and narrow blood vessels, leading to the catastrophic structural failure of a stroke. Small vessels, on the other hand, appear to be affected by a collection of mechanisms that cause functional deterioration, such as pathological amyloid deposition, with atherosclerosis as only one of that list of harmful processes. This is the point made in the open access paper here, ...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 1, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 13th 2021
In this study, mature DCs (mDCs), generated from the GM-CSF and IL-4 induced bone marrow cells, were intravenously injected into wild-type mice. Three days later, assays showed that the mDCs were indeed able to return to the thymus. Homing DCs have been mainly reported to deplete thymocytes and induce tolerance. However, medullary TECs (mTECs) play a crucial role in inducing immune tolerance. Thus, we evaluated whether the mDCs homing into the thymus led to TECs depletion. We cocultured mDCs with mTEC1 cells and found that the mDCs induced the apoptosis and inhibited the proliferation of mTEC1 cells. These effects were onl...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 12, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
