Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Asks for Input
The Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria ("Advisory Council") has issued a Request for Information, seeking responses from industry stakeholders and the general public on five questions related to efforts and strategies to combat antibiotic-resistance.
The Advisory Council provides advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regarding programs and policies that are intended to support the implementation of the National Strategy for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria and the National Action Plan for Combating Antibio...
Source: Policy and Medicine - June 5, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Wanna Fight Superbugs? Stop Overprescribing Government
Conclusion
Government is like antibiotics. Some amount is necessary. But overprescribing it makes things a lot worse.
A good indication you’ve overdosed on the statist Kool-Aid is when you make dismissive comments like this one Emanuel levels at current antibiotic-tracking programs: “Unfortunately, they are voluntary.” (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 1, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Michael F. Cannon Source Type: blogs
Do anti-aging patches really work? Episode 135
Do anti-aging patches really work?
Julia asks…Can micro needle patches really work to deliver anti-aging ingredients like hyaluronic acid?
Coincidentally I just read a study about a new technology for lightening age spots that involves, get this, Dissolving Micro Needles. This research was published by a Korean team in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology and here’s what they did…
They developed a patch containing 4-n-butylresorcinol an active ingredient which is able to prevent melanocytes from producing melanin (the pigment in hair and skin.) They had 45 panelists use the patch for 8 weeks and then they measure...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - May 31, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Randy Schueller Tags: Podcast Source Type: blogs
Cool Video: Watching Bacteria Turn Virulent
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Researchers created an apparatus to study quorum sensing, a communication system that allows some bacteria to cause dangerous infections. Their findings suggest that blocking bacterial communication might lead to a new way to combat such infections. Credit: Minyoung Kevin Kim and Bonnie Bassler, Princeton University.
If you’ve ever felt a slimy coating on your teeth, scrubbed grime from around a sink drain or noticed something growing between the tiles of a shower, you’ve encountered a biofilm. Made up of communities of bacteria and other microorganisms, biofilms thrive where the...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 13, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Alisa Zapp Machalek Tags: Cell Biology Chemistry and Biochemistry Source Type: blogs
Mandatory health care associated infection surveillance: data quality statement
Public Health England -This document describes many of the aspects of quality assurance surrounding the routine publication of data for the mandatory surveillance of healthcare associated infection (MRSA, MSSA, and E. coli bacteraemia and C. difficile infection).
Guidance
Public Health England - publications (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - April 6, 2016 Category: UK Health Authors: The King's Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: Patient safety Source Type: blogs
To Fight Antimicrobial Resistance, Allow FDA To Approve New Drugs For Limited Populations
Over the past several months, microbiologists and public health experts around the world have been alarmed by the discovery of a gene conferring resistance to colistin, a so-called “last resort” antibiotic.
The gene, MCR-1, was discovered in China last year, and thereafter quickly identified in E. coli samples from six continents. Because this type of gene is highly transferable, it will, in all likelihood, spread to other hard-to-treat bacteria. What global health leaders have been warning of for years has now become reality.
Now, more than ever, there is an urgent need for action to spur the innovation of antibiotics...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - April 5, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Allan Coukell Tags: Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Global Health Population Health Public Health Quality 21st Century Cures Act Antibiotic Resistance Antibiotics Congress FDA limited-population antibacterial drug MCR-1 PATH Act Research Source Type: blogs
Should I use antibacterial soap? Episode 125
The FDA has announced that it’s going to take a closer look at antibacterial soaps. In today’s show (an encore presentation from 2013) we discuss everything you need to know.
What is an antibacterial soap?
Soaps that contain antimicrobial or antibacterial agents are actually drugs that are controlled by the FDA (in the US). Since these drugs don’t require a prescription, they are called Over the Counter drugs just like aspirin and antacids. These OTC drugs, as they’re called, are defined in a FDA document called a Monograph which specifies which active ingredients you can use, how much you can use and so forth....
Source: thebeautybrains.com - March 22, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Randy SchuellerDiscover the beauty and cosmetic products you should use and avoid Source Type: blogs
LITFL Review 222
Welcome to the 222nd LITFL Review! Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the blogosphere’s best and brightest and deliver a bite-sized chuck of FOAM.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beauts of the Week
Josh Farkas explains his top 10 issues/problems with the new Sepsis-3 definitions. [SR]
The Best of #FOAMed Emergency Medicine
First 10 EM drops their articles of the month as February comes to a close. [AS]
Cameron Berg discusses another way ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 6, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Marjorie Lazoff, MD Tags: Education LITFL review Source Type: blogs
Senate HELP Committee Moves Closer to Creating Corollary to 21st Century Cures
Last week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved a series of seven bills to work up medical innovation legislation that will eventually likely become the Committee's response to the 21st Century Cures Act passed by the House of Representatives.
Last month, HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee estimated that the Senate's version will not mirror the House bill, and that the Senate's effort will focus on priorities that are identified by the Committee's members, such as improving federal electronic health record programs.
Last week's productive meeting was not the last...
Source: Policy and Medicine - February 16, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Why are female physicians scared to be women?
Women physicians are a testament to evolution; they’ve spent years, decades even, navigating through systems that do anything but cater to their unique needs, and actually find a way to thrive within these systems.
My question is this: Why haven’t these systems really evolved with them? It’s now been 167 years since Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate with a medical degree in the United States. Nowadays, just shy of 50 percent of medical students are women. Yet we still struggle with issues like maternity leave, pumping at work, asking for days off when the kids are sick, and career advancement; o...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - February 7, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Nisha Mehta, MD Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
The nightmare of medicine is the absurd price we have to pay
A grandmother develops a boil that turns out to be a difficult-to-treat staph infection (MRSA). She needs high-powered antibiotics. A middle-aged man who received a blood transfusion decades ago now has hepatitis C and needs anti-viral medicine. A young woman with HIV develops golf-ball-size lesions in her brain, has toxoplasmosis and needs anti-parasite medicine.
The marvel of medicine today is that we can treat all three infections, and save the lives of these patients and countless millions of other Americans. Yet the nightmare of medicine today is the absurd price we have to pay.
Pfizer Pharmaceutical charges $56.31 pe...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 27, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Manoj Jain, MD, MPH Tags: Meds Medications Source Type: blogs
Research and Reviews in the Fastlane 116
This article raises the question of how important MIC is and whether we should be developing and testing alternate ways to assess antibiotic efficacy.
Recommended by: Anand Swaminathan
Emergency Medicine
Piazza G et al. A Prospective, Single-Arm, Multicenter Trial of Ultrasound-Facilitated, Catheter-Directed, Low-Dose Fibrinolysis for Acute Massive and Submassive Pulmonary Embolism: The SEATTLE II Study. JACC Cardiovasc Interv 2015; 24;8(10):1382-92. PMID: 26315743
This is simple prospective data on a highly selected group of patients with massive or sub massive PEs. There were almost as many authors as patients here...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - January 6, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Nudrat Rashid Tags: Airway Anaesthetics Cardiology Education Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Intensive Care Pediatrics Radiology Respiratory critical care examination R&R in the FASTLANE recommendations research and reviews Resuscitation Source Type: blogs
Should Fluoro be Your New Go-To?
Part Three in a Three-Part Series
This is the third and final part of our series on foreign bodies and fluoroscopy. Click here for part one and here for part two.
This month, we walk you through a step-by-step guide with bonus video footage to aid in your technique. This progressive procedure is absolutely significant to your practice, and we hope you all get a chance to try it.
The Approach
n Identification of foreign body on plain film or ultrasound
n Saphenous or posterior tibial nerve block
n Enlargement of the wound or entrance site using incision...
Source: The Procedural Pause - January 4, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Reducing antibiotic use requires a commitment from both patients and doctors
It was recently World Antibiotic Awareness Week and Get Smart About Antibiotics Week. According to the CDC, 2 million people in the United States become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria and 23,000 people die from such infections each year. What’s worse is that antibiotic resistance continues to increase.
“To give you an idea of how high the pressure is to prescribe antibiotics, I didn’t get a job once because during the interview I told the lead physician that I only prescribe antibiotic prescriptions when they are warranted.”
Following Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fitte...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 5, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Aunna Pourang, MD Tags: Conditions Infectious disease Medications Source Type: blogs
