Amoxicillin Alone for Acute Sinusitis Holds Up Against Broad-Spectrum Cousin
Treatment failure with amoxicillin-clavulanate for pediatric acute sinusitis was similar compared with amoxicillin alone, but the broad-spectrum antibiotic may be associated with more adverse events, an examination of a large commercial claims database revealed. The two frequently prescribed antibiotics were similar in their risk for treatment failure (1.7% with amoxicillin-clavulanate vs 1.8% with amoxicillin; RR […]
Iron Infusions Narrowly Miss the Mark for Clinical Benefit in Heart Failure
AMSTERDAM — Ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) did not go so far as to improve hard outcomes in people with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and iron deficiency in the well-powered HEART-FID trial, and it is questionable whether it is headed in that direction based on the totality of the evidence. Between study participants randomized […]
Heart Failure’s Obesity Paradox Falls Apart on Further Inspection
For the heart failure population, BMI obesity no longer appeared to hold counterintuitive protective effects after comprehensive adjustment for natriuretic peptides and other prognostic variables in a post hoc analysis of PARADIGM. Eliminating this so-called “obesity paradox,” researchers found that study participants with the highest BMIs actually had excess combined heart failure hospitalizations and cardiovascular […]
ICI-Related Myocarditis Deaths Down With Tailored Non-Corticosteroid Strategy
For immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)-associated myocarditis, increased vigilance of respiratory muscle failure and initiation of JAK‐STAT pathway inhibition led to a jump in patient survival at a Paris hospital. Based on 40 consecutive cancer patients admitted to Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris with confirmed ICI-associated myocarditis, the incidence of related death dropped from 60% during the […]
Opinion | Learning From the Communications Failure
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” In that classic line from the 1967 movie “Cool Hand Luke” starring Paul Newman, the warden (played by Strother Martin) points out that much better communication would keep things moving smoothly — or at least the way he wants them going. For all of us in healthcare, […]
Motivation is affected by oxidative stress, nutrition can help
In life, motivation can be the difference between success and failure, goal-setting and aimlessness, well-being and unhappiness. And yet, becoming and staying motivated is often the hardest step, a problem which has prompted much research. A very small part of that research has looked into the question of metabolism. “Do differences in metabolites in the […]
Growing Calls to Marry HF Specialists With Cardiac Critical Care
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — With the needs of advanced heart failure (HF) dwarfing the supply of skilled physicians, HF specialists and others are well-positioned to prove their value in the contemporary cardiac ICU (CICU) — and the clock is ticking for training and accreditation to keep up. The problem for the workforce is that CICU […]
Heterogeneous development of beta-cell populations in diabetes-resistant and -susceptible mice
Progressive dysfunction and failure of insulin-releasing β-cells is a hallmark of type 2 diabetes (T2D). DZD researchers have now shown that diabetes resistant and -susceptible mice respond differently to a carbohydrate-rich diet. The gene expression of the beta cells of the diabetes-resistant mice changed in such a way that a protective beta cell cluster developed. […]
Finally, A Foundational Heart Failure Drug That Works Across the Spectrum of EF
BARCELONA — With a major win in DELIVER, dapagliflozin (Farxiga) closed the gap on the types of heart failure (HF) proven to be treated safely by SGLT2 inhibition. People with HF with preserved (HFpEF) and mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF) alike had a reduced risk of cardiovascular (CV) death and worsening HF over a median […]
Advice For Black Women, From A Black Woman — It’s Time To Take Care Of Your Heart
Dr. Alanna A. Morris is the Associate Professor of Medicine and the Director of Heart Failure Research at Emory University School of Medicine, and focuses on the impacts race and gender may have on health disparities in cardiovascular disease. She is part of a new educational initiative called Hear Your Heart, which is designed to […]