Zika Archives - Among Doctors

Picks of the Week: Pokemon, the ice bucket challenge, and other frontiers in medicine

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Harris

From the employment of Pokémon GO! in public health to new advancements in tackling ALS and inducing partial recovery in paraplegic patients, there have been plenty of noteworthy news and evidence updates shared on the Among Doctors network. Let’s have a look at some of them:

Pokemon GO! Pandemic or Prescription? The Public Health Perspective
Pokémon GO! shows how an alternative way of thinking & and a new era of solutions are need to tackle old (or not-so-old) problems.
NEK1 variants confer susceptibility to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Two summers after the Ice Bucket Challenge, new research is crediting part of the $115 million raised to helping to identify NEK1 as a new ALS-related gene.
Long-Term Training with a Brain-Machine Interface-Based Gait Protocol Induces Partial Neurological Recovery in Paraplegic Patients
Following 12 months of training with this paradigm, all eight patients experienced neurological improvements in somatic sensation and regained voluntary motor control in key muscles.
Guideline Update on Duration of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy for CAD
This guideline-focused update on dual antiplatelet therapy for patients with coronary artery disease.
Pioglitazone Prevents Diabetes in Insulin-Resistant Patients With Cerebrovascular Disease
Pioglitazone is the first medication shown to prevent both progression to diabetes and major cardiovascular events as prespecified outcomes in a single trial.
Florida investigation links four recent Zika cases to local mosquito-borne virus transmission
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been informed by the State of Florida that Zika virus infections in four people were likely caused by bites of local Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Physical activity and risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, and ischemic stroke events: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis
People who achieve total physical activity levels several times higher than the current recommended minimum level of 600 METs/week (as recommended by the WHO) have a significant reduction in the risk of the five diseases studied.
Reasons for Trying E-cigarettes and Risk of Continued Use
Regulatory strategies such as increasing cost or prohibiting e-cigarette use in certain places may be important for preventing continued use in youth.

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Image credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 iphonedigital

Posted in Picks of the week ALS, breast cancer, cancer, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, ice bucket challenge, ischemic heart disease, pokemon, public health, smoking, Zika, Zika virus

Picks of the Week: Chronic insomnia, NSAIDs, opioids for low back pain and more!

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Harris

Besides the 69th World Health Assembly in Geneva that saw the release of many reports and news, this was a week of a plethora of other articles and evidence published worldwide. Fellow physicians selected the most important ones and shared them on the Among Doctors network:

Management of Chronic Insomnia Disorder in Adults: A Clinical Practice Guideline
The American College of Physicians recommends that all adult patients receive cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as the initial treatment for chronic insomnia disorder. (Grade: strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence)
Comparative effectiveness and safety of strategies for preventing NSAID-associated gastrointestinal toxicity: Systematic Review & Metanalysis
The combination of selective COX-2 inhibitors plus PPIs provides the best gastrointestinal protection, followed by selective COX-2 inhibitors, and thirdly by nonselective NSAIDs plus PPIs.
Efficacy, Tolerability, and Dose-Dependent Effects of Opioid Analgesics for Low Back Pain: Systematic Review & Meta-analysis
For people with chronic low back pain who tolerate the medicine, opioid analgesics provide modest short-term pain relief but the effect is not likely to be clinically important within guideline recommended doses.
A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis of Dual Bronchodilation With LAMA/LABA for the Treatment of Stable COPD
Dual bronchodilation is better than a LAMA or a LABA alone, regardless of the drugs used.
Blood-Pressure Lowering in Intermediate-Risk Persons without Cardiovascular Disease
Therapy with candesartan at a dose of 16 mg per day plus hydrochlorothiazide at a dose of 12.5 mg per day was not associated with a lower rate of major cardiovascular events than placebo among persons at intermediate risk who did not have cardiovascular disease.
World No Tobacco Day 2016
For this year’s World No Tobacco Day, the WHO are calling on countries to get ready for plain (standardized) packaging of tobacco products.
WHO releases report on Attacks on Health Care
Over the two-year period from January 2014 to December 2015, there were 594 reported attacks on health care that resulted in 959 deaths and 1561 injuries in 19 countries with emergencies.
Prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus
An updated guide to inform the general public, and to be used by health care workers and policy makers to provide guidance on appropriate sexual practices in the context of Zika virus.

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Posted in Picks of the week COPD, emergencies, insomnia, low back pain, opioid, WHO, World No Tobacco Day, Zika, Zika virus

Picks of the Week: Zika and microcephaly causal link confirmed

Posted on April 16, 2016 by Harris

The last week, a great breadth of noteworthy scientific news was shared on Among Doctors. Let’s have a look at the most important ones:

The CDC confirms that the Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly
In a special report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that on the basis of the available evidence, the Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and possibly other serious brain anomalies.
Microbes and Alzheimer’s Disease
Thirty-three researchers and clinicians point out the potential link of infection to Alzheimer’s disease in a recently published editorial.
WHO: Global report on diabetes
The first WHO Global report on diabetes demonstrates that the number of adults living with diabetes has almost quadrupled since 1980 to 422 million adults.
Antibiotic multiresistance in E.coli and K.pneumoniae in urinary tract infections: A 12-year analysis
Data of a large sample size of urinary strains isolated over a 12 year period and demonstrates that multi-drug resistance is an increasing phenomenon of particular importance in the main urinary-tract-infections-causing species.

Posted in Picks of the week alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, coffee, colorectal cancer, diabetes, social media, social networking, type 2 diabetes, Zika

The CDC confirms Zika virus causes microcephaly

Posted on April 14, 2016 by Harris

On the basis of the available evidence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirms that the Zika virus is a cause of microcephaly and possibly other serious brain anomalies. In a special report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the authors checked the existing evidence against the seven Shepard’s Criteria for proof of teratogenicity in humans, concluding that a causal relationship does exist and calling for an intensification of the efforts toward the prevention of adverse outcomes caused by congenital Zika virus infection.

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Photo credit: By Muhammad Mahdi Karim (www.micro2macro.net)

Posted in Clinical Highlights CDC, centers for disease control and prevention, microcephaly, Zika

Pick of the Week: Chest pain, lung cancer screening and more!

Posted on January 31, 2016 by Harris

Plenty of news were posted on the Among Doctors network over the past days. Some of the highlights of what our fellow colleagues shared include the clinical assessment of patients with chest pain and practical guidelines for the lung cancer screening. Let’s have a more in-depth look at this week’s top updates:

Clinical assessment of patients with chest pain: a systematic review of predictive tools
The risk of coronary artery disease can be estimated on clinical grounds in patients with chest pain in different clinical settings with high accuracy. The estimation of probabilities of coronary artery disease could be used for a better management of patients with chest pain and also in the development of future predictive tools.
Lung cancer screening: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines
The use of low-dose computed tomography presents an exciting development for high-risk individuals. Several expert bodies and governments have recently issued and updated their clinical practice guidelines for lung cancer screening. In this review the clinical practice guidelines are evaluated and the recommendations are compared between them.
Smoking associated with increased mortality in breast cancer patients
In a prospective cohort study of over 4500 women with invasive breast cancer, patients who actively smoked prior to breast cancer diagnosis demonstrated a 25% increase in overall mortality compared to never smokers. Patients who continued to smoke post-breast cancer diagnosis demonstrated a significant increase in both cancer-specific and overall mortality. Patients who quit smoking after breast cancer diagnosis demonstrated a 9% risk reduction in overall mortality.

Posted in Picks of the week breast cancer, CAD, chest pain, coronary artery disease, lung cancer, obesity, smoking, tobacco, WHO, Zika