Category Archives: Health

Diet Infographic: Most “Macronutrient Diets” Reduce Weight & Blood Pressure In 6 Months (BMJ)

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From a BMJ Study article (April, 2020):

Compared with usual diet, moderate certainty evidence supports modest weight loss and substantial reductions in systolic and diastolic blood pressure for low carbohydrate (eg, Atkins, Zone), low fat (eg, Ornish), and moderate macronutrient (eg, DASH, Mediterranean) diets at six but not 12 months. Differences between diets are, however, generally trivial to small, implying that people can choose the diet they prefer from among many of the available diets (fig 6) without concern about the magnitude of benefits.

Introduction

The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2018.1 In response, authorities have made dietary recommendations for weight management and cardiovascular risk reduction.23 Diet programmes—some focusing on carbohydrate reduction and others on fat reduction—have been promoted widely by the media and have generated intense debates about their relative merit. Millions of people are trying to lose weight by changing their diet. Thus establishing the effect of dietary macronutrient patterns (carbohydrate reduction v fat reduction v moderate macronutrients) and popular named dietary programmes is important.

Biological and physiological mechanisms have been proposed to explain why some dietary macronutrient patterns and popular dietary programmes should be better than others. A previous network meta-analysis, however, suggested that differences in weight loss between dietary patterns and individual popular named dietary programmes are small and unlikely to be important.4 No systematic review and network meta-analysis has examined the comparative effectiveness of popular dietary programmes for reducing risk factors for cardiovascular disease, an area of continuing controversy.

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New Medical Podcasts: E-Cigarette Deaths, Heart Disease And 10-Weeks To Crush The Curve (NEJM)

New England Journal of Medicine Podcast This WeekFeaturing articles on deaths due to e-cigarette– or vaping-associated lung injury, apixaban for venous thromboembolism in cancer, the management of coronary disease in patients with advanced kidney disease, health-status outcomes in the ISCHEMIA-CKD trial,  and ten weeks to crush the curve. 

Additionally, renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system inhibitors in patients with Covid-19, and teasing the immune system to repair the heart; a review article on the care of patients with diabetic retinopathy; a case report of a man with high blood pressure, renal insufficiency, and hematuria; and Perspective articles on clinical and social risk adjustment, on prediction models, and on medical care during the pandemic.

Coronavirus: “The Patients Left Behind” (Prognosis Podcast)

Prognosis PodcastDoctors are delaying procedures and surgeries in order to save resources like hospital beds and ventilators for Covid-19 patients, and prevent the infection from spreading.

Emma Court reports on the difficult choices doctors are forced to make, and the danger that we’re creating another health care crisis.

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Analysis: “Coronavirus Pandemic – A Tale Of Two Washingtons” (Frontline)

An investigation into the U.S. response to COVID-19, from Washington State to Washington, D.C.

How did the U.S. become the country with the worst known coronavirus outbreak in the world? FRONTLINE and veteran science reporter Miles O’Brien investigate the American response to COVID-19, and examine what happens when politics and science collide.

Coronavirus: “Why The U.S. Still Doesn’t Have Enough Tests” (WSJ Podcast)

The Journal WSJ PodcastsTo reopen the economy safely, experts estimate the U.S. will need to administer millions of tests every month.

 WSJ’s Christopher Weaver and Rebecca Ballhaus explain why we are so far from the number of tests needed.

Medical Podcast: “Tension Headache” Can Be Episodic Or Chronic (The BMJ)

The BMJ logoTension-type headaches can be either episodic or chronic. They are rarely disabling or associated with any significant autonomic phenomena, thus patients do not usually seek medical care and usually successfully self-treat. Unlike migraine, there is no significant nausea, no vomiting, and a lack of aggravation by routine physical activity.

In this podcast Mark Green, Professor of Neurology, Anesthesiology and Rehabilitation Medicine, Director of Headache and Pain Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, gives a clinical overview of the condition.

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Reopening The Economy: “What The Year Ahead Might Look Like” (NY Times)

The Daily - New York Times podcastDonald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times, discusses how the Coronavirus lockdown might end what it would look like.

While the economy is likely to reopen slowly, there is hope that society will adapt to manage the uncertainty of our new circumstances. Here’s what experts say the next year (or more) will look like.

Medical Podcasts: Are Cardiovascular Patients Avoiding Emergency Rooms During Covid-19?

NEJM Journal WatchCardiovascular consults are way down. Is the threat of COVID-19 infection scaring people away from ED’s?

We caught up with Dr. Comilla Sasson, the American Heart Association’s VP for science and innovation. She’s an emergency physician who teaches at the University of Colorado. She’d traveled to New York City to “help with the response,” and she talked with us from a field hospital that had been set up on a tennis court in Central Park.

She had lots to say about what’s driving patients away from emergency departments these days and what’s likely to happen in medicine (hello, telemedicine!) once the pandemic abates.

Running time: 15 minutes

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