Edmund's Newsletter December 9, 2008 Issue: #50 Volume 8 Join Our List In This Issue Crohn's Disease Surgeries Make Steady Advances Researchers Find Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs Presence of Gum Disease May Help Dentists and Physicians Identify Those at Increased Risk for Cardiovascular Disease 'Zinc Zipper' Plays Key Role In Hospital-Acquired Infections Calcium And Vitamin D May Not Be The Only Protection Against Bone Loss Drug Marketing Techniques May Be Risking Patient Safety Do You Know You're Having a Stroke? ~~ Symptom Awareness Can Improve Recovery Believe It Or Not News From MedWatch Recently Approved Drugs/Indications FDA Recalls and Safety Alerts in the Past 60 Days Drug Shortages Quick Links Edmund's Blog Edmund's Newsletter Edmund's Web Page Past Issues SPECIAL THANKS TO Michael R. Cohen President The Institute for Safe Medication Practices and Dr. Stephen Barrett Quackwatch Some links in Edmund's Newsletter will point to a page that requires registration.  In all cases the most you will have to do is fill out a simple form to enroll as a member.  In no case will I point you to a site that requires payment to view the page. PRAY FOR PEACE © 2001,2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Join Our List Crohn's Disease Surgeries Make Steady Advances Thousands of Americans suffering from the chronic inflammatory bowel condition known as Crohn's disease are leading longer, healthier lives due to innovative new surgeries, according to experts at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. "Four out of five Crohn's patients will require some kind of surgery at some point during their lives, but these advanced, often minimally invasive techniques are sparing precious bowel tissue while improving quality of life," says senior author Dr. Fabrizio Michelassi, Lewis Atterbury Stimson Professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and surgeon-in-chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He and co-author Dr. Sharon L. Stein, assistant professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and colorectal surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, wrote a "state of the science" review in a recent issue of the journal Practical Gastroenterology. As many as 500,000 people in the U.S. suffer from Crohn's disease, which triggers inflammation along the gastrointestinal tract, most typically in the lower bowel. Certain drugs can help ease symptoms, but there is no cure for this chronic illness. Some of the more severe complications of Crohn's disease include strictures (narrowing of the bowel), abscesses, perforations, fistulas (abnormal, obstructive connections between tissues), hemorrhage and even cancers. These types of complications often require surgical intervention. "In the past, this was limited to complex, invasive surgeries that required the removal of whole sections of the affected bowel. But over the past two decades, advances in surgery have changed that paradigm," Dr. Stein notes. Read more..... Researchers Find Clue To Safer Obesity Drugs Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.   In a study appearing in the Nov. 25 issue of Neuron, the researchers define a circuit in the brain that explains the ways fenfluramine, a component of Fen-phen, suppresses appetite. "Our findings provide evidence that the neural circuit we've proposed is sufficient for the neurotransmitter serotonin to regulate food intake and body weight, " said Dr. Joel Elmquist, professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study. "Fen-phen works directly on this pathway. Unfortunately, that drug also adversely affects peripheral tissue such as the heart." Read more..... Presence of Gum Disease May Help Dentists and Physicians Identify Those at Increased Risk for Cardiovascular Disease Individuals reporting a history of periodontal disease were more likely to have increased levels of inflammation, a risk factor for heart disease, compared to those who reported no history of periodontal disease, according to an American Journal of Cardiology report available online today. Led by investigators from Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the findings suggest persons with increased levels of inflammatory markers associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular disease might be identified by asking about oral health history. This group might not be detected by traditional cardiovascular risk screening. Inflammation has been associated with cardiovascular disease and has been suggested to be a potential link between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. To examine whether oral health history and inflammatory markers associated with cardiovascular disease were linked, the investigators followed participants in the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Family Intervention Trial for Heart Health (F.I.T. Heart), an ongoing national trial led by principal investigator Lori Mosca, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of preventive cardiology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center. The NHLBI Family Intervention Trial for Heart Health aims to study family members of patients hospitalized with heart disease because they may be at increased risk themselves due to shared genetic and/or lifestyle factors. Dr. Mosca and her research team recruited family members or co-habitants of patients hospitalized for such cardiac events as a heart attack or narrowed arteries that required bypass surgery or an angioplasty procedure. Previous research has shown that family members of cardiovascular disease patients may be at increased risk for the disease due to the genes and lifestyle habits they share. Read more..... 'Zinc Zipper' Plays Key Role In Hospital-Acquired Infections Hospital-acquired infections that are resistant to traditional antibiotic treatment have become increasingly common in recent years, confounding health care professionals and killing thousands of Americans. Now, in studies that could lead to new ways to prevent this growing public health danger, a team of University of Cincinnati (UC) researchers is exploring a "zinc zipper" that holds bacterial cells together and plays a key role in such infections. Hospital-acquired infections affect about 1.7 million people per year in the United States and result in an estimated 99,000 deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control. About two-thirds of all hospital-acquired infections can be traced to two staphylococcal species, Staphylococcus aureus-including methicillin-resistant strains  (MRSA) that are particularly difficult to treat-and Staphylococcus epidermidis. In an article appearing in the Dec. 1 online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers in UC's department of molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology detailed findings that the presence of zinc is crucial to the formation of infection-causing biofilms. Read more..... Calcium And Vitamin D May Not Be The Only Protection Against Bone Losss Diets that are high in protein and cereal grains produce an excess of acid in the body which may increase calcium excretion and weaken bones, according to a new study. The study found that increasing the alkali content of the diet, with a pill or through a diet rich in fruits and vegetables has the opposite effect and strengthens skeletal health. "Heredity, diet, and other lifestyle factors contribute to the problem of bone loss and fractures," said Bess Dawson-Hughes, M.D., of Tufts University in Boston, Mass. and lead author of the study. "When it comes to dietary concerns regarding bone health, calcium and vitamin D have received the most attention, but there is increasing evidence that the acid/base balance of the diet is also important." Average older adults consume diets that, when metabolized, add acid to the body, said Dr. Dawson-Hughes. With aging, we become less able to excrete the acid. One way the body may counteract the acid from our diets is through bone resorption, a process by which bones are broken down to release minerals such as calcium, phosphates, and alkaline (basic) salts into the blood. Unfortunately, increased bone resorption leads to declines in bone mass and increases in fracture risk. Read more..... Drug Marketing Techniques May Be Risking Patient Safety With new drugs being reviewed by regulatory agencies and then released onto the market faster than ever before, patients' safety is being compromised, warns a study published on bmj.com today. Dr David Kao from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, argues that while drug regulatory bodies are under pressure to make new drugs available more quickly, there are concerns that the deadlines for approving drugs have shifted the focus away from safety. Kao reviews trends in drug approval times in the United States, and suggests how drug marketing techniques could be used to improve the way new drugs are monitored. Previous research has shown that drugs approved in the US during the two months before the mandated deadline were more likely to be withdrawn for safety reasons or to carry a warning. Read more..... Do You Know You're Having a Stroke? ~~ Symptom Awareness Can Improve Recovery A Mayo Clinic study shows a majority of stroke patients don't think they're having a stroke - and as a result - delay seeking treatment until their condition worsens. The findings appear in the current issue of Emergency Medicine Journal. Researchers studied 400 patients who were diagnosed at Mayo Clinic's emergency department with either acute ischemic stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA), a temporary interruption of blood flow to part of the brain. Less than half of the patients - 42 percent - thought they were having a stroke. In fact, most in the study did not go to the emergency room when symptoms appeared. The median time from onset of symptoms to arrival at the hospital was over three and a half hours. Most said they thought the symptoms would simply go away. The delay in seeking medical help was the same among men and women. When asked how they knew about stroke symptoms, nearly one-fifth said they thought a stroke always came on gradually. Just over half (51.9 percent) said they thought that seeking medical care immediately was important. Read more..... Believe it or not Man says God ordered him to ram vehicle at 100 mph A man who rammed his truck into a woman's vehicle on a highway early Friday told authorities he crashed into her while going more than 100 mph because God told him "she needed to be taken off the road." The truck rear-ended the car on U.S. Highway 281, both vehicles spun across a median then came to a stop along a barrier in the opposite lanes. Both drivers suffered only minor injuries. "He just said God said she wasn't driving right, and she needed to be taken off the road," Bexar County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kyle Coleman said in the online edition of the San Antonio Express-News. "God must have been with them, 'cause any other time, the severity of this crash, it would have been a fatal." The pickup driver did not tell police how the woman was driving. Police could not find alcohol or drugs in either driver. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for a man. News From MedWatch Keep up-to-date on all of the recent MedWatch reports that gives you timely safety information on the drugs and other medical products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by  CLICKING HERE   Recently Approved Drugs/Indications Keep up-to-date on all of the recently approved drugs and/or approved new indications on already FDA approved drugs by CLICKING HERE   FDA Recalls and Safety Alerts in the Past 60 Days: To see a list of all FDA Recalls and product safety alerts for the last 60 days CLICK HERE   Drug Shortages: As many of you are aware, many drugs in the US are either unavailable or in short supply.  To view a list of these drugs CLICK HERE   Recommend Edmund's Newsletter Edmund's Newsletter is published for only one reason and that is expand our knowledge base, join people together with like minds and to disseminate valuable information. If you feel this newsletter is of worth, please pass it along to your friends and colleagues. As you probably know, word of mouth is the best form of advertising! So, to help spread the word about Edmund's Newsletter, I set up an easy-to-use form for you to use. Feel free to recommend my newsletter to a friend, family member, or colleague! Send as many recommendations as you want; there's always room for another subscriber! Thank you Edmund