Edmund's Newsletter February 3, 2009 Issue: #5 Volume 9 Check Out My Book Check Out My Book Join Our List In This Issue Blue Light Destroys Antibiotic-resistant Staph Infection Proton Pump Inhibitors Increase Risk Of Heart Attacks For Patients On Common Cardiac Drug Surgical Implants Coated with One of "Nature's Antibiotics" Could Prevent Infection Vaccines and Autism: Many Hypotheses, But No Correlation First Comprehensive Paper on Statins' Adverse Effects Released "Paperless" Hospitals Are Berrter for Patients A New Study Suggests That People Trying To Lower Their Blood Pressure Should Also Boost Their Intake Of Potassium, Which Has The Opposite Effect To Sodium 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 Blue Light Destroys Antibiotic-resistant Staph Infection Two common strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as MRSA, were virtually eradicated in the laboratory by exposing them to a wavelength of blue light, in a process called photo-irradiation. Antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections represent an important and increasing public health threat. At present, fewer than 5% of staphylococcal strains are susceptible to penicillin, while approximately 40%-50% of Staph aureus isolated have developed resistance to newer semisynthetic antibiotics such as methicillin as well. Chukuka S. Enwemeka, Deborah Williams, Sombiri K. Enwemeka, Steve Hollosi, and David Yens from the New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury, NY) had previously demonstrated that photo-irradiation using 405-nm light destroys MRSA strains grown in culture. In the current study, "Blue 470-nm Light Kills Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Vitro," the authors exposed bacterial colonies of MRSA to various doses of 470-nm light, which emits no UV radiation. The two MRSA populations studied-the US-300 strain of CA-MRSA and the IS-853 strain of HA-MRSA-represent prominent community-acquired and hospital-acquired strains, respectively. Read more..... Proton Pump Inhibitors Increase Risk Of Heart Attacks For Patients On Common Cardiac Drug Patients taking the common cardiac drug clopidogrel following a heart attack are at a significantly higher risk of a recurrence if they are also taking widely used acid-lowering medications called proton pump inhibitors, a new study published online in CMAJ has found (http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/rapidpdf/cmaj.082001). The study, conducted over 6 years in thousands of heart attack patients aged 66 years and older, found a significantly increased risk of readmission for heart attacks if patients were taking one of several proton pump inhibitors, including omeprazole, lansoprazole, or rabeprazole. The investigators found no such association with the proton pump inhibitor pantoprazole or with other acid-lowering medications called H2 receptor antagonists. Previous research indicates that proton pump inhibitors other than pantoprazole can block the liver's ability to convert clopidogrel to its active form,a critical step required for clopidogrel's anti-platelet effect. Read more..... Surgical Implants Coated with One of "Nature's Antibiotics" Could Prevent Infection Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a mimic of one of "nature's antibiotics" that can be used to coat medical devices to prevent infection and rejection. The study, released today in the journal Chemistry and Biology, found that a synthetic form, short tethered cationic antimicrobial peptides (peptide), can protect surfaces, like those of medical devices, killing bacteria and fungi that come into contact with them. Peptides are small proteins. Medical devices such as surgical implants, catheters, hip replacements, and joint prostheses have the potential to become infected with bacteria, leading to many medical problems including degeneration or rejection of the implant. Currently, the metal silver is sometimes used to coat medical devices because of its antimicrobial properties. Nature's antibiotics are short naturally peptides that are produced by all complex organisms including humans and animals, for protection against microbial infections. These peptides can be found in cells and tissues, on the skin and mucosal surfaces and in fluids like blood, sweat and tears. Read more..... Vaccines and Autism: Many Hypotheses, But No Correlation  An extensive new review summarizes the many studies refuting the claim of a link between vaccines and autism.  The review, in the February 15, 2009 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and now available online, looks at the three main hypotheses and shows how epidemiological and biological studies refute these claims. "When one hypothesis of how vaccines cause autism is refuted, another invariably springs up to take its place," said study author Paul Offit, MD, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  Fears about vaccines are pushing down immunization rates and having a real impact on public health, he added.  Vaccine refusal is contributing to the current increase in Haemophilus influenzae cases in Minnesota-including the death of one child-and was a factor in last year's measles outbreak in California. The controversy began with a 1998 study in The Lancet that suggested a link between the combination measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism.  Dr. Offit and co-author Jeffrey Gerber, MD, PhD, also of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, reviewed more than a dozen large studies, conducted in five different countries, that used different methods to address the issue, and concluded that no data supported the association between the MMR vaccine and autism.  The correlation between MMR vaccine and the appearance of autism symptoms is merely coincidental, the authors say, because the MMR vaccine is given at the age when autism symptoms usually appear. Read more..... First Comprehensive Paper on Statins' Adverse Effects Released A paper co-authored by Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and director of UC San Diego's Statin Study group cites nearly 900 studies on the adverse effects of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins), a class of drugs widely used to treat high cholesterol. The result is a review paper, currently published in the on-line edition of American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs, that provides the most complete picture to date of reported side effects of statins, showing the state of evidence for each.  The paper also helps explain why some people have a higher risk than others for such adverse effects. "Muscle problems are the best known of statin drugs' adverse side effects," said Golomb.  "But cognitive problems and peripheral neuropathy, or pain or numbness in the extremities like fingers and toes, are also widely reported." A spectrum of other problems, ranging from blood glucose elevations to tendon problems, can also occur as side effects from statins. Read more..... "Paperless" Hospitals Are Berrter for Patients Results from a large-scale Johns Hopkins study of more than 40 hospitals and 160,000 patients show that when health information technologies replace paper forms and handwritten notes, both hospitals and patients benefit strongly. "Patients appear safer and hospital bottom lines may improve when health care information is gathered and stored on computers rather than on paper," says senior author Neil R. Powe, M.D., M.P.H. M.B.A, of the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research. In the study, published Jan. 26 in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Powe, lead author Ruben Amarasingham, M.D., M.B.A. and colleagues rated clinical information technologies at 41 hospitals in Texas and compared those results with discharge information for 167,233 patients. Amarasingham was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins the time the study began. Read more..... A New Study Suggests That People Trying To Lower Their Blood Pressure Should Also Boost Their Intake Of Potassium, Which Has The Opposite Effect To Sodium Researchers found that the ratio of sodium-to-potassium in subjects' urine was a much stronger predictor of cardiovascular disease than sodium or potassium alone. "There isn't as much focus on potassium, but potassium seems to be effective in lowering blood pressure and the combination of a higher intake of potassium and lower consumption of sodium seems to be more effective than either on its own in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease," said Dr. Paul Whelton, senior author of the study in the January 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. Whelton is an epidemiologist and president and CEO of Loyola University Health System. Researchers determined average sodium and potassium intake during two phases of a study known as the Trials of Hypertension Prevention. They collected 24-hour urine samples intermittently during an 18-month period in one trial and during a 36-month period in a second trial. The 2,974 study participants initially aged 30-to-54 and with blood pressure readings just under levels considered high, were followed for 10-15 years to see if they would develop cardiovascular disease. Whelton was national chair of the Trials of Hypertension Prevention. Read more..... Believe it or not Man tried to reclaim breast implants from ex Prosecutors say a spurned lover ambushed his ex-girlfriend and tried to cut out the breast implants he paid for by stabbing her. San Bernardino County prosecutor David Foy says 28-year-old Thomas Lee Rowley attacked his ex in July 2006 outside her mother's home in Hesperia, some 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the Mojave Desert. Rowley is on trial in Superior Court in Victorville for attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, stalking, burglary, and false imprisonment. The 26-year-old woman survived six stab wounds and the punctured breast implants were repaired. Rowley's former roommate Dennis McGill testified this week that the defendant wanted to reclaim what was rightfully his. Rowley allegedly told McGill, "I'm gonna cut 'em out and get em back." 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. 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