Medscape Today News

• Pediatric Weight Problems May Remain Undiagnosed Although a study showed that the percentage of overweight/obese pediatric patients diagnosed within each year increased until 2005, that trend has plateaued or even decreased in recent years.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Call for More Research on CV Effects of Hormonal Contraception A review of hormonal contraception concludes that, for young women, it is still safer than pregnancy in terms of the risks of cardiovascular events. Nevertheless, much more research is needed, particularly with newer formulations, say the researchers, who also offer prescribing advice to doctors about how to use such contraception in women at risk of heart disease.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• "It's Amazing What You Find When You Look": Imaging CABG Results Can Minimize Graft Defects Routine angiography after CABG surgery--made possible by a hybrid cath-lab/operating room--suggests that more than one in 10 grafts have important defects that can, in most cases, be fixed before closing, a new report shows.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• Oral Contraceptives Increase Risk of Plaques Otherwise healthy young women who are past users of oral contraceptives have a 20% to 30% increased risk for carotid or femoral atherosclerosis vs women who have never used the pill.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• Gene Mutation Predictive of Relapse in Childhood ALL Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who are likely to relapse and have a poor outcome can be identified by testing for alterations in the IKZFI gene.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Parental History of Type 2 Diabetes Linked to Delayed Type 1 Diabetes Onset New research indicates that patients with type 1 diabetes and a parental history of type 2 diabetes have a delayed onset of the disease. This parental history is also associated with increased rates of metabolic syndrome and a metabolic syndrome related to insulin resistance.
  Reuters Health Information, January 2009
• Smoking Plus Family History Compound Risk for Aneurysmal SAH Current smoking appears to interact with a family history of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, increasing the risk to 6-fold that of an individual without either risk factor, a new study shows.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Childhood Trauma Linked to Increased Risk for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Individuals exposed to childhood trauma, including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse as well as emotional and physical neglect, have more than a 5-fold increased risk of developing chronic fatigue syndrome as adults, new research suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Structured Interview May Better Detect Adolescent Suicidality Using a structured assessment to detect suicidality in adolescents is superior to "simpler" suicidality evaluation by trained clinicians, new research suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Issues 2009 Adult Immunization Schedule The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has issued the recommended adult immunization schedule for 2009.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Saliva Test for Autism on the Horizon? The discovery of abnormal salivary peptides in patients with autism spectrum disorder may prove to be a useful biomarker for the disorder, a small study suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Long-Acting Zyprexa Faces Delay in Regulatory Process The road to approval for the long-acting formulation of Eli Lilly's antipsychotic drug olanzapine (Zyprexa) took a detour recently when the FDA issued a complete response letter to the company.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Autism Cases on the Rise A study shows that the increase in autism cases is real and not just due to changes in the diagnosis criteria.
  WebMD Health News, January 2009
• Homocysteine May Be Best Predictor of CV Risk in Elderly A small study has shown that, for primary prevention, homocysteine appears to be the best predictor of cardiovascular mortality in the very elderly. The research also confirms what many had already suspected--that the Framingham Risk Score is not very accurate at predicting risk in this age group.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• FDA Approvals: Fludarabine Phosphate and Degarelix The FDA has approved fludarabine phosphate tablets and degarelix for injection.
  Medscape Medical News, January 2009
• Slashing Carbs Cuts Medication Use, Improves or Reverses Type 2 Diabetes, Study Says Researchers say almost all of the obese diabetics randomized to a diet of <20 g carbs per day lost weight, improved their HDL, and reduced or eliminated their diabetes meds. Others highlight the high dropout rate and, with the researchers, call for fat-vs-carb trials.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• Can Older, Sicker Patients Reap Primary-Prevention-ICD Survival Benefits? A prospective cohort study suggests that the devices reduce mortality about as well in clinical practice as in randomized trials, even though patients in the "real world" tend to be older than trial patients and have more comorbidities.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• Statin Pretreatment Reduces Mortality in Cardiac-Surgery Patients Without CAD Combined with previous findings in coronary artery bypass graft and patients with coronary artery disease, the beneficial effects of preoperative statins may be generalizable to most patients undergoing cardiac surgery, say investigators.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• Beta-Blocker Benefit Questioned in Heart Failure With Preserved Systolic Function A registry analysis suggests that beta blockers, a cornerstone of heart-failure therapy, may not improve clinical outcomes in the huge proportion of HF patients who have preserved systolic function.
  Heartwire, January 2009
• Wall Street Journal Highlights 2008 Appointment of Dr Sidney Wolfe, Drug-Safety Crusader, to FDA Post Dr Sidney Wolfe was appointed to the FDA Safety and Risk Managemnet Committee in August 2008, according to the WSJ.
  Heartwire, January 2009