2023 TT HealthWatch Archive

TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 29, 2023

This week's topics include doxycycline and STI prevention, AI in medicine and risk of harm, dulaglutide, weight gain and smoking cessation, and preventing eye harm from champagne corks.

0:50 Doxycycline and STI prevention
1:53 Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis
2:50 70% of women didn't take it
3:52 Artificial intelligence and medical harms
4:52 Clinician made the decision, then AI came in
5:52 Lot of work to do to improve clinical decision making
6:24 Dulaglutide, weight gain, and smoking cessation
7:24 No gender differences observed
8:24 Meant to help increase tobacco abstinence
9:03 Cheers not tears
10:07 Eye injuries are plentiful
11:36 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 22, 2023

This week's topics include methods of suicide, managing common foot and ankle conditions, daily toothbrushing and pneumonia, flourishing among medical residents.

0:32 Can medical residents flourish?
1:32 What are factors associated with it
2:32 Characteristics that are 'individual'
3:32 Feel as a calling
4:00 Method specific suicide mortality
5:00 Lifespan typically 7 years shorter
6:00 Getting rid of firearms won't solve
7:00 Brushing teeth and pneuomonia
8:00 Also secondary outcomes
9:00 Patients feel better
9:15 Management of foot and ankle conditions
10:00 Manifest as burning pain in ball of foot
11:01 Platelet rich plasma
12:01 Off the shelf orthotics
12:53 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 15, 2023

This week's topics include metformin plus insulin in Type 2 diabetes in pregnancy, newer vaccine technologies in adults, cannabis exposure during pregnancy, and tirzepatide cessation and weight gain.

0:40 Two studies on vaccines in adults
1:40 Recombinant flu vaccine
2:40 Protects other populations
3:24 mRNA vaccine against RSV
4:24 One more vaccine against this virus
5:04 Cannabis exposure during pregnancy
6:04 2/3 had ongoing exposure
7:04 Why use during pregnancy?
7:35 Addition of metformin to insulin in pregnancy
8:35 Halted at 75% accrual
9:35 Issue of Type 2 diabetes increasing
9:55 Tirzepatide cessation and weight
10:55 Those who continued lost more weight
11:52 Not long lasting
12:23 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 8, 2023

This week's topics include AI and breast cancer screening, vaccination and long Covid, mailed cervical cancer screening kits, and cancers after treatment for sickle cell.

0:42 Long Covid after vaccination
1:42 Full range of vaccines included
2:42 Two vaccines
3:00 Gene therapy for sickle cell and cancer
4:00 Related to chemotherapy?
5:00 Some way to screen cells
5:20 Cervical cancer screening by mail
6:20 Get education or not, or queried on desire
7:20 Not surprised for overdue
8:20 AI to improve early detection of breast cancer
9:20 Achieve 0.2% more
10:20 Troubling for women with too much recall
11:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, December 1, 2023

This week's topics include a personalized approach to dementia risk reduction, a look at devices to manage diabetes, orphan drug costs, and smoking cessation benefits.

0:38 Digital devices for diabetes
1:36 Can increase insulin with hyperglycemia
2:37 Relatively inexpensive in long term
3:29 Personalized risk reduction for dementia risk
4:32 Assess individual's risks and target those
5:31 Modest cognitive improvement
6:33 Long-term benefits of smoking cessation
7:35 About a 60% reduction
8:36 Cost of exempting orphan drugs from Medicare negotiations
9:39 Medicare spending on orphan drugs
10:35 Earn $21.9 billion
11:36 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 24, 2023

This week's topics include when to clamp the umbilical cord in premature infants, vitamin C for people hospitalized with Covid, visualizing cardiac stents after placement, and early childhood interventions for autism spectrum disorders.

0:37 Making coronary stenting safer
1:37 Intravascular Imaging after stenting improved outcomes
2:31 Autism interventions
3:31 Shared control between the child and the person conducting the intervention
4:31 Not much evidence that's reliable
5:31 Very early intensive intervention
6:01 Vitamin C and Covid in hospitalized patients
7:01 No help in either of two groups
8:00 Clamping the umbilical cord in premature infants
9:00 Already saw a benefit with delaying in full term infants
10:05 May stabilize neonatal circulation
11:41 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 17, 2023

This week's topics include aspirin and LVADs, semaglutide and cardiovascular events in people without diabetes, sodium and blood pressure, and live shingles vaccine and waning immunity.

0:42 Semaglutide and cardiovascular outcomes
1:42 Once weekly subcutaneous semaglutide or placebo
2:42 Does reduce cardiovascular events
3:42 Side effects at initiation and escalation
4:14 Dietary sodium and blood pressure
5:16 About 8mm Hg systolic
6:16 All groups ended with a benefit
7:17 You can read on the label
7:32 Live herpes zoster vaccine
8:32 34% vaccinated
9:32 Vaccinated prior to 2017
10:05 Making mechanical cardiac support safer
11:05 Risk of bleeding or clotting
12:10 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 10, 2023

This week's topics include rate of zoonotic spillovers, DNA and RNA testing for cancer risk, genes and health conditions among Icelanders, and primary care assessment for dental conditions.

0:40 Oral health and primary care
1:40 90% of adults affected by dental caries
2:41 Primary care doc burden
3:37 DNA and RNA sequencing in hereditary cancer risk
4:38 Variant reclassified as pathogenic
5:38 DNA may not be as predictive
6:30 Actionable genotypes and lifespan
7:32 Lifespan three years shorter
8:31 Screen at younger ages
9:01 Zoonosis spillover
10:01 About 9% annual increase
11:00 Livestock farming
12:31 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, November 3, 2023

This week's topics include heat and cardiovascular death, time-restricted eating or caloric restriction in people with diabetes, managing nasal airway obstruction, and getting nurses involved in managing opioid use disorder.

0:43 Nasal airway obstruction management
1:44 Measured airflow
2:44 Due to septal deviation; septoplasty preferred
3:09 Heat and cardiovascular death
4:09 What is likely to happen?
5:09 Elderly and Black even more increased risk
6:10 Increased cytokine release
6:36 Time restriction or reduced intake for folks with diabetes
7:36 Both had decreased HbA1c
8:36 No increased hypoglycemia
8:44 Engaging nurses in treating OUD in primary care practices
9:44 Engaged physicians to prescribe
10:40 Helped in patients new to the clinic
11:40 Very large number of deaths
13:04 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, October 27, 2023

This week's topics include a Chinese compound for heart attack, use of convalescent plasma in ventilated patients with Covid, management of knee pain, and a new colorectal cancer screening test.

0:37 Convalescent plasma in severe early Covid
1:36 Morality of 35% versus 45% with placebo
2:35 Cocktail of antibodies?
3:30 Use of traditional Chinese medicine in MI
4:32 Followed for 1 year
5:32 Most commonly prescribed worldwide
6:32 Need to define active agent(s)
7:12 Treating knee pain
8:12 Knee replacement
9:12 For meniscal tears
10:07 New colorectal cancer screening test
11:07 12 month duration
12:07 Most starts as polyps
13:12 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, October 20, 2023

This week's topics include reducing infections with joint replacement, long term weight and carbohydrate consumption, treatment of recurrent prostate cancer, and lack of benefit in transfer to a specialized cardiac care center.

0:42 ARREST trial
1:42 Either a cardiac center or standard ED
2:42 Substantially higher utilization of resources
3:42 Don't have a cardiac cause
4:42 Worse 57-71 years of age
5:22 Biochemical recurrent prostate cancer (NEJM)
6:23 Five year metastasis free survival
7:24 New advances in prostate cancer
7:40 Carbohydrate consumption and long term weight change
8:40 Refined grains, starchy vegetables and increased gain
9:46 Way to avoid infection with knee and hip replacement
10:45 Vancomycin in addition
11:45 Fairly low incidence
12:10 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, October 13, 2023

This week's topics include recent hospitalization data for COVID-19, the gut microbiome and cardiometabolic disease, diet and steatohepatitis, and artificial sweeteners and health.

0:57 MMWR data on COVID and hospitalization
1:57 90% had comorbidity
2:45 Non-sugar sweeteners
3:45 Prevention of noncommunicable diseases
4:45 Deleterious impact based on animal studies
5:45 Found in amniotic fluid
6:20 Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
7:20 Lose 10% of body weight
8:20 Diet can prevent or slow down
8:50 Clinical interventions in gut microbiome
9:50 63% reported frank changes
10:50 Decreasing cardiometabolic disease
11:12 Gut microbiome organ?
12:28 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, October 6, 2023

This week's topics include standards for osteoporosis screening, PET and aortic aneurysm prediction, HbA1c in women of reproductive age, and atrial fibrillation in the hospital.

0:40 Inflammation of the aorta
1:41 Tested in people with giant cell arteritis
2:41 All large arteries
2:52 Performance measures for osteoporosis
3:52 Use in all scenarios
4:52 No DEXA in women younger than 65 not at risk
5:46 Atrial fibrillation in the hospital and its recurrence
6:46 14-day EKG monitoring
7:27 Hemoglobin A1c in younger women
8:30 Accounting for gender differences
9:30 Because younger women menstruate
10:30 Red blood cell turnover
12:02 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 29, 2023

This week's topics include estimates of long COVID-19, who is providing care, C. difficile in the ICU, and suicidality in health care workers.

0:45 Suicide risk in health care workers
1:45 Registered nurses, health care technicians
2:45 Also increased mental health problems
3:00 Methodological pitfalls in long COVID estimates
4:01 Define long COVID
5:01 No good objective studies
6:02 Need a control group without COVID
6:45 Who might you see at your next outpatient visit?
7:45 Greatest among lower income
8:45 Involved in telehealth
9:03 Genomic surveillance of Clostridium difficile subspecies and transmission
10:01 Whole genome sequencing
11:15 Asymptomatic carriers
12:33 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 22, 2023

This week's topics include food additives and CVD, uncomplicated heartburn and cancer, MDMA and PTSD, and trends in fentanyl deaths.

0:40 Fentanyl drug overdose death trends
1:44 Shifted to stimulants along with fentanyl
2:40 Treat respiratory depression first
3:05 MDMA and PTSD
4:07 Improved with MDMA
5:08 Does increase HR and BP
6:07 Comparison with other drugs
6:40 GERD, esophageal erosion and cancer
7:40 Non-erosive does not increase risk
8:40 Repeat endoscopy?
9:00 Food emulsifiers and CVD
10:00 Very modest increased risk
11:10 These emulsifiers impact gut microbiota
12:25 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 15, 2023

This week's topics include CRC screening recommendations, is being a night owl good for your health, HPV infection in men, and CVD death and obesity in the last decade.

0:42 Chronotype and health
1:42 Included lifestyle factors
2:42 Circadian misalignment
3:20 CRC screening recommendations
4:20 Just less than 27% had been recommended
5:20 Just so busy?
6:28 Obesity and CVD deaths
7:30 Heart attacks often
8:11 Prevalence of HPV in men worldwide
9:15 45,000 men represented
10:15 Prevention with vaccination
11:20 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, September 8, 2023

This week's topics include eye tracking to diagnose autism, culprit vessel or complete revascularization, optimal blood pressure after stroke, and psilocybin for depression.

0:38 Blood vessel blockage treatment after heart attack
1:38 1445 patients who had had a heart attack
2:35 On average five days hospitalization
3:30 Use of psilocybin for depression
4:30 Two people to accompany
5:31 Medication acts differently
6:30 Weren't serious side effects
7:02 Manage blood pressure after stroke
8:03 Independent functional recovery
9:03 Critical illness physiology
9:20 Eye tracking in autism diagnosis
10:20 Expert diagnosis not 100%
11:20 Most effective biomarker we have now
12:43 End

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TT HealthWatch - Saturday, September 2, 2023

This week's topics include predicting outcomes for older adults in the ICU, use of aspirin for secondary prevention, an implant for stroke rehabilitation, and frailty and blood pressure control.

0:48 Predicting how older adults will do in the ICU
1:48 Top 10 risk predictors
2:48 Fewer biases
3:56 Effect of frailty on intensive blood pressure control
4:56 Intensive treatment was beneficial
5:56 How about patient satisfaction?
6:11 An implant for stroke rehabilitation
7:11 Larger clinical trials needed
8:12 Proof of concept
8:25 Aspirin for secondary prevention worldwide
9:25 Only 40% received low-dose aspirin
10:35 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 25, 2023

This week's topics include HIV prophylaxis, bypass surgery in the head to prevent stroke, cancer risk in occupational radiation exposure, and proteomics and cardiovascular risk.

0:40 USPSTF guidelines for HIV prevention
1:40 Was associated with decreased risk
2:40 Injection every two months
3:40 Potential benefits of RNA screening
4:11 Extracranial-intracranial bypass
5:11 Didn't differ from medical therapy
6:03 Cancer mortality after low-dose radiation
7:05 Individual monitoring data
8:05 Previous studies from nuclear blast
8:51 Proteomics and CVD
9:51 Retrospective data
10:51 Already have many models
11:43 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 18, 2023

This week's topics include alcohol use among cancer survivors, death after Covid hospitalization and rate of long Covid, forgoing radiation after breast cancer surgery, and hospital transfer time for stroke patients.

0:40 Transfer of people with strokes
1:40 Older, female, African American longer time
2:40 EMS job
3:00 Safely forgoing radiation in breast cancer treatment
4:00 Luminal A subtype
5:00 Low recurrence seen
6:05 Death rate after Covid
7:05 A fourth readmitted
8:07 Why is long Covid down?
8:40 Alcohol consumption among those with a cancer diagnosis
9:40 Binge and hazardous drinking
10:40 77% non-Hispanic white
11:36 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 11, 2023

This week's topics include air pollution and antibiotic resistance, a statin for helping heart function when chemotherapy is needed, sugar-sweetened beverages and liver health, and troponin and mortality.

0:40 Troponin and mortality
1:40 44% in those with elevated levels
2:41 Routine measurement?
3:10 Air pollution and antibiotic resistance
4:10 First global estimate
5:10 Discharged into environments
6:10 Contributed to 0.5 million deaths
6:30 Statins and chemotherapy
7:30 Followed for 12 months
8:32 Sugar-sweetened drinks and liver problems
9:29 Almost 21 years of follow up
10:32 Increased risk of metabolic disease
11:54 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, August 4, 2023

This week's topics include the role of the thymus in adults, alpha-gal syndrome, AI and breast cancer screening, and extreme temps and particulate matter in fatal MI.

0:36 Thymectomy in adults and its impact
1:36 Compared thymectomy versus not
2:36 Preoperative infection, cancer factored out
3:36 Keep in mind in cardiothoracic surgery
4:20 Extreme temperatures, particulate matter and MI death
5:23 Increased as much as 70%
6:23 Synergistic effects
7:19 Alpha-gal syndrome
8:20 Tests submitted from residences in the US
9:20 Pork and beef, sometimes gelatin capsules
10:20 Dx by allergist
10:30 AI and mammograms
11:30 Group that had AI reduced radiologist workload
12:30 Improves diagnosis
13:00 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 28, 2023

This week's topics include benefits of weekend warriorhood, an interfering RNA for blood pressure, the impact of concussion on IQ in kids, and hearing aids and dementia.

0:40 Interfering RNA and hypertension
1:42 Injected to interfere with angiotensinogen
2:43 Have knocked it out before
3:24 Hearing aid use and dementia progression
4:24 Two groups recruited
5:24 In those with more risk factors, it helped
6:21 Not at risk doesn't really help
6:51 Benefits of exercise just on weekends
7:51 90,000 individuals, 30,000 active
8:51 Can concentrate activity
9:22 IQ after pediatric concussion
10:20 No clinically meaningful reductions
11:20 British football association study
12:00 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 21, 2023

This week's topics include screening kids for lipid disorders, treatment of Alzheimer's disease, Medicare recipients and oncology drugs, and vaccinating moms for group B strep.

0:40 New monoclonal for Alzheimer's
1:40 Decline in pace of progression
2:40 Amyloid in blood vessels
3:41 More coming on amyloid
3:55 Screening for lipid disorders in kids
4:55 No direct evidence of benefits or harms
5:55 More likely to be helpful than not
6:51 Moms given a group B strep vaccine
7:52 Immunogenicity of a single dose
8:53 Only a phase II trial
9:15 Utilization management in Medicare part D oncology drugs
10:15 Many million beneficiaries
11:15 Prior authorization common
12:08 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 14, 2023

This week's topics include treating Covid-19 pneumonia and a new model for clinical trials, a chronic pain prediction score, polygenic risk score for coronary artery disease, and a new agent for smoking cessation.

0:41 Treating Covid related pneumonia
1:45 Concurrent placebo group
2:41 May reduce time needed for trials
2:54 New agent for smoking cessation
3:54 Adults who wanted to quit
4:54 Had already tried quitting average six times
5:51 Polygenic risk score for coronary artery disease
6:56 Many ethnicities worldwide
7:56 Need to start young
8:47 Prognostic risk score for chronic pain
9:46 Risk of pain spreading
10:46 Experience a death or divorce?
11:50 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, July 7, 2023

This week's topics include xylazine-laced fentanyl, hepatitis C treatment, oral semaglutide for obesity, and improving physical activity in older adults.

0:35 Improving physical activity for older adults
1:35 Improves susceptibility to chronic disease
2:35 Benefits even beginning later in life
3:33 Oral medication to treat obesity
4:32 Effective in reducing weight with oral semaglutide
5:30 A lot of competitors emerging
6:25 Hepatitis C virus clearance cascade
7:25 1.7 million having been infected
8:26 Oral medication results in clearance
9:17 Fentanyl with xylazine
10:20 The monthly percentage increased to 11%
11:10 Test strips available
12:11 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 30, 2023

This week's topics include anemia and aspirin use in elderly, prescription of meds for alcohol use disorder in hospitalized people, testosterone and CVD, and time restricted eating and weight loss.

0:38 Aspirin and anemia in older adults
1:39 Had a 20% increased incidence of anemia
2:40 Tailor therapy over life course
2:50 Time restricted eating versus calorie counting
3:50 About the same in both intervention groups
4:53 Testosterone supplements and the heart
5:53 Did not increase risk in men at heightened risk
6:53 An individual decision
7:15 Pharmacologic treatment initiation for AUD
8:15 0.7% initiated treatment
9:15 Hospitalized with primary or secondary diagnosis
10:15 Were able to increase prescription in one study
11:20 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 23, 2023

This week's topics include intentional infection of people with COVID-19 and transmission, screening for anxiety, screening for depression, and does PASC differ from sequelae of other infectious disease acute illnesses?

0:40 Intentional infection of volunteers with COVID-19
1:40 Collected lots of samples and data
2:40 Only two individuals responsible for vast majority of virus
3:40 Thought it was largely respiratory
4:25 Differences between sequelae after acute infectious disease hospitalization
5:25 All adults hospitalized with flu, COVID-19 or sepsis
6:25 PCC, post-COVID-19 condition
7:16 Screening for anxiety?
8:16 Screening postpartum or pregnant persons
9:16 What can we do?
10:00 Screening for depression
11:00 Referrals and a benefit
12:01 Onus on primary care docs
13:06 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 16, 2023

This week's topics include the best way to perform mitral valve repair, a family based approach to childhood obesity, circulatory death and donor hearts, and benefits of oseltamivir.

0:40 Circulatory death and donor hearts
1:40 Half from those who had circulatory death
2:40 Maintaining donor organs
3:53 Family based behavioral treatment for childhood obesity
4:53 Also siblings and parents
5:54 Need to have less intensive ways
6:54 Agree that prevention is preferable
7:11 Two types of surgery to repair mitral valve
8:11 Compare open versus minimal surgery
9:11 Not inferior?
10:00 Oseltamivir and hospitalization
11:01 Over 65 and those with other comorbidities
12:54 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 9, 2023

This week's topics include treating intracerebral hemorrhage, diagnosing forearm fractures in kids, ketamine and ECT for depression, and defining post-COVID-19 syndrome.

0:38 Defining PASC
1:38 Loss of or change in smell
2:38 Common physiologic features?
3:38 Look at ways of treating it
3:53 Treatment-resistant major depression
4:51 Only 41% in ECT group
5:51 Not cost effective in clinics
6:55 Treating intracerebral hemorrhage
7:55 Rapid reversal of warfarin
8:55 Even in high-income counties
9:25 Diagnosing distal forearm fractures in kids
10:25 Ultrasound increasingly adopted
11:25 Results just as good as radiography
12:30 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, June 2, 2023

This week's topics include keeping kidneys on ice, multivitamins for cognition, improving outcomes for small strokes, and NASH treatment.

0:35 Multivitamins in older adults and cognition
1:36 After one year of intervention
2:36 Whether it really helps is unclear
3:36 So many are water soluble
4:24 Can we improve treatment of smaller strokes?
5:26 Used more potent anti platelet agent
6:26 If you detect a clot
7:00 Kidneys for transplant on ice or not
8:00 Put in normothermic machine perfusion device
9:00 Really doesn't improve viability
10:03 NASH treatment
11:10 Bariatric surgery used
12:28 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 26, 2023

This week's topics include utility of polygenic risk score and coronary calcium scans in predicting heart disease risk, PET scanning in assessing cognitive impairment, an intervention to promote goals of care discussions, and integrating data for colon cancer survival prediction.

0:40 Integrated atlas for colon cancer and survival
1:40 Specific immune responses
2:40 Data to integrate in clinical care
3:41 Goals of care discussions
4:41 Wide range of ethnicities included
5:42 Just clinician-facing not as effective
6:43 Figure out from the patient's standpoint
7:01 Coronary artery calcium and polygenic score
8:01 Traditional risk factors plus
9:01 Either lower or higher number
9:35 Clinical utility of PET scan in patients with cognitive symptoms
10:35 7.5% saw changes in diagnosis
12:02 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 19, 2023

This week's topics include the economic impact of racial inequities, use of housing vouchers to reduce severity of childhood asthma, metabolically unhealthy obesity and cancer risk, and exercise and infectious disease risk.

0:42 Economic burden of racial inequity
1:42 Impact of education
2:42 Death younger than 78 years
3:18 Housing mobility and childhood asthma
4:18 Baltimore housing partnership
5:15 Impact of antibodies to allergens
6:15 Disproportionate environmental exposures
7:15 Housing reparations
7:30 Leisure time physical activity, flu and pneumonia
8:30 Up to 600 minutes of exercise
9:25 Obesity, healthy obesity and cancer
10:25 Increased relative risk of obesity related cancers
11:25 Interrelated to decrease risk
12:05 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 12, 2023

This week's topics include falls and mortality, orphan drug profits, peanut allergy treatment in young children, and does 24-hour blood pressure measurement reveal more than office-based measurement?

0:42 Blood pressure in the office or ambulatory, and mortality
1:42 Almost 60,000 patients
2:42 Even if not 100%, it’s beneficial
3:42 Involve patient in care
4:00 Treating peanut allergy in very young children
5:02 67% of treatment group reached endpoint
6:05 Amount of peanut on skin 1/1000 of a peanut
7:01 Orphan drug profits
8:01 Through 12.16 initially
9:03 Gene therapies are orphan
9:20 Trends in deaths from falls in those 65-plus
10:20 Age-adjusted mortality rate
11:20 More falls recorded recently
12:30 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, May 5, 2023

This week's topics include molnupiravir and long Covid, who is at risk for shortness of breath following Covid infection, beta blockers after heart attack, and community health workers and early childhood outcomes.

0:34 Molnupiravir and long Covid
1:35 Did turn out to reduce eight of 13 post acute sequelae
2:35 Benefited all vaccination groups
3:19 Who is at risk for persistent shortness of breath after Covid
4:19 Compared with a non Covid community cohort
5:18 Weight loss helps
5:50 Community health works and at risk kids
6:50 Insured by Medicaid
7:50 Meet needs proactively
8:50 Thought they would decrease ED visits
9:20 Beta blockers post MI
10:20 Preserved heart function after heart attack
11:54 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 28, 2023

This week's topics include diabetes and poor diet, treating sciatica, beverages and diabetes, and cord blood analysis and obesity.

0:43 Beverage consumption, mortality and Type 2 diabetes
1:41 Sugar sweetened beverage consumption
2:40 Contain anti-inflammatories
3:01 Type 2 diabetes and suboptimal diet
4:02 Drilled down to certain factors
5:02 More education related to greater risk
6:02 Prevent diabetes with diet
6:52 Surgical versus nonsurgical treatment of sciatica
7:53 Leg pain result no significant difference
8:51 Waiting for a year may not be helpful
9:31 Methylation of DNA in umbilical cord blood
10:32 Can predict obesity with patterns
11:30 Analysis when child is born?
12:25 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 21, 2023

This week's topics include an OTC versus fitted hearing aids, screening for skin cancer, chronic pain in US adults, and a new treatment for Clostridium difficile.

0:35 USPSTF and skin cancer screening
1:36 Data are inconclusive
2:35 Patient can suggest screening
3:22 OTC versus audiologist fitted hearing aids
4:22 68 adults with mild to moderate hearing loss
5:21 FDA approved hearing aids
6:23 Different styles available
6:40 New treatment for C. difficile
7:40 Infusion from normal people
8:40 Different bacterial populations bodywide
9:15 Chronic pain in US adults
10:16 Chronic pain associated with dementia
11:15 Poor general health and disability
12:05 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 14, 2023

This week's topics include an RSV vaccine in older adults, gun deaths at the scene, training to prevent falls in elderly, and COVID-19 and flu deaths among hospitalized.

0:38 Flu and COVID-19 deaths in hospitalized
1:38 COVID-19 mortality about 6%
2:33 Outpatient therapy helps
3:08 RSV vaccination in older adults
4:08 Single IM vaccination
5:08 Vaccine is efficacious
6:08 Severity of illness acute
6:40 Cognitive training for reducing falls in older adults
7:40 Speed of processing, and other types
8:40 Physical activity and processing
9:15 Gun deaths at the scene
10:15 Removed self-inflicted
11:15 Guns being used more lethal
12:28 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, April 7, 2023

This week's topics include Covid vaccine resistance, antibiotic prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections, colonoscopy in older people, and what is the best diet to reduce mortality?

1:15 Why don't people get Covid vaccines?
2:15 Vaccine acceptance in future scenarios
3:15 Covid vaccine like the flu vaccine
4:15 Triple vaxers
4:50 Diet and mortality
5:53 Mediterranean diet decreased most
6:50 Olive oil instead of saturated far
7:04 Post exposure doxycycline for STIs
8:02 Reduced from 32% to 11%
9:03 Interrupt the transmission in general
9:25 Colonoscopy in those older than 75
10:25 Percentage with less than 10 year life expectancy
11:25 Fecal tests instead
12:01 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 31, 2023

This week's topics include UTIs and meat consumption; mental health hospitalizations among youth; genes, a bacterium, and gastric cancer; and reducing air pollution and health.

0:40 Air pollution and the effect of reducing it
1:40 Medicaid recipients
2:40 Different countries around the world
3:21 Genes, Helicobacter pylori, and gastric cancer
4:27 A variant plus infection equals increased risk
5:27 Confluence of factors giving rise to cancer
6:25 Pediatric mental health hospitalizations domestically
7:25 Two-thirds suicidal attempt or self-harm
8:27 COVID-19 has exacerbated
9:00 Mobile genetic elements and E.coli
10:00 From meat consumption
11:02 Genetic analysis modeling
12:00 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 24, 2023

This week's topics include cardiovascular impact of low- and moderate-dose radiation, coffee consumption and heart function, testing in long-term care facilities and COVID-19, and delirium after surgery in older adults and subsequent dementia.

0:42 Testing in long-term care facilities for COVID-19
1:42 Pre-vaccine phase decreased rate by 30%
2:30 Coffee consumption in ambulatory adults and heart beats
3:30 Mean age 39 years
4:30 No change in serum glucose
5:30 Previous caffeine consumption
6:31 Ionizing radiation and CVD
7:30 Use lowest dose possible
8:19 Delirium, dementia and surgery in older adults
9:19 Up to six years of follow up
10:20 Is delirium a marker?
11:20 A little bit older at baseline
12:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 17, 2023

This week's topics include a new agent for cholesterol, acetaminophen, opioids and acute liver failure, optimizing medicines to reduce CVD risk for people with T2D, and heart disease risk factors in adults 20-44 years of age.

0:49 New agent for cholesterol lowering
1:54 Lowered 21%
2:50 Increased uric acid levels
3:40 Acetaminophen, opioids and acute liver failure
4:38 Median age 42 years
5:40 A modest impact on rate
6:40 'Therapeutic misadventure'
7:40 Optimizing medicines to reduce CVD in people with diabetes
8:36 Extensive coordinated care for clinicians and patients
9:26 Cardiovascular risk in adults 20-44 years of age
10:30 Need to start early to prevent cardiovascular disease
11:25 Population wide policy change
12:15 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 10, 2023

This week's topics include tap water burn impact, inflammation in heart disease in people on statins, the worldwide cost of obesity, and active surveillance in prostate cancer.

0:33 World Obesity Atlas
1:35 $4-trillion-dollar cost
2:33 Contributes to work absenteeism
3:33 Not a failure of will
3:50 Role of inflammation in cardiac events
4:50 Use anti-inflammatory agent
5:50 CRP may indicate
6:05 Tap water scalds
7:05 Multiple body surfaces involved
8:05 Water at 120 degrees
9:00 Active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer
10:00 Minimizes side effects
11:00 Call to individuals
12:05 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, March 3, 2023

This week's topics include ablation for hypertension, paid sick leave and cancer screening, physical activity, mortality and other outcomes.

0:40 Renal artery denervation to treat hypertension
1:40 One hundred fifty randomized
2:40 Durable over months
3:40 Daytime, nighttime and during sleep
4:40 May have an important place
4:55 Physical activity and health outcomes
5:55 Reduce all cause mortality by 30%
6:45 Paid sick leave and cancer screening
7:45 Cancer screening rates modestly higher
8:45 We need to improve cancer screening across the board
9:49 Alcohol related screening and primary care
10:49 Number screened went up substantially
11:49 Doesn't show where we fall down
12:15 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 24, 2023

This week's topics include protection from COVID-19 infection, a new treatment for Parkinson's disease, consumption of fruits, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages, among young children, and claims of infant formula manufacturers.

0:35 Reinfection protection from COVID-19 infection
1:35 Infection just as infection as current vaccine
2:35 Durable immunity to other viruses
3:00 New treatment for Parkinson's disease
4:00 Enrolled 90+ patients
5:00 Heat a part of the brain
6:00 Don't address how patients feel
6:12 Health and nutrition claims for infant formula
7:12 Scientific evidence?
8:18 Where people can least afford it
9:12 Fruit, vegetable and sugar-sweetened beverage intake
10:14 States that have other health issues
11:14 Increases risk of obesity and diabetes
12:15 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 17, 2023

This week's topics include giving radiation a miss after breast cancer treatment, RSV vaccines in adults, FDA approvals of drugs, benefits and costs, and screening for genital herpes.

0:38 RSV vaccines in adults
1:38 Pre-fusion F protein
2:38 Big problem in adults
3:15 Screening for genital herpes
4:15 Neonatal outcomes
4:45 FDA approved drugs not recommended for use in other countries
5:44 Five approved drugs refused
6:45 Domestic approval process different
7:45 210 new drugs approved with null findings
8:45 Hard clinical endpoints
9:17 Radiation or not in early breast cancer
10:17 Followed for ten years
11:30 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 10, 2023

This week's topics include interferon for COVID-19 infection, adverse pregnancy outcomes and heart disease, low-value drugs and pharma advertising to consumers, and minimizing surgery for lung cancer.

0:40 Interferon lambda for acute COVID-19 infection
1:40 Return to ED or hospitalization
2:40 Works on different variants of COVID-19
3:40 Would look for its use
4:00 Lung resection in non-small cell lung cancer
5:00 Lobar versus sublobar surgery
6:01 Direct to consumer ads and drug impact
7:02 134 top selling drugs in U.S.
8:03 When a patient sees an ad
9:02 Other purveyors are hospitals and insurance companies
9:40 Adverse pregnancy outcomes and premature heart disease
10:40 Coronary calcium scan
11:40 Take a careful history
12:45 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, February 3, 2023

This week's topics include physical activity and diabetes risk, overall levels of exercise in the US, cooling down kidney donors, a vaccine for meningitis in kids, and a healthy lifestyle and mental decline.

0:45 Healthy lifestyle and memory decline
1:45 Regardless you still experience memory decline
2:45 Very quantitative tests
3:00 People with obesity, exercise and diabetes
4:00 Two years and even up to ten years
4:35 MMWR look at physical activity in adults
5:35 Combined aerobic and strength
6:30 Cooling organ donors
7:30 Machine perfusion best
8:30 Organs go to multiple locations
8:45 Vaccine for meningococcal group B
9:45 Nationwide case matched study
10:30 Had vaccine against group C
11:30 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 27, 2023

This week's topics include an update on long COVID-19, viral infections and neurodegenerative diseases, eating and sleeping intervals and weight change, and life stresses and immune response in older people.

0:33 An update on long COVID-19
1:32 Almost a third had acute respiratory syndrome
2:30 A lot of viral infections have sequelae
3:30 Most resolve in a year
3:42 Viral illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases
4:42 Viral encephalitis and Alzheimer's disease
5:43 Decreases Parkinson's and dementia
6:46 Social stresses, T lymphocytes and older age
7:45 Naive or terminal T lymphocytes
8:45 Can do anything?
9:28 Eating, sleeping and weight change over time
10:28 Restricted timing did not help
11:30 App helped with research
12:18 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 20, 2023

This week's topics include the impact of hormone therapy on transgender youth, aspirin versus heparin for clot prevention after lower extremity surgery, update on Covid vaccines in those 55+, and remote management of cholesterol and blood pressure.

0:42 Covid vaccines in those 55+
1:43 Seroresponse and titre
2:43 They're effective and safe
3:46 Lower extremity fracture, surgery and clot prevention
4:47 No difference in pulmonary embolism
5:44 Hormone therapy, transgender youth and psychosocial measures
6:43 Assessed four times for two years
7:43 Decreases in depression and anxiety
8:43 Depression decrease largely modest
9:44 Have a lot of work to do now
10:00 Can we effectively remotely monitor and treat blood pressure, cholesterol
11:00 40% stayed with the program
12:01 Putting more onus on the patient
12:38 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 13, 2023

This week's topics include the safety of inpatient care, using recalled devices to get new ones approved, hearing and dementia, and antibiotic use and inflammatory bowel disease.

0:30 Using recalled devices to approve new ones
1:30 Using class recalls, usually voluntary
2:30 Can't tie to patient safety
3:12 Inpatient patient safety
4:13 Sample of 2800+ admissions
5:14 Higher levels of adverse events
6:16 Mechanisms now to decrease events
6:52 Early use of antibiotics and inflammatory bowel disease
7:53 Clear association found
8:53 Understanding the mechanism
9:03 Hearing loss and dementia prevalence
10:03 Used Medicare beneficiaries
11:03 Hearing aid use
12:32 End

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TT HealthWatch - Friday, January 6, 2023

This week's topics include sodium levels and health outcomes, profits from inhalers, HIV meds and ethnicity, and conspiracy theorists and cancer beliefs.

0:52 Race and ethnicity and initial antiretroviral therapy
1:50 Who ended up with INSTIs
2:52 Uninsured had lower rates
3:52 Effective therapy for treatment and prevention
4:30 Cancer beliefs among anti vaxxers and others
5:33 Only got the right answer about 60%
6:33 Covid vaccination rates relationship
7:04 Middle-aged high normal serum sodium and health issues
8:02 Serum sodium and proxy for hydration
9:08 Will hydration help?
10:04 No dose response evident
11:03 At best is ask about water
11:15 Inhalers and profits for manufacturers
12:15 Most profits with secondary patents
13:14 End

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