I haven’t been able to post any of my articles lately. I just don’t really feel up to it. Sorry. See, I can’t even write a title for this blog…
Sigh.
It’s another 24-hour duty tomorrow. And an 8-hour clinic after that.
Sigh.
I wish my Honey won’t be mad at me anymore. And I hope he comes home soon. I miss him.
Sigh.
http://www.emedicine.com/news.asp?name=20060907clin007.xml&page=eMedicine%20Today
Last Updated: 2006-09-07 10:43:08 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low-dose orlistat (60 mg), coupled with a reduced-calorie diet, leads to significant weight loss and improved lipid and blood pressure profiles and is well tolerated, according to results of three double-blind, placebo-controlled studies reported at the International Congress of Obesity in Sydney, Australia.
In an interview with Reuters Health ahead of the meeting, lead investigator Dr. Vidhu Bansal of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare told Reuters Health, these studies show that orlistat 60 milligrams "is an excellent candidate for over-the-counter use for weight loss."
Orlistat 60 milligrams, which will be marketed as Alli (pronounced AL-eye) is a low-dose version of GlaxoSmithKline’s prescription drug Xenical (orlistat 120 mg capsules). It is currently under review at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Orlistat blocks absorption of approximately 25% of fat consumed and would be indicated for use in people "18 years of age and older who are overweight and committed to losing weight and making the dietary changes that will be needed to be successful," Dr. Bansal told Reuters Health.
The three studies reported at the meeting involved a total of 1,729 overweight subjects with BMI ranging from 25 to 28 or greater who were placed on a reduced calorie diet (30% fat, 20% protein, 50% carbohydrate) alone (the control arm) or in combination with 60 milligrams orlistat.
At 6 months, almost 50% of orlistat-treated subjects had lost 5% or more of their baseline body weight, compared with 26% of subjects following a reduced calorie diet alone.
At 1 year, 45% of the orlistat group lost at least 5% of their body weight compared to 29% for the control group.
Orlistat users also showed decreases in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
"There was about a 6% reduction in LDL cholesterol with orlistat compared to a reduction of about 1.5% in the placebo group," Dr. Bansal said.
"There was about a 4% decrease for systolic and diastolic blood pressure with orlistat, whereas in the placebo group the systolic blood pressure was reduced by about 1.5% and diastolic blood pressure rose slightly," she added.
These data "provide the assurance" that low-dose orlistat does not increase cholesterol or blood pressure and "in fact provides an improvement in the lipid and blood pressure profile.
The data also show that patients tolerate 60 mg orlistat better than 120 mg. "Only 3% of people stopped taking 60 mg orlistat because of a gastrointestinal treatment-related side effects compared with 5.4% in prior studies of people taking the 120 mg dose," Dr. Bansal said. GI effects are mostly loose, oily stools, and urgency, which subside with time.
"She had just realized there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expected it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a road heading who knows where, the fear of a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything that is familiar."
"People want to change everything and, at the same time, want it all to remain the same."
"Playing the part of a charitable soul was only for those who were afraid of taking a stand in life. It is always far easier to have faith in your own goodness than to confront others and fight for your rights. It is always easier to hear an insult and not retaliate than have the courage to fight back against someone stronger than yourself; we can always say we’re not hurt by the stones others throw at us, and it’s only at night - when we’re alone and our wife or our husband or our school friend is asleep - that we can silently grieve over our own cowardice."
"Even God has a hell: his love of mankind."
"A lot of people are critical of arms manufacturers, but they will continue to exist until there’s not a single weapon left on the face of the earth. Because as long as one weapon remains, there will always have to be another, to preserve the fragile balance."
"It isn’t the desire to abide by the law that makes everyone behave as society requires, but the fear of punishment. Each one of us carries a gallows inside us."
"She was glad to have been the first to reveal to those people the evil hidden in the depths of their false, ingenuous souls. They were all dreaming of the chance to commit a murder - only dreaming, mind you, because they would never actually do anything. They would spend the rest of their lives asleep, endlessly telling themselves how noble they were, how incapable of committing an injustice, ready to defend the village’s dignity at whatever cost, yet aware that terror alone had prevented them from killing an innocent. They would congratulate themselves every morning on keeping their integrity, and blame themselves each night for that missed opportunity."
"Since we can never see the enemy - because if we take this tale to its logical conclusion, our real enemy is God for putting us through everything we’ve suffered - we vent our frustrations on everything around us. It’s a desire for vengeance that can never be satisfied, because it’s directed against life itself."
"None is good, says the Lord. No one. We should stop pretending to a goodness that offends God and accept our faults: if one day we have to accept a wager with the Devil, let us remember that our Father who is in Heaven did exactly the same in order to save the soul of His servant Job."
Last Updated: 2006-09-04 9:09:07 -0400 (Reuters Health)
http://www.emedicine.com/news.asp?name=20060904scie003.xml&page=eMedicine%20Today
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - While glucagon secretion is normally triggered by hypoglycemia and inhibited as glucose levels rises, it has now been shown that very high glucose levels paradoxically stimulate glucagon secretion.
Swedish researchers report this finding in the August issue of Diabetes. Using mouse islet cells and hamster glucagon-releasing cells, Dr. Albert Salehi and colleagues at Uppsala University documented a U-shaped dose-response relationship of glucose-regulated glucagon secretion.
The investigators measured glucagon secretion in response to glucose (or 3-o-methylglucose) concentrations ranging from a low of 2 mmol/L to a high of 30 mmol/L.
Glucagon secretion was stimulated as expected at the lowest glucose concentrations. Also as expected, as glucose concentrations rose, glucagon secretion dropped. Glucagon secretion was lowest at glucose levels of approximately 5-15 mmol/L. As glucose concentrations increased above roughly 15 mmol/L, glucagon secretion was again stimulated and increased in a linear fashion at glucose concentrations of 15 to 30 mmol/L.
The findings indicate that "glucose has a direct effect on alpha-cells in terms of inhibition and stimulation of glucagon release," Dr. Salehi and colleagues write.
Hypersecretion of glucagon is involved in the dysregulation of blood glucose that occurs with diabetes, the investigators point out. "A U-shaped dose-response relationship for glucose-regulated glucagon secretion may explain why diabetic patients with pronounced hyperglycemia display paradoxical hyperglucagonemia," they conclude.
Diabetes 2006;55:2318-2323.
I just can’t afford to have a mini-Octoberfest with friends today. I’m
from a 48-hour duty! Maybe next time. Just had lunch with my parents
and my uncle at Saisaki West Ave. Here are some pics:
Last Updated: 2006-09-04 9:30:07
-0400 (Reuters Health)
http://www.emedicine.com/news.asp?name=20060904prof001.xml&page=eMedicine%20Today
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Physicians vary widely in their
willingness to disclose medical errors, regardless of the malpractice
environment, according to a report in the August 14/28 Archives of Internal
Medicine.
"Physicians need to recognize that at present there is a sizable gap between
patients’ expectations for disclosure and current clinical practice," Dr. Thomas
H. Gallagher from University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle,
Washington told Reuters Health. "The medical profession should direct its gaze
inward and consider what dimensions of the culture of medicine are inhibiting
transparency."
Dr. Gallagher and colleagues surveyed 2637 physicians in the United States
and Canada about whether and how they would report medical errors to patients in
1 of 4 scenarios depicting serious errors.
Although more than 80% of physicians regarded the error as serious and
believed the physician to be largely responsible for the error, only 65% said
they would definitely disclose the error to the patient. Twenty-nine percent
would probably disclose the error, 4% would disclose the error only if asked by
the patient, and 1% would definitely not disclose the error, the authors
report.
Fewer than half the physicians (42%) would actually use the word "error" in
their disclosure, whereas 56% would mention the adverse event but not the error.
Just over half would disclose specific information about why the error
happened.
Although attitudes about the relationship between disclosure and malpractice
independently predicted the amount of information disclosed to the patient, the
researchers note, Canadian physicians were no more likely than U.S. physicians
to report having disclosed serious errors to patients.
"The fact that U.S. and Canadian physicians’ attitudes transcend country
boundaries suggests that these beliefs may relate to the norms, values, and
practices that constitute the culture of medicine," the investigators say.
"Physicians should recognize that the field of disclosure is really in its
infancy and that rapid changes over the next 3-5 years are likely," Dr.
Gallagher said. "Over time, our understanding of what information patients want
about bad news has improved, and medical practice has changed dramatically. I
expect a similar evolution to occur in the area of disclosing harmful medical
errors to patients."
Arch Intern Med 2006;166:1585-1593,1605-1611.
I can’t really believe Supernova booted out Ryan Star from
the competition. Yeah sure, I was rooting for Dilana and Storm. But
I’ve to admit, I’ve become a fan of Ryan Star, since he was able to
pull that insane performance of REM’s "Losing My Religion".
See you around, Dark Horse. You’ll do better than Supernova, I bet.
My Honey is on a road trip right now and I kind of envy him, being
stuck here at home. I’m enjoying this mini "vacation", though. But
still I wish I’m out there enjoying that road trip with him.
So it will be just back to day dreaming…
Ava Adore ( Smashing Pumpkins )
That song I will have to play everytime I ride my car, all the more
wonderful if it would be a Ferrari. I can already imagine the speed
meter rising at the chorus of this song. The drum work is just rocking
me to get rebellious.
And then, this song will pop in:
Everlasting Gaze (live) ( Smashing Pumpkins )
Jesus! I hope the road stretches forever! Endless highway with Smashing Pumpkins songs…
I want that Ferrari!
But first, I’ve to learn how to drive.
