** Early-warning diabetes test hope **
Experts believe a simple blood test could spot diabetes up to 10 years before the first symptoms of the disease occur. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12803909 >
Early-warning diabetes test hope
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Extracranial Carotid and Vertebral Artery Disease – Cardiology
From J Watch: These recommendations concur with recently released guidelines on primary and secondary stroke prevention. The main message about revascularization for symptomatic carotid stenosis is that stenting should be avoided in older patients (e.g., aged 
70) but might be as safe as endarterectomy in younger patients. However, a more important question is how either revascularization technique compares with intensive contemporary medical therapy, particularly in asymptomatic patients. As evidenced by the number of recommendations that are based on consensus in the absence of definitive evidence, opportunities for further research abound (e.g., the “imperfect correlation” between severity of carotid stenosis and ischemic events, methods to improve diagnostic accuracy, the effectiveness of carotid surgery in women). Large gaps in knowledge about vertebral arterial disease will be difficult to fill because of its relative infrequency compared with carotid artery disease.
Guidelines: Extracranial Carotid and Vertebral Artery Disease – Cardiology.
Radiation sickness
Based largely on misinformation and confusion, potassium iodine pills have flown off theshelves in the United States, and in China, panicked shoppers have bought up iodized salt, mistakenly believing that it offers protection.
Radiation sickness is very rare, and it is triggered only when humans are exposed to extremely strong doses of radiation, far higher than presently found even close to the damaged plant, more than 150 miles north of Tokyo…
Here is the link: http://fluentnews.com/s/26575171
RMC, Stringfellow won’t be welcoming smokers much longer
A story from AP Mobile:
Hoping to Avoid the Knife
The failure of the procedure, called transoral gastroplasty, pushes back the availability of any incision-less procedure to millions of obese Americans for several years, a disappointment to companies trying to find the next best thing to major surgery. The setback also further restricts options for those who are overweight, because it is occurring on top of federal rejections of a new generation of diet pills…
Healing the Hurt
From TIME: Pain is the human bodyguard, the cop on the beat racing to the scene, sirens wailing, shutting down traffic. You\’ve been cut, burned, broken: pay attention, stop the bleeding, apply heat, apply cold, do something. It\’s one of life\’s most primitive mechanisms, by which even the simplest creature, if it has anything like a central nervous system, learns to avoid danger, stay out of bad neighborhoods, hunker down to give itself time to heal. Pain is protective. Don\’t do that, it commands — and the command is usually a wise one. So this sensation we seek most to avoid is in fact one of the most essential ones for our survival.But what happens when pain goes rogue, when it sends off false alarms so that all the
How Intelligence and Personality Affect Longevity
Beware jocks and mean girls: you may be more popular in high school, but according to a new academic paper, it is the smart kids and conscientious glee-club types who will live longer. Not only that, they will suffer fewer diseases before they die. Only the good die young? Guess again.The paper, which was published recently in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest, summarizes data from millions of people studied in dozens of academic articles. The bottom line is that people who are smarter and more conscientious acquire fewer illnesses and die later than those who have the opposite traits…
via Science: How Intelligence and Personality Affect Longevity – TIME Healthland.
Radiation Release from Japanese Reactors
With attention focused on the aftermath of the earthquake in Japan, patients are likely to be asking about potassium iodide, which blocks the uptake of radioactive iodine by the thyroid. Authorities in Japan have been distributing potassium iodide tablets to people near affected nuclear power reactors.Recognizing that we have readers around the world, we thought it might be useful to provide some information about potassium iodide, as published by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
via Questions Likely Concerning Radiation Release from Japanese Reactors – Physician\\\’s First Watch.
Study: Coffee tied to lower stroke risk in women
DALLAS (AP) — Women who enjoy a daily dose of coffee may like this perk: It might lower their risk of stroke.Women in a Swedish study who drank at least a cup of coffee every day had a 22 to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all.\”Coffee drinkers should rejoice,\” said Dr. Sharonne N. Hayes, a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. \”Coffee is often made out to be potentially bad for your heart. There really hasn\’t been any study that convincingly said coffee is bad.\”\”If you are drinking coffee now, you may be doing some good and you are likely not doing harm,\” she added.
Updated Guidelines on Secondary Stroke Prevention – Neurology
About one in four strokes that occur annually are recurrent events. The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association has now updated its 2006 evidence-based recommendations for the prevention of stroke among survivors of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA). The guidelines include recommendations, rated by class (degree of treatment effect) and evidence level, for risk-factor control, antithrombotic therapies, interventional approaches for atherosclerotic disease, and treatment of unusual stroke mechanisms.
via Updated Guidelines on Secondary Stroke Prevention – Neurology.
Zulfiqar Rana, MD, MPH, FACP 