Morning MEDtalks with Dr K K Aggarwal

New Delhi , July 20, 2018 :

Around the globe

In an analysis published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found 46% of urgent-care patients in 2014 had conditions that did not require an antibiotic but received a prescription. 40% of all outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are now written at an urgent-care center or retail health clinic.
A new report from the CDC shows overdose deaths caused by the synthetic opioid, fentanyl nearly doubled in the last two years.
Ceftazidime-Avibactam Resistance: Ceftazidime-avibactam is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of complicated intra-abdominal and urinary tract infections, and has activity against carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). Resistance to ceftazidime-avibactam is reported in 10% of patients; all were Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC)-3 subtypes.
Despite good glycemic control with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and intensive insulin management throughout pregnancy, women with type 1 diabetes still had babies who were large for gestational age, shows a small retrospective study the June issue of Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics.
Five-year stroke rates were lower in patients with multivessel or left main coronary artery disease who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) than in those who had coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), new research shows in July 16 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
A new CDC study points to major concerns about the number of Americans dying from liver cancer. Between the years 2000 and 2016, the death rate of Americans diagnosed with liver cancer was up by 43 percent. With obesity, it’s the fat that gets deposited inside the liver and causes a cascade of inflammation and scar tissue to form inside the liver. That’s when little cancer cells decide to start growing.
Detectable faecal haemoglobin is associated with death from a wide range of causes, not just colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a new study in July 16 issue of the journal Gut.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth-most-common cancer among women and 5-year overall survival is still below 50%.
Low-dose aspirin is commonly used to prevent cardiovascular disease, its use in oncology is less accepted, although the US Preventive Services Task Force now recommends low-dose aspirin for primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer for adults aged 50–59 years at high cardiovascular risk and low risk of bleeding who are willing to take aspirin for 10 years.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 13 July 2018 issued a recall on pharmaceuticals containing the active ingredient valsartan with N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA).

Dr KK Aggarwal
Padma Shri Awardee
Vice President CMAAO
President HCFI