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Showing posts from August, 2021

Wall Street Journal: Why Is the FDA Attacking a Safe, Effective Drug?

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The Food and Drug Administration claims to follow the science. So why is it attacking ivermectin, a medication it certified in 1996? Earlier this year the agency put out a special  warning  that “you should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19.” The FDA’s statement included words and phrases such as “serious harm,” “hospitalized,” “dangerous,” “very dangerous,” “seizures,” “coma and even death” and “highly toxic.” Any reader would think the FDA was warning against poison pills. In fact, the drug is FDA-approved as a safe and effective antiparasitic. Ivermectin was developed and marketed by Merck & Co. while one of us (Mr. Hooper) worked there years ago. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering and developing avermectin, which Mr. Campbell and associates modified to create ivermectin. Ivermectin is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. Merck has donated four billion doses to prevent

Mediterranean Diet Better Than Low-Fat Diet for Heart Health, Study Shows

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The   Mediterranean diet , which features a variety of vegetables, fruits, grains, beans, and olive oil, has long been studied for its beneficial effects on heart health. 1              fcafotodigital/E+/Getty Endothelial dysfunction has been identified as an important underlying contributor to many kinds of heart problems. The endothelium is a thin layer of protective cells that line the inner walls of the arteries and heart. It helps ensure efficient blood flow around the entire body. An impaired or dysfunctional endothelium is a significant predictor of cardiovascular disease.2 A recent study published in PLOS Medicine measured the effect of the Mediterranean diet on endothelial function, compared to a low-fat diet, assessed byflow-mediated dilation (FMD).3 The FMD is an ultrasound test, which measures blood vessel health and helps predict cardiovascular disease ri

How Does Orthopedic Surgery Stack Up to Interventional Orthobiologics?

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The Old Gaurd versus the New Kid One of the things that orthopedic surgery suffers from is that the basic technology is decades old and came into being at a time when there were very low research standards for surgical care. Take for example a knee replacement. If this procedure didn’t exist and I were to propose to the FDA and insurance companies today that I wanted to amputate a major part of someone’s body and insert a metal and plastic replacement, both would require large randomized controlled trials and a decade of research before allowing this to be approved and covered. Despite that, it took decades before someone tested a knee replacement against conservative care. Why is that a big deal? Because we didn’t know until that study that whacking out someone’s knee joint and replacing it with a prosthesis was better than going to physical therapy. In addition, we still don’t have a single study that compares a knee replacement to a placebo procedure (the medical term is sham). Why

10 Best Outpatient Treatments for COVID-19 (Updated August 2021)

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Information related to the COVID-19 ('CO' stands for corona, 'VI' for virus, and 'D' for disease) pandemic has been overwhelming and confusing as well. Information is all over the place and various groups are giving conflicting statements. How do you make sense from all these fragmented information? As of August 2021, there are more than 6,000 studies that have been launched to investigate various treatments for COVID-19. You can review the details of these trials on  ClinicalTrials.gov . New ones are being added every day. The aim of this article is to organise and summarise relevant information in one place. Below, we look at the most studied categories.         McCullough et al. Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2020 Most doctors know the need to focus now on early treatment as the most immediate and practical way to reduce hospitalisations and death. This is your guide to help you know your options, and to use with your personal physician. Below, we look a