Authors

Lipids, Screening, and Stroke: What Matters?

As the mean BMI in the U.S. edges higher, I thought that a discussion of 2 recent analyses regarding lipids was pertinent to the season.

Visit San Juan: Puerto Rico's Oldest New City

Tackling Physician Burnout by Giving Back

How care providers can improve their perspective and better their stress with some volunteer work where it's needed most.

Sex, depression, and health outcomes after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Depression at the time of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery is associated with a lack of functional benefits at 6 months after the surgery. These negative effects appear to be stronger for women than for men. Further research is needed to determine whether the treatment of depression after CABG surgery can improve outcomes. In the meantime, current guidelines recommend evaluation for symptoms of depression after CABG surgery and consideration of treatment for both men and women.

Clinical Photos Often Captured on Smartphones without Consent

Although many physicians currently snap, store, and share clinical photographs on their smartphones, they often neglect to ask patients for permission to do so.

Is circulating heat shock protein 60 a marker for susceptibility to cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes?

The vital cell stress protein, heat shock protein (Hsp)60, has recently been found in the circulation of healthy subjects over an extremely large concentration range. We performed an analysis of subjects with diabetes to determine whether Hsp60 is associated with biochemical markers of cardiovascular disease. Results showed that high circulating levels of Hsp60 are associated with clinically manifest cardiovascular disease. Hsp60 has cytokine-like actions, which may be responsible for this association.

Intensive statin therapy in acute coronary syndrome

We conducted a meta-analysis of 13 randomized controlled trials involving 17 963 subjects to determine the effect of intensive statin therapy instituted within 14 days of hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome. Results showed that early, intensive statin therapy is safe and significantly decreases cardiovascular death and recurrent ischemia following acute coronary syndrome after 6 months of treatment.

New PKU Drug Already Benefiting Adults

The recently approved phenylketonuria (PKU) drug, pegvaliase, is helping patients experience less disease burden—and drastically in some cases.