Watch Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Develop Over Time

Watch this powerful time-lapse  video demonstrating the development of antibiotic resistance in E. coli bacteria over time. E. coli starts out at the edges of the petri dish where no antibiotics are present. Over time, mutations develop allowing E. coli to not only resist the antibiotics, but to thrive allowing it to grow towards the center where antibiotics are present at 1000x the concentration of the minimal amount initially required to kill E. coli bacteria. Scared? You should be..…

9/14/2016 1

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Medical Alarm Fatigue

Alarms are an important part of clinical care as it serves as a warning to a possible medical error or an impending medical emergency. But when they occur frequently, most of which end up being "false-alarms," they become worse than useless and actually contributes  to an unsafe patient environment because a life-threatening event may be missed due to such sensory overload. In one fascinating research article performed in an intensive care unit (ICU) where the sickest of the sick…

4/25/2015 0

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Sulfa vs Sulfate vs Sulfur vs Sulfite Allergy

Having a "sulfa" allergy is quite common... What is uncommon is understanding that being "sulfa" allergic does not necessarily mean that one is also allergic to sulfates, sulfur, and sulfites. Also, when a patient states that have a sulfa allergy, they typically mean they have a "sulfonamide" allergy. Why is this understanding of significance? It's because there is confusion whether a patient with a sulfa allergy can take sulfate containing medications safe…

11/18/2014 7

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Ear Injection of AM-101 May Stop Tinnitus

Phantom ringing of the ears also known as tinnitus is an extremely frustrating condition that afflicts many people. Often triggered by hearing nerve damage, there's no good treatment to fix this condition once it sets in. Until possibly now...  AM-101 made by Auris Medical is an experimental drug containing esketamine hydrochloride embedded within a hyaluronic acid gel formulation. It works by blocking the NMDA receptors of the cochlear inner hair cell. Normally, when there…

7/19/2014 1

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Botox Injection Severe Side Effects Treatment

Side effects from botox injections are not uncommon and even expected to some degree in the region where the injection was performed. For example, when botox is injected into the voicebox for spasmodic dysphonia , normal and expected side effects include hoarseness and dysphagia . However, in very rare instances, more severe side effects may occur that may even appear to be life-threathening including stridor , shortness of breath, profound difficulty swallowing , etc. Botox overdose so …

7/13/2014 2

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Cure for Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?

Normally, when mammals (including humans) are exposed to very loud sounds, permanent hearing loss may result due to cochlear hair cell injury. However, an experimental drug code-named LY411575 was found to regenerate new hair cells by suppressing a protein called Notch. In essence, this drug restored hearing to mice deafened by loud noise. Listen to an explanation by Harvard researcher Dr. Edge in this  video . However, human trials are a very long way off… so prevention is still the b…

10/30/2013 0

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Medications that (Might) Help Tinnitus?

The blunt answer is that there is no drug or supplement that has been consistently found to help with tinnitus (ringing of the ears). Here's a partial table showing all the research that has been done either proving or disproving effectiveness to treat tinnitus (info collected from this review paper ). For a more comprehensive list going over 17 drugs, click here . Drug Research That Supports Research That Disputes …

7/09/2013 1

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Men's Ability to Taste Linked to Fertility?

Image by  צביה   from Wikipedia Researchers found that two proteins that govern the ability to taste sweet and savory profoundly influenced sperm development. This surprising connection between taste and male fertility occurred when the gene encoding the taste receptor proteins TAS1R3 (part of savory taste receptor) and GNAT3 (converts oral taste signal to a nerve signal) were modified in mice allowing for selective knockout with the drug clofibrate. When these genetically modified mic…

7/03/2013 0

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What are the Most Common Severe Drug-Induced Anaphylaxis?

Image by James Heilman, MD from Wikipedia Interesting paper came out listing the most common severe drug-induced anaphylaxis . From a database of 333 patients who suffered from anaphylaxis, • Anaphylactic shock (76.6%) • Severe systemic reactions (10.5%) • Acute laryngeal edema (9%) • Severe bronchospasm (2.1%) • Fatal in 6 cases (1.8%) There were 270 cases (81.1%) of ambulatory anaphylaxis. Sixty-three cases (18.9%) occurred during anesthesia. 84 drugs were identified as being …

6/08/2013 0

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Chronic Cough Due to Statins

Statin drugs (simvastatin for example) are commonly used to treat high cholesterol and have many known side effects... but here's another. Statins are now believed to potentially cause a chronic dry cough according to a recent report ! This chronic cough side effect is common in other types of medications such as ACE-Inhibitors (lisinopril) and angiotensin receptor blockers (losartan) to treat high blood pressure. Statins were not previously known to cause a chronic dry cough. Ref…

7/30/2012 1

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Azithromycin Increases Risk of Death Slightly... Well, So Does Tylenol and Ibuprofen

The media has made much fuss about a NEJM study suggesting a slight increased risk of death from taking azithromycin or z-pack. The more unhealthy you are, the higher the risk... no duh... (I would think the sicker you are, the greater the risk of death PERIOD... a sick person by definition is closer to death than a healthy person). How slight? Compared to amoxicillin, about 47 additional cardiovascular deaths per one million courses of therapy. Never mind the blatant biases found in th…

5/20/2012 0

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Best Medication for Dizziness

So how would one go about figuring out the best medication for dizziness due to motion-sickness leading to nausea and even vomiting? Well, step 1... Put a bunch of people in a machine and figure out the necessary motions that will cause dizziness. Step 2... Do the same thing, but this time, put people on different medications and figure out what works the best. Sound crazy? Well it has been done by the friendly folks at NASA . Why would they perform such unpleasant experiments? It…

9/03/2011 0

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"Sneeze Whisperer" Target Pharmacy Commercial

Take a look at this commercial promoting Target Pharmacists as a "sneeze-whisperer"... Though pharmacists are very important healthcare professionals who are essential to the management and distribution of prescription drugs, patients need to be aware that pharmacists may be financially rewarded to encourage patients to use certain drugs and not others without regard to whether a given medication may be better or not health-wise. In fact, in some cases, pharmacists may automati…

7/10/2011 1

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What Exactly Does a Generic Drug Mean (Opposed to Brand Name)?

Some patients are very confused by what the difference between a generic drug versus brand name drug is. From the patient perspective, they are thinking, how in the world can the same drug be called different things? Doctors answer by talking about active ingredients, patents, and copays which sometimes confuses patients even more. Well, here's to set the record straight using an analogy. So let's talk about orange juice. I consider Tropicana Orange Juice a brand name "dr…

6/05/2011 0

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Can Placebo Be Used to Help People Instead of Drugs?

On my way to work On December 23, 2010, I heard a great story on NPR regarding how placebos can potentially be used to help people... EVEN if they know it's a placebo! Based on research done at Harvard, they found that a placebo helped patients with irritable bowel syndrome 59% of the time compared to a similar group that received nothing. Of greater significance... the treatment group with placebo KNEW they were getting a placebo. Given that many medications have similar (and even …

12/23/2010 0

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New Drug Restores Hearing After Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Researchers in New Zealand published a research paper where they describe significant restoration of hearing after hearing loss sustained after loud noise exposure with injection of a drug called 'ADAC'... at least in rats. The drug (adenosine amine congener) activates adenosine receptors in cochlear tissues resulting in recovery of cochlear function. Early treatment starting six hours after noise exposure was the most effective and provided greater recovery than late treatment starti…

6/30/2010 0

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