Buddenhagen & Associates, Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant Phone: 770-725-2997 Email: Liz@BuddenhagenLNC.com Fax: 770-725-4037, 112 Woodbrook Avenue, Bogart, Georgia 30622-1538 Blog: http://atlantalegalnurseconsultant.wordpress.com/ |
Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant 770-725-2997
| Liz Buddenhagen, RN Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant |
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News Briefs
Even low level smoke exposure increases atherosclerosis and lipid changes
in adolescents
Heartwire - by Sue Hughes - March 3, 2010
Turku, Finland -- Healthy adolescents frequently exposed to tobacco smoke have arterial changes
associated with preclinical artherosclerosis and increased apolipoprotein B (apoB) levels, a new
study has shown.
The study, published online March 2, 2010 in Circulation, Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes,
was conducted by a group led by Dr. Katariina Kallio (University of Turku, Finland).
"Our findings suggest that children should not face exposure to tobacco smoke at all," Kallio said
in a press statement. "Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be harmful for blood vessels.
We need to provide children with a smoke-free environment."
Forget Gum. Walking and Using Phone is Risky.
Driven to Distraction
By Matt Richtel, The New York Times - January 17, 2010
San Francisco -- Distracted driving has gained much attention lately because of the inflated crash
risk posed by drivers using cellphones to talk and text.
But there is another growing problem caused by lower-stakes multitasking -- distracted walking --
which combines a pedestrian, an electronic device and an unseen crack in the sidewalk, the pole
of a stop sign, a toy left on the living room floor or a parked (or sometimes moving) car.
Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got
distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. That was
twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006, according to a study conducted
by Ohio State University, which says it is the first to estimate such accidents.
NYC Asks Food Manufacturers to Cut Salt Content
By David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writer, reported on Yahoo News - January 11, 2010
New York -- City health officials have battled trans fats and high-calorie fast food. Now, they're
taking on salt.
The health department released draft guidelines Monday recommending a maximum amount of
salt that should be in a wide variety of manufactured and packaged foods, aiming to reduce the
average American's salt intake by 20 percent in five years.
The recommendations, endorsed by 25 other city or state agencies and 17 national health
organizations, call for sizable reductions in the sodium content of many products, from a 20
percent drop in peanut butter to a 40 percent decline in canned vegetables.
Liz Buddenhagen comments: "Hooray! Bravo! This is a good thing. There is way too much salt in
everything in the USA - take a look at the labels and start adding."
N.F.L. Acknowledges Long-Term Concussion Effects
By Alan Schwartz/The New York Times/December 21, 2009
After weeks of transforming its approach to concussions and its research into their long-term
effects among players, the N.F.L. not only announced Sunday that it would support research by its
most vocal critics but also conceded publicly for the first time that concussions can have lasting
consequences.
"It's quite obvious from the medical research that's been done that concussions can lead to long-
term problems," the league spokesman Greg Aiello said in a telephone interview. He was
discussing how the league could donate $1 million more to the Center for the Study of Traumatic
Encephalopathy at Boston University, whose discoveries of brain damage commonly associated
with boxers in the brains of deceased football players were regularly discredited by the N.F.L.
Percentage of US Emergency Department Patients Seen Within the Recommended Triage Time
1997 to 2006
Leora I. Horwitz, MD, MHS; Elizabeth H. Bradley, PhD -- Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(20):1857-1865.
The percentage of patients in the ED who are seen by a physician within the time recommended at
triage has been steadily declining and is at its lowest point in at least 10 years. Of all patients in
the ED, the most emergent are the least likely to be seen within the triage target time. Patients of
all racial/ethnic backgrounds and payer types have been similarly affected.
Elizabeth Taylor tweets about experimental MitraClip procedure
October 7, 2009/Shelly Wood/Heartwire -- Hollywood, CA -- Actress Elizabeth Taylor, a recent
devotee of Twitter, divulged yesterday on the popular "microblogging" site that she is going to
undergo an experimental "procedure on my heart" that "involves repairing my leaky valve using a
clip device, without open heart surgery."
Media outlets quickly divulged that this "clip device" is, in fact, the MitraClip, developed by Evalve.
The device is not yet FDA-approved, although it has CE Mark approval in Europe.
Lack of sleep may play role in Alzheimer's: study
September 24, 2009 - Julie Steenhuysen - Chicago (Reuter's) - A study in mice suggests lack of
sleep may play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease, US reseachers said on Thursday.
The findings, reported in the journal Science, are some of the first to link sleep with the
development of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia.
Use of low-dose aspirin in primary prevention of cardiovascular events not recommended
August 30, 2009 - Fran Lowry - Heartwire - Barcelona, Spain -- The use of lose-dose aspirin in the
primary prevention of cardiovascular events in healthy individuals with asymtomatic
artherosclerosis is currently not warranted, according to the lead researcher of a large "real-world"
study presented today at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2009 Congress.
In the randomized trial of 3350 subjects deemed at high risk for cardiovascular and
cerebrovascular events because of a low ankle-brachial index (ABI), aspirin had absolutely no
effect on reducing events compared to a placebo., Dr. Gerry Fowkes (University of Edinburgh,
Scotland) reported on behalf of the Aspirin for Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis (AAA) trials.
However, aspirin did increase the risk of major hemorrhage.
The bleeding effect "is a real obstacle," Fowkes told heartwire. "I don't think the evidence is
convincing enough as yet that aspirin should be used routinely in the general population."
More data linking thiazolidinediones to fractures
August 12, 2009 | Shelley Wood -- Vancouver, BC - Once again, a large cohort study—this time
from British Columbia, Canada—is pointing to an increased fracture risk with thiazolidinediones
(TZDs), used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes [1]. The study, which reviewed fracture risk in more
than 84 000 patients receiving either rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) or pioglitazone
(Actos, Takeda) vs a sulfonylurea, found that both men and women are at increased risk of broken
bones when taking a TZD and hints that pioglitazone may be more strongly associated with
fracture risk. Two years ago, the FDA requested that a warning on fracture risk be added to the
pioglitazone labeling.
The study appears in the August 10/24, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
New service: Initial Client Intake Interview at Buddenhagen & Associates
July 25, 2009 -- Buddenhagen & Associates will perform an initial client interview for medical
related cases and create a database of pertinent client information. This service is designed for
the law firm who does not have an in-house medical intake person and to assist attorneys in
sorting out medical issues from the get-go for a low cost.
The initial client screening is available for all liability cases including medical
malpractice/negligence, personal injury, trucking accidents, wrongful death, injuries, dog bites and
motor vehicle collisions of adults, children and neonates.
First patients receive cardiac stem cells for treatment of MI
July 6, 2009 - Heartwire - Lisa Nainggolan
Los Angeles, CA - Doctors in the US have injected autologous cardiac stem cells into patients for
the first time, with two people out of a planned 24 having received the treatment following an MI.
"This is the first time we have injected cardiac-specific cells into a human," investigator Dr. Raj R.
Makkar (Cedars Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, CA) told Heartwire. "These cells are destined to
be heart-muscle cells, so this is attractive in that sense - we are trying to obtain cardiogenesis."
Preclinical experiments suggest that the cells, known as cardiosphere-derived cells, do develop
into cardiac monocytes, he noted.
AHA/ASA science advisory recommends use of tPA between three and 4.5 hours after stroke
June 1, 2009/Susan Jeffrey -- from Medscape Medical News
Dallas, TX - A new science advisory from the American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke
Association (ASA) has given the green light to the use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to treat
acute ischemic stroke between three and 4.5 hours after symptom onset.
However, the advisory, published online May 28, 2009 in Stroke, still emphasizes that time is of the
essence when it comes to treatment of stroke.
"Although a longer time window for treatment has been tested formally, delays in evaluation and
initiation of therapy should be avoided," the authors stress.
FDA to dieters: Don't use supplement Hydroxycut
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press Writer -- May 2, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Government health officials warned dieters and body builders to immediately
stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold supplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at
least one death.
The Food and Drug Administration said the company that makes the dietary supplement has
agreed to recall 14 Hydroxycut products. Available in grocery stores and pharmacies, Hydroxycut is
advertised as made from natural ingredients.
Male Impotence Drugs May Deserve A Second Look In Women
Augusta, Ga. -- Webwire -- Friday, April 17, 2009
New studies indicate that the three drugs used to treat male impotence also appear to work in
females, albeit a little differently, and should give the scientific community pause to take a second
look at their potential in the 40 percent of women who report sexual dysfunction, researchers say.
Even low level smoke exposure increases atherosclerosis and lipid changes
in adolescents
Heartwire - by Sue Hughes - March 3, 2010
Turku, Finland -- Healthy adolescents frequently exposed to tobacco smoke have arterial changes
associated with preclinical artherosclerosis and increased apolipoprotein B (apoB) levels, a new
study has shown.
The study, published online March 2, 2010 in Circulation, Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes,
was conducted by a group led by Dr. Katariina Kallio (University of Turku, Finland).
"Our findings suggest that children should not face exposure to tobacco smoke at all," Kallio said
in a press statement. "Even a little exposure to tobacco smoke may be harmful for blood vessels.
We need to provide children with a smoke-free environment."
Forget Gum. Walking and Using Phone is Risky.
Driven to Distraction
By Matt Richtel, The New York Times - January 17, 2010
San Francisco -- Distracted driving has gained much attention lately because of the inflated crash
risk posed by drivers using cellphones to talk and text.
But there is another growing problem caused by lower-stakes multitasking -- distracted walking --
which combines a pedestrian, an electronic device and an unseen crack in the sidewalk, the pole
of a stop sign, a toy left on the living room floor or a parked (or sometimes moving) car.
Slightly more than 1,000 pedestrians visited emergency rooms in 2008 because they got
distracted and tripped, fell or ran into something while using a cellphone to talk or text. That was
twice the number from 2007, which had nearly doubled from 2006, according to a study conducted
by Ohio State University, which says it is the first to estimate such accidents.
NYC Asks Food Manufacturers to Cut Salt Content
By David B. Caruso, Associated Press Writer, reported on Yahoo News - January 11, 2010
New York -- City health officials have battled trans fats and high-calorie fast food. Now, they're
taking on salt.
The health department released draft guidelines Monday recommending a maximum amount of
salt that should be in a wide variety of manufactured and packaged foods, aiming to reduce the
average American's salt intake by 20 percent in five years.
The recommendations, endorsed by 25 other city or state agencies and 17 national health
organizations, call for sizable reductions in the sodium content of many products, from a 20
percent drop in peanut butter to a 40 percent decline in canned vegetables.
Liz Buddenhagen comments: "Hooray! Bravo! This is a good thing. There is way too much salt in
everything in the USA - take a look at the labels and start adding."
N.F.L. Acknowledges Long-Term Concussion Effects
By Alan Schwartz/The New York Times/December 21, 2009
After weeks of transforming its approach to concussions and its research into their long-term
effects among players, the N.F.L. not only announced Sunday that it would support research by its
most vocal critics but also conceded publicly for the first time that concussions can have lasting
consequences.
"It's quite obvious from the medical research that's been done that concussions can lead to long-
term problems," the league spokesman Greg Aiello said in a telephone interview. He was
discussing how the league could donate $1 million more to the Center for the Study of Traumatic
Encephalopathy at Boston University, whose discoveries of brain damage commonly associated
with boxers in the brains of deceased football players were regularly discredited by the N.F.L.
Percentage of US Emergency Department Patients Seen Within the Recommended Triage Time
1997 to 2006
Leora I. Horwitz, MD, MHS; Elizabeth H. Bradley, PhD -- Arch Intern Med. 2009;169(20):1857-1865.
The percentage of patients in the ED who are seen by a physician within the time recommended at
triage has been steadily declining and is at its lowest point in at least 10 years. Of all patients in
the ED, the most emergent are the least likely to be seen within the triage target time. Patients of
all racial/ethnic backgrounds and payer types have been similarly affected.
Elizabeth Taylor tweets about experimental MitraClip procedure
October 7, 2009/Shelly Wood/Heartwire -- Hollywood, CA -- Actress Elizabeth Taylor, a recent
devotee of Twitter, divulged yesterday on the popular "microblogging" site that she is going to
undergo an experimental "procedure on my heart" that "involves repairing my leaky valve using a
clip device, without open heart surgery."
Media outlets quickly divulged that this "clip device" is, in fact, the MitraClip, developed by Evalve.
The device is not yet FDA-approved, although it has CE Mark approval in Europe.
Lack of sleep may play role in Alzheimer's: study
September 24, 2009 - Julie Steenhuysen - Chicago (Reuter's) - A study in mice suggests lack of
sleep may play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease, US reseachers said on Thursday.
The findings, reported in the journal Science, are some of the first to link sleep with the
development of Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia.
Use of low-dose aspirin in primary prevention of cardiovascular events not recommended
August 30, 2009 - Fran Lowry - Heartwire - Barcelona, Spain -- The use of lose-dose aspirin in the
primary prevention of cardiovascular events in healthy individuals with asymtomatic
artherosclerosis is currently not warranted, according to the lead researcher of a large "real-world"
study presented today at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2009 Congress.
In the randomized trial of 3350 subjects deemed at high risk for cardiovascular and
cerebrovascular events because of a low ankle-brachial index (ABI), aspirin had absolutely no
effect on reducing events compared to a placebo., Dr. Gerry Fowkes (University of Edinburgh,
Scotland) reported on behalf of the Aspirin for Asymptomatic Atherosclerosis (AAA) trials.
However, aspirin did increase the risk of major hemorrhage.
The bleeding effect "is a real obstacle," Fowkes told heartwire. "I don't think the evidence is
convincing enough as yet that aspirin should be used routinely in the general population."
More data linking thiazolidinediones to fractures
August 12, 2009 | Shelley Wood -- Vancouver, BC - Once again, a large cohort study—this time
from British Columbia, Canada—is pointing to an increased fracture risk with thiazolidinediones
(TZDs), used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes [1]. The study, which reviewed fracture risk in more
than 84 000 patients receiving either rosiglitazone (Avandia, GlaxoSmithKline) or pioglitazone
(Actos, Takeda) vs a sulfonylurea, found that both men and women are at increased risk of broken
bones when taking a TZD and hints that pioglitazone may be more strongly associated with
fracture risk. Two years ago, the FDA requested that a warning on fracture risk be added to the
pioglitazone labeling.
The study appears in the August 10/24, 2009 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
New service: Initial Client Intake Interview at Buddenhagen & Associates
July 25, 2009 -- Buddenhagen & Associates will perform an initial client interview for medical
related cases and create a database of pertinent client information. This service is designed for
the law firm who does not have an in-house medical intake person and to assist attorneys in
sorting out medical issues from the get-go for a low cost.
The initial client screening is available for all liability cases including medical
malpractice/negligence, personal injury, trucking accidents, wrongful death, injuries, dog bites and
motor vehicle collisions of adults, children and neonates.
First patients receive cardiac stem cells for treatment of MI
July 6, 2009 - Heartwire - Lisa Nainggolan
Los Angeles, CA - Doctors in the US have injected autologous cardiac stem cells into patients for
the first time, with two people out of a planned 24 having received the treatment following an MI.
"This is the first time we have injected cardiac-specific cells into a human," investigator Dr. Raj R.
Makkar (Cedars Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, CA) told Heartwire. "These cells are destined to
be heart-muscle cells, so this is attractive in that sense - we are trying to obtain cardiogenesis."
Preclinical experiments suggest that the cells, known as cardiosphere-derived cells, do develop
into cardiac monocytes, he noted.
AHA/ASA science advisory recommends use of tPA between three and 4.5 hours after stroke
June 1, 2009/Susan Jeffrey -- from Medscape Medical News
Dallas, TX - A new science advisory from the American Heart Association (AHA)/American Stroke
Association (ASA) has given the green light to the use of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) to treat
acute ischemic stroke between three and 4.5 hours after symptom onset.
However, the advisory, published online May 28, 2009 in Stroke, still emphasizes that time is of the
essence when it comes to treatment of stroke.
"Although a longer time window for treatment has been tested formally, delays in evaluation and
initiation of therapy should be avoided," the authors stress.
FDA to dieters: Don't use supplement Hydroxycut
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press Writer -- May 2, 2009
WASHINGTON -- Government health officials warned dieters and body builders to immediately
stop using Hydroxycut, a widely sold supplement linked to cases of serious liver damage and at
least one death.
The Food and Drug Administration said the company that makes the dietary supplement has
agreed to recall 14 Hydroxycut products. Available in grocery stores and pharmacies, Hydroxycut is
advertised as made from natural ingredients.
Male Impotence Drugs May Deserve A Second Look In Women
Augusta, Ga. -- Webwire -- Friday, April 17, 2009
New studies indicate that the three drugs used to treat male impotence also appear to work in
females, albeit a little differently, and should give the scientific community pause to take a second
look at their potential in the 40 percent of women who report sexual dysfunction, researchers say.