Four Senators Now Oppose Califf Nomination To Head The FDA
(Updated on January 26 and January 27) US Senator Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is seeking to block Rob Califf’s nomination to head the FDA, according to a report in the Boston Globe. Markey will use Senate rules to place a hold on the nomination. In September President Obama nominated Califf, a well-known Duke...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 25, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics Califf FDA Senate Source Type: blogs
Massachusetts Senator Places Hold On Califf’s FDA Nomination
(Updated) US Senator Edward Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, is seeking to block Rob Califf’s nomination to head the FDA, according to a report in the Boston Globe. Markey will use Senate rules to place a hold on the nomination. In September President Obama nominated Califf, a well-known Duke University cardiologist and clinical researcher, to...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 25, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics Califf FDA Senate Source Type: blogs
New Lab Company Seeks To Bury Links To Zombie Lab And Rogue Sales Team
A new, rapidly growing laboratory company has been publicly linked to a disgraced and now bankrupt laboratory company and its sales team. Now the new company, True Health Diagnostics (THD), is trying to distance itself from that lab company, Health Diagnostic Laboratory (HDL), and its affiliated sales team, BlueWave. But THD’s claim of independence falls...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 24, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics BlueWave HDL Lab Health Diagnostic Laboratory True Health Diagnostics Source Type: blogs
Why Guidelines Are Bad For Science
Bad guidelines don’t just give bad advice. They also harm science and impede research. The new US Dietary Guidelines– which I’ve already called a recipe for disaster— are a perfect example of why we need to have fewer, shorter, and, crucially, better guidelines. Back in 2014, in response to the controversy over salt guidelines, I...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 21, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Uncategorized bad science dietary guidelines Source Type: blogs
Editors Deliver Major Victory To Open Data Movement
The open data movement has gained its biggest victory yet. In an editorial published simultaneously in 14 major medical journals today, The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) delivered a full-throated endorsement, in both actions as well as words, of data sharing by clinical researchers. Here is the core of the ICMJE proposal: As...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 20, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics AllTrials data sharing open data YODA Source Type: blogs
Recipe For Disaster: The New US Dietary Guidelines
The science of nutrition is a disaster. For a variety of very good reasons it is nearly impossible to perform high quality, long term randomized controlled trials to provide satisfactory answers to most of the pressing questions of the day. But many experts are convinced they do know the answer to many of these questions....Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 18, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes cholesterol diet guidelines nutrition Saturated fat USDG Source Type: blogs
Some Come To Bury The Stethoscope, Some To Praise It
Is the stethoscope still an essential tool of modern medicine or is it an obsolete low-tech vestige of an antiquated era? There is, to say the least, a wide variety of opinions on the topic. On the one hand, technology enthusiasts argue that the stethoscope should be replaced by portable ultrasound devices. “The stethoscope’s 200th birthday should...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 15, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics Cardiology medical education stethoscope technology ultrasound Source Type: blogs
Study Shows Why Sham Controls Are Necessary For Device Trials
— If we can melt the ice-caps then surely we can understand our own fallibility, says one UK cardiologist. The strongest known force in the universe is the ability of the human mind to deceive itself. If we know something to be true then we find the evidence to prove it. There is no better...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 12, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Interventional Cardiology & Surgery Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes bias blood pressure hypertension renal denervation SYMPLICITY Source Type: blogs
Zombie Laboratory Company Sics Bill Collectors On Patients Promised Free Tests
(Updated) In several short years Health Diagnostic Laboratory (HDL) achieved spectacular growth partially on the promise to customers that they would never be responsible for the high costs of the company’s tests. Now, after bankruptcy and a forced sale of the company following multi-million dollar lawsuits by the Federal government and large private insurance companies, those same...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 7, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics BlueWave HDL HDL Lab Health Diagnostic Laboratory True Health Diagnostics Source Type: blogs
Precision Medicine, Stuck In Second Grade, Flunks Test Of Clinical Utility
One of the great scientific achievements of the past generation has been the identification and characterization of the genetic underpinnings for many diseases. By combining genetic information with other forms of research doctors have been able to reach a much deeper understanding of many diseases. In a few cases genetic information has proved useful in screening...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 5, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Classics Heart Rhythms Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes genetic testing genetics genotype phenotype precision medicine Source Type: blogs
Rat Study Links Neural Tube Defects To Lower PCSK9 Levels
(Updated) PCSK9 may play an important role in neural tube development (NTD), a new study in rats suggests. The study, published in Scientific Reports, found that PCSK9 levels were significantly reduced in rat embryos with NTDs. The main focus of the paper was to identify biomarkers that could be used for the prenatal detection of NTDs, since there are now...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - January 4, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Policy & Ethics Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Uncategorized cholesterol LDL neural tube defects PCSK9 Source Type: blogs
Paper Raises More Questions About Salt Restriction In Heart Failure
Sodium restriction is a cornerstone of heart failure management, but many people would be surprised to learn that there is no good supporting evidence for the practice. In the 2009 heart failure guidelines sodium restriction in heart failure received a Class I recommendation (recommended), but this was based only on expert consensus (a C level of evidence of...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 28, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Heart Failure Policy & Ethics guidelines salt sodium Source Type: blogs
2015: The Year We Finally Cured Heart Disease!
Editor’s note: Larry was too depressed to write the 2015 yearly review. Veteran healthcare journalist and eternal optimist Candide Corn volunteered to take over the task this year. Candide’s motto is “all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds.” What a great year for cardiology! The year brought us an unending...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 28, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Meta-Analysis Gives More Support To Aggressive Blood Pressure Treatment
A large new meta-analysis offers fresh support to the growing movement in favor of more aggressive treatment to lower high blood pressure. The findings are consistent with and extend the results of the recently reported NIH SPRINT trial, which found substantial clinical benefits for a systolic blood pressure target of 120 mm Hg instead of 140...Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 23, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes Policy & Ethics Source Type: blogs
First Outcomes Trial Results For PCSK9 Drugs Will Come In 2016
In less than a year we may know a whole lot more about the PCSK9 inhibitors than we do now. Since the approval earlier this year of Repatha (evolocumab, Amgen) and Praluent (alirocumab, Regeneron and Sanofi) critics and benefit managers have recommended strict limitations on use of the drugs because of the absence of evidence showing clinical benefit....Click here to continue reading... (Source: CardioBrief)
Source: CardioBrief - December 21, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Larry Husten Tags: Prevention, Epidemiology & Outcomes People, Places & Events Policy & Ethics PCSK9 Repatha Praluent Fourier choelsterol outcomes trials Source Type: blogs
