Features

Perspective – Gout Thrilla in Manila

30-Mar-2012

I was recently in Manila to attend a family function. While there we had quite an interesting experience that began when my brother-in-law, a previously healthy 41-year-old white male of Croatian descent, came to breakfast one morning limping. As we sat in the hotel restaurant chatting over...

Commentary – The Unexpectedly Critically Ill Gravida

29-Mar-2012

The process of labor and delivery is considered to be a joyous event in women’s lives, and most of the time it is. However, practitioners have to be aware of potential complications that can have dire adverse outcomes, causing maternal morbidity and mortality as well as severe consequences for...

Perspective – Opiates and Sedatives During Breastfeeding

28-Mar-2012

The longstanding view that maternal use of sedatives and opioids were safe in breastfeeding changed dramatically after we published a case report of an 11-day-old healthy full-term baby who had died, without postmortem anatomical findings. The baby had a high blood morphine level, and genetic...

Perspective – Exercise Hypocrisy

14-Mar-2012

Of all my sundry hypocrisies, my enthusiasm for telling my patients to exercise is probably the biggest of all. The late radio nutritionist Carlton Fredericks (1910-1987) was fond of quipping, “When I have that urge to exercise, I just lie down until it goes away.”

I’m afraid that...

Perspective: Emblica

14-Mar-2012

Emblica officinalis (also known as Phyllanthus emblica, Indian gooseberry, or by its Hindi name amla) is a deciduous tree the fruit of which is a rich dietary source of vitamin C as well as various minerals, amino acids, and phenolic compounds. Native to India, and found also in China,...

Perspective – Cystic Fibrosis Gets a Breath of Fresh Air

22-Feb-2012

Since the discovery of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene in 1989, the promise of a targeted treatment for cystic fibrosis, the most common lethal genetic disease of Caucasians, has seemed within reach. The public and at least a generation of medical students heard the...

Perspective – Study Suggests New Potential Alzheimer’s Treatment Strategy

17-Feb-2012

A pharmacotherapeutic approach that harnesses the amyloid-beta clearing effects of the apolipoprotein E gene while also activating microglia to clear amyloid plaques from the brains of mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease could become a new treatment strategy to test clinically.

Perspective – Tackling the Hurdles of the Female Athletic Triad

17-Feb-2012

First be on the lookout for an adolescent girl in your practice who might have the “female athletic triad,” which is characterized by disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis.

Many girls are involved in sports these days, which is fantastic. But there are some girls and/or...

Perspective - Astaxanthin

15-Feb-2012

Certain plant constituents have been established as exerting photoprotective effects, such as antioxidants, which include carotenoids, tocopherols, vitamin C, and flavonoids and other polyphenols. Researchers have shown that carotenoids are superior scavengers of singlet oxygen and sufficient...

The Golden Slippers

15-Feb-2012

There are many clues that can be gleaned from the medication lists that patients bring with them to clinic. “Hate, Hate steroids” read a note one of my patients had written for me at the bottom of her list. Of all the double-edged swords we wield in clinic, glucocorticosteroids (prednisone and...