Despite the availability of numerous antihypertensive agents, adequate blood pressure control and, ultimately, more effective prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality remain elusive goals.
Current knowledge suggests that the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAS), a regulator of sodium and potassium balance, is involved in the development of hypertension and its associated complications. Thus, inhibition of the RAS is a logical step for BP control and cardiovascular and renal protection.
Please join our guest authors, Samer Ellahham, M.D., Head, The Center for Heart Failure, Department of Cardiac Sciences, SKMC/Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Abu Dhabi, UAE, and Helmy M. Siragy, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, and Director, Hypertension Center, The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, as they present
Suppression of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System in Systemic Hypertension: Choice of Agents and Clinical Impact. One hour toward the
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) remains a diagnostic challenge to emergency physicians. Despite advances in motor vehicle and occupational safety measures over the past three decades, BAT resulting in intra-abdominal injury represents a substantial cause of mortality and morbidity in the United States and worldwide
Even though treating physicians have many new and effective diagnostic techniques (e.g., FAST), here is a surprisingly large group of patients (pediatric, obese, pregnant) who continue to pose additional risks and difficulties for the clinician.
Please join John R. Richards, M.D., F.A.A.E.M., Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, California, as he discusses the diagnosis and management of six prototypical and intriguing cases in
Blunt Abdominal Trauma: Current Concepts. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Toxic sugar sounds like it could be the name of a girl group, but, unfortunately, it is the apt descriptor for glucose's effects on diabetics' bodies over time.
It is estimated that 60-70 percent of people with diabetes will develop some form of neuropathy during the course of their illness. While not precise, the presentation of neuropathy appears to occur after five years and reaches a peak after 25 years of hyperglycemia.
But what exactly does the high level of glucose do? Why is it so injurious?
Please join John W. Wiley, M.D., Professor, Internal Medicine and Director, Michigan Clinical Research Unit, and Dr. Roberto Towns, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, as they look at the enzymatic and metabolic consequences of too much glucose in
Neuropathic Complications of Diabetes. This activity has been approved for
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
You may or may not know that more than 10,000 different kinds of microbes live happily in our GI tract.
And this is a very good thing. These 10,000 are not mere freeloaders looking to take advantage of a congenial environment. Rather, they help maintain an elaborate homeostasis that insures health. Think of them as excellent dinner companions.
When this "microbiota" is disturbed, it now appears that many serious chronic diseases -- ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel, Crohn's -- may result. With this new understanding of GI disease, researchers are starting to identify effective therapies to help the bacteria cope with various insults.
Please join eminent researchers John Y. Kao, M. D., Assistant Professor and Nirmal Kaur, M.D., Fellow, Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, and Vincent B. Young, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division, and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, as they take us on a tour of
The Indigenous Gastrointestinal Microbiota in Health and Disease. This activity has been approved for
1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM:
Time marches on whether we like it or not. We're getting older and, at a certain point, we know it or feel it.
But what exactly does that mean? In what way are we older? We can see the obvious wrinkles and the loss of muscle tone. But are our internal organs similarly older in appearance?
And, most importantly, what is happening out of view, at the cellular and molecular level?
Please join Robert J. Pignolo, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Director, Ralston-Penn Clinic for Osteoporosis & Related Bone Disorders, Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA., as he makes sense of the inevitable drama in
Cell and Molecular Biology of Aging. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Recently television executives announced that they were canceling As The World Turns, the last remaining daytime drama, after 54 years.
Who needs soaps when we have our own, long-running, 60-year-old soap opera, Will We Ever Have Health Care Reform? It features a cast of legislative characters who will say or do anything to get their names in the news.
Please join Max J. Mehlman, J.D., Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law and Director of the Law-Medicine Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Law, as he makes sense of all the drama in
Containing Health Care Costs. This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit
TM
.
The treatment of brain tumors changed during the past five years, largely as a result of a large prospective European and Canadian research study. But despite the revised standard, brain cancer for most patients will inevitably progress.
Now, thanks to emerging research highlighting the pathways important in gliomagenesis, new targeted therapies may soon be available to act upon brain tumor cells.
Please join Nicole A. Shonka, M.D., Fellow, and Mark R. Gilbert, M.D., Deputy Chair and Professor, the Department of Neuro-Oncology, the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, as they look at the molecular pathways and the therapeutic possibilities in
Molecularly Targeted Therapies for Malignant Brain Tumors. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
You are what you eat, we've been told.
But in truth, what you eat is based on who you are.
Please join Hillary L. Shaw, M.D., Department of Medicine, Caritas Carney Hospital, Dorchester, MA; Cedrick D. Dotson, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology; Steven D. Munger, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology; and Nanette Steinle, Assistant Professor of Medicine, all at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, as they discuss,
Genetic Variation In Taste Receptors and Eating Behavior. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Gadolinium? Does it ring any bells?
Clue: It's a rare earth element and a member of the lanthanide series in the Periodic Table of elements.
And it's also used in magnetic resonance angiograms where it is causing serious problems for patients.
Please join Frieda Wolf, M.D., Attending Physician in Nephrology and Internal Medicine at Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel, as she reviews the etiology of
Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis and what to do about it. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
She is a 55-year-old previously healthy woman who reports 6 weeks of diarrhea, followed by generalized hair loss sparing only her eyebrows. On exam, the only new finding in addition to the alopecia is reddish discoloration of her fingernails. Serum chemistries including thyroid studies are normal, as is the neuro exam. What's going on?
Please join our guest authors, Mark Sutter, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine, and Jennifer Brown, M.D., Clinical Fellow, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis, as they discuss this most interesting case. One hour toward the
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
The fascination with quantification, AKA demographics, continues.
If we told you that:
- More than 9 million Americans have it.
- It primarily affects whites, especially cigarette smokers.
- And mostly those over 55.
What would you think we're talking about?
Not politics, we can assure you.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), also known as age-related maculopathy, is a potentially progressive macular disease that is the leading cause of adult visual impairment and blindness in industrialized nations.
Please join Joshua L. Dunaief, M.D., Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, and Leon Charkoudian, M.D., Resident, F.M. Kirby Center for Molecular Ophthalmology, Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, as they present
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD). This activity has been approved for 1.0 hour toward the
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Dealing with a teenager about anything is never easy, but it's especially challenging when you're trying to treat and manage a teen who is depressed.
Around 40% of depressed adolescents will not respond to initial treatment with an SSRI. Even with the combination of cognitve behavior therapy and medication, response rates at 12 weeks range between 55-71%. Those who do not respond to an initial treatment are at risk for developing chronic depression, which is functionally impairing and associated with a higher rate of suicidal behavior.
So is there any strategy that works?
Please join David Brent, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, as he reviews
Treatment-Resistant Depression in Adolescents: Assessment and Management. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
CA-MRSA -- It sounds to some like a California vanity plate. If only
Community-acquired methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus is a virulent infection occurring among patients without traditional risk factors for MRSA (such as hospitalization). CA-MRSA infections have become epidemic in the U.S. with recent isolates demonstrating a 44-59% methicillin-resistant range.
The S. aureus infections present in a wide variety of ways, from relatively innocuous cutaneous infections to toxic shock syndrome, invasive blood stream infections, infective endocarditis, bone and joint infections, and necrotizing pneumonia.
What do you need to know to recognize CA-MRSA? How do you treat it?
Please join Daniel Scheurich, M.D., clinical fellow, and Keith Woeltje, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, as they review
Community-acquired MRSA. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the leading causes of death in the United States. Currently, more than 24 million Americans have COPD. As the population ages and a new generation of smokers matures, it is certain that this disease will impact patients and the medical establishment for years to come.
New research demonstrates that chronic exposure to cigarette smoke results in a marked increase in matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), zinc-dependent enzymes, within the lung. And it is the presence of these proteases which is a critical factor in the development of COPD.
Is there anything we can do to reduce the effects of MMPs?
Please join Robert Foronjy, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, and Jeanine D'Armiento, M.D., Ph.D.,
Associate Professor of Medicine, Columbia University, Department of Medicine, Division of Molecular and Pulmonary Medicine, New York, as they discuss,
The Role of Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) in COPD. One hour toward the
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). It sounds like lyrics Julie Andrews could have sung, but the syndrome, also known as hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS), is a rare but potentially life-threatening complication of Still's disease in both children and adults, of systemic lupus erythematosus and occasionally with other systemic autoimmune connective tissue diseases.
Please join Arlene Tan Tieng, M.D., and Irene Blanco, M.D., Rheumatology Fellows, and Peter Barland, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Pathology, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, as they review the possible cellular causes of HPS and what to do about them in:
Hemophagocytic Syndrome in Rheumatic Diseases. This activity has been approved for 1.0
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
Ovarian cancer is the most lethal of all the gynecologic malignancies. It's often symptom-free until it reaches dangerously advanced stages. And screening methods, such as the use of transvaginal ultrasonography and serum CA-125, are not effective.
So what should you do?
Please join Jonathan S. Berek, M.D., M.S.S., Professor and Chair, and Renata Urban, M.D., Resident, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA., as they present the
Diagnosis and Treatment of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer. One hour toward the
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
You probably don't think about it as a health issue, but actually, it's more important than you think. Oxygen is essential to survival. Every cell in every body needs it. On good days, 21% of the air we breathe is oxygen. And, the body's oxygen balance may, according to new research, be the key to various diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
But what controls oxygen levels? Is hemoglobin the big enchilada or is the system more complex? According to our guest author, Gregg L. Semenza, M.D., Ph.D., from Johns Hopkins, there's a master regulator that's pulling the strings and controlling whether you're healthy or sick. Please welcome Dr. Semenza, Professor in the Deparments of Pediatrics, Medicine, Oncology, Radiation Oncology and McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Director of the Vascular Program in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering, as he presents the brave new oxygen world in
Oxygen Homeostasis in Health and Disease. One hour toward the
AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM.
