Morning MEDtalks with Dr KK Aggarwal 20th August 2018

Around the globe

1. Heartburn: The fastest treatment is to neutralize the acid by taking an over-the-counter antacid. While antacids work within minutes, they often dont last, so you may have to take repeated doses until symptoms subside.
2. For longer-lasting relief, you can try an H2 blocker, which stops stomach cells from making acid. H2 blockers begin to act within an hour and last for another 10 to 12 hours (If you still need the occasional antacid, wait 30 to 60 minutes after taking one before adding an H2 blocker).
3. Proton-pump inhibitors are even stronger acid blockers. If your heartburn doesnt respond to these drugs or lasts for more than 10 days, see your doctor.
4. Increased risks for stroke or cardiovascular disease (CVD) are seen only in communities where mean sodium intake exceeds 5 g per day, new research from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study shows.
5. A number of studies have found a U-shaped relationship between sodium and cardiovascular events, with a sweet spot in the middle, between 3 and 5 g per day, associated with the lowest risk (August 11 in The Lancet).
6. Weight gain that often accompanies smoking cessation temporarily raises the risk for developing type 2 diabetes, but it doesnt diminish the overall benefits in reducing cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (August 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine).
7. Women who have a myocardial infarction (MI) are more likely to survive when treated by female rather than male emergency department (ED) physicians (August 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America).
8. Current data do not support greater dietary diversity as an effective strategy to promote healthy eating patterns and healthy body weight. Instead, it is appropriate to promote a healthy eating pattern that emphasizes adequate intake of plant foods, protein sources, low-fat dairy products, vegetable oils, and nuts and limits consumption of sweets, sugar-sweetened beverages, and red meats (August 9 in Circulation).
9. The measurement of arterial stiffness through carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) is generally considered as an index of early vascular aging.
10. The article by Menni et al., published in the the European Heart Journal, provides an original and important contribution with regard to the relationship between gut microbiome composition and arterial stiffness.
11. Whole-body cryotherapy is a technology designed to cool the body by exposing it to subzero temperatures (typically –200° to –300° F) for short sessions of two to four minutes. In some cases, people sit in a cold room; in others, they are placed in a special enclosure that cools them from the neck down. The theory behind cryotherapy is that cold temperatures can reduce inflammation and swelling in the body — much like an ice pack would on your swollen ankle (Harvard Health0.
12. FDA has not cleared or approved any whole-body cryotherapy device to treat any medical condition.
13. World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday announced crucial changes to the multi drug resistant TB treatment regimen, which includes expanding the usage of the latest tuberculosis drug, Bedaquiline. It also calls on countries to minimize the use of injectables, which are known to cause serious side effects in patients.

Video to watch: Modern day doctor-patient relationship: TEDx Talk by Dr KK Aggarwal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9ml1vKK2DQ