Last month I posted about benzonatate, a cough suppressant also marketed under the brand Tessalon. (See the link below for the original post.) In that post I detailed an FDA warning about the serious potential side effects of benzonatate, especially in accidental overdoses in children. I also passed along the conclusion of the Medical Letter that safer cough suppressants were available.
My colleague Dr. Roy Artal, a pulmonolo...
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News Nincompoops Narrate Nuclear Nonsense
Images from Japan continue to sadden and shock us. Over 12,000 are confirmed dead or missing due to the earthquake and tsunami, and that number will likely rise. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes. I’m having a hard time finding recent numbers on those without water and electricity, but all the stories state that this continues to be a major problem. The magnitude of what has already been lost, not to mention the serious challenges that remain to get food and water to eve...
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Disaster Preparedness
I was going to post about a different topic today, but I could not ignore the devastation that befell Japan. The powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami have caused destruction that is difficult to grasp. (See links below for two news articles.) The magnitude of the disaster is even more sobering when you realize that Japan is a developed modern high-tech country. Japan is extremely aware of earthquake risks and has modern building codes and frequent earthquake drills. Despite these efforts i...
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News Flash: Diabetes is Not Good
Type 2 diabetes mellitus has long been known to increase the risk of stroke, heart attack, kidney disease, and eye disease. In the US diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure requiring dialysis and one of the leading causes of blindness. Diabetes is also increasing in prevalence as people become more overweight.
A study in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine attempted to quantify the risk of premature death associated with diabetes. The results were dramatic, and attracted much m...
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