When you take a weight loss drug that contains orlistat, about a quarter of the fat you consume passes through the body undigested and is excreted. Drugs that contain orlistat have been associated with severe liver injury, kidney stones and pancreatitis. Two weight-loss drugs that contain orlistat are Alli (generic) and its prescription form Xenical. Alli is available over-the-counter. Recently Glaxo decided to get rid of Alli according to a report in the Wall Street Journal: Glaxo to Shed Its OTC Diet Drug, Alli
Dorry Samuels of Public Citizen reports that Public Citizen petitioned the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on April 14, 2011 to remove two weight-loss drugs containing orlistat from the market because they can cause severe injury to the liver, pancreas and kidneys. Alli has 60 mg of orlistat per pill and Xenical contains 120 mg per pill. The weight-loss benefits are marginal and the risks are high.
In April 2006 Public Citizen petitioned the FDA to remove Xenical because it caused pre-cancerous lesions in the colon. The FDA refused to remove the drug. Many cancers including pancreatic cancer are thought to be associated with inflammatory processes such as painful pancreatitis which may be a precursor to pancreatic cancer, a major killer and basically untreatable. The liver, kidneys, pancreas and colon do not need any more abuse than they already get. Alli and Xenical appear to trigger the destructive processes when a meal contains high fat content in the range of 15 grams or more. The first signs are upset stomach, loose stool and other digestive upsets.
According to Public Citizen the FDA Medwatch reported 47 cases of pancreatitis (39 were hospitalized and 1 died) and 73 cases of kidney stones (23 were hospitalized). Public Citizen reports that 3 people taking orlistat developed acute kidney failure because calcium salt crystals formed throughout the kidneys. Although use of the drugs is declining, there were still 110,000 prescriptions of Xenical in 2009. The percentages and trends are of little importance to someone who takes the drugs and develops a serious health problem.
How do you feel about the FDA allowing a drug with this history to get on the market in the first place and then stay on the market with the known consequences? It seems shocking to me.
To protect yourself and your family from dangerous drugs go to WorstPills, a website created by Public Citizen to get the truth out about dangerous drugs. Better yet, join Public Citizen and support their work on behalf of consumers. Public Citizen is hands down the best consumer organization in the United States. Robert Weissman leads the organization which stands up to the powerful forces of government and corporations. I am a member and support the work of Public Citizen. If you want to contribute to a great consumer organization, Public Citizen will use your contributions well.
2011年6月26日星期日
Ozzie Guillen says this too shall pass
You think you're tough? Bow down to Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen. He is the very definition of tough.
Guillen recently passed a kidney stone and still managed the Sox on the same day. Anyone who has ever dropped a stone will tell you that you do not feel like managing anything other than dictating your last will and testament. No, what you want to do is curl up into the fetal position and cry for your mama.
Unfortunately, sources indicate Ozzie's problems with the English language may have led to mental suggestion creating the stone. Apparently someone said to him that "managing the White Sox must be as bad as passing a kidney stone" -- and he didn't realize it was a metaphor.
Meanwhile, Chicago Cubs Manager Mike Quade must be wondering what the metaphor is for running the Cubbies -- passing a billy goat?
Let's review a few more moments from the week that was before advancing to the main courses in our Brunch that will be prepared by some of our leading sportswriting chefs.
• Former President George W. Bush decided it was hip to help the Rangers set a Guinness Book of World Records mark for most people wearing sunglasses in the dark during a game against the Astros. Again, President Bush decided to do this. That explains a lot.
• Tweet of the Week from SB Nation's Holly Anderson about tennis star Venus Williams: "OK, everybody stop calling Venus' outfit 'UNIQUE' like it's acceptable for a grown woman to wear a ROMPER on television." Ouch.
• You got to love this. Eight is the number of German octopuses that will be used to predict scores in the FIFA Women's World Cup. Best octopus becomes the official replacement for Paul -- the octopus wizard that correctly nailed all of Germany's games in the last World Cup before tragically passing on. Got to be an octopuses' dream (the predicting, not the passing on).
• Hey, Oregon, I got some hot tips on Florida's best high school football players from 2009. Call me.
• Jason Hunter, defensive end for the Denver Broncos, was struck in the chest by a kitchen knife allegedly thrown by his girlfriend. He'll be OK but we can neither confirm nor deny that the Broncos would like his girlfriend to drop by for a workout.
• Reports indicated the Cleveland Browns my make a bid for former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft. Oh, come on, he may have done some bad things but hasn't he suffered enough?
• Quote of the Week and probably the Month comes from driver Danica Patrick about going full speed on the bumpy turns at Iowa Speedway: "That took some ovaries to do because I wasn't really excited to do it but I did it."
• Lakers forward Ron Artest has filed paperwork to be legally known as Metta World Peace. I think we all are thinking the same thing: How did he ever come up with such a strange name as Metta?
And now we move to the main dishes in this last Brunch for June with a strong emphasis on what once was our national pastime. Yes, we're talking baseball. Enjoy.
• At the top we mentioned Cubs Manager Mike Quade, the latest in a long line of Cubbie managers just waiting to be fired. But Dan McGrath of The New York Times tells us that at least Quade continues to manage with a smile on his face and a song of baseball in his heart.
• The debate continues on whether hiring Jack McKeon, 80, to manage the Marlins once again was a brilliant move or mere publicity stunt. Either way McKeon is doing things his way just as he did in 2003 when the club won the World Series as Clark Spencer explains for The Miami Herald. Pay particular attention to his use of "poo-poo and pee-pee passes" when a player wants to be excused from the dugout.
• But if the Cubs and Marlins think they have troubles, read about what a day at a Dodgers' game is like for Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. The day started with getting a prime ticket for $2.55 on the Internet and got cheaper and cheesier from there.
• Speaking of troubles, Manager Jim Riggleman told the Washington Nationals that he either got a new contract or he was out the door. In effect, the Nationals said don't let the door slap your rear side on the way out. Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post is not impressed with Riggleman's bluff or his managing career.
Guillen recently passed a kidney stone and still managed the Sox on the same day. Anyone who has ever dropped a stone will tell you that you do not feel like managing anything other than dictating your last will and testament. No, what you want to do is curl up into the fetal position and cry for your mama.
Unfortunately, sources indicate Ozzie's problems with the English language may have led to mental suggestion creating the stone. Apparently someone said to him that "managing the White Sox must be as bad as passing a kidney stone" -- and he didn't realize it was a metaphor.
Meanwhile, Chicago Cubs Manager Mike Quade must be wondering what the metaphor is for running the Cubbies -- passing a billy goat?
Let's review a few more moments from the week that was before advancing to the main courses in our Brunch that will be prepared by some of our leading sportswriting chefs.
• Former President George W. Bush decided it was hip to help the Rangers set a Guinness Book of World Records mark for most people wearing sunglasses in the dark during a game against the Astros. Again, President Bush decided to do this. That explains a lot.
• Tweet of the Week from SB Nation's Holly Anderson about tennis star Venus Williams: "OK, everybody stop calling Venus' outfit 'UNIQUE' like it's acceptable for a grown woman to wear a ROMPER on television." Ouch.
• You got to love this. Eight is the number of German octopuses that will be used to predict scores in the FIFA Women's World Cup. Best octopus becomes the official replacement for Paul -- the octopus wizard that correctly nailed all of Germany's games in the last World Cup before tragically passing on. Got to be an octopuses' dream (the predicting, not the passing on).
• Hey, Oregon, I got some hot tips on Florida's best high school football players from 2009. Call me.
• Jason Hunter, defensive end for the Denver Broncos, was struck in the chest by a kitchen knife allegedly thrown by his girlfriend. He'll be OK but we can neither confirm nor deny that the Broncos would like his girlfriend to drop by for a workout.
• Reports indicated the Cleveland Browns my make a bid for former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft. Oh, come on, he may have done some bad things but hasn't he suffered enough?
• Quote of the Week and probably the Month comes from driver Danica Patrick about going full speed on the bumpy turns at Iowa Speedway: "That took some ovaries to do because I wasn't really excited to do it but I did it."
• Lakers forward Ron Artest has filed paperwork to be legally known as Metta World Peace. I think we all are thinking the same thing: How did he ever come up with such a strange name as Metta?
And now we move to the main dishes in this last Brunch for June with a strong emphasis on what once was our national pastime. Yes, we're talking baseball. Enjoy.
• At the top we mentioned Cubs Manager Mike Quade, the latest in a long line of Cubbie managers just waiting to be fired. But Dan McGrath of The New York Times tells us that at least Quade continues to manage with a smile on his face and a song of baseball in his heart.
• The debate continues on whether hiring Jack McKeon, 80, to manage the Marlins once again was a brilliant move or mere publicity stunt. Either way McKeon is doing things his way just as he did in 2003 when the club won the World Series as Clark Spencer explains for The Miami Herald. Pay particular attention to his use of "poo-poo and pee-pee passes" when a player wants to be excused from the dugout.
• But if the Cubs and Marlins think they have troubles, read about what a day at a Dodgers' game is like for Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. The day started with getting a prime ticket for $2.55 on the Internet and got cheaper and cheesier from there.
• Speaking of troubles, Manager Jim Riggleman told the Washington Nationals that he either got a new contract or he was out the door. In effect, the Nationals said don't let the door slap your rear side on the way out. Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post is not impressed with Riggleman's bluff or his managing career.
2011年4月20日星期三
A new wave in equine medicine
Shock-wave therapy shows early potential for treating some orthopedic problems
Lithotripsy was a great discovery. Anyone who has suffered with kidney stones or bladder stones knows the intense pain associated with these conditions. The development of lithotripsy allowed doctors to focus pressure or shock waves on the stones to break them apart. The patient then passes much smaller stone particles, reducing or eliminating pain and avoiding surgery.
In the course of investigating the broader effects of shock-wave therapy, researchers have made a few other discoveries. In the early 1980s, researchers were concerned about the possible effects of lithotripsy on the surrounding tissue.
They knew the shock waves would gently break apart the stones in the kidney or bladder, but what would those pressure waves do to surrounding tissue such as blood vessels, kidney cells, and the bone of the pelvis?
The first experiments on shock-wave side effects, as they were then considered, were carried out on the pelvic bones of rabbits. Shock waves were applied as they would be for lithotripsy, and the pelvic bones were then examined under a microscope.
Researchers discovered small ruptures in the bone tissue. Bleeding and microdamage to the bone cells resembled, on a cellular level, what would occur in a fresh fracture. At first, this was of great concern. This new, wonderful procedure that could remove kidney stones without pain and surgery was also likely to cause blood-vessel damage and local microfractures. Was this going to be another situation where the problems associated with a cure were as bad or worse than the original condition?
Stimulate repair
Researchers followed the progress of the damage to the bone tissue, however, and found that, after the shock-wave trauma occurred, the osteocytes and osteoblasts of the affected bone showed increased activity. These cells are responsible for repairing damage to bone and for producing new bone to heal the damage. It is exactly these cells that the body needs to heal fractures and to heal any type of stress to the bone.
Shock waves seem to stimulate these cells, and the result is increased growth. Researchers then began to think of ways to apply this new information to conditions where bone growth was desirable.
Studies began in Bulgaria in the mid-1980s on the effects of shock waves on pseudoarthrosis, a disorder in the fracture-healing process where the body forms only a cartilage-like link between the fractured bone ends, but real stable bone callus does not form. Nonunion fractures fall into this category as well.
The first medical paper reporting on the use of shock-wave therapy for the healing of pseudoarthrosis was published in 1991, and other researchers soon confirmed the results.
They found that shock waves provided an effect similar to a fresh fracture on a tissue level. The body then seemed to recognize that healing in this area was still required and in many cases a bony link was formed. These studies showed that 60%-to-80% of all pseudoarthrosis cases could be healed completely with shock-wave therapy.
This information in turn caused other human orthopedic researchers to investigate shock-wave therapy use for a number of other conditions. Researchers in Hamburg, Germany, discovered that shock waves caused a decrease in pain in areas associated with bone-tendon connections. Shock waves seemed to relieve pain associated with shoulder injuries, tennis elbow, and heel spurs.
Further research indicated that shock waves might actually reduce the bony growths that develop at the areas where tendons and ligaments are inserted onto bone. In conditions such as tennis elbow and heel spurs, repeated trauma causes the bone to produce small, irregular growths known as osteophytes.
The body produces this bone material in an attempt to deal with the stress at that particular location. The buildup of this bone tissue causes more pain in the tendon or ligament, which must now move over these irregularly shaped, often irritating bone spurs. Shock waves reduce the pain in these areas and seem to resolve some of the excessive bone growth.
Lithotripsy was a great discovery. Anyone who has suffered with kidney stones or bladder stones knows the intense pain associated with these conditions. The development of lithotripsy allowed doctors to focus pressure or shock waves on the stones to break them apart. The patient then passes much smaller stone particles, reducing or eliminating pain and avoiding surgery.
In the course of investigating the broader effects of shock-wave therapy, researchers have made a few other discoveries. In the early 1980s, researchers were concerned about the possible effects of lithotripsy on the surrounding tissue.
They knew the shock waves would gently break apart the stones in the kidney or bladder, but what would those pressure waves do to surrounding tissue such as blood vessels, kidney cells, and the bone of the pelvis?
The first experiments on shock-wave side effects, as they were then considered, were carried out on the pelvic bones of rabbits. Shock waves were applied as they would be for lithotripsy, and the pelvic bones were then examined under a microscope.
Researchers discovered small ruptures in the bone tissue. Bleeding and microdamage to the bone cells resembled, on a cellular level, what would occur in a fresh fracture. At first, this was of great concern. This new, wonderful procedure that could remove kidney stones without pain and surgery was also likely to cause blood-vessel damage and local microfractures. Was this going to be another situation where the problems associated with a cure were as bad or worse than the original condition?
Stimulate repair
Researchers followed the progress of the damage to the bone tissue, however, and found that, after the shock-wave trauma occurred, the osteocytes and osteoblasts of the affected bone showed increased activity. These cells are responsible for repairing damage to bone and for producing new bone to heal the damage. It is exactly these cells that the body needs to heal fractures and to heal any type of stress to the bone.
Shock waves seem to stimulate these cells, and the result is increased growth. Researchers then began to think of ways to apply this new information to conditions where bone growth was desirable.
Studies began in Bulgaria in the mid-1980s on the effects of shock waves on pseudoarthrosis, a disorder in the fracture-healing process where the body forms only a cartilage-like link between the fractured bone ends, but real stable bone callus does not form. Nonunion fractures fall into this category as well.
The first medical paper reporting on the use of shock-wave therapy for the healing of pseudoarthrosis was published in 1991, and other researchers soon confirmed the results.
They found that shock waves provided an effect similar to a fresh fracture on a tissue level. The body then seemed to recognize that healing in this area was still required and in many cases a bony link was formed. These studies showed that 60%-to-80% of all pseudoarthrosis cases could be healed completely with shock-wave therapy.
This information in turn caused other human orthopedic researchers to investigate shock-wave therapy use for a number of other conditions. Researchers in Hamburg, Germany, discovered that shock waves caused a decrease in pain in areas associated with bone-tendon connections. Shock waves seemed to relieve pain associated with shoulder injuries, tennis elbow, and heel spurs.
Further research indicated that shock waves might actually reduce the bony growths that develop at the areas where tendons and ligaments are inserted onto bone. In conditions such as tennis elbow and heel spurs, repeated trauma causes the bone to produce small, irregular growths known as osteophytes.
The body produces this bone material in an attempt to deal with the stress at that particular location. The buildup of this bone tissue causes more pain in the tendon or ligament, which must now move over these irregularly shaped, often irritating bone spurs. Shock waves reduce the pain in these areas and seem to resolve some of the excessive bone growth.
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