The Learning Blog

More than a month ago, the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) Advisory Committee held a meeting in Maryland, USA in order to address the problem of liver injury related to the use of paracetamol (or acetaminophen) in both over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription drugs. More »

Image from veer.com

From theheart.org:

Possibly in the near future a patient with arthritis and heart disease might not be prescribed with one of the newer anti-arthritis drug called a COX-2 inhibitor such as celecoxib but with an older drug called naproxen.

More »

Image from Veer.com

A study done by the National Institutes of Health and presented at the annual  meeting of The Endocrine Society found an association between the use of artificial sweeteners to weight gain and insulin-resistance as compared to nonusers.

More »

The United States Food and Drug Administration has alerted healthcare professionals on the risk for serious liver damage or even death caused by the antithyroid drug propylthiouracil or PTU.

There were reported 32 cases involving 10 pediatric and 22 adults. In adults, 12 died and 5 patients required liver transplant, while 1 child died and 6 children needed liver transplant.

The USFDA has reminded that PTU should only be used as a second-line drug for hyperthyroidism. That is, if the patient cannot take methimazole or othe antithyroids then PTU is indicated; however, they should be monitored frequently for any liver damage during their course of the treatment.

Comment:

It was several years ago that my wife had the opportunity to take PTU for her hyperthyroidism since her endocrinologist prescribed it while she was pregnant with our second child. The doctor assured us that PTU is very safe for pregnant women having an active hyperthyroid. It was fortunate that she did not get side-effects related to PTU. But I now wonder if our second child’s autism could be related to the PTU intake. It is unfortunate for us that we still have a gaping hole in our understanding of autism, we cannot be sure yet what really causes it, much less treat them. But I digress.

Propylthiouracil is a drug that reduces the amount of thyroid hormones secreted by the thyroid gland by inhibiting the enzyme thyroperoxidase which normally adds the iodide molecule to the protein thyroglobulin producing thyroxin. It was first approved for medical use in 1947.

More info: FDA PTU Alert

I just recently received MedScape’s email listing their Top Ten Articles for 2008 for the Internal Medicine Specialty. Click on the numbered headings for more information on the particular articles. More »

The JUPITER Study (Justification for the Use of Statins in Primary Prevention: An Intervention Trial Evaluating Rosuvastatin) is a US study with its objective is to assess the effect of statin intake in apparently normal individuals with a normal LDL-cholesterol level and a high C-reactive protein (CRP) level. More »