JAMA NOTES

JAMA 14 May 2019 Vol.321 Number 19 page 1799

Association of a Beverage Tax on Sugar, Sweetened and Artificially Sweetened Beverages With Changes in Beverage Prices and Sales at Chain Retailers In A Large Urban Settings

Christine Roberto PhD .et al

In 2017 a study was done to examine the effect of raising the fee in both sugar and artificially sweetened drinks. Two cities were involved, mainly Philadelphia and Baltimore. The study included supermarkets, pharmacies and general mass merchandisers. Altogether the number came to 291 places.

The researchers concluded that the prices ended up higher in Philadelphia while the quantity of drinks that were sold went down. However, the number of sales in stores outside Philadelphia went up.

If you’re thinking of going out on a limb……………..

It might be nice to know before hand what’s at the end of the bough.

There is a “delicious” (forgive the pun).controversy going on in the recent medical news. What has long been considered “established” doctrine has now been resurrected and causing quite a stir. For those who have missed it, I refer to the advice/question on the consumption of red meat.

The original article and a follow up commentary are both too long to try to reproduce here and I consider it presumptuous of me to try to summarize either one. Therefore for those interested, I cite the sources and leave it to the reader to pursue if interested.

The original article appeared in the ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE CLINICAL GUIDELINES …Dated 1 October 2019. It was titled Dietary Recommendations:Red Meat Consumption. One of the many the commentaries appeared on the website named VOX….www.vox.com/science-and-health. On 1 October 2019.

There have been quite a few other comments but I won’t try to cite them here……………ENJOY…..I have !!

Blue Skies, all of them gone…………….blue skies from now on………………… Happy Day!

The controversy about abortion continues to rage. In a recent article in the JAMA of 27 August Vol 322 Number 8, pages 214-215, Ms Rita Rubin comments on this issue. The title of that article AMONG WOMEN SEEKING ABORTION, CONTINUING PREGNANCY LINKED TO WORSE PHYSICAL HEALTH, The findings were based on a small study but it did seem to suggest that those who had decided to end a pregnancy did better in the long run than those who had,for one reason or another carried a child to birth. Anyone interested in this topic might like to read her comments on this subject at the above listed reference.

JAMA NOTES

JAMA: 23-30 April 2019 Vol 321 Number 16 Page 1575

HEALTH AGENCIES UPDATE

Free App to Help Patients Ask Appropriate Questions

No Specific Author noted

 In Today’s world, there seems to be a program/application for everything.  This one, found on the above page, quotes a man named Jeff Brady who is a director in the agency AHQR (Agency For Healthcare Research and Quality), as following…….  By asking appropriate questions in this application, patients can help reduce the chance of missed diagnoses, identify the right tests that are needed and avoid unnecessary hospital stays.

According to the article, this agency has produced the application called “Question Builder”.  On it one can ask questions and input data that is then focused.  Allegedly this then gives the participant a better- more useful bit of information so that that person can utilize the face time with the physician more efficiently.  According to this article, many different devices can be used to access the application.

JAMA NOTES

JAMA 16 April 2019 Volume 321 Number 15 page 1449

NEWS FROM THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION

Agreement To Regulate Cell Based Meat Products

Feyza Sancar PhD

On this page of FDA NEWS is an article written by a Feyza Sancar PhD. She informs us of the joining together of the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) and the USDA-FISIS (US Department of Agriculture Safety and Inspection Service) to work together to regulate Cell Based Meat Products. These are new products that will supplement the supply of meat-based foods. It appears that the FDA will be in charge of collecting ,managing and developing the cell groups. They will also probably be in charge of ensuring the safety of these products. After the harvesting of the cells, the USDA-FISIS will have the job of inspection. packaging and further issues.

Last verse of Kipling’s poem IF”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings — nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And __ which is more,____you’ll be a Man, my son!

3rd Verse of Kipling’s “IF”

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

JAMA NOTES

9 April 2019 Volume 321 Number 14 pages 1338 – 1340

MESH IMPLANTS FOR WOMEN: SCANDAL OR STANDARD OF CARE?

by Rita Rubin

Ms Rubin is a writer for the Journal of the American Medical Association . This article appears on the JAMA page discussing Medical News and Perspectives. It concerns the widespread use of surgical interventions for the problem of stress urinary incontinence in women , also abbreviated as ‘SUI”. The surgical treatment of various problems using a mesh, has evidently been around for decades, not only for female issues. It is believed that this approach has been used for abdominal hernias since the 1950’s, for prolapses of the pelvic organs since the 70’s and in the 90’s via vaginal approach, for female urinary issues. This is what Ms Rubin discusses.

Comments by Dr. M.

This article caught my interest because the topic has been in the news lately particularly on the problems with the abdominal hernia. The company of Johnson and Johnson is alleged to have paid billions of dollars because of the use of the trans vaginal mesh and a company by the name of Endo International is alleged to have spent billions already litigating this problem.

I had hoped that this article would help to answer the questions raised but unfortunately it did not. There have been many successes and yet many failures. Some surgeons have stopped using this material. For the female afflicted with this issue life can be miserable. The only conclusion I reached at the end of this piece was that there is no one answer. Like ALWAYS treatment and decisions have to be made individually case by case. That has not changed and full disclosure of the risks and benefits should be SOP(Standard Operating Procedure). But then………what’s new?