geoffrey modest medical blogs

  The NIH/National Toxicology Program recent Report on Carcinogens (RoC), mandated by congress, has an updated carcinogen list just published with hyperlinks to background documents:   https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/whatwestudy/assessments/cancer/completed/   . the National Institute of Environmental Health Services of the NIH also has an alphabetical list in their 15 th   report (see   https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/listed_substances_508.pdf   ). It is notable in these reports that (finally) H Pylori has made it onto the lists as a new member of the crew. I am bringing the H pylori aspect up now, since there are many newer blog readers who may not have seen the plethora of my old blogs on H Pylori (see   http://gmodestmedblogs.blogspot.com/search?q=h+pylori   ), which make the following points:   1.         H Pylori is the most prevalent bacterial infection in the world, more than 50% of people are infected 2.         Both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases are associated with i

        A recent study found a significant relationship between negative net worth (ie, debt) and higher blood pressure in African-American women, controlling for some of the other measures of social economic status including educational level and family income (see  htn networth assoc BP in AfAm women jama2022 in dropbox or doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.0331)   Details: --384 African-American women were enrolled in the Mechanisms Underlying the Impact of Stress and Emotions on African American Women's Health cohort who participated in the study, from 2016 to 2019 --all were aged 30 to 45 at screening, were premenopausal, and were not pregnant/lactating  --exclusion criteria included a history of clinical cardiovascular disease, illnesses that might influence CVD risk (eg, autoimmune disease, HIV, kidney disease), psychiatric disorder treatment, illicit drug use, or shift-working (owing to alterations in circadian rhythm) --50% of the participants by design were above and 50% b

  A guideline was recently published on pharmacologic treatments for painful diabetic neuropathy by the American Academy of Neurology , updating their 2011 guideline  (see  dm neurop guidelines AAN2022   in dropbox, or  https://n.neurology.org/content/neurology/98/1/31.full.pdf   Details: -- literature search from January 2008 to April 2020; 65 studies included    -- all were RCTs with more than 20 participants, with prespecified 5 oral med classes: gabapentinoids, SNRIs, sodium channel blockers, tricyclic antidepressants and SNRI/opioid meds -- the guideline committee considered the standard mean difference (SMD) of effects of medications over placebo, with an absolute value of 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 as thresholds for small, medium, and large effect sizes -- outcome: comparison of the different meds for symptom response in those with painful diabetic neuropathy (PND) by SMD   Results: -- gabapentinoids (gabapentin and pregabalin): standard mean difference (SMD) 0.44 (0.21-0.67)     -- preg