The heart.org has the following news report about a Maryland doctor accused of overstenting: Baltimore, MD – A malpractice lawyer is accusing Dr John Chung-Yee Wang (Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, MD), a member of the committee tasked with stopping improper stenting in Maryland, of improper stenting in his own practice [1]. The Baltimore Sun reports [...]

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…is that it reveals the opaque logic of public interest policies… While the NIH is tightening its rules concerning what financial ties university researchers must disclose before getting public grants, the FDA may be loosening its own criteria for excluding potential advisors based on their industry connections.  It seems that as a consequence of the [...]

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Cardiology News for July… “Niacin Questioned After AIM_HIGH Is Halted.”  Another “disappointing” trial on raising HDL, except, of course, for those patients currently taking the “vitamin” who may be allowed to flush it down the commode once and for all.  Naturally, Antonio Gotto (in an accompanying editorial) does not lose hope that another pharmacological intervention [...]

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Drs. Marc Pfeffer and Marianne Bowler are commenting on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Matrixx vs. Siracusano, which upheld a lower court’s decision that a drug manufacturer must disclose to shareholders information regarding adverse effects, even absent any measure of statistical significance.  But the authors would like to go beyond the court’s mandate.  They advocate [...]

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In the name of JUPITER1, scribes everywhere2,3 now advocate adding CRESTOR to our daily bread to take away the consequences of our sloth and gluttony.  But will this truly bring about a healthier life on earth?  Common objections4 to the proposed ritual point to the high price of the drug or invoke the dubious calculus [...]

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The 2006 ACC/AHA valvular heart disease guidelines on the management of an ascending aneurysm associated with a bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) recommend aortic surgery as a class I indication if the aortic diameter reaches 5 cm or if the rate of progression of dilatation is 0.5 cm/yr, irrespective of the health of the aortic valve. [...]

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Like any political activity, public health advocacy must rely on the ordinary tools of political propaganda to advance its intended agenda. Such is the case with public health proposals for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. A critical examination of the topic exposes the blurred line between prevention and pretension.

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