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| Feb 5, 2019 | Is coconut oil healthy? Barlean’s under fire as lawsuit cites oil's high saturated fat content | The complaint* is the latest in a string of lawsuits challenging the health credentials of coconut oil, and follows lawsuits vs Costco (which settled a high profile case in 2017), Nature’s Way, Nutiva, and Carrington Farms (the latter two w... |
| Aug 9, 2018 | Exercise may be the best protection against aging that we have, according to new research | Photo by Melody Jacob on Unsplash
There's even more evidence that two forms of exercise — cardio and strength training — can help protect you against aging.
A new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that older fo... |
| May 4, 2018 | 3 things bottlenecking telehealth innovation and how to fix them | The burgeoning field of telehealth has the potential to solve some of the world’s most significant health care challenges: difficulty accessing care, rising costs, and poor outcomes. While innovation in telehealth is poised to revolutionize... |
| Mar 1, 2018 | Is saturated fat really 'back?' In short, no, argue experts at ICVN 2018 | We already know the fundamentals of good nutrition – the hard part is translating them into action given the obesogenic environment we live in - claimed Katz MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, FACLM, founding director of Yale University's Yale-Griffin P... |
| Feb 16, 2018 | Has coconut oil lost its luster? New data from SPINS shows sharp sales declines in 2017 | The declines have been slightly less pronounced in the natural channel – with sales up 5.4% in 2015, and down 10.1% in 2016 and 16.1% in 2017; with a similar trajectory in the specialty and gourmet channel, where sales were up 2.6% in 2015,... |
| Nov 16, 2017 | Jackson’s Honest $1.25m investment will bolster ‘ancestral fats’ mission, say founders | Launched in 2012, Jackson’s Honest manufactures a variety of potato and tortilla chips, including sprouted red corn, purple heirlooms and sweet potato, all cooked using coconut oil.
Unusually high in saturated fats – 5-7g per 1oz serve – an... |
| Nov 10, 2017 | ‘Null’ research findings aren’t empty of meaning. Let’s publish them | Every medical researcher dreams of doing studies or conducting clinical trials that generate results so compelling they change how diseases are treated or health policy is written. In reality, we are lucky if the results are even a little b... |
| Oct 19, 2017 | Are diet sodas helping or hindering weight management efforts? Soft drinks giants blast ‘meritless’ lawsuits | In the putative class action complaints* - filed in New York on October 16 vs Dr Pepper Snapple Group, The Coca Cola Company, and PepsiCo – the plaintiffs argue that consumers might reasonably believe that zero-calorie sodas labeled as ‘die... |
| Aug 22, 2017 | Carrington Farms unveils coconut protein blend | Speaking to FoodNavigator-USA after launching the new vegan protein powder - which combines organic coconut powder, organic pumpkin powder, and organic pea powder - chief growth officer Debbie Shandel said the bulk of the protein in the p... |
| Aug 10, 2017 | Color Genomics goes beyond cancer with a test for heart health | Cancer and heart disease are the two leading causes of death in the United States. So far, Color Genomics has been focused on testing for mutations leading to a higher risk of certain cancers. But, today the four-year-old company is introdu... |
| Jun 20, 2017 | How coconut oil got a reputation for being healthy in the first place | The news rocketed around the internet last week under headlines declaring “Coconut oil is not a magical health food after all,” “Coconut oil ‘as unhealthy as beef fat and butter,’” and “Careful: Coconut oil may not be safe.”
Behind the furo... |
| May 23, 2017 | Risk scores for preventing heart disease and stroke must take the long view | Imagine your financial adviser using information she gathered from you one day in your mid-30s to guide your investments through your mid-60s. That’s probably not an effective strategy. Yet it’s akin to what cardiologists like us have tradi... |
| May 10, 2017 | Gender gap in Alzheimer’s disease rates, caregiving needs more attention | Every day, Alzheimer’s disease forces women to make hard, life-altering choices about their careers, relationships, and finances.
Christell and Shari Anderson are two of them. In 2004, Christell was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which slowly ... |
| Mar 16, 2017 | RenalGuard Solutions Raises $14.5M Series A | RenalGuard Solutions, Inc., a privately held medical device company, today announced that the company has completed a $14.5 million Series A venture financing. The financing was led by Exigent Capital, with the participation of existing sha... |
| Jan 16, 2017 | Loosened blood pressure guidelines stir immediate controversy | Watching your blood pressure? You may have more breathing room than you thought.
In the latest pendulum swing on what blood pressure older adults should aim for, two of the nation’s leading medical groups issued guidelines on Monday recomme... |
| Dec 19, 2016 | What you need to know about health risk calculators | Ever since researchers with the legendary Framingham Heart Study created the first calculator to gauge the chances of having a heart attack, such tools have become a routine part of medicine. But the results aren’t as straightforward to int... |
| Apr 12, 2016 | Records found in dusty basement undermine decades of dietary advice | If biology has an Indiana Jones, it is Christopher Ramsden: he specializes in excavating lost studies, particularly those with the potential to challenge mainstream, government-sanctioned health advice.
His latest excavation — made possible... |
| Dec 22, 2015 | Expert view: New guidelines on cholesterol drugs are flawed | Some seemingly healthy men and women could benefit from taking a cholesterol-lowering statin, according to draft guidelines published Monday by the US Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of clinicians established by Congres... |
| Nov 16, 2015 | Will drinking coffee extend your life? | Gut Check is a periodic look at health claims made by studies and by newsmakers. We ask: Should you believe this?
The Claim: If you drink coffee you’ll live forever! Well, almost: nurses and other health professionals who drink coffee (regu... |
| Aug 17, 2015 | Evidence remains thin for preventing heart disease via mobile health | Still, they were able to identify some trends among the 69 relevant studies they examined.
For example, in the area of obesity control, the research team found that “successful” mobile health interventions have a lot in common with offline ... |
| Mar 9, 2015 | Videos at discharge emphasize showing rather than telling heart failure patients how to change behavior | It has developed four sets of videos on managing congestive heart failure geared to African-American men and women and caucasian men and women, with more planned for different language, ethnicity, and age. It is based on the theory that peo... |
| Feb 4, 2015 | PAD: Medtronic launches In.Pact Admiral DEB in the U.S. | Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) today announced the U.S. launch of its In.Pact Admiral drug-eluting balloon, almost a month to the day after the FDA approved the device for treating peripheral artery disease.
Fridley, Minn.-based Medtronic said the 1s... |
| Jan 21, 2015 | Health Recovery Solutions raises $1M to support early warning system for CHF patients | A study published in October by the American Journal of Managed Care and carried out by the company with Hackensack University Medical Center and Holy Name Hospital evaluated the impact of the software on readmissions within 30 days of pati... |
| Jan 5, 2015 | FDA approves Medtronic’s In.Pact Admiral balloon | Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said today that the FDA approved its In.Pact Admiral drug-eluting balloon for treating peripheral artery disease in the upper leg.
Medtronic touted the In.Pact Admiral as having demonstrated "the best clinical outc... |
| Dec 23, 2014 | Study: Medtronic’s In.Pact Admiral balloon beats standard angioplasty | Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) said a new study found that its drug-eluting balloon performed better than a standard angioplasty balloon in the treatment of symptomatic peripheral artery disease of the upper leg.
The Medtronic-sponsored In.Pact SFA s... |
| Nov 17, 2014 | Study lifts cloud over heart drugs Zetia, Vytorin | ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - This 2004 file photo provided by Schering-Plough Corp. shows the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin. A major study gives a long-awaited answer on whether the blockbuster drugs Vytorin and Zetia lower the risk of heart... |
| Oct 9, 2014 | Blame the healthcare system for bad health? Here’s 14 things it should change | If a hospital provides amazing service and the patient’s Health Behaviors (30%), Social and Economic Factors (40%) and Physical Environment (10%) are left unaddressed, the patient likely will return.
For 24% of heart failure patient over 65... |
| Aug 25, 2014 | Ecigarettes backed as a last resort by the American Heart Association | |
| Jul 15, 2014 | Press Release: Boston Scientific receives CE Mark for the new 25 mm Lotus valve system | MARLBOROUGH, Mass., — Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) has received CE Mark and begun the European commercial launch of its new 25 mm Lotus™ Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) System, complementing the currently availab... |
| Mar 26, 2014 | Simplify, simplify, simplify. Cre8MDI hopes to give docs an easier way to measure stiffness of the arteries | The use of pulse wave velocity to see how stiff a patient’s arteries have become isn’t new; it’s actually the gold standard for measuring it. But the startup thinks it can measure pulse wave velocity in a simpler, cheaper way that would ena... |
| Mar 25, 2014 | St. Jude’s Nanostim pacemaker looks good at 3 months in feasibility study | The Nanostim leadless pacemaker acquired by St. Jude Medical (NYSE:STJ) last year appeared safe and functional after 3 months, according to results of a small study published in the American Heart Assn. journal Circulation.
The study of 33 ... |
| Jan 23, 2014 | 10 heart-focused apps & devices are crowdfunding for American Heart Association’s open innovation challenge | The 10 finalists are running 30-day campaigns on the medical crowdfunding site Medstartr, and three winners will be selected based on funds raised, number of social shares and a panel of expert judges. Those teams will be invited to the ass... |
| Nov 26, 2013 | Artificial sweeteners are safe and effective tools for weight management, says obesity specialist | Suzanne Phelan, PhD, associate professor in the kinesiology department at California Polytechnic State University and adjunct associate professor in the department of psychiatry, Brown Medical School, is an expert in the application of beha... |
| Oct 10, 2013 | Picture this, bro: Taser maker buys digital picture frame startup | We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
Is Taser International hedging its bets, in case ... |
| Aug 19, 2013 | For a heart failure patient, HF Defender app is like a cardiologist in your pocket | Generally, clinicians acknowledge two types of heart failure: systolic, when the left ventricle of the heart loses its ability to contract normally, and diastolic, when the left ventricle can’t relax normally. But HF Defender distinguishes ... |
| Jul 1, 2013 | Claret Medical raises $3.6M through private offering | Updated July 8, 2013, at 5:30 a.m. company updates. The funds were raised through a private offering of convertible promissory notes.
California-based medical device maker Claret Medical has raised $3.6 million so far through a private offe... |
| May 28, 2013 | Pediatric hospitals challenged by new adult heart population | By Justine Cadet
Advances in medical care sometimes present challenges on the flipside. Case in point: Over the past three decades, progressive developments in pediatric cardiac care have allowed many babies born with congenital heart disea... |
| May 21, 2013 | Claret Medical’s filter thwarts debris headed for the brain in TAVI patients, study shows | Claret Medical’s Montage Dual Filter system is poised to become a staple of transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedures if the company has anything to say about it.
In an original manuscript published by researcher Dr. Nicolas Van Mi... |
| May 13, 2013 | Critics: Community screenings at hospitals making overtreatment problem worse | Similar programs by other hospitals are taking place in dozens of cities across the country, including Richmond, Va., Tyler, Texas, Marin, Calif. and the suburbs of Chicago.
“A lot that ends up being found is clinically of no importance at ... |
| Apr 30, 2013 | ‘Could we have given her intravenous oxygen?’ Breathing an idea to life | By Dr. John Kheir
It was an ordinary Saturday night in the ICU at Boston Children’s, in the fall of 2006. One of my patients was a 9-month-old girl who was admitted with pneumonia, and was having trouble breathing. I had gone in to check on... |
| Dec 19, 2012 | UVA spinoff using calcium channel blockers to improve cancer treatment gets $3M for trials | Tau is taking a bold move by hinging its lead product on mibefradil, which was formerly marketed by Roche for the treatment of hypertension. It was voluntarily withdrawn from the market in 1998 because of potentially harmful interactions wi... |
| Dec 3, 2012 | Magenta Medical Raises $4M from Pitango Venture Capital | Magenta Medical ltd, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based company that develops treatments for congestive heart failure, has raised $4m in seed funding from Pitango Venture Capital.
Founded in October, 2012 by CEO Prof. Ehud Schwammenthal (cardiologist... |
| Oct 24, 2012 | New app distills the fine art of interpreting a child’s blood pressure | Hypertension is harder to diagnose in children than you think. A new app, which can work with multiple EMR systems, helps doctors interpret a child’s blood pressure readings based on age, height, sex and measurement technique, and get the l... |
| Sep 7, 2012 | Abiomed lands new insurance codes for Impella heart pumps | The American Medical Assn. granted medical device maker Abiomed’s (NSDQ:ABMD) 3 new service codes for the Impella percutaneous heart pumps, effective January 2013.
The new Category I Current Procedure Terminology codes cover insertion, repo... |
| Sep 4, 2012 | Abiomed gains on Impella 2.5 study | Abiomed’s (NSDQ:ABMD) Impella 2.5 beat out intra-aortic balloon pump therapy in supporting heart failure patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, according to newly released study results.*
The Impella 2.5 device is a percuta... |
| Jul 5, 2012 | Carotid artery screenings have more value than Task Force advice implies | Bart Laws recently wrote a scathing critique of Life Line Screening’s ultrasound screening of carotid arteries. His argument is objectively not true and I will explain why.
It is a common but misguided criticism that we offer screenings not... |
| Jun 15, 2012 | Medtronic’s recalled Fidelis leads fracture after ICD swap, researchers say | Updated June 15, 2012, at 1:15 p.m. with comments from Medtronic.
A common procedure in which surgeons swap out a patient’s implantable cardioverter defibrillator may significantly increase the risk of failure for Medtronic’s (NYSE:MDT) alr... |
| May 25, 2012 | Relying on expensive tests is not the way to measure heart health | Let’s talk about the newest cholesterol myth gone busted.
I can hardly write; I’m so giddy. That’s what happens to me when simplicity and obviousness triumphs over complicated testing that adds nothing to (or even clouds) the big picture.
A... |
| May 4, 2012 | Cardiologist clarifies mistakes in NYT article about screening young athletes | As a heart rhythm doctor, I am tasked with diagnosing and treating conditions that could cause life-threatening arrhythmias. This is a tough problem. One reason is the rarity with which sudden death occurs in the young and outwardly healthy... |
| Feb 13, 2012 | Even working Fidelis leads need replacement, researchers say | Medtronic’s (NYSE:MDT) precedent-setting Sprint Fidelis recall isn’t aging well, according to researchers.
Looking at numbers for nearly half of all Sprint Fidelis implants in Canada, the rate of failure appears to be climbing, prompting so... |
| Jan 2, 2012 | Newly approved Berlin Heart helps patients waiting for a transplant | On the Berlin Heart, Alina Siman, 4, has regained her energy which will make her a better transplant candidate when a new organ becomes available
By Lindsay Hoshaw
Four-year-old Alina Siman is being kept alive on a device that gained approv... |
| Dec 9, 2011 | Another Mount Rushmore of med tech (MedCity readers’ version) | “How does Dean Kaman get on the Medical Device monument before Tom Fogarty?” asked one commenter.
“Agree,” wrote another. “Kamen is a very smart guy who gets a lot of press, but Med-Tech-wise is not even in the same league with Mann, Fogart... |
| Nov 30, 2011 | What’s the most important question to ask before getting your defibrillator? | By Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC
Answer: How many have you done in the past year?
If the doctor says 37 or more, you should be in very good hands.
-Wes
Reference: Freeman JV, Wang Y, Curtis JP, Heidenreich PA, Hlatky, MA. "Physician Proce... |
| Nov 22, 2011 | 8 steps to succeed at a risky medical “first” | Dr. James Lock,
cardiologist-in-chief at
Children’s Hospital Boston.
By Nancy Fliesler
Ever since second grade, when he was suspended from school, Jim Lock has challenged the status quo — in sixth grade pulling off the much harder feat of b... |
| Nov 21, 2011 | HIPAA, case reports, and the “small cell” problem | By Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC
It was an interesting tweet that referenced a soon-to-be-published case report from the Annals of Emergency Medicine (via @EmergencyDocs) that piqued my interest:
Thrilling case study: emergency doc cracked che... |
| Nov 20, 2011 | HIPAA compliant yet disclosing patient information? It may happen (in unique cases) | Is this unique case report HIPAA compliant?
I would say, according to our current definition of HIPAA’s “personal health information,” such a case report is not HIPAA compliant. Nor could such a case be mentioned on a blog, for that matter,... |
| Sep 21, 2011 | We’ve hit the jackpot with A Million Hearts | By Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC
I don’t know what I was thinking with my last post about the Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts initiative. I thought the whole point of this program was to save money. At the time, I was less than optim... |
| Sep 16, 2011 | Is it about one Million Hearts, or millions of Benjamins? | I don’t know what I was thinking with my last post about the Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts initiative. I thought the whole point of this program was to save money. At the time, I was less than optimistic that the government coul... |
| May 29, 2011 | Marketing through scientific publications? | By Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC
Circulation, a major cardiology medical journal, just published an article on atrial fibrillation ablation, complete with extensive video – all available for free online. It’s an informative piece, but I found ... |
| Jan 25, 2011 | Heart disease, stroke costs expected to triple by 2030 | MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Heart disease, stroke costs expected to triple by 2030. The cost of treating heart disease and stroke is expected to soar to $818 billion over the next two decades in the United States, according to an American Heart As... |
| Oct 12, 2010 | MedGadget’s MedTech Monday: Sex good for your heart, even if you have an ICD | Sex good for your heart, even if you have an ICD: Cardiologist blogger Dr. Wes wrote about a study in Circulation that looked into issues related to wearing implantable cardioverter defibrillators during coitus. According to the study, “sex... |
| May 11, 2010 | MedCity News Q&A: Medtech investor Dr. Brian Duncan | By Mary Vanac
Dr. Brian Duncan caught the business bug as the only clinician on a team of Cleveland Clinic researchers who set out in 2004 to develop a heart-assist pump for infants with heart failure.
The clinic wooed Duncan, a pediatric h... |
| May 10, 2010 | Doctor-turned-venture capitalist excited about Midwest investing | Dr. Brian Duncan caught the business bug as the only clinician on a team of Cleveland Clinic researchers who set out in 2004 to develop a heart-assist pump for infants with heart failure.
The Clinic wooed Duncan, a pediatric heart surgeon, ... |
| Jul 20, 2007 | Nuon Therapeutics: A transplanted company tries to teach an old drug new tricks | At a first glance, San Francisco’s Nuon Therapeutics looks like any other specialty-pharmaceutical company that aims to pick up cast-off or failed drugs and try to squeeze some new life out of them. That sort of business model is frequently... |
| Is it about one Million Hearts, or millions of Benjamins? | I don’t know what I was thinking with my last post about the Health and Human Services’ Million Hearts initiative. I thought the whole point of this program was to save money. At the time, I was less than optimistic that the government coul... |
| Addressing stroke treatment’s state of emergency | By Dr. Arbi Ohanian, MD, and Dr. Yafa Minazad, DO
Research suggests that an alarming number of stroke patients are misdiagnosed in the emergency department (ED). Fortunately, new innovations in care delivery are helping physicians to recogn... |
| HIPAA compliant yet disclosing patient information? It may happen (in unique cases) | It was an interesting tweet that referenced a soon-to-be-published case report from the Annals of Emergency Medicine (via @EmergencyDocs) that piqued my interest:
Thrilling case study: emergency doc cracked chest to save 42 y/o woman in car... |
| Doctor-turned-venture capitalist excited about Midwest investing | Dr. Brian Duncan caught the business bug as the only clinician on a team of Cleveland Clinic researchers who set out in 2004 to develop a heart-assist pump for infants with heart failure.
The Clinic wooed Duncan, a pediatric heart surgeon, ... |
| Studies find new risks from niacin | New details from two studies reveal more side effects from niacin, a drug that hundreds of thousands of Americans take for cholesterol problems and general heart health. Some prominent doctors say the drug now seems too risky for routine us... |
| Evidence remains thin for preventing heart disease via mobile health | Mobile and digital health technologies have become so popular that they are almost ubiquitous, but it is easy to forget that these are still relatively new fields in terms of clinical effectiveness. Given that the peer-review process can be... |
| Carotid artery screenings have more value than Task Force advice implies | Bart Laws recently wrote a scathing critique of Life Line Screening’s ultrasound screening of carotid arteries. His argument is objectively not true and I will explain why.
It is a common but misguided criticism that we offer screenings not... |
| Relying on expensive tests is not the way to measure heart health | Let’s talk about the newest cholesterol myth gone busted.
I can hardly write; I’m so giddy. That’s what happens to me when simplicity and obviousness triumphs over complicated testing that adds nothing to (or even clouds) the big picture.
A... |
| Another Mount Rushmore of med tech (MedCity readers’ version) | It turns out the name (or face) of Dean Kamen may not be etched in stone.
We got great feedback on Arundhati Parmar’s list of people she’d place on the Mount Rushmore of med tech. Her choices: Medtronic’s Earl Bakken, the original medical d... |
| UVA spinoff using calcium channel blockers to improve cancer treatment gets $3M for trials | A company repositioning drugs used to treat high blood pressure for use in improving chemotherapy has secured $3 million from investors to carry its lead candidate through Phase 1 trials.
Tau Therapeutics is repurposing the calcium channel ... |
| For a heart failure patient, HF Defender app is like a cardiologist in your pocket | Each of the more than 5 million cases of heart failure in the U.S. is unique, and a health IT solution designed by a cardiologist could help physicians treat them that way.
Dr. Kevin Courville and software entrepreneur Randy Gray are are ho... |
| Simplify, simplify, simplify. Cre8MDI hopes to give docs an easier way to measure stiffness of the arteries | Boston medical device startup Cre8MDI is automating an old technique with the hope of giving doctors another inexpensive tool they could use in-office to help predict, detect and monitor heart disease.
The metric Cre8MDI is capturing with i... |
| Cardiologist clarifies mistakes in NYT article about screening young athletes | When a news source as powerful as The NY Times publishes an article about sudden cardiac death in young people, one expects accurate information. It’s far too important a topic to write about imprecisely. This piece, entitled Should Young A... |
| Critics: Community screenings at hospitals making overtreatment problem worse | Hospitals hoping to attract patients and build their brands are teaming up with medical-screening companies to promote tests aimed at consumers worried about potentially deadly heart disease or strokes.
What their promotions don’t say is th... |
| Videos at discharge emphasize showing rather than telling heart failure patients how to change behavior | When congestive heart failure patients leave hospitals, a healthcare media startup wants them to be given a parting gift at discharge: a DVD. The idea is to help patients better understand their care plan by showing them what they need to d... |
| Health Recovery Solutions raises $1M to support early warning system for CHF patients | A health IT company designed to help hospitals identify and track high risk patients at risk for re-admission for congestive heart failure has raised $1 million soon after marking its 12th hospital system customer. Health Recovery Solutions... |
| Blame the healthcare system for bad health? Here’s 14 things it should change | The conventional wisdom is that if we were able to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our healthcare system, it would improve patient outcomes and lower cost. Yet an efficient and effective healthcare system may only have minimal o... |
| 10 heart-focused apps & devices are crowdfunding for American Heart Association’s open innovation challenge | Nearly a quarter of patients who are hospitalized for heart failure are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. Health Recovery Solutions developed an iPad- based program to keep patients on track and help hospitals identify which patien... |
