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Levesque Cooper posted an update 8 hours, 7 minutes ago
We explored the degree to which political bias in medicine and study authors could explain the stark variation in Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ)/Chloroquine (CQ) study favorability in the US compared to the rest of the world. COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 preprint and published papers between January 1, 2020-July 26, 2020 with Hydroxychloroquine and/or Chloroquine; 267 met study criteria, 68 from the US. A control subset was selected. HCQ/CQ study result favorability (favorable, unfavorable, or neutral) was noted. First and last main authors of each US study were entered into FollowTheMoney.org Website, extracting any history of political party donation. Of all US studies (68 total), 39/68 (57.4%) were unfavorable, with only 7/68 (10.3%) of US studies yielding favorable results-compared to 199 non-US studies, 66/199 (33.2%) unfavorable, 69/199 (34.7%) favorable, and 64/199 (32.2%) neutral. NSC 27223 concentration Studies with at least one US main author were 20.4% (SE 0.053, P less then 0.05) more likely to report unfavorable results than non-US studies. US Studies with at least one main author donating to any political party were 25.6% (SE 0.085, P less then 0.01) more likely to have unfavorable results. US studies with at least one author donating to the Democratic party were 20.4% (SE 0.045, P less then 0.05) more likely to have unfavorable results. US authors were more likely to publish studies with medically harmful conclusions than non-US authors. Cardiology-specific HCQ/CQ studies were 44.2% more likely to yield harmful conclusions (P less then 0.01). Inaccurate propagation of HCQ/CQ cardiac adverse effects with individual scientific author political bias has contributed to unfavorable US HCQ/CQ publication patterns and political polarization of the medications.Sildenafil citrate and its generic forms are widely used to treat erectile dysfunction worldwide. Sildenafil citrate associated myocardial infarction is rarely reported in patients with no previous coronary artery disease. Herein, we present a case of a 40-year-old man with no cardiovascular risk factors other than heavy smoking and heavy drinking with no known previous ischemic symptoms, who had an ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction after receiving sildenafil citrate. From this case report, we emphasize that as sildenafil is increasingly being used as a recreational drug as it is widely available without a physician’s prescription, physicians should be aware that it may reveal the underlying cardiovascular problem. Thus, physicians must also consider the underlying medical conditions when prescribing sildenafil.Amiodarone is a common antiarrhythmic drug that is utilised in clinical practice and is associated with pulmonary toxicity. The most common form of pulmonary complication is interstitial pneumonitis which is treated with discontinuation of amiodarone and initiation of corticosteroids. Amiodarone-induced pulmonary eosinophilia is a rare complication of amiodarone therapy, with blood and pulmonary eosinophilia the predominant features. During the COVID-19 era, the incidence of delay in treatment of pulmonary pathology is also delayed due to the effort of excluding COVID-19 infection. Here we report a case of a 64-year-old man who developed eosinophilic pneumonia after initiation of amiodarone therapy, and the investigations required to exclude other forms of pulmonary toxicity. We also reviewed the effect of COVID-19 testing in the management of patients presenting with respiratory distress.Renal artery aneurysms, although rare, may give rise to complications both per se (due to the risk of thrombosis and subsequent wall rupture) and by impairment of the renal function (due to extrinsic compression and high blood pressure). We describe a paucisymptomatic young patient with acute thrombosis of a massive dissecting renal artery aneurysm, for which the successful treatment was performed through ex-vivo vascular surgery followed by autotransplantation of the reconstructed kidney. The aneurysm was described through abdominal echography, computed tomography angiography, and transfemoral transcatheter arterial angiography. It originated from an atypical branch emerging at 90 degrees from the left renal artery. After a short branching off, it degenerated into a dissected aneurysmal sac as large as half a kidney (outer diameter of 60 mm), compressing the lower pole of the left kidney and delaying the lower half nephrogram. Ex-vivo surgical exclusion of the aneurysm was successfully performed. The kidney was reimplanted in the left iliac fossa (termino-lateral anastomosis between the renal artery and external left iliac artery, termino-terminal ureteric anastomosis) with excellent postoperative outcomes. For most asymptomatic aneurysms, expectant treatment is a reasonable approach. However, interventional or surgical repair is indicated in certain circumstances depending on the size of the aneurysm and its natural history, rupture risk, and interventional/surgical risks. The renovascular hypertension, dissecting and thrombotic events, its giant size, the young fertile age, and the presence of the flank pain were all indicative of the need for aneurysm exclusion in our case.Our objective was to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of proton pump inhibitors combined with clopidogrel in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention and to provide an evidence basis for clinical treatment decision-making. The database EMBASE, PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library and CNKI records from establishment of each database until August 2020 were included. Articles were evaluated for quality. Meta-analysis of selected articles was conducted by RevMan5.3 software. Three RCTs and 4 cohort studies were included, with a total of 9932 patients. Four studies reported gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding events, 3 of which were RCT studies. Overall, there was a significantly lower risk of GI bleeding events in the PPI group compared to the no PPI group [OR = 3.06, 95% CI 1.89 to 4.95] (P less then 0.00001). In 3 RCT studies, there was also a significantly lower risk of GI bleeding events in the PPI group compared to the no PPI group [OR = 3.06, 95% CI 1.80 to 5.21] (P less then 0.