Medical device makers and scientists are working on new technologies to improve widely-used devices that assess potential heart and respiratory problems given mounting evidence that current ones could lead to inadequate healthcare for patients with darker skin.

Doctors have long known that pulse oximeters are less accurate in estimating blood oxygen levels in non-white patients, but the discrepancies were considered insignificant. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed some of the real dangers of these flaws, as the devices gave falsely high oxygen readings in patients with dark skin.

@sampriti Few previous studies assessed fracture risk in people with hypoparathyroidism, and reported studies have had contradictory findings. Chronic deficiency of parathyroid hormone (PTH) results in increased bone mass and improved bone strength, which could reduce fracture risk. But low PTH levels causes low bone turnover, which may cause bones to be fragile, thereby increasing the risk of microdamage.
The study collected data on bone geometry and microarchitecture with high-resolution peripheral quantitative CT (HR-pQCT). Few prior studies have used this method for bone assessment of people with hypoparathyroidism.

@moucheta What this study tells clinicians is that they need to be aware that, although people may have an immediate reaction, be vigilant in keeping track of how patients are doing over the next few months after the event, and perhaps even longer

@milind The finding may have relevance for other medical disorders where symptoms seemingly happen "out of the blue," such as seizures, strokes, and even manic episodes. The researchers say they detected significant patterns of instability across a number of autonomic and respiratory variables as early as 47 minutes before panic onset. The final minutes preceding the attack were dominated by respiratory changes, with significant decreases in tidal volume followed by abrupt carbon dioxide partial pressure increases

Liquid formulations of levothyroxine offer the possibility of allowing patients with hypothyroidism to take their medication with meals or coffee and skip the currently recommended 30- to 60-minute waiting period before doing either, new data suggest. Because food, coffee, and certain medications can interfere with intestinal absorption of levothyroxine (also known as LT4), current guidelines recommend that the drug be taken in a fasting state, typically 30 to 60 minutes before breakfast. However, compliance may be difficult for some patients. Now, a potential solution may come from new evidence that liquid levothyroxine formulations that bypass the gastric dissolution phase of absorption may mitigate the interference with food and coffee.

@milind Headache is one of the main symptoms of COVID-19. A recent study of 214 patients with COVID-19 showed that approximately 13% of the participants had headache and 5% had anosmia. SARS-CoV-2 penetrates the cells through the ACE2 receptor, which is present throughout the body.

When it comes to knowing how much time should pass between having COVID and getting a booster, there are no set rules or solid findings from comparative studies to look to. In light of the Omicron wave, there are currently, and will continue to be, millions of people in Ibero-America and throughout the world who will need this information. "There's no clear consensus," Jarbas Barbosa, MD, PhD, assistant director of the Pan American Health Organization, told Medscape Spanish Edition. "Although the vaccine is totally safe to give a person who no longer has any symptoms, every country has its own recommendation as to when to give it. There are other factors at play as well, such as the availability of vaccines."

@moupiya It is time to turn to the tongue to learn why taste is affected and to start on how to reverse or repair the loss. Self-reports are more subjective and can be in the form of questionnaires, interviews, health records, for example. On the other hand, direct measures of taste are more objective. They are conducted using testing kits that contain various sweet, salty, and sometimes bitter and sour solutions given to participants via drops, strips, or sprays

If you or a loved one has suddenly developed hearing loss, see your doctor right away. While often downplayed as not serious, any new or sudden hearing loss should be taken seriously by you and your healthcare providers. What could be the causes of sudden hearing loss? Please elaborate on this.

@papiya One of the reasons has been said that considerable amount of catechin (also tannin, 60-70mg of which is contained in a serving of 100ml of Sencha) in tea prevents iron to be absorbed, producing multi-complex. However, VC in green tea promotes the absorption of iron (table1). Recently, it is said not to be that serious because not all iron reacts with catechin. But it is better to avoid tea to take medicine if anemia is caused by lack of iron because it often causes atrophy of mucous membrane of the digestive tract and decreases the secretion of digestive juices, which decreased the absorption rate of iron. Taking medicine with grapefruit juice is said to be a problem these days. The reason is that flavonoids in grapefruit juice prevents the activities of CYP3A4, which is a cytochrom P-450 molecule, and eventually prevents the metabolism of the medicine taken. For example, when taking jihidrobirijin calcium with grapefruit juice, its metabolism is prevented and the density in blood increases, which might cause sub-effects such as lowering blood pressure. In contrast, tea is said to have a selective deriving effect on CYP1 and CYP4 but no sub-effects have been reported.