Handbags may contain more germs than the toilet

Should you wash your hands after digging in your handbag? New research says yes. The study found that face or hand cream containers had the most bacteria, followed by lipstick and mascara.

Handbags may contain more germs than average toilet flush - CBS News

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The Internet Medical Journal is an editorial blog and is not to be used to guide medical management by patients or by health care providers. Articles are not edited for content. Authors' names are self-identified and not independently verified.

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Increased Potassium Intake Helps Reduce Blood Pressure

This recent Cochrane review concludes that in people with high blood pressure, a modest increase in potassium intake (and a modest reduction in sodium intake) has beneficial effects upon blood pressure without any known severe adverse side-effects.

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The Internet Medical Journal is an editorial blog and is not to be used to guide medical management by patients or by health care providers. Articles are not edited for content. Authors' names are self-identified and not independently verified.

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Cholesterol drugs may prevent blindness

Even more good news regarding the use of statins-- they may also prevent blindness due to macular degeneration. In this latest research, the doctors used eye drops made from statins, and found that patients in general experienced good results. 

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The Internet Medical Journal is an editorial blog and is not to be used to guide medical management by patients or by health care providers. Articles are not edited for content. Authors' names are self-identified and not independently verified.

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Placebos Reduce Hot Flashes by Over 50%

A recent study by the journal Menopause looked at the effect of a Chinese herbal supplement upon hot flashes during menopause. They found that women taking the supplement had a 62% drop in hot flashes, compared to women taking a placebo, who had a 52% drop.

COMMENT: The most interesting finding from this study isn't that women taking the supplement had a 62% drop in hot flashes, but rather that a placebo was effective at reducing hot flashes by 52%. It seems that an inexpensive pill with no side-effects (i.e. a placebo) should be the 1st line therapy, and not the more expensive proprietary Chinese herbal formula with unknown side-effects.

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The Internet Medical Journal is an editorial blog and is not to be used to guide medical management by patients or by health care providers. Articles are not edited for content. Authors' names are self-identified and not independently verified.

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High potency statins associated with increased rates of admission for acute kidney injury:

This retrospective review found that the use of high potency statins was associated with an increased risk of admission to the hospital for acute kidney injury. High potency statin treatment was defined as at least 10 mg rosuvastatin, 20 mg atorvastatin, or 40 mg simvastatin. All other statin treatments were defined as having low potency. COMMENT: although admission for kidney disease was elevated in this group, the authors did not look at relative morbidiy, e.g. how much were admissions for a heart attack or stroke changed? Also, people are high dose statins tend to have worse heart disease, which is associated with kidney disease. An interesting study, but certainly not the last word on this topic.

Keywords: kidney disease, statins, ICD-10-CM Diagnosis Code N17.2

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The Internet Medical Journal is an editorial blog and is not to be used to guide medical management by patients or by health care providers. Articles are not edited for content. Authors' names are self-identified and not independently verified.

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