Harbinder Virdi

Ethyl eicosapentaenoic acid   (EPA), a semisynthetic derivative of omega-3 fatty acids, significantly lowers triglyceride levels in patients with very high triglyceride levels without significantly increasing LDL-cholesterol levels. Top-line results of the   MARINE   trial, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial testing ethyl-EPA in 229 patients with triglyceride levels   > 500 mg/dL, were announced today by Amarin Corporation. During a conference call to analysts, investors, and media, the company reported that the 2-g and 4-g dose of AMR101, as the ethyl-EPA is currently known, reduced triglyceride levels 20% and 33%, respectively, all without a significant increase in LDL-cholesterol levels. "This is the only triglyceride-lowering therapy studied in this population with very high triglycerides to show a lack of elevation in LDL cholesterol," said   Dr Paresh Soni , senior vice president and head of drug development at Amarin.  

Patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) who require single antiplatelet therapy and who are nonresponsive to aspirin should probably switch to clopidogrel, says the lead author of a new study,   Aspirin Nonresponsiveness and Clopidogrel Endpoint   (ASCET), which was presented at the   American Heart Association (AHA) 2010 Scientific Sessions   last week. The discussant of the trial agrees that aspirin nonresponders should switch therapy, but argues that they would be better off on a more potent antiplatelet agent than clopidogrel. ASCET author   Dr Alf-Aage Pettersen   (Oslo University Hospital, Norway) explained to   heart wire   that patients with stable CAD still have a high risk for thromboembolic events and can be on a single antiplatelet agent for many, many years, so the question of which drug is best for reducing risk in a specific patient "is very important." ASCET is the only other study, apart from the landmar...

O ne day, a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So, he went up to her Mercedes. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened. He said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.” Well, all she had was a flat tyre, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tyre. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tightening up the nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him ...

On the first day, as President, Abraham Lincoln entered to give his inaugural address, just in the middle, one man stood up. He was a rich aristocrat. He said, “Mr. Lincoln, you should not forget that your father used to make shoes for my family”. And the whole senate laughed; they thought they had made a fool of Abraham Lincoln. But Lincoln—and that type of people are made of a totally different mettle. Lincoln looked at the man, smiled and said, “Sir, I know that my father used to make shoes in your house for your family, and there will be many others here... because the way he made shoes; nobody else can. He was a creator. His shoes were not just shoes, he poured his whole soul in it. I want to ask you, have you any complaint? Because I know how to make shoes myself; if you have any complaint I can make another pair of shoes. But as far as I know, nobody has ever complained about my father’s shoes. He was genius, a great creator and I am proud of...

Non-ST-segment-elevation-MI (NSTEMI) patients take too long to get to the hospital once they experience their first symptoms, according to the results of a new analysis. Overall, more than half of the patients took more than two hours to get to the hospital, and investigators say new strategies are needed to get patients to seek care, given that delay times have not improved in recent years. In a report published in the November 8, 2010 issue of the   Archives of Internal Medicine , the researchers, led by   Dr Henry Ting   (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN), studied 104 622 patients with NSTEMI at 568 hospitals enrolled in the   Can Rapid Risk Stratification of Unstable Angina Patients Suppress Adverse Outcomes with Early Implementation of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Guidelines   (CRUSADE) national-quality improvement initiative. It is recommended that patients experiencing symptoms of an acute coronary syndrome call 911 if the s...

Secret of Success A   young man asked Socrates about what was the secret of success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning and he would show him. When they met the next morning, Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the rivers edge and then into the water. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and pushed him under the water. The young man struggled to get to the surface but Socrates was very strong and kept him under the water, until he started turning blue. The young man struggled harder and harder, and finally managed to get free from Socrates firm grip. The first thing he did when he got to the surface was to gasp and take a number of very deep breaths. Socrates then asked the young man ‘What he wanted the most when he was under the water?’ The young man replied ‘Air’. Socrates said ‘Therein lies the secret to all success. When you want success as ba...

se of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) (NovoSeven, Novo Nordisk) on an off-label basis significantly increases the risk of arterial thromboembolic events, especially among the elderly, a new report shows. The analysis of data from 35 randomized placebo-controlled trials, published in the November 4, 2010 issue of the   New England Journal of Medicine , was conducted by a team led by   Dr Marcel Levi (Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands). They explain that rFVIIa is approved for the treatment of bleeding in patients with hemophilia A or B who have inhibiting antibodies to coagulation factor VIII or IX and for the treatment/prevention of bleeding related to surgical or invasive procedures in patients with congenital and acquired hemophilia, factor VII deficiency, or Glanzmann's thrombasthenia. But it is also used off label in preventing or treating severe or life-threatening bleeding in patients with other clinical conditions. They point out that...

  A meta-analysis of current relevant research provides more evidence of opposing effects of vitamin E on stroke subtypes. The researchers found a 22% increased risk of hemorrhagic stroke and a 10% decreased risk of ischemic stroke with vitamin-E supplementation, although the absolute effects are small. The findings were published online November 4, 2010 in   BMJ . "Vitamin-E supplementation does not appear to be as safe as it was believed," first author Markus Schürks (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA) noted in an email. "Vitamin E appears to increase the risk for brain hemorrhage," he added. "Although there is also a reduced risk for ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic strokes are usually more severe than ischemic strokes, and the potential gain with regard to ischemic stroke is low." Schürks especially noted, "The gain from other established stroke-prevention measures, such as blood-pressure control, healthy diet, weight control...

An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was a very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation: Dear Son, I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won’t be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I’m just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here, all my troubles would have been over.I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren’t in prison. With lots of love, Your Dad. Shortly the old man received this telegram: “For Heaven’s sake, Dad, don’t dig up the garden!! That’s where I buried the GUNS!!” At 4 am, the next morning, a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns. Confused, the old man wrote another note to his s...

Sometimes ago, scientist carried out a simple experiment on a barracuda (marine fish). They put the barracuda into a big glass aquarium and began to feed the barracuda with small fishes. The barracuda would swim towards the small fishes and in one gulp would swallow them. They continued putting the small fishes into the glass container as food for the barracuda. Then one day the scientist put a glass partition at the center of the glass aquarium. They put the small fishes into the opposite side of the glass aquarium. As the barracuda approached to have it’s food, it would hit against the glass partition. This puzzled the barracuda, but it kept on trying. And it kept on failing and hitting against the glass partition until one day, it stopped trying. The scientists then removed the glass partition, and the small fishes were released to swim all over the glass aquarium. The amazing discovery was that the barracuda did not attempt to go for the fishes. It had been conditioned to ...

There once lived a great mathematician in a village outside Ujjain. He was often called by the local king to advice on matters related to the economy. His reputation had spread as far as Taxila in the North and Kanchi in the South. So it hurt him very much when the village headman told him, “You may be a great mathematician who advises the king on economic matters but your son does not know the value of gold or silver.” The mathematician called his son and asked, “What is more valuable - gold or silver?” “Gold,” said the son. “That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know what is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son.” So the son of the mathemati...