September 17, 2001 Research Update

James Bogash, D.C. Mesa, AZ
info@lifecarechiro.com
www.lifecarechiro.com

Antibiotic Treatment of Adults w/ Sore Throat by Community PCPs

Despite evidence to the contrary, antibiotic overuse is still common. The plea by researchers to cut back on antibiotic use have been frequent in mainstream medical journals. So who has been reading these journals?? To be fair, the large chunk of antibiotic overuse responsibility falls upon farmers and their use in lifestock. Overall, I think we would be so much better if we just stepped back and let our bodies fight off an infection by ourselves once in awhile... Antibiotic Treatment of Adults With Sore Throat by Community Primary Care Physicians: A National Survey, 1989-1999 http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v286n10/abs/joc10465.html

Basal Muscle Amino Acid Kinetics, Protein Synthesis in Young vs Old

Sarcopenia, the term for loss of muscle mass, is another of those theories that contributes to aging. As we age, we lose muscle mass; muscles are a major player in maintaining insulin sensitivity. Therefore, sarcopenia may be a triggering event for the imbalances in sugar handling that lead to so many other chronic diseases. This study suggests that age-related sarcopenia is not caused by a generalized slow down of muscle cells. There may be some other trigger that the body responds to that initiates the muscle loss. Resistance training in elderly individuals is a powerful tool to combat sarcopenia. Basal Muscle Amino Acid Kinetics and Protein Synthesis in Healthy Young and Older Men http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v286n10/abs/jci10002.html

Sarcopenia--understanding the Dynamics of Aging Muscle

This is a wonderful editorial that provides much background to the concept of sarcopenia in the previous article. Sarcopenia--Understanding the Dynamics of Aging Muscle http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v286n10/ffull/jed10054.html

University accused of violating academic freedom to safeguard funding from drug companies

This is really a sad commentary on how much of an influence money has on the playing field. This also puts a taint on all academy-derived research, no matter whether this is an isolated event or widespread. bmj.com Dyer 323 (7313): 591a http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/323/7313/591/a

Asthma increase could be caused by paracetamol use

This is a perfect example of how many of the drugs that people take every day may not be as safe as they think. Paracetamol (acetominophen, Tylenol...) in this study shows a pretty strong link to asthma. Based on how widespread Tylenol use is, it is easy to see that this may produce some major impacts on community health. It's always important to see why patients are using analgesics and try to fix the underlying problem so that taking the drug is not needed. Many parents use Tylenol to lower fever, and yet there are NO studies suggesting that lowering of the fever has any beneficial effects! Also interesting in this article was the finding that a child's risk of asthma is markedly increased if one or both parents have asthma. What's going to happen when today's kids start having kids??? bmj.com Dyer 323 (7313): 592c http://www.pharmweb.net/pwmirror/pwy/paracetamol/pharmwebpicasthma.html