Mon, July 2 – 10 Stories of The Day!

1 – Continuity of care with doctors—a matter of life and death? A systematic review of continuity of care and mortality – BMJ Open (free)

Commentaries: Seeing same doctor every time ‘reduces risk of death’ – NHS Choices (free) AND Sticking with 1 doctor could have health benefits: Study – UPI (free)

2 – Opinion: Why do-it-yourself blood tests are a bad idea – Common Sense Family Doctor (free)

Related: Benjamin Mazer: Theranos’ dystopian vision lives on – The BMJ Opinion (free)

“Routine blood testing in healthy people has numerous downsides that Holmes never mentioned, including poor predictive value, false positives, and overdiagnosis” (from Common Sense Family Doctor)

“When you go about testing everyone for everything, you don’t create a world of healthy people….you create a nightmare where everyone is sick” (from The BMJ Opinion)

3 – Scientists on Twitter: Preaching to the choir or singing from the rooftops? – Facets (free)

Related: Rise of the Tweetorial – Precious Bodily Fluids (free) AND Social Medicine: Twitter in Healthcare – Journal of Clinical Medicine (free) AND University of Twitter? Scientists give impromptu lecture critiquing nutrition research – CBC (free) AND Twitter-Based Medicine: How Social Media is Changing the Public’s View of Medicine – The Health Care Blog (free) AND What’s your doctor reading? How social media is disrupting medical education – National Post (free)

“Great new study about science outreach via Twitter: Initially, scientists mostly tweet to each other. But after accumulating about 1000 followers, scientists reach an increasing number of journalists, policy makers, and other members of the public”. (via @JSheltzer see Tweet)

4 – Four principles to make evidence synthesis more useful for policy – Nature (free)

Related: A fresh approach to evidence synthesis – Nature (free)

“Reward the creation of analyses for policymakers that are inclusive, rigorous, transparent and accessible, urge Christl A. Donnelly and colleagues”.

5 – American College of Gastroenterology Monograph on Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome – American Journal of Gastroenterology (free for a limited period)

Related guidelines: Irritable bowel syndrome in adults: diagnosis and management – National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (free) AND Clinical Practice Guidelines for Irritable Bowel Syndrome in Korea, 2017 Revised Edition – Journal of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (free) AND Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for irritable bowel syndrome – Journal of Gastroenterology (free)

Source: NewsWise

6 – Update of Recommendations for Use of Once-Weekly Isoniazid-Rifapentine Regimen to Treat Latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (free)

Commentary: CDC Updates Guidelines on Weekly Therapy for Latent TB Infection – Physician’s First Watch (free)

Related WHO Guideline: Latent TB Infection (free guideline and news release)

7 – The plateau of human mortality: Demography of longevity pioneers – Science (link to abstract – $ for full-text)

Commentaries: There’s no limit to longevity, says study that revives human lifespan debate – Nature News (free) AND Italian study suggests human lifespan could continue increasing – NHS Choices (free) AND Age 105? Then you’ve a better chance of living even longer – The Guardian (free) AND How Long Can We Live? The Limit Hasn’t Been Reached, Study Finds – The New York Times (free)

8 – Editorial: HPV vaccination: balancing facts – Cochrane Library (free)

Related Cochrane Review: Prophylactic Vaccination Against HPV to Prevent Cervical Cancer (link to review and commentaries)

9 – Beta-blockers and inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system for chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction – Cochrane Library (free)

Summary: Beta-blockers and inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin aldosterone system for chronic heart failure with preserved ejection fraction – Cochrane Library (free)

Related Meta-Analysis: Drug treatment effects on outcomes in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: a systematic review and meta-analysis – Heart (free)

This Cochrane review suggests mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists may be of benefit to reduce hospitalizations, while the meta-analysis in Heart suggests beta-blockers may improve all-cause and cardiovascular mortality…

10 – The 2016 global and national burden of diabetes mellitus attributable to PM_2·5 air pollution – The Lancet Planetary Health (free)

Commentaries: Air pollution and diabetes: it’s time to get active! – The Lancet Planetary Health (free) AND Air pollution linked to 3.2 million new diabetes cases in one year – CNN (free) AND Air pollution contributes significantly to diabetes globally – Washington University School of Medicine (free)

Related: WHO Report: 9 out of 10 People Worldwide Breathe Polluted Air (free report and commentaries) AND Ambient Air Pollution in Relation to Diabetes (free research) AND The Lancet Commission on pollution and health (free resources) AND Air Pollution and Mortality (free research and commentaries) AND Global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution (free report and commentaries) AND 5.5 million lives were lost in 2013 to diseases associated with Air Pollution (free report and infographic)