Tamsulosin (Flomax) to Prevent Cytokine Release Syndrome?
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
Release Date: 05/21/2020
🏙️ Steps, Cities, Change: How Urban Design Boosts Activity 🚶♂️📈
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🚶♀️📲 New research alert! A massive natural experiment tracking 7,447 relocations across 1,609 US cities reveals that urban walkability directly boosts physical activity 🏙️💪 📈 Moving to more walkable cities increased daily steps by ~1,100 and doubled compliance with MVPA guidelines! 🎯 A powerful case for urban design as preventive medicine. 🔗 A must-read for public health advocates, city planners, and digital health innovators! #Walkability #UrbanHealth #DigitalEpidemiology #MVPA #SmartCities #BuiltEnvironment #PublicHealth 🏃♂️🌆
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ENaC ⚙️ RAAS ⚡ Immunity 🧬: The Gender Divide in Hypertension
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🧂 Salt sensitivity of blood pressure (SSBP) is an independent risk factor for CVD. 🚹🚺 Women are more salt-sensitive than men, especially after menopause. ⚙️ Key drivers: RAAS, ENaC, natriuresis, and immune pathways. 💉 Estrogen protects, testosterone raises pressure, menopause tips the balance. 🐀 From Dahl’s rats to Conn’s syndrome, SSBP research shows why sex-specific, personalized therapy is the future of hypertension care. 🔗 Nature Reviews Cardiology
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Fatty Liver, Failing Heart, Future Risks 🍔🫀⚠️
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
Liver, Lipids, and the Left Ventricle 🩸🫀🧬 The NEJM review reminds us that fatty liver isn’t just a liver problem. MASLD drives risk for heart disease, diabetes, kidney dysfunction, and even cancers. 🚨 Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in MASLD—outpacing cirrhosis and cancer. 🫀💔 With new tools like FIB-4, VCTE, ELF, and promising drugs such as resmetirom and GLP-1/GIP agonists, we’re entering an era where treating the liver can protect the heart. 💊🌱 #MASLD #LiverHeartConnection #NEJM #CardiometabolicHealth
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⚖️ Switch or Stay? DOACs vs Warfarin in Frail AF Patients
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🧓💊 The COMBINE-AF substudy offers important guidance for managing frail, elderly, VKA-experienced patients with atrial fibrillation. Switching to standard-dose DOACs reduced stroke/systemic embolism risk and cut intracranial & fatal bleeding 🧠🛡️, but raised gastrointestinal bleeding rates 🍽️🩸—especially with certain agents. Sensitivity analyses show apixaban & edoxaban may offer a safer bleeding profile. These findings highlight the need for shared decision-making ⚖️ and integrated ABC pathway care ❤️ to balance prevention, safety, and patient...
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SuperAgers 💪, Super Brains 🧠, Super Insights 🔍
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🧠 Meet the Northwestern SuperAgers—individuals 80+ with memory scores rivaling those decades younger! 📚 They show thicker cortices, more von Economo neurons, fewer neurofibrillary tangles, and remarkable social engagement. 🏆 Their brains offer clues to resisting age-related decline—reshaping how we view aging potential. ✨ #SuperAgers #HealthyLongevity #BrainHealth
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High Blood Pressure 2025 ACC/AHA Guideline: Measure. Manage. Maintain. 📏💊💖
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🚨 Hot off the press! The 2025 ACC/AHA High Blood Pressure Guidelines are here 🩺📊 — bringing sharper strategies to detect, treat & prevent hypertension. From HBPM 🏠 to PREVENT risk scoring 🎯 and protecting against end-organ damage 🫀🧠, these updates empower clinicians & patients alike. Measure it. Manage it. Maintain it. 💪🌟 #Hypertension #Cardiology #Guidelines
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Hosts, Microbes & Life – The Holobiont Revolution
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🌳 Trees aren’t just trees – they’re bustling holobionts 🌱🧫! New Nature research reveals that living wood hosts vast, specialized microbiomes, with heartwood and sapwood fostering distinct microbial worlds. These microbes shape carbon & nitrogen cycling 🌍, influence tree health 🌳💪, and reflect deep host–microbe coevolution 🧬. Rethinking forests as holobionts could transform conservation, climate strategies, and sustainable forestry. #Nature #Microbiome #Holobiont #Forests
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💙 Prevent • Protect • Prolong – The Full Spectrum of Heart Failure Care
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
💙 Heart failure prevention is a lifelong journey – from identifying those at risk 🩺, to managing pre-HF 🚦, to optimizing care in advanced stages 🫀. This joint HFSA & ASPC statement bridges primary, secondary & tertiary prevention, targeting traditional risks (HTN, diabetes, obesity) ⚠️, non-traditional risks (genetics, SDOH) 🌍, and leveraging tools like biomarkers 🔬, cardiac rehab 🏃, and heart-healthy diets 🥗. Detect early. Act decisively. Prolong life. #HeartHealth #Prevention #Cardiology
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Gut Microbes, Diet, & Disease 🌿🥗🚫
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🦠 Your gut is home to trillions of microbes shaping digestion, immunity, and even mood! 🌿 This new study of 150 adults over 12 weeks found 📈 higher alpha diversity (p=0.003) and clear shifts in microbiome composition, with Faecalibacterium ↑ and Bacteroides ↓. Such changes could boost metabolic and immune health—but more research is needed for long-term insights. 💡 Nurture your inner ecosystem with smart diet and lifestyle choices! 🥗⚖️ #GutHealth #Microbiome #PrecisionMedicine
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Shielding the Heart ❤️🛡️: ARNI’s Role in Cardiotoxic Chemotherapy
Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'
🚀 Breaking News in Cardio-Oncology! 🫀🎗️ A new randomized trial in European Journal of Heart Failure shows that low-dose sacubitril/valsartan (an angiotensin receptor–neprilysin inhibitor) given before adjuvant therapy in early breast cancer patients completely prevented cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) over 12 months — 0% vs 26.3% in standard care (p=0.006, NNT=3.8). 💡 Why it matters: CTRCD remains a major risk with anthracyclines and HER2-targeted therapy. Early ARNI initiation, guided by global longitudinal strain (GLS) monitoring, may offer...
info_outlineDr RR Baliga's 'Got Knowledge Doc' PodKasts for Physicians | Alpha-1 Adrenergic Receptor Blockers to Prevent Cytokine Release Syndrome | Not Medical Advice or Opinion
- Preventing ‘Cytokine Storm’ May Ease Severe COVID-19 Symptoms
https://www.hhmi.org/news/preventing-cytokine-storm-may-ease-severe-covid-19-symptoms - M.F. Konig et al. “Preventing cytokine storm syndrome in COVID-19 using α-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists.” Posted to medRxiv.org on April 18, 2020; published in Journal of Clinical Investigation April 30, 2020. doi: 10.1172/JCI139642.
- J.T. Vogelstein et al. “Alpha-1 adrenergic receptor antagonists for preventing acute respiratory distress syndrome and death from cytokine storm syndrome.” Posted to arXiv.org April 21, 2020.