Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

D Podolsky

Publications and source records attributed to D Podolsky.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Best hospitals. Raising questions of care.

What should you do if finances--or geography or health plan rules--put a high-ranked hospital out of reach? Good question. Here are some answers, along with other hypothetical questions related to hospital choice, access and cost. The responses, developed with the help of medical and consumer experts, are real.

Consumer Advocacy↗
PubMed1994

Bad blood.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Blood Banks↗
PubMed1993

How medicine mistreats the elderly.

Hamstrung by biases and limited facts, doctors routinely deliver shoddy care to old people. This guide shows how to reject that medical mindset and stay healthy longer.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Danger: implants.

The superheated debate over breast implants awakened a sleeping giant of an issue clouding "medical devices"--the government's clumsy nomenclature for any medical product that is not a drug, from breast implants and artificial hips to X-ray machines and surgical thread. Some 130 categories of high-risk devices are in use with little or no proof of safety, reliability or effectiveness. All appeared before 1976, the year that the Food and Drug Administration got the authority to regulate such products. Under activist chief David Kessler and with added clout from a 1990 law, the FDA plans to scrutinize the entire 130-item list. Five will get special attention starting early next year: saline-filled breast implants, inflatable penile implants, testicular implants, heart-bypass pumps and cranial stimulators. U.S. News has looked at all five devices, using FDA data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. In-depth computer analysis suggested that penile implants deserve closer examination. Why is clear from the following report.

Equipment Safety↗
PubMed1992

A ban on silicone.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Equipment Safety↗
PubMed1991

No more knives.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1991

Colonic glycoproteins in monozygotic twins with inflammatory bowel disease.

Colonic glycoprotein composition was evaluated in monozygotic twins with inflammatory bowel disease using ion-exchange chromatography. Fifty-three individuals, 12 pairs and 1 single twin with ulcerative colitis and 14 pairs with Crohn's disease, were evaluated. Seven twin pairs were concordant for the presence of ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, whereas twin siblings of 10 ulcerative colitis probands and 9 Crohn's disease probands were not known to have inflammatory bowel disease. Content of one chromatographically defined component of colonic mucin, designated HCM species IV, was reduced in both patients with ulcerative colitis (1040 +/- 300 cpm/10,000 cpm total HCM) and their apparently healthy twins (1340 +/- 540 cpm/10,000 cpm total HCM) compared with control subjects (4030 +/- 1,000 cpm/10,000 cpm total HCM). Composition of mucin in Crohn's disease patients and their nonaffected twins was not significantly different than in controls. These observations suggest that altered profiles of mucin glycoprotein may be present before the onset of ulcerative colitis and may be genetically defined. Conversely, it appears that alterations in glycoproteins only are not sufficient to initiate mucosal inflammation.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Methotrexate in Crohn's disease: results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Immunosuppression with methotrexate may be useful in the treatment of Crohn's disease. We tested the efficacy of methotrexate in refractory Crohn's disease in a randomized, controlled trial. METHODOLOGY: Randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial of methotrexate in 33 patients with steroid-dependent Crohn's disease, 33% of whom had previously failed therapy with 6-mercaptopurine. Patients were given placebo or oral methotrexate 15 mg/week, or adjusted up to 22.5 mg/week, for up to 1 year or until treatment failure. Outcome was assessed by reduction in prednisone dosage, Crohn's Disease Activity Index, hospital admission, and laboratory parameters. RESULTS: Four patients were dropped from the study for non-compliance and one because of intercurrent illness, and 28 patients could be evaluated. Fewer methotrexate-treated patients (6/13 or 46%) had flares of Crohn's disease as compared to placebo-treated patients (12/15 or 80%), but this did not achieve statistical significance (p<0.1). There was a non-significant trend toward an increased number of significant side effects in the methotrexate-treated patients (3/13 or 23%) as compared to the placebo-treated patients (0/15 or 0%) (p<0.2). Laboratory indices of inflammation did not differ between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The methotrexate-treated group showed a trend toward fewer Crohn's disease flares, balanced by an increased number of significant side effects.

Administration, Oral↗