Contemporary review of drug-induced pancreatitis: A different perspective

Although gallstone and alcohol use have been consid-ered the most common causes of acute pancreatitis, hundreds of frequently prescribed medications are as-sociated with this disease state. The true incidence is unknown since there are few population based studies available. The knowledge of drug induced acute pan-creatitis is limited by the availability and the quality of the evidence as the majority of data is extrapolated from case reports. Establishing a definitive causal rela-tionship between a drug and acute pancreatitis poses a challenge to clinicians. Several causative agent classifi-cation systems are often used to identify the suspected agents. They require regular updates since new drug induced acute pancreatitis cases are reported continu-ously. In addition, infrequently prescribed medications and herbal medications are often omitted. Furthermore, identification of drug induced acute pancreatitis with new medications often requires accumulation of post market case reports. The unrealistic expectation for a comprehensive list of medications and the multifacto-rial nature of acute pancreatitis call for a different ap-proach. In this article, we review the potential mecha-nisms of drug induced acute pancreatitis and providethe perspective of deductive reasoning in order to allow clinicians to identify potential drug induced acute pan-creatitis with limited data.     

AGEing and osteoarthritis: a different perspective

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Across the world, osteoarthritis is the most commonly occurring musculoskeletal disease of the elderly, affecting more than 25% of the population older than 60 years of age. By far the single greatest risk factor for the development of osteoarthritis is age, but a mechanism to explain this relation has not yet been identified. If such a mechanism is identified, this potentially also provides a novel target for osteoarthritis therapy. The identification of new therapeutic targets is of utmost importance, because a disease-modifying treatment for osteoarthritis is not available and, because of the graying of the population, the number of patients with osteoarthritis will continue to increase, which will pose an enormous social and economic burden on society. RECENT FINDINGS: Advanced glycation end products accumulate in human articular cartilage with increasing age, and affect biomechanical, biochemical, and cellular characteristics of the tissue. As an illustration, accumulation of advanced glycation end products increase cartilage stiffness and brittleness while decreasing the synthesis and degradation of cartilage matrix constituents. Articular cartilage becomes more prone to damage, and thus osteoarthritis, at elevated concentrations of advanced glycation end products. SUMMARY: The reviewed literature demonstrates that the age-related accumulation of advanced glycation end products in articular cartilage may provide a molecular mechanism capable of (at least in part) explaining the age-related increase in the incidence of osteoarthritis. This conclusion paves the way for new strategies to prevent or treat osteoarthritis via inhibition and/or reversal of this process.     

HCV / HIV co-infection: a different perspective

The clinical significance of HCV-HIV co-infection has notoriously changed due to the introduction of new anti-retroviral therapeutic combinations against HIV infection. Their effectiveness in dramatically reducing AIDS mortality, and the corresponding increase in hospitalization and death related to liver disease. Considerations facing this new reality will have to include epidemiological aspects, pathogenetic interactions, the influence of highly active anti-retroviral therapies (HAART) on the natural history of HCV infection, including their HCV--enhanced liver toxicity, and current new strategies about therapeutic measures against HCV infection in the frame of the most recent advances in HIV therapy.     

A matter of perspective

BACKGROUND: Many people display omission bias in medical decision making, accepting the risk of passive nonintervention rather than actively choosing interventions (such as vaccinations) that result in lower levels of risk. OBJECTIVE: Testing whether people's preferences for active interventions would increase when deciding for others versus for themselves. RESEARCH DESIGN: Survey participants imagined themselves in 1 of 4 roles: patient, physician treating a single patient, medical director creating treatment guidelines, or parent deciding for a child. All read 2 short scenarios about vaccinations for a deadly flu and treatments for a slow-growing cancer. PARTICIPANTS: Two thousand three hundred and ninety-nine people drawn from a demographically stratified internet sample. MEASURES: Chosen or recommended treatments. We also measured participants' emotional response to our task. RESULTS: Preferences for risk-reducing active treatments were significantly stronger for participants imagining themselves as medical professionals than for those imagining themselves as patients (vaccination: 73% [physician] & 63% [medical director] vs 48% [patient], Ps<.001; chemotherapy: 68% & 68% vs 60%, Ps<.012). Similar results were observed for the parental role (vaccination: 57% vs 48%, P=.003; chemotherapy: 72% vs 60%, P<.001). Reported emotional reactions were stronger in the responsible medical professional and parental roles yet were also independently associated with treatment choice, with higher scores associated with reduced omission tendencies (OR=1.15 for both regressions, Ps<.01). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment preferences may be substantially influenced by a decision-making role. As certain roles appear to reinforce "big picture" thinking about difficult risk tradeoffs, physicians and patients should consider re-framing treatment decisions to gain new, and hopefully beneficial, perspectives.