Amy Jacob

At AAPA 2017 in Las Vegas, Jennifer Carlquist PA-C, ER, CAQ said that she believed clinicians are trained in medicine to think heart disease is "an old person's disease," so they don't have it on their radar for the young people (teen years through mid-30s).

Sarilumab would be able to treat adult patients with moderately-to-severely active rheumatoid arthritis who cannot tolerate one or more disease modifying antirheumatic drugs like methotrexate.

This is the first FDA-approved therapy specific to this form of vasculitis.

200,000 to 400,000 people die annually from medical errors.

Jane McDaniel, MS, MLS (SCP) SC, Wake Forest School of Medicine explained that typically, the most common forms that are talked about are the thyroid panel, but most physicians will end up ordering a thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to start with.

According to Tatsiana Singh, PA-C, Indiana State University Sycamore Center for Wellness, at an individual level, each Physician Assistant (PA) or healthcare provider should aim at staying up-to-date, reflecting on their workdays, and discerning whether there was a situation that was a close call and how it could be prevented in the future. Being a good team player is critical for PAs particularly and not being frightened to solicit another opinion and verify the diagnosis.

At AAPA 2017, Benjamin Smith, PA-C, DFAAPA, Florida State University College of Medicine, discussed the tremendous advances in both treating and diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis. About 15 years ago, the CCP lab tests came about, which certainly help with specificity for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Many patients with COPD have had exposure to tobacco smoke or environmental irritants that caused the COPD, or have genetic COPD, meaning, the patients affected would likely be adults.

"ACOS is not an entity unto itself; it's not a typical syndrome."

The recent rise in hepatitis C cases in pregnant women and young people warrants further study.

"One of the big problems we're having right now is trying to identify these patients with hepatitis C," Rick Davis, PA-C, University of Florida College of Medicine told MD Magazine. "We've found that the birth cohort of baby boomers (1945-1965) has the highest prevalence of infection, and now we're starting to see the results of that."

Stephanie Chen, MSN, MPH, NP-C, Barrow Neurological Institute, also discussed goals of The VA Epilepsy Centers of Excellence, a national consortium aiming to provide high quality epilepsy care and educational resources to patients and their caregivers.

Current standard of care for treating epilepsy and seizure for a patient who has a first time seizure involves getting a high resolution MRI, EEG, and history.

At AACE 2017, John Bilezikian, MD, discussed the latest FDA approval of Tymlos for postmenopausal women with osteoporosis and for women who are at high risk for fracture.

According to Kathleen “Kittie” Wyne, MD, PhD, The Ohio State University, in the identification and treatment of hypothyroidism, people need to be aware that the symptoms associated with hypothyroidism can be non-specific.

At AACE 2017, Kathleen “Kittie” Wyne, MD, PhD, The Ohio State University, discussed new data on hypothyroidism. Although hypothyroidism requires lifelong adherence to therapy, compliance still remains challenging.

At AACE 2017, Jagdeesh Ullal, MD, MS, Eastern Virginia Medical School discussed data from his team’s study that assessed the efficacy of an electronic glycemic management system (eGlycemic Management) management in controlling blood sugars in the hospital setting.

“Treatment of diabetic foot ulcers depends upon the severity of the infection,” said Andrew Boulton, MD, University of Manchester, UK, University of Miami, Florida at AACE 2017.

According to Andrew Boulton, MD, University of Manchester, UK, University of Miami, Florida, the most important take home message for doctors regarding the diabetic foot and reducing amputations, is to remove their patients’ shoes and socks and look at their feet.

Peter Goadsby, M.B., B.S., Director of the NIHR- Wellcome Trust King’s Clinical Research, London, Professor of Neurology, University of California at San Francisco, explained the benefits of the recent FDA approval of the gammaCore non-invasive vagal nerve stimulator on patients suffering from cluster headaches.

At AACE 2017, Shashank Joshi, MD, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai explained his team’s simple diabetes treatment formula: A for A1C, B for blood pressure, C for cholesterol (LDL cholesterol), and D for diet that’s culturally sensitive and adaptable.

Shashank Joshi, MD, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre, Mumbai, spoke to MD Magazine about the cultural considerations when attempting to personalize diabetes care.

In terms of specific endocrine functions, bones favor glucose metabolism and homeostasis and are necessary for memory formation and for muscle function during exercise. Gerard Karsenty, MD, PhD also explained that osteo-calcium is not only necessary to foster this function, but it’s also sufficient, and can improve this function in animals.

Andres Kanner, MD, Professor of Clinical Neurology, Chief of Epilepsy Division from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine addressed that there were several medications in the pipeline being tested for different aspects of epilepsy treatment.

AT AAN 2017, Andres Kanner, MD, Professor of Clinical Neurology, Chief of Epilepsy Division from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine spoke with MD Magazine about the latest advancements in epilepsy research.

Larry Altstiel, MD, PhD, EVP, Chief Medical Officer, vTv Therapeutics also discussed their team’s programs in type 2 diabetes. One is an activator of an enzyme called glucocynase – a master regulator for glucose in the body. According to Altstiel, when glucose is too high, it either shuns it off to energy production or stores it in the form of glycogen. It’s an insulin independent way of how the body controls glucose.

“This phase 2b study did exactly what we wanted a phase 2 study to do, which was to establish a patient population in mild patients and also find a safe and well tolerated dose,†said Larry Altstiel, MD, PhD.

“This appears to be a very safe and effective drug, and is a valuable part of our therapeutic armamentarium. I don’t think teriflunomide addresses all the unmet needs in MS, in fact, no drug meets all the unmet needs, but this is a very well tolerated oral agent.”

The nearly 7-year extension trial presented a 47% reduction overall in conversion to clinically definite MS with those patients who had been on 14mg of teriflunomide from the beginning.

Ocrevus reduced all 3 aspects of relapsing MS disease: reduction relapses, reduction disability, and reduction lesions within the brain quite substantially.