Jeannette Y. Wick, RPh, MBA, FASCP

Bariatric surgery represents a potentially useful intervention for managing obese type 2 diabetics who would fail to reach treatment goals with intensive medical therapy alone.

Since inactivity accounts for 10-16% of breast cancers, colon cancers, and diabetes cases, as well as 22% of heart disease, some researchers believe too much sitting can cause just as much harm as smoking.

Since those who undergo cardiac surgery are more likely to receive allogeneic blood transfusions, researchers at Johns Hopkins Hospital set out to investigate the effects of reinfusing autologous blood lost during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Despite intensive subcutaneous insulin therapy, a relatively small group of type 1 diabetics fails to reach adequate glycemic control, has frequent hypoglycemic episodes, or develops insulin resistance.

The relationship between food insecurity and weight appears to be paradoxical, since food insecurity is often associated with not only undernutrition and recurring hunger, but also overnutrition and obesity.

Since nearly half of all Staphylococcus aureus infections harbor difficult-to-cure methicillin-resistant (MRSA) isolates, identifying MRSA risk factors could improve infection prevention and treatment, as well as reduce resistance patterns.

Since obesity is more likely to occur as patients age, researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London recently set out to determine whether they could predict which obese older adults would be more likely to lose weight successfully.

Could early mobilization and feeding after colorectal surgery reduce hospital stays and readmission rates? A team of researchers from Duke University Hospital believes so.

The Endocrine Society's new the Accurate Insulin Decisions smartphone app provides support for patients and physicians with setting realistic blood sugar goals and easily adjusting insulin doses.

With no standards in place to guide referrals for children with gastroesophageal reflux disease, variation in procedural decision-making among pediatric subspecialists is expected.

A cholecystectomy is generally an uncomplicated procedure, but on the rare occasions when gallstones migrate to adjacent viscera or vascular structures, it becomes a considerably more complicated operation.

For most mistakes, it is best to apply the "ABC" rule: acknowledge the error and accept responsibility, be gentle with yourself, and correct it, make amends, and move on. But if the blunder occurs in the surgical suite, it is not that simple.

Incorporating aspects of the small particle diet into the recommendations for diabetic gastroparesis might be beneficial to patients.

Many gynecologic surgeries that formerly required large incisions and lengthy hospital stays are simpler today due to smaller incisions, less blood loss, and improved mobilization. As a result, same-day discharge after robotic-assisted hysterectomy - an option that only recently became available - now seems possible.

Since surgical patients who develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) face a 40% risk of death, a tool that can accurately predict who will develop ARDS is greatly needed.

In an April 2014 study published in Diabetologia, researchers in Germany reviewed phase 3 clinical trial data from all pharmaceutical companies that produced GLP-1 receptor agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors.

Up to one-quarter of the 1.6 million amputees in the United States develop painful neuromas that can interfere with even the most carefully fitted prosthetic devices.

Many healthcare institutions and watchdog organizations look at 30-day survival after surgery as a measure of quality, but can those metrics adversely influence patient outcomes?

The medical literature reports up to 6% of all deaths in type 1 diabetic patients younger than age 40 are caused by "dead-in-bed" syndrome.

Although ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm is rare and usually asymptomatic, it is a rapidly life-threatening condition with outcomes that differ greatly by country.

The nausea and vomiting that accompanies and compromises what should be a happy time for most expecting mothers is poorly understood.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine are contesting a February 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that indicated childhood obesity is stabilizing and has dropped 43% among 2- to 5-year-olds.

Anniversaries often prompt reflection, and the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing is no exception.

Researchers believe the less-invasive nature of transcatheter aortic-valve replacement systems allows patients to mobilize and recover in as little as one week, which contributes to the device's greater survival benefit compared to open-heart surgery.

Despite the generally positive history of deep brain stimulation, patients often have preconceptions about the procedure, especially its risks.

Survey results show that surgeons still have a long way to go in recognizing how psychological factors can impact the success of back surgeries.

In the field of women's health, the publication of the 2002 Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study was such a defining event that clinicians talk about menopausal hormone therapy "before WHI" and "after WHI."

As the complications of postoperative atrial fibrillation include stroke and longer hospital stays, surgeons have spent decades searching for cost-effective ways to prevent and treat the condition.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is currently the leading cause of blindness in working-age populations and among the most serious complications of chronic diabetes.

A study published in BMJ explains the long-term risks of opioid treatment in the postoperative setting.