Articles related to Family Medicine/General Practice

Anxiety disorders are among the most common of psychiatric disorders, with estimates suggesting a lifetime prevalence in the US of approximately 32%. But development of new and effective treatments for anxiety disorders has lagged behind new treatments for other conditions such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. This article reviews current treatment and their effectiveness, and highlights the emerging new hopefuls.

Naegleria fowleri — a “free-living amoeba” and cousin of E. histolytica —enters humans not through the mouth but through the nose, and in a few, penetrates the nasal mucosa to invade the brain.

In its alert, the CDC warned doctors that these viruses circulate in the summer and fall and that they should be considered as a potential infection in an infant with fever, sepsis, or neurological symptoms.

In 2021, melatonin was the most frequently reported substance involved in pediatric substance ingestions, resulting in 4,000 hospitalizations, 287 ICU admissions, and 2 deaths in children under the age of 2. Melatonin supplements can have 500% more melatonin than indicated on the label and about 30% of OTC products tested had serotonin as well.

A comprehensive review on the widespread uptake of vaping, including its origins and history, a timeline of discoveries, terminology, epidemiology, its use as a “harm reducer,” clinical presentations of vaping lung injuries (including an overview of the 2019 EVALI outbreak), the pathophysiology of vaping-induced lung injury, clinical aspects including outcomes, COVID-19 considerations, future directions, guidelines, and questions for future research.

The knee arthritis meta-analysis reviewed 169 trials involving 21,163 patients, with the evidence demonstrating viscosupplementation is associated with a clinically irrelevant reduction in pain intensity and with an increased risk of serious adverse events compared with placebo. For the meniscus study, the commentary may sum it up best: “Multiple studies, including several with sham surgeries as a control have shown repeatedly over the previous 2 decades that surgery is not superior to physical therapy, yet the issue and use of surgery persist.”