Florida-to-Appalachia 'pill pipeline' appears to be shriveling

Attorneys general from Florida and Kentucky say the prescription pill pipeline between the two states is beginning to close, reports Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader. They credit new programs and rules in Florida, but Kentucky AG Jack Conway says more work is needed "to attack the epidemic of prescription drug abuse in Kentucky." The pipeline has also supplied Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee.

Florida became the epicenter of the prescription drug trade to the Appalachian states because of lax regulation of pain clinics and tracking prescription drugs, Estep reports. People from the region traveled to Florida, stocked up on drugs, then returned home to sell them. In 2010, a police raid uncovered 1,400 files in a Florida doctor's office, and most were on Eastern Kentuckians. Police estimated that 60 percent of pills illegally sold in Kentucky were prescribed in Florida.

Florida officials have increased monitoring of prescription pills, boosted enforcement, required pain clinics to register with the state, started a prescription monitoring system and barred many clinics from dispensing pills. The results have been significant, Florida AG Pam Bondi said at a substance-abuse conference in Lexington. In 2010, 98 of the top 100 oxycodone prescribers were in Florida; only 11 are now. Registered pain clinics in the state have dropped from 943 to 579. (Read more)

Don't Stop Taking Resveratrol, Says Top Doc

Newsmaxhealth.com

Sunday, January 22, 2012 1:57 PM

A major scandal erupted this month when a researcher at the University of Connecticut was accused of faulty research — or downright fraud — in at least 26 articles he wrote about the benefits of resveratrol.

 Resveratrol, an anti-inflammatory found in the skins of red grapes, has been hailed as the "Fountain of Youth," and is said to fight heart disease, cancer, and other diseases of aging. Some researchers believe the resveratrol contained in red wine is responsible for the “French Paradox” — the apparent ability of the French to eat high-fat diets and drink copious amounts of red wine and still have low rates of heart disease and cancer.

 "It has anticancer properties and a powerful ability to protect the brain against immunoexcitotoxicity, the central mechanism in brain aging and neurodegenerative disease of the brain," says Newsmax Health contributor Dr. Russell Blaylock. "Resveratrol is a potent antioxidant that stimulates brain growth and synaptic connections."

 Although disturbing, the news that some resveratrol research is in question shouldn't taint the reputation of a valuable heart-healthy nutrient, says Dr. Blaylock. He is in agreement with other scientists and researchers who believe the news will have minimal impact in the field of resveratrol research, since Dr. Dipak K. Das, the scientist in question, isn't a major researcher in the field.

 "Dr. Das is NOT the major researcher in resveratrol effects on cardiovascular health," says Dr. Blaylock. "Several of his papers are review papers of other people's research.

 "We are not sure what is being questioned," says Blaylock, who notes that "bias and corruption within the ruling medical elite can attack a researcher unfairly." So, in Dr. Blaylock's opinion, the jury is still out on Das's guilt.

Das's research aside, the overwhelming amount of research from other sources found that resveratrolis, in fact, an effective nutrient. "There are 4,460 research and review papers listed on PubMed that are published from labs from all over the world," says Dr. Blaylock. "They are finding a tremendous effectiveness of resveratrol on cardiovascular health, neuroprotection, and usefulness in cancer prevention and treatment.

"That means that greater than 99.9 percent of the research done on resveratrol is from labs completely independent of Das' lab or his institution."

 The media adds to the confusion when stories like the resveratrol story break, says Dr. Blaylock. "The media wants to make the most exciting headline they can — so they write such nonsense as 'resveratrol research faked: forget that glass of wine,'" says Dr. Blaylock. "Ironically, they are committing a more glaring fraud than the person they are writing about.

 "It would have taken them no more than 10 minutes to find what I did — that 99.9 percent of the research is totally independent of Das' research, and virtually all of it finds resveratrol to be effective and safe."

There is also the problem that so many of the media's advertising dollars come from the pharmaceutical makers of statins, says Dr. Blaylock: "They have a vested interest in reporting a story that would destroy the resveratrol market. Again, this is glaring fraud by the media. The purpose of journalism is to dig out the truth — to carefully analyze a story and provide the real story to the public," says Blaylock. All too often, the media doesn't do its job, he says.

 As for himself and his patients, "I will continue to take resveratrol and recommend it," he says.

© 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

UK opening new operating rooms, including high-tech hybrid

The region's first hybrid operating room, one that adds imaging and robotics to traditional surgery, is opening this week at the University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital. The only other hybrid OR in Kentucky is at the Trover Clinic in Madisonville, according to Kristi Lopez of UK Public Relations.

News media are being invited to see demonstrations and tour the facility, as well as eight new operating rooms opening in the next phase of the hospital's construction, on Wednesday afternoon. Those on the 1:30 p.m. tour will include Dr. Michael Karpf, UK's executive vice president for health affairs; Ann Smith, the hospital's chief administrative officer; Dr. Joseph "Jay" Zwischenberger, UK HealthCare surgeon-in-chief; Dr. Bernard Boulanger, surgical services director; Dr. David Minion, a vascular and endovascular surgeon; and Dr. Justin Fraser, a neurosurgeon.

"Advantages to a hybrid operating room include greater accuracy of surgical procedures, reduced recovery time, and reduced risk of postoperative complications," a UK press advisory said. "Vascular and endovascular surgeries will begin being performed in the new OR in the next few weeks."

Journalists wanting to take the tour and watch the demonstrations should park in the UK HealthCare parking garage at South Limestone and Transcript Avenue and meet university public-relations representatives promptly at 1:30. For more information or assistance, call or text Lopez at 859-806-0445.