Long-term use of aspirin doesn’t lower the risk of stroke — and increases bleeding risks — in some patients with atrial fibrillation, researchers find.
This study continues to show that aspirin has little to no benefit for stroke prevention in Afib patients, and when used in low-risk patients it significantly increases a patient’s bleeding risk.”
— Jared Bunch, MD, Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute
SALT LAKE CITY , UT , USA , May 18, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- A new study by researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City found that using long-term aspirin therapy to prevent strokes among patients who are considered to be at low risk for stroke may not be effective as previously thought.
The study found that atrial fibrillation patients who received a catheter ablation and were low risk of stroke didn’t benefit from long-term aspirin therapy, but are at risk of higher rates of bleeding compared to no therapy at all.
Researchers presented results of the study at Heart Rhythm 2017, the Heart Rhythm Society’s 38th Annual Scientific Sessions, in Chicago earlier this month.
Stroke risk is a significant concern in patients with atrial fibrillation, and patients who undergo a catheter ablation for AF have lower long-term stroke rates compared to AF patients who aren’t treated with an ablation.
“When AF patients are considered low risk for stroke, physicians often treat them with aspirin rather than stronger anticoagulants to further lower that risk,” said Jared Bunch, MD, the study’s lead author and director of Heart Rhythm Research at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute. “What was unknown was if aspirin was a safe and effective stroke prevention treatment after an ablation in lower-risk AF patients.”
“Traditionally, lower-risk AF patients have been treated with aspirin without significant supportive data,” he added.
Dr. Bunch and his team investigated the impact of long-term use of aspirin in 4,124 low-risk AF patients who underwent catheter ablation. The study showed that over a three-year period, those who were on aspirin had a significantly higher risk for gastrointestinal bleeding and genitourinary bleeding compared to those on warfarin or who weren’t treated at all.
“In both the general and medical communities, aspirin therapy is perceived to reduce risks, it’s easy to prescribe, and it’s available worldwide over-the-counter. There’s always been little evidence to support its use for stroke prevention in AF patients. This study continues to show that aspirin has little to no benefit for stroke prevention in AF patients and when used in low-risk patients it significantly increases a patient’s bleeding risk.”
The study has several findings that could enhance the general management of AF, specifically the long-term post-procedure management of patients who received a catheter ablation:
- First, study data continue to highlight that aspirin conveys no significant benefit for stroke reduction in low stroke-risk AF patients and it actually elevates the risk of bleeding.
- Second, when stroke risk may be further lowered by the process of catheter ablation for AF, the long-term lack of benefit and elevated bleeding risks associated with aspirin use become even more apparent.
“Aspirin is widely considered a healthy therapy to lower risk of heart disease,” said Dr. Bunch. “It’s widely used in our communities even in people who don’t have heart disease or another apparent need. Like all therapies, it has significant risks, including major bleeding. Unfortunately, after careful study, it doesn’t significantly lower stroke risk in most AF patients. Since stroke is the most feared complication of AF, we need to continue to study all available therapies to understand the most effective and safest treatment choices and how to use them after ablation.”
Other researchers involved in the study include Heidi May, PhD; Tami Bair, RN; Victoria Jacobs PhD; Brian Crandall, MD; Michael Cutler, DO, PhD; Charles Mallender, MD; Jeffrey Osborn, MD; Peter Weiss, MD; and John Day, MD.
The Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute is part of the Intermountain Healthcare system, based in Salt Lake City.
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The word “millennial” comes with a significant amount of baggage—to the point where it’s almost a dirty word. Considered the "me, me, me generation," millennials are often viewed as selfish slackers, but according to Doug Griffiths, aka “the Community Therapist,” they are key to reviving and rebuilding our small communities.
“Millennials are more about socialization and quality of life than previous generations,” says Griffiths, author of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community. “They are focused on community building and inclusion, while previous generations were zeroed in on progress and business. They bring back an element that their great-grandparents embodied, and that’s essential to the future.”
Griffiths can discuss:
Jonathan Carey "Champion for the Disabled" Born September 12,1993 Killed by caregivers on February 15,2007
Gov. Cuomo is seeking review of colleges handling of sex assaults, yet his Justice Center is making most reported sexual assaults of the disabled disappear.
Most reported sexual assault crimes have been purposefully withheld from local authorities by Governor Cuomo’s Justice Center.”
— Michael Carey
DELMAR, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, May 18, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- It was shocking to see this story surface yesterday, knowing that far more sexual assaults and rapes are occurring within New York’s mental health care system than what is happening on college campuses throughout New York State – “Cuomo orders review of college, university sex assault handling” - http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Cuomo-orders-review-of-college-university-sex-11154654.php
All efforts, to date, to have Governor Cuomo take vital emergency actions to dramatically reduce sexual assaults and rapes of people with disabilities and those struggling with mental illness in State and private residential facilities and group homes continue to be ignored. The most basic measures and tools to reduce such horrific and heinous criminal acts against our most vulnerable are not bothered to be put in place to date, such as surveillance cameras, much better hiring, vetting and oversight practices, as well as immediate reporting to 911, hopefully that will change swiftly. Sex crimes must immediately be reported to 911, not reported and investigated internally, this is a recipe for cover-ups, and that is exactly what is happening most of the time.
Sex crimes cannot continue to be kept from local police, emergency medical personnel and timely criminal investigations with the appropriate evidence collection and retention. These horrific crimes and the evidence of these crimes cannot continue to be kept from County elected District Attorney’s and local courts; this is a gross injustice and almost always protects the offenders and not the victims. Most reported sexual assault crimes have been purposefully withheld from local authorities by Governor Cuomo’s Justice Center. All requests of the Governor and Deputy Secretary of Health Paul Francis to have them immediately cease and desist from this blatant obstruction of justice goes ignored. These illegal practices also clearly deny this specific group of people, people with disabilities, their constitutional equal right to “equal protection of laws. As the Governor looks outwardly, it is time that he finally deals with the massive sexual assaults and cover-ups of most of them within his own mental health agencies that are under his authority and control. I gave you a glimpse into only one of the multiple State agencies that report massive numbers of sexual assaults and rapes internally to Cuomo’s abuse hotline.
Federal authorities have been requested to investigate why most reported sexual assaults of New Yorkers with disabilities living in residential care facilities are rarely reported to local police and County elected District Attorney’s by Governor Cuomo’s Justice Center, which is an obstruction of justice. The question is not if the cover-ups are happening, it’s how many thousands? State documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) show a distinct and massive problem of rampant sexual abuse of the developmentally disabled. Records reveal that approximately 325 reports of sexual abuse of the developmentally disabled is reported within the New York State Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) system alone every three months or thirteen hundred a year. These are the reported numbers and everyone knows that most of these sex assaults and rapes are never witnessed or reported. According to a well respected document that the State of Massachusetts placed up on their official website titled “Prevalence of Violence” http://www.mass.gov/dppc/abuse-recognize/prevalence-of-violence.html. Almost all these sex crimes against the developmentally disabled will never be reported. A direct quote from this document states that - “Only three percent (3%) of sexual abuse cases involving people with developmental disabilities will ever be reported.” Using the three percent statistic and the 1,300 sexual abuse cases reported annually the possible real numbers are over 40,000 cases annually in a system of 126,000 people with developmental disabilities. These atrocities, which most are absolutely preventable, continue because of the same exact problem Governor Cuomo is trying to bring to light on college campuses, the entire structure of internal reporting and investigating. These sexual assaults and rapes in State and private mental health facilities and group homes, as well as on college campuses, are crimes an obviously must be reported immediately to local police to be immediately criminally investigated.
Tragically, following the award winning New York Times investigative reporting series titled “Abused & Used” http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/nyregion/abused-and-used-series-page.html?_r=0 which was a runner up for a Pulitzer Prize, Governor Cuomo set up an entity to keep almost everything internal and away from local police and County prosecutors. This entity, wrongfully titled the Justice Center, is under great scrutiny right now because of two very damning situations within the last two months alone that have surfaced, the Comptroller DiNapoli Audit and Judge Breslin’s decision. The Comptroller Audit which found that thousands of cases were closed out with no determination. The audit also documents that the Justice Center obstructed the comptroller audit and withheld most documents and records of what they were and were not doing, including information of what was or was not reported to local law enforcement regarding criminal cases. There is only one real reason to hide such information. http://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093017/15s61.pdf#search=%20Justice%20Center%20AuditAs reported by News 10, Judge Breslin ruled that Governor Cuomo’s “special prosecutor” is operating unconstitutionally and has no jurisdiction to be handling criminal cases apart from elected prosecutors control http://news10.com/2017/03/30/sex-abuse-charges-dismissed-against-local-teacher/ . This supposed independent “special prosecutor” has been for years and continues to not notify County District Attorney’s of most reported crimes, including sexual assault crimes, reported to them. Governor Cuomo appointed an individual named Patricia Gunning, who is not an elected prosecutor and a State employee, who has a direct conflict of interest, to basically circumvent or bypass County elected District Attorney’s, to primarily hide what is going on in his agencies. Tens of thousands of reported criminal cases, including staggering numbers of criminally negligent deaths and multiple thousands of reported sexual assaults have been kept from local authorities and courts since Governor Cuomo renamed and relocated this State agency following the Time’s “Abused & Used” investigative reporting series. Please read this one piece from this incredible series in which a State employee was caught in the act and still was protected and shielded from prosecution http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/nyregion/13homes.html .
Michael Carey
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The incredible life and tragic preventable death of Jonathan Carey, who was disabled, had autism, was non-verbal & only 13 when he was killed by his caregivers
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Hindus urge all Utah schools to offer yoga like some Salt Lake City schools
Hindus have commended Salt Lake City School District (SLCSD) in Utah for offering yoga in its various schools, calling it a step in the positive direction.
Course Catalog (2017-2018) of its East High School (EHS) offers Yoga I (9-12), whose description includes: “In this course students will unite the mind and body with the spirit, creating a more whole person” and it includes “meditation”. Its list of yoga benefits includes “self realization” and “inner peace”. It also offers Yoga II (10-12), whose description includes enhancing “mind/body connection”.
Yoga was also offered in EHS, West High School and Highland High School of SLCSD as a course in 2016-2017. Yoga was reportedly one of the electives in Nibley Park School (K-8) and in 2015 - 2016, several teachers used “Yoga Me Do” in Newman Elementary School. Third graders at Lincoln Elementary School have been practicing yoga, and according to a write-up on SLCSD website: “At the end of each session, when the entire room shares a long “Om,” it is amazing to feel the unity, calm, and peace pervade the space.” Grades 11-12 Course Catalog (2017-2018) of neighboring Park City High School includes Yoga, whose description includes “mind-body connectivity” and meditation exercises.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, applauded SLCSD for coming forward and providing an opportunity to students to avail the multiple benefits yoga offered.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, exhorted all public, private, charter and independent schools of Utah to adopt yoga as part of their curriculum so that students did not miss a learning opportunity in this competitive world.
Rajan Zed also urged Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert, Utah State Board of Education Chair Mark Huntsman and Utah Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Sydnee Dickson; to work towards formally introducing yoga as a part of curriculum in all the public schools of the state, thus incorporating highly beneficial yoga in the lives of Utah’s students.
Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed pointed out.
Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.
According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.
Tagline of SLCSD, said to be the oldest public school district in Utah with one of its high school founded in 1890, is “Your Best Choice”. Heather Bennett and Dr. Lexi Cunningham are its Board President and Superintendent respectively.
