Dr. Baliga's 'Podkasts for Curious Docs'

🚨 New Pharmacotherapy for Obstructive Sleep Apnoea 🌙💊

In a landmark Phase 2 trial published in The Lancet, sultiame— a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor—showed dose-dependent reduction in AHI and improved nocturnal oxygenation in adults with moderate–severe OSA.

💡 Key insights:

📢 New Study Alert 🩺💊 In JAMA Internal Medicine, a national analysis reveals that using the PREVENT risk calculator (vs Pooled Cohort Equations) dramatically reduces the number of U.S. adults aged 40–59 eligible for aspirin in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Among 7.6 million current aspirin users, >96% wouldn't qualify b...

🧠 TACSI Trial in NEJM (Sep 2025) challenges the status quo on dual antiplatelet therapy after CABG for ACS!

👨‍⚕️ 2201 patients across 5 Nordic countries

💊 Ticagrelor + Aspirin ≠ better outcomes vs Aspirin alone

📉 No reduction in death, MI, stroke, or revascularization

🩸 But bleeding (4.9% vs 2.0%) & dyspnea (18.2% vs 6.4%) increased

🧪 NEO-MINDSET Trial 🇧🇷 published in NEJM asks: Can we safely drop aspirin early after PCI in acute coronary syndromes (ACS)?

💊 Monotherapy with ticagrelor/prasugrel reduced bleeding 🩸 but increased early ischemic events 💥 vs dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT).

❗ Noninferiority for major adverse cardiovascular events was not met.

🚨 New in NEJM — The ALASCCA Trial 🧬

Low-dose aspirin (160 mg/day) reduced colorectal cancer recurrence in patients with PIK3CA, PIK3R1, or PTEN mutations 🎯

✅ 3-year recurrence: 7.7% (aspirin) vs 14–17% (placebo)

✅ Group A HR: 0.49 | Group B HR: 0.42

✅ NNT as low as 6 in stage III rectal cancer 💥

💡 TARGET-FIRST trial (NEJM, Aug 2025) shows that in low-risk AMI patients post-PCI with complete revascularization, stopping aspirin after 1 month and continuing P2Y12 monotherapy is noninferior to dual antiplatelet therapy—with 54% fewer bleeding events 🩸🛑💊

⚖️ A modern, patient-tailored antiplatelet strategy—back...

💊🫀 Aspirin in the Crosshairs?

The AQUATIC Trial (NEJM, Aug 2025) raises sharp questions on dual-pathway therapy in chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) patients already on long-term anticoagulation.

📉 Adding aspirin led to:

• ↑ Ischemic events (HR 1.53; P=0.02)

• ↑ Mortality

🧠💥 Could lead poisoning have helped shape human evolution? A bold new hypothesis suggests that Homo sapiens may have survived while Neanderthals and Denisovans vanished—thanks to genetic defenses against environmental lead. 🧬

By analyzing fossil teeth 🦷 and testing brain organoids 🧪, researchers found that ancient lead exposure disrupted key language-related ...

🚨 New in Nature 🧬: Groundbreaking study reveals how HMGN1, a dosage-sensitive epigenetic regulator on chromosome 21, reprograms atrioventricular cardiomyocytes into a ventricular fate—driving congenital heart defects in Down syndrome 💔🫀.

Using hiPSCs, single-cell RNA s...

🚭 Lung Cancer in Nonsmokers – a hidden epidemic affecting up to 20% of global cases 🌍. Unlike tobacco-related disease, this form often strikes younger, female, and Asian populations, with EGFR and ALK mutations driving tumors 🔬.

Despite low mutation burden and no smoking history, these pat...

👟 Just 2 Days Can Make a Difference! 🧓📉

In a large cohort of 13,547 older women (mean age 72), walking ≥4,000 steps/day on even 1–2 days/week was linked to a 26% lower mortality and 27% lower cardiovascular disease risk 💥. Those walking ≥3 days/week had even greater benefits!

🧓 Aging skin, fading flow. This 2025 Nature study uncovers how dermal capillary-associated macrophages (CAMs) decline with age—preceding microvascular dysfunction and impaired blood flow.

🧬 Using intravital imaging and macrophage fate mapping in mice (and validating in humans!), the authors reveal that CAMs are not replenished unless triggered by injury or CSF1. 🛠️ Fascinatingly, local CSF1–Fc therapy...

🫀📉 Published in The Lancet (Oct 22, 2025): SELECT trial investigators report that semaglutide reduced MACE by 20% in patients with obesity but without diabetes—independent of weight loss. Waist circumference, not weight, tracked with outcomes, yet explained only 33% of the benefit. This landmark analysis redefines GLP-1RAs as disease-modifying agents, not just weight-l...

Hair Loss in Women" (The New England Journal of Medicine 2025; DOI 10.1056/NEJMcp2412146) 📄, and it's a must‑listen for anyone in clinical practice or research.

The piece highlights that female‑pattern hair loss increases with age and is closely tied to hormonal status, and that treatments span from topical 5% minoxidil or low‑dose...

🔍 New in The Lancet! A massive network meta-analysis of 94 RCTs (105,435 patients) reveals that antidepressants impact far more than mood 🧠—they alter weight ⚖️, glucose 🩸, BP 💓, lipids 🧬, and liver enzymes 🧪.

Agomelatine 🌙 may lower weight, while nortriptyline 📈 raises heart rate. Time to rethink side-effect profiles when pr...

🧬 Her Genes, His Risk, Our Mind 💡

New insights from Thomas et al., Nature Communications (2025) — summarized beautifully by Na Cai in Nature News & Views. Women carry a heavier polygenic burden for major depressive disorder (MDD), with ~6,000 female-specific variants and stronger genetic links to metabolic traits

🦷🫀 New Findings Linking Oral Health to Heart Attacks! 🧬🧫

Groundbreaking research in JAHA reveals that viridans streptococci, common oral bacteria, form biofilms in atherosclerotic plaques that evade immune detection.

These stealthy invaders trigger innate and adaptive immune responses

🧠 Why Does Alzheimer's Affect More Women Than Men?

New insights from JAMA Medical News reveal that the answer goes far beyond longevity. 🌸

Biology, hormones, and even social factors intertwine — from estrogen decline and X chromosome genetics to APOE4 risks and<...