Staying #Up2Date 🚨

1: A Breath of Fresh Air for Recurrent Rhinosinusitis

An open-label RCT of 59 patients with recurrent acute rhinosinusitis found that operative treatment, in combination with medical management, improved patient-reported outcomes. Compared with medical treatment alone, patients who underwent surgery reported significantly improved SNOT-22 scores, which measure sinus-related quality of life. No major complications occurred, so yes, surgical treatment smells like a winner.

2: Spina Bifida Survival: A Work in Progress

A retrospective cohort study assessed whether health care advances in recent decades have led to better survival in patients with spina bifida. In a group of 942 patients, those born in the 2000s had a better survival rate than those born in any prior decade, with consistent improvements seen decade by decade from 1950 to 2010. However, survival among infants with spina bifida was 24 times worse compared to unaffected people and remained 8 times worse throughout adulthood. These findings show that while care has improved, ongoing unmet needs remain across the lifespan.

3: Can Vitamin K Put the Brakes on Coronary Calcification?

A randomized clinical trial measured the effect of menaquinone-7, a vitamin K homologue, on coronary artery calcification (CAC). Compared with placebo, those taking menaquinone-7 for 2 years had lower CAC scores and calcium mass measurements on CT/CTA, suggesting the supplement slowed progression of coronary artery calcification, mainly in noncalcified plaques. While these findings appear promising for patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease, larger-scale research is needed to determine the clinical significance of menaquinone-7.

The Cardiac Partner Your Practice Actually Needs

Ontario physicians are stretched. Patient panels are growing, referral queues are backing up, and the administrative weight of coordinating specialist care keeps climbing. Cardio Health offers a different experience, one designed around your workflow, not against it.

With 40 locations across Ontario and a team of cardiologists backed by skilled technologists, we deliver timely, reliable diagnostics with seamless physician communication at every step. You make the referral. We take care of everything after, including continuous follow-up with your patient so nothing slips through.

Our partnership model goes further than a typical referral arrangement. Physicians interested in expanding their capabilities can work with us to establish in-house cardiac diagnostic facilities directly within their clinics, improving access for patients and adding meaningful service capacity to your practice.

For cardiologists planning for retirement, we offer a trusted continuity solution. We work with you to ensure your patients transition smoothly into ongoing care, protecting relationships you’ve built over a career. If you’re looking for a long-term cardiology partner in Ontario, we’d welcome the conversation.

Locations: Whitby · Scarborough · Toronto · Vaughan · Brampton · Mississauga · Burlington · Hamilton · Cambridge · London · Niagara Falls · Barrie · Kitchener · Oshawa · Georgina · Milton · Brantford

For further details, please contact us at info@cardio-health.ca or 647-981-7050.

Hot Off The Press 🔥

1: 🧠 For patients asking whether fish oil can help protect their memory, the advice just got more complicated. A new 24-month trial gave 365 older adults at risk for dementia high-dose DHA, an omega-3 found in fish and algae supplements, to see whether it could protect memory or brain structure. In one sense, it worked: DHA levels rose in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid. But compared with placebo, it did not improve memory, cognition, hippocampal volume, or brain structure. Translation: this isn’t a blanket ruling on salmon, EPA, or every omega-3 use. It’s a hit to the idea that a DHA capsule alone can buy brain protection.

2:🤰🏼A Quebec woman has become the first in Canada to receive fertility-preserving surgery before cancer radiation. After being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Britany Fecteau learned treatment could damage her fertility and put her into early menopause. A gynecologic oncologist performed a uterine transposition, temporarily moving the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes into the upper abdomen to keep them out of the radiation field. The procedure is meant for pelvic cancers that don’t directly involve the reproductive organs, including some lymphomas and colorectal cancers. The bigger shift: cancer care is stretching beyond survival alone, into what life after treatment can still hold.

3:🫀 A heart drug built for one kind of damage is showing promise in another. AD-NP1, an experimental drug designed to help prevent heart failure after a heart attack, works by blocking ENPP1 — a protein that appears to interfere with tissue repair. When UCLA researchers examined kidney biopsies from people with chronic kidney disease, they found the same protein at higher levels than in healthy tissue. In mice with kidney damage, AD-NP1 improved kidney function and signs of healing after just a week. The caveat: the drug is moving into early human testing for heart repair, but its kidney potential is still mouse-stage. A heart drug has not become a kidney drug yet — but the repair pathway suddenly looks a lot less organ-specific.

4: ⚽ FIFA’s solution to dealing with searing temperatures this year somehow made things hotter. The organization introduced 3-minute hydration breaks midway through each half to protect players from summer heat across North American host cities. But England coach Thomas Tuchel says the pauses interrupt momentum and make matches feel closer to 4 quarters than 2 halves. Critics argue the breaks also give broadcasters more than 2 minutes for commercials, which gets harder to ignore when they’re mandated even in cooler games.

Notable Numbers 🔢

24 weeks: the time it took for men taking GLP-1 medications to show improvements in testosterone levels, sperm count, and sperm quality. New research suggests that popular weight-loss drugs may improve male fertility by addressing obesity-related hormonal and metabolic dysfunction.

$6.5 million: the value of a class-action settlement reached in Canada tied to a nationwide recall of plant-based milks linked to a 2024 listeria outbreak. The agreement covers consumers who purchased affected Silk and Great Value beverages, with compensation varying based on reported illness severity.

6-0: he score of Canada’s 1st-ever win at a senior men’s FIFA World Cup, a rout of Qatar that put them top of Group B heading into a decisive match against Switzerland on June 24.

Your Office Does Nothing After the Referral

Primary care offices are under more pressure than ever. Every referral that requires follow-up, re-faxing, or a phone call to check on a patient’s appointment status is time your team doesn’t have. CanMed Endoscopy was designed to eliminate that friction entirely.

Send the referral. We contact your patient within 24 hours and book their GI procedure within 72 hours where applicable. From there, our specialists manage everything — expert consultations, gastroscopies, colonoscopies, sigmoidoscopies, and anorectal procedures — with continuous pathology follow-up and clear, timely reporting back to your office. Your staff’s involvement ends at the fax.

We operate at 6 Ontario locations — Hamilton, Mississauga, Niagara, North York, Kitchener, and Scarborough — each equipped with on-site parking and a patient-centred environment built to reduce wait-related anxiety and improve the overall care experience.

Managing a high referral volume? Navigating operational pressures? Planning for practice transition? CanMed Endoscopy is built to support physicians at every stage. Partner with us and put your GI referrals on autopilot.

For further details, please contact us at info@canmedendoscopy.com or 647-855-9166.

Postcall Picks ✅

🥩 Make: This garlic-mustard grilled flap steak paired with a crunchy romaine salad. It’s tossed in a rich, whipped feta dressing and topped with an ultimate multi-seed umami crunch. It’s a meal so good it’ll temporarily make you forget how much you spent on groceries this week.

📖 Read: The New Yorker’s review of why everyone is talking about Widow’s Bay. This sleeper hit on Apple TV+ masterfully threads the needle between farce and fright, setting a brilliant new high bar for the horror-comedy genre.

🛒 Save: on household essentials and personal tech upgrades during Amazon’s Prime Day event. This guide cuts through the algorithm noise to highlight the genuine, verified price drops worth sorting through before inventory runs low. 

✈️ Navigate: Toronto Pearson Airport without the usual pre-flight stress. This practical airport breakdown covers everything from where to grab a rapid post-security massage to the exact location of the high-end boutiques, making your next inevitable terminal delay feel a lot less like a chore.

🎓 Learn: how to deliver equitable virtual cancer care in this free 30-minute certified course. It covers when virtual visits are appropriate versus when patients need to come in, plus practical strategies for reaching older adults, Indigenous, and racialized communities who face the biggest barriers to access.

🍿 Watch: Doctor Mike fact-check internet health trends to separate legitimate medical advice from algorithmic fiction. From sketchy weight loss hacks to outright dangerous health myths, he breaks down the actual science and common sense.

Relax 🧩

First clue: Plastic surgeon’s concern?

Give it a go →

Need a rematch? We’ve got you covered. Check out our Crossword Archive to find every puzzle we’ve ever made, all in one place.

Think you crushed it? Challenge your physician friends to beat your time.

Meme of the Week 😂

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Want to reach thousands of Canadian physicians every week? Email denis.bricov@mdbriefcase.com to learn more.

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