Background: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery are at risk of anemia from blood loss, inflammation, and red blood cell lysis, necessitating blood product utilization and increasing the risk of post-operative complications. RBT-1 (a combination of stannic protoporfin and iron sucrose) is a novel preconditioning drug administered prior to surgery that upregulates anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and iron scavenging [...]

Background: According to a report of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) that looked at hospital admissions in 2013, the care of hospitalized malnourished patients costs twice as much as those without malnourishment due to prolonged hospital stays and increased readmission rates. Furthermore, up to 30 to 50 percent of patients are malnourished upon [...]

Case Presentation: A 66 year old man presents with progressive weakness and diffuse myalgias. He has been on antibiotic treatment for an infected iliac artery stent which was removed on recent hospitalization. He was discharged in good condition on IV daptomycin and ceftriaxone. He presented one week after discharge and was found with an acutely [...]

Case Presentation: A 34 year-old female without medical history who had an uncomplicated vaginal delivery 3 months prior presented with acute onset right upper quadrant abdominal pain and several episodes of emesis. The patient took no prescription medications; however, she had been taking fenugreek for the past 6-8 weeks to enhance her milk production in [...]

Case Presentation: A 40 year old previously healthy female was incidentally found to have elevated transaminases on routine lab work. She was sent to our hospital for further evaluation. On admission, she complained of fatigue, right sided abdominal discomfort, and jaundice of a few weeks. She denied taking prescription medications but reported taking a supplement [...]

Case Presentation: A thirty-three year-old woman presented with four days of rash progressing to facial swelling with painful oral ulcers and difficulty swallowing as well as vaginal pain with painful urination. She also endorsed headaches, arthralgias, and fevers. Her past medical history was significant for a recent IUD placement. Besides prescriptions for diphenhydramine and prednisone [...]

Background: Evidence suggests that oxygen supplementation is only beneficial to hypoxic patients (or oxygen saturation (SPO2) < 90%) yet is commonly given to normoxemic patients despite having no clinical indication for its use. Excessive oxygen supplementation with saturations above 96% for long periods of time has also been proven to increase mortality rates when compared [...]

Case Presentation: Milk alkali syndrome (MAS) was initially described in the early 1900s with the utilization of calcium alkali treatments for gastric ulcers and is characterized by the triad of hypercalcemia, metabolic alkalosis, and acute kidney injury (AKI). In modern times, it is usually secondary to calcium supplementation or excessive antacid consumption. Here, we describe [...]

Case Presentation: A 49-year-old female presented to the emergency department with three weeks of lower extremity swelling, new abdominal distension, and weight loss. She had no relevant past medical history, but she recently established care with a functional medicine provider who prescribed her multiple herbal supplements around the time of her symptom onset. On arrival, [...]