Travis Smith, DO Profile picture
Jun 21, 2020 22 tweets 32 min read Read on X
I usually do a #ChatRecap of the @CPSolvers #VMR episodes.

This past Friday was #Juneteenth and we had 2 special guests. @gradydoctor and her wonderful Father Mr. William (Tony) Draper.

And not to my surprise, there was no chatter. We just listened!

We learned about the holiday celebrating the day when all remaining enslaved Black Americas were freed in Texas, on June 19th, 1865, with this hour-long storytelling event.

There was something notable that Mr. Draper was wearing and I thought I would give a #tweetorial on it.
He was wearing a Tuskegee hat and shirt. Although I had heard about it in the past, I didn't know much about it to the detail that I felt comfortable with.

I wanted to share some notable things that I found.
In 1932, the Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began a study to record the natural history of syphilis in hopes of justifying treatment programs for blacks.

It was called the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.”
The study initially involved 600 black men –

399 with syphilis, 201 who did not have the disease.

The study was conducted WITHOUT the benefit of patients’ informed consent.

They were told they had "Bad Blood"
In exchange for taking part in the study, they received free medical exams, free meals, & burial insurance.

Although originally projected to last 6 months, the study actually last >40 yrs

Even in the last 1940s when we knew the cure for syphillis was PCN, they were not given it
In July 1972, an AP story about the Tuskegee Study caused a public outcry

They found no evidence that researchers had informed them of the study or its real purpose.

In fact, the men had been misled and had not been given all the facts required to provide informed consent.
The Tuskegee Study was “ethically unjustified” & thankfully a month later, the Assistant Secretary for Health and Scientific Affairs announced the end of the Tuskegee Study.

In 1973, a class-action lawsuit was filed & a $10 million out-of-court settlement was reached
The last study participant died in January 2004.

The last widow receiving THBP benefits died in January 2009.

There are 11 offspring currently receiving medical and health benefits. cdc.gov/tuskegee/timel…
Some other things I found was that this study became a symbol of their mistreatment by the medical establishment, a metaphor for deceit, conspiracy, malpractice, and neglect, if not outright genocide. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P…
Since the disclosure of the study in 1972, it correlated w/ increases in medical mistrust & mortality & decreases in both outpatient/inpatient physician interactions for older black men.

The life expectancy at 45 for black men fell by up to 1.5 yrs in response to the disclosure Image
...accounting for approximately 35% of the 1980 life expectancy gap b/t black & white men & 25% of the gap b/t black men & women.

This just added to the problem as life expectancy for black men at age 45 is 3 yrs < than for their white male peers & 5 years < than for black women
This study was identified as to the cause of the relationship between medical mistrust and racial disparities in health-related behaviors and health outcomes

Mistrust is more likely to discourage preventive and non-emergency medical care
The Tuskegee Study was one of the most egregious examples of medical exploitation in U.S. history.

The reductions in healthcare utilization have paralleled a significant increase in the probability that older black men died before the age of 75.
I forgot to add @rabihmgeha and @DxRxEdu as they are usually in my first tweet.

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More from @RosenelliEM

May 30, 2021
Some cool #Syphilis Pearls from an article that @k_vaishnani shared ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P… Primary syphilis first manifests into a painless chancre at the site of inoculation 1 to 6 weeks later…
Hematogenous dissemination then can occur typically 4 to 10 weeks later, giving rise to secondary syphilis. <40% of pts w/ syphilis have primary syphilis diagnosed. These “Secondary” lesions last for several weeks before spontaneously resolving. Coined “early, latent infection”
What does late infection mean? When syphilitic lesions recur after 1 year from the initial eruption, or seropositivity is detected more than 1 year after the initial eruption, it is termed late latent syphilis.
Read 5 tweets
May 29, 2021
Some optics neuritis pearls in a short #Medtweetorial 🧵…. We all know that optic neuritis is frequently associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). But optic nerve inflammation can exist from autoimmunity, infection, granulomatous disease, paraneoplastic disorders, & demyelination Image
Classical ON from MS is unilateral, moderate, painful color vision loss with an afferent pupillary defect & normal fundus examination.
In those with ON, 95% of patients showed unilateral vision loss & 92% had associated retroorbital pain that frequently worsened w/ eye movement.
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Oct 1, 2020
If you have not listened to the @CuriousClinPod most recent podcast (Episode 10: Why does metronidazole treat both bacterial and parasitic infections?) then I suggest you tune in.

curiousclinicians.com/2020/09/30/why…

I'll summarize their show notes here in short #medtweetorial
First a question:

Was metronidazole first used as an antibiotic or as an antiparasitic?
If you guessed antiparasitic, then you would be correct!

It was developed in the 1950s to treat the parasite trichomonas & then was used in the 1960s to treat other parasitic infections, like giardia and amoebiasis.
Read 14 tweets
Oct 1, 2020
When you order a serum alcohol level, what does the lab measure? An answer and a quick #Medtweetorial on false elevations in #ETOH
If you guessed NADH, you would be correct.
Most lab assays for serum alcohol utilize a reagent containing alcohol dehydrogenase & NAD+

This is used to convert all present ethanol to acetaldehyde

Thereby reducing present NAD+ to NADH.
Read 11 tweets
Sep 26, 2020
A Teal pain in the neck:

Follow along for a short #medtweetorial on #CervicalArteryDissection

or see the full handout here emboardbombs.com/s/Cervical-Art…

from @EMBoardBombs @blakebriggsMD @IltifatMD
This review will focus on spontaneous dissections, not traumatic, as well as the pathophys, risk factors, presentation, diagnosis, and management.

Cervical artery dissections are a common cause of stroke in young(<50 years )w/ some reports of up to 20% being from dissections
Much like aortic dissections, there is some loss of structure along the wall of either the internal carotid artery or vertebral artery

This allows blood to collect within the intima.

In patients <50 years old, cervical artery dissections account for 20% of ischemic strokes.
Read 24 tweets
Sep 26, 2020
Time for some #SpacedRepetition from @CPSolvers @DxRxEdu @rabihmgeha

Some chat recap #ClinicalPearls and bonus pearls from #VirtualMorningReport on Friday Sept 25th clinicalproblemsolving.com/morning-report…

Case by the brilliant @Rafameed Image
A 31-year-old M born and raised in Brazil w/ no PMH presented with a 3 mon history of worsening DOE, orthopnea, 7kg weight loss, abdominal distention, dry cough, and syncope

Base rate of disease for an ID case with @k_vaishnani and @Rafameed is very high
An interesting fact from @3owllearning : Depending on the clinical problems, the studies of disease probability for differential diagnosis often show 10 - 25% of cases are unexplained, even after careful examination and testing.
Read 17 tweets

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