According to the late night television host Stephen Colbert, Americans should relax and try not to get high blood pressure from the political environment because now we won’t be able to afford the treatment. If only it were so simple.

There are many barriers to adequate blood pressure control. Some people are simply not firmly diagnosed. Others fail to keep up with regular treatment for the condition. Still others do not adhere to medication guidelines. A lack of insurance and high out of pocket costs play into these barriers to seeking care for hypertension.

Politicians tend not to listen to health care providers about health care issues, at least not until it personally affects them, so meanwhile what can we offer our patients with high blood pressure?

Some answers can be found in our current Cyberounds®. Please join Aditya Khetan, M.B.B.S., Cardiology Fellow, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute; Richard A Josephson, M.S., M.D., Professor of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and Director Cardiac Intensive Care and Director Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute; and Sri Krishna Madan Mohan M.B.B.S., Chief Quality Officer, Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, as they present Current Management of Hypertension

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

If it can happen to an elite athlete like Serena Williams, it can happen to anyone!

Indeed, it causes between 500,000 and 600,000 cases and an estimated 50,000 to 200,000 deaths in the United States every year.

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) represents the most dangerous end of the spectrum of venous thromboembolic disease, which also includes deep venous thrombosis.

What is PE's epidemiology? Its risk factors? And, most importantly, how do we diagnose PE and treat it?

Please join Keith Albrektson, M.D., Resident, Department of Medicine, Ben Alencherry, M.D., Chief Resident, Department of Medicine and Jihane Faress, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, University Hospitals, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, as they bring you a 2019 update of Harvard Associate Professor of Surgery Christopher Kabrhel's Pulmonary Embolism

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

The management of type 1 diabetes continues to be difficult.

And, making matters worse, not only does TIDM's prevalence keep rising, but the price of insulin, the mainstay of treatment, has gone up dramatically, doubling between 2013-2016, according to the Healthcare Cost Institute.

Yet, in the face of this challenging environment, the practitioner has available new and modified insulin options for the TIDM patient.

Please join Kristen Welch, M.D., Chief Resident, Department of Medicine, Ben Alencherry, M.D., Chief Resident, Department of Medicine and Nadine El Asmar, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, University Hospitals, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, as they bring you a 2019 update of Einstein Clinical Professor Joel Zonszein's The Treatment and Management of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

This FREE activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the entire world, upending how everyone manages their daily lives.

But here's one change that may help the relationship between men and women.

Women often complain that men typically fail to put down the toilet lid. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, closing the lid before flushing may help control this nasty virus.

Please join Max Schmulson, M.D., Professor of Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico, as he discusses COVID-19's GI symptoms, diagnosis and the preventive strategies needed to fight a virus whose targets appear to go way beyond the lungs: in The GI Manifestations of COVID-19.

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

President Joseph Biden and Donald Trump, the leading 2024 U.S. presidential candidates, are both over 75. Though they each hold sharp political differences, they share one common proclivity - they are at risk of breaking down physically.

Osteoporosis is responsible for an estimated two million fractures per year, yet nearly 80% of older Americans who suffer fractures are not tested or treated for osteoporosis.

Please join Jessica Shu, M.D., Chief Resident, and Aman Rajpal, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, and Ben Alencherry, M.D., Cardiovascular Fellow, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH., as they bring you an update of Professor Robert Pignolo’s Osteoporosis: Treatment and Management.

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

In 2018, the American College of Physicians joined the growing number of organizations calling for a public health approach to gun violence. This prompted a quick rebuke from the National Rifle Association (NRA), urging physicians to "stay in their lane."

But as the response of #ThisIsOurLane gained momentum, it appeared as though the NRA was the organization most out of step with the public.

Achieving any progress on gun control, however, was thwarted by the Supreme Court, which decided that various proposed gun control laws were unconstitutional and by Congress, which passed the Dickey Amendment in 1996 that prohibited the use of federal funds for research that advocates or promotes gun control. So coming up with the necessary data to support new legislation and fend off legal challenges has been a Catch-22.

Is there anything we, as health professionals, can do or should we just "stay in our lane"?

Please join Michael R. Ulrich, J.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor of Health Law, Ethics, & Human Rights, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, as he discusses Gun Violence: Potential Interventions and Legal Limitations.

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Finally, some seriously good news on cancer treatment — specifically, acute myelocytic leukemia or AML.

Two drug candidates for AML are expected to gain FDA approval in 2017. In randomized phase 3 trials both have offered significant overall survival time (OS) benefit. They will be the first drugs approved for AML in over a decade.

Please join Mary-Elizabeth Percival, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, and Assistant Member, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Roland B. Walter, M.D., Ph.D., M.S., Associate Professor of Medicine and Associate Member, Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA., as they present Emerging Treatments In Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Our planet is heating up. Soon the rising temperatures will regularly affect human physiology. And not in a good way.

Our kidneys are our great protectors in the setting where alterations in temperature, humidity and access to water and/or food is limited. But can we count on them in the face of the significant global warming threats ahead? Is there anything we can do preventively to help the kidneys?

Please join Fumihiko Sasai, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Fujigaoka Hospital, Yokohama Japan, Ashio Yoshimura, M.D., Head of Shinyokohama Daiichi Clinic and Professor of Medicine, Fujigaoka Hospital, Yokohama, Japan, and Richard J. Johnson, M.D., as they discuss, Heat Stress, Climate Change and Its Impact on Kidney Disease

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

When COVID-19 appeared, literally out of the blue, no one in the medical scientific knew much about it. Thus occurred a perfect pandemic storm, where infectiousness and little information propelled the virus around the world.

But over the past year, the medical world fought back. With the rapid and unprecedented development of several promising vaccines, there is hope that the pandemic may be contained. And now, armed with new knowledge about the associated human genetics of the disease, we may soon be able to pinpoint who is most at risk from SARS-CoV-2 and who is likely to get the severest infection.

Please join Cleo Anastassopoulou, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology at the Laboratory of Microbiology, and Athanasios Tsakris, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.C.Pathb>, Professor of Clinical Microbiology and the Director of the Department of Microbiology, both faculty of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece, as they discuss the: Genetic Basis of COVID-19 Susceptibility and Severity.

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

For many adults, and increasingly for children, overeating is problematic for our health and well being.

Indeed, approximately two-thirds of Americans are now classified as overweight or obese.

So the issue becomes for everyone -- patients and their providers -- what can be done going forward to reduce the excess weight? Specifically, are diets that emphasize low carbs or those that are high protein more likely to lead to weight loss?

Please join John Merriman, M.D., Chief Resident, Aman Rajpal, M.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Clinical and Molecular Endocrinology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Case Western Reserve University and Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, and Ben Alencherry, M.D., Cardiovascular Fellow, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH., as they bring you an update of Professor Edward Saltzman’s Low Carb vs. High Protein Diets.

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

It's more likely to affect women and African Americans. And, globally, it's the second leading cause of blindness, afflicting more than 60 million people.

We don't know for certain what causes open angle glaucoma (OAG), but luckily, there are some promising new treatments on the horizon.

Please join Yang Sun, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, and Enoch Kassa, M.D., Resident in Ophthalmology, Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, as they discuss emerging treatments and procedures which may dramatically reduce the disease burden of Open Angle Glaucoma. This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit.™

For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, as we do, winter seems like a good time to try to present information that bring us a little cheer.

One doesn't need to look too far, no matter who you are and where you live, to find evidence of mental illness and anguish among our fellow human beings.

This is true even with the availability of more powerful and targeted pharmacologic and talk-therapy treatments for psychiatric illnesses. Even for the fortunate who can access the care, some still find their conditions simply do not improve.

We know. We're not sounding too cheery. Trust us. Read on.

Please join Danilo De Gregorio, PharmD, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology, Division of Neuroscience, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, as he discusses the pharmacology of psychedelic compounds and our current neurobiological understanding as to how they might produce the therapeutic improvements observed in clinical trials, in "Emerging Research on the Use of Psychedelics in the Treatment of Mental Illness."

This FREE activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

On the horizon, literally, is a cataclysmic existential threat to public health, against which there is no vaccine.

Global warming and thawing of ice layers will release viable viruses, bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms that have been trapped for thousands and even millions of years. Some of these released microorganisms are novel microbial species. Some are mutated genotypes of present pathogens we all believed were eradicated such as smallpox. What’s most alarming is that many of the pathogens are especially robust, having survived the long-term stress of living below deep ice.

Please join Mohamed S. K. Kamel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, as he discusses Global Warming and Ancient Microorganisms.

This FREE activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

We don’t need a public opinion poll to certify that it's becoming a disease of adult medicine.

Though many can still live normal lives and remarkable progress has been made in acute and chronic management, especially with target-specific therapy, cystic fibrosis continues to pose tremendous treatment burden to patients, their families and their caregivers.

Please join Arindam Singha, M.D., Fellow, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine and Stephen E. Kirkby, M.D., Associate Professor, Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, The Ohio State University Medical Center and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, as they present Cystic Fibrosis -- No Longer Just a Disease of Pediatric Medicine.

This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Their low incidence makes it difficult to run clinical trials on potential new treatments. That’s a problem because these diseases are often debilitating and new therapies are urgently needed.

Please join Siamak Moghadam-Kia, M.D., Assistant Professor, Rohit Aggarwal, M.D., Associate Professor and Chester V. Oddis, M.D., Professor, Myositis Center and Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, as they present Treating Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathy. This activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit.™

Global warming is not only resurrecting past infectious threats.

It's also promoting the geographic expansion of all kinds of disease-carrying vectors that seek global presence and domination.

Please join Mohamed S. K. Kamel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, as he provides a comprehensive discussion of all these imminent challenges in Climate Change and Zoonoses: Disease Pathogens, Vectors and Hosts.

This FREE activity has been approved for 2.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a chronic disease characterized by persistent relapse, despite an individual’s willingness or desire to stay abstinent.

While more men use and are addicted to drugs, women who become addicted progress faster through the landmark stages from initial use to dependence.

In this Cyberounds®, we review sex-related differences in the behavioral patterns and neural systems mediating SUD and the role of ovarian hormones.

The research findings will surprise you.

Please join Jill B. Becker, Ph.D.,, Patricia Y. Gurin Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Research Professor Michigan Neuroscience Institute, and Jillian E. Hardee, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Researcher Michigan Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, as they discuss "Sex-Related Differences in Addiction".

This FREE activity has been approved for 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.