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About 25 to 30 percent of people prescribed statins dump them within a year. I flunked Lipitor after a few wretched months. Statins are prescribed to lower cholesterol in people who show risk factors for cardiovascular disease or diabetes, or who already have them. Side effects can include muscle weakness, diabetes onset and, rarely, permanent muscle damage. ... Frustrated with trial and error, I was ready to swap some DNA for some personalized insight. (Wolfson, 9/1)

About 200 years ago a French physician rolled a sheet of paper into a cylinder and held it up to the chest of a patient. The creation was crude and simple, but it worked. Rene Laenneac could better hear his patient’s heartbeat, and the stethoscope was born. Today, the stethoscope remains a fixture in medicine, draped around the shoulders of doctors. It’s also overdo for a makeover. Now Eko Devices, a Silicon Valley start-up, has received FDA approval for its digital stethoscope, which brings the power of modern technology to an already essential device. (McFarland, 9/2)

A federal judge said Tuesday he has an “inclination” to deny Pfizer Inc.’s four-year-old request to throw out a Justice Department lawsuit accusing the drug maker’s Wyeth unit of overcharging government Medicaid health programs for the heartburn drug Protonix, according to a federal court website. (Loftus, 9/1)