tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58022008673449251802024-03-05T19:36:48.034-08:00Health Blog - Health Information & UpdatesThis Health Blog is maintained with the view to provide different health related information. Specifically for the visitor who are looking for information and updates in health. Its a stand alone and non-profit blog created only for information sharing and discussion.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-45137061910986603952010-11-25T04:28:00.000-08:002010-11-25T04:28:41.952-08:00Health Care Update News<i><b>The Health 2.0 public option - Ano Lobb</b></i><br />
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Justmeans health writer and RAND researcher Sam Werthheimer recently reported on interesting trends from the Health 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Just because the conference was dominated by private ventures, however, doesn't meant that governments aren't also trying to apply web 2.0 to improve health delivery.<br />
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US health reform efforts are banking on effective health information technology (IT) as a means for improving the efficiency, quality, and value proposition of health care delivery.<br />
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<b>Post continues:-</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/-Health-2-0-public-option/38379.html">http://www.justmeans.com/-Health-2-0-public-option/38379.html</a><br />
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<i><b>Facebook triggers asthma - Ano Lobb</b></i><br />
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Can Facebook trigger asthma attacks? Apparently so. Italian doctors report in The Lancet on a new and previously unreported health risk associated with the ubiquitous social networking site: Asthma.<br />
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Sound crazy? Granted, the headlines are catchy and trying to ride the wave of social-media. But the details actually make sense. The case-report discusses an 18-year old man with asthma who was distraught after his girlfriend un-friended then broke up with him. After gaining access to her facebook page, he saw that she had friended several new young men, then had an asthma attack.<br />
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<b>Post continues:-</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Facebook-triggers-asthma/38149.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Facebook-triggers-asthma/38149.html</a><br />
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<i><b>Health 2.0 Company Launch Review Part 1 - Sam Wertheimer </b></i><br />
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The term "Health 2.0" describes the interface between web 2.0-inspired technology and health care. The sector is growing rapidly as patients search for ways to navigate the health care system and companies - both large and small - race to serve consumer needs. The annual Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco (Health 2.0 SF) brings many of the key players under one roof. This year I joined the gathering to learn more about the entrepreneurs, innovators, and consumers doing good work in the Health 2.0 sector.<br />
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Among the highlights of the conference were launches of new Health 2.0 <br />
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<b>Post continues:-</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Health-2-0-Company-Launch-Review-Part-1/38299.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Health-2-0-Company-Launch-Review-Part-1/38299.html</a><br />
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<i><b>Health 2.0 Company Launch Review Part 2 - Sam Wertheimer </b></i><br />
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Sharecare is WebMD plus facebook. The site aims to help patients make healthy decisions by interacting through social media applications with registered health care "experts." These experts are vetted by Sharecare and include health care providers, advocacy groups, and corporations. Consumers can search the site by topic, enter particular health care questions, or browse their favorite expert's pet subjects. They can also use the facebook "like" button to endorse helpful health care advice and become friends with the experts who provide the tips. <br />
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Post continues:-</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Health-2-0-Company-Launch-Review-Part-2/38304.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Health-2-0-Company-Launch-Review-Part-2/38304.html</a><br />
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<i><b>Smart health care=Innovation - Ano Lobb</b></i><br />
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Basic sciences are increasingly being applied in innovative ways to address some fundamental health care problems. Applied chemistry has combined paraffin and dye to potentially double the effectiveness of blood tests used outside the clinic. Improving the accuracy of home-based health tests has benefits beyond the obvious improvements in accuracy: When appropriately used they also reduce demand on health care resources by potentially keeping people away from unnecessary clinical encounters, and by bringing the test to the person they are the embodiment of patient-centered care. <br />
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<b>Post continues:-</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Smart-health-care-Innovation/38338.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Smart-health-care-Innovation/38338.html</a>Justmeanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09836521335625260861noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-29979551373914265152010-10-08T04:39:00.000-07:002010-10-08T04:40:52.923-07:00Health Care Weekly Updates - Justmeans<br></br><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/commonwealth-games-logo1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/commonwealth-games-logo1.png" width="124" /></a></div><b>Commonwealth Games vs. Common Health goals in India - <i>Ano Lobb</i></b><br />
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Along with the expected fanfare accompanying the opening of the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India this weekend there was a generous serving of controversy. While there are many good reasons for skeptics to raise concerns, this post will briefly consider three: Public health, dengue fever, and malaria.<br />
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Bluntly stated, health equals wealth. More specifically, greater inequalities in national distribution of wealth are correlated with worse measures of population health. Rapid economic gains in India have not been shared by all; one telling statistics is that the personal wealth of the richest 49 Indians accounts for a whopping 31% of India's entire gross domestic product, according to the newspaper Financial Express.<br />
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<b>Post continues:</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Commonwealth-Games-vs-Common-Health-goals-in-India/33533.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Commonwealth-Games-vs-Common-Health-goals-in-India/33533.html</a><br />
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<b>Race (still) Matters: Innovation needed to tackle health disparities - <i>Ano Lobb</i></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/4642952273_a9ebcc49cf_z-225x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/4642952273_a9ebcc49cf_z-225x300.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>A recent posting looked at a new study of health technology being overused in breast cancer care. Another study presented this month at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference sheds light on the importance that race plays in health outcomes, regardless of insurance status.<br />
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Assistant Professor Heather Hoffman and colleagues from George Washington University's School of Public Health performed a retrospective analysis of 983 women who underwent breast cancer examinations at six hospitals in Washington D.C. They measured diagnostic delay, the span of time between the detection of a breast abnormality and a definitive diagnosis, for women who were white, African American, or Hispanic, stratified by whether they were insured or not. <br />
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<b>Post continues:</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Race-still-Matters-Innovation-needed-tackle-health-disparities/33735.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Race-still-Matters-Innovation-needed-tackle-health-disparities/33735.html</a><br />
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<b>Is questionable medical information technology putting patients at risk? - <i>Ano Lobb</i></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/4419276111_dc7aa9d013_o-225x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/4419276111_dc7aa9d013_o-225x300.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>There's been a lot of good news in cancer care lately: The American Cancer society recently reported a decrease in cancer deaths, medical information delivery harnesses technologies such as interactive patient-information kiosks, and nano-technology verges on a breakthrough for more targeted treatments. All of these, combined with more vigorous prevention and detection efforts and more effective standard treatments has helped to make cancer an increasingly survivable journey.<br />
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Technology, however, is not a panacea. A striking example is the increasing usage of computer-aided detection (CAD) for both screening and detection mammography. Rather than depending on the seasoned eyes of radiologists, CAD uses a computer program to analyze radiographic images. <br />
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<b>Post continues:</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Is-questionable-medical-information-technology-putting-patients-at-risk/33641.html">http://www.justmeans.com/Is-questionable-medical-information-technology-putting-patients-at-risk/33641.html</a><br />
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<b>The Evolution of Primary Care: Part 4 - <i>Sam Wertheimer</i></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/383858290_93cd8f1491_z-300x225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.justmeans.com/editorial/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/383858290_93cd8f1491_z-300x225.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>Delivery of primary health care services in the U.S. used to involve a physician and a patient. The physician would see the patient in a clinic, conduct an examination, enter notes in a paper record, prescribe a follow up appointment, and say goodbye until the next scheduled visit. Usually this process occurred within a 15-minute window arranged by the physician's front office staff. Although this type of health care visit still occurs, it is fast becoming an exception to the new rules of primary care. This column, the fourth in a series on the players changing primary care, focuses on non-physician health care providers. <br />
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One of the targets of change in the evolution of primary care is the 15-minute visit. This is because many find visits this short do not allow enough time to provide comprehensive health care.<br />
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Post continues:</b> <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/-Evolution-of-Primary-Care-Part-4/33128.html">http://www.justmeans.com/-Evolution-of-Primary-Care-Part-4/33128.html</a>Justmeanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09836521335625260861noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-17895590620133172762010-05-05T03:09:00.000-07:002010-05-05T03:45:50.912-07:00Health care conundrum: When cancers are harmless<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwEW-5Yj6ltWiwjgug6N1l_1ELoIPk01fxIrGcglrRHg3CEM6DgNIhhfTnCbqNsBkcgEuypkmqtut73K_f8mnMsrbkTKCBiHrxXmtS06ouGOoyJzFAdpjeWtdpc9-71Z1fveHLl-PDGE/s1600/Cancer+cells.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 249px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTwEW-5Yj6ltWiwjgug6N1l_1ELoIPk01fxIrGcglrRHg3CEM6DgNIhhfTnCbqNsBkcgEuypkmqtut73K_f8mnMsrbkTKCBiHrxXmtS06ouGOoyJzFAdpjeWtdpc9-71Z1fveHLl-PDGE/s320/Cancer+cells.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467735343585959186" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A new paper in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute raises an interesting </span></span><b><a href="http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2009/11/confusion-confounding-and-cancer.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">health care</span></span></a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> conundrum for cancer care: up to 25% of breast cancers, 50 of lung cancers, and 60% of prostate cancers that are detected by screening may represent overdiagnosis. This is not a radical new finding made in haste, the authors, one of whom was my biostatistics professor in grad school, have in fact been studying this phenomenon for decades. But it is a finding that raises especially interesting challenges in how we perceive, screen for, and treat diseases.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What the paper found was that in those cases and frequencies mentioned above, cancers detected very early would, if left untreated, never develop to cause symptoms or threaten health, and the patient would die of some other, non-cancer related cause. How is this possible? Two forces conspire to create the quandary: The amazing power of our bodies, and the amazing power of technology. On the one hand, screening technologies are getting so good that we are able to locate ever-smaller abnormalities that fit the general definition of being “cancerous.” And yet we are finding that in many cases, the body is able to detect and destroy aberrant cell growth on its own in a not-insignificant percentage of cases. So we are increasingly able to detect and label as cancer abnormalities that the body is often able to neutralize on its own, or that would never grow to a life-threatening stage.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Is there harm in treating something, even if it wouldn’t have turned deadly? In short, yes. Cancer treatment is never a nice experience, and may involve radical surgeries, such as breast removal, and of course powerful chemical and radiation treatments. In some cases the treatments themselves result in death or new cancers. And there’s also the stress, fear and discomfort involved.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The health care conundrum occurs when deciding how to use this information. The authors of this new paper call for more research, as well as carefully informing patients of the possibilities and likelihoods that their cancer’s may not actually be life threatening. The trouble, of course, is that we can’t yet tell the harmful abnormalities from those that might kill us. What fascinates me is, even if informed of the possibilities that a potential cancer is harmless, how would I respond? How would you respond? Would this new knowledge give you some hope, sway you to opt for a less aggressive approach? Would it further confuse you and ad to the stress of the decision making process? We have been raised in a world that wages wars on cancer, and malignancies constantly rate among the most frequent causes of death. Is it possible that we know a lot less about this thing called cancer than we’d lke to admit? It appears so.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/craftydame/4024368125/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Annie Cavanagh. Wellcome Images</span></span></a></div>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-17567492031005942982010-05-05T03:02:00.000-07:002010-05-05T03:43:05.625-07:00The best diet? Try changing your environment<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YiV4Ih5yxxx5bBgTwbOXyfXYXth0KLFEtrBAGM-8J_cx0E7BMaidCdWVeH52Hvz0FdEVLtG2YVGHekiI1DNOpIN_nbxbkRat7Ke6lM3Zj79L1tmKJxcBNZfxkvI6F_8jPa6MXaOA1a0/s1600/Tangerine+dreams.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 03px 00px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2YiV4Ih5yxxx5bBgTwbOXyfXYXth0KLFEtrBAGM-8J_cx0E7BMaidCdWVeH52Hvz0FdEVLtG2YVGHekiI1DNOpIN_nbxbkRat7Ke6lM3Zj79L1tmKJxcBNZfxkvI6F_8jPa6MXaOA1a0/s320/Tangerine+dreams.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5467734501286602194" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It’s no mystery that many of us struggle to lose weight on the quest for health. And its not that the knowledge or theory of weight lose is so difficult, it’s factors like discipline and convenience that generally sink our best intentions. For many, </span></span><b><a href="http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2010/04/should-unhealthy-eating-be-treated-as.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">unhealthy eating</span></span></a></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> verges on an addiction. After all most of us understand the numbers game of weight lose: Eat more calories than you burn, and you gain. Burn more than you eat, and you lose. Tomatoes: Good. French fries: Bad.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now new research is putting some evidence behind a possibly more effective approach: Changing your environment. Researchers from the Cornell Food and Brand Lab performed a small study in 200 folks aiming to improve their health through weight loss. Participants were put into three groups and given instruction of either 1. Changing their environment, 2. Changing their eating behavior or 3. Changing their diet. After three months the winners were folks in group 1. In fact, they lost 1 to 2 pounds per month per “environmental change” tip. What kind of tips dropped the pounds? Simple things like using smaller plates, moving or removing candy dishes, rearranging their cupboards, abstaining from watching tv or surfing the internet while eating.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The single biggest key was consistency, and after sticking with a routine for 20 days, people were pretty much on track for the rest of the month. The researchers note that such behavioral changes are easier to follow than advice such as “eat more fruit” or “stop eating fried foods.” And another new study from the same researchers adds further support for our strange food choices we make in the name of health. In a separate study they found that people eating fattening foods such as cookies that were labeled “organic” underestimated their calorie count by 40%. They call this the “health halo,” the perception that a healthy label such as “vegetarian” or “organic” adds intrinsic healthiness to a food. Their advice when it comes to such healthfully labeled treats?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“Take your best guess at its calorie count. Then double it. You’ll end up being more accurate, and you’ll probably eat less.” Calorie counting may not always be the best way to lose weight, but when it comes to sweets and treats, its worth at least pondering how many minutes on the treadmill you’ll need to burn off those empty calories, since they provide no other meaningful benefits to human health.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/4316982643/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The author</span></span></a></div>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-15904912787117359692010-04-30T06:18:00.000-07:002010-04-30T06:25:51.032-07:00Obama Administration Discusses Lessons Learned from Swine Flu<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnWVV_SIQiWCJnRE5Q2CfI-WdssdRx9V5d8_xPTWTO07MDINRrtqd_P6WVJH_h-fpKKM3Fy3jh-hKo7V9ccQLxgHvThEDJrKNx2D0reqoj_-wO_4Uv5O_fm9_E1VLBHOJMgmogliGMY4/s1600/Obama+Administration.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnWVV_SIQiWCJnRE5Q2CfI-WdssdRx9V5d8_xPTWTO07MDINRrtqd_P6WVJH_h-fpKKM3Fy3jh-hKo7V9ccQLxgHvThEDJrKNx2D0reqoj_-wO_4Uv5O_fm9_E1VLBHOJMgmogliGMY4/s320/Obama+Administration.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465920965252106802" /></a><div>Public health officials did much to alleviate spread of swine flu in 2009, but more needs to be done.</div><div><br /></div><div>Too many people still mistrust vaccines – health care providers included – and vaccine production technology needs a shot in the arm. That’s the takeaway from the swine flu experience of 2009, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said last week at the 44th National Immunization Conference in Atlanta. And while communication systems were strong during the early days of the swine flu outbreak, more needs to be done to reach out to some communities, especially minority communities, and above all physicians, Sebelius said.</div><div><br /></div><div>“We shouldn’t have to convince health providers that vaccines are safe and that they work. But, despite the fact that we had more health providers than ever getting vaccinated last year, there was still a sizable number who did not. We need providers on the front lines. We need to make sure that the vulnerable people they work with aren’t at greater risk,” Sebelius said.</div><div><br /></div><div>Sebelius’ address comes one year after the panic of last April, when public health officials were still puzzling out the new, aggressive strain of flu that had clearly invaded the New York City public school system. Later dubbed swine flu, the virus appeared to hop-scotch over typical influenza victims – the elderly and those with compromised immune systems – and instead was striking down and even killing young, otherwise healthy people and pregnant women with a vengeance. </div><div><br /></div><div>The unknowns surrounding the swine flu – and the rapidity of its spread – created simultaneous panic over its origins and effects and suspicion over the vaccine that arrived on the scene. The <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.justmeans.com/World-Health-Organization-denies-claims-that-it-exaggerated-swine-flu-threat/7828.html">World Health Organization</a> declared an official pandemic in April of 2009, and has since had to defend itself against accusations that the declaration was motivated by a desire to enrich the pharmaceutical companies that were working on the vaccine. Too many people, including those whose medical conditions made them susceptible to swine flu complications, refused to take the vaccine out of fear it had been rushed and had not been properly vetted. Sebelius’ own agency, the HHS, had to admit that original estimates of the country’s ability to produce the vaccine had been overstated. This in particular is troubling to Sebelius, who used the confusion around vaccine production to illustrate the need for better vaccine production methods.</div><div><br /></div><div>“This flu season has made us even more committed to ensuring that vaccine production—and all of our medical countermeasures—are state-of-the-art. Our experience with the ups and downs of the vaccine manufacturing process has made clear the need to enhance our country’s influenza vaccine manufacturing capability,” Sebelius said, adding the HHS was already working with vaccine companies to move past the “egg-based” technology, in which vaccines are basically grown in eggs, to more advanced and reliable method.</div><div>Sebelius is right. We need to learn the lessons provided in 2009 and then do it better next time. Some southern states are already showing swine flu activity, though it’s too soon to know if that will develop into a true outbreak. But if and when swine flu does return in greater numbers, we want there to be plenty of vaccine to give, and plenty of people willing to receive it.</div><div><br /></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i>Photo Credit:</i> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/justinhourigan/3900164976/">Justin Hourigan</a></div>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-82762685311871569362010-04-27T02:32:00.000-07:002010-04-27T02:36:27.872-07:00Patents in health care: Fuel for innovation or secretive black box?<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04JOcy_SLUUs2Xacwc_G56aodOxJwUoRI6HJEJfQbZXyoG14pZ4hFP9231x2yn7KeKixFKM__ckZOnHJU1nVBudguY3Pm4My55KM2jjhWqRMZAvP61awdh3c3RYvodrjJzlIkgUHYF4E/s1600/Collaboration.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj04JOcy_SLUUs2Xacwc_G56aodOxJwUoRI6HJEJfQbZXyoG14pZ4hFP9231x2yn7KeKixFKM__ckZOnHJU1nVBudguY3Pm4My55KM2jjhWqRMZAvP61awdh3c3RYvodrjJzlIkgUHYF4E/s320/Collaboration.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464748696709662098" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Exclusive patents in the biotech, pharmaceutical and chemical realms of health care can foster collaboration, increasing the speed at which new products come to market. This according to an analysis of 200 exclusive patents by publicly traded firms just published in Strategic Management Journal. But there does appear to be at least one exception to this rule, according to other new research: Genetics.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Evidence supporting patents finds that rather than locking away potential innovations in a black box of exclusivity, such contracts encourage partners to throw their full weight behind projects, since they know that their efforts won’t be undercut by a faster moving competitor. The authors acknowledge that some discoveries can have multiple future applications, and recommend very narrowly crafted agreements that leave open the possibility of taking other product variations to market at a future date, perhaps with other collaborators.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Another new report published in Genetics in Medicine, suggests that the opposite is true for </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Electronic-health-records-enhance-genetic-research-clinical-care/12442.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">health care</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> applications of genetic discoveries. After reviewing genetic tests for 10 conditions, the authors report that patent holders, who are generally academic entities supported by governmental research grants, were never the first to market with innovative applications of their genetic patents.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Of course, when it comes to genetic testing it might not matter when you consider that not a single genetic test has yet been shown to increase length or quality of life. They have been shown to land health care researchers in shaky political and cultural grounds, however. Academic researchers recently found them on the wrong side of a judge’s order after using genetic material gathered from a Native American tribe to link tribal ancestry to Asian populations. The tribe claims that they were not provided with adequate informed consent, and were outraged that genetics were used to disprove the creation myths that are central to their self-identity and that clearly identify their current tribal land as their place of origin. While the researchers fall back on the argument that they are merely increasing knowledge for the good of all humankind, accidently “disproving” a creation myth in the name of health care is at very least an exercise in poor public relations.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Genetic research unveils at least two fallacies of science: 1. That there is no opportunity cost. In other words, that we couldn’t use the resources being poured into “knowledge for knowledge’s sake” into practices proven to improve health; and 2. That not moving forward means moving backwards. While its argued that halting genetic research could miss chances to cure disease, leaving all of use worse off than we currently are, the fact is genetic research has to date not improved our lives. Then there’s the creepy sensation that you might get from the idea that a corporation can patent something that is naturally created in your body, and is fundamental to your identity as an individual.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />Photo credit: </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/4494597325/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The author</span></span></a></p>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-52205510890507642862010-04-26T05:49:00.000-07:002010-04-26T06:48:48.580-07:00Volcanic ash cloud poses no health threat<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3ciklN9m1ZJ84vhWWx317o00zJqUTcsoktVftTCAUxOPlBv07URgL-rfoWpG1WnTlaQ_GRdITl3Wmc4gxh6UBIuqH9LAjg6fi7BzivVeBEqJZEpL00P_shegt4SkDUcNQ-U0vlKIZ_I/s1600/ulferts+4.23.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 00px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 236px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3ciklN9m1ZJ84vhWWx317o00zJqUTcsoktVftTCAUxOPlBv07URgL-rfoWpG1WnTlaQ_GRdITl3Wmc4gxh6UBIuqH9LAjg6fi7BzivVeBEqJZEpL00P_shegt4SkDUcNQ-U0vlKIZ_I/s320/ulferts+4.23.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464428804214833858" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The volcano that has critically injured the airline industry poses no real threat to human health.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
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mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --></style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><!-- /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} --><style _mce_bogus="1"><!-- /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} --></style><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We like to celebrate good health news here at Justmeans, so I’m pleased to say that despite the billion or so dollars that pesky Icelandic volcano has caused the airline industry, it apparently isn’t causing a whole lot of health problems for humans. A report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says that because the bulk of the ash is so high in the atmosphere, it isn’t expected to cause a lot of trouble on the ground - unless winds shift and cause localized, regional </span></span><b _mce_style=""><a _mce_href="www.justmeans.com/Climate-Change-Increase-Ground-Level-Ozone-Smog-Air-Pollution/11299.html" href="http://posterous.com/posts/new/www.justmeans.com/Climate-Change-Increase-Ground-Level-Ozone-Smog-Air-Pollution/11299.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">problems</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">According to the WHO, it’s the size of the particulate matter of the ash cloud that counts. The most dangerous particulates are those that are smaller than 10 microns in size, because they can reach deep into the lungs and embed there. That can potentially cause far-reaching health problems. About one-fourth of all the particulate matter of the Icelandic ash cloud is that small, according to Dr Maria Neira, Director of Public Health and Environment Department at WHO.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Still, the WHO is encouraging people, especially those with chronic respiratory conditions like asthma, emphysema or bronchitis, to keep a close eye on the ash cloud and an ear tuned to their local health authorities. "Since the ash concentration may vary from country to country depending on the wind and air temperatures, our advice is to listen to local public health officials for the best guidance for individual situations," says Neira. "If people are outside and notice irritation in their throat and lungs, a runny nose or itchy eyes, they should return indoors and limit their outdoor activities."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The ash cloud was born last week, when a volcano belched a mass of smoke and ash into the air. That cloud drifted over much of Europe and grounded thousands of flights. Analysis has shown that the ash cloud particles consist mostly of quartz and glass. Health authorities have also found aluminium, silica and oxygen, as well as some fluoride. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span _mce_=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Officials with the World Health Organization say the concentration of particles that may reach ground level is likely to be low and should not cause serious harm. Most of the ash that might reach the ground is likely to be too big to inhale into the lungs, but could irritate eyes, nose and throat. Remaining indoors will diminish the risk of these symptoms, since closed doors and windows will partly prevent penetration of the larger, irritating particles inside buildings. How has the ash cloud affected you?</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo Credit:</span></span></em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a _mce_href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4534485563/" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/4534485563/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NASA Goddard</span></span></a></span></p><p></p>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-61005596477849560342010-04-26T03:33:00.000-07:002010-04-26T03:36:19.427-07:00Most people don't make health decisions based on athletes' behavior<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZyaG0va09Hw2Xr7ds45_Vfgs669UvV9EacOFnZGmU1UktKvkpmGwb8KQjPJu9Ta-h55z0p_ybVwcUE8nxRXOEVE_z6drDH1i6AZ6Z0nF37OTRNaShFhqDfnxbgXPNAU-GBtzwbHGLo0Vj/s1600/CharlesBarkley.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 159px; height: 255px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZyaG0va09Hw2Xr7ds45_Vfgs669UvV9EacOFnZGmU1UktKvkpmGwb8KQjPJu9Ta-h55z0p_ybVwcUE8nxRXOEVE_z6drDH1i6AZ6Z0nF37OTRNaShFhqDfnxbgXPNAU-GBtzwbHGLo0Vj/s320/CharlesBarkley.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5464393039371917106" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">British researchers found that young people's alcohol consumption doesn't mirror the pro athletes they admire.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Whether it’s photos showing Michael Phelps smoking marijuana, doping allegations leveled at athletes like Marion Jones and Floyd Landis, the marital woes of Tiger Woods, or drunken driving charges for Charles Barkley; sports stars are frequently caught behaving badly. Each new incident seems to bring a collective finger-wag from the public, and charges that since young people look up to athletes, they should behave accordingly.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">But a new study suggests that young people really don’t make health decisions based on athletes’ behavior – at least when it comes to alcohol consumption (Barkley might have been right way back in 1993 when he declared “I am not a role model.”). British researchers at the University of Manchester and the University of Western Sydney had more than 1,000 young sports fans and those who didn’t follow sports report how they perceived the drinking behavior of some famous athletes. The same group of young people was asked to report their own drinking habits according to the </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/World-Health-Organization-not-ready-declare-swine-flu-pandemic-over/9660.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">World Health Organization's</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">"Our research shows that young people, both sporting participants and non-sporting participants, don't appear to be influenced by the drinking habits of high-profile sportspeople as depicted in the mass media,” said Dr. Kerry O'Brien, the lead researcher for the study.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Most recently, the Canadian women’s hockey team came under international scrutiny after they brought beer, champagne and cigars onto the ice to celebrate their Olympic gold medal win. Gilbert Felli, head of the Olympic Games for the International Olympic Committee, condemned the celebration, saying that athletes shouldn’t drink in public and that the team provided a bad image for sports values. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the end, athletes are human. They take part in unhealthy behaviors the same way average Joes do. It’s understandable to admire their athletic accomplishments, and to want to mirror the dedication and perseverance that helped them achieve their goals; but ultimately, each person should make health decisions based on their instincts and their own sense of what’s best for one’s body; not on what a pro athlete is doing.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><i>Photo credit: </i><a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/pierrelaphoto/">Scott LaPierre</a></span></span></div>Sara Libbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826410325364038337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-5726360488592281022010-04-19T02:08:00.000-07:002010-04-19T02:12:55.681-07:00Doctors, hospitals slow to make “meaningful use” of electronic health records<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWoXEUjiPtpWx849xQNXYhvScOPSgMS3NcXeerKCi9xaWOSUXwgn0QxunrWYyazfiwi-gH4kuaDdQ9KAdOOugCc8XnwWfPJVJW0p6V9CZSlE6kQjMXPK1rjcSlj-q3cpxigk-2raQE2s/s1600/Physicians+have+been+slow+to+adopt.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVWoXEUjiPtpWx849xQNXYhvScOPSgMS3NcXeerKCi9xaWOSUXwgn0QxunrWYyazfiwi-gH4kuaDdQ9KAdOOugCc8XnwWfPJVJW0p6V9CZSlE6kQjMXPK1rjcSlj-q3cpxigk-2raQE2s/s320/Physicians+have+been+slow+to+adopt.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461773941093356946" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Physicians have been slow to adopt the “meaningful use” of electronic health records required for incentives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Despite billions of dollars in incentives for doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic heath records, researchers have found that actual, authentic and effective use of the records remains in its infancy. While a significant number of hospitals and doctors have made the upfront investment in electronic health records, they have been slower to use them in a way that translates into greater efficiency and improved health outcomes, the study’s authors found. For example, researchers found that the use of electronic health records to date have not led to improvements in patient mortality, surgical complications, nor length of stay and costs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"We are still in the early days of electronic </span></span><b><u><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Health-information-technology-gets-a-1-billion-boost/8732.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">health</span></span></a></u></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> record adoption, and there's little evidence for how best to implement the technology to make the greatest gains," study leader Catherine DesRoches, of the Mongan Institute, said in a statement. "Hospitals may not see the benefit of these systems until they are fully implemented, or it may take many years for benefits to become apparent." The study was published in the April issue of the journal Health Affairs.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The researchers analyzed data collected from 3,000 hospitals that responded to a 2008 survey of acute care hospitals belonging to the American Hospital Association. The health care institutions were asked whether they had put computerized systems in place for different functions, including medication orders, lab reports, specimen tracking and discharge summaries. What they found was that even among health care providers and facilities that invested in electronic health record software, not all were using their systems well.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Public health officials need to pay attention to this survey. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act authorized approximately $30 billion in grants and incentives to support electronic health record adoption. Health care providers could receive bonuses through Medicare and Medicaid if they demonstrate "meaningful use" of electronic health records. Public health officials then had to define what "meaningful use" constituted, as they have begun to do.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But they’ll have to do more to get doctors and hospitals to really use the electronic health records. In addition to letting doctors know what meaningful use of the records is, public health officials may have to offer training. It does little good to offer incentives if those incentives aren’t translating into greater efficiencies and greater training. What suggestions do you have?<br /><br /><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo Credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/npslibrarian/2104253867/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">npslibrarian</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p></p>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-86090886657563124342010-04-19T00:32:00.000-07:002010-04-19T00:44:40.949-07:00Sociology of health: When diagnoses are contagious<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4hCT75eai97fUnZ4k1AtnVjBxSUwEIO11gWwtIU9WCvtnrEiRevAWHH4ggJJidXlWQVn8B3bKjmNKG0N_Jab-kDw_9tFXAr-gWrQJ-hVCdM6J2RDqZz_wIjDrxx5VkwOtkews0OWEr0/s1600/Social+health.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4hCT75eai97fUnZ4k1AtnVjBxSUwEIO11gWwtIU9WCvtnrEiRevAWHH4ggJJidXlWQVn8B3bKjmNKG0N_Jab-kDw_9tFXAr-gWrQJ-hVCdM6J2RDqZz_wIjDrxx5VkwOtkews0OWEr0/s320/Social+health.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5461751140184568434" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Researchers, policy makers, and parents trying to untangle the causative factors for surging autism diagnosis may have just had another knot of confusion land in their laps. Researchers at Columbia University recently analyzed autism cases handled by the Department of Developmental Services in the state of California, which saw a staggering 636% increase in autism diagnoses between 1997 and 2003. Courts and researchers have put to rest the erroneous </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Federal-court-deals-another-blow-autism-vaccine-link/10788.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">health</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-fiction that autism is increasing because childhood vaccinations are on the rise. But does this represent an epidemic of new disease, diagnostic criteria catching up with a wide-spectrum disorder, or over-diagnoses? It’s not clear, though researchers do not suspect it’s the latter. What is fascinating is the trend that they uncovered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It turns out that proximity to another child who has already been diagnosed with autism significantly increases other children’s chances of being diagnosed. Children living within 250 meters of another child already diagnosed with autism are 42% more likely to also be diagnosed with the condition. Living 250 to 500 meters away reduced the likelihood to a still-noteworthy 22%. Since environmental factors were ruled out, the conclusion is that proximity breads awareness of the disease among parents, as well as a better understanding of available diagnostic and support services.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Its hard to know whether this study is good news or bad news. On the one hand, if there’s an epidemic of un-diagnosed autism, its great that parents are able to help each other identify and manage the condition. On the other hand, if the condition is ill-defined, and subject to over-diagnoses in cases where specialists feel pressured to appease insistent parents, it could signal a troubling trend. Without having some knowledge of the true underlying prevalence of disease, its impossible to know which one it is.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the meantime it’s a fascinating study in the sociology of disease diagnoses. Do you find it surprising?</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo credit</span></span></span></i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">: </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/4494597325/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The author</span></span></a></span></p>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-26429965786721758742010-04-13T07:14:00.000-07:002010-04-13T07:17:10.839-07:00Health technology: Mobile phones sniff out terrorists<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0vBl03HQPb3KEcO50i9XHIHZgD8JrOoMIYZj07i2hoRQgSL-3upyYC02cTdHY2e2fVymGZjMf69c3ZgbJeUp7ZqmLpc6cCxK60w8sXhaCiWtYqlTSOjzRP00oB4AolO7fIhyCBo-jKc/s1600/Cell+phone+sniffers.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 256px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX0vBl03HQPb3KEcO50i9XHIHZgD8JrOoMIYZj07i2hoRQgSL-3upyYC02cTdHY2e2fVymGZjMf69c3ZgbJeUp7ZqmLpc6cCxK60w8sXhaCiWtYqlTSOjzRP00oB4AolO7fIhyCBo-jKc/s320/Cell+phone+sniffers.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459625772719700546" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Fellow Justmeans.com blogger Alisa Ulfert discusses a way to “sniff out” </span></span><a href="http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-health-care-technology-can-sniff.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">asthma</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> using an electronic nose that a person would breath into. On a more portable and personal level, cell phones are increasingly being used to transmit health information, such as child </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Use-your-cell-phone-get-health-care-tips-for-your-baby/9536.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">health tips</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Healthy-tech-Mexico-s-mobile-health-reminders/9688.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">health reminders</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, or gather </span></span><a href="http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2009/10/can-your-iphone-measure-health.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">health data</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, such as how far someone walks during the day and how many social contacts they have. So what would happen if you could combine all of those features?<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Apparently the US Department of Homeland Security has been pondering just that. They’ve developed an interesting, if somewhat spooky, chip that could turn a smart phone into an environmental sniffer. Actually a nose that’s so sophisticated, it transforms your mobile phone into a portable “weapons-of-mass-destruction-detector.” No joke, here’s how it works.</span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If a user chose to enable the service, a smart phone app would run constantly, sampling the air at predetermined intervals for dangerous chemicals. When a dangerous substance was detected two things would happen, the user would be alerted, and a call message would automatically be sent to a government monitoring station. If a single warning went out, its likely to be a false-positive, but if fifty alerts went out from the same place, it would indicate the need to investigate.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A consortium has brought together government and private expertise, and expects to have prototype phones available in about a year. Qualcomm is lending it miniaturization and marketing skills, while NASA engineers are working to perfect chemical sensing on a platform that sips very little electricity. Rhevision, meanwhile, is perfecting a tiny silicon nose that does the actual sniffing. Other interested partners are cell phone makers Apple, LG, and Samsung.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Does this type of technology set you at ease, or do you find it scary? Would you enable your tiny silicon nose to go sniffing for Uncle Sam if you had the choice? Let us know!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Photo credit</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">: </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/4389665951/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Ano Lobb</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-16944137271207740982010-04-13T07:02:00.000-07:002010-04-13T07:11:37.640-07:00Protecting your health involves speaking up<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkES-F2bz8XjaimW9azn17X4sFTeRo9uKT7K0Tg6-_lUzBQnIsc8I9tD29ljiDp8DQIWNIH8ZdkAAtud6Ao16s9khp4T9kAgCD3fsG_fJj9Tyoj_sbOgvgUl8rApIaOrvv4I1GVSOhyphenhyphendyc/s1600/Protecting+your+health.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkES-F2bz8XjaimW9azn17X4sFTeRo9uKT7K0Tg6-_lUzBQnIsc8I9tD29ljiDp8DQIWNIH8ZdkAAtud6Ao16s9khp4T9kAgCD3fsG_fJj9Tyoj_sbOgvgUl8rApIaOrvv4I1GVSOhyphenhyphendyc/s320/Protecting+your+health.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459623834264075938" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Communicating effectively with your doctor could make all the difference.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Each day brings with it news about how people can protect their health - whether it's </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Another-day-another-coffee-health-benefits-study/10156.html"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">drinking more coffee</span></span></b></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> (or less, depending on the survey), consuming less salt, getting more exercise, getting preventative screenings for certain diseases, etc. But a couple recent health-related articles reminded me that sometimes, the best tools for protecting one's health can be your own intuition and your own voice. Patients sometimes believe that so long as you tell a doctor what their major symptoms are, the rest will sort itself out. That's not necessarily true.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the New York Times, one writer reports on a recent New England Journal of Medicine piece in which a doctor argues that "doctors, researchers, drug makers and regulators should pay more attention to patients’ firsthand reports of their symptoms while they take medicines, because their information could help to guide treatment and research, and uncover safety problems." The story goes on to detail how clinical phases of trials for new drugs - and sometimes even doctors and nurses themselves - don't give enough weight to patients' symptoms, concerns, complaints, etc. Sometimes this happens because patients don't speak up enough, or perhaps lie altogether out of shame or embarrassment over what's really going on with their bodies. But just as often it's likely because doctors get caught up and don't take the time to really listen, or delve into how a patient's symptoms are really affecting him or her.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The article nicely complemented another piece in the Los Angeles Times urging both doctors and patients to make an effort to communicate more effectively. It explained how certain circumstances likebeing upset at being made to wait, short appointments, or feeling like they're not getting enough attention on the patients' side; and having to deal with strong or unruly personalities, or patients who unnecessarily take up too much time by going off on tangents or focusing on details that don't matter on the doctors' sides, can hamper communication between the parties. Among the advice doled out to both sides, the author offered: "Physicians need to be willing to work collaboratively with patients, but patients need to carry out their end of the bargain. It's up to patients to follow through with the advice they're given. No one can take their medications for them or make the lifestyle changes necessary for good health in their stead."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It's just another good reminder that when it comes to your own health, you are responsible for voicing your pains, concerns and symptoms clearly, respectfully and reasonably. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.navy.mil/swf/index.asp"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">U.S. Navy</span></span></a></div>Sara Libbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826410325364038337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-84243445579676258992010-04-12T01:30:00.000-07:002010-04-12T01:39:48.378-07:00New Health Care Technology can “Sniff Out” Asthma<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj52b9lmuoQbfHHZquwqZvkwTvVVPOiIohlhQuZCSlTDauRNLW_sGTjbAWBDuyJNisl6nbxq4K2sYpagoVgIehKUDyQnaaIfQazYlq4xfpnduFjt1eOKeLhUwVwtPj7sKy6HiHmPdvfmE/s1600/ulferts+ext.+4.8.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 285px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj52b9lmuoQbfHHZquwqZvkwTvVVPOiIohlhQuZCSlTDauRNLW_sGTjbAWBDuyJNisl6nbxq4K2sYpagoVgIehKUDyQnaaIfQazYlq4xfpnduFjt1eOKeLhUwVwtPj7sKy6HiHmPdvfmE/s320/ulferts+ext.+4.8.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5459166239880482242" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A new machine can “sniff out” asthma, leading to more accurate diagnosis and better health care outcomes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Those with asthma, and their health care providers, know how drawn out the diagnostic process can be. First come the multiple colds and upper-respiratory infections, then the doctors’ visits and specialist referrals, then a bunch of lung function tests that involved exhaling to the point of passing out. It can take weeks for health care providers to puzzle out a diagnosis, months if you include all those colds and infections the adult-onset patient endures before realizing something more serious is in play.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The days of waiting might be coming to an end. Italian health care researchers have announced the development of an electronic breath-sensor device that may be more accurate in diagnosing new asthma cases than traditional diagnostic tools. The device, which health care researchers have called the “electronic nose,” detected nearly 90 percent of people with asthma compared to about 70 percent who were accurately diagnosed using the more common lung function tests. The “electronic nose” works by identifying certain compounds in a person’s exhaled breath. These compounds produce specific patterns in people with asthma. The Italian health care researchers studied 27 people with mild, allergy-based asthma and 24 healthy people. The research was published in the April issue of the journal Chest.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The “electronic nose” sounds intriguing. Asthma used to be a fairly unusual health care condition that many sufferers eventually outgrew. Not so anymore. The respiratory condition has been building in frequency and durability in recent decades, and ranks as a common ailment. Much of the increase may be environmental; the Rand Corporation has estimated in a different study that air pollution caused nearly 30,000 emergency hospital visits and admissions from 2005 to 2007 in California. Almost eight percent of Americans have </span></span><b><u><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Asthma-increases-strain-health-care-budgets/10057.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">asthma</span></span></a></u></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, so finding a quick and accurate tool to diagnose the condition appears to be a good thing. But the electronic nose is likely a good ways away from appearing in a health care provider’s office near you. The practical costs are not yet known, and it’s not yet clear how well the device could work with people whose asthma isn’t allergy-related.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Don’t even think about trying to diagnose yourself. But if spring-time pollen is delivering some of the typical asthma symptoms below, the good folks at the National Institutes of Health suggest it might be time to talk to your doctor.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:16.0pt;mso-pagination:none; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:11.0pt list .5in;mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none"></p><ul><li></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Coughing. Coughing from asthma is often worse at night or early in the morning, making it hard to sleep.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Wheezing. Wheezing is a whistling or squeaky sound that occurs when you breathe.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Chest tightness. This may feel like something is squeezing or sitting on your chest.</span></span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Shortness of breath. Some people who have asthma say they can’t catch their breath or they feel out of breath.</span></span></li></ul><div><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><br /></span>Photo Credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalimistuk/477649970/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Mark Watson</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></p></div>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-59482056598900805732010-04-05T06:34:00.000-07:002010-04-05T06:36:58.791-07:00Health Check Up: Data from the US’s Annual Physical<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACBHmft9mW4_kS_TGrbR8NAD0urILZOPRS2n8RqAdtk-2Gey8ryWzlEugcJxtFy9bzhbYWays_79rmB3k9uxuhJmX71gksxkF4bKFg7esn6K1nn2297SyVsDup3pFv-SB4B2PlAXY038/s1600/Health+US+2009.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 0px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 306px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjACBHmft9mW4_kS_TGrbR8NAD0urILZOPRS2n8RqAdtk-2Gey8ryWzlEugcJxtFy9bzhbYWays_79rmB3k9uxuhJmX71gksxkF4bKFg7esn6K1nn2297SyVsDup3pFv-SB4B2PlAXY038/s320/Health+US+2009.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456646619529446818" /></a><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:15.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The latest CDC check up on the health of the US population has arrived, and it’s a veritable gold mine of data on health and health care practices. Of special interest in this years report, “Health, United States, 2009,” is a new section on medical technology.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:15.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">First, some of the good news: The three biggest killers are on the decline: Heart disease mortality by 66% and stroke deaths by 78% compared to the 1950s, and cancer deaths by about 16% since the 1990s. Having browsed these reports every year for nearly a decade, I was drawn to the new data on medical technology, and utilization of healthcare resources, much of which provides suggestive evidence that over-utilization of new technologies and unproven procedures, is a driving force behind ballooning expenditures in US healthcare. Among the findings, between mid-1990s and 2007:</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:15.0pt;mso-pagination:none;mso-layout-grid-align: none;text-autospace:none"></p><ul><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Total knee replacements increased 70%</span></span></span></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">MRI, PET and CT scan usage tripled, even though doubts remain about their </span></span><a href="http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2010/03/health-care-imaging-thats-costly-risky.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">effectiveness</span></span></a></span></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Hospitalization for cardiac care increased 64% while costs for those hospitalizations increased 174%</span></span></span></li><li><span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Healthy-tools-improve-medical-imaging/10973.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Spinal fusions</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a procedure of especially dubious effectiveness, increased 82% while costs for the procedure increase 189%</span></span></span></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Rates of prescription drug use have increased since the 1990’s: from 39% to 47%, including 9% of adults who now always or often use meds to help them sleep. The percentage of people taking three or more prescription drugs has increased from 12% to 21%</span></span></span></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In 2007 (the most recent year available) Americans went to the doctor or hospital 1.2 billion times. Though most visits are to the physician’s office, 20% of adults had at least one emergency room visit. Those with households incomes at 200% of the poverty line or less were nearly twice as likely to go to the ER: 30% vs. 18%</span></span></span></li><li><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Cost and lack of coverage led 8% of Americans to forgo needed care, 10% to forgo necessary prescription drugs, and another 10% to delay needed care.</span></span></span></li></ul><p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The report also includes a section showing the massive variation in the amount of care provided for people at the end of their life, which comes from the</span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/-competition-conundrum-Can-better-care-cost-less/4807.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. Your chances of having at least one stay in the intensive care unit during the last six months of life, for example, ranges from a high of 45% in California and Illinois and 49% in Florida, to a low of 23% in Vermont and North Dakota and 26% in Oregon. Those differences are attributable to differences in medical practice patterns, since they control for the health and age of the population (so its not simply caused by Florida being home to the elderly and sick, and Vermont being populated by spry young healthy folks.) ICU’s are invasive places, involving extensive treatment and testing which means that more time in the ICU results in greater expenses, and is extremely uncomfortable for patients. And since this measure of intensity only looks at folks who died, the ICU stays aren’t curing anyone of disease.</span></span></o:p></span></p>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-71572991185065404582010-04-05T04:49:00.000-07:002010-04-05T04:52:32.216-07:00Should Unhealthy Eating be Treated as an Addiction?<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllJr1NnXZwV4nWl2yucdF1O9nCW4wAt1WMHaorkxicnqDWil7_hvAYRFSNiBzt6UOdEf7NTQpHwatSC08q0RMUww62T_exsefMErZhOq7ns_h29SLR3ZbrXwQCZEV0aT5ohKu7SJwH0Wl/s1600/Hostess_twinkies.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhllJr1NnXZwV4nWl2yucdF1O9nCW4wAt1WMHaorkxicnqDWil7_hvAYRFSNiBzt6UOdEf7NTQpHwatSC08q0RMUww62T_exsefMErZhOq7ns_h29SLR3ZbrXwQCZEV0aT5ohKu7SJwH0Wl/s320/Hostess_twinkies.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456619896870204674" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">A new study suggests junk food addiction might be similar to drug addiction.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As America’s obesity epidemic continues, the government has launched many initiatives to help citizens gain better control over their waistlines: They’re working to improve school lunches so that children get nourishment and not diabetes; they’ve written provisions into the recent health care reform legislation requiring disclosure of calorie counts at restaurants and on packaging so that people understand what they’re putting into their bodies, etc. But now one study is suggesting that constantly eating junk food could actually be considered an addiction on the same level people are addicted to cocaine or alcohol. Will it affect how health officials approach regulating junk food and appealing to people to eat better?</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">According to TIME magazine, “researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla., examined three groups of lab rats that were fed various diets for 40 days. One group was given typical rat chow only; a second group was offered rat chow, plus a buffet of bacon, sausage, cheesecake, chocolate frosting and other delectable goodies for one hour a day; and a third group was allowed extended access to the fatty buffet for up to 23 hours a day.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The extended-access group began consuming twice as many calories as the other rats, and, not surprisingly, became obese. The limited-access rats, meanwhile, developed a binge pattern of eating, consuming most of their daily calories during the single hour they were allowed in the junk food "cafeteria."</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But what shocked the researchers was that extended-access rats also showed deficits in their ‘reward threshold.’ That is, unrestricted exposure to large quantities of high-sugar, high-fat foods changed the functioning of the rats' brain circuitry, making it harder and harder for them to register pleasure — in other words, they developed a type of tolerance often seen in addiction — an effect that got progressively worse as the rats gained more weight.”</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Of course, there are limits to such studies, particularly when they’re not performed on actual humans. But reconsidering how to approach the obesity epidemic isn’t an absurd idea – certainly treating alcohol addiction as a medical condition is more effective than simply trying to shame people into not drinking, which is essentially the culture we have now with unhealthy eating. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Approaching overeating and junk food as a mental health issue isn’t entirely new territory – it brings to mind the infamous “Twinkie defense” used by Dan White, who was being tried for the murders of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, and City Supervisor Harvey Milk – White’s lawyers alleged that White’s diet switch to junk food and sodas contributed to his incapacitated mental state at the time of the killings. He was convicted only of involuntary manslaughter. </span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hostess_twinkies.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Larry D. Moore</span></span></a></div>Sara Libbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826410325364038337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-3367800758847572372010-04-05T03:12:00.000-07:002010-04-05T03:28:20.838-07:00Movement on the mental health front<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ_wv9l7N3lmztNnP2fqMx9rf1rYUpfz0N6WDj56XWuCqaKTg8juoxQ-RHwv_MlXjMDo6fGzNcv2TREwQcVyJYkg54CZwOf4joyLztlamSuIb5JXe54VkBY-BYCiPy5mhB3HQGKdtpUN0/s1600/mental+health+front.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 0px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ_wv9l7N3lmztNnP2fqMx9rf1rYUpfz0N6WDj56XWuCqaKTg8juoxQ-RHwv_MlXjMDo6fGzNcv2TREwQcVyJYkg54CZwOf4joyLztlamSuIb5JXe54VkBY-BYCiPy5mhB3HQGKdtpUN0/s320/mental+health+front.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456597669428997586" /></a></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The focus lately has been on health reform. But a different law is leveling the playing field for mental health.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">So much attention has been focused in recent weeks on health reform, and rightly so: It is the largest single piece of social justice legislation passed in 40 years. But another bill that has the power to do for those suffering from </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Healing-heads-mending-minds-Challenges-of-mental-health/4307.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><b>mental health</b></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> conditions what health reform does for the uninsured launched earlier this year and now is being put in place. It is the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Passed as part of the stimulus package of 2008, the bill seeks to end discrimination against people who need mental health and substance abuse services. Historically, access to care – meaning prohibitive costs combined with health care insurance plans that didn’t cover such services – was the main reason people who needed the help went without, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">In the past, health care insurance plans have often treated mental health and substance abuse treatment services differently than they have other medical benefits. The new parity law ends that practice in health care insurance plans offered by employers with more than 50 employees. Under the parity law, plans that offer both physical and mental health benefits must treat them equally. That means things like co-payments, deductibles, and out-of-pocket limits must be the same for mental health and substance abuse services as they are for other medical services like surgery and doctor visits. That also means that the number of visits allowed, duration of treatment, and other treatment limitations can’t be more restrictive for mental health and substance abuse services than they are for other services.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The new law comes at a time when more attention then ever has been focused on the need for mental health care, particularly in the military. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are being diagnosed in increasing rates with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other mental health conditions. Suicides among military personnel are being scrutinized, as are acts of domestic violence.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And lawmakers in some states are taking notice. Coupled with health reform, which requires all Americans to have health insurance by 2014, and the Wellstone and Domenici parity law, states’ recent actions are creating a true safety net that can significantly increase access to mental health and substance abuse services. For example, last week the Iowa House of Representatives approved a bill that requires private health care insurers to provide veterans with mental health and substance abuse coverage (the bill must pass the Iowa Senate). Also last week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced $1.75 million in competitive grants for mental health programming for veterans. Perry’s office said the grants are for programs that help veterans access basic treatment. The grants are also intended to expand trauma therapy services, and promote support groups.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">And while they didn’t target veterans directly, Montana’s Yellowstone County Commission agreed last month to ask voters to approve a specific tax for mental health services. County officials estimate that the proposed tax would raise approximately $873,000 annually to fund mental health services designed to keep the mentally ill out of hospitals and jails.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">These are excellent developments, and they will go a long way toward both increasing access to mental health and substance abuse services and reducing the stigma associated with those conditions. What do you think?</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />Photo Credit: </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/fmc550uz/2417029180/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">fmc.nikon.d40</span></span></a></p><p></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"></span><p></p><p></p><p></p>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-48851793323022370522010-03-29T00:34:00.001-07:002010-03-29T00:40:36.048-07:00Unsure about how health reform affects you? Start here<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1BR3b9AW2FMl3oIX2PdOJJERaYqi1eJcFmqQw7whhZIt7KGZ8vNJD7Bzrk3-Qz_Jj4BQtMmkewJnTq8pG4782O1AEka5ig9W4kyMVB492vGauA-CSDWj6XHdVgMv7930Yo1yu3rN_ydB/s1600/health+care+bill.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 07px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 193px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1BR3b9AW2FMl3oIX2PdOJJERaYqi1eJcFmqQw7whhZIt7KGZ8vNJD7Bzrk3-Qz_Jj4BQtMmkewJnTq8pG4782O1AEka5ig9W4kyMVB492vGauA-CSDWj6XHdVgMv7930Yo1yu3rN_ydB/s320/health+care+bill.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453956789768044754" /></a><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Some great resources exist that make dissecting the health care bill much less intimidating.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If you've been paying attention the last week, you've probably quickly realized that just because </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Health-reform-has-passed-That-s-good-So-why-do-I-feel-ill/11365.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">health care reform</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> became the law of the land, the myths and misunderstandings about the bill, and how it will affect people's lives, still remain. As the New York Times pointed out, “While some of the more outlandish rumors may dissipate, it is likely that misperceptions will linger for years, hindering substantive debate over the merits of the country’s new health care system. The reasons are rooted in human psychology.” People are inclined to believe things that confirm their already existing views, which is why if someone believes something about the health care bill – true or not – it's difficult to convince him otherwise.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But for people who really want to know what the bill entails, when certain provisions will go into effect and how it will play a role in their personal care, there are good resources out there that are worth seeking out.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Of course, the most official resource is the government itself, and the Department of Health and Human Services will play a key role in informing the public about the bill, and about how to obtain coverage for those who need it. At </span></span><a href="http://www.healthreform.gov/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://www.healthreform.gov</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, new updates and news should be available as it happens.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Kaiser Family Foundation's health reform subsidy calculator is also a great tool. It “illustrates premiums and government assistance provided under the health reform bills originally passed by the House and Senate and the final legislation for people under age 65 who purchase coverage on their own in an Exchange and are not covered through their employer, Medicare or Medicaid.” If you're not receiving health insurance through an employer, it's a good way to get an understanding of how much you're likely to pay through the exchange.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/03/24/us/politics/20100319-health-care-effect.htm#tab=5"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">This New York Times graphic</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> is also worth checking out – it is easy to follow and allows for multitude scenarios. Virtually everyone should be able to get a better understanding of how they'll be affected by checking it out.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As with any complex issue, (shameless plug for the journalism profession ahead!) it is a good idea simply to read about the developments every day (or close to it) in a publication you trust. You might not understand each provision, or each story every day, but ultimately you'll be creating for yourself a foundation of knowledge that will build over time.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/photogallery/fight-health-reform"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">White House</span></span></a></div>Sara Libbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826410325364038337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-5508414212295543502010-03-28T23:50:00.000-07:002010-03-29T00:30:39.761-07:00Federal health reform has passed. Now, states respond<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1QliOTIIoZXgtOtgcOve3ohV79XfeTUdni7wMahDCUbH4-ZKT53tGa8YId7NMyjd7qEO9_VdMnyzFV3W0SvhSwmXEiRoFXxNCKRNVzOltcJlZiO0txjSiy7E83yotUBfTk6vZmsdhGs/s1600/health+reform.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 7px 7px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG1QliOTIIoZXgtOtgcOve3ohV79XfeTUdni7wMahDCUbH4-ZKT53tGa8YId7NMyjd7qEO9_VdMnyzFV3W0SvhSwmXEiRoFXxNCKRNVzOltcJlZiO0txjSiy7E83yotUBfTk6vZmsdhGs/s320/health+reform.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5453949743960387170" border="0" /></a><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Some states are suing the federal government over health reform. Others are gutting health care programs for the poor. Seems like everyone’s in on the act.</span></span></span></p><div style="font-family:times new roman;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You know times are strange when state lawmakers eliminate a wildly popular health care program for low-income kids in an election year.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">But these are extraordinary times, thanks to the political maelstrom of </span></span><span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Health-reform-has-passed-That-s-good-So-why-do-I-feel-ill/11365.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">health reform</span></span></a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and the financial strain of the recession tail. In Arizona, where former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain is facing a tough primary challenge for re-election, state lawmakers have proposed eliminating the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a safety net for low-income families who can’t afford their own insurance yet earn too much to qualify for standard Medicaid.
<br />
<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:10;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has signed a budget that guts the program, which will leave nearly 47,000 low-income children without health care coverage. The state also will roll back Medicaid coverage for childless adults, which is expected to eventually drop 310,000 people from the rolls. Is this a partisan move, a retaliatory response to health reform and a precursor to the stated Republican strategy of “Repeal and Replace?” Brewer has said Arizona’s dire financial straits left no choice but to cut, and she hopes voters will approve a penny increase in the state’s sales tax that could soften those cuts. Indeed, if Brewer’s playing games, she’s likely betting against the house: Arizona could face further loss of federal dollars for failing to maintain a certain level of health care programs for the poor. And that could lead to more, not fewer, uninsured in Arizona despite the health reform law.
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<br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not that (mostly) Republican attorneys general are content to let governors have all the action. More than a dozen GOP AGs and one Dem have signed on to a group effort to challenge the constitutionality of the health reform plan. Many legal scholars don’t give the challenge much of a chance, other than a chance to make a public point. The effort is being led by Bill McCollum, attorney general of my former home state of Florida. The top lawyers for those states claim Congress overstepped its powers to regulate commerce when it declared that every American must have health insurance or else risk federal tax penalties. Insuring the health of one’s one body, they say, is not commerce.
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<br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) has said that his state will eliminate the Healthy Indiana Plan in light of the passage of the health reform bill. Healthy Indiana is a Medicaid waiver plan, the first of its kind to use Medicaid funds to provide a benefit package modeled after a high-deductible plan and health savings account to previously uninsured adults. The state plans to transition the 45,000 low-income residents currently enrolled in the program onto Medicaid, and Governor Daniels has announced he is capping enrollment for the program while the state phases it out. Daniels has been highly critical of the President Obama’s health reform plan, saying it left little room for innovative programs like Healthy Indiana. He has said the health reform bill forced him to dismantle the program.
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<br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:times new roman;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It will be interesting to see what everything looks like after all the dust is settled. I understand why states are trimming their own programs in light of the passage of health reform. States have long complained about “unfunded mandates” from the feds when it comes to covering low-income Americans, and they will eventually have to chip in for some of the extended Medicaid under the health reform plan. I just hope health reform isn’t ending one “doughnut” hole – the one involving Medicare drug coverage – only to create another: tens of thousands (or more) of people who go uncovered in the time between the elimination of state health care programs and the expansion of federal ones.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccomp22%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccomp22%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Ccomp22%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> 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style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">
<br /></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span><span style="font-style: italic; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Photo Credit:</span></span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tom1231/254460772/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Marxchivist</span></span></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p></p></span></div>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-72999747257022170642010-03-26T08:09:00.000-07:002010-03-26T08:16:07.827-07:00Health decision making: New cancer treatment findings<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xWQ9C48mmLlM8tySZmIq4xJ2nFW13v_O0UjyIhKAKtqR5Fq71VAQQ2CSNMh6Hhyphenhypheno11F28Aq-Lqm2hLXyPCs_k6ms9rvgQijZYUBN2vvbrI8Am3VILbRrvTdLFNvLB0SaBIyA_fV3qO4/s1600/decisionmaking.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 07px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 237px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xWQ9C48mmLlM8tySZmIq4xJ2nFW13v_O0UjyIhKAKtqR5Fq71VAQQ2CSNMh6Hhyphenhypheno11F28Aq-Lqm2hLXyPCs_k6ms9rvgQijZYUBN2vvbrI8Am3VILbRrvTdLFNvLB0SaBIyA_fV3qO4/s320/decisionmaking.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452960621093236514" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Several interesting studies being presented at the European Breast Cancer conference in Spain are highlighting the difficulties that many women face when trying to decide on the appropriate course of treatment, prevention, or </span></span><a href="http://csr2health.blogspot.com/2009/11/confusion-confounding-and-cancer.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">screening</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">.<br /><br />The decision can be especially challenging for women who have tested positive for mutations in the “breast cancer genes,” known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Such women face a 55% to 85% chance of developing the cancer sometime in their life. These genetic mutations are inherited, and many women with a long list of female relatives who have suffered from the cancer choose radical preventive approaches, such as prophylactic mastectomy, or removal of one or both healthy breasts, either before a first incident of cancer, or to prevent a recurrence. This is based on the assumption that removing healthy tissue will reduce the risk of new or recurrent cancer.<br /><br />Two new studies looked at prophylactic mastectomy of the healthy breast in women recovering from the cancer, who had BRCA1/2 mutations. After following 138 women who opted for risk reducing mastectomies, and comparing them to 210 similar women who opted for routine surveillance without the operation, researchers found no difference in overall survival. In other words, women who opted for risk-reduction surgery did not live longer or die of cancer less frequently than those who did not have surgery.<br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />The second study looked at the chances of cancer recurrence in women who opted for total mastectomies compared to less radical “breast conserving treatment,” or BCT. After 15 years, 23.5% of women who chose BCT had a second bout of cancer, compared with only 5.5% of women who opted for total mastectomy. However,</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy along with BCT</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">had no greater risk than the mastectomy group. The researchers concluded that BCT with chemotherapy is a sensible option for women who do not want to undergo total mastectomy.<br /><br />A third study being presented underlines the importance of clear risk communication to those suffering from or at risk of developing cancer. In a small study of 27 women being treated for cancer in one breast, a British surgeon reports that women who chose prophylactic mastectomy of their healthy breast did so, at least in part, because they overestimated the risk of developing future cancer by up to ten times. A small study for sure, and with not entirely unexpected results, but an important reminder that risk communication is both difficult, and important in helping patients decide which course of treatment is best.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />Photo credit</span></span></span></i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">: </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The author</span></span></a></span></p>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-58040664347856512762010-03-22T02:29:00.000-07:002010-03-22T02:35:46.883-07:00Gay patients sometimes excluded from clinical health trials<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPK84H9FP_8MPFX5weO-9SJCdmr83F65NYEU7E1a_HXOUGKSGy4XmdDZHsM-D1tk7Kk1xZsSCw0F4a0vrhukkm7Q_N-gXLqWWzCoLZClQ1Vdet6Qp0jpbgmuA3R3IReNVB0uxoZ8CEGpVO/s1600-h/pills.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 07px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPK84H9FP_8MPFX5weO-9SJCdmr83F65NYEU7E1a_HXOUGKSGy4XmdDZHsM-D1tk7Kk1xZsSCw0F4a0vrhukkm7Q_N-gXLqWWzCoLZClQ1Vdet6Qp0jpbgmuA3R3IReNVB0uxoZ8CEGpVO/s320/pills.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451388832497086402" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A portion of the population could have health issues that are being ignored.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">There are, unfortunately, many corners of our society that still exclude people who are gay. In most states, gay couples cannot marry; gay people cannot serve openly in the military, and some states even go as far as excluding gays from being able to adopt children. But scientists and doctors are now fearing that another type of exclusion is taking place - one that could have effects on those people’s health and wellness: clinical trials that examine diseases, drugs and medical treatments.</span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">A letter published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that 37 of 243 clinical trials studied that dealt with couples and sexual function barred people who were in same-sex relationships. Researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Pennsylvania who conducted the study worry that gay patients are routinely excluded from other studies as well, such as ones that study depression [</span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Is-Optimism-in-Young-Adults-Harmful-Mental-Health/7945.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.justmeans.com/Is-Optimism-in-Young-Adults-Harmful-Mental-Health/7945.html</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">]</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">or cancer.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Doctors hoping to create a clinical trial to study a drug often develop a target demographic of people who are a certain age, have a certain disease, or participate in a certain kind of behavior associated with the drug in order to narrow down those who’d be most likely to use, and benefit from, the drug. It’s a vital element to creating a clinical trial. But if doctors, for whatever reason, universally exclude gay participants, then a whole segment of the population will inevitably have health issues that aren’t addressed or uncovered in such trials.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Brian Egleston, Michael J. Hall, and Roland Dunbrack wrote that not all clinical trials use exclusionary language, and that often, gay and lesbian patients might not even be aware that they’re missing out on certain trials:</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“To ensure that we did not miss a general pattern of exclusionary language, we also examined eligibility criteria in 1019 studies that we identified by using the search term ‘asthma.’ Exploratory searches indicated that such studies did not have high rates of exclusionary language, and indeed, no asthma trials were found to exclude lesbians and gay men. However, we incidentally found a clinical trial of attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder that required that participants be ‘in a reciprocal relationship with a person of the opposite sex.’</span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; ">Our results indicate that exclusion of lesbians and gay men from clinical trials in the United States is not uncommon, particularly in studies with sexual function as an end point. It is likely that most gay and lesbian patients are unaware that their sexual orientation is being used as a screening factor for participation in clinical trials. Researchers should be held to careful scientific reasoning when they develop exclusion criteria that are based on sexual orientation.”</span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Varco"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Tom Varco</span></span></a></span></span></span></span></i></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>Sara Libbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826410325364038337noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-82077551270577750252010-03-19T03:39:00.000-07:002010-03-19T03:53:40.600-07:00Health news: Media covers cancer stories poorly<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkSSdZNtuRuGs0gPW-8nEIvoi3PdHm0V1Ilsh9jKEmtesU7k0qvStpDhbcE1FSFDVnXTSmRtVPcZS0KGFFKKOZegEs0X53cvHB738GF8DMYdrVPIqp30EzqgYt1zSIuI2RdZCwbRXtJg/s1600-h/Complexity.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 338px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkSSdZNtuRuGs0gPW-8nEIvoi3PdHm0V1Ilsh9jKEmtesU7k0qvStpDhbcE1FSFDVnXTSmRtVPcZS0KGFFKKOZegEs0X53cvHB738GF8DMYdrVPIqp30EzqgYt1zSIuI2RdZCwbRXtJg/s320/Complexity.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450295922554505234" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don’t get me wrong, I prefer good health news. Its much more inspiring to hear of innovation, burgeoning cures, survival, getting better, being healthy. But in addition to shades of grey, health news is black and white: With the good news comes bad, the possibility of dying or being plain miserable.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The news media isn’t so good about covering that bad news when it comes to </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Perspectives-on-cancer/5759.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">cancer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. That’s the conclusion of a new paper in the Archives of Internal Medicine that analyzed 2228 cancer stories from 436 randomly selected American newspapers and magazines. Most articles focused on breast (35%) or prostate (15%) cancers, the most common gender-specific cancers in women and men, 20% addressed cancer more broadly. While interest in cancer is likely motivated by our fear of dying from it, only 7.6% of stories focused on death, while 32% were about survival and being cured, and only 2.3% dealt with survival and death. .</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"It is surprising that few articles discuss death and dying considering that half of all patients diagnosed as having cancer will not survive," the authors write. "The findings are also surprising given that scientists, media critics and the lay public repeatedly criticize the news for focusing on death."</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Stories of treatment and survival are certainly more uplifting, but even there most failed to provide the whole story: 57% focused on aggressive treatments, but only 13% mentioned that they’re not always successful or that some cancer is incurable. Adverse events of treatments, such as pain, nausea, and hair loss, where mentioned in 30% of stories. End of life (palliative) care was seldom covered: 0.5% of stories focused on it exclusively, and 2.5% mentioned it along side discussions of aggressive treatments.<span></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It’s tempting to over-simplify health stories, assuming that a condition is treatable in all people who undergo a certain treatment for a certain amount of time. But it’s almost always more complicated than that. With cancer in particular, death is often a very real possibility, and while we try desperately to avoid death, it’s not a “bad” thing. Its part of the story of those things we call cancer.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Telling the whole story about health and disease is not just a hallmark of good journalism, it’s part of the larger picture of ethical, patient-centered health care. Over the years we’ve grown accustomed to waging “war” against cancer, where death equals defeat. And in war its considered poor form to plan for defeat. But cancer isn’t an enemy, and treatment isn’t war. We do our best to cure people, but must also be aware that some cancers aren’t curable, and sometimes the best treatment is to stop combating the cancer and focus on controlling symptoms, managing pain, coming to terms with mortality, and letting the natural progression of disease take its course. That’s not failure, that’s not defeat, it is part of being human. It’s also what palliative care provides, and it all begins, I believe, with telling the full story about cancer, health, life, and death.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />Photo credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/4443558003/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The author</span></span></a></p>Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-39509942830821160482010-03-19T03:28:00.000-07:002010-03-19T03:33:13.212-07:00Erectile dysfunction predictor of health, and death<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmfUOuIQ-L0IUJZQlRk4DretkN8cCnO-dPqTN0Jp3KhW0ADqvbUmkksMu2-FIfwp5nHiWw4UHH0AbSPlLdkAxFEyhxwSVM8lmE0gyM2GB9JLQ3c1W_FNZbV51IY_77KbAEtlT9MnNlhA/s1600-h/ulfertsext.blg.march19.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 03px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 229px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvmfUOuIQ-L0IUJZQlRk4DretkN8cCnO-dPqTN0Jp3KhW0ADqvbUmkksMu2-FIfwp5nHiWw4UHH0AbSPlLdkAxFEyhxwSVM8lmE0gyM2GB9JLQ3c1W_FNZbV51IY_77KbAEtlT9MnNlhA/s320/ulfertsext.blg.march19.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5450290427941586546" /></a><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Erectile dysfunction is more than an issue of sexual health. It is a strong predictor of death and cardiovascular health.</span></span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We’ve been lulled by the commercials into believing that erectile dysfunction is a mere annoyance, a minor blip on the sexual health screen that can be easily remedied by a pill in various convenient dosing options. But researchers warn that those sultry, idyllic, twin-bathtub-in-the-middle-of-nowhere images mask more sinister health threats associated with erectile dysfunction (ED). In fact, ED is a strong predictor of death from all causes and of heart attack, stroke and heart failure in men with cardiovascular disease, German researchers reported this month in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi- font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Researchers found that men with </span></span><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Freeway-proximity-can-put-you-on-road-heart-health-issues/8925.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">cardiovascular disease</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and erectile dysfunction (compared to those without ED) were twice as likely to suffer death from all causes and 1.6 times more likely to suffer the composite of cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke and heart failure hospitalization. More specifically, they were:</span></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1.9 times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease;<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">twice as likely to have a heart attack;<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1.2 times more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure;<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">1.1 times more likely to have a stroke.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">As if that weren’t bad enough, researchers said, too many men with ED don’t realize how poor their heart health is and how great their risk of death is because they don’t know they also have cardiovascular disease. They don’t learn of the other condition because they are successfully treated for erectile dysfunction by their primary health care provider or urologist. They aren’t referred to a cardiologist for an evaluation until their cardiovascular disease is advanced.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“Men with ED going to a general practitioner or a urologist need to be referred for a cardiology workup to determine existing cardiovascular disease and proper treatment,” study author Michael Böhm, M.D., lead author of the study and chairman of internal medicine in the Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care at the University of Saarland, Germany, said. “ED is an early predictor of cardiovascular disease.” Usually, though, that doesn’t happen, especially if the ED treatment was successful. “The medication works and the patient doesn’t show up anymore,” Böhm said. “These men are being treated for the ED, but not the underlying cardiovascular disease. A whole segment of men is being placed at risk.”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The study is an important reminder of how inter-related health conditions can be. Neglect one aspect of your health, and you may unwittingly make another worse. More importantly, too many people diagnosed with Condition A don’t realize their diagnosis puts them at significant risk for developing Condition B.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">While the link between ED and heart disease seems logical – both involve blood vessels, for instance – that’s not true for all linked conditions. Asthma and depression, for example. Some linkages may seem downright counter-intuitive, so it’s important to be an informed health care consumer.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Gentlemen, that goes for you: If you have ED, ask your doctor if a cardio workup is right for you.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br />Photo Credit: </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/521898569/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">taberandrew</span></span></a></span></i></p></span></div>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-25745378912292936892010-03-15T04:40:00.000-07:002010-03-15T04:44:53.064-07:00Depressed parents can pass on mental health problems to kids<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnh1PqJiynW3cmOOLBjOIRrqzP7A8YUs4MZX59l1jKrhkQ3rrTItUE6ffLL7Y1bMuhmrZhMmO8CgWdOMO1DZBStrLQfabXpKi8kmhP8ksEIPH0hh3HqGPHmoMtjKDmYmYyUyi8bLCSVRf9/s1600-h/Depression.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 07px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 245px; height: 335px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnh1PqJiynW3cmOOLBjOIRrqzP7A8YUs4MZX59l1jKrhkQ3rrTItUE6ffLL7Y1bMuhmrZhMmO8CgWdOMO1DZBStrLQfabXpKi8kmhP8ksEIPH0hh3HqGPHmoMtjKDmYmYyUyi8bLCSVRf9/s320/Depression.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448824635275201762" /></a></p><div>Kids with depressed parents often have anxiety issues; but studies show therapy helps.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyone who has ever flipped on a TV can tell you that depression is everywhere - commercials touting various anti-depressants emphasize the need to treat depression right away, lest it take an increasing toll on one’s life. Some drugs also play up the physical harm depression can create, manifesting itself in various aches and pains. </div><div><br /></div><div>Indeed, researchers are now delving into the effects depression has on children who grow up with a depressed parent. It’s been a bourgeoning area of research for the last couple decades, and the Los Angeles Times reports that “evidence is mounting that growing up with a depressed parent increases a child's risk for mental health problems, cognitive difficulties and troubled social relationships.” One study found that depression in mothers can affect infants – they were found to cry more often. The effects can linger in kids as they grow up, too: Other studies have found that kids with depressed parents often have greater anxiety levels.</div><div><br /></div><div>While postpartum depression can obviously play a big role in mother-child interactions, recent studies have found that depression in either parent can cause behavioral or mental health problems in children. One study, led by Vanderbilt University researcher Judy Garber, found that kids who have a depressed parent are at greater risk for having trouble in school, and for substance abuse and suicide. Of the 316 students who were the focus of Garber’s study, all of them said they had either experienced symptoms of depression in the past, or at the time the study began. Half of the teens were sent to group therapy sessions; and those teens reported fewer signs of depression after eight weeks.</div><div><br /></div><div>A similar study by Johns Hopkins Children’s Center placed kids of depressed parents ages 7 to 12 in an eight-week course of behavioral therapy, and those children showed no signs of emerging anxiety problems a year later. But of the kids in a comparison group who did not receive therapy, 30 percent did get diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Though therapy has been shown in multiple studies to ward off or lessen depression and anxiety in children and teens, not many health insurance companies cover such treatments. But perhaps as health care reform inches closer to reality, and as continuing studies reveal the effectiveness of such programs, behavioral health therapy treatments will eventually become more readily available. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>Photo credit:</i> <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Hendrike">Hendrike</a></div>Sara Libbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16826410325364038337noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-22965212139643979512010-03-15T04:29:00.000-07:002010-03-15T04:34:11.311-07:00Childhood vaccines protect even the unvaccinated<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu7yYyx7NZDU4UGDszhoq0_l-C8Yw8LF0vkvMzTm0GE_vlUVNkfzJsQb_tmCnA3D7rRp2nSS9OyhRyL95rlJquqeVSf-a1HN7lb4cHeyQHYKdswb2CL32nfEbIWfuZeMjcE1m_TJgpYvo/s1600-h/4415955719_94c774e80d_b.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 07px 07px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu7yYyx7NZDU4UGDszhoq0_l-C8Yw8LF0vkvMzTm0GE_vlUVNkfzJsQb_tmCnA3D7rRp2nSS9OyhRyL95rlJquqeVSf-a1HN7lb4cHeyQHYKdswb2CL32nfEbIWfuZeMjcE1m_TJgpYvo/s320/4415955719_94c774e80d_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448822154460432674" /></a><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Giving children the flu vaccine can protect the wider community, study finds.</span></span></span></p><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It’s obvious that giving a child the flu vaccine will protect him or her from the influenza. But a new study suggests the benefit of vaccinating children can extend well beyond the youngsters themselves. Results of a clinical trial conducted in a largely self-contained religious community during the 2008-09 flu season show that vaccinating children against the seasonal flu can significantly protect unvaccinated community members as well. The study was conducted to determine if children who received the </span></span><u><a href="http://www.justmeans.com/Some-parents-still-fear-vaccines/10165.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">vaccine</span></span></a></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> could act as a barrier to limit the spread of the flu to the wider, unvaccinated community, a concept known as “herd immunity.”</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size:12.0pt;mso-bidi- font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SAfont-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">According to the National Institutes of Health, researchers recruited volunteers from 46 Canadian Hutterite religious colonies that have limited contact with surrounding, non-Hutterite populations.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">(Hutterite communities have a lifestyle similar to the Amish and Mennonites). Of the close to 1,000 children participating in the study, roughly half were given the flu vaccine, while the other half were give the hepatitis A vaccine, which served as the control. The researchers found that the flu vaccine was 61 percent effective at indirectly preventing illness in unvaccinated people if they lived in a colony where approximately 80 percent of the children had received the flu vaccine.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The researchers further suggested that giving school-aged children the flu vaccine could be an effective way to stop the spread of the flu. In a statement provided by the National Institutes of Health, the researchers wrote “it may be advantageous to selectively immunize children in order to reduce community transmission of influenza.”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">It’s not clear if the study gives license to assert the converse: Not giving your child the flu vaccine can actually harm others. But it’s certainly something to think about. I’m not ready to require that parents go out and get the flu vaccine for their kids as a requirement to attend public school. I do wonder if that might someday be the case for the swine flu, which cut a respectable swath of school closings across New York City last year. (In an open letter earlier this year to health care providers across the country, federal Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg warned doctors of a “significant” chance that the swine flu will return later this flu season after showing recent signs of waning). We certainly do require other vaccines in order to attend school, despite some lingering fears among parents of their safety. In any case, I will take the opportunity here to suggest that taking care of yourself, which can include getting yourself vaccinated against the flu, is an act you owe not only yourself, but others in our society as well. I don’t want to legislate healthful habits, but I also think there’s something to be said for keeping healthy as a means of reducing health care costs and increasing productivity.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">What do you think?</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><br /></span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Photo Credit:</span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/unicefsverige/4415955719/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">UNICEF Sverige</span></span></a></p></span></div>Alisa Ulfertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12553581528533785119noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5802200867344925180.post-40726828440108489672010-03-15T03:45:00.000-07:002010-03-15T03:49:34.734-07:00Health care imaging that’s costly, risky, and overused<p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFoOIsxoXkGynV6Wc6EBuyRtWW-PtdNebeQirPr6lMhr1QAFeRYGx8JSfsfkQHrG-RFYKEo9-wr30PAIg5242voOJ_a0A8Z2bxigweinvnqG2thk6BTQrCp-cU2Nk9ouQ2kcxpSqGr6U/s1600-h/Diagnostic+imaging.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 07px 07px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 286px;" 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Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Cambria","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; mso-themecolor:followedhyperlink; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >The FDA has recently gone on the offensive against the overuse of health care <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/FDA-Aims-Crack-Down-on-Radiation-Overexposure/8581.html">imaging scanners</a> such as CTs and MRIs, which can lead to unnecessarily high doses of radiation. While emphasis was placed on the responsibilities of device manufacturers to ensure safe usage of their products, and calling on the patients not to insist on imaging over their doctor’s protests, little emphasis was placed on perhaps the most important performer in the medical choreography that results in an imaging test: the physician. Doctors are, after all, the ones who order such procedures.</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >Now a new publication is calling for more rational use of imaging technology, and using the compelling example of pelvic and lower abdominal pain in women to make the case. Even though the standard means of visually evaluating female pelvic conditions is the ultrasound, CT scanners are increasingly being used. In addition to providing a massive dose of potentially cancer-causing radiation, CTs are vastly more expensive than ultrasound, which carries no cancer risk since it uses sound waves to create images. A further irony is that CTs frequently need to be followed up with ultrasound to confirm a potential diagnosis.</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >Harvard doctor Beryl Benacerraf, who wrote the commentary, calls on his fellow clinicians for a more rational use of imaging. Why, after all, choose the most expensive, less accurate option that carries health risks, when a cheaper, more reliable, and risk free alternative is available?</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" >On a policy level, this is the type of physician behavior contributing to the paradigm that has emerged over 3 decades of <a href="http://www.justmeans.com/-competition-conundrum-Can-better-care-cost-less/4807.html">health services research</a> showing that regions of the United States that treat patients with more imaging, more procedures, and longer hospital stays, actually have worse outcomes, even when you control for the health of their populations. And they also spend significantly more. On an individual level, it’s compelling evidence for patients not to insist on imaging or testing when your doctor recommends against it.</span></p><p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: times new roman;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i style="font-family: times new roman;"><span style="">Photo credit</span></i></span><span style=";font-family:";" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;">: </span><a style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/27384147@N02/4419276111/">The author</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> Ano Lobbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01756084041866410451noreply@blogger.com0