Imaging a Different Future
By KIM BELLARD
Two articles have me thinking this week. One sets up the problem healthcare has (although healthcare is not explicitly mentioned), while the other illustrates it. They share being about how we view the future.
The two articles are Ezra Klein’s Can Democrats See What’s Coming? in The New York Times Opinion pages and Derek Thompson’s Why Does America Make It So Hard to Be a Doctor? in The Atlantic. Both are well worth a read.
Mr. Klein struck a nerve for me by asking why, when it comes to social insurance programs, Democrats seem so insistent on replicating what has been do...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 15, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Public Health Kim Bellard Medical Education Medicare For All supply-side agenda Source Type: blogs
Will Microbes Finally Force Modernization of the American Health Care System?
Mike Magee MD
Science has a way of punishing humans for their arrogance.
In 1996, Dr. Michael Osterholm found himself rather lonely and isolated in medical research circles. This was the adrenaline-infused decade of blockbuster pharmaceuticals focused squarely on chronic debilitating diseases of aging.
And yet, there was Osterholm, in Congressional testimony delivering this message: “I am here to bring you the sobering and unfortunate news that our ability to detect and monitor infectious disease threats to health in this country is in serious jeopardy…For 12 of the States or territories, there is no one w...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 14, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Public Health Healthcare system infectious diseases microbes Mike Magee Source Type: blogs
The Social Science of Covid
By MIKE MAGEE
As we enter the third year of the Covid pandemic, with perhaps a partial end in sight, the weight of the debate shows signs of shifting away from genetically engineered therapies, and toward a social science search for historic context.
Renowned historian, Charles E. Rosenberg, envisioned a similar transition for the AIDS epidemic in 1989. He described its likely future course then as a “social phenomenon” with these words, “Epidemics start at a moment in time, proceed on a stage limited in space and duration, follow a plot line of increasing and revelatory tension, move to a crisis of individual ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 31, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy COVID-19 COVID-19 vaccine Mike Magee vaccines Source Type: blogs
The HIV epidemic: social and historical perspectives
Because I have lectured about this subject I have a lot of graphics, but I ' ll try to keep it reasonable. The first report of what turned out to be AIDS was published in CDC ' s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on June 5, 1981. It reported on five cases ofPneumocystiscariniipneumonia in young men in California. This is a microbe that only causes disease in people with weakened immune systems. After at first calling the mystery disease Gay Related Immunodeficiency Disease, or GRID, epidemiologists quickly renamed it Acquired immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. It was particularly prevalent among gay men i...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 9, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Reflections on HIV
My post yesterday on the lunkhead senator from Wisconsin inspired some thoughts about Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the disease it causes, called Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. The syndrome got its name before the viral cause was discovered, which is why it ' s called a syndrome, the word for a collection of symptoms when the cause is unknown or unspecified. It might be better to call the disease simply HIV disease, as it can have symptoms other than immunodeficiency, and many people nowadays do just that. I spent much of my career in public health, and then in academic research, focusing on HIV....
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 7, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Yep, it's the party of stupid
Really, there ' s just no other word for it. You may have seen this tweet from Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Green -- and keep in mind that she got a huge majority of votes in her district. And oh yeah, this already had nearly 4,000 likes when snipped. If I have to explain to you why this is stupider than an 80 pound bag of portland cement, there is no hope for you. Then there is Senator Ron Johnson, who won the majority of votes in the entire state of Wisconsin,who accuses Anthony Fauci of " overhyping " the AIDS epidemic.Discussing the omicron variant, Johnson accused individuals in the U.S. of try...
Source: Stayin' Alive - December 6, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, October 25th 2021
This study confirmed that the PSI could be a quantitative index of vascular aging and has potential for use in inferring arterial stiffness with an advantage over the rAIx.
A Profile of Michael Greve and the Segment of the Longevity Industry that He Supports
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2021/10/a-profile-of-michael-greve-and-the-segment-of-the-longevity-industry-that-he-supports/
Would that the popular media produced more popular science articles about the longevity industry like this one. It is not just a profile of someone trying to make a difference in the world by advancing the state of medic...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 24, 2021 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
HIV/AIDS vaccine underscores need for better health access
“HIV has been a blessing in my life.” Lola was a 48-year-old woman living in Denver when I interviewed her in 2002 about her HIV-positive diagnosis. She said the diagnosis improved her life in important ways; she had received income and housing support, nutritional assistance, health insurance, medication assistance and primary and infectious disease healthRead more …HIV/AIDS vaccine underscores need for better health access originally appeared inKevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - October 11, 2021 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/alyson-odaniel" rel="tag" > Alyson O ’Daniel < /a > < /span > Tags: Policy Infectious Disease Public Health & Source Type: blogs
Let's Talk About Hospitals And Rural Healthcare (Particularly Mother-Baby Care): My Letter To The NC Government Commission/NC State Treasurer In Support Of Randolph County's Application For A Loan To Save Randolph Health
Author ' s Note: The lawyers have a saying, " Res Ipsa Loquitur " " . Translated from Latin, it means, " The thing speaks for itself " . This is the text of the letter I sent to theNC Local Government Commission (embellished with a few links and additional comments in red) . . .in support of the state of North Carolina granting a loan to Randolph County (via the NC Rural Healthcare Stabilization Act) . . . for purposes of assisting in the " rescue " of Asheboro ' s Randolph Health - in a bankruptcy Court-approved buy-out of Randolph ' s assets by American Healthcare Systems, LLC.On May 4th, afte...
Source: Dr.J's HouseCalls - May 7, 2021 Category: American Health Tags: Asheboro Atrium Health Bankruptcy Cone Health Duke Lifepoint LGC Medical Whistle-blower Mother-Baby Care NC Rural Heatlh NCDHHS Non-profit Randolph Health UNC Health Wake Forest Baptist Source Type: blogs
COVID-19 vaccines and the LGBTQ+ community
I have a confession: in late 2020, when the first COVID-19 vaccines were approved by the FDA, I was hesitant to get one myself. Despite working in public health and believing strongly in vaccines to keep our community healthy, I was anxious about putting something in my body that seemed so new. I thought: “What if the vaccine is dangerous?” “What about long-term side effects?”
I am part of the LGBTQ+ community. Our history may help explain why I hesitated.
Are LGBTQ+ people more hesitant to get the vaccine?
In March a New York Times article reported that LGBTQ+ people are more hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine. ...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 30, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Sabra L. Katz-Wise, PhD Tags: Coronavirus and COVID-19 Health Health care disparities LGBTQ Vaccines Source Type: blogs
Could COVID-19 infection be responsible for your depressed mood or anxiety?
Doctors told you that your COVID-19 virus infection cleared months ago. However, even though you no longer struggle to breathe, and your oxygen levels have returned to normal, something doesn’t feel right. In addition to constant headaches, you find yourself struggling with seemingly easy tasks. The fatigue you experience makes moving from the bed to the kitchen feel like an accomplishment. But most troubling for you is a feeling of dread, a nervousness so severe you can feel your heart pounding. Constant worries now keep you from sleeping at night.
What are the mental health effects of COVID-19?
We are still learning ab...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - April 19, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Stephanie Collier, MD, MPH Tags: Behavioral Health Coronavirus and COVID-19 Mental Health Prevention Stress Source Type: blogs
Top 6 Crowdsourcing Examples In Digital Health
During your school years, you might have encountered several instances where your teacher laid out a task or asked a question, and asked you and your classmates to come up with an answer or solution. This “method” somewhat exemplifies crowdsourcing, albeit in analogue form. In essence, the term refers to the act of gathering information or input into a task from a large group of people; or simply, “outsourcing work to the crowd” as the Wired editors who coined the term in 2005 described it.
However, one must not confuse crowdsourcing with crowdfunding. The latter involves raising relatively small amounts of fu...
Source: The Medical Futurist - February 2, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: Pranavsingh Dhunnoo Tags: Covid-19 3D Printing Biotechnology Digital Health Research E-Patients Personalized Medicine Telemedicine & Smartphones aids crowdsourcing fda artificial pancreas 3d printed vaccination covid19 immunity passport gaming Foldi Source Type: blogs
Addressing racism with compassion, data analytics
This article is written byJohn Halamka, M.D.,president, Mayo Clinic Platform, andPaul Cerrato,senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform.We speak often about the need to combine human and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve patient care. Equally important is the marriage of compassion and data analytics ― a powerful duo that is proving invaluable in the battle to eradicate the systemic racism that still permeates health care.Unfortunately, numerous examples demonstrate that systemic racism continues to affect the patient experience and leads to mistrust of health care institutions amo...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - January 19, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
All you need to know about waterborne diseases
Waterborne diseases are contracted through exposure to contaminated water including drinking water, water used in food preparation, and swimming water.
They can be caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Below is a partial list of waterborne disease pathogens, their microbial classification, and their resulting illnesses.
Classification
Microorganism
Disease
Bacterium
Campylobacter spp.
Campylobacteriosis
Bacterium
Escherichia coli
E. Coli Diarrhea
Bacterium
Legionella pneumophila
Legionnaires’ Disease
Bacterium
Salmonella enterica
Salmonellosis
Bacterium
Salmonella typhi
Typhoid fever
...
Source: GIDEON blog - January 14, 2021 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Kristina Symes Tags: Microbiology News Tips Source Type: blogs
Good news: Deaths due to HIV are way down
World news this month appropriately focuses on containing the COVID-19 pandemic, as the first vaccines become available. Yet we can also celebrate major success in the fight against a different global viral scourge: HIV.
During my medical training in the 1980s, hospital wards were often filled with people dying of HIV. Since then, antiviral treatments have dramatically transformed the diagnosis of HIV infection or AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic illness. A normal lifespan is no longer unusual among people living with HIV. And preventive measures described below have reduced the number of people becoming infected in...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - December 18, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Robert H. Shmerling, MD Tags: Infectious diseases LGBTQ Prevention Relationships Sexual Conditions Source Type: blogs
