Supreme Court Sets Higher Bar for Prosecuting Doctors Who Prescribe Opioids for Pain
Jeffrey A. SingerToday the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned lower court decisions in the consolidated cases ofRuan vs. United States and Kahn vs. United States. The two physicians were convicted of prescribing opioid pain medicine “outside the usual course of [medical] treatment” and were sentenced to prison.The jury inRuan was not instructed to consider Dr. Xiulu Ruan ’s “good‐faith defense,” i.e., that he was indeed prescribing the drug “legitimately” to treat pain based upon his good‐faith assessments of his patients’ medical contexts and requirements. The Eleventh Circuit Appeals Cour...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 27, 2022 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey A. Singer Source Type: blogs
5 Ways to Get an Older Adult to Smile
Photo credit Pexels - Beytlik
Despite increasing awareness of and sensitivity to ageism in our society, age-related stereotypes about stubborn, grumpy seniors persist. Chronic health conditions, changes in functioning, and the loss of loved ones pose physical and emotional challenges that can bring even the most cheerful elders down from time to time, but depression and irritability are not normal parts of aging. In fact, research shows that perceptions of life and overall happiness actually tend to improve with age.
The rollercoaster of life is full of ups and downs at all ages. During these fleeting low points, it is nat...
Source: Minding Our Elders - June 22, 2022 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
The New Buzz: These Are The Top Examples Of Digital Therapeutics
Digital Therapeutics or DTx in short is one of the latest buzzwords in the digital health ecosystem. Unlike others (NFT, Metaverse just to name a few) however, we see DTx as a meaningful trend that has the capacity to bring short-term, substantial improvements in personalised healthcare.
What is Digital Therapeutics?
The definition by the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, the main professional hub is:
“Digital therapeutics (DTx) deliver evidence-based therapeutic interventions that are driven by high-quality software programs to prevent, manage, or treat a medical disorder or disease. They are used inde...
Source: The Medical Futurist - June 21, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andrea Koncz Tags: TMF Digital Health Research Future of Medicine Health Sensors & Trackers Telemedicine & Smartphones software chronic pain apps cancer care mental health DTx digital therapeutics eczema Atopic dermatitis sleep disorders Source Type: blogs
Flexible Microprobe for Neural Interfacing
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a tiny neural probe that is approximately one fifth of the width of a human hair. The probe is flexible and can be implanted for extended periods without aggravating the immune system, in part because of its small and unobtrusive profile.
Its miniature size means that it may also be suitable for implantation in areas where other probes can’t fit, such as between the vertebrae and into the spinal cord. Containing an electrical channel and an optical channel, the coaxial probe can both record electrical activity from neurons and also stimulate the ne...
Source: Medgadget - June 20, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Neurology Neurosurgery Source Type: blogs
LVH and Anterior ST Elevation: is it OMI and would you activate the cath lab?
Written by Jesse McLaren (@ECGCases), with comments by Smith and Grauer A 50 year old presented with chest pain radiating to the shoulder. They had a history of an LAD stent 10 years ago and alcohol use disorder, with repeated visits for chest pain and two code STEMIs two years ago that found no occlusive disease. What do you think? There ’s normal sinus rhythm, normal intervals, normal axis, and normal R wave progression. There’s LVH with repolarization abnormalities, including discordant ST depression and T wave inversion inferolaterally and discordant ST elevation and tall T wave in V2. Are there...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - June 20, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Jesse McLaren Source Type: blogs
The added stress of chronic pain on life
For a minute, I’d like you to grab an ice-cube. If you don’t have one handy, try this at home or when you’re having your next gin and tonic. Hold onto that ice-cube. Keep holding onto it. Put a cloth underneath if it’s going to melt, but keep holding it. Now do your grocery shopping list. Or balance your accounts. While holding the ice-cube.*
Now add some exercises. Exercises you don’t care for, but feel like you have to do “because they’ll help you get better”.
Keep holding onto the ice-cube. Oh, it’s melted?! Fine – go grab another. Hand too cold to pick ...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - June 19, 2022 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Chronic pain Clinical reasoning Occupational therapy Physiotherapy Psychology Therapeutic approaches biopsychosocial pain management Source Type: blogs
Matthew ’s health care tidbits: Hospital shooting reveals so much
Each week I’ve been adding a brief tidbits section to the THCB Reader, our weekly newsletter that summarizes the best of THCB that week (Sign up here!). Then I had the brainwave to add them to the blog. They’re short and usually not too sweet! –Matthew Holt
In this edition’s tidbits, the nation is once again dealing with an epidemic of shootings. Now a hospital joins schools, grocery stores and places of worship on the the recent list. I was struck by how much of the health care story was wrapped up in the tragic shooting where a patient took the life of Dr. Preston Phillips, Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Am...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 13, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Hospitals Matthew Holt Chronic Back Pain Gun Control gun violence medical racism opiates orthopedic treatment structural racism Source Type: blogs
Help me solve this puzzle
The IASP definition of pain is:
An unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage.
Six key notes and etymology:
Pain is always a personal experience that is influenced to varying degrees by biological, psychological, and social factors.Pain and nociception are different phenomena. Pain cannot be inferred solely from activity in sensory neurons.Through their life experiences, individuals learn the concept of pain.A person’s report of an experience as pain should be respected.Although pain usually serves an adaptive role, it may ...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - June 12, 2022 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Chronic pain Clinical reasoning Pain conditions Research healthcare Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 13th 2022
In conclusion, long-term cumulative BP was associated with subsequent cognitive decline, dementia risk, and all-cause mortality in cognitively healthy adults aged ≥50 years. Efforts are required to control long-term systolic BP and pulse pressure and to maintain adequate diastolic BP.
Longer-Lived Mammals Tend to Have Lower Expression of Inflammation-Related Genes
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2022/06/longer-lived-mammals-tend-to-have-lower-expression-of-inflammation-related-genes/
Researchers here make a few interesting observations on gene expression data from a range of mammalian species with...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 12, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Osteoarthritis is an Inflammatory Condition
It is by now well-recognized that chronic inflammation is an important contributing cause of many common age-related diseases. Osteoarthritis is one of these, in which the maintenance of joint tissue is disrupted by unresolved inflammatory signaling. Reduction of inflammation is an important goal, but to date the interventions that can achieve this outcome are comparatively crude, a blockade of specific signal molecules that suppresses some degree of both excessive and necessary inflammatory responses. The long term side-effects of an immune system suppressed in this way are undesirable and include an increased vulnerabili...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 8, 2022 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
AI-enabled chatbot Wysa receives FDA Breakthrough Device designation for patients with chronic pain, depression and anxiety
AI Behavior Health Chatbot App Fast-Tracked by FDA (Psychology Today):
Recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted breakthrough device designation to Wysa’s AI-based digital mental health conversational agent that delivers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) via a smartphone to adults suffering from depression, anxiety, and chronic musculoskeletal pain…
Wysa’s admittance to the FDA Breakthrough Devices Program signifies a giant leap forward for artificial intelligence in the mental health industry. According to the FDA, the designation was supported by a clinical trial that “found Wysa to be more ef...
Source: SharpBrains - June 6, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Brain/ Mental Health Technology & Innovation anxiety artificial intelligence CBT chronic musculoskeletal pain cognitive-behavioral-therapy depression digital mental health FDA Food and Drug Administration mental health industry sma Source Type: blogs
Chest pain, trop > 50,000 but only 30% LAD stenosis on angiogram: what's the diagnosis?
Conclusion: Correlation of the recurrence of this patient ' s chest pain with evolving ECG changes (loss of anterior R waves, waxing and waning of Q waves — and dynamic change in shape and relative amount of ST segment deviation) — was enough to justify the determination of an " acute STEMI " despite no more than borderline ECG criteria for this diagnosis and non-obstructive coronary disease on 2 catheterizations. Clinically — Stenting of the non-obstructive 60% mid-LAD lesion effectively prevented further infarction. Dependence on mill...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - June 5, 2022 Category: Cardiology Authors: Jesse McLaren Source Type: blogs
Thin Film Electrodes for Neuro Applications: Interview with Dave Rosa, CEO of NeuroOne
NeuroOne, a medtech company based in Minnesota, has developed the Evo Cortical Electrode and the sEEG electrode, both of which are thin film electrodes for neural recording and stimulation. The small profile and flexible nature of the electrodes allows for less invasive insertion, and the low resistance they offer delivers improved signal quality.
The devices can combine both diagnostic and therapeutic functions, which could potentially reduce the number of procedures a patient has to undergo, as diagnosis and treatment can occur during the same procedure.
The company has also conducted simulations of long-term neura...
Source: Medgadget - June 1, 2022 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Materials Neurology Neurosurgery epilepsy N1MTC seizures Source Type: blogs
The Future Of Clinical Trials: Artificial Patients, Synthetic Data And Real-Time Analysis
In this article, we summarise three concepts that are already/ will soon become familiar for everyone interested in the future of clinical trials. These are 1. the concept of the artificial patient, 2. using synthetic data and 3. real-time analyses.
What connects the three is that all are potential tools to make clinical trials faster, cheaper and safer. That is so, in an ideal world. Because, as almost always, there is a catch, not even a small one. But more on it later.
The artificial patient
What is it? As of today, there is no final, widely accepted definition of what an artificial/virtual/synthetic pati...
Source: The Medical Futurist - May 31, 2022 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andrea Koncz Tags: TMF Forecast Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Digital Health Research E-Patients Future of Medicine medical device clinical trials deep learning machine learning drug design synthetic data artificial patient virtual patient Source Type: blogs
The demise of practical pain management
Cast your mind back to the last time you decided to create a new habit. It might have been to eat more healthy food, to do daily mindfulness, to go for a walk each day. Something you chose, something you decided when, where and how you did it, something that you thought would be a great addition to your routine.
How did it go? How long did it take to become a habit you didn’t need to deliberately think about? How did you organise the rest of your life to create room for this new habit? What did other people say about you doing this?
While we all know a reasonable amount about motivation for change – impo...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - May 29, 2022 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Chronic pain Coping strategies Health Motivation Occupational therapy Physiotherapy Professional topics Psychology Resilience/Health biopsychosocial pain management Therapeutic approaches Source Type: blogs
