Cough and cold season is arriving: Choose medicines safely
With the summer winding down and fall moving in, colder weather will arrive soon — along with cold and flu season. Millions of Americans get the common cold each year, often more than once. To counter coughs and runny noses, many will turn to over-the-counter (OTC) medications available for relief without a prescription. Heading to the pharmacy for some relief? Read this first While OTC medicines do not cure or shorten the common cold or flu, they can ease some symptoms. Finding a product that fits your needs, however, may not be so straightforward. A recent study evaluated brand-name OTC medications marketed as cold, al...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - September 22, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Katsiaryna Bykov, PharmD, ScD Tags: Cold and Flu Drugs and Supplements Health Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs

EchoNous KOSMOS 3-in-1 Ultrasound, Electronic Stethoscope, and ECG Helps with COVID-19
EchoNous, a developer of novel ultrasounds, has found a way to leverage multiple critical clinical technologies within a single device. The result is KOSMOS, a handheld 3-in-1 device consisting of an ultrasound, electronic stethoscope, and an ECG, all linked via artificial technology. When COVID-19 was hitting NYC earlier this year, EchoNous was able to use KOSMOS to help diagnose COVID patients and to inform on treatment strategies. We had a lovely chat with Dr. Richard Hoppmann, a key member of EchoNous, Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of South Carolina, and the Director of the Ultrasound I...
Source: Medgadget - September 21, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Alice Ferng Tags: Cardiology Critical Care Diagnostics Exclusive Informatics Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs

Announcing The COVID-19 Symptom Data Challenge
By FARZAD MOSTASHARI In Partnership with Resolve to Save Lives, Carnegie Mellon University, and University of Maryland, Catalyst @ Health 2.0 is excited to announce the launch of The COVID-19 Symptom Data Challenge. The COVID-19 Symptom Data Challenge is looking for novel analytic approaches that use COVID-19 Symptom Survey data to enable earlier detection and improved situational awareness of the outbreak by public health and the public.  How the Challenge Works: In Phase I, innovators submit a white paper (“digital poster”) summarizing the approach, methods, analysis, findings, relevant figures and graphs ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 1, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: COVID-19 Data Health Policy challenge Facebook Source Type: blogs

A sober emergency physician returns to work, just in time to face the COVID-19 pandemic
An excerpt from Ballad of a Sober Man: An ER Doctor’s Journey of Recovery. As if I needed more reminders of my imperfections, I had Maggie and the Kidney Stone Lady, forever. Little Maggie, the cute five-year-old from early in my career who came in with her croupy cough and low-grade fever. She responded so […]Find jobs at  Careers by KevinMD.com.  Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.  Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 31, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/j-d-remy" rel="tag" > J. D. Remy, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician COVID-19 coronavirus Emergency Medicine Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs

4 ways to break the COVID-19 compassion walls
A few days after my dad flew to Salt Lake City from California, he developed a small cough and fatigue, and then started getting fevers. At that time in late February and early March, we were only testing people who had come from high-risk countries (like China or Japan). After a confusing trip to urgent […]Find jobs at  Careers by KevinMD.com.  Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.  Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 3, 2020 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/ryan-d-murphy" rel="tag" > Ryan D. Murphy, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Physician COVID-19 coronavirus Infectious Disease Source Type: blogs

How to Extract 5-10x More Value From Your Personal Growth Investments
We’re used to thinking about “receiving value” as a passive endeavor most of the time. We expect items and services that we purchase to provide value to us. We pay the price up front, and then we feel entitled to just relax and enjoy the value we’ve purchased. It’s easy to expect that if you spend the money, your purchase should cough up its full value to you. I paid for you. Now give me what I’m owed. But only some parts of life work that way, like if you buy and enjoy a nice latte. Buying it is the hardest part of the transaction. Drinking it is easy. But have you ever made a ...
Source: Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog - July 30, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Steve Pavlina Tags: Abundance Productivity Source Type: blogs

Coronavirus effect on other diseases
  The effect of coronavirus on the economy and our daily lives has been huge. COVID-19 has rightly dominated government and organization policies, social life, and media headlines so far this year – but are other diseases getting the right attention? Neglected diseases The World Health Organization maintains a department dedicated to the research and treatment of Neglected Tropical Diseases. These conditions are considered “neglected” by mainstream Medicine by virtue of a relative lack of impact and presence in Western countries. In January 2020, GIDEON listed 360 generic infectious diseases in humans – of wh...
Source: GIDEON blog - July 23, 2020 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Kristina Symes Tags: News Source Type: blogs

A case of misinterpreted troponins, in spite of a very suspicious ECG....
This 50-something male with previous history of MI presented for intermittent CP and SOB for 2 days. CP lasted for hours at a time, was described as pleuritic, without radiation, but relieved by nitro. He was given nitro and full dose aspirin by EMS.  Prehospital ECG was similar to first ED ECG.Here is the ED ECG for ED visit #1:It is very abnormal, with potentially ischemic downsloping ST depressionThere were 3 ECGs during an ED visit for chest pain one month earlier.  Let ' s call that ED visit zero.Here is the last EKG from ED visit zero:There is minimal ST depression without the downsloping.Her...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - July 20, 2020 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs

What Is Lean?
Misusing prescription cough medicine can lead to  nausea and dizziness, and in some cases, seizures and overdose. Read  More » (Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog)
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - July 13, 2020 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

What Is Lean?
Misusing prescription cough medicine can lead to nausea and dizziness, and in some cases, seizures and overdose.  Read More » (Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog)
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - July 13, 2020 Category: Addiction Source Type: blogs

Epinephrine is the only effective treatment for anaphylaxis
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction that can potentially lead to death if not promptly treated. Allergic reactions typically begin suddenly after exposure to an allergen, which may be a food, medication, insect sting, or another trigger. Anaphylaxis can occur in anyone at any time; it can sometimes be triggered by allergens that a person has only had mild reactions to in the past — or to which they have never reacted to before. Recognizing anaphylaxis A mild allergic reaction may consist of hives, itching, flushing, swelling of the lips or tongue, or some combination of these. However, throat swelling or tightening...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - July 9, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Parul Kothari, MD Tags: Allergies Emergency Planning Source Type: blogs

Coming out of Covid lockdown, I don ’ t think so …
Fundamentally, we are still riding (just) the first wave of the global Covid-19 pandemic. If there are sudden spikes now, that’s still part of the first wave. Nothing has changed for the virus except that some people have been avoiding contact with other people, so the rates of infection in some places have slowed giving health services a bit of space to mop up and treated those seriously ill with the virus. But, at the time of writing half a million people, at least, have died from Covid-19. I don’t really know how I feel about this coming out of lockdown, to be honest. I suspect that having asthma and being i...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 2, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs

We ’re Not Very Good At Identifying Illness From Sounds of Coughs and Sneezes
By Emily Reynolds At the moment, most of us are on red alert when it comes to sounds of illness, with sniffling in the supermarket or coughing behind us in a queue the cause of significant alarm. And while we might like to think we’re able to tell the difference between someone clearing their throat and somebody who is genuinely unwell, new research published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests we’re less good at identifying threats than we think. To investigate how well people can detect pathogen threats from cough and sneeze sounds, Nicholas M. Michalak from the University of Michigan and colleagues first...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - June 25, 2020 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Health Perception Source Type: blogs

Autoimmune lung disease: Early recognition and treatment helps
A man who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) five years ago sees his rheumatologist for a follow-up visit. Fortunately, his arthritis is well controlled through medication. He can walk and do all his daily activities without pain. But over the past six months, he’s been feeling short of breath when climbing stairs. He has an annoying dry cough, too. COVID-19? That’s ruled out quickly. But a CT scan of his chest reveals early fibrosis (scarring) of the lungs, most likely related to rheumatoid arthritis. “I can finally walk normally, and now I can’t breathe when I walk!” says the frustrated patient, whose...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 24, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Paul F. Dellaripa, MD Tags: Arthritis Autoimmune diseases Health Inflammation Lung disease Source Type: blogs