Artificial Intelligence at RSNA: I'm Sorry, Dave. I'm Afraid I Won't Be Taking Over...
DISCUSSION all over RSNA was Artificial Intelligence, and in particular, AI as applied to Radiology. Well, let ' s be even more specific. There was a cloud (pun intended) hanging over McCormick, the specter of RSNA Yet To Come, which I quite presciently predicted in my 2011RSNA Christmas Carol:I sat down on a PET/CT gantry and bowed my head. The room spun, and when I looked up again, we were seated on a bench beside Lake Michigan. It was a blustery day, with winds one only sees in Chicago in the winter. Strangely, I felt no chill, as I watched leaves blowing through the PACSman ' s shadowy figure.I looked behind me and gas...
Source: Dalai's PACS Blog - December 11, 2016 Category: Radiology Source Type: blogs
Benzodiazepines: What You Should Know Before Filling Your Prescription
The opioid crisis is still in full swing, but that doesn’t mean opioids are the only class of drugs hurting people. Benzodiazepines, like Xanax, Versed, Ativan, or Valium, are a class of drugs that are prescribed for anxiety and panic disorders. Prescriptions for and overdoses caused by benzodiazepines, which depress the central nervous system, have increased at alarming rates over the last twenty years. Here’s what you need to know about benzodiazepines before you fill your prescription.
Like all prescription drugs, there are some people in specific circumstances who can benefit from properly used prescription benzod...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - November 29, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: sheilas Tags: Richard Taite Source Type: blogs
Solutions for Difficult Problems:Eye Irrigation — Morgan Lens No More! Part 2
We promised you short, sweet, and simple solutions, and we plan to deliver. Many of the tools we want you to use may have merely been forgotten. The steps to complete these simple solutions will require just a few minutes of brushing up on the basics while watching our how-to videos and reading our step-by-step blog posts.One of the lengthiest procedures in the emergency department can be eye irrigation. Some patients may need 5-15 liters of normal saline flush, which can take hours. Alkaline products need ample flushing and constant reevaluation with pH checks to avoid ocular burns. Patients can get frustrated and often t...
Source: The Procedural Pause - October 3, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Dementia Care, Which Drugs Increase the Risk of Falling
Medications can increase the risk of falls and falling; and, are a major cause of injuries and death in older adults.By Bob DeMarcoAlzheimer's Reading RoomDuring the entire 8 and a half years, 3,112 days, that I was taking care of my mother, I worried about her falling.Falls can result in hip injuries, head injuries, or something worse.If you loved one is falling, or complaining of "dizziness" check out the list of medications below; and then, consult with your personal care doctor.Problems with Balance, Walking, Falling an Early Sign of DementiaThe drugs older people take can make them more susceptible to falling.Research...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - September 7, 2016 Category: Neurology Tags: alzheimer's care Alzheimer's Dementia dementia care dementia falls dementia help for caregivers family caregiving help alzheimer's help with dementia care memory care searches related to falling Source Type: blogs
Give them the vees …
Today’s Maltese memory brought to you by the letter V
Vacation, vacuum, vagina, vain, Valentino, Valium, vague, Valletta, vanity, Van Gogh, vanish, variation, V.A.T., Vatican, vasectomy, Vaseline, vegetarian, V-Day, velocity, venereal disease, vendetta, venial sin, venture, vent, ventilation, ventriloquist, Venus, veritas, vernacular, vermouth, versus, velvet, vermillion, vessel, Vesuvius, victim, V.I.P., vice versa, vicious circle, Vicky, victory, video, vino, violence, violin, virgin, virile, Virgin Mary, virtuoso, virtue, Viagra, vibration, vice, vicinity, vicious, viper, virus, visceral, vision, visitation, vitam...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - September 5, 2016 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Science Source Type: blogs
Synthetic Dialectic
Banning New Drugs:What is the Path Forward?Eighteen months ago, in apost on novel synthetic drugs in the cannabinoid and cathinone families, I wrote that the new fake marijuana and fake Ecstasy were “very nearly the perfect overdose drugs.” An MDMA-like stimulant called PMMA was implicated in a number of deaths in Florida, Chicago, and Ireland back then. PMMA, like many synthetic highs, is toxic at low doses, and takes a fair amount of time to take effect, thereby encouraging double dosing.A year and a half later, what has changed? Today ’s synthetic pharmaceuticals are not coming from secret underground labora...
Source: Addiction Inbox - September 1, 2016 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs
Cancer Is Scary, but It’s the MRI Machine That Terrifies Me
I mentioned in last’s week blog that I don’t scare easily. Well, that might not be completely true. I have two real fears — and they are major!
For one thing, I am totally afraid of falling off a cruise ship. I am convinced that someone falls off a ship on every cruise. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying than finding yourself in the middle of the ocean, with the big boat you were on moving off into the horizon without you.
I know that sounds random and irrational, but there you have it.
My Biggest Fear
My other fear is perhaps more relatable, especially for other women who may be living with metastatic breas...
Source: Life with Breast Cancer - July 8, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Kathy-Ellen Kups, RN Tags: Breast Cancer Source Type: blogs
Cancer Is Scary, but It ’s the MRI Machine That Terrifies Me
I mentioned in last’s week blog that I don’t scare easily. Well, that might not be completely true. I have two real fears — and they are major!
For one thing, I am totally afraid of falling off a cruise ship. I am convinced that someone falls off a ship on every cruise. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying than finding yourself in the middle of the ocean, with the big boat you were on moving off into the horizon without you.
I know that sounds random and irrational, but there you have it.
My Biggest Fear
My other fear is perhaps more relatable, especially for other women who may be living with metastatic breas...
Source: Life with Breast Cancer - July 8, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Kathy-Ellen Kups, RN Tags: Breast Cancer Source Type: blogs
Beta-Blockers for Cocaine and other Stimulant Toxicity
Dogma: “a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted; a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds.”
Years ago I treated a university student who presented to the emergency department (ED) after drinking several cans of a popular caffeinated energy drink to “pull an all-nighter” during final exam week. He was tremulous, agitated, and pale, with sinus tachycardia ranging from 140 to 160 bpm and normal blood pressure (BP). The house officer (registrar) working with me that night proposed treating him with a benzodiazepine, bu...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - July 4, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: John Richards Tags: Toxicology and Toxinology alpha stimulation amphetamines Beta Blockers cocaine dogma John Richards Stimulant Toxicity Stimulants Source Type: blogs
The Opioid Crisis: Nociception, Pain and Suffering
By MARTIN SAMUELS, MD
In order to understand the concept of pain and its relationship to the current opioid crisis, it is prudent to review the neurology of pain an why it exists. Several concepts are important to integrate.
Nociception: Nociception is the capacity to sense a potentially tissue damaging (noxious) stimulus. To illustrate this one should place a forefinger in a glass of ice water and determine how long passes until an unpleasant sensation arises. If one performs this experiment in a large group, one can recognize that, although the stimulus is the same (a glass of ice water), the sensation arises at...
Source: The Health Care Blog - June 10, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: THCB Source Type: blogs
What You See Is Not What You Get - Purdue Pharma Executives Pleaded Guilty, but the Oxycontin Billionaires Went Unnoticed
What you see if often not what you get. Nine years ago, three top executives of Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to criminal charges of "misbranding" Oxycontin. The case appeared to be a landmark. In previous years, top executives of large health care corporations rarely faced legal consequences when their companies misbehaved. Yet in the Purdue Pharma/ Oxycontin case, things were not what they seemed. Maybe that is why this case never did yield a new era of accountability for top corporate health care leaders.Background - the Oxycontin Guilty PleasIn 2007, we posted about the executives' guilty ...
Source: Health Care Renewal - March 31, 2016 Category: Health Management Tags: anechoic effect conflicts of interest deception health care corruption legal settlements marketing narcotics Oxycontin Purdue Pharma Source Type: blogs
Alkalotics Anonymous
A 50-year-old man with a past medical history of alcoholism presented to the ED with altered mental status, nausea, and vomiting. He is arousable but a poor historian. His girlfriend said he drinks a half-gallon of rum daily, and had his last drink two days earlier. She reported that he started to feel nauseous, vomit, and go through alcohol withdrawal. She said he also has been taking a lot of calcium carbonate for an upset stomach, but she was unable to say exactly how much. His blood pressure was 146/70 mm Hg, heart rate was 110 bpm, respiratory rate was 14 bpm, PO2 was 96% on room air, and blood glucos...
Source: The Tox Cave - February 1, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
A Nefarious Character with an Agenda
Every new advanced nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or resident gets his fair share of complex emergency department procedures during training. Seasoned providers, however, are just as excited to place a central line in a septic patient, LP a "rule-out meningitis," or swiftly fix a nursemaid's elbow.This month we hope to remind you of a few sweet and satisfying procedures that take only moments to do. Your skill in completing these procedures is imperative. Not only will you amaze your patient, but you'll shorten your door to dispo-time.The StyeThe stye is a nefarious character with an agenda. It starts o...
Source: The Procedural Pause - February 1, 2016 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
