How an eleven-pound cat precipitated domestic chaos and delayed surgery
Termites are endemic in southern California, and we’ve had spot treatments several times over the years at various sites in our house where little piles of sawdust have appeared as evidence of termite activity. Finally, it became clear that the termites were winning, and more aggressive treatment was in order: tenting. This is the process of hoisting a big, brightly-colored tent over the whole house and putting an end to the termites with a poisonous gas called Vikane, or sulfuryl fluoride.
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - March 19, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Karen S. Sibert, MD Tags: Physician Surgery Source Type: blogs
SciELO and LILACS - a way into the Latin American literature
SciELO and LILACS are databases covering literature from Latin America and the Caribbean, and in the case of SciELO, other places. It will include material that Medline, Embase and other “usual” sources miss. I have seen both mentioned as sources searched for systematic reviews. In addition to that, of course, they will be useful if you have an interest in those parts of the world or health issues endemic there.SciELO SciELO (“Scientific Electronic Library Online”) is a database of open access journal articles published in Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain, Portugal and South Afr...
Source: Browsing - February 27, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: Caribbean Latin America literature searching Portugal South Africa Spain Source Type: blogs
Disappointing Comments on Longevity Science From Bill Gates
In a recent Reddit discussion, philanthropist Bill Gates had this to say about the present growth in research aimed at extending healthy life spans:
It seems pretty egocentric while we still have malaria and TB for rich people to fund things so they can live longer. It would be nice to live longer though I admit.
The comments were of course replicated far and wide in the echo chamber of the press: Gates has a soapbox of an enviable size, even among billionaires. The context here is the Silicon Valley network of wealth that, in quite different ways, funds both Google Venture's new California Life Company investment and th...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 10, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Of Interest Source Type: blogs
After The Worst In Liberia And Sierra Leone
From January 19-27, we traveled to Liberia and Sierra Leone to engage with national leaders, health workers, citizens, non-governmental organization (NGO) implementers, international organizations, and United States, United Kingdom (UK), and other officials, including the African Union (AU), Chinese, and Cuban medical delegations. It was a moment of hope and nervous adjustment, as Ebola cases dropped suddenly and unexpectedly in Liberia, followed by reductions in Sierra Leone and Guinea.
We listened to the reflections of those who lived through and led the mobilization to roll back the unprecedented Ebola emergency, as it ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - February 9, 2015 Category: Health Management Authors: J. Stephen Morrison and Cathryn Streifel Tags: All Categories Global Health Health Care Delivery Policy Prevention Public Health Workforce Source Type: blogs
Infectious agents with no genome
If the reader does not believe that viroids and satellites are distinctive, then surely prions, infectious agents composed only of protein, must impress.
The question of whether infectious agents exist without genomes arose with the discovery and characterization of infectious agents associated with a group of diseases called transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs). These diseases are rare, but always fatal, neurodegenerative disorders that afflict humans and other mammals. They are characterized by long incubation periods, spongiform changes in the brain associated with loss of neurons, and the absence of host re...
Source: virology blog - January 30, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information bovine spongiform encephalopathy cervid wasting disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Fatal familial insomnia mad cow disease prion scrapie Stanley Prusiner transmissible spongiform encephalopathy TSE viral Source Type: blogs
Against the grain
There was a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival that I found surprisingly close to home in the health care world. It was titled “Against the Grain” and was summarized as follows: Voices of individual courage and conviction examine strategies of steadfast truth telling in the face of social pressure and mass opinion.The panelists comprised a Who’s Who of writers who have taken a stand and engaged in acts of conscience in their work.Swapan Dasgupta, an Indian conservative columnist, says he is labeled as “contrary because I betray my class, “ a group that has “a self-image of being progressive” but...
Source: Running a hospital - January 26, 2015 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
An unexpected benefit of inactivated poliovirus vaccine
This study shows that a dose of IPV is more effective than OPV at boosting intestinal immunity in children who have previously been immunized with OPV. Both IPV and OPV should be used together in the polio eradication program. WHO therefore recommends the following vaccine regimens:
In all countries using OPV only, at least 1 dose of type 2 IPV should be added to the schedule.
In polio-endemic countries and in countries with a high risk for wild poliovirus importation and spread: one OPV birth dose, followed by 3 OPV and at least 1 IPV doses.
In countries with high immunization coverage (90-95%) and low wild poliovirus i...
Source: virology blog - January 6, 2015 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information Albert Sabin eradication humoral immunity inactivated poliovirus vaccine IPV jonas salk mucosal immunity OPV oral poliovirus vaccine poliomyelitis vaccine associated paralytic polio vaccine-derived poli Source Type: blogs
Industrial Policy Courtesy of the Cromnibus...Because No More Inferior Potassium
Daniel J. Ikenson
Though a monument to the ravages of Soviet central planning, the barren Magnitogorsk steel works complex still inspires America’s industrial policy proponents. “Failure to plan is a plan for failure,” said comrade Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL), as he described the “pro-manufacturing” legislation he helped slip into the mammoth Cromnibus bill, which became law this month.
The Revitalize American Manufacturing and Innovation Act directs the Secretary of Commerce to establish a “Network for Manufacturing Innovation” to:
improve the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and increase producti...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 31, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Daniel J. Ikenson Source Type: blogs
Forecasting Infectious Disease Spread with Web Data
Just as you might turn to Twitter or Facebook for a pulse on what’s happening around you, researchers involved in an infectious disease computational modeling project are turning to anonymized social media and other publicly available Web data to improve their ability to forecast emerging outbreaks and develop tools that can help health officials as they respond.
Mining Wikipedia Data
Incorporating real-time, anonymized data from Wikipedia and other novel sources of information is aiding efforts to forecast and respond to emerging outbreaks. Credit: Stock image.
“When it comes to infectious disease forecasting, gett...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - December 12, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Emily Carlson Tags: Computers in Biology Source Type: blogs
Fixing obesity: It’s a matter of changing our perspective
McKinsey & Company recently issued a report on effective means of fighting hyper-endemic obesity in the modern world. Among other things, they concluded that “implementing an obesity-abatement program on the required scale will not be easy.” I presume that is intended to be somber, but the magnitude of understatement makes it almost funny. And sad.
No, it will not be easy — not in the world as it is. In the world as it is, forget about fixing obesity, because the fix is in.
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Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide....
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 10, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: David L. Katz, MD Tags: Conditions Obesity Source Type: blogs
Using Mobile Technology To Overcome Jurisdictional Challenges To A Coordinated Immunization Policy
On March 20, 2014, the Government of Canada and the federal Minister of Health announced the release of ImmunizeCanada (ImmunizeCA), a smart phone application (app) designed to both provide accurate information on immunization for Canadians and allow them to track their and their family members’ immunizations. Based on a prototype developed for parents in Ontario and in partnership with the Canadian Public Health Association, our development team received funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada to build a national immunization app. Our task was to build an Apple- and Android-compatible app, containing all 13 prov...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - November 14, 2014 Category: Health Management Authors: Kumanan Wilson, Katherine Atkinson, and Jennifer Keelan Tags: All Categories Global Health Health IT Public Health Technology Source Type: blogs
Because there is nothing else to do
If you ever hear your doctor say we are going to do something because there is nothing else to do, be afraid. Be very afraid.
First of all, it should be self-evident that if caring and empathy and relief of suffering count as doing something, there is always something to do for patients.
A growing problem in medicine, especially in death-denying specialities like cardiology and oncology, is that having nothing else to do translates to not having a cure, or a promise of immortality. In times past, such misthink wasn’t so hazardous. Now, however, the inability to see failing organs as the natural order has never been ...
Source: Dr John M - November 8, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr John Source Type: blogs
If no travel restrictions, then….quarantine?
As the Ebola epidemic rages on, the debate about travel limitations has moved inevitably to the next stage: whether there ought to be a quarantine imposed on healthcare providers and others returning from service in endemic areas. We have been reading two opposing views, one emphasizing, as did Governor Christie of New Jersey, that “the obligation of elected officials is to protect the public health... // Read More » (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - October 29, 2014 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Tom Garigan Tags: Health Care Public Health Science Allocation / Access / Public Health bioethics Consent / Research syndicated Source Type: blogs
