Funtabulously Frivolous Friday Five 104
Question 1
As you pull back the curtain, your next patient bursts into a bout of uncontrollable laughter. Because it surely can’t be due to your appearance, you decide this patient must suffer from…?
Reveal Answer
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Gelastic seizures
Gelastic seizures are epileptic events characterized by bouts of laughter.
Laughter-like vocalization is usually combined with facial contraction in the form of a smile.
Autonomic features such as flushing, tachycardia, and altered respiration are widely recognized. [PMC 264...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - November 21, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Niall Hamilton Tags: Arcanum Veritas Frivolous Friday Five couching FFFF Iatrophobia j'ai des papillons noir Schamroth's Window Source Type: blogs
Diabetic? Get your eyes checked
November is National Diabetes Month. My friends at the NIH’s National Eye Institute asked me to share the following:
Diabetic eye disease isn’t just one disease, but a group of eye problems that can affect people with diabetes. These include cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease and the leading cause of blindness in people 20–74 years of age. An estimated 7.7 million people ages 40 and older have diabetic retinopathy and by 2030, that number is expected to increase to approximately 11 million people. Unfortunately, diabetic eye disease often has...
Source: Health Business Blog - November 1, 2014 Category: Health Managers Authors: dewe67 Tags: Announcements diabetes Source Type: blogs
ICD-10: HHS Officially Delays Compliance Deadline to October 1, 2015; CMS Publishes 2015 ICD-10 Guidelines
In August, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule which delayed the transition to ICD-10 until October 1, 2015, one year away. Prior to the enactment of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (PAMA), the health care industry was preparing to transition to ICD-10 by October 1st of this year. Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the official ICD-10 Guidelines for Coding and Reporting.
CMS explains that these guidelines should be used in conjunction with the official version of the ICD-10-CM as publ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - October 15, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
A Look at Various Approaches to Prosthetic Vision
Artificial vision for the blind lies ahead, and this research and development proceeds in competition with regeneration medicine approaches that aim to reverse degeneration and damage in the eye. Some of the most advanced prototype devices presently in use take the approach of linking a camera to an electrode grid embedded in the retina, building a moving picture of glowing dots. But this isn't the only way forward:
Blindness is still one of the most debilitating sensory impairments, affecting close to 40 million people worldwide. Many of these patients can be efficiently treated with surgery or medication, but some patho...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 6, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Frequency of visual field testing when monitoring patients newly diagnosed with glaucoma: mixed methods and modelling
This study explores the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of using different monitoring intervals to detect visual field progression in newly diagnosed glaucoma patients.
Report
Summary
NIHR publications (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - August 29, 2014 Category: UK Health Authors: The King's Fund Information & Knowledge Service Tags: Commissioning Source Type: blogs
A New Implantable Intraocular Pressure Sensor to Help Monitor Glaucoma
Diagnosing and monitoring the development of glaucoma involves taking regular measurements of patients’ intraocular pressure (IOP). This is typically done in a clinical setting with readings taken weeks or months apart, a problem since the IOP can rise and fall unexpectedly throughout the day and may be subject to the white coat effect. A new eye implant developed in a collaboration between researchers at Stanford and Bar-Ilan University in Israel, may allow people to measure their IOP as often as needed.
There already exist investigational implants for measuring IOP, including at least one that sends its readings ...
Source: Medgadget - August 28, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
The Chemistry of Modern Marijuana
Is low-grade pot better for you than sinsemilla?First published September 3, 2013.Australia has one of the highest rates of marijuana use in the world, but until recently, nobody could say for certain what, exactly, Australians were smoking. Researchers at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales analyzed hundreds of cannabis samples seized by Australian police, and put together comprehensive data on street-level marijuana potency across the country. They sampled police seizures and plants from crop eradication operations. The mean THC content of the samples was 14.88%, while absolute levels var...
Source: Addiction Inbox - August 20, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs
Wireless Eye Implant Continuously Measures Intraocular Pressure (VIDEO)
Measuring a person’s intraocular pressure (IOP) can help diagnose and monitor glaucoma, but just like blood pressure it varies and can be subject to the “white coat effect.” Continuous monitoring of IOP to detect spikes is practically impossible when using a traditional tonometer, but a new eye implant from Germany’s Implandata Ophthalmic Products that makes this possible has been implanted in a first patient as part of a European clinical trial.
The trial of the Pro-IOP implant involves open angle glaucoma patients who are getting cataracts removed. As part of the typical procedure of exchanging a ...
Source: Medgadget - August 1, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
NIDA’s Dark View of Teen Marijuana Use
In conclusion, the strict demands of causality mean that the long-term effect of chronic marijuana exposure is not known with any certainty. It is possible, even likely, that these effects can vary dramatically from one smoker to another. But the equally persuasive demands of common sense dictate that inhaling dried, super-heated vegetable matter on a regular basis is likely to degrade your health, the more so if you are young and healthy to begin with.As for other health issues: “The authoritative report by the Institute of Medicine, Marijuana and Medicine, acknowledges the potential benefits of smoking marijuana in sti...
Source: Addiction Inbox - June 15, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs
January is Glaucoma Awareness Month
Glaucoma damages the eye’s optic nerve and can lead to blindness if not treated. Often there are no symptoms in the early stages and by the time patients show up at the doctor they have already suffered vision loss. That’s too bad since early treatment or surgery can control the disease.
“Studies show that at least half of all persons with glaucoma don’t know they have this potentially blinding eye disease,” said National Eye Institute (NEI) director Dr. Paul Sieving. “The good news is that glaucoma can be detected in its early stages through a comprehensive dilated eye exam.”
January is Glaucoma Awar...
Source: Health Business Blog - January 7, 2014 Category: Health Managers Authors: David Williams Tags: Announcements Glaucoma Glaucoma Awareness National Eye Institute NEI Paul Sieving Source Type: blogs
New High Speed Eye Scanner Helps Identify Retinal Diseases
A high-definition OCT image of the retina allows clinicians to non-invasively visualize the 3D structure of key regions, such as the macula (region near the fovea) and optic nerve head, to screen for signs of disease pathology. Shown here is a wide-field view (A) as well as detailed vertical cross-sections (B), (C) and (D) and a circular cross-section (E). Credit: Biomedical Optics Express
Photographs of the power grip style (A-B) and camcorder style designs (C-D) of the prototype OCT scanner. Both devices acquire 3D OCT images of the retina. Credit: Biomedical Optics Express
Eye conditions like glaucoma and macular degene...
Source: Medgadget - December 23, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Drug Dispensing Contact Lenses Replacing Eye Drops in Glaucoma Treatment?
The doctor is always curious whether you have been taking your medication, and some drugs are more difficult to administer than others. Numerous ways have already been put to practice to ensure medication compliance, but now another innovation is significantly closer to practical realization: drug-eluting contact lenses to ensure prolonged delivery of anti-glaucoma eye drops. Glaucoma is a disease in which an elevated intraocular pressure causes damage to the eye, resulting in visual field loss, sometimes progressing to blindness. Treatment mainly relies on lowering the eye pressure and certain eye drops, such as the latan...
Source: Medgadget - December 10, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Stanley Darma Tags: Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Pharmalot... Pharmalittle... Good Morning
Hello, everyone, and how are you today? A bright shiny sun is warming the otherwise chilly Pharmalot corporate campus, where the leaves continue to fall, the official mascots are greeting passersby and the short people are hustling off, as always, to their houses of learning. As for us we are in the midst of our usual routine which, of course, includes brewing a cup or two of stimulation. Feel free to do the same. Meanwhile, here are some tidbits to get the day started. Hope yours goes well and you conquer the world. But do stay in touch...
J&J Told To Pay $11M For Birth Defects Caused By Topamax (Bloomberg News)
Long-...
Source: Pharmalot - November 19, 2013 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: esilverman Source Type: blogs
Could Taking Birth Control Raise Your Risk for Glaucoma?
Today, some interesting news came out of the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual meeting: Women who take oral contraceptives for three or more years could potentially be twice as likely to develop glaucoma as those who take oral birth control for shorter periods of time, say researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, Duke University School of Medicine and Nanchang University in China. And FYI, glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States -- especially when left untreated. (Source: The ND Blog: Notes from the Nutritionista by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S.)
Source: The ND Blog: Notes from the Nutritionista by Monica Reinagel, L.D.N., C.N.S. - November 18, 2013 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Tags: Health birth control disease health news sexual health study women's health Source Type: blogs
Weight-Loss Meds
By Amy Campbell
If only the magic bullet for weight control really existed. We could pop a pill every day that would allow us to eat what we wanted, when we wanted. This pill would banish diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. We'd be a lot happier, too. Unfortunately, all of this is wishful thinking. A magic bullet, whether it be pill, potion, or powder, has yet to surface.
A lot of options exist for helping with weight loss, but there are pros and cons to all of them. Diets are hard to follow, exercise takes time, behavior modification is hard, and surgery seems drastic. Medications are a possibility, but ...
Source: Diabetes Self-Management - November 4, 2013 Category: Diabetes Authors: Amy Campbell Source Type: blogs
