Should Mental Health Determine Pain Treatment Options?
Patients with a mental health condition might have a hard time accessing opioids for pain relief, while patients with unexplained pain are often referred to psychiatric care, which does little to alleviate their symptoms. Finding treatment can be frustrating and humiliating.
Four years ago, Dez Nelson’s pain management clinic demanded that she complete a visit with a psychologist. Nelson was surprised, since she had no history of mental illness, but she didn’t feel that she could push back on the request.
“Of course I said okay — I didn’t want to lose my treatment,” Nelson told The Fix. “I was not happy about...
Source: World of Psychology - March 26, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Psych Central Guest Author Tags: Addiction Disorders Health-related Medications Mental Health and Wellness Publishers Substance Abuse The Fix Treatment Chronic Pain mental health and pain Opioids Pain Management pain management clinic Pain Relief pain treatm Source Type: blogs
Climate Crisis Call to Action: Major Obstacles but Hope for an “Energized Base”
We have known for more than half a century that the earth is heating up and scientists have long foretold the consequences. Yet in these same decades, the earth’s population has increased dramatically; the demand for convenience, quality of life, and consumer goods has expanded; energy consumption and CO2 emissions have skyrocketed; and we are living in the hottest climate on record. So why aren’t we doing more to stop this catastrophe?
One way to answer this question is by contrasting our inertia with the successful response to another public health crisis: the AIDS epidemic. Act Up, the political movement of t...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - September 18, 2018 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Guest Author Tags: Featured Guest Perspective climate change medical education medical students physicians Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 17th 2018
In this study, we found that TXNIP deficiency induces accelerated senescent phenotypes of mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells under high glucose condition and that the induction of cellular ROS or AKT activation is critical for cellular senescence. Our results also revealed that TXNIP inhibits AKT activity by a direct interaction, which is upregulated by high glucose and H2O2 treatment. In addition, TXNIP knockout mice exhibited an increase in glucose uptake and aging-associated phenotypes including a decrease in energy metabolism and induction of cellular senescence and aging-associated gene expression. We propose that...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 16, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Debating the Microbial Hypothesis for Alzheimer's Disease
Why do only some older people develop the elevated levels of amyloid-β that start the amyloid cascade of Alzheimer's disease, leading to tau aggregation and consequent death and dysfunction of brain cells? If amyloid-β is the result of persistent infection by pathogens such as herpesviruses and lyme spirochetes that are, collectively, only present in 20% or so of the population, then perhaps that is the answer. This is the core of the microbial hypothesis of Alzheimer's disease, that amyloid-β is a feature of the innate immune system, and thus persistent infection of brain tissue will result in higher levels of amyloid ...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 10, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 27th 2018
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 26, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Synapses of Some Individuals Appear Resilient to Age-Related Protein Aggregation
We all, to some degree, accumulate harmful protein aggregates in the brain with age, but only some people develop severe neurodegenerative disease as a result. The rest of the population remains mildly impaired. Why is this? Some have suggested that Alzheimer's disease and the like are to some degree lifestyle conditions, aggravated by the presence of excess visceral fat tissue and the abnormal metabolism that results. Alternatively the microbial hypothesis suggests that only some people have sufficient persistent infection by herpesviruses or lyme spirochetes to result in high levels of protein aggregates. Theories of imp...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 20, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 6th 2018
In this study, we analyzed FGF21 levels and alterations in the expression of genes encoding components of the FGF21-responsive molecular machinery in adipose tissue from aged individuals so as to ascertain whether altered FGF21 responsiveness that develops with aging jeopardizes human health and/or accelerates metabolic disturbances associated with aging.
We studied a cohort of 28 healthy elderly individuals (≥70 years) with no overt signs of metabolic or other pathologies and compared them with a cohort of 35 young healthy controls (≤40 years). Serum FGF21 levels were significantly increased in elderly individ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 5, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Alzheimer's as the Endpoint of a Life-Long Burden of Infectious Disease
The long years of failure in Alzheimer's research, in which trial after trial of immunotherapies targeting amyloid-β produced no meaningful benefits in Alzheimer's patients, has sown the seeds of change in the research community. In the past couple of years, promising human data for amyloid-β clearance has finally arrived, but the damage is done. The amyloid hypothesis for Alzheimer's disease is now challenged, and alternative theories are thriving. One of particular note is built upon the point that generation of amyloid in the brain appears to be a defensive mechanism of the innate immune system, and thus its proponent...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 3, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Public input into gene-editing decisions
Lyme disease is caused by a type of bacteria that lives in mice, which are considered a “reservoir” for the disease-causing agent. Ticks bite the mice, pick up the bacteria, and then infect people when they bite them. (Ticks are called the “vector” for the disease.) If mice were immune to the bacteria, their immune … Continue reading "Public input into gene-editing decisions" (Source: blog.bioethics.net)
Source: blog.bioethics.net - August 3, 2018 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Jon Holmlund Tags: Genetics Health Care bioethics biotechnology Consent / Research syndicated Source Type: blogs
Crowdsourced Ticks Help to Create Maps of Lyme, Other Diseases
Perhaps the best way of stopping tick-borne diseases is public awareness campaigns, but these must be well targeted to achieve good results without wearing people out with unnecessary warnings. While ticks are widespread, the diseases they carry don’t travel quite as well, so knowing where tick-borne pathogens are found can be of great advantage. In addition, knowing how the diseases are distributed geographically in animal hosts can point to new ways of curtailing them.
The Bay Area Lyme Foundation recently asked people from around the United States to send them ticks that they find around where they live. The found...
Source: Medgadget - July 25, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Informatics Medicine Public Health Source Type: blogs
Answer to Case 502
Answer:Borreliaspp., relapsing fever group. Molecular studies are needed to definitively identify the causative agent. However, knowing the exposure history of the patient also helps narrow the differential. In this case, we later found out that the patient is from the northwestern part of North America, and therefore this is most likelyBorrelia hermsii,one of the tick-borne relapsing feverBorreliaspecies.The other tick-borneBorreliain North America areB. parkeriiandB. turicatae.These species are transmitted through the bite of a soft-bodied tick in the genusOrnithodoros,and are usually associated with exposure to ' rustic...
Source: Creepy Dreadful Wonderful Parasites - July 15, 2018 Category: Parasitology Source Type: blogs
Zoonotic Disease Deaths in the United States
With the exception of salmonellosis, deaths from Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) * have exceeded those of other reportable zoonoses in the United States for most of the past six decades. [1,2] Rabies was the predominant cause of zoonotic death prior to 1950; Lyme disease and West Nile fever since 2000.
* Since 2010, reporting of “Rocky Mountain spotted fever” has been broadened to include
related diseases – under the heading “Spotted fever rickettsiosis”
References:
1. Berger S. Infectious Diseases of the United States, 2018. 3,...
Source: GIDEON blog - July 13, 2018 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Source Type: blogs
Lyme disease: Resolving the “Lyme wars”
It’s finally getting warm here in New England, and most of us have plans to enjoy the beautiful weather. And that’s why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a report raising awareness about how to prevent the tickborne infections that typically occur during this time of the year. Lyme disease is probably the most well-known, and the one for which diagnosis and treatment are most controversial.
What is Lyme disease?
Several countries around the world, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, and all 50 states in the US have already reported cases of Lyme. The disease is caused by bacteria...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 18, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Marcelo Campos, MD Tags: Health Infectious diseases Source Type: blogs
Most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed countries – Cardiology MCQ
Most common cause of acquired heart disease in children in developed countries:
a) Rheumatic heart disease
b) Viral myocarditis
c) Kawasaki disease
d) Lyme disease
Click here for the correct answer.
(Source: Cardiophile MD)
Source: Cardiophile MD - May 28, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Prof. Dr. Johnson Francis, MD, DM, FACC, FRCP Edin, FRCP London Tags: Cardiology MCQ DM / DNB Cardiology Entrance Source Type: blogs
Study Finds Deer Tick Populations on the Rise in Indiana
Ticks that carry Lyme disease and other illnesses are spreading into Indiana and the Midwest states.Read more on sciencespacerobots.com (Source: HealthNewsBlog.com)
Source: HealthNewsBlog.com - May 25, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: ticks mice Source Type: blogs
