Obesity Is Not Like Being "Addicted to Food"
Credit: Image courtesy of Aalto UniversityIs it possible to be “addicted” to food, much like an addiction to substances (e.g., alcohol, cocaine, opiates) or behaviors (gambling, shopping, Facebook)? An extensive and growing literature uses this terminology in the context of the “obesity epidemic”, and looks for the root genetic and neurobiological causes (Carlier et al., 2015; Volkow & Bailer, 2015).Fig. 1 (Meule, 2015). Number of scientific publications on food addiction (1990-2014). Web of Science search term “food addiction”. Figure 1 might lead you to believe that the term “food addiction” was inve...
Source: The Neurocritic - November 9, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The urine drug screen commonly utilized in the emergency department is an immunoassay that uses antibodies to detect specific drugs or their metabolites. This allows for rapid screening for drugs of abuse, but it has many limitations.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the confirmatory test, but it is more costly, time-consuming, and generally can only be performed by outside laboratories. This confirmatory test is generally not useful in the emergency department, but has a role in cases of pediatric exposures, research, or occupational drug testing.
One of the limitations of a urine drug s...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The urine drug screen commonly utilized in the emergency department is an immunoassay that uses antibodies to detect specific drugs or their metabolites. This allows for rapid screening for drugs of abuse, but it has many limitations.
Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is the confirmatory test, but it is more costly, time-consuming, and generally can only be performed by outside laboratories. This confirmatory test is generally not useful in the emergency department, but has a role in cases of pediatric exposures, research, or occupational drug testing.
One of the limitations of a urine drug screen a...
Source: The Tox Cave - June 1, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
Please forgive us for prescribing controlled drugs to just about everybody
Lately I’ve had the opportunity to work in an outpatient clinic where the regular doctor is out sick for a prolonged period of time. It is a breathtakingly beautiful little community, with green hills and a crystal clear river. It is also troubled by methamphetamine and prescription drug abuse.
The little clinic in town is unwittingly a partner in this crime. Like the U.S. itself, this small community clinic has been generous with prescribing controlled substances for those who appear to need them. Sedatives in the benzodiazepine (Valium, Ativan and Xanax are brand name examples) family are prescribed for those with ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - May 25, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Janice Boughton, MD Tags: Meds Pain management Source Type: blogs
LITFL Review 174
Welcome to the 174th LITFL Review. Your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peeks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the blogosphere’s best and brightest and deliver a bite-sized chuck of FOAM.The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beauts of the WeekThe 15th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine (ISICEM-15) took place from the 17th to the 20th of March. Lots of FOAMy goodness bubbled up from the event, including:A neat summary from Adrian Wong in the OXICM blog: day 1 ...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - March 22, 2015 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Marjorie Lazoff, MD Tags: Education LITFL review Source Type: blogs
Promoting Amphetamines for Over-Eating - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
In this study, about 5% of patients given any dosage of Vyvanse had to discontinue its use because of adverse effects. 3/196 patients initially randomized to Vyvanse had serious adverse effects, and one patient died, apparently of an amphetamine overdose. Oddly, the article declared that the one death, due to methamphetamine overdose, was thought by a study investigator not to be related to treatment with another amphetamine, lisdexamfetamine. That makes little sense, given that in a randomized controlled trial, the presumption is that differences in groups given different treatments were caused by these ...
Source: Health Care Renewal - February 26, 2015 Category: Health Management Tags: clinical trials conflicts of interest deception evidence-based medicine FDA marketing Shire stealth marketing Source Type: blogs
A Relatively Narrow Complex Tachycardia at a Rate of 180.
I received a text message with this image: "Cardioversion didn't work. Any thoughts?" What do you think? The heart rate is 180.I was viewing this on my phone, but I saw what I thought were P-waves. I could barely see them in lead II:There are probable P-waves at the arrows, but I wasn't certainI texted back: "Could be very fast sinus."There is also a wide QRS at 113 ms and a large R-wave in aVR, so sodium channel blockade is likely. Common culprits in this situation are tricyclic overdose and cocaine toxicity (remember cocaine not only increases dopamine in central synapses, but is also a...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - February 8, 2015 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Check This Out! Learn.Genetics: Addiction Science Learning Tools
Making learning fun has become a bit of a cliché.
If you are seriously interested, or even just a teeny time bit interested, in learning about the brain and addiction, then it’s time for you to discover the Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC) at the University of Utah and its website Learn.Genetics.
First of all, Learn.Genetics is fun and very interactive. Of course, we are partial to the section NIDA funded, The Science of Addiction: Genetics and the Brain. But the whole site is awesome.
Students, Teacher, Parents….You—should just explore and find out how these cool animations break down the complicated scie...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - January 5, 2015 Category: Addiction Authors: The NIDA Blog Team Source Type: blogs
Crossing the Line: Athletes Risk Their Health When Using Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Athletes want to win—sometimes taking extreme measures to push through the pain and perform at their best. But when has an athlete gone too far?
When it gives the athlete an unfair advantage—and threatens his or her health.
Painless Play
Abusing drugs to overcome pain or inflate athletic abilities is definitely an unfair advantage. This doesn’t include the appropriate use of doctor-prescribed treatments, such as cortisone injections or prescription opioid pain medications. However, using prescription pain medication in a way other than prescribed is not only unfair, it’s dangerous.
Besides causing confusion, nausea...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - December 11, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: The NIDA Blog Team Source Type: blogs
Cold symptoms and bradycardia. What is this pre-excitation?
A young man presented to the ED for cough and runny nose and was bradycardic, so an ECG was recorded:There is sinus rhythm with complete AV dissociation due to complete (third degree) AV block. The escape has a slurred upstroke. Is this a delta wave?The patient stated that he knows he has this and that whenever he feels weak he just takes some methamphetamine and he feels fine! He refused any treatment or evaluation.The rhythm is interesting, though, and we have some disagreement about whether it is an nodal escape with a fasciculo-ventricular accessory pathway, or a ventricular escape with "Pseudo" Delta...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - November 5, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
Does Marijuana Make You More Creative?
Not many people would say with a straight face that drugs like heroin or methamphetamine are good for you, let alone they could help you be more successful in life. But there are lots of people who think marijuana is different from other drugs. For example, we’ve already talked in this blog about the idea that it may have medical uses. The jury is still out.
Some users even say marijuana’s mind-altering effect—the “high”—is also beneficial. They claim using the drug chills them out, expands their mind, and makes them more creative. Since the 1960s, marijuana has had a mystique as an aid to the artistic life.
Wh...
Source: NIDA Drugs and Health Blog - November 1, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: The NIDA Blog Team Source Type: blogs
Beyond Public Health, Pit Bulls, and Pimps: Lessons in Trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Hope
By: Gerard Clancy, MD, professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oklahoma School of Community Medicine, and president, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa
In my recently published Academic Medicine commentary, “Understanding Deficiencies of Leadership in Advancing Health Equity: A Case of Pit Bulls, Public Health and Pimps,” I described my evolution in developing relationships with a community in need, as we built the new Wayman Tisdale Specialty Health Clinic in north Tulsa over more than a decade. I have now been caring for patients in an adult psychiatry clinic since we opened 20 months ago. The clini...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - October 30, 2014 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Guest Author Tags: Featured Guest Perspective adverse childhood experiences community engagement mental illness University of Oklahoma urban revitalization Wayman Tisdale Specialty Clinic Source Type: blogs
Once an Addict, Always an Addict?
This is a saying I’ve always grappled with. One part of me is against any type of labeling, let alone a heavy label to be carried for the rest of your life. We are all so interchangeably dynamic, that to categorize someone into a box forever doesn’t sit well.
Another part of me completely agrees with this statement and perceives it to be utterly valid. Instead of denying who you are, true acceptance perhaps is the only way to not only recover, but to continue to maintain your recovery. However much I am against “branding” someone for life, it is human nature to create categorizes in order to piece things togethe...
Source: World of Psychology - August 30, 2014 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Kristin Bach Tags: Addiction Celebrities Habits Health-related Mindfulness Personal Recovery Born Again Designer Drugs Party Drugs Peer Pressure Self Acceptance smoking Substance Abuse Source Type: blogs
Requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine: How effective is that?
The State of Mississippi passed a law in 2010 which banned sales of pseudoephedrine without a prescription. The law has resulted in a dramatic improvement in which 698 total methamphetamine (meth) incidents with 314 operational labs were identified in 2010 while there were 119 incidents with only 8 labs in 2013. Other states such as Tennessee are considering similar laws and Oregon already has a law in place as restrictive as the Mississippi law. In Tennessee, there has been a product tracking program which restricts sales, but has not resulted in a decline in the number of meth lab incidents. These statistics make it clea...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 2, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: David P. Smith, MD Tags: Meds Medications Source Type: blogs
A 16 year old girl has syncope while playing basketball.....
A 16 yo Female with no previous medical history had a syncopal event while playing basketball. She arrived to the ED in severe respiratory distress, awake but agitated. She was tachypneic in the 40s-50s. She was intubated shortly after arrival, and had an ECG recorded: Sinus tachycardia with massive ST elevation in I, aVL, V5 and V6, with extreme ST depression in V3 and V4, and reciprocal ST depression in II, III, aVF. This is diagnostic of a very acute posterolateral STEMI.The ECG was briefly inspected by a pediatric emergency physician unaccustomed to diagnosing acute MI. He did not ...
Source: Dr. Smith's ECG Blog - May 6, 2014 Category: Cardiology Authors: Steve Smith Source Type: blogs
