What a Waste of a Healthcare System
By KIM BELLARD
An essay in Aeon had me at the title: The Waste Age. The title was so evocative of the world we live in that I almost didn’t need to read further, but I’m glad I did, and I encourage you to do the same. Because if we don’t learn to deal with waste – and, as the author urges, design for it – our future looks pretty grim.
Healthcare included.
The essay is by Justin McGuirk, chief curator of the Design Museum in London, and accompanies an exhibit there: Waste Age: what can design do? Mr. McGuirk states:
…waste is not merely a byproduct of culture: it is culture. We have produ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 11, 2022 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Ryan Bose-Roy Tags: Health Policy Public Health Healthcare system Kim Bellard medical waste plastics Source Type: blogs
Let The Children Play: Research On The Importance Of Play, Digested
By Emma Young
As children head back to school, teachers and parents will of course be concerned about kids catching up on their education after the Covid-19 lockdowns. But, as many psychologists have pointed out, they need to catch up on play, too. So what does the research tell us about the need for and the importance of play?
First: why do kids need to play?
Well, of course, it’s fun — and as we all know, having fun is critical for kids’ psychological wellbeing. But there are also all kinds of documented developmental benefits. For example, play helps children learn how to interact successfully with o...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - August 13, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Coronavirus Developmental Educational Feature Source Type: blogs
What is an Intermediate coronary lesion & What shall we do with it ?
This question might squeeze the collective coronary knowledge of any cardiologist. (At least, it does for me !)
What is an intermediate coronary lesion? (ICL)
Traditionally it is an “angio-ocular reflex” measurement of coronary arterial diameter stenosis that lies between 40 to 70% (Mind you, 70 diameter stenosis is 90% area. So,we must be clear what we really mean in any revascularisation debate).
Above one is the simplest expression of ICL. (* While 70% cutoff is fairly constant, the lower limit 40% is still not a settled issue. It can even be 30 %. I think we haven’t yet named th...
Source: Dr.S.Venkatesan MD - April 25, 2021 Category: Cardiology Authors: dr s venkatesan Tags: Uncategorized diameter vs area stenosis fame s fame study ffr ifr qfr intermediate coronary lesion minimal cad coronary erosion what is intermediate coronary lesion ? Source Type: blogs
Foreign Policy Is Supposed To Be Transactional
Justin LoganOne criticism of Donald Trump ’s foreign policy is that it was “transactional.” In 2020, Joseph Nyelamented Trump ’s “transactional myopia.” And last week in his speech to the Munich Security Conference,President Biden argued that “our partnerships have endured and grown through the years because they are rooted in the richness of our shared democratic values. They’re not transactional.”They should be.To get this out of the way up front, transactional isn ’t a perfect synonym for Trumpy. Complaints about Trump ’s habit of describing alliances asprotection rackets or hisstruggle to sep...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 23, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Justin Logan Source Type: blogs
Medgadget ’s Best Medical Technologies of 2020
In conclusion, 2020 will certainly be remembered for a world stopped by an pandemic. It will also stand out as a time when people came together to innovate, adapt, and improve the world around them. We wish you all a happy New Year and look forward to better times ahead, together.
Flashbacks: Medgadget’s Best Medical Technologies of 2019; 2018; 2017; 2016; 2015 (Source: Medgadget)
Source: Medgadget - December 30, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Exclusive Source Type: blogs
What is Worse than Bad Policies? Misuse of Power
Jeffrey Miron andErin PartinSince the beginning of his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has prioritized imposing punitive tariffs on China. In a 2016 Republicanpresidential debate he said, “I’m totally open to a tariff. If they don ’t treat us fairly, hey, their whole trade is tariffed. You can’t deal in China without tariffs. They do it to us, we don’t it. It’s not fair trade.”True to his word, the Trump administration soon implemented steep tariffs onsteel and aluminum,washing machines, andsolar panels—specifically targeting China with an escalation of his trade war. Tariffs are bad economic ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 8, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Jeffrey Miron, Erin Partin Source Type: blogs
SMall Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE): It ’s what’s new in laser vision correction
The goal of laser vision correction (LVC) is to eliminate or reduce the need for glasses and contact lenses. LVC treats three basic refractive errors: myopia (nearsightedness), astigmatism (blurring of vision due to non-spherical shape of the eye), and hyperopia (farsightedness).
During an LVC procedure, the cornea — the clear dome on the surface of the eye — is reshaped in order to correct the refractive error. The different techniques to perform LVC are laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), phototherapeutic refractive keratectomy (PRK), and small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE).
LASIK and PRK
LASIK, the most co...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 14, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kathryn Hatch, MD Tags: Eye Health Source Type: blogs
Hiding Our Heads in the Sand
By KIM BELLARD
There are so many
stories about the coronavirus pandemic — some inspiring, some tragic, and
all-too-many frustrating. In the world’s supposedly most advanced
economy, we’ve struggled to produce enough ventilators, tests, even swabs, for
heaven’s sake.
I can’t stop thinking
about infrastructure, especially unemployment systems.
We’d never purposely shut down our economy; no nation had. Each state is trying to figure out the best course between limiting exposure to COVID-19 and keeping food on people’s tables. Those workers deemed...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 28, 2020 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: COVID-19 Health Policy coronavirus Kim Bellard Pandemic Unemployment Source Type: blogs
MiSight 1 day Contacts to Slow Myopia: Interview with Michele Andrews of CooperVision
CooperVision, a contact lens developer based in San Ramon, California, recently received FDA approval for its MiSight 1 day contact lens. The lens is the first to slow the progression of myopia when worn by children aged 8-12 years old.
Myopia is very common, but it doesn’t just affect the way someone sees objects at a distance, and can trigger other conditions such as detached retina and cataracts. The condition typically develops during childhood, and can makes things like seeing the blackboard at school difficult for kids.
Myopia occurs when the eyeball grows too long, meaning that light rays are focused at a p...
Source: Medgadget - February 14, 2020 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Exclusive Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Refugees in Texas
Alex NowrastehOn Friday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) sent a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo stating that Texas would not accept any refugees going forward. Governor Abbott is the first governor to request that refugees not be settled in his state since President Trump announced thatstates and localities would now have to opt in to receive refugees. Texas was the first state to refuse refugees after 42 other states decided to continue to accept them.Trump ’s new executive order requires states and localities to opt in to accept refugees, which is a clear ploy to get them to refuse. There’s no good reason for that...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - January 11, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
Drinking Alcohol Focuses Our Attention On The External Features Of Faces, With Implications For Eyewitness Memory
By Emily Reynolds
Having a bit of a fuzzy memory is not an uncommon side effect of having had too much to drink the night before — and the details we do remember are often somewhat limited. The same can also be true for our attention when drunk: we’re only able to concentrate on what’s going on in front of us and not what’s happening elsewhere.
This phenomenon has been termed “alcohol myopia”: attentional shortsightedness related to alcohol consumption. A new paper in the Journal of Psychopharmacology suggests this shortsightedness may apply to human faces, too — and that it could have an impact on h...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - November 26, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: BPS Research Digest Tags: Alcohol Memory Source Type: blogs
MiSight Contacts FDA Cleared to Slow Myopia in Kids
Myopia is a very common condition in children, often progressing rapidly and triggering earlier onset of other eye conditions, such as cataracts and detached retina.
Cooper Vision, a company out of Lake Forest, California, just won FDA clearance for the first contact lens that can actually slow down the progression of childhood myopia.
Myopia is a result of the eye growing longer than it should, which causes the image to focus not on the retina, but in front of it. Indicated to be worn by kids between the ages of 8 and 12 years old, the MiSight contacts correct the refractive error just like typical contacts, but th...
Source: Medgadget - November 20, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Ophthalmology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 2nd 2019
In conclusion, in the absence of obesity, visceral adipose tissue possesses a pronounced anti-inflammatory phenotype during aging which is further enhanced by exercise.
Methods of Inducing Cellular Damage are Rarely Relevant to Aging, and the Details Matter
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2019/08/methods-of-inducing-cellular-damage-are-rarely-relevant-to-aging-and-the-details-matter/
One of the major challenges in aging research is determining whether or not models of cellular or organismal damage and its consequences are in any way relevant to the natural processes of aging. One can hit a brick wit...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 1, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Clinical Trial of a Cross-Link Breaker to Treat Presbyopia in the Aging Eye
Presbyopia in the aging eye manifests as a difficulty in focusing on close objects. It is caused by hardening of the lens, which is in part the result of cross-linking in the extracellular matrix of that tissue, though other mechanisms are involved as well. Cross-links are hardy metabolic byproducts resulting from the normal operation of metabolism, capable of degrading the structural properties of tissue, particularly elasticity, by linking proteins together and restricting their motion. Cross-linking is likely of great importance in skin aging and cardiovascular aging. The primary age-related cross-links of the lens are ...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 27, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Health Systems Underinvest in PCPs; This May Cause Hospital Costs to Rise
I have posted a number of notes relating to the declining number of primary care physicians employed by health systems (see, for example:PCP and Family Physician Wait Times increasing 50% in Many Markets). I believe that this may be due, in part, to the fact that these executives believe that PCPs generate less revenue per capita than specialist physicians (see:Net Revenue Generation for Hospitals on the Basis of Physician Speciality). Such a hiring strategy may be shortsighted given that, as stated in my blog note of July 25, PCPs are responsible for allocating about 90% of total hospital costs (see:PCPs Responsible...
Source: Lab Soft News - July 28, 2019 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Cost of Healthcare Healthcare Delivery Healthcare Information Technology Healthcare Innovations Hospital Executive Management Hospital Financial Quality of Care Source Type: blogs
