The compassion crisis in U.S. health care
No, I am not suggesting a new medical diagnosis, but I am merely pointing out a society-wide ailment in our U.S. culture. In support of my contention, I point to Compassionomics, the superb 2019 book by Drs. Stephen Trzeciak and Anthony Mazzarelli. In their compelling science-based presentation, the authors state, “Specifically, the hypothesis is that providing Read more… The compassion crisis in U.S. health care originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 25, 2024 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Emergency Medicine Source Type: blogs

Genetics by the Numbers
Even though scientists have been studying genetics since the mid-19th century, they continue to make new discoveries about genes and how they impact our health on a regular basis. NIGMS researchers study how genes are expressed and regulated, how gene variants with different “spellings” of their genetic code affect health, and much more. Get the drop on DNA and the gist of genes with these fast facts: 3.2 Billion A marbled lungfish has a genome over 40 times larger than humans. Credit: iStock. That’s how many base pairs—or sets of genetic “letters”—make up the human genome. If you were...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 24, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Genes By the Numbers DNA Genomics Source Type: blogs

Warbler Central – Garden Warblers at RSPB Fen Drayton
I’ve talked about warblers before. Basically, the warblers are a non-scientific grouping of similar birds. In the UK, we often see and hear  a variety of warblers, mostly summer visitors, among them Blackcap, Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Garden Warbler (Sylvia borin), Grasshopper Warbler, Great Reed Warbler (occasionally), Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, and Willow Warbler. Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin I headed to RSPB Fen Drayton Lakes nature reserve on a promise of Arctic Terns as a big influx had been reported on Tuesday, some 36, arriving in two waves, 29 and then 7, from Graf...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - April 24, 2024 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Source Type: blogs

Catastrophising – and controversy
There are few constructs more widely known in pain psychology than catastrophising. Defined as “an exaggerated negative mental set brought to bear during actual or anticipated pain experience” (Sullivan et al., 2001), catastrophising is associated with poor outcomes including greater pain intensity, distress and disability in almost every situation where pain is experienced (Sullivan & Tripp, 2024). Cognitive biases associated with catastrophising include interpretive bias, attentional bias and attentional fixation – in other words negatively interpreting situations, attending to the negative in a situation, ...
Source: HealthSkills Weblog - April 21, 2024 Category: Anesthesiology Authors: BronnieLennoxThompson Tags: Coping Skills Pain Pain conditions Research Science in practice catastrophising catastrophizing Chronic pain pain-related worry Source Type: blogs

Bonus Features – April 21, 2024 – 89% of physicians said generative AI vendors need to be transparent about where info comes from, 73% of consumers expect a 4-star rating before they ’ ll engage with a provider, plus 21 more stories
This article will be a weekly roundup of interesting stories, product announcements, new hires, partnerships, research studies, awards, sales, and more. Because there’s so much happening out there in healthcare IT we aren’t able to cover in our full articles, we still want to make sure you’re informed of all the latest news, announcements, and stories happening to help you better do your job. Studies According to a Wolters Kluwer survey, 68% of physicians think generative AI will benefit healthcare – but to trust the technology, 89% said vendors need to be transparent about where information was sourced and wh...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - April 21, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Brian Eastwood Tags: Healthcare IT Brand Engagement Network Butterfly Network CharmHealth CHG Healthcare Clarify Health Cured Databricks Donna Boyer eClinicalWorks Epic Research Google Cloud Harvard Medical School HCTec Healthcare IT Today Bonus Fe Source Type: blogs

Sunday Sermonette: Natural History
 Psalm 104 is historically important, because it is among the biblical passages the church used to convict Galileo of heresy. He wrote to the Grand Duchess Christina " Astronomers seem to declare what is contrary to Scripture, for they hold the heavens to be spherical, while the Scripture calls it " stretched out like a tent. " (v. 2) He argued that such passages should not be taken literally as scientific findings might discredit them. In fact, verse 5 was specifically cited at his trial. We know now that God is not the explanation for any of the natural phenomena described here, whether accurately or not. Rel...
Source: Stayin' Alive - April 21, 2024 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs

Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 22nd 2024
This study reveals a potential treatment for human mitochondrial diseases. « Back to Top A Population Study Correlates Air Pollution with Faster Cognitive Aging https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2024/04/a-population-study-correlates-air-pollution-with-faster-cognitive-aging/ A number of large epidemiological studies provide evidence for long-term exposure to greater levels of air pollution to accelerate the onset and progression of age-related disease. A few of these manage to control for the tendency for wealthier people to avoid living in areas with higher particulate air pollution, ...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 21, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs

Managing Your Doctor Self
I’m having a conversation with a colleague when our talk drifted to how are we managing our lives. “How are you managing your physician life?” I asked. I am in the middle of pivoting professional directions, easing out on one an aspect of my physician life. So, maybe I could get an insight into how they balance all these amidst their very busy practice and learn something I could apply in my own life context. “You mean our academic, clinical and administrative life as a doctor? or all of that plus our family??!” She jokingly scoffed. The couple are surgeons, both taking masters degree, bot...
Source: The Orthopedic Logbook - April 20, 2024 Category: Orthopaedics Authors: Remo Aguilar Tags: Habits Productivity doctors managing oneself physicians self management Source Type: blogs

Reed Bunting, Emberiza Schoeniclus
Mrs Sciencebase and I opted to follow the footpath from the RSPB Ouse Fen (Earith) car park to what we refer to as the “Clouded Yellow Field”, which is the patch where we saw that butterfly in numbers in 2022 and that leads on to Brownshill Staunch where I spotted the previously mentioned Sandwich Tern. Male Reed Bunting at RSPB Ouse Fen, perched on Rape plant It’s a nice stretch to stretch one’s legs. Lots of Marsh Harrier activity over the reed beds, Chinese Water Deer and Roe Deer to see. Calls from Sedge Warbler, White Throat, Chiff Chaff (all warblers). We could hear some Bearded Reedling calli...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - April 19, 2024 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Photography Source Type: blogs

Bis(monoacylglycero)phosphates Accumulate in Aged Tissues
Lipid metabolism is changed and disrupted with advancing age, as is the case for all complex mechanisms in the body. There are a great many different lipids present in the body; even the list of classes of lipid is a long one. Finding specific changes that relate to aging can be interesting, but the challenge lie in better understanding how those changes come about, and whether they causes significant harm to tissues. Many age-related changes in molecular biochemistry are far downstream of the important causes of aging and do not cause much further disruption in and of themselves. In recent years, laboratory resea...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 19, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Harnessing Digital Innovation to Unlock Cancer Discoveries
By DOUG MIRSKY & BRIAN GONZALEZ What if digital innovations could be the key to reducing the burden of cancer? CancerX was founded in 2023 as part of the Cancer Moonshot to achieve this goal. By uniting leading minds across industries such as technology, healthcare, science, and government, we are breaking down silos and leveraging digital innovation in the fight against cancer. With ambitious goals to cut the death rate from cancer by at least 50% and to improve the experience of people who are affected by cancer, digital innovation is critical. As a public-private partnership co-hosted by Moffitt Cancer Center ...
Source: The Health Care Blog - April 19, 2024 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Health Policy Health Tech Brian Gonzalez CancerX Digital Medicine Society Doug Mirsky Moffitt Cancer Center Source Type: blogs

One good tern …
Yesterday, I spotted a Sandwich Tern, Thalasseus sandvicensis patrolling the open river lock at Brownshill Staunch on the Great River Ouse. It flew back and forth over a stretch of about 100 metres for 20 minutes or so before heading off downstream. The river cuts through the RSPB Ouse Fen nature reserve (I’d walked in from the Over end rather than Needingworth). I’ve seen several Common Terns and even a Black Tern on this reserve. But, a Sandwich seemed unusual so I posted my spot to the local patch’s birding WhatsApp group when I first saw it. There was a flurry of interest and one member, Richard Thoma...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - April 18, 2024 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Birds Source Type: blogs

Science Snippet: Breaking Down Biodegradability
Have you ever noticed plastic utensils or paper plates labeled as “biodegradable” and wondered what that meant? Materials are biodegradable when microorganisms such as bacteria can break them down into their building blocks. Biodegradable Plastics Plastic is everywhere: Milk jugs, grocery bags, and takeout containers are just a few examples. There are many types of plastic, but they’re all made up of long chains of repeating subunits called polymers. These polymers are designed to be durable and resistant to factors like heat, sunlight, and water, which makes them useful in a variety of situations. Toget...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 17, 2024 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology STEM Education Bacteria Science Snippet Source Type: blogs

The Supreme Court must consider science, not pseudo-science, in public health rulings
Measles is on the rise in more than a dozen states, an alarming surge for a vaccine-preventable disease eliminated in the United States nearly 25 years ago. Meanwhile, young women exposed to relentless unscientific deception by social media algorithms are abandoning hormonal contraception in favor of significantly less effective methods that result in more unwanted Read more… The Supreme Court must consider science, not pseudo-science, in public health rulings originally appeared in KevinMD.com. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 16, 2024 Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Policy Public Health & Policy Source Type: blogs

From Patent To Product: The Speed Of The Digital Health Evolution
We’re bombarded with mindblowing headlines of new medical miracles every day. BCI helps paralysed patients talk again! Robots in the stomach! Micro-organs on organ-on-chip technologies! But it is almost impossible to see through the hype and know if and when these will yield actual, patient-ready solutions. So let’s get into this maze and decipher how a new, revolutionary medical technology develops from an ingenious idea to a market-ready product with two real-life examples: the artificial pancreas and wireless ECG. In early April, the UK’s NHS rolled out an artificial pancreas (APS) for Type 1 diabetes patients,...
Source: The Medical Futurist - April 16, 2024 Category: Information Technology Authors: Andrea Koncz Tags: TMF artificial intelligence digital health Innovation patent analysis Medicine Source Type: blogs