The Mental Health of Lonely Marijuana Users
This study contained some limitations. First, it only assessed self-ratings of both self-worth and mental health. If marijuana use weakens the relationship between social pain and self-reported psychological well-being, then there should also be a lower rate of validated clinical diagnoses of poor psychological well-being.. . .To address the limitation of Study 1, Study 2 sought to show that marijuana buffered lonely participants from experiencing a standardized diagnosis of poor psychological well-being. Study 2 used a different nationally representative sample from Stu...
Source: The Neurocritic - May 22, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
How Limitations Can Be Positive
The word limitation is usually connected to something negative; it refers to being restricted, being held back from pursing or completing a task and it’s not just physical as we sometimes think. We all have some form of limitation, whether visible or invisible. My limitations can be the same or differ from yours, we either use them as learning tools, or stepping stones for something positive, or give in and let it dictate how we live our lives, and allow it to keep us stuck.
I am convinced that when we look at an unexpected limitation, the effects on the mind is instantaneous and can either grow and expand to become an...
Source: PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement - May 6, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dianed Tags: Community Posts happiness limitations positivity self improvement success Source Type: blogs
Brain Cells Direct From Bone Marrow Stem Cells
Sometimes in science the best discoveries are those that are unexpected. Researchers in California were trying to get bone marrow stem cells to grow by introducing an antibodies to the cells. Instead the cells began to form neural cells. U.S. News & World Report has the story:
Scientists have discovered an antibody that can turn stem cells from a patient's bone marrow directly into brain cells, a potential breakthrough in the treatment of neurological diseases and injuries.Richard Lerner, of the Scripps Research Institute in California, says that when a specific antibody is injected into stem cells from bone marrowwh...
Source: Mary Meets Dolly - April 23, 2013 Category: Geneticists and Genetics Commentators Tags: Stem cells, Adult Source Type: blogs
Boston Bomber Possible Suicide Attempt
The news reports of the wounds suffered by the Boston bomber suspect being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center grow more interesting by the hour.
ABC News is now reporting that the suspect has a wound in the back of the neck, which is leading investigators to conjecture that the wound may be the result of an self-inflicted wound in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. One scenario being discussed is that the suspect may have placed the end of the gun barrel in his mouth and pulled the trigger but failed to kill himself.
From a purely clinical point of view and assuming the suspect did not flinch and give himself a...
Source: Inside Surgery - April 21, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Musings bomber boston next wound suicide suscept Source Type: blogs
Aubrey de Grey on "The Undoing of Aging"
Philanthropy by high net worth individuals has the potential to move the needle on any major biotechnology project these days. The cost of research in the field is falling rapidly, thanks to spectacular ongoing gains in computational power and materials science. There are now thousands of individuals in the world with a net worth sufficient to completely fund a cure for a disease, from a starting point of nothing but ideas through to first human trials. But of course to exchange your entire net worth for a cure, to give up on the whole of the vast process that has been your business life to date, you'd have to be something...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 19, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Activism, Advocacy and Education Source Type: blogs
A Path to Personalized Pain Treatment? | Pain Research Forum
Opioids are in crisis. Many physicians and patients say that the medications can be used responsibly to treat chronic pain. Yet experts also warn that prescriptions are out of control and fueling an epidemic of abuse, overdose, and death. Government agencies have responded with tighter regulations, but investigators say the only real solution is to identify the most suitable candidates for opioid treatment: those patients most likely to experience effective analgesia with minimal adverse consequences. In a recent paper, a panel of prominent pain researchers and clinicians outlines a research agenda for ...
Source: Psychology of Pain - April 16, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
Neural Bridge Bypasses Site of Spital Cord Injury to Restore Hand Movement in Monkey
Spinal cord transection is a devastating permanent injury, and we still don’t have a way to reconnect broken neural pathways in such patients. Instead of fixing the injury, researchers from Japan’s Science and Technology Agency and the University of Washington developed an electronic bypass system that tapped neural signals above a spinal lesion in a monkey for transmission . This signal was recreated and reintroduced below the lesion, and effectively helped restore volitional movement in the animal’s weakened hand.Additionally, the researchers created another connection from a muscle weakened by the...
Source: Medgadget - April 11, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: in the news... Source Type: blogs
Incremental Advances in Machine-Nerve Interfaces
Computational hardware, electronics, and biotechnology are three of the most rapidly advancing fields of human endeavor at the present time. The years ahead are going to be most interesting, even though progress always seems far too slow and incremental while living it a day at a time. One field that sits within the broad overlap of machinery, computing, and biology is that of nerve-machine interfaces, which spans the gamut from the creation of machines to take on the job of a biological nerve structure, through simulation of nervous system behavior, through to attaching machinery to nerves in order to form a new gestalt s...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 18, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Reforging the Brain, One Small Piece at a Time
The repair of aging in the human brain will have to proceed one small step at a time. Either the rejuvenation biotechnologies of the SENS program will prove sufficient to remove every aggregate and process that stops an old brain maintaining itself like a young brain does, or there must be an even more patchwork quilt of therapies, each one fixing some form of damage. The former is a much more efficient path towards meaningful healthy life extension than the latter, but the vast majority of laboratory research and related funding goes towards progress on the harder, slower road.
So reforging the brain: if we're not thinki...
Source: Fight Aging! - February 7, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
ReWalk Rehabilitation 2.0 Exoskeleton Improved to Get More People Using It
Argo Medical (Marlborough, MA) unveiled a new version of its ReWalk Rehabilitation exoskeleton for people with spinal cord injuries.The device is meant to be used in rehab clinics and the new version is meant to be able to support a greater range of user body sizes, a new sizing mechanism to get folks ready for each session, and a new beginner mode that helps newbies get used to the ReWalk.Read More (Source: Medgadget)
Source: Medgadget - January 24, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Rehab Source Type: blogs
How Morphine Can Increase Pain - Medical News Today
For individuals with agonizing pain, it is a cruel blow when the gold-standard medication actually causes more pain. Adults and children whose pain gets worse when treated with morphine may be closer to a solution, based on research published in the on-line edition of Nature Neuroscience. "Our research identifies a molecular pathway by which morphine can increase pain, and suggests potential new ways to make morphine effective for more patients," says senior author Dr. Yves De Koninck, Professor at Université Laval in Quebec City. The team included researchers from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in To...
Source: Psychology of Pain - January 20, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Source Type: blogs
New definitions for CKD! Medrants version 1.0
This represents my first attempt at explaining the new CKD definitions. I invite my readers, especially my loyal renal readers, to suggest modifications. This rant will become the basis for a regular talk, and I want to get it right. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
Ten years after we have new definitions for CKD. Soon after they established the initial stages, authors began to argue that we should divide stage 3 into 3a and 3b. Now they have.
For those who want to read all the details - KDIGO 2012 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Evaluation and Management of Chronic Kidn...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - January 18, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: rcentor Tags: Attending Rounds Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
The LITFL Review 090
Welcome to the global 90th edition!
The LITFL Review is your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peaks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the best and brightest from the blogosphere, the podcast video/audiosphere and the rest of the Web 2.0 social media jungle to find the most fantastic EM/CC FOAM (Free Open Access Meducation) around.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beaut of the Week
Top spot this week is given to The Trauma Professional’s Blog, each week Michael provides us with fascinati...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - January 10, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Kane Guthrie Tags: Education eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured Health LITFL review LITFL R/V Source Type: blogs
The LITFL Review 090
Welcome to the global 90th edition!
The LITFL Review is your regular and reliable source for the highest highlights, sneakiest sneak peaks and loudest shout-outs from the webbed world of emergency medicine and critical care. Each week the LITFL team casts the spotlight on the best and brightest from the blogosphere, the podcast video/audiosphere and the rest of the Web 2.0 social media jungle to find the most fantastic EM/CC FOAM (Free Open Access Meducation) around.
The Most Fair Dinkum Ripper Beaut of the Week
Top spot this week is given to The Trauma Professional’s Blog, each week Michael provides us with fascinati...
Source: Life in the Fast Lane - January 10, 2013 Category: Emergency Medicine Doctors Authors: Kane Guthrie Tags: Education eLearning Emergency Medicine Featured Health LITFL review LITFL R/V Source Type: blogs
Philips Respironics CoughAssist T70 Cleared in U.S. as Alternative to Airway Suctioning
Coughing is an important physiologic mechanism by which the airways are cleared of secretions that can otherwise impair breathing and cause pneumonia. People with various neuromuscular diseases, spinal cord injuries, or those post-stroke can have trouble producing an effective cough, so manual suctioning is often performed.Philips Respironics just received FDA approval for the CoughAssist T70, a system that generates air movement through the airway that’s similar to a natural cough and collects the phlegm that’s produced. The device uses sensors to detect the person’s breathing pattern and will synchron...
Source: Medgadget - January 8, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Gene Ostrovsky Tags: Critical Care Medicine Source Type: blogs
