Americans Fighting the Opioid Crisis in Their Own Backyards
Credit: New York Times article, Jan. 19, 2016.
The United States is in the midst of an opioid overdose epidemic. The rates of opioid addiction, babies born addicted to opioids, and overdoses have skyrocketed in the past decade. No population has been hit harder than rural communities. Many of these communities are in states with historically low levels of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIGMS’ Institutional Development Award (IDeA) program builds research capacities in these states by supporting basic, clinical, and translational research, as well as faculty development and infrastructure improveme...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - August 1, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Pharmacology Medicines Opioids Pain Source Type: blogs
Interview with a Scientist: Elhanan Borenstein, Metagenomics Systems Biology
Cataloging the human microbiome—the complete collection of bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, and viruses that live in and on our bodies—is an enormous task. Most estimates put the number of organisms who call us home on par with the number of our own cells. Imagine trying to figure out how the billions of critters influence each other and, ultimately, impact our health. Elhanan Borenstein, a computer scientist-cum-genomicist at the University of Washington, and his team are not only tackling this difficult challenge, they are also trying to obtain a systems-level understanding of the collective effect of all of the g...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 11, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Steve Constantinides Tags: Being a Scientist Cell Biology Bacteria Microbiome Source Type: blogs
Interview with a Scientist —Elhanan Borenstein: Metagenomics Systems Biology
Cataloging the human microbiome—the complete collection of bacteria, fungi, archaea, protists, and viruses that live in and on our bodies—is an enormous task. Most estimates put the number of organisms who call us home on par with the number of our own cells. Imagine trying to figure out how the billions of critters influence each other and, ultimately, impact our health. Elhanan Borenstein, a computer scientist-cum-genomicist at the University of Washington, and his team are not only tackling this difficult challenge, they are also trying to obtain a systems-level understanding of the collective effect of all of the g...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - July 11, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Steve Constantinides Tags: Being a Scientist Cell Biology Bacteria Microbiome Source Type: blogs
What is the Financial Impact of Missed Imaging Appointments?
Patients are more likelyto show up to an imaging appointment when it ’s scheduled within a week than when it’s planned at least six months in advance. Academic radiology units are losing approximately $1 million a year to patients missing medical imaging appointments. According to researchers from the University of Washington, the fees lost to no-shows amount to the purchase of one new 3T MR scanner every year.In their study published inCurrent Problems in Diagnostic Radiology, the group of researchers led by Rebecca J. Mieloszyk, PhD, evaluated a sample “average-sized, university-affiliated academic medical center...
Source: radRounds - June 21, 2018 Category: Radiology Authors: Julie Morse Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 4th 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! - June 3, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Discussing the Dog Aging Project with Matt Kaeberlein
The Life Extension Advocacy Foundation volunteers recently interviewed Matt Kaeberlein on the topic of the Dog Aging Project, a venture that aims to try in dogs some of the more credible and safe interventions shown to modestly slow aging in mice. When initially proposed, senolytics to clear senescent cells were not in that list, but we might hope to see that change in the years ahead. I'm not overly optimistic about the performance of the other possibilities, such as mTOR inhibitors and other candidate calorie restriction mimetic or exercise mimetic pharmaceuticals. In some cases the evidence is good for these items to wo...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 29, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Robot Taught to Grow Kidney Organoids from Pluripotent Stem Cells
Organoids have become a new way of studying the details of how our tissues function and to test potential new drugs in a highly realistic environment. Growing these three dimensional bits of organs from stem cells is not easy, which is why Petri dishes continue to be the standard in cellular culturing.
Now researchers at University of Washington and University of Michigan have created a robotic system that grows kidney organoids from pluripotent stem cells with little human intervention.
It takes minutes to get the process going and the robot also analyzes and sorts the resulting organoids, which can be produced by the tho...
Source: Medgadget - May 18, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
The 14 Most Common Arguments against Immigration and Why They're Wrong
This report finds more problems with immigrant assimilation in Europe, especially for those from outside of the European Union, but the findings for the United States are quite positive.The third work, by University of Washington economist Jacob Vigdor, compares modern immigrant civic and cultural assimilation to that of immigrants from the early 20th century (an earlier draft of his book chapter ishere, the published version is available in thiscollection). If you think early 20th century immigrants and their descendants eventually assimilated successfully, Vigdor’s conclusion is reassuring:While there are reasons to...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 2, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
How the First MRI Got Its Start in a McDonalds
It was 1983 and Bob Kagan wanted to revolutionize medicine. That year, after seeing a MRI at a conference in Colorado, Kagan wanted to bring the technology to Holy Cross Hospital in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, where he worked as a pathologist. His supervisors passed on the idea, and so he took the machine to a defunct McDonald ’s building where he started the first outpatient medical imaging center in the country.In an in-depth history of MRI for Forbes, journalist Ellie Kincaid describes how Kagan turned MRI services into a $5 billion global industry. For the first three years after he converted the McDonald ’s space, K...
Source: radRounds - April 23, 2018 Category: Radiology Authors: Julie Morse Source Type: blogs
IRS Refunds
Today you are supposed to settle up with the IRS on your 2017 taxes. One would think that Tax Day was a painful, hated day for Americans. But the IRS commissionerrecently noted that about 80 percent of households receive refunds upon filing, rather than having to make a further payment.The predominance of refunds is a problem. For one thing, Tax Day has become more like Christmas with the receipt of gifts from Uncle Sam, rather than a day of sober reflection about the costs of government. Those costs are obscured under the income tax by employer withholding and Tax Day refunds. (I discuss other ways that politicians hide c...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 17, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
GE is Making Ultrasound Education More Accessible
Lack of adequate ultrasound training and accessibility is a serious problem in many low and middle income countries across South America, Africa, and Asia. In a2015 study from the University of Washington, 45 percent of healthcare providers surveyed in those continents reported ultrasound equipment shortages, and 60 percent claimed sonography training was insufficient. Fortunately, scientists at General Electric Global Research are working to improve ultrasound edu cation and technical practices with an innovative augmented reality (AR) system called Vscan that helps clinicians accurately identify specific organs with art...
Source: radRounds - April 13, 2018 Category: Radiology Authors: Julie Morse Source Type: blogs
What Contributes to a Healthy Brain?
Modern medicine has given the average person an increased lifespan but not necessarily an increased health span. Most of us want both. We’d like to live longer than the norm of even a couple of decades ago, but we want to do so with good health, and that is particularly true for our brain when it comes to brain health. HealthCentral’s interest was piqued by a new book that is focused on keeping our brains healthy, Brain Rules for Aging Well, written by Dr. John J. Medina, a developmental molecular biologist who has had a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information....
Source: Minding Our Elders - March 19, 2018 Category: Geriatrics Authors: Carol Bradley Bursack Source Type: blogs
Paper Towels Seeded with Carbon Nanotubes Work as Disposable Sensors
Cheap, high-quality specialized sensors can be difficult to create for a number of reasons, because of a reliance on expensive materials, complicated functionality, or inherent reliability issues. Researchers at University of Washington have been working on developing mechanical movement sensors that are so cheap that they can be thrown away after every use.
The main structural material of the team’s sensors is paper towels that are infused with carbon nanotubes. By spraying a water-based solution containing carbon tubes onto the paper, the researchers had a cheap way of creating the material. Carbon nanotubes are ...
Source: Medgadget - February 14, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Diagnostics Materials Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
Physician-Assisted Death: Scanning the Landscape and Potential Approaches – A Workshop
Discussion with workshop participants moderated by Linda Ganzini
10:30 a.m. Break
10:45 a.m. Definitional FrameworkLegal/Regulatory Landscape (20 mins)• David Orentlicher, Co-Director, UNLV Health Law Program and The Cobeaga Law Firm Professor of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Key Terms and Taxonomy (40 mins)• Scott Kim, Senior Investigator, Department of Bioethics, NIH Clinical Center• Tom Strouse, Medical Director, Stewart and Lynda Resnick NeuropsychiatricHospital at UCLA
11:45 a.m. Discussion with workshop participants moderated by Linda Ganzini
12:15 p.m. LUNCH
SESSION II: PROVIDER E...
Source: blog.bioethics.net - December 24, 2017 Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Thaddeus Mason Pope, JD, PhD Tags: Health Care syndicated Source Type: blogs
#MeToo in medicine. This is one physician ’s story.
The senior psychiatry resident at the University of Washington School of Medicine warned me ahead of time. She laughed as she said, “He’s weird. You’ll get used to him.”
When I first met with him, the psychiatrist lazily spun in his chair, his left hand tucked into his pants, his thumb hanging out. After he told me his expectations as my supervisor, he patted my right thigh as he ended the meeting.
I spent one day a week training in his clinic. He often put his hand on my shoulder. If he sat near me, he extended his arm to pat my leg. When I sat far from him, he crowed compliments in front of patients and other sta...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - December 16, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/maria-yang" rel="tag" > Maria Yang, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Psychiatry Source Type: blogs
