Health and Medical Blogs Collected by the US National Library of Medicine

Does anyone have a favorite health/medical blog?
Feel free to add it here in the comments section.

 

From the press release

“What wondrous things my four working limbs were once able to accomplish!” writes Marc, a 48-year-old New Yorker diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis in 2003, in his blog, “Wheelchair Kamikaze.”

You can tap into Marc’s “Rants, Ruminations, and Reflections of a Mad MStery Patient” and 11 more health-related blogs authored by physicians, nurses, patients like Marc, patient advocates and others on NLM’s new—and riveting—”Health and Medicine Blogs” collection.

According to Jeffrey S. Reznick, PhD, chief of the NLM History of Medicine Division, these and the thousands of other digital publications that have blossomed on the Internet follow in “the long tradition of professional narratives, personal papers, and other technical health and medical information, but with a 21st century twist. They are less formal but equally if not more insightful.”

By selecting and collecting Web content like these blogs, the Library is continuing to fulfill in a new and dynamic way its mission to collect, preserve, and make accessible the scholarly biomedical literature as well as resources that illustrate a diversity of philosophical and cultural perspectives related to human health and disease. In today’s publishing environment there are important and insightful views on 21st century health care that aren’t reflected in the technical, scholarly literature. The new collection bolsters the Library’s core mission to gather, preserve, and make accessible the range of biomedical literature that in some cases only NLM collects. It is a unique resource for future scholarship.

“The blogs help to reveal the changing state of medicine,” Reznick emphasizes. “It is a thoughtful collection for future reflection and analysis.” Researchers 50 years from now will be able to view snapshots of today’s medical system as seen through the lenses of people’s lives, as captured by “e-Patient Dave” in his blog. Or they can learn about the complexities of current-day health IT from John Halamka, MD on his “Life as a Healthcare CIO” blog.

…….

The actual  blog collection is here —“A web archiving serviceto harvest and preserve digital collections, a service of the Internet Archive”

 

[Reposting] Why do haters have to hate?

From the 26 August 2013 article at EurkAlert

Newly identified personality trait holds clues

		IMAGE: This image shows Dolores Albarracín (left), University of Pennsylvania, and Justin Hepler, University of Illinois. Click here for more information.

PHILADELPHIA (August 26, 2013) – New research has uncovered the reason why some people seem to dislike everything while others seem to like everything. Apparently, it’s all part of our individual personality – a dimension that researchers have coined “dispositional attitude.”

People with a positive dispositional attitude have a strong tendency to like things, whereas people with a negative dispositional attitude have a strong tendency to dislike things, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The journal article, “Attitudes without objects: Evidence for a dispositional attitude, its measurement, and its consequences,” was written by Justin Hepler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Dolores Albarracín, Ph.D., the Martin Fishbein Chair of Communication and Professor of Psychology at Penn.

“The dispositional attitude construct represents a new perspective in which attitudes are not simply a function of the properties of the stimuli under consideration, but are also a function of the properties of the evaluator,” wrote the authors. “[For example], at first glance, it may not seem useful to know someone’s feelings about architecture when assessing their feelings about health care. After all, health care and architecture are independent stimuli with unique sets of properties, so attitudes toward these objects should also be independent.” However, they note, there is still one critical factor that an individual’s attitudes will have in common: the individual who formed the attitudes. “Some people may simply be more prone to focusing on positive features and others on negative features,” Hepler said.

To discover whether people differ in the tendency to like or dislike things, Hepler and Albarracín created a scale that requires people to report their attitudes toward a wide variety of unrelated stimuli, such as architecture, cold showers, politics, and soccer. Upon knowing how much people (dis)like these specific things, the responses were then averaged together to calculate their dispositional attitude (i.e., to calculate how much they tend to like or dislike things in general). The theory is that if individuals differ in the general tendency to like versus dislike objects, attitudes toward independent objects may actually be related. Throughout the studies the researchers found that people with generally positive dispositional attitudes are more open than people with generally negative dispositional attitudes. In day-to-day practice, this means that people with positive dispositional attitudes may be more prone to actually buy new products, get vaccine shots, follow regular positive actions (recycling, driving carefully, etc.)

“This surprising and novel discovery expands attitude theory by demonstrating that an attitude is not simply a function of an object’s properties, but it is also a function of the properties of the individual who evaluates the object,” concluded Hepler and Albarracín. “Overall, the present research provides clear support for the dispositional attitude as a meaningful construct that has important implications for attitude theory and research.”

Related articles

• Why do haters have to hate? Newly identified personality trait holds clues (scienceblog.com)
• Haters Gonna Hate, Specialists Explain Why They Can’t Help It (news.softpedia.com)
• A Scientific Theory Of Haters: ‘Dispositional Attitudes’ Determine Negative And Positive Responses, New Study Concludes (medicaldaily.com)
• Why Do Haters Have to Hate? Newly Identified Personality Trait Holds Clues, University of Illinois Study (biospace.com)

 

[Reposting] 1 in 4 has alarmingly few intestinal bacteria

From the 27 August 2013 EurkAlert

All people have trillions of bacteria living in their intestines. If you place them on a scale, they weigh around 1.5 kg. Previously, a major part of these ‘blind passengers’ were unknown, as they are difficult or impossible to grow in laboratories. But over the past five years, an EU-funded research team, MetaHIT, coordinated by Professor S. Dusko Ehrlich at the INRA Research Centre of Jouy-en-Josas, France and with experts from Europe and China have used advanced DNA analysis and bioinformatics methods to map human intestinal bacteria.

-The genetic analysis of intestinal bacteria from 292 Danes shows that about a quarter of us have up to 40% less gut bacteria genes and correspondingly fewer bacteria than average. Not only has this quarter fewer intestinal bacteria, but they also have reduced bacterial diversity and they harbour more bacteria causing a low-grade inflammation of the body. This is a representative study sample, and the study results can therefore be generalised to people in the Western world, says Oluf Pedersen, Professor and Scientific Director at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

Oluf Pedersen and Professor Torben Hansen have headed the Danish part of the MetaHIT project, and the findings are reported in the highly recognised scientific journal Nature.

The gut is like a rainforest

Oluf Pedersen compares the human gut and its bacteria with a tropical rainforest. He explains that we need as much diversity as possible, and – as is the case with the natural tropical rainforests – decreasing diversity is a cause for concern. It appears that the richer and more diverse the composition of our intestinal bacteria, the stronger our health. The bacteria produce vital vitamins, mature and strengthen our immune system and communicate with the many nerve cells and hormone-producing cells in the intestinal system. And, not least, the bacteria produce a wealth of bioactive substances which penetrate into the bloodstream and affect our biology in countless ways.

-Our study shows that people having few and less diverse intestinal bacteria are more obese than the rest. They have a preponderance of bacteria which exhibit the potential to cause mild inflammation in the digestive tract and in the entire body, which is reflected in blood samples that reveal a state of chronic inflammation, which we know from other studies to affect metabolism and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, says Oluf Pedersen.

-And we also see that if you belong to the group with less intestinal bacteria and have already developed obesity, you will also gain more weight over a number of years. We don’t know what came first, the chicken or the egg, but one thing is certain: it is a vicious circle that poses a health threat, says the researcher.

Take care of your intestinal bacteria

The researchers thus still cannot explain why some people have fewer intestinal bacteria, but the researchers are focusing their attention at dietary components, genetic variation in the human host, exposure to antimicrobial agents during early childhood and the chemistry we encounter daily in the form of preservatives and disinfectants.

A French research team reports a study in the same issue of Nature showing that by maintaining a low-fat diet for just six weeks, a group of overweight individuals with fewer and less diverse intestinal bacteria may, to some extent, increase the growth of intestinal bacteria, both in terms of actual numbers and diversity.

-This indicates that you can repair some of the damage to your gut bacteria simply by changing your dietary habits. Our intestinal bacteria are actually to be considered an organ just like our heart and brain, and the presence of health-promoting bacteria must therefore be cared for in the best way possible. Over the next years, we will be gathering more knowledge of how best to do this,” says Oluf Pedersen, whose research team is studying, among other things, the impact of dietary gluten on gut bacteria composition and gut function.

Towards innovative early diagnostics and treatment options

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are not just a result of unfortunate combinations of intestinal bacteria or lack of health-promoting intestinal bacteria, Oluf Pedersen emphasises. There are likely many causal factors at play. But the MetaHit researchers’ contribution opens a new universe in which we begin to understand how gut bacteria in direct contact with the surrounding environment have a decisive impact on our health and risk of disease.

-At present we cannot do anything about our own DNA, individual variation in which also plays a crucial role in susceptibility for lifestyle diseases. But thanks to the new gut microbiota research, we now can start exploring interactions between host genetics and the gut bacteria- related environment which we may be able to change. That is why it is so exciting for us scientist within this research field– the possibilities are huge, says Oluf Pedersen.

-The long-term dream is to map and characterize any naturally occurring gut bacteria that produce appetite-inhibiting bioactive substances and in this way learn to exploit the body’s own medicine to prevent the obesity epidemic and type 2 diabetes, says Oluf Pedersen.

 

 

[Reposting] A Major Cause of Age-Related Memory Loss Identified: Potentially Reversible

English: PET scan of a human brain with Alzheimer’s disease (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

From the 28 August 2013 article at Science Daily

 

A team of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers, led by Nobel laureate Eric R. Kandel, MD, has found that deficiency of a protein called RbAp48 in the hippocampus is a significant contributor to age-related memory loss and that this form of memory loss is reversible. The study, conducted in postmortem human brain cells and in mice, also offers the strongest causal evidence that age-related memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease are distinct conditions.

…….

“The fact that we were able to reverse age-related memory loss in mice is very encouraging,” said Dr. Kandel. “Of course, it’s possible that other changes in the DG contribute to this form of memory loss. But at the very least, it shows that this protein is a major factor, and it speaks to the fact that age-related memory loss is due to a functional change in neurons of some sort. Unlike with Alzheimer’s, there is no significant loss of neurons.”

Finally, the study data suggest that RbAp48 protein mediates its effects, at least in part, through the PKA-CREB1-CBP pathway, which the team had found in earlier studies to be important for age-related memory loss in the mouse. According to the researchers, RbAp48 and the PKA-CREB1-CBP pathway are valid targets for therapeutic intervention. Agents that enhance this pathway have already been shown to improve age-related hippocampal dysfunction in rodents.

“Whether these compounds will work in humans is not known,” said Dr. Small. “But the broader point is that to develop effective interventions, you first have to find the right target. Now we have a good target, and with the mouse we’ve developed, we have a way to screen therapies that might be effective, be they pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, or physical and cognitive exercises.”

“There’s been a lot of handwringing over the failures of drug trials based on findings from mouse models of Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Small said. “But this is different. Alzheimer’s does not occur naturally in the mouse. Here, we’ve caused age-related memory loss in the mouse, and we’ve shown it to be relevant to human aging.”

 

 

 

Read the entire article

 

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• Scientists find clue to reasons for age-related memory loss (cbsnews.com)
• Drugs to reverse memory loss: Scientists discover secret of restoring lost brain function (express.co.uk)

 

[Reposting] ‘Safe’ Levels of Environmental Pollution May Have Long-Term Health Consequences

Environmental pollution (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

From the 29th August 2013 article at Science Daily

 

If you’re eating better and exercising regularly, but still aren’t seeing improvements in your health, there might be a reason: pollution. According to a new research report published in the September issue of The FASEB Journal, what you are eating and doing may not be the problem, but what’s in what you are eating could be the culprit.

“This study adds evidences for rethinking the way of addressing risk assessment especially when considering that the human population is widely exposed to low levels of thousands of chemicals, and that the health impact of realistic mixtures of pollutants will have to be tested as well,” said Brigitte Le Magueresse-Battistoni, a researcher involved in the work from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). “Indeed, one pollutant could have a different effect when in mixture with other pollutants. Thus, our study may have strong implications in terms of recommendations for food security. Our data also bring new light to the understanding of the impact of environmental food contaminants in the development of metabolic diseases.”

 

 

 

Read the entire article here

 

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Substance use by adolescents on an average day is alarming

 

I am all for decriminalizing illegal drug use. However, I am very concerned about substance abuse, especially among folks whose brains are still developing (and this goes on until age 25 or so).

From the abstract of the report at Full Text Reports

On an average day, 881,684 teenagers aged 12 to 17 smoked cigarettes, according to a report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).   The report also says that on average day 646,707 adolescents smoked marijuana and 457,672 drank alcohol.

To provide some perspective, the number of adolescents using marijuana on an average day could almost fill the Indianapolis Speedway (seating capacity 250,000 seats) two and a half times.

“This data about adolescents sheds new light on how deeply substance use pervades the lives of many young people and their families,” said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde. “While other studies indicate that significant progress has been made in lowering the levels of some forms of substance use among adolescents in the past decade, this report shows that far too many young people are still at risk.”

The report, which highlights the substance abuse behavior and addiction treatment activities that occur among adolescents on an average day, draws on a variety of SAMHSA data sets.

The report also sheds light on how many adolescents aged 12 to 17 used illegal substances for the first time.  On an average day:

• 7,639 drank alcohol for the first time;

• 4,594 used an illicit drug for the first time;

• 4,000 adolescents used marijuana for the first time;

• 3,701 smoked cigarettes for the first time; and

• 2,151 misused prescription pain relievers for the first time.

Using data from SAMHSA Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), the report also analyzes how many adolescents aged 12 to 17 were receiving treatment for a substance abuse problem during an average day.  These numbers included:

• Over 71,000 in outpatient treatment,

• More than 9,302 in non-hospital residential treatment, and

• Over 1,258 in hospital inpatient treatment.

In terms of hospital emergency department visits involving adolescents aged 12 to 17, on an average day marijuana is involved in 165 visits, alcohol is involved in 187 visits and misuse of prescription or nonprescription pain relievers is implicated in 74 visits.

SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a confidential, free, 24-hour-a-day, 365-day-a-year, information service that people – including adolescents and their family members — can contact when facing substance abuse and mental health issues. This service provides referrals to local treatment facilities, support groups, and community-based organizations. Callers can also order free publications and other information in print on substance abuse and mental health issues. Call 1-800-662-HELP (4357) or visit the online treatment locators at http://findtreatment.samhsa.gov/.

The complete report contains many other facts about the scope and nature of adolescent substance abuse, treatment and treatment admissions patterns and is available at: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2K13/CBHSQ128/sr128-typical-day-adolescents-2013.pdf. It was drawn from analyses of SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Treatment Episode Data Set, and National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services, and Drug Abuse Warning Network.

Related articles

• Substance Use by Adolescents On an Average Day Is Alarming (abbeyswalk.wordpress.com)
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• Hundreds of Thousands of Teens Use Pot, Alcohol Each Day: Report (news.health.com)
• Marijuana use by kids probs (medfield02052.wordpress.com)
• Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2011: National Estimates of Drug – Related Emergency Department Visits (jflahiff.wordpress.com)
• Bump Seen in Substance Abuse Treatment During Pregnancy (nlm.nih.gov)
• Does Adolescent Drug Use Affect You As An Adult (narcononarrowheadreviews.wordpress.com)
• Nonmedical Use of Prescription Pain Relievers May Raise the Risk of Turning to Heroin Use (samhsa.gov)
• Fact: Teen Pot Use Dropped Amid Rise of Medical Marijuana (sfgate.com)
• Shocking! (addictionandrecoverynews.wordpress.com)

 

[Reblog] Are the Brains of Introverts and Extroverts Actually Different?

From the 27 August 2013 post at Discover Magazine

By Ben Thomas

Introversion, it seems, is the Internet’s current meme du jour. Articles on introverts are nothing new, of course—The Atlantic’s 2003 classic “Caring for Your Introvert” still gets passed around Facebook on a regular basis—but the topic has gained some sort of strange critical mass in the past few weeks, and has been popping up everywhere from Gawker to Forbes.

This latest swarm of articles ranges from glorified personality quizzes (31 Unmistakable Signs That You’re An Introvert”) to history lessons (“16 Outrageously Successful Introverts”) to business essays (“Why Introverts Can Make Excellent Executives”) to silly, self-aware send-ups of the trend itself (“15 Unmistakable, Outrageously Secret Signs You’re an Extrovert”). The vast majority of them also come packaged with the assumption the reader understands the basic concept of introversion, and already has a pretty clear idea of whether he or she is an introvert or an extrovert.

…

The Science of Personality

In short, although the science of personality is still in the relative Dark Ages, researchers have begun to draw links between what these structural and functional brain differences between personality types might mean in terms of their respective peccadilloes.

But brain differences that correlate with introversion or extroversion don’t necessarily show which of these differences—if any—cause introversion or extroversion. “We don’t have experiments that really address whether those brain differences play a causal role,” Castro says. “We’re still pretty far from having … a scientific description of personality differences at the level of cells and synapses.”

And it’s important to keep in mind that our brain structures vary from person to person along all sorts of axes that inform our personalities—not just introversion and extroversion. As the science of brain mapping develops, maybe we’ll have a myriad of new spectrums we can use to describe our personalities in terms of our gray matter.

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[Reblog] A prominent psychiatrist admits helping invent ADHD as a disease

 

From the 25 August 2013 article at ForwardMotion

Many vaguely understand that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) keeps making up diseases as they continue developing new issues of their DSM or Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Recently, a founding father of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), announced a few months before his death that … “ADHD is a prime example of a fictitious disease.”

After turning 87 years old, American psychiatrist Dr. Leon Eisenberg made this statement to the German weekly Der Spiegel on 2 February 2012. Seven months later, he died. Apparently, he had decided to come clean and confess before moving to the beyond.

Dr. Eisenberg was among the committee of psychiatrists who put together the DMS II in 1968. He had initially coined the term “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood,” which was described and agreed upon by the committee and confirmed by a small percentage of APA members as a mental disorder. Later, the term was altered to the current ADHD.

Yet, there is no biological proof or test to determine exactly what chemicals are “out of balance” in the brain for ADHD or any other disorder. Most psychiatric drugs are unnecessary at least. And they have often caused suicide and homicide.

Then there are the milder adverse reactions that include feeling depressed or not like oneself and even physically out of sorts among those taking psychotropics for mental disorders created by committees.

An epidemic of pharmaceutical drug use is harming millions of kids

Since that DSM conference in 1968, Dr. Eisenberg’s contribution to mental disease by invention and committee consensus has resulted in drugging millions of children from preschool age through high school.

It’s currently estimated that up to 20% (one out of five) of children from nursery school and kindergarten through high school and in foster homes have been prescribed Ritalin.

Ritalin, commonly prescribed for kids “diagnosed” (labeled is more appropriate) with ADHD was tested a little over a decade ago by the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). The BNL study determined that Ritalin is pharmacologically similar to cocaine with perhaps even worse brain damaging potential.

Even the DEA’s Office of Diversion Control classifies methylphenidate (RitalinR) as a Class II controlled substance with … “a high potential for abuse which may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence.”

Ritalin and other pharmaceutical psychotropic prescriptions are often enforced with threats of expulsion of those kids deemed inattentive or difficult to manage.

Parents, teachers, or foster home caretakers who are too busy to bother managing children with dietary changes or appropriate social management skills are easily convinced that these drugs offer solutions.

Meanwhile, the collusion of Big Pharma and psychiatry thrives with their DMS invented diseases, which legitimized government and private insurance funding for their bogus medical racket. You don’t have to be well off to pay for a shrink anymore. Just make sure your coverage includes psychotropic drugs.

Psychiatrists with pharmaceutical ties comprised at least 68% of the DSM-V committee. Big Pharma pays psychiatrists to deliver seminars, act as consultants, or enroll their clients into final testing of new drugs.

Some receive up to $100,000. Big Pharma paid out $250 million for these and other professional services during the years 2009 and 2010. Dr. Irwin Savodnik, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA School of Medicine, stated succinctly, “The very vocabulary of psychiatry is now defined at all levels by the pharmaceutical industry.”

The widespread drugging of children with neurological damage potential puts normal kids in harm’s way while creating psychological ignorance and dependence on a pseudo-scientific medical racket that’s raking in billions.

To read more on the sources for this article, click link below.

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[Re-post] The Advantages of Not Multi-Tasking

Tantek Multitasking (Photo credit: Thomas Hawk)

 

Always thought it was best to focus on one thing at a time….

 

From the 8 August 2013 article at Higher Ed Jobs by Kelly A. Cherwin, Communications Editor, HigherEdJobs

 

Although I did turn off my cell phone, I attended the recent ACUHO-I conference session eating my yogurt and drinking a cup of coffee as I was taking notes on why most people are not efficient at multi-tasking. This is why I’m sharing tips from the presentation: “I’m Really Good at Multi-tasking” – No You Are Not!

Many people feel that if they multi-task, they can be more efficient and effective. However, the truth is that most people don’t do it well and often times the quality of each task completed may decrease. As discussed by the presenter, Cathy Bickel from Ball State University, a study by Microsoft found that it takes an employee an average of 15 minutes to return their attention back to the previous task when distracted by email, instant message, etc. If a person is in a meeting and then decides they must return a text message, they are no longer really focusing on the meeting details. They are physically sitting in the meeting, but they are not present because their attention is diverted to the text and then later more time is spent focusing their attention back to the meeting. Someone is on a phone call and then suddenly hears the “ding” of new emails in their inbox. They check the emails, while still talking on the phone but again, their attention is diverted from the phone call as well as possibly missing details in the emails. Examples of inefficient multi-tasking are plentiful. So, what is the answer? In most non-urgent cases, it is better to complete one task with one’s full attention and then move on to the next. Yes, the definition of urgent is subjective but most professionals should be able to distinguish between something urgent and the newest funny picture of a cat.

As Bickel mentioned, attention is a more limited resource than time and people need to manage their attention in order to be more productive. Here are strategies on how to manage attention and be more efficient without multi-tasking:

• Prioritize the day. Try to schedule the most important tasks in the morning. Don’t move on to next task until the first one is complete. Having a to-do list of these necessary tasks is a must.
• Consider time periods. Similar to what is encountered in school or in a sporting event, block the day into time periods. Work through these specific time periods accomplishing set tasks without allowing for interruptions. Schedule a bit of downtime in between periods for a breather or to take care of an urgent matter that may arise.
• Remove negative attention. For example, turn off the phone during the meeting or set incoming message alerts to mute while on a phone call.
• Don’t constantly fill the white space. There isn’t a need for technology all of the time. While waiting in line at the store or for the train, don’t always check the phone. Enjoy the surroundings!
• Invest attention in high returns. Consider eliminating “non-essential” websites and only check your favorites like HigherEdJobs.com or others once a day.
• Prevent distractions. Close the door if it is apparent that people or other noise will constantly be causing interruptions.
• Discuss boundaries. Let friends and family know when it is appropriate to be contacted at work. If there is an illness, “yes” but to ask what is for dinner is a “no.”
• Share commitments with others. If you tell people that you are not going to look at your emails the entire night, they can help hold you accountable.

It is not breaking news that we live in a chaotic world and often are forced to juggle many roles. But if we could all take a few minutes to slow down and truly focus on the task at hand (the meeting, an email, a co-worker, your family), both efficiency and effectiveness will follow even without multi-tasking.

 

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