March 21st, 2010 by DrRamonaBates in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
Tags: Breast Augmentation, Breast Implants, Double-Bubble Breast Deformity, Mastoplexy, Plastic Surgery
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Recently a Staten Island woman was awarded $3.5 million after developing a double-bubble breast deformity after a breast augmentation/mastopexy surgery — commonly known as breast implants.
I don’t know if the award was warranted, but I do know that the deformity is a known risk of breast augmentation surgery. I try very hard to tell patients about possible risks of surgery, but none of us go into surgery thinking we will be the half or one or two percent. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
March 19th, 2010 by DrJonLaPook in Better Health Network, News, Research, Video
Tags: Adult Stem Cells, Columbia, embryonic stem cells, Genetics, Harvard, HES Cells, IPS Cells, Stem Cell Research
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Camouflaged in the politics, controversy, and hype surrounding stem cells have been two stunning and unexpected dividends: the ability to study diseases in a petrie dish and a new way to think about cancer. This is separate from the most well-publicized stem cell story: the potential of embryonic stem cells to morph into any cell in the body and replace injured or defective cells - for example in diabetes, Parkinson’s, and spinal cord injury.
Human embryonic stem cells (HES cells) are collected from unused embryos created by in-vitro fertilization. About two years ago, scientists figured out a way to turn ordinary skin cells into stem cells. This was a huge deal. These cells - called “induced pluripotents stem cells” (IPS cells) - are not identical to HES cells and may not be quite as nimble in morphing into other cells. But they are electrifying the field because diseases can now be studied outside the body - in a petrie dish. For example, researchers have taken skin from patients with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), turned them into stem cells, then turned the stem cells into the kind of nerve cells (motor neurons) damaged in the disease. Read more »
March 18th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Medical Art, News
Tags: EA, EA Sports Active 2.0, Electronic Arts, Fitness, Preventive Medicine, Technology, Video Game, Wireless
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Electronic Arts, the video game development company, has announced its next generation of fitness tools. Following up on its popular EA SPORTS Active product line, the release scheduled for this fall should include a heart rate monitor, arm and leg accelerometers, and an online program to track and share one’s workouts. The name for the new system has yet to be finalized, so for now EA just tacked on a “2.0″ to the end of the current name. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
March 16th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Accelerator, Accidents, Cars, Emergency Medicine, Prius, Safety, Speeding
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I have a confession: I’ve been risking my life.
Yes, still driving a Prius.
I do buy that accelerator pedals can be mechanically jammed by a floor mat (though there’s clips on my car to hold it in place), but this unintended acceleration ‘panic’ is just that. (If for no other reason that there’s now a flurry of cases of this, and none before it was the freak-out du jour). Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
March 14th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, News, True Stories
Tags: Gastroenterology, New York Times, Pancreatitis, Pediatrics, Social Media, Twitter
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I have many reasons to use Twitter. One of them is that it’s quite easy to get feedback from doctors who also use Twitter for communication. Now one of my stories was featured in the New York Times.
Some people are even using Twitter for more urgent questions. Bertalan Meskó, a medical student at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, wrote a post about a patient with mysterious symptoms: “Strange case today in internal medicine rotation. 16 years old boy with acute pancreatitis (for the 6th! time). Any ideas?”
Within hours, specialists worldwide had responded, suggesting gallstones, lupus or growths on the pancreas. One of the suggestions helped the doctors with a diagnosis.
“It would have been impossible to find that specialist through e-mail, because we had no idea who to contact,” Mr. Meskó said.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
March 12th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
Tags: breath test, Diagnosis, Infectious Disease, mycobacteria, tb, Technology, tuberculosis
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Menssana Research, Inc is touting results from a trial testing its Breathscanner for diagnosing patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis. Menssana has developed technology that may bring breath testing for a variety of conditions, including the already FDA approved breath test for heart transplant rejection.
Some details about the technology from Menssana:
The Mycobacteria that cause pulmonary TB generate a very distinctive pattern of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) when grown in the laboratory. If these VOCs could also be detected in the breath of infected patients, it might provide a new method for detecting active infection with pulmonary TB. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
March 12th, 2010 by StaceyButterfield in Better Health Network, News
Tags: AHRQ, Carolyn Clancy, Chasm, Clinical, Comparative Effectiveness, Healthcare reform, Quality, Research
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As one would expect from such a diverse group, comparisons were a common topic at the co-located National Medical Home Summit, National Retail Clinic Summit, and Population Health and Disease Management Colloquium this week.
During an opening session, Carolyn Clancy, head of the AHRQ, updated us on some of the comparison work her agency has been doing. Last year’s stimulus bill dedicated a lot of funds ($300 mill directly, more through the Secretary of HHS) to the agency’s work on comparative effectiveness. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
March 11th, 2010 by DrJonathanFoulds in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: addiction, Addiction Medicine, Cigarettes, FDA, nicotine, Nicotine-Free, Quitting, Regulation, smoking, smoking cessation
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In the previous posting I discussed the possibility of FDA requiring that no tobacco products be allowed to emit Carbon Monoxide. While appealing in its simplicity, such a strategy may have problems in that it could be interpreted as a ban on a whole class (or classes) of tobacco products, which the legislation does not allow.
Another strategy might be to reduce the harm from tobacco by lowering the nicotine content/delivery of cigarettes down to the level at which they are no longer addictive. A form of this strategy was proposed in the 1990’s by leading tobacco researchers Professor Neal Benowitz, and Professor Jack Henningfield. The FDA legislation singles out nicotine as the only chemical that cannot be reduced to zero, but this allows FDA the right to reduce the nicotine delivery of tobacco products down to a level just above zero at which they would no longer be addictive. Read more »
This post, Will Nicotine-Free Cigarettes Be Mandated By The FDA?, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds M.A., M.App.Sci., Ph.D..
March 10th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, News
Tags: FDA, Second Life, Social Media
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You have probably heard about the Food and Drug Administration Social Media Hearing that took place last November focusing on how FDA-regulated products should use internet and social media for health-related communications. It also has an own, properly designed, online presence including Twitter streams and partners.
A week ago, I had a chance to attend a lively discussion focusing on this issue in the virtual realm of Second Life moderated by Patricia F. Anderson. I’ve seen numerous conferences in Second Life and this one was again a nice example that virtual environment is still useful when people from around the world would like to gather around and watch a presentation, then discuss it. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
March 10th, 2010 by DavidHarlow in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Controls, Diagnostic Radiology, Dose Alert, Ionizing Radiation, Limiting Radiation Exposure, MITA
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MITA Executive Director Dave Fischer spoke with HealthBlawg last week about industry efforts to control radiation dose in diagnostic radiology modalities such as CT.
A congressional hearing on radiation dose control took place the day after we spoke, and the FDA will be holding a hearing on diagnostic radiology issues in late March. Earlier last week, timed in part perhaps because of the upcomng congressional committee hearing, MITA kicked off the dose check initiative, a tool for manufacturers and providers to use in better regulating diagnostic imaging radiation dose, which Dave Fischer describes in our interview. He also referred to the CMS demonstration project on appropriateness of imaging services now underway, authorized by MIPPA. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at HealthBlawg :: David Harlow's Health Care Law Blog*
