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Latest Posts

The Power Of Comprehensive Healthcare

Today, in a bold and not too distant place, 300 individuals who are at high risk for multiple health problems predictive of high mortality rates, are participating in a visionary experimental project for telemedicine and health monitoring.

Every day these individuals are tracked through GPS location. Their movement patterns and whereabouts easily can be observed by trained technicians who ascertain that the individuals are getting up and going about their daily activities in a normal fashion. Deviations in movements for any expected individual can be the earliest indicator that something has gone seriously wrong and might warrant an investigatory call or visit to look into a developing heath problem.
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Eating Healthy: Try A Mediterranean “Wonder Food”

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA

Last week, I returned from Italy — Florence (Firenze) to be exact (a magical city in Tuscany) — only to realize how much I miss the delicious Mediterranean food. Trattorias (little informal restaurants) can be found along the cobblestone streets through the narrow alleyways. The trattorias boast magnificent Mediterranean cuisine — it’s healthy and ingredients are simple. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Health in 30*

Population Growth Is Dependent Upon Nutrition

Population increases when the birthrate exceeds the death rate, and decreases when the reverse occurs. So what does the world look like when there are too many people?

One way to approach this question is to consider what the limiting factors in population are. When, exactly, does the death rate exceed the birthrate? A key consideration is mortality. If people live shorter lives, the death rate goes up, and population goes down (or at least grows more slowly). What causes mortality to increase? Obviously things like wars, pandemics, and famines have an impact, but economist Robert Fogel argues that these are actually a relatively small part of the global mortality picture. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Daily Monthly*

How To Make Your Own Sugar-Free Gummy Worms

OK, so this is not a medically brilliant post, but I thought I would share! For a low sugar snack, you can try making your own gummy worms! Thank you to whomever developed this fun treat!

Ingredients

  • 2 packages sugar free Jell-O
  • 2 packages plain gelatin
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • (optional) If you like sour gummies, you can add a packet of Kool-Aid to the ingredients

Directions Read more »

This post, How To Make Your Own Sugar-Free Gummy Worms, was originally published on Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..

Liquid Calories And School Lunches

Bloomberg recently posted that the New York school system is going to eliminate whole milk from their cafeterias to cut calories. 4.6 billion calories and 422 billion grams of fat will be eliminated from the menu by this plan. A good plan for the kids involved. Well, at least a good start.

As the post notes, schools nationwide are working diligently to tweak menus and offer healthier alternatives for kids in all grades from elementary school to high school. Some schools, such as the school district my kids attend, use electronic payment systems where parents can log-on to see what their kids have purchased. We’ve found this helpful at times to remind our kids about healthy alternatives and how to order a healthy lunch, especially on days when they find them selves either completely ravenous or with little time, which can easily happen in a typical school day. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Gwenn Is In*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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