May 6th, 2010 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Accessible to Children, Accidental Ingestion, Addiction Medicine, Addiction Therapy, Awareness, Camel Orbs, Cardboard Boxes, Child Safety, Childproof Containers, Cigarettes, Cigars, Flip-Top Containers, Greg Connolly, Harvard University, nicotine, Nicotine Addiction, Poison Control, Poisoning In Kids, Poisonous To Children, Prevention, Preventive Health, Smokeless Tobacco, Snus, Sticks and Strips, Tobacco Candy, Tobacco Control, Tobacco Mints, Tobacco Products, Tobacco Users
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A number of colleagues recently mentioned to me that they’ve heard that new smokeless tobacco products are very dangerous because they cause a lot of poisonings to children.
When I checked the Internet, sure enough — there were plenty of news headlines along the lines of “Tobacco mints tied to poisoning in kids” and “Tobacco candy poisoning kids, study shows.” I thought this looked interesting, particularly as I was unaware of any “tobacco candy.” Read more »
This post, Why Tobacco Should Be Childproof, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..
May 6th, 2010 by PhilBaumannRN in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: 23 And Me, Biology, Chromosomes, Complete Genomics, Controlled Substance, Digital Media, DNA Day, DNA Sequencing, Facebook, FamilyTreeDNA, Gene Pool, Genes, Genetic Counseling, Genetic Databases, Genetic Information, Genetic Retweet, Genetic Testing, Genetics, Genomic Information, Genomic Services, Genomics, Google, Human Genome, Meme-Machine, Narcissus, Navigenics, Raw Genomic Data, Replication, RNA, Social Networks, Transmission, Twitter
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As the costs of sequencing our DNA shrink and the roles of digital media in our lives expand, we will need to understand who (or what) controls the ownership, access and use of our genomic information.
From state regulation to Google to Facebook, who controls the acquisition, transmission and replication of our genomic information and material will become an important battle in the 21st century. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Phil Baumann*
May 6th, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research, True Stories
Tags: AACR, American Association for Cancer Research, American Society for Clinical Oncology, Anoikis, Apoptosis, ASCO, Barrett's Esophagus, CAM, Carcinoma, Cell Biology, Cell Death, Chemotherapy, Chronic Inflammation, Complicated, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, Cure for Cancer, Douglas Adams, Dr. Allan Balmain, Dr. Joan Brugge, Dr. Lisa Coussens, Dr. Sean Morrison, Eradication of Cancer, Evidence-Based, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, Genetic Network, Genetics, GERD, Harvard Medical School, Hulda Clark, Malignant, Medical Quackery, Metabolic Derangements, Metabolism, Metastasize, NECSS, Nicholas Gonzalez, Northeast Conference of Science and Skepticism, Oncogenes, Pancreatic Cancer, President Richard Nixon, Quackademic Medicine, Robert O. Young, Science Based Medicine, stem cells, TCGA, The Cancer Genome Atlas, The Complexity of Cancer, Tumor Angiogenesis, Tumor Cell Anchorage, Tumor Suppressor Genes, UCSF, University of Michigan, Unscientific Medicine, War On Cancer, Warburg Effect
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[Recently] I participated in a panel discussion at the Northeast Conference of Science and Skepticism (NECSS) with John Snyder, Kimball Atwood, and Steve Novella, who also reported on the conference. What I mentioned to some of the attendees is that I had managed to combine NECSS with a yearly ritual that I seldom miss, namely the yearly meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting.
There are two huge cancer meetings every year — AACR and the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). AACR is the meeting dedicated to basic and translational research. ASCO, as the word “clinical” in its name implies, is devoted mainly to clinical research.
Personally, being a translational researcher myself and a surgeon, I tend to prefer the AACR meeting over ASCO, not because ASCO isn’t valuable, but mainly because ASCO tends to be devoted mostly to medical oncology and chemotherapy, which are not what I do as a surgeon. Each meeting draws between 10,000 to 15,000 or even more clinicians and researchers dedicated to the eradication of cancer. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
May 5th, 2010 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
Tags: Dehumanized, Doctors, Exhaustion, Family Medicine, Fatigue, Human, Patient Immunity, Personal Life, Physicians, Physics, Physiologic Phenomena, Primary Care, Stress, The Practice of Medicine
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It’s all too easy to try and quantify everything in medicine. We are, after all, under the widely held delusion that medicine is like physics. A thing that follows fixed, predictable mathematical models. A thing reproducible if only algorithm A is followed for this disease and algorithm B is followed for that disease.
This belief is also held by the government, which doesn’t want to pay for readmissions or mistakes. Because it is believed that all things in medicine can be known from an exam, some labs, some tests, and some studies.
Nevertheless, things happen. Disease are transmitted in public or by families. Medications don’t always work. Bodies change. Bodies age. Humans are non-compliant. Humans are suffering from physiologic phenomena we can’t yet comprehend. Viruses are synergistic with other diseases.
The immunity of our patients is affected by their happiness, their diet, their work history, their family. The algorithms necessary to make medicine anything like physics would be mathematically beyond comprehension. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
May 5th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
Tags: Communication Disconnect, Defensive Lack of Documentation, Defensive Medicine, Direct Reports from Patients, Dismisses a Symptom, Doctor-Patient Communication, Downgrade Symptoms, Dr. Ethan Basch, Family Medicine, General Medicine, Internal Medicine, Life-Threatening Diagnosis, Medical Liability, Medical Malpractice, New England Journal of Medicine, New York Times, Nurses, Patient Comments, Patient Complaints, Primary Care
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Doctors often have a communication disconnect with their patients. A recent piece from the New York Times encapsulates the issue, citing a recent New England Journal of Medicine perspective.
According to oncologist Ethan Basch, “Direct reports from patients are rarely used during drug approval or in clinical trials. If patients’ comments are sought at all, they are usually filtered through doctors and nurses, who write their own impressions of what the patients are feeling.”
There are a variety of reasons for this. Some doctors feel they have a better sense of the patient’s symptoms than the patient himself. Biases can affect how doctors and nurses perceive symptoms. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
