March 8th, 2010 by DaveMunger in Better Health Network, Research
Tags: AIDS, APOBEC3G, DNA, HIV, HIV/AIDS, Infectious Disease, Vaccine, Vif, virus
No Comments »
When I began work on this month’s project, I contacted a clinician, a case manager, and a scientist to get their perspectives on how we’re making progress fighting HIV and AIDS. I’ve introduced you to the clinician and the case manager, but not the scientist.
Dave Wessner doesn’t actually study AIDS, but he’s written a textbook supplement on HIV and AIDS and teaches a course at Davidson College on the subject. His students have even set up a blog discussing the history and science of HIV and AIDS. He also regularly lectures on the topic. I’ll be attending one of his talks tonight. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Daily Monthly*
March 8th, 2010 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Critical Care Medicine, Emergency Medicine, General Surgery, ICU, Injury, Law, Run Over By A Truck, South Africa, Surgery, Trauma
No Comments »
South African society is a completely lawless society. Pretty much everyone does just what they like and more often than not they get away with it. Red lights are just a suggestion, yet it is not uncommon to see a taxi stop in the middle of the road without warning. This attitude goes through almost all levels.
Yet there are some laws that people do obey. The law of gravity comes to mind. Mostly if you trip or fall off a wall or out a window you do approach the earth with increasing velocity and finally come to rest in some form of disrepair when you finally meet said earth, even if you are South African. Another law that is obeyed was well illustrated by a patient we once saw in the old days. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
March 8th, 2010 by CodeBlog in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Allergy And Immunology, Emergency Medicine, Nursing, Parenting, Peanuts, Pediatrics
1 Comment »
My son accidentally ingested peanut butter yesterday. He’s allergic.
He’s done this once before, which is when we found out about the allergy. He had some really awful hives 3 hours after he ate that small bite of peanut butter sandwich but that was all. His allergist told me that it would most likely never get worse than that.
He managed to eat some more yesterday. I braced myself for the hives to come, and we dosed him with Benadryl. An hour later he vomited. The pediatrician’s advice nurse advised me to take him to the ER. At the time I thought it was overkill. He wasn’t having any breathing difficulties beyond the cough he already had (he has a cold). He definitely wasn’t acting quite right, though, so off we went. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at code blog - tales of a nurse*
March 8th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Baby, Cause Of Death, CT, Forensics, GE, Mammoth, MRI, Radiology, Technology
No Comments »
GE Health donated time on their latest CT and MR systems for researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago to image the insides of an ancient baby mammoth. Lyuba, apparently one of the finest preserved mammoth specimens, was found by a Siberian reindeer herder three years ago. Now, thanks to modern technology, the researchers believe they know the cause of death of the mammoth. Lyuba is currently on view at the “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age” exhibit at the Field Museum. Of course, there’s also something to be said for today’s tomography scanners with bore sizes that can accommodate a mammoth. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
March 7th, 2010 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Humor
Tags: Business of Healthcare, Chaos Theory, Complexities, Health Insurance, Healthcare reform, Internal Medicine, Primary Care, Reimbursement
1 Comment »
Chaos theory – Noun – The branch of mathematics that deals with complex systems whose behavior is highly sensitive to slight changes in conditions, so that small alterations can give rise to strikingly great consequences.
Alternative definition:
Chaos theory – Noun – The branch of healthcare that deals with making the payment system increasingly complex and ever changing. This complexity and confusion impact physicians and patients in such a way that appropriate services in care of the patient are subject to rules and regulations that are deliberately complex, making alterations from the momentary rules inevitable. This exists so that even small alterations will free the insurance company from the responsibility to pay for said service.
I am no physicist, but I honestly think that a grasp and understanding of the first type of Chaos theory is more likely than that of the second. Let me give a demonstration of the second chaos theory in action: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
