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Early Puberty Linked To Aggression in Women

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Interesting title, eh? A University of Queensland study has reported in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology that females who experience puberty before the age of 12 may be more aggressive, which seems perfectly expected to me!

Young girls who experience puberty are frequently the tallest kids in their classrooms, the first ones to have breasts, and are likely to be teased and approached in a sexual manner by older males! This context means they are more likely to date earlier, have opportunities to drink, smoke and become sexual earlier, etc.. In fact, these girls, although they get in more trouble at teens, tend to grow up to be very strong and resilient women – characteristics frequently correlated with aggression!

I am simply not surprised by these results but do hope that the results encourage schools, medical professionals and others who work with preteens to notice pubertal changes and help young girls deal with the pressure and changing peer and social status that comes with puberty.

Photo credit: xinem

This post, Early Puberty Linked To Aggression in Women, was originally published on Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..

Airplane Medicine: What Happens When You Answer The Flight Attendant’s Call For A Doctor

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Rounding at 37,000 Feet

Anyone who has flown long-distance flights has heard the call: “If there is a doctor on board, please identify yourself to a flight attendant.” But it’s impossible to understand how that call induces the urge to flee to the lavatory and hide unless you are one of those unfortunate few who are on the hook, which is to say that you are qualified to respond, but you really really don’t want to.

“But Gee,” I can hear you think, “Aren’t you an ER doctor? Isn’t this sort of thing second nature to you? Don’t you revel in the adrenaline and glory?” Well, yes. But. First of all, there is the performance anxiety thing. I’m used to working with a very small audience. In Economy class, there may be 300 people watching me try to do my thing, and I’m just not used to that many people being in the exam room — and I know they are very interested in what’s going on. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*

Cognitive Impairment Often Goes Undocumented In Hospital Charts

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A recent JHM study found that hospital staff often don’t recognize cognitive impairment in patients age 65 and older. This was especially true for patients on the younger end of the spectrum, and those with more comorbidity.

Of the 424 patients (43%) in the study who were cognitively impaired, 61% weren’t recognized as such by ICD-9 coding. Interestingly, there was no significant difference between patients with documented and undocumented cognitive impairment as far as mortality, length of stay, home discharge, readmission rates, incidence of delirium, or receipt of anticholinergics. One troubling finding: a significant number of patients with cognitive impairment received anticholinergic medication, even though it’s not recommended for patients with any type of CI. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Hospitalist*

Once You Have Lung Cancer, Should You Bother To Quit Smoking?

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Most smokers dread lung cancer. They are aware that by continuing to smoke the chances of developing lung cancer are increased 20 times, and that once it has developed the treatment is unpleasant and prognosis poor. Many patients (and unfortunately many clinicians) assume that once you have lung cancer it is too late to quit.

This week a new report was published in the BMJ, based on a review of the evidence that smoking cessation after diagnosis of a primary lung tumour affects prognosis. The study, by Drs Parsons, Daley and Aveyard at the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, combined the data from 10 studies. They found that those who quit smoking after diagnosis were significantly less likely to develop another tumor and significantly more likely to still be alive 5 years later. Read more »

This post, Once You Have Lung Cancer, Should You Bother To Quit Smoking?, was originally published on Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..

Emergency Help: iPhone App Locates Closest Defibrillators (AEDs)

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First Aid Corps, an organization working on helping the public respond to sudden cardiac arrests, has unveiled an iPhone app that can pinpoint the location of the closest automatic external defibrillator (AED) within seconds.

Currently the database is just beginning to fill up but First Aid Corps has partnered with The Extraordinaries, a volunteer organization, to have people locate and photograph AED’s in their community.

The app is free and you can download it and get started mapping AED’s and maybe help save someone’s life.

Here’s a promo video for the project:

Demo of the AED Nearby app:

AED Nearby iTunes link…

Flashbacks: AED Location Database Points to Nearest Life Saving Device; Do You Know Where Your AED Is At?

*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*

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