October 3rd, 2009 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Expert Interviews
Tags: Blogging, Cancer, Grants, Journalism, Oncology, Pharmacologist, Science And The Media
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This morning, I once again get to join in with a group of noted journalists, authors, educators, and all-around people-who-do-things-I-can’t for the annual advisory board meeting of the M.S. in Medical and Science Journalism Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Program founder and current director, Tom Linden, MD, is a Yale- and UCSF-trained physician-journalist with extensive broadcast experience across a series of California television stations. Dr Linden also recognized very early the potential value and pitfalls of the web for communicating health information and published in 1995, with Michelle Kienholz, one of the first consumer guides to medical information on the internet. I also featured Tom here in December 2007 when he launched his own blog.
So today, Dr Linden has asked me to speak to about science and medical blogging but with respect to how it has augmented my own professional career. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
October 2nd, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Opinion
Tags: Comfort, Discussions, Emotional, Psychiatry, Relationships, Surgery, Time
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“Psychiatrists may be the last batch of physicians who are still granted a luxurious amount of time with patients.”
So says Maria, a psychiatrist who blogs over at intueri.
And because time is so undervalued in our health system, some doctors are relying on psychiatrists to counsel patients in the hospital. She cites an example with surgeons, saying that “it is entirely unfair to both the patient and the psychiatrist for the surgeon to completely emotionally ‘turf’ the patient.”
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*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
October 2nd, 2009 by Paul Auerbach, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
Tags: ClearEars, Dry, Ear Infection, Ear Plugs, Ears, Otitis Externa, Pediatrics, Prevention, Primary Care, Recommendations, Scuba Diving, Swimmer's Ear, wilderness medicine
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Swimmer’s ear (otitis externa) is an affliction that affects scuba divers, swimmers, windsurfers, surfers, kayakers and many others who spend considerable time in the water. The prevailing opinion is that the most effective measure to prevent swimmer’s ear is to dry out the ears after each entry into the water, to eliminate the moisture that promotes maceration of skin and proliferation of infection-causing bacteria. This can be done mechanically by blowing warm air into the external ear canal, or by instilling liquid drops (such as a combination of vinegar and rubbing alcohol) that change the pH within the ear canal and evaporate readily, leaving behind a relatively dry environment. It is generally advised to not stick any foreign object, such as a cotton-tipped swab, into the ear, avoid traumatizing the external ear canal or, worse yet, the eardrum.
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This post, How To Remove Water From Your Ears Safely, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Paul Auerbach, M.D..
October 1st, 2009 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Depression, Mental Health, Military, Psychiatry, Psychology, Soldiers, Suicidality, Suicide
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This topic has become more real for my family. My first cousin’s son-in-law committed suicide this past weekend. He had had difficulty adjusting since his return from Iraq, but the family was still caught off-guard. If you can make it any worse, he chose his wife’s birthday to take his life. Fortunately, neither she nor their toddler son was home at the time.
The issue of soldier suicide concerns many. Maj. Gen. William D. Wofford, Arkansas’ National Guard Adjutant General, recently made a public plea for help asking family members, friends and employers of the state’s 10,000 Guardsmen to watch for personality changes or signs of stress overwhelming his soldiers and airmen. There has been four suicides in Arkansas Guardsmen since January.
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*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
October 1st, 2009 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Cancer, Dextran, Iron Oxide, MRI, Nanoparticles, NIST, Oncology, Radiology, Sugar
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An international team of collaborators from a number of academic institutions and a couple pharmaceutical firms has been working with researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to study how special sugar coated iron oxide nanoparticles interact with each other to destroy cancer cells under laboratory conditions. The 100 nanometer wide particles, which are attracted by tumor cells, are particularly prone to magnetically induced heating.
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*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*