August 26th, 2010 by Bryan Vartabedian, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Adherence Behavior, Anxiety, CDC, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Communication Services, Emotionality, General Medicine, Health-Related Outcomes, Internet Use, Isolated Studies, Medical Research, Neuroticism, Psychological Reactance, Psychology, Social Bubble, Social Health, Strategic and Proactive Communication Branch
No Comments »
Maybe not according to this report from the CDC. They studied Internet use with respect to adherence behavior and a number of health-related outcomes. It suggests that folks who diss the doc in favor of the Internet may not do as well as we think.
This quote caught me:
The data also revealed that personal determinants such as neuroticism (reflects anxiety and emotionality) and health-related poorer quality of life differentiated internet-instigated non-adherent respondents from their counterparts.
More plainly put: If you trust your life to an anonymous guy on Twitter with the handle @YourHealthGuru, you might not do as well as if you partnered with a trained professional. Or perhaps I’m reading too much into the study. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at 33 Charts*
August 26th, 2010 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Academia, General Medicine, Internet, Medical Journals, Medical Literature, Medical Publishing, New York Times, Online Publishing, Peer Review, Peer-Reviewed Publications, Quality Control, SBM, Science and Medicine, Science Based Medicine
No Comments »
Peer review has been the cornerstone of quality control in academia, including science and medicine, for the past century. The process is slow and laborious, but a necessary filter in order to maintain a certain standard within the literature. Yet more and more scholars are recognizing the speed, immediacy, and openness of the Internet as a tool for exchanging ideas and information, and this is causing some to question the methods of peer review. A recent New York Times article discusses this issue.
This issue is very relevant to Science-Based Medicine (SBM) as this is in part an experiment –- an attempt to produce a high quality, editorially filtered, but not peer-reviewed, online journal. Our process here is simple. Outside submissions are reviewed by two or more editors and typically are either accepted with minor revisions or rejected. In addition we have a staff of regular contributors –- those who have a proven track record of producing high quality articles. There is no pre-publication review for their submissions, and they are able to post directly to SBM. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
August 26th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: AMP Phosphatase, Cold-Tolerant Drosophila, Cold-Tolerant Fruit Fly, Cryogenics, Donated Organs, Enzyme System, Expiration Date of Harvested Organs, Freezing and Thawing Organs, Grant Funding, Ice Worms, Internal Cell Biology, National Institutes of Health, NIH, Organ Transplant, Organ Transplantation, Organ's Shelf Life, Organs Live Longer, Research Grant, State University of New Jersey Rutgers-Camden, Survive In Glaciers, Wood Frog
No Comments »
Currently, once a donated organ has been harvested it only has a few hours on ice before it “expires.” Lengthening this time period would be an incredible breakthrough that would allow patients in a wider area to potentially receive a transplant and also it would reduce some of the insanity surrounding the time pressures of organ transplantation.
One proposed method of extending an organ’s shelf life is to alter the internal cell biology to allow cells to live longer at lower temperatures. The State University of New Jersey Rutgers-Camden just received a $385,419 grant from the NIH to study an enzyme system, AMP phosphatase, and how it can potentially create cold-tolerant Drosophila. The enzyme was originally identified in ice worms as the key enzyme that allows them to survive in glaciers. The researchers hope that if they are able to utilize this enzyme system to create a cold-tolerant fruit fly, then they would be able to apply that knowledge to donated organs. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
August 26th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: ACP, Acute and Ambulatory Care, American College Of Physicians, BlackBerry, Communicating With Colleagues, Doctors and Smartphones, Dr. Rob Lamberts, General Medicine, Information Glut, iPhone, Medicine and New Technology, Mobile Phone Platform, Physicians' Use of Smartphones
No Comments »
An eye-popping statistic shows that 94 percent of doctors have adopted smartphones, in part to keep up with an information glut. A consulting group released results of 100 in-depth interviews with physicians working in acute and ambulatory care environments in numerous specialties nationwide. The physicians used the phones to communicate, manage personal/business workflows, and access information, including medical reference materials. (In case you’re curious about what your peers are using, 44 percent use an iPhone and 25 percent use a BlackBerry.)
This growth in adoption — a 60 percent increase since 2006 — isn’t surprising, since the same survey reported that doctors’ biggest challenges are communicating with colleagues in a timely manner, the volume of communications with patients and the entire care team, and the different platforms (e-mail, voice mail, pager, etc.) needed to keep up with it all.
But one early adopter, Dr. Rob Lamberts, ACP member, cautions that while the new technology can help, it isn’t yet.
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
August 25th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: 2009, Big Pharma Revenues, Drug Manufacturing, General Medicine, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare reform, Medicare Part D, Most Prescribed Medications, Pharmaceutical Industry, Pharmacology, Top 10 Money-Making Drugs, U.S. Pharmaceutical Sales
No Comments »
The top moneymakers for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry might surprise you. These aren’t necessarily the most prescribed medications (although some of them are), but they’re the top products in terms of sales in 2009. The revenues were in billions:
1. Lipitor – used for high cholesterol: $7.5 billion
2. Nexium – a proton pump inhibitor for GERD: $6.3 billion
3. Plavix – a blood thinner: $5.6 billion
4. Advair Diskus – used for asthma and COPD: $4.7 billion Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
