February 19th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Amygdala, Brain Damage, Brain Injury, Caltech, Gambling, Monetary-loss aversion, Neurology, Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation
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Have Caltech scientists discovered an area of the brain evolved since the development of currency? The headline effectively suggests that, but the truth is probably a bit more nuanced.
The research team responsible for these findings consists of Benedetto de Martino, a Caltech visiting researcher from University College London and first author on the study, along with Caltech scientists Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics, and Ralph Adolphs, the Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology.
The study involved an examination of two patients whose amygdalae had been destroyed due to a very rare genetic disease; those patients, along with individuals without amygdala damage, volunteered to participate in a simple experimental economics task. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
February 16th, 2010 by Dr. Val Jones in Audio, Expert Interviews, News
Tags: AMA, amednews, American Medical News, Building Community, Chief Copy Editor, Health News, Micro Blogging, Pam Wood, Retweeting, Social Media, Twitter
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Connoisseurs of Twitter feeds know when an account is being managed by interesting minds. So when I took a moment to express my appreciation to American Medical News for their contributions to Twitter, it was not surprising that a group of doctors immediately joined the chorus. We all knew that @amednews was a reliable source of entertaining and important information from multiple sources, but we didn’t know the person behind the account… until today.
Pam Wood is the Chief Copy Editor for American Medical News, and has cultivated a loyal following of healthcare professionals and patients on Twitter. I asked her to join me on a phone call to explain the secrets to her success. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know the person behind the tweets @amednews.
[Audio:https://getbetterhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/pamwood.mp3]
Dr. Val: Tell me a little bit about yourself – where you’re from, your educational background, and what you’ve been doing at the AMA. Read more »
February 15th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News
Tags: Budget, COURAGE, FDA, Internal Medicine, Primary Care, Stents
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ACP Internist continues its look at subjects important to internal medicine. Today, we follow the money.
Evidence-based medicine
The U.S. could save one-third of the $15 billion spent on stents annually if all doctors followed COURAGE trial conclusions and used generic drugs first, and stents only if pain persists. William Boden, FACP, headed that trial, and now says that reimbursement drives clinical practice. Dartmouth’s Elliott Fisher, MD, says this “perverse incentive” doesn’t improve health care. (Wall Street Journal, CNN)
Physician reimbursement reform
Following the Food and Drug Administration’s record-breaking budget allocation, seven former agency commissioners and interest groups are still saying it’s not enough to make up for years of underfunding. Even regulated industries want more funding to boost the public perception of product safety. (ACP Internist, Los Angeles Times)
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
February 14th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Atul Gawande, Check List, Cholecystectomy, complication, Complications, Death, Gall Bladder, Gastroenterology, GI Surgery, ICU, John Murtha, Medical Error, Septicemia, Surgery
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While the news reports that Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania died after complications from gallbladder surgery, the question no one is asking is whether his death was a preventable one or simply an unfortunate outcome. According to the Washington Post, Murtha had elective laproscopic gallbladder surgery performed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital and fell ill shortly afterwards from an infection related to his surgery.
He was hospitalized to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia, to treat the post-operative infection. His care was being monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU), a sign which suggests that not only was the infection becoming widespread but also that vital organ systems were shutting down. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
February 13th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News
Tags: Anti-depressants, Depression, Major Depression, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Talk Therapy
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I guess I actually knew this intuitively, as the number of people I know who mention “trying antidepressants” rises, but the Archives of General Psychiatry article by Drs. Olfson and Marcus (August, 2009, 66(8), pp, 848-856) has confirmed my sense that antidepressant use has risen.
In fact, in the United States between 1966 and 2005 the annual rate of antidepressant use for people rose from 5.84 percent to 10.12 percent – translating into 27 million people over the age of six who were taking antidepressants. FYI, that makes antidepressants the most widely prescribed class of medication in office-based and hospital outpatient-based medical practices. Read more »
This post, The Rise In Antidepressant Use: Are We Neglecting Therapy?, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
