September 15th, 2011 by KerriSparling in News
Tags: App, Apple, Application, Dexcom, Diabetes, Droid, Errors, FAQ, Glucose Meter, iPad, iPhone, iTunes, Sensor Insertion Tutorial, Smartphone
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I’m not hooked on Apple products (I refuse to get an iPhone because I’m addicted to my Blackberry), but Chris and I do love that foolish iPad. And I love seeing apps for diabetes devices stocking the virtual shelves in the iTunes store. Makes me feel like we’re busting in to the mainstream, as a community.
Which is why I’m excited to see the first app from Dexcom. (And it’s free … as these apps should be, in my opinion.) While I’m hopeful that future apps include a way for the Dexcom receiver to transfer data to Mac products (because running parallels on my Mac is wicked annoying), this is a great start for people who are looking for introductory information on the Dexcom system. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
September 15th, 2011 by GarySchwitzer in News, Research
Tags: American Cancer Society, American Society of Clinical Oncology, ASCO, Breast Cancer Detection, Breast Self-Exams, Cancer, Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, Early Detection, HealthDay, Mammography, Mastectomy, Recommendation, Research, Screening, USPSTF, WebMD
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A paper presented at the 2011 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) breast cancer symposium this week has drawn all kinds of news coverage – and much of it is off the mark – even in the eyes of one of the American Cancer Society’s top docs.
The paper concluded:
“Results of this study validate the importance of annual screening mammography in women older than 50 years, and women aged 40 to 49 years recently omitted from screening guidelines. There was an increased prevalence of palpation (breast self exams) for the method of detection in women less than 50 years of age. If screening mammography is omitted in this group, cancers when detected may be of a more advanced stage and result in more mastectomies. This study also supports the use of palpation as a method of detection despite recent recommendations against teaching self breast exams by the USPSTF (US Preventive Services Task Force).”
WebMD’s lead sentence was: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
September 14th, 2011 by Shadowfax in Health Policy, News
Tags: Abscessed Tooth, Affodability, Affordable Care Act, Cost, Death, Dental Care, Expensive, Fatal, Health Insurance, Kyle Willis, Money, Narcotics, National Insurance Plan, Oral Health, Penicillin, Tooth Infection, Unemployed, uninsured
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This is depressing:
A 24-year-old Cincinnati father died from a tooth infection this week because he couldn’t afford his medication, offering a sobering reminder of the importance of oral health and the number of people without access to dental or health care.
According to NBC affiliate WLWT, Kyle Willis’ wisdom tooth started hurting two weeks ago. When dentists told him it needed to be pulled, he decided to forgo the procedure, because he was unemployed and had no health insurance.
When his face started swelling and his head began to ache, Willis went to the emergency room, where he received prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medications. Willis couldn’t afford both, so he chose the pain medications.
The tooth infection spread, causing his brain to swell. He died Tuesday.
It can’t be denied that his poor decision-making was the proximate cause of this guy’s death (and many times I’ve gotten the maddening call from the pharmacy, “Doctor, the patient only wants the narcotics”). The underlying cause, however, was the fact that he was uninsured. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Movin' Meat*
September 13th, 2011 by Iltifat Husain, M.D. in News
Tags: CNN, Direct Message, E-mail, Electronic Medical Record, EMR, Group Health, Group Health Cooperative, Gwen O’Keefe, Health Co-op, iPhone, iTunes, Mobile App, NY Times, Patient-Doctor Communication, Seattle
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Group Health, a Seattle, Washington based nonprofit healthcare organization has launched a medical app for their members that offers a wide variety of features — even allowing members to directly e-mail their physicians.
This should come as no surprise to those who have been following this revered Health Co-op. They have been featured by the NY Times, CNN, and other medical publications due to their innovative approach to patient care — such as embracing electronic medical records before everyone jumped on the bandwagon.
Some of the other interesting features this app will offer their patients: mobile access to medical records, which means a member can check their test results, making appointments, check immunization histories, view summaries of past visits, get routine care reminders and view their allergies and other health conditions.
Additionally, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
September 12th, 2011 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in News, Research
Tags: Adulteration, American Botanical Council, American Herbal Products Association, American skullcap, Chemical Research in Toxicology, ConsumerLab.com, Drugs, ED, Erectile Dysfunction, FDA, germander compound teucrin A, HerbalGram, Herbs, KeepSupplementsClean.org, Larry Marnett, Mark Blumenthal, NutraIngredients USA, Scutellaria lateriflora L., Supplements, Vanderbilt, Viagra
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As early as 2006, I used to be able to write monthly about US FDA warnings on erectile dysfunction supplements being found adulterated with prescription drugs such as sildenafil, the phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor found in Viagra. These adulteration episodes raised the question of how many anecdotal reports of herbal products “working” had to do with them containing approved medicines.
So common was this practice that FDA created a site in 2008 that was dedicated to this problem: Hidden Risks of Erectile Dysfunction “Treatments” Sold Online. Indeed, these products were more commonly encountered from online retailers and not in health food stores. Other similar practices include bodybuilding supplement being spiked with anabolic steroids and weight loss supplements being adulterated with sibutramine (formerly Meridia), an anorectant removed from the market last year after showing increased incidence of heart attacks and stroke in patients with preexisting cardiovascular disease.
The herbal industry, led by the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA), aimed to clean up this problem and launched an initiative called, KeepSupplementsClean.org. Spurred by an FDA letter to the industry on 15 December 2010 of increased scrutiny on the adulteration problem, AHPA actually encouraged FDA to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
