November 18th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: Calorie Content of Foods, Daily Nutrient Intake, Dieters, Dieting Tools, Dr. Bertalan Mesko, Dr. Mark Boguski, Food and Nutrition, Food Journal, Harvard Medical School, Health Apps, Healthy Diet, Nutrition and Health, Personal Technology and Health, PhotoCalorie, Picture Your Diet, Science Roll, Tracking Your Diet, Weight Loss, Weight Management, WolframAlpha
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Although I can check the calorie content of any food on WolframAlpha, it’s good to have a site that focuses only on this issue:
PhotoCalorie is an application inspired by the ideas of Dr. Mark Boguski of Harvard Medical School, who realized that the current methods available to track your daily nutrient intake are monotonous and simply too complicated. As a result, people would lose interest in tracking their diet or stop the diet all together. Our mission is to create the easiest food journal on the planet to help dieters lose weight and monitor their diet with ease.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
November 18th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Bacteria, Color-Changing Dressings, Dermatology, Fraunhofer Research Institute for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT, Healing Process, Healthcare Technology, Healthy Skin, Infectious Disease, Medgadget, Medical Technology, Open Wounds, University of Regensburg, Wound Care, Wound Healing, Wound Infection, Wound Site
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When using dressings to speed up the healing process of an open wound, it is necessary to periodically remove the dressing to check for infection. However, removing this protective covering creates an opportunity for bacteria to enter the wound site.
To remedy this problem, researchers at the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Modular Solid State Technologies EMFT have developed dressings which change color if the wound becomes infected. Early tests have shown promise, and the scientists now plan to test their invention in the field at the University of Regensburg’s dermatology clinic. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
November 18th, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research, True Stories
Tags: CAM, Complementary And Alternative Medicine, Dana Ullman, Dr. David Gorski, Fibromyalgia, Homeopathy, Huffington Post, Medical Quackery, Pseudomedicine, SBM, Science Based Medicine, Woo
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Over the weekend, my wife and I happened to be in the pharmacy section of our local Target store. We happened to be looking for one of our favorite cold remedies, because both of us have been suffering from rather annoying colds, which have plagued both of us for the last week or two.
As we perused the Cold and Flu section of the pharmacy, we were struck at how much shelf space was taken up by Airborne (which was “invented by a schoolteacher.“) Nearly three years ago Airborne had to settle a case brought against it alleging false advertising to the tune of $23 million. Despite that, Airborne is still being sold, and there are even a whole bunch of knock-off products copying it.
Then, as we continued to look for our favored cold remedy, we noted that, sitting right next to the extensive shelf space devoted to the various flavors and types of Airborne supplements, I saw Boiron’s homeopathic remedy for colds containing oscillococcinum, which is derived from duck liver and heart and diluted to 200C (a 10400-fold dilution). Yes, I was a bit depressed after that. Now I know what my skeptical friends in the U.K. go through every time they walk into a Boots pharmacy.
Still, even though homeopathy is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in the U.K. and the rest of Europe, it’s obviously making some inroads if it’s being sold in Target. Steve Novella made a point at a panel at TAM8 in July to point out that it’s also being sold in Walmart, but since I rarely, if ever, shop at Walmart, I hadn’t noticed, although I had noticed various dubious concoctions being sold at Walgreens and CVS, two large pharmacy chains here in the U.S. Its relative popularity in different parts of the world aside, ever since I learned what homeopathy is and what its precepts are, I’ve always been fascinated how it can possibly be taken seriously. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
November 18th, 2010 by Felasfa Wodajo, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Interviews, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr. Felasfa Wodajo, Global Health, Health and Smartphones, Healthcare Apps, Healthcare Around the World, iMedicalApps, International Health, International Medicine, Maternal Health, Medical Research, Medical Technology, Medicine and Smartphones, mHealth Summit 2010, Microsoft, Mobile Health, Mobile Health Apps, Mobile Phones and Medicine, Mobile Technologies, Neonatal Health, Philanthropy, Vaccines
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[We reported last week from the mHealth Summit in Washington, DC — a conference covering the integration of mobile technologies with medical research, information, diagnosis, treatment, and care.]
One of the highlights of last week’s mHealth Summit was the keynote interview of Bill Gates. While inseparable from his history as founder and leader of Microsoft from 1975 to 2008, his current passion is global health.
Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has now given 3.8 billion (with a “b”) of targeted philanthropy into global health since 1994, he and his wife Melinda are helping bring about profound change to the lives of millions around the world. In a meeting dedicated to exploring the power of mobile devices to shape health in developed and developing countries, Bill Gates eloquently refocussed our attention towards the real urgency of saving the millions of our fellow humans who die needlessly for want of vaccinations or the simplest treatments. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
November 17th, 2010 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
Tags: Benevolence of Medicine, Boston Globe, Doctors Are Humans, Doctors' Courage, Doctors' Mistakes, Dr. David Ring, Dr. John Mandrola, General Medicine, Humanizing Medicine, Life's Imperfections, Making the Treatment Worse Than the Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital, Medical Errors, Medicine and Humanism, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Perfection in Medicine, Performing the Wrong Operation, Physicians and Humanness
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The best part of doctoring is its humanness. Machines can’t do it — not even Apple products.
But that’s the worst part, too. Since humans practice medicine, there will be “medical errors.” And when doctors err, people — not spreadsheets or profits — are hurt. That’s the rub. Like any endeavor, the greater the reward the greater the risk. Those cards were put on the table in medical school.
“Don’t want mistakes? Don’t do anything. Don’t make any decisions. Don’t do any procedures. Then, there will be no errors,” the grey-haired, Swiss-born cardiac surgeon counseled me many years ago after an imperfect ablation.
The headline was about a doctor’s error. It was a doozy. But for me, the story belies the headline. A Boston Globe reporter called a surgeon’s public admission of performing a wrong operation “an unusual display of openness.” I would call it something else: Breathtaking. Unprecedented. Courageous. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
