September 9th, 2010 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research
Tags: Africa, Anti-HIV Drugs, Anti-Scientific Propaganda, CAM, Complimentary and Alternative Medicine, Evidence-Based, International HIV/AIDS Alliance, International Medicine, Lack of Health Services, Modern Medical Doctors or Facilities, Primary Healthcare, Science Based Medicine, THPAZ, Traditional Healers, Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia, Western Medicine, Western Science, WHO, World Health Organization
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There’s an AIDS epidemic in Africa, and efforts to fight it are hampered by the endemic social problems of that continent. Chief among them are the lack of sufficient modern health resources, the spread of destructive rumors and myths about HIV/AIDS, and even the persistence of HIV denial in Africa (although this last factor is better than in the past).
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance are teaming up with the Traditional Health Practitioners Association of Zambia (THPAZ) to address the first problem –- the lack of health services.
Most Zambians use traditional healers for primary healthcare. The WHO has therefore decided to utilize traditional healers in the fight against AIDS. There are interesting pros and cons to this policy, but it must first be recognized that there is no ideal solution to the problem. The resources to provide optimal modern health care to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS (which would need to include a massive education program) in Zambia and the rest of Africa simply do not exist. One might argue that the world should provide those resources, but let’s put that issue aside and focus on what to do in the meantime. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
September 9th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Blind, Blindness, Braille Buddy, Learning To Read And Write, Lost Eyesight, Ophthalmology, Visually Impaired, Yanko Design
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Yanko Design blog is profiling the Braille Buddy project that aims to develop a simple-to-use tool to help people who’ve lost eyesight to learn Braille.
Braille Buddy has little retractable bumps that code for different letters, a keyboard, and a voice synthesizer that guides patients through different lessons. The voice will read out letters that a patient has to type back in Braille, and the tactile screen will display letters to read and identify.
Yanko Design: My Best Buddy Braille…
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
September 8th, 2010 by GarySchwitzer in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Andrew Holtz, AP, Associated Press, BRCA 2, BRCA1, Breast Cancer, Cancer Genetics, Evidence-Based Health Media, Gary Schwitzer, Gene Mutation, Health Journalism, HealthNewsReview.org, Inaccurate Health Reporting, JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, Mastectomy, National Public Radio, NPR, Oncology, Ovarian Cancer, Preventive Cancer Surgery, Preventive Health, Reuters Health
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Journalist Andrew Holtz has been a colleague for longer than probably either one of us wants to remember. He is currently one of our story reviewers on HealthNewsReview.org. In fact, he was one of the reviewers on four stories we analyzed last week on the same study. He thought there were some important take-home messages that rose above the walls of our formal systematic review, so he wrote this guest blog post, and we thank him for it:
The Sept. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association included an article that is likely to have a strong influence on the advice given to women who have a very high risk of breast and ovarian cancer linked to mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Of the four stories we reviewed, only the AP report scored well on our review criteria.
I know what my first journalism professor, Marion Lewenstein, would have done with at least two of the stories: Given them an “F” for factual errors without further consideration of their merits. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog*
September 7th, 2010 by Dinah Miller, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Antidepressants and Kids, Big Pharma, Child Psychiatry, Child Psychology, Childhood Depression, Childhood Development, Children and Antidepressants, Children's Health, Depressed Preschoolers, Depression in Kids, Disease Mongering, Family Medicine, Mental Health, Mood Swings, Pamela Paul, Pediatrics, Preschool Depression, Tantrums, The New York Times Magazine
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The New York Times Magazine recently featured an article on preschooler depression. Pamela Paul wrote:
Diagnosis of any mental disorder at this young age is subject to debate. No one wants to pathologize a typical preschooler’s tantrums, mood swings and torrent of developmental stages. Grandparents are highly suspicious; parents often don’t want to know. “How many times have you heard, ‘They’ll grow out of it’ or ‘That’s just how he is’?” says Melissa Nishawala, a child psychiatrist at the New York University Child Study Center.
And some in the field have reservations, too. Classifying preschool depression as a medical disorder carries a risk of disease-mongering. “Given the influence of Big Pharma, we have to be sure that every time a child’s ice cream falls off the cone and he cries, we don’t label him depressed,” cautions Rahil Briggs, an infant-toddler psychologist at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore in New York. Though research does not support the use of antidepressants in children this young, medication of preschoolers, often off label, is on the rise. One child psychologist told me about a conference he attended where he met frustrated drug-industry representatives. “They want to give these kids medicines, but we can’t figure out the diagnoses.” As Daniel Klein warns, “Right now the problem may be underdiagnosis, but these things can flip completely.”
Reference: “Can Preschoolers Be Depressed?” (The New York Times Magazine, August 25, 2010).
*This blog post was originally published at Shrink Rap*
September 7th, 2010 by RyanDuBosar in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research
Tags: Addiction Medicine, Addiction Therapy, Bupropion, Cigarettes, Delayed Quitters, Immediate Quitters, Nicotine Addiction, Placebo, Quitting Smoking, Smoking Cessation Counseling, Smoking Cessation Treatment, Stop Smoking, Varenicline
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Doctors may want their patients to stick with a smoking cessation regimen even if it’s not initially working, report researchers who found that “delayed quitters” accounted for a third of former smokers who went a year without cigarettes.
Quit rates may be significantly increased by just continuing in motivated but initially unsuccessful patients during the first eight weeks of treatment, according to research published online in the journal Addiction. There’s actually two types of successful quitters: Those who quit immediately and those who are “delayed” but eventually successful. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
