April 7th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Barriers To Free Exchange Of Ideas, Breast Cancer Gene, Gene Therapy, Genetics, Hereditary, Heredity, Human Gene Patents, Human Genome, Intellectual Property, Internal Medicine, Law, New York Times, Onocology, Ovarian Cancer Gene
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It was just time to end the era of gene patents. About 20 percent of human genes have patents, which is unacceptable. Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times story:
A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property.
One of the individual plaintiffs in the suit, Genae Girard, who has breast cancer and has been tested for ovarian cancer, applauded the decision as “a big turning point for all women in the country that may have breast cancer that runs in their family.”
Chris Hansen, an A.C.L.U. staff lawyer, said: “The human genome, like the structure of blood, air or water, was discovered, not created. There is an endless amount of information on genes that begs for further discovery, and gene patents put up unacceptable barriers to the free exchange of ideas.”
I’m curious how Myriad will respond to it.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
April 6th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, Research
Tags: Bad Behavior, Coping Mechanism, General Medicine, Medical Condition, Medicalization, Neurology, Neuroscience, Psychology, Psychotherapy, Self-Control, Sex Addict, Sexual Addiction, Sexual Affliction, Sexual Behavior, Sexual Complusion, Sexual Obsession, Shame
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Tiger Woods, Jessie James, Michael Douglas, and Wilt Chamberlain (remember him?) are just a few of the celebs who admit to being plagued with “sexual addiction.” With rehab centers springing up all over, it would appear this condition is on the rise. But is there really a disorder called “sexual addiction,” or is it just bad behavior that finally gets caught? Is sexual addiction equivalent to alcohol dependency?
Experts who treat sexual addiction say it is a compulsive need to seek out and follow a certain type of sexual behavior. Acting out sexually is something the person does to avoid dealing with something else — a coping mechanism that is out of control. It is not really about sex — it is driven by shame.
OK, stop right there. Is it really an addiction? Does the person experience physical withdrawal symptoms if he isn’t watching porn or bedding new women? I can understand that some may have an unhealthy obsession with sex, but I’m getting sick of the “medicalization” of it all. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
April 6th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: American Journal of Infection Control, Antibiotics, Dissemination, E-Medicine, E-Tools, Evidence-Based Social Media, General Medicine, Misunderstanding, Misuse, Positive Behavior Change, Primary Care, Real-Time Health Data, Social Health Media, Social Media Sites, Social Networks, Twitter, Valid Health Information
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This is the era of evidence-based social media as more and more papers focusing on medicine and social media are coming out. An interesting paper was published a few days ago in the American Journal of Infection Control. Scanfeld et al. tried to reveal the rate of misunderstanding or misuse of antibiotics in Twitter messages in their study: Dissemination of health information through social networks: Twitter and antibiotics.
BACKGROUND: This study reviewed Twitter status updates mentioning “antibiotic(s)” to determine overarching categories and explore evidence of misunderstanding or misuse of antibiotics.
METHODS: One thousand Twitter status updates mentioning antibiotic(s) were randomly selected for content analysis and categorization. To explore cases of potential misunderstanding or misuse, these status updates were mined for co-occurrence of the following terms: “cold + antibiotic(s),” “extra + antibiotic(s),” “flu + antibiotic(s),” “leftover + antibiotic(s),” and “share + antibiotic(s)” and reviewed to confirm evidence of misuse or misunderstanding.
RESULTS: Of the 1000 status updates, 971 were categorized into 11 groups. Cases of misunderstanding or abuse were identified for the following combinations: “flu + antibiotic(s)” (n = 345), “cold + antibiotic(s)” (n = 302), “leftover + antibiotic(s)” (n = 23), “share + antibiotic(s)” (n = 10), and “extra + antibiotic(s)” (n = 7).
CONCLUSION: Social media sites offer means of health information sharing. Further study is warranted to explore how such networks may provide a venue to identify misuse or misunderstanding of antibiotics, promote positive behavior change, disseminate valid information, and explore how such tools can be used to gather real-time health data. 
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
April 6th, 2010 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Expert Interviews, Health Policy, Health Tips, News, Opinion, Research, True Stories
Tags: 60 Minutes, Addiction Therapy, CBS, Chew, Cigarettes, Dissolvable Products, Documentary, Dr, Dr. Karl Fagerstrom, Dual Use, Dual User, General Medicine, Indiana University, Lung Cancer, Nicotine Addition, Nicotine Delivery, Pancreatic Cancer, Primary Care, Quit Smoking, Smokeless Tobacco, smoking cessation, Snus, Spit Tobacco, Spitless Tobacco, Stephen Jay, Sweden, Tobacco Companies, Use By Youth
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This week the respected CBS documentary news show “60 Minutes” included a feature on smokeless tobacco, focusing on the recent launch of snus in the United States. The show was relatively balanced in focusing on the main potential risks and benefits of snus.
It started by featuring a young man who enjoys using snus in places where he cannot smoke, while continuing with a pack-a-day smoking addiction. The interviewer gave him the bad news: “You are a dual user.”
It then had a segment with the widely respected Swedish nicotine addiction expert, Dr Karl Fagerstrom, who stated that snus is 90-99% less harmful than smoking (while admitting some risks, including of pancreatic cancer). Read more »
This post, Smokeless Tobacco And The U.S. Launch Of Snus, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..
April 5th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Research
Tags: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Cardiology, Defibrillators, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Functionality, Implantable Medical Devices, Internal Medicine, Medical Device Safety Institute, Medical Technology, NEJM, New England Journal of Medicine, Pacemakers, Primary Care, Privacy, Regulations, Security, University of Washington in Seattle, Wireless Hacking
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Researchers from the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle have published an article in the latest New England Journal of Medicine suggesting technological and regulatory actions that they hope will increase the security and privacy of implantable medical devices.
As has been reported earlier, implantable pacemakers, defibrillators, and similar devices are subject to wireless hacking that may influence their functionality. Although a lip-smacking target for devious hackers, an actual incident where a person’s implant has been interfered with is yet to be reported.
NEJM: Improving the Security and Privacy of Implantable Medical Devices…
Flashback: Implant Hacking Possible, Not Probable…Yet
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
