July 29th, 2011 by PJSkerrett in Health Tips
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The brutal heat wave gripping much of the country this week is unpleasant for healthy folks. For people with cardiovascular trouble, hazy, hot, humid days can be downright dangerous.
Your body shouldn’t get too hot (or too cold). If your temperature rises too far, the proteins that build your body and run virtually all of its chemical processes can stop working. The human body sheds extra heat in two ways, both of which stress the heart:
Radiation. Like water flowing downhill, heat naturally moves from warm areas to cooler ones. As long as the air around you is cooler than your body, you radiate heat to the air. But this transfer stops when the air temperature approaches body temperature.
Radiation requires rerouting blood flow so more of it goes to the skin. This makes the heart beat faster and pump harder. On a hot day, it may circulate two to four times as much blood each minute as it does on a cool day.
Evaporation. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Harvard Health Blog*
July 29th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network
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It seems to me this topic of surgeons and their lack of civility gets pulled out on a fairly regular basis. This latest discussion in the news media is due to a short article in the current Archives of Surgery (full reference below).
Surgeons as a group have a reputation (which even nice ones have trouble overcoming) of arrogance and incivility.
The authors, Klein and Forni, of this article state (bold emphasis is mine):
Uncivil behavior is so present in society at large that we should not be surprised to find it among health care workers. This article is meant to raise the awareness of the costs—both in dollars and in human misery—of incivility in the practice of medicine by looking in particular at the case of surgeons.
Uncivil behavior brings misery wherever it occurs. If the individual tends to behave in an uncivil fashion prior to medical school and prior to residency, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
July 29th, 2011 by MuinKhouryMDPhD in Opinion, Research
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Adverse drug events are a serious public health problem. Consider the following facts:
- an estimated 82% of American adults take at least one medication and 29% take five or more;
- 700,000 emergency department visits and 120,000 hospitalizations are due to adverse drug events annually;
- $3.5 billion is spent on extra medical costs of adverse drug events annually;
- at least 40% of costs associated with adverse drug events occurring outside hospitals can be prevented.
How can genomics help? Pharmacogenomics is the study of genetic variation as a factor in drug response, affecting both safety and effectiveness. The intended applications of pharmacogenomics research include identifying responders and non-responders to medications, avoiding adverse events, optimizing drug dose and avoiding unnecessary healthcare costs. The Food and Drug Administration has added pharmacogenomic information to the labeling for more than 70 drugs. Labels may include information on genetic determinants of clinical response or risk for adverse events.
In spite of current enthusiasm about pharmacogenomics in the research community, Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Genomics and Health Impact Blog*
July 28th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Health Tips, Research
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Most women in their 40′s believe they should have annual mammograms, regardless of what screening regimen their doctor might recommend.
So say researchers in Massachusetts who surveyed women (primarily white, highly educated) ages 39-49 presenting for annual checkups. They gave the women a fact sheet about the new USPSTF guidelines on mammogram screening in their age group, and asked them to read one of two articles either supporting or opposing the guidelines. The researchers then asked women about their beliefs, concerns and attitudes about breast cancer and mammogram screening. Here’s what they found –
- Women overwhelmingly want annual mammograms – Close to 90% of women surveyed felt they should have annual mammograms, regardless of what their doctor might recommend.
- Women overestimate breast cancer risks – Eighty eight percent overestimated their lifetime risk for the disease, with the average estimate being 37%. (The correct lifetime risk for breast cancer is 12%). This is consistent with previous research on breast cancer beliefs.
- The media may not influence women’s opinions about screening guidelines – Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
July 28th, 2011 by AndrewSchorr in Health Tips, True Stories
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You know I am a cancer survivor – 15 years down the road from a leukemia diagnosis and enjoying a 10 year remission. So whenever something seems weird about my health it’s cancer coming back, right? Wrong! Just how wrong was proven last night. I am writing this from my hospital bed in Seattle.
The first symptom of a possible problem came three days ago when I had soreness in my right calf. A pulled muscle? Maybe. But I had not noticed straining it. Back at the gym the next day I had soreness again but thought it was no big deal. Last night it was worse. It hurt some to walk. I got home and, after my wife and son were asleep, got ready for bed. I had a slight fever and then noticed the right calf was not only sore, but swollen and warm. Very strange. I’d never seen that before.
Trying not to be stupid I called the 24-hour consulting nurse. She immediately began to focus on deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a worrisome condition that affects about two million Americans a year and can lead to a life threatening situation. She had a doctor call me. Normally those doctors would rather make a house call then send you to the more costly emergency room. But not this time. “Dr. Steve” urged me to go to the ER rather than let a DVT progress and endanger my life. An ultrasound exam would determine if it was really a DVT. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Andrew's Blog*
