December 13th, 2009 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News
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I guess the theme this week is “when things go wrong.” It seems like just when I think we are getting a grip on public health issues like smoking and violence against women, something appears to shake up my naive belief that we are making progress.
Last month the Parents Television Council (PTC) reported that incidents of violence against women on mainstream U.S. TV has increased by 1.2 times in the past five years with the depiction of teen girls as victims being four times as high as it was five years ago. This particular type of violence seems to be increasing at a higher rate than just regular violence, which makes it worse.
Singled out as the worst offender was Fox which the PTC said allows violence against women to be trivialized through punch lines in comedies like “Family Guy” and “American Dad.” Faring the best was ABC (that is, until the AMA Award show last week) which apparently was the only network not showing a dramatic increase in the number of stories that included beating, violent threats, shooting, rape, stabbing and torture. Read more »
This post, Television Violence Against Women On The Upswing, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..
December 12th, 2009 by KerriSparling in Better Health Network, True Stories
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Today, I’m revisiting a post from 2006 (writing that makes me realize I’ve been blogging for a while now!), when I met a little boy at a Rhode Island JDRF event who warmed my heart – which I needed on this snowy, New England morning. 😉
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I’d guess about ten years old. Spikey blonde hair, pale blue eyes, chubby little kid face.
His mother stopped by the table we were manning at the School Health Fair, mussing with the pamphlets strewn about the blue plastic tablecloth. The tri-fold cardboard display announced “Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation” in bright blue letters. Myself and another volunteer from the RI JDRF stood vigil at the table, handing out trinkets and informational packets, answering questions, and enjoying the sights.
“Hey buddy. Would you like a t-shirt?” My fellow volunteer leaned in towards the little blonde boy. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Six Until Me.*
December 11th, 2009 by Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips
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With the holidays upon us and our country still facing a challenging economic crisis, many families are struggling with how to balance celebrating and spending without disappointing their children.
From news stories to Facebook postings, families are expressing clear concern for how to celebrate this year, what to buy for their kids and how much money to spend. They want to be honest with their kids yet shelter them from their adult financial concerns at the same time. Moreover, they feel guilty because this year was supposed to be different because last year they had the same stresses and concerns. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr Gwenn Is In*
December 10th, 2009 by Steve Novella, M.D. in Better Health Network, Research
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Many parents of children with autism have expressed to me their dismay that the anti-vaccine lobby is sucking all the oxygen out of the room for autism awareness. They feel that just being a parent of a child with autism makes others assume that they are anti-vaccine. They also worry that resources and attention are being diverted from promising legitimate research because of all the attention being paid to the failed vaccine hypothesis.
So it is good to occasionally focus on mainstream autism research to show that progress is being made, despite the unfortunate anti-vaccine sideshow. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
December 4th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
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The past few days have shown me some small pleasures of my practice. I spent about 20 minutes sewing together the hand and forehead of a sweet elderly lady who fell down while being evacuated from a nursing home fire. Her skin, like tissue, came together in fragile folds; my hands moved easily with the needle and thread thanks to so many years of practice, so many hundreds of feet of sutures placed. Although I must admit that my cataract-stricken right eye left my depth perception imperfect in a way that bonded me to her. (Sitting here, with no reading glasses, I can close my left eye and all I see is a hint of lines on the page, but no letters.)
My sweet little lady smiled at me, nervously, tentatively, but was comforted at the prospect of going back to her bed. Her son eased her fear with jokes, then took her home. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
