public health
mikethemadbiologist | August 18, 2009One of the more successful healthcare interventions has been home nurse visits to families that have recently had a child:
"Optional Coverage of Nurse Home Visitation Services" certainly doesn't sound controversial. The initiative, which has existed in various forms at the state and local level for decades, would fund programs that "provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains...modeling, consulting, and coaching on parenting practices; [and] skills to interact with their child." Most similar programs have…
mikethemadbiologist | August 12, 2009In the midst of the concern about TEH SWINEY FLOO!, very few people (other than the Mad Biologist), have been discussing the double whammy of influenza followed by bacterial infections. A couple of years ago, I first started describing reports of KPCs:
No, KPC isn't a new fast food restaurant. It's short for Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase. The bad news: it's very hard to treat. The good news: it's very rare...for now.
Actually, the correct term is KPC-possessing K. pneumoniae [these genes are now showing up in other bacteria], but we'll just use the slang 'KPC'--it's what all the cool…
scientificactivist | August 6, 2009Mike Dunford tells a compelling story today at The Questionable Authority:
Yesterday, I took the kids to the doctor for their school physicals. I wouldn't normally subject you to an account of the day-to-day minutia of my personal life, but given the current debate about how we should handle health care in the United States, the details might be of interest.
We arrived - without an appointment - at a medical facility that we had not been to before. We did not have medical records with us, and the only paperwork of any kind that we had brought were the forms that needed to be filled out to…
mikethemadbiologist | August 3, 2009The CDC's expert committee has released its recommendations for who should receive the swine flu vaccination (TEH SWINEY FLOO!):
1. Pregnant women; household contacts and caretakers of children under 6 months old; health-care workers and emergency medical services workers; children and young adults ages 6 months through 24 years; adults ages 25 through 64 who have underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk.
2. Healthy adults ages 25 through 64.
3. Healthy adults ages 65 and older.
This is a good list, but I have several concerns, stemming from the apparent lack of recognition…
terrasig | July 28, 2009
We've spoken here every few months about so-called natural dietary supplements being adulterated with prescription drugs used for similar indications. The most common of these of late have been erectile dysfunction supplements which have been repeatedly found to contain the active compounds present in prescription E.D. products such as Viagra and Cialis.
The latest public health advisory from the US FDA concerns what appears to be a much more serious case of adulterations, this time with steroids in body-building supplements marketed as containing "steroid-like" compounds:
The FDA is…
mikethemadbiologist | July 15, 2009In light of the policy mediocrity that is the Obama administration, it's refreshing to read that the Obama administration is supporting the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA). Of course, it's early days yet, so it would be par for the courseis quite possible that Obama's support for this legislation will crumble.
I've discussed the bill in greater detail elsewhere, but here's why this bill would greatly improve our antibiotic use policy:
It covers all classes of antibiotics; there are no exempt classes of drugs.
The definition of "non-therapeutic use" is very…
ddobbs | July 9, 2009Both Mind Hacks and Jonah Lehrer took interesting note -- Jonah's the longer, and a pretty nice summary itself -- of the fascinating NY Times piece on ultramarathoner Diane Van Deren, who began running long distances after brain surgery removed much of her right temporal lobe. This gave her a great advantage: the lack of memory of the run behind her, and thus of any dread of the punishment still to come. Downside: significant memory problems, and she can't read a map.
Speaking of memory ...
Newsweek has a good piece on unconscious plagiarism -- that is, how genuine lapses in "source memory…
ddobbs | July 7, 2009Scientific American has a good story by Edmund S. Higgins suggesting that might be the case. As the story notes, the evidence for such a toll is still preliminary. But the story's opening, which tells of a parent seemingly overeager to medicate a child who didn't need it, gives an idea of why the question is more important than we might like.:
At the time of this visit, the boy was off the medication, and I conducted a series of cognitive and behavioral tests on him. He performed wonderfully. I also noticed that off the medication he was friendly and playful. On a previous casual encounter,…
j7uy5 | July 6, 2009Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) has been controversial, as
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031602913.html">noted
in the Washington Post.
Admittedly, most of the controversy has been contrived.
Fortunately, the process is moving forward; there is no meaningful
opposition at this point.
A good summary of the objections of this was posted by Hilzoy at
href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_05/018133.php">Political
Animal. I'll deal with the objections simply by posting the
link, as refuting them is not the…
ddobbs | July 4, 2009In case you missed them (or miss them, and want to read again ...)
The (Illusory) Rise and Fall of the "Depression Gene"
DIY circumcision with nail clippers Go figure.
Oliver Sacks meets Jon Stewart
Wheels come off psychiatric manual; APA blames road conditions
Alarming climate change chart of the day
Swine flu count in US hits 1 million; can't wait till flu season!
Will government involvement drive up health-care costs?
What if you could predict PTSD in combat troops? Oh, who cares...
ddobbs | June 30, 2009
U.S. Cases of New Flu Hit a High This Week, notes the WS Journal. Or, as the BBC puts it, US passes million swine flu cases. Effect Measure, meanwhile, ponders the flu's course in South America, where Hospitals `Overwhelmedâ By Flu Cases In Argentina.
We have just 90 days till flu season resumes here. H5N1 considers how to get ready, including a handy hydration formula.
j7uy5 | June 29, 2009Psychology is turning out to be a rather important field these
days. Nate Hagens has a post on The Oil Drum,
href="http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5519">The Psychological and
Evolutionary Roots of Resource Overconsumption Revisited. He
reviews the evolutionary psychology of poor economic
decision-making. Calculated Risk has a post,
href="http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/06/scientific-american-bubbles-and-busts.html">Scientific
American: Bubbles and Busts. It's based on an article in Scientific
American (
href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-science-of-…
mikethemadbiologist | June 28, 2009I told you this would happen. I used to give a lot of talks about antibiotic resistance, and when I did so, I would often use a cartoon as a humorous way to portray the severity of the resistance problem:
Sadly, this is no longer a laugh line:
Former Cleveland Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius sued the team and the Cleveland Clinic on Friday, saying the team misrepresented the cleanliness of its training facility and blaming doctors with negligence over a staph infection in his right knee that kept him from playing last year....
Jurevicius has said he contracted staph following arthroscopic…
j7uy5 | June 22, 2009It was the second-most-blogged article on the NYT when I got up this
morning; now, it is the first-most-blogged. It is the article
that reports on a survey that shows 72% support for a government-run
health insurance program. The program would be similar to
Medicare, but would be available to persons under 65 and not on Social
Security Disability.
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/policy/21poll.html">In
Poll, Wide Support for Government-Run Health
By KEVIN SACK and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: June 20, 2009
Americans overwhelmingly support substantial changes to the…
j7uy5 | June 9, 2009Market Folly writes of a new hedge fund strategy, and asks if there are
any more ideas
href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/141982-hedge-funds-latest-idea-investing-in-lawsuits">like
this:
We came across this interesting piece in Dealbook the other
day and thought it was very intriguing. Simply put: hedge funds are now
investing in lawsuits. The premise is pretty simple: they invest in one
side of the lawsuit and get a share of the winnings (if, of course,
they win the case)...
...If you think about it, it makes sense. These investors essentially
'bankroll' a litigation team, thus…
tsmith | June 1, 2009"I always think someone is following me and wants to rape me. It is better to die." --Darfuri refugee
Sometimes there comes a public health issue that's so big, so overwhelming, so heinous, that you just don't know where to begin discussing it. Nevertheless, the conversation should, and must, happen just the same. Silence may be easier, but speaking out is the only way to demystify the taboos and bring attention to what's going on for those who can't bring attention to it themselves. And maybe, just maybe, bring about some change.
It's no secret that rape happens during wartime.…
mikethemadbiologist | May 24, 2009I came across this post decrying the choice of Ralph Frieden as CDC director due to his "bluenose moralizing." Here's part of the argument:
What can't be denied is that Dr. Frieden and Mayor Bloomberg together promoted the myth that bad health is purely a matter of bad behavior.
The myth was an alarming break with the reality of the real causes of poor health, but it played well. There was the ban on smoking in bars, the ban on serving trans fats, the constant hectoring about what we eat and how much of it, and the finger wagging about AIDS "complacency" and our failure to use condoms.…
ddobbs | May 22, 2009
Having lived with fire ants, stepped in fire ants, laid down with fire ants, and been bit just about everywhere by fire ants, the news that parasitic flies turn fire ants them into zombies by eating their brains pleases me immensely.
Speaking of pleasure: Vaughn whacks the dopamine = pleasure meme.
Sharon Begley says Obama may get a lot done, but he can't erase stereotype threat (so far).
We may be dozing, but Europe is ordering its swine flu vaccine. D'oh! Update: We're getting a start too.
"Good night, sleep tight, I love you." Why consistent bedtime routines work.
Why the best…
j7uy5 | May 21, 2009Traumatic Brain Injury
href="http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/08/traumatic_brain_injury_on_the.php">has
been called the "signature injury" of the Iraq War, due to the
reported high prevalence of the injury there. This is in contrast
to previous wars. It's not that head injury is necessarily more
common; what is more common is for soldiers to sustain such injuries
and survive.
The Pentagon has recognized this, and (
href="http://scienceblogs.com/effectmeasure/2007/05/signing_a_check_for_iraqs_sign.php">reportedly)
is addressing it. But now, a paper published in NEJM…
ddobbs | May 20, 2009
What's wrong -- but horribly expected -- in this picture? One week the CEO of Lilly attacks the idea of a public health insurance plan because it might reduce consumers' "ability to choose, in an informed way, from all the available alternatives." The next week, PhRMA, the trade group this CEO's company is a part of, launches a campaign to undermine comparative effectiveness studies -- which would produce the data necessary for informed consumer choice. If that's not enough, this campaign against collecting actual empirical effectiveness data, spearheaded under the astroturf group…