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HEALTH/EDUCATION ARCHIVES -- FEBRUARY 2010
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FEBRUARY 22, 2010 -- FEBRUARY 28, 2010 LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE AND LIVE LONGER
This is old news, surely…
Read the article REUTERS/Happiness makes for a healthy heart. <> I'm always optimistic, my glass is always half full. I guess I may make 200 in that case according to Dr Davidson. Read the article U.K. DAILY MAIL/Optimists are less likely to get heart disease SWEET TRUTH: CHOCOLATE IS GOOD FOR YOU!
Here's proof of chocolate in moderation being healthy. Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment lived to be 122 years of age. She ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and nearly one kilo of chocolate eaten every week. Read the article USA TODAY/Chocolate is good for you
These studies are goofy and another study 10 years from now will say something completely different. I remember 30 or more years ago when the studies said to eat margarine instead of butter. Now, the partially hydrogentaed crud in margarine is supposedly worse than butter. Then oat bran was good for your heart...blah...blah...blah. These studies aren't worth a ... Read the article USA TODAY/Chocolate is good for you
FEBRUARY 15, 2010 -- FEBRUARY 21, 2010 A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER, A TEACHER TO THE WALL...
'My daughter was told it was no different to buying lamb from the supermarket. I really don't think this is the same thing.' <> Oh dear...of course I am an ardent animal lover, but we are missing the point this teacher was making, aside of the other important point, that it was the children who decided that the lamb was to be slaughtered. The hysteria surrounding this, is the reason why most children think that roast beef comes from Tescos. My daughter is 3, knows that real chickens is what chicken is, doesn't know what a burger is (are we the only family not to visit MacDonalds?) and became extremely concerned that people actually eat dogs aka Hot Dogs...lol a 3 year olds perspective here. The point is, this is not about animal cruelty, it never was. Vegetarianism, Vegans etc, that is a lifestyle choice, as is the consumption of meat; the correct farming methods were used here and I cannot see the problem with it. Unless of course they boiled the rabbits as well. Read the article U.K. DAILY MAIL/Head "teacher "hounded out" of school after slaughter sheep reared by pupils GENE BREAKTHROUGH ADDRESSES STUTTERING
I have stuttered my entire life. I was assessed as being a moderate to severe stutterer as a young woman but now through very hard work I am classified as mild to moderate. Now I have proof that I am not "crazy", not "intellectually deficient", " overly nervous", or suffering from "poor self esteem". There is a real medical reason. My family doesn't have to feel ashamed anymore (three of five of us stutter). The consequences of having a disorder that no one understands are profound. It can affect every aspect of someone's life- work, social relationships, family. I've known all my life there is no cure- only help- but maybe now there is hope that my grandchildren can be helped (maybe cured?!!!!) All of you who are criticizing this article, unless you've walked in my shoes, you cannot possibly understand how important a real medical reason can be. No more shame!!! Read the article CNN/Unlocking a medical mystery: Stuttering <> This is important news for people who stutter and for speech pathologists and researchers. This means that researchers can focus more on the genetic side of the cause of stuttering and a cure or treatment. I knew three individuals who stuttered and were 4.0 students in high school and college. Some people thought that there was a mental problem or emotional issue with a stutterer. Now, we come to find out.. it is a genetic gene that causes the problem. Whenever I saw someone picking on someone who stutters.. I always thought that the person picking on the stutterer was the one that was dumb and ignorant or showing a lack of knowledge about stuttering. Read the article CNN/Unlocking a medical mystery: Stuttering
FEBRUARY 8, 2010 -- FEBRUARY 14, 2010 DRAWING NEW LINES ON MENTAL DISORDERS
...."One significant change would be adding a childhood disorder called temper dysregulation disorder with dysphoria, a recommendation that grew out of recent findings that many wildly aggressive, irritable children who have been given a diagnosis of bipolar disorder do not have it." Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Revising book on disorders of the mind <> Let's see, hypersexuality, binge eating disorder, motivational deficiency disorder, explosive disorder, compulsive shopping addiction.... Read the article NEW YORK TIMES/Revising book on disorders of the mind <> Perhaps more than anything, I am very pleased with the proposed overhaul of the personality disorders section. As someone whose research focuses primarily upon certain personality traits and their relation to behavioral outcomes, I am very pleased that the DSM-V is taking this approach to personality and abandoning many of the categories that lacked any scientific evidence supporting their validity. My hope is that, as people share their comments in the public forums on DSM5.org, they will keep their emotions in check. This is obviously an incredibly important issue that touches a lot of people on a personal level. It is vital that this conversation be constructive, that the flaws not be distorted, and that the scientific evidence behind many of the proposed changes not get lost amidst the chaos. Read the article ABC NEWS/Big changes for the psychiatrist's bible CHEERS TO YOUR HEALTH! BEER MAY BE GOOD FOR DEM BONES
Italian heritage, with a smash of German and Irish. Grandma on Dad's side drank 3-4 beer a day until she died in her late 80s (cancer, she smoked every day of those 80+ years since she was 14 on.) Grandpa on that side is 88 and still playing golf a few days a week (and scoring under his age almost every time). Grandma on my mom's side had 1 beer every night with dinner, and made it to 96. Her husband worked underground on the NY water tunnels a good chunk of his life, and dies of cancer in his 70s. However, great grandparents on both sides made it to their 90s. 2 made it past 100. All we typically eat is pasta (tomato based mostly), bread, chicken steak and venison, a mix of veggies, heavy on the garlic, Olive oil in the pans instead of butter, and wash it down with either red wine or beer (and typically the darker beers if not a stout). Given the powers of red wine, beer, garlic, tomato, and all the spices, it's no wonder everyone is fat and happy into late years. The only cancer cases have been extreme long term smoking, or industrial hazard related. Pretty much every single member of the family dies of heart disease, but in your 90s, i call that natural causes... Read the article THE REGISTER/Drink beer not fizzy pop for pity's sake, say the boffins <> Rubbish! They're just poking and prodding the results of their studies, dividing them into ever smaller boxes until they get the return they want. What's the relative risk? Was it a double-blind trial or just a trawl through observational study data? All this statistical rubbish is why we keep getting stories about how wine/coffee/chocolate/sex is good for you one month and bad for you the next. They don't actually demonstrate any significant risk and they're often working with a relative risk (or risk ratio) of less than 1, which is statistically insignificant, and using just a fraction of the population initially claimed for the study. Given those conditions it's easy to prove just about anything you want, and these alleged scientists usually do. Read the article THE REGISTER/Drink beer not fizzy pop for pity's sake, say the boffins PIG TO HUMAN LUNG TRANSPLANTS A BREATH CLOSER
The story says "Human DNA is now added to the pigs as they are reared", not that their DNA is partly derived from humans. If there is any medical ethical issue, it should be the source of that DNA, not this use. I may not be a doctor or a medical ethicalist, but like most people, I see no ethical difference in using pigs for human parts if they have received some DNA from humans or not. The pig still dies, a human has a shot at life. It is NOT a half-human, half-pig that is slaughtered. Read the article DAILY TELEGRAPH/Pig lungs in human transplanjts a step closer . <> "Ethical"??? we are comparing the life and death of a human being to a "pig" and are talking "ethics". Like the man said "Bacon anybody"? The pigs going to die anyway, so why not save a human life at the same time? By the way, I have a cow valve in my heart that has been keeping me alive for the last threee years, is that wrong Mr Ethicist? Read the article DAILY TELEGRAPH/Pig lungs in human transplanjts a step closer . THE LANCET BURSTS AN ANTI-VACCINE BUBBLE
Unfortunately I don't think this will make a dent in the anti vaccine campaign. Once people go into the conspiracy mindset it's pretty hard to convince them otherwise, besides, they have given up on science completely, so why would a scientific article make any difference? You can't reason people out of something they didn't use reason to get into in the first place. The only "science" valid for these people is the one that corroborates their point of view, and anecdotes, everything else is evidence for the conspiracy of the whole scientific community. Read the article ARS TECHNICA/The Lancet retracts paper linking MMR vaccines and autism <> Wakefield happened to raise an interesting hypothesis that had no rigorous data to support it. Attempt after attempt to test the hypothesis has failed to support it. Science is based on the testing of hypotheses. You can never prove any general statement true (even if the first million marbles in an infinite barrel of marbles was black that does not prove the general statement that all the marbles were black) but even a single counter example can disprove a general statement (one white marble definitively disproves the hypothesis that all the marbles are black). In this case Wakefield's hypothesis has been tested over and over again and it just is not supportive of the data. Interesting idea that happened to be wrong. The only reason the idea has kept alive was the combined political influence of unscrupulous trial attorneys combined with the gullibility of desperate parents wanting some explanation and shoddy science writers. Bottom line is that the hypothesis has failed to stand the tests of real world data. As Einstein noted, "truth is that which stands the test of experience." Unfortunately Wakefield failed. Read the article HUFFINGTON POST/The Lancet retracts Dr. Andrew Wakefield's article on the autism/vaccine connection <> Of course hindsight is 20/20, but after reading Wakefield’s original paper, I’m stunned that it was published in Lancet. Besides Wakefield having obvious conflicts of interest that he choose not to disclose, such as the children selected for the study being involved in a class action lawsuit against vaccine manufacturers with Wakefield as an expert witness, the science as reported in the paper was weak. Lancet’s peer review process failed in this case and they took so long to retract the study because of their arrogance. This situation is really no different than the ghostwriting scandals perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry. In both cases you have a party with a financial interest seeking to deceive the public with regards to a medical issue by getting a biased paper published in a peer reviewed journal. The best kind of advertising is the kind you do not recognize as advertising. I’ll bet that most of the people who think Wakefield is a hero despise pharma for their despicable misrepresentation of science for financial gain. Wakefield is no different than the pharma execs who chose to put profits over public health. Read the article WALL STREET JOURNAL/The end of a paper that linked vaccines to autism
FEBRUARY 1 , 2010 -- FEBRUARY 7, 2010 L.A. POT CLINICS GET SMOKED BY CITY COUNCIL
How does the LA City Council propose to serve an estimated 500,000 patients with only 70 dispensaries? The LAPD, already staggered by budgetary constraints, has estimated that it would cost $1.3 million to monitor 70 collectives and would require a lieutenant, 11 detectives, an auditor and a clerk to enforce the new rules. How is this preferable to collecting millions in tax revenue from more open dispensaries? There is no doubt that stricter regulation is needed, but closing 93% of all dispensaries will only force those who have obeyed the law to go back underground for their medication. The Mayor must not approve this short-sighted ordinance. Read the article NPR/L.A.city council votes to close most pot clinics <> Just decriminalize it already! Pot isn't good for you, but it doesn't create nearly as many health problems as drinking. I think many social harms could be eliminated if adults trying to get pot could go to an approved dispensary, not trashy black market dealers. It is especially inhumane to deny very sick people this rather harmless anesthetic. Come on L.A., there are more pressing concerns. Read the article NPR/L.A.city council votes to close most pot clinics <> I'm glad the city finally clamped down on these opportunists. I know a handful of people who run them, and dozens of people who go there for prescriptions, and the vast majority of the transactions are about getting $55/eighth, high grade weed (or edibles) to party with. Basically, these dispensaries are just really huge cash machines. I'm all for sick people legitimately using weed dispensaries, and I even support legalizing weed in general, with the same rules and taxes as alcohol - but 99% of this med weed dispensary situation has just been about partying and making a bongload of money. Read the article LA TIMES/L.A. city council approves medical marijuana ordinance that will shut down hundreds of dispensaries <> First of all let me state that I am a patient and MMJ advocate. Seriously folks what did you all expect? what with dispensaries popping up on every street corner and some dispensaries even advertising vaporizer sundays this was inevitable. The dispensaries "ran amuck" and the legitimate pt's are the ones who will be inconvenienced. Yes the best route would be to legalize and regulate. I think that that is where further efforts should be focused. Prohibition never works. Read the article LA TIMES/L.A. city council approves medical marijuana ordinance that will shut down hundreds of dispensaries
KIDS PLUGGED INTO MEDIA SEVEN-PLUS HOURS A DAY AND COUNTING
GENERATION M2 -- KAISER FAMILY STUDY The problem, folks, is kids are evolving and education ISN’T . . .public schools are still educating they way they 200 years ago, just with better teaching aids. It’s time to move education into the present! I home schooled my kids. They did most of their work online and my lesson plans followed their interests and current events . . so we did things like deconstruct the US Constitution or study William Wallace. I remember one time the youngest asked at breakfast if there was really a Rasputin (we had just seen Anastasia). I laughed and said, “Go find out. I want 500 words at dinner about him.” I came home from work and he was bouncing around he was so excited. He couldn’t even wait until dinner to tell me everything he had found out. And at dinner we discussed the Bolshevik revolution and a bit of the history of communism. I figure eventually groups will figure out that we have passed the time where forcing kids to remember a bunch of crap for a few months so they can regurgitate it for a test is what it means to give them an education. Now we need them to develop the ability to find what they need to know quickly and use their critical thinking skills to spin the knowledge into new ideas. Read the article DISCOVER/Generation IPod spend 53 hours a week consuming media
I very much agree with this - While I spent more time playing games, my time now (I'm 26) is spent absorbing as much information as I can. Read the article MASHABLE/Kids spend every waking minute in front of a screen <> Technology is not the problem, socialization and values are the problem. I teach high school and it would be easy to condemn the entire generation as being vacuous, inattentive and driven by instant gratification. But that is so far from the truth. Young people today do benefit from the greatest range of technological advances in all of human history...and all at their fingertips. But those who abuse the technology do so for one reason, because they can. Their parents have - for a host of reasons - abrogated the responsibility of cultivating and modeling strong relationships where a child learns about intimacy and interpersonal connections. Many young people have seen a generation of parents who chose to work more hours to get more stuff all the while ignoring their kids' isolation because they see the march of technology as just an inevitability, not something to be moderated next to real life. If you show kids you care about them, it's amazing how fast they stop worrying about where the next text is coming from. Why do you think so many more young people hug each other just to say hi?! Read the article ABC NEWS/New study shows kids spend seven hours a day with electronics
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