Health posts
- March 17, 2010
- 12:05 PM
- 20 views
Painting lines on the playground - easiest physical activity intervention. EVER.
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
In most developed nations, kids get far less physical activity than they did just a few generations ago. Given the strong links between physical inactivity and health risk (and given that we're now seeing "adult" diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes in children and teenagers), this has become a very real public health concern. Unfortunately, when it comes to increasing childhood physical activity levels, people often want to reinvent the wheel. For example, many peop........ Read more »
STRATTON, G., & MULLAN, E. (2005) The effect of multicolor playground markings on children's physical activity level during recess. Preventive Medicine, 41(5-6), 828-833. DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2005.07.009
- March 17, 2010
- 05:32 AM
- 23 views
Mmm... Food-Induced Seizures
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
In a tasty new paper, British neurologists Kate El Bouzidi et al report on the case of a woman who suffered epileptic seizures whenever she saw, or tasted, food:A 44-year-old right-handed woman was walking in the Scottish highlands. Upon unwrapping her lunch, she had a focal seizure with witnessed onset on the right side of the face and secondary generalization... She was airlifted to hospital. Three weeks later, the smell of food triggered another seizure and she was admitted to the neurology u........ Read more »
El Bouzidi K, Duncan S, Whittle IR, & Butler CR. (2010) Lesional reflex epilepsy associated with the thought of food. Neurology, 74(7), 610-2. PMID: 20157165
- March 16, 2010
- 09:43 AM
- 16 views
Editorial Support, CME, and the Primary Care Companion
by CL Psych in Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
By now, everyone who has been paying attention should know that a journal article which lists "editorial support" is an article that was ghostwritten. Yet the average reader of these articles is apparently uninformed enough to not care. Why else would so many articles get published which feature "editorial support provided by [insert name of ghostwriter here]." One my my favorite journals, under the "so bad, it's good" category, is the Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical P........ Read more »
Thase, M., Gaynes, B., Papakostas, G., Shelton, R., & Trivedi, M. (2009) Tackling Partial Response to Depression Treatment. The Primary Care Companion to The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 11(4), 155-162. DOI: 10.4088/PCC.8133ah3c
- March 16, 2010
- 06:00 AM
- 36 views
A healthy life leads to a healthy sex life
by Helen Jaques in In Sickness and In Health
Being in good or excellent health increases the quality and quantity of sex for middle aged and older people, according to a big study that delved into the sex lives of 6,000 American adults aged 25-85. Plus being fit can keep you sexually active into a ripe old age, unlike your unhealthy peers.
The study also [...]... Read more »
Lindau, S., & Gavrilova, N. (2010) Sex, health, and years of sexually active life gained due to good health: evidence from two US population based cross sectional surveys of ageing. BMJ, 340(mar09 2). DOI: 10.1136/bmj.c810
- March 16, 2010
- 05:30 AM
- 49 views
Don't eat on a full brain
by Yoni Freedhoff in Weighty Matters
Here's a interesting study. Simple experimental design. Take 165 undergraduate students and enroll them in a study you tell them is about memory and where as part of their reward for inclusion, they'll be given a snack. Ask half of them to memorize a 2 digit number and the other half a 7 digit number and once they've memorized their numbers ask them to go into a second room where they are faced with their snack choice - either a piece of chocolate cake or a cup of fruit salad. Track choice a........ Read more »
Shiv, B., & Fedorikhin, A. (1999) Heart and Mind in Conflict: the Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making. Journal of Consumer Research, 26(3), 278-292. DOI: 10.1086/209563
- March 16, 2010
- 03:28 AM
- 36 views
Chocolate Against Stress
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
40 grams of dark chocolate per day reduces the urinary excretion of the stress hormone cortisol and it almost normalizes the stress related differences in energy metabolism and gut microbial activities between participants with low and high anxiety traits.
You are what you eat, it has been described how dietary preferences is associated with metabolic processes [...]
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Martin, F., Rezzi, S., Peré-Trepat, E., Kamlage, B., Collino, S., Leibold, E., Kastler, J., Rein, D., Fay, L., & Kochhar, S. (2009) Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects. Journal of Proteome Research, 8(12), 5568-5579. DOI: 10.1021/pr900607v
- March 15, 2010
- 05:00 PM
- 30 views
The Drosophila Circadian Clock
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Today, we had a guest seminar speaker, Dr. Bridget Lear, who presented us with the molecular regulation of circadian locomotor activity in the Drosophila. By deleting several of specific genes and interfering with the kinetics of specific ion channels, Bridget is able to modify, and in most cases, eradicate organized circadian locomotor activity... Read more »
Lear, B., Lin, J., Keath, J., McGill, J., Raman, I., & Allada, R. (2005) The Ion Channel Narrow Abdomen Is Critical for Neural Output of the Drosophila Circadian Pacemaker. Neuron, 48(6), 965-976. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.10.030
- March 15, 2010
- 12:17 PM
- 26 views
Fumbling the Communication Baton in Patient Hand-offs
by Rob Mitchum in ScienceLife
As you may have gathered from various television dramas, medical residents work insane hours. A typical shift “on call” often means 30 straight hours on duty at the hospital, mostly spent on the time-intensive process of admitting new patients. People outside the medical profession often ask why such marathon shifts are necessary, and express surprise [...]... Read more »
Chang, V., Arora, V., Lev-Ari, S., D'Arcy, M., & Keysar, B. (2010) Interns Overestimate the Effectiveness of Their Hand-off Communication. PEDIATRICS, 125(3), 491-496. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2009-0351
- March 15, 2010
- 09:50 AM
- 35 views
Tumour associated macrophages and survival in Hodgkins Lymphoma
by Sally Church in Pharma Strategy Blog
While reading my pile of mail on Friday, I realised that an interesting paper on Hodgkins Lymphoma (HL) appeared in the current edition of the New England Journal of Medicine (full reference below). The basics of the paper are that...... Read more »
Steidl C, Lee T, Shah SP, Farinha P, Han G, Nayar T, Delaney A, Jones SJ, Iqbal J, Weisenburger DD.... (2010) Tumor-associated macrophages and survival in classic Hodgkin's lymphoma. The New England journal of medicine, 362(10), 875-85. PMID: 20220182
DeVita, V., & Costa, J. (2010) Toward a Personalized Treatment of Hodgkin's Disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 362(10), 942-943. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMe0912481
Kunisch, E. (2004) Macrophage specificity of three anti-CD68 monoclonal antibodies (KP1, EBM11, and PGM1) widely used for immunohistochemistry and flow cytometry. Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 63(7), 774-784. DOI: 10.1136/ard.2003.013029
- March 15, 2010
- 06:30 AM
- 37 views
Should scientists be in control?
by Björn Brembs in bjoern.brembs.blog
The cliché scientist is often portrayed as the laborious worker slogging away days and nights in the lab. In contrast, the cliché for musicians or artists often comprises a bohemian lifestyle, full of parties, drugs and the occasional spurts of genius and frantic artistic expression. Reality, as always, is somewhere in-between. Artists need to work hard and laboriously to get something finished before the concert, recording or exhibition and scientists need to be creative and invest a lot of ........ Read more »
Liston, C., McEwen, B., & Casey, B. (2009) Psychosocial stress reversibly disrupts prefrontal processing and attentional control. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(3), 912-917. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0807041106
Radley, J. (2005) Repeated Stress Induces Dendritic Spine Loss in the Rat Medial Prefrontal Cortex. Cerebral Cortex, 16(3), 313-320. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhi104
- March 15, 2010
- 05:52 AM
- 62 views
How to Stop Smoking
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
1. Don't smoke.2. See 1.This is essentially what Simon Chapman and Ross MacKenzie suggest in a provocative PloS Medicine paper, The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences.Their point is deceptively simple: there is lots of research looking at drugs and other treatments to help people quit smoking tobacco, but little attention is paid to people who quit without any help, despite the fact that the majority (up to 75%) of quitters do just that. This is good........ Read more »
Chapman S, & MacKenzie R. (2010) The global research neglect of unassisted smoking cessation: causes and consequences. PLoS medicine, 7(2). PMID: 20161722
- March 15, 2010
- 03:33 AM
- 42 views
The Neuroscience of Anorexia Nervosa
by Dr Shock in Dr Shock MD PhD
One of the most striking features of those suffering from anorexia nervosa is their perception of their bodies. You can put them in front of a mirror and they will still tell you they’re to fat when in fact they’re skinny. A recent publication in Nature Proceedings has an explanation.
This explanation is based on the [...]
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Riva, Guiseppe. (2010) Neuroscience and Eating Disorders: The role of the medial-temporal lobe. Nature Proceedings. info:/
- March 14, 2010
- 02:59 PM
- 38 views
The Cocaine Conundrum
by Dirk Hanson in Addiction Inbox
Effective treatment remains elusive.
For addiction to cocaine, amphetamine, and other stimulants, the treatment picture has been complicated by the lack of any truly significant anti-craving medications. (See post, “No Pill for Stimulant Addiction"). The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has yet to approve any medications for the treatment of either cocaine or amphetamine addiction.
Take the case of cocaine. Partly the problem stems from the direct effect cocaine has on dopamine transm........ Read more »
Hiranita, T., Soto, P., Newman, A., & Katz, J. (2009) Assessment of Reinforcing Effects of Benztropine Analogs and Their Effects on Cocaine Self-Administration in Rats: Comparisons with Monoamine Uptake Inhibitors. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 329(2), 677-686. DOI: 10.1124/jpet.108.145813
- March 14, 2010
- 02:20 PM
- 30 views
Maintaining change
by Adiemusfree in Healthskills: Skills for Healthy Living
I’m sure we’ve all seen it. The person comes into a pain management programme, gets excited, does really well during each session, enjoys the company and makes huge gains – then the programme ends and — FIZZLE! It all stops.
Some critics suggest that any change obtained during a short-term programme (such as a three-week [...]... Read more »
Christiansen, S., Oettingen, G., Dahme, B., & Klinger, R. (2010) A short goal-pursuit intervention to improve physical capacity: A randomized clinical trial in chronic back pain patients. Pain. DOI: 10.1016/j.pain.2009.12.015
- March 14, 2010
- 07:59 AM
- 31 views
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages, Diet Coke & Health. Part I.
by Laika in Laika's Medliblog
At Medical and Technology of Joseph Kim, the upcoming Grand Rounds host, I saw the blog post “Need your help on Facebook to get Diet Coke to Donate $50,000 to the Foundation for NIH”.
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute has started a national campaign in the US, The Heart Truth®. They issued a challenge in [...]... Read more »
Litsa K Lambrakos, Pamela Coxson, Lee Goldman, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo. (2010) Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Consumption and the Attributable Burden to Diabetes and Coronary Heart Disease. Circulation. info:other/
Malik VS, Schulze MB, & Hu FB. (2006) Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain: a systematic review. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 84(2), 274-88. PMID: 16895873
Wolff E, & Dansinger ML. (2008) Soft drinks and weight gain: how strong is the link?. Medscape journal of medicine, 10(8), 189. PMID: 18924641
Forshee RA, Anderson PA, & Storey ML. (2008) Sugar-sweetened beverages and body mass index in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 87(6), 1662-71. PMID: 18541554
Gibson S. (2008) Sugar-sweetened soft drinks and obesity: a systematic review of the evidence from observational studies and interventions. Nutrition research reviews, 21(2), 134-47. PMID: 19087367
Janssen I, Katzmarzyk PT, Boyce WF, Vereecken C, Mulvihill C, Roberts C, Currie C, Pickett W, & Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Obesity Working Group. (2005) Comparison of overweight and obesity prevalence in school-aged youth from 34 countries and their relationships with physical activity and dietary patterns. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 6(2), 123-32. PMID: 15836463
- March 12, 2010
- 06:45 PM
- 40 views
Thymus Transplant Extends Life in Old Mice
by Reason in Fight Aging!
Amidst the preprint list of the Rejuvenation Research journal, I see an interesting paper I'd somehow missed: life span can be extended in old mice by transplant of a young thymus. Noninvasive Neonatal Thymus Graft into the Axillary Cavity Extends the Lifespan of Old Mice: Neonatal thymus grafts exert a rejuvenating action on various immunological and nonimmunological functions found altered in old mice. Commonly, half of a thymus is grafted under the kidney capsule. The invasiveness of the surg........ Read more »
Basso, A., Malavolta, M., Piacenza, F., Santarelli, L., Marcellini, F., Papa, R., & Mocchegiani, E. (2009) Noninvasive Neonatal Thymus Graft into the Axillary Cavity Extends the Lifespan of Old Mice. Rejuvenation Research, 2147483647. DOI: 10.1089/rej.2009.0936
- March 12, 2010
- 01:28 PM
- 46 views
Sleep Disorders Are No Laughing Matter
by Deborah Serani, Psy.D. in Dr. Deb
March 7 thru the 13th is Sleep Awareness Week. Good sleep is important for physical health. As for emotional health, studies suggest mental health difficulties are often accompanied by sleep disturbances.
... Read more »
Lee, M., Choh, A., Demerath, E., Knutson, K., Duren, D., Sherwood, R., Sun, S., Chumlea, W., Towne, B., Siervogel, R.... (2009) Sleep disturbance in relation to health-related quality of life in adults: The fels longitudinal study. The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging, 13(6), 576-583. DOI: 10.1007/s12603-009-0110-1
- March 12, 2010
- 12:05 PM
- 33 views
Google Adds Cycling Routes to Their Maps!
by Travis Saunders, MSc in Obesity Panacea
Regular readers of Obesity Panacea will know that I am a huge fan of active transportation (e.g. walking or cycling to work, rather than commuting by vehicle). I just can't say enough good things about it. It often takes about the same amount of time as commuting by vehicle, plus it ensures that you're getting at least some physical activity on even the busiest days. Even just taking transit instead of driving yourself increases your chances of meeting the daily physical activity gu........ Read more »
Wilkinson, P., Smith, K., Davies, M., Adair, H., Armstrong, B., Barrett, M., Bruce, N., Haines, A., Hamilton, I., & Oreszczyn, T. (2009) Public health benefits of strategies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions: household energy. The Lancet, 374(9705), 1917-1929. DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61713-X
- March 11, 2010
- 09:43 PM
- 43 views
The Conservative View of Progress in Applied Cancer Research
by Reason in Fight Aging!
Via FuturePundit, I see that a recent open access paper outlines the results of applied cancer research over the past four decades. Declining Death Rates Reflect Progress against Cancer The success of the "war on cancer" initiated in 1971 continues to be debated, with trends in cancer mortality variably presented as evidence of progress or failure. We examined temporal trends in death rates from all-cancer and the 19 most common cancers in the United States from 1970-2006. ... Progress in reduci........ Read more »
Jemal, A., Ward, E., & Thun, M. (2010) Declining Death Rates Reflect Progress against Cancer. PLoS ONE, 5(3). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009584
- March 11, 2010
- 09:16 PM
- 35 views
Neury Thursday: Neural Evidence For Why I Can't Remember the Lyrice to my Favorite Rap Songs
by Allison in Dormivigilia
Neuroscientists have uncovered differential encoding of a tune and its lyrics within the superior temporal sulcus and gyrus. ... Read more »
Sammler, D., Baird, A., Valabregue, R., Clement, S., Dupont, S., Belin, P., & Samson, S. (2010) The Relationship of Lyrics and Tunes in the Processing of Unfamiliar Songs: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Adaptation Study. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(10), 3572-3578. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2751-09.2010
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