Monday, November 16, 2009
Medical news of the obvious
Sadly, we found no news of the obvious for this week. Maybe that's a good thing for medicine, but it means we don't get to highlight one of our favorite features. Send us your ideas and check back every Monday.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
9:00 AM
0 Comments
Monday, November 9, 2009
Medical news of the obvious
Men who get their sleep apnea treated golf better. Twelve golfers with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea who started nasal positive airway pressure (NPAP) treatment saw a drop in their mean handicap from 12.4 to 11.0 (P=0.01), compared to 12 controls. The rested duffers said they felt more alert, and NPAP compliance was 85%, said researcher, who added he wants to conduct a larger, multicenter study to explore what drives high treatment compliance. (It must be those really powerful tee shots.)
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
9:00 AM
0 Comments
Monday, November 2, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
Why are athletes young? Why are couch potatoes out of shape? If questions like these have been plaguing you, not to worry, researchers have the answer.
A new study from the Archives of Internal Medicine finds that "men and women become gradually less fit with age" and that "maintaining a healthy body mass index (BMI), not smoking and being physically active are associated with higher fitness levels throughout adult life."
The study authors also make a pretty dramatic leap from these findings to proposed interventions. “These data indicate the need for physicians to recommend to their patients the necessity to maintain their weight, engage in regular aerobic exercise and abstain from smoking,” they concluded. Call me overly cautious, but I think we should see some data from controlled trials first. Bet there'd be no problem finding volunteers for the eating, sitting around and smoking arm.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:27 AM
0 Comments
Monday, October 12, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
Kids are more likely than their peers to become addicted to the Internet if they're depressed, hostile or have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or a social phobia. On the positive side, they also use it as therapy to overcome their face-to-face limitations or find kids like themselves.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
9:00 AM
0 Comments
Monday, October 5, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
Two of this week's highlights are best described by their headlines: "Study Finds Fish Won't Prevent Heart Failure" and "Eating in America Still Unhealthy: CDC."
It's a little surprising that our third study of the week didn't get such a catchy headline since it's easy to imagine one: Sex Makes People Happy. The intrepid scientists found that "women who are happy with their sex lives have higher well-being scores and more vitality than women who are sexually dissatisfied," according to HealthDay. But that's not all. It also turns out that getting some in itself is not sufficient to make women happy. Rather, some of them are having unsatisfying sex. "Frequency of sexual activity in women cannot be employed as a reliable indicator of sexual well-being," a researcher concluded.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:00 AM
0 Comments
Monday, September 28, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
It's time for another medical-education themed journal issue (thanks, JAMA), which means it's time for more Obvious Facts about Med Students:
They say stupid stuff on Facebook.
They make mistakes when they're tired and upset.
Cutting people open makes them nervous.
If they're well-trained, they'll do a better job.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
11:57 AM
0 Comments
Monday, September 21, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
This may come as news to those of you who were unsure of the purpose of that black rectangular thing in your living room, but not to the rest of us. Researchers put toddlers and parents in a room either with no TV or one where they could pick a show to watch.
"The study authors found that while the TV was on, parents spent about 20 percent less time talking to their children and were less active, attentive and responsive to their kids, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the interactions," reports HealthDay. Only 20 percent? Clearly this sample didn't include any fathers watching playoff games.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:25 AM
0 Comments
Monday, September 14, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
It's like the scientists think if they keep reporting the same evidence, eventually someone will listen. A new study in Archives found that exercise is still good for you. And it's never too late to start. "The benefits associated with physical activity were observed not only in those who maintained an existing level of physical activity, but also in those who began exercising between ages 70 and 85," said the press release. Actually, sounds like a good excuse to wait another couple of decades before starting that workout routine.
Or maybe you can get your exercise in the bedroom. As long as you don't have allergies, that is. A new study, reported by HealthDay, finds that snot is not sexy. According to a study of 350 untreated sufferers of allergic rhinitis, 83% said that their allergies affected their sex lives. Perhaps the most obvious part of the study was the solution offered by researchers: shut the bedroom window.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
4:00 PM
0 Comments
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Medical News of the Obvious
It seems safe to assume that this week's researchers of the already-known have been to a bar before, given that they're grad students at one of the top-ranked party schools in the country. Perhaps, in fact, their hypothesis was cooked up over a happy hour pitcher or two. Because even they are not denying the obviousness of their undertaking.
"It may seem intuitive that cheaper alcohol can lead to higher intoxication levels and related consequence--such as fighting, drunk driving, sexual victimization, injury, even death--especially among the vulnerable college student population," a study author told HealthDay.
Yes, after intensive study (read: hanging out in bars) the researchers concluded that higher drink prices were associated with a decreased risk of patrons being inebriated. Might this also correlate with the lower incidence of vomiting on the floor seen in four-star restaurants as compared to college bars? Further research is clearly needed.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
12:14 PM
0 Comments
Monday, August 24, 2009
Medical news of the obvious
Remember when your Scout leader told you to hug a tree if you got lost in the woods? Turns out they were right, according to a new study.
Researchers had subjects walk in the woods, then the Sahara, and finally through a field blindfolded. What happened? Not so surprisingly, without the sun or some other object to guide themselves by, the people got lost and wandered around in circles. Especially the poor blindfolded ones. "Not only did they walk in circles, some of the circles were as small as about 66 feet, similar in size to a basketball court," sniffs the HealthDay article about the study.
We're looking forward to the follow-up, in which Smokey the Bear finally provides the evidence that only you can prevent forest fires.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
9:00 AM
0 Comments
Monday, August 17, 2009
Medical news of the obvious
Someone needs to buy these researchers a drink. Because it's pretty clear they've never been to a bar before.
Their study (which was oh-so-appropriately published in Human Nature) found that men are more likely than women to agree to casual sex. Greater percentages of men said they would go out, go to an apartment, and go to bed with members of the opposite sex whether they were "slightly unattractive," "moderately attractive" or "exceptionally attractive." (Don't worry, the scientists weren't categorizing actual women that way; it was all hypothetical.) Women, on the other hand, reserved their one-night stands for the exceptionally attractive guys.
In an addendum that will only be shocking to anyone who has never walked down the street in Europe, Italian men were most likely to accept sex with a stranger, followed by American guys and then Germans.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
8:00 AM
0 Comments
Monday, August 10, 2009
Medical news of the obvious
Depressed people were almost three times as likely to have impaired cognition after gloomy weather in one study. Researchers screened by phone 16,800 Americans enrolled in a stroke study for signs of depression and then administered a cognition test. Data were correlated with NASA's daily records of how bright sunlight was at any given location for the two weeks before the test. We're not rocket scientists, but two weeks of cloudy weather is enough to fog anyone's senses, let alone people who are already depressed.
This next video starts off with what exercisers knew intuitively: Working out makes one hungrier. But does exercise really make it harder to lose weight? Let's sit on the couch for a while and mull that over ...
-Compiled by the staff of ACP Hospitalist
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Jessica Berthold at
3:55 PM
0 Comments
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Medical news of the obvious
We did learn something new from this week's study--research on the elderly can be just as obvious as that focused on children.
Elderly people who neglect themselves or are abused are also more likely to die, according to the latest issue of JAMA. The researchers even state the obviousness of their own point at the start: "Reports of elder self-neglect or abuse are often initiated based on significant concerns for an older person's welfare, health, and safety, perhaps to levels that suggest that there may be strong concerns for the older person's wellbeing."
In other words, reports of dangerous things happening to people seem to be associated with dangerous things actually happening to people.
Labels: medical news of the obvious
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
4:00 PM
0 Comments
Contact ACP Hospitalist
Send comments to ACP Hospitalist staff at acphospitalist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- After trauma, uninsured patients more apt to die
- Great American Smokeout is today
- More jobs on the horizon for hospitalists?
- Medical news of the obvious
- Seeing red, or fading to black?
- End-of-Life Hospitalizations: New data
- Medical news of the obvious
- Ties that bind, and make you gag
- Medical News of the Obvious
- It's a party! Bring your own alcohol (gel).
Archives
Blog log
American Journal of Medicine
Also known as the Green Journal, the American Journal of Medicine publishes original clinical articles of interest to physicians in internal medicine and its subspecialities, both in academia and community-based practice.
Clinical Correlations
A collaborative medical blog started by Neil Shapiro, ACP Member, associate program director at New York University Medical Center's internal medicine residency program. Faculty, residents and students contribute case studies, mystery quizzes, news, commentary and more.
db's Medical Rants
Robert M. Centor, FACP, contributes short essays contemplating medicine and the health care system.
Everything Health
EverythingHealth is designed to address the rapid changes in science, medicine, health and healing in the 21st Century.
Getting Better with Dr. Val
Getting Better is the continuation of Dr. Val Jones' previous blog at Revolution Health. It is devoted to helping people understand health issues from a balanced, scientifically sound perspective.
HealthHombre
A roundup of health policy news drawn from a database of hundreds of Web sites.
Interact MD
Michael Benjamin, ACP member, doesn't accept industry money so he can create an independent, clinician-reviewed space on the Internet for physicians to report and comment on the medical news of the day.
Kevin, MD
The alter ego of Kevin Pho, ACP Member, is the closest thing to royalty in the medical blog world.
LSUHSC-S Medical Library Evidence Alert
Major guidelines, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and/or major reviews by national and international organizations.
PLoS Blog
The Public Library of Science's open access materials include a blog.
White Coat Rants
One of the most popular anonymous blogs written by a doctor.
