Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Everything is out to get you.
It seems to be one of those days when the health media is focused on all the ways everyday life can kill you. Hope you're reading this blog from a hypoallergenic bunker. Just a quick survey reveals: Chlorinated pools can give your kids allergies or asthma. Air pollution raises blood pressure. And your showerhead may be harboring dangerous bacteria.
But don't get depressed about all this, or that could hasten your death from cancer. There is some positive news in the other direction, however. A new study found that metformin, a diabetes drug that thousands of Americans are already taking, can lower the risk of cancer. At least if you're a mouse.
Labels: cancer, Medical news
posted by Stacey Butterfield at
10:00 AM
0 Comments
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Blue M&Ms treat spinal cord injuries
Scientists at the University of Rochester suspect the blue dye used in M&Ms and Gatorade may interrupt the cell death that follows spinal cord injury.
Adenosine triphosphate floods the spinal cord after an injury, and spinal cord neurons carry a receptor that lets ATP latch on and die from metabolic stress, worsening paralysis. An agonist to this reaction is Brilliant Blue G, akin to FD&C blue dye No. 1.
So the researchers injected it in mice following spinal cord injury, which were able to limp again compared to controls, who never regained mobility, they reported. The mice did have to deal with a temporary blue tinge.
Because you can't inject a human who's just had a spinal injury, scientists are searching for a way to administer the dye into the body. I'd suggest orally, via a blue, sugary pill-like capsule that's available over the counter.
Labels: Medical news, neurology
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
2:12 PM
2 Comments
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Press release puffery
Time points out that press release on a recent biological discovery created a media flurry that outpaced the actual event. And outpacing this discovery is tough, since it involved a 47-million-year-old fossil that provides a missing link in primate evolution.
Time chided the press releases, calling them a "master class in ballyhoo." Internists had recently chimed in with the same challenge to academic medical centers, whose press releases influence how the mainstream press reports medical research.
In Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers reviewed press releases from 20 academic medical centers, whose press departments had issued an average of a nearly a release each week.
Among press releases analyzed in detail, 87 (44%) promoted animal or laboratory research. Of the 87, 64 (74%) explicitly claimed relevance to human health, even though two-thirds of animal studies fail to translate into successful human treatments. Furthermore, releases omitted study size, failed to quantify results, reported on uncontrolled interventions or samples less than 30 participants, used surrogate primary outcomes or unpublished data, or lacked relevant cautions that tempered the findings. Few promoted randomized trials or meta-analyses.
Annals researchers suggested academic medical centers issue fewer releases about preliminary research, especially unpublished scientific meeting presentations, to avoid the confusion being passed along to the mainstream media. We took note of this at ACP Internist, and are asking our readers to tell us what they think. Tell us in our current poll, "Your Thoughts Exactly: Media reporting of medical research."
Labels: Medical news, research
posted by Ryan DuBosar at
9:53 AM
0 Comments
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Camera pills get remote control
It's impressive enough that scientists have developed tiny pill-size cameras that allow physicians to view images inside a patient's intestine--now, in the not-to-distant future those cameras may come with remote control, allowing physicians to steer and stop the device as they would a vehicle.
Currently, patients can swallow a camera--the same way they would a hard candy--which transmits images to an external receiver attached to a belt worn by the patient, allowing the physician to identify any hemorrhages or cysts. But until now there has been no way to control the camera's speed as it travels through the esophagus to the stomach. Thus, patients with potential problems in the esophagus or stomach still have to swallow a thick endoscope.
Now, those hard-to-get images are within reach, according to researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in Sankt Ingbert who developed the idea and are working to refine it with engineers from the manufacturer Given Imaging, the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg and the Royal Imperial College in London.
“In future, doctors will be able to stop the camera in the esophagus, move it up and down and turn it, and thus adjust the angle of the camera as required,” said research team leader Dr. Frank Volke, in a news release. “We have developed a magnetic device roughly the size of a bar of chocolate. The doctor can hold it in his hand during the examination and move it up and down the patient’s body. The camera inside follows this motion precisely,” Dr. Volke explained.
Researchers have already tried out a prototype on themselves and reported that the camera passed the test of staying in the esophagus for about 10 minutes, even if the patient is sitting upright.
Labels: Medical news
posted by Janet Colwell at
9:12 AM
0 Comments
ACP Internist hosted Grand Rounds on June 16, wrapping up the best of the medical blogosphere. Click here for the complete wrap-up.
Contact ACP Internist
Send comments to ACP Internist staff at acpinternist@acponline.org.
Previous Posts
- QD: News Every Day--Santa's take on H1N1 influenza...
- Rethink pink: breast cancer screening evidence met...
- QD: News Every Day--Santa's take on H1N1 influenza...
- QD: News Every Day--when evidence and politics col...
- Ghostwriting haunts Congress' hallowed halls
- QD: News Every Day--payment fix inches forward (fo...
- QD: News Every Day--not the intended effect
- Medical news of the obvious
- QD: News Every Day--flu's growing tally
- QD: News Every Day--no holidays for Congress
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.
