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LSU Health New OrleansState Report Cards
It’s that time of year again, when various agencies grade the states on a variety of social issues:
Medicine
March is National Nutrition Month
Every March the American Dietetic Association sponsors National Nutrition Month. One fun feature of their website is a fad diet timeline; I don’t think I would have wanted to try Lord Byron‘s vinegar & water diet (1820) or the sleeping beauty diet (1976) which featured heavy sedation for several days.
Short of Dentists, Maine Adds Teeth to Doctors?óÔé¼Ôäó Training
This is an interesting bridge between medical and dental practice:
Dentists are in such short supply in Maine that primary care doctors who do their medical residency in the state are learning to lance abscesses, pull teeth and perform other basic dental skills through a program that began in 2005.
Get some ZZZ’s for Sleep Awareness Week
If you’re like me, Monday mornings are the days you really want to celebrate Sleep Awareness. National Sleep Awareness Week is March 1-8, 2009: a public education, information, and awareness campaign that coincides with the return of Daylight Saving Time, the annual “springing forward” of clocks that can cause Americans to lose an hour of sleep from the NHLBI.
TOP 10 SLEEP MYTHS
from “Your guide to healthy sleep” PDF — National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute – NIH Publication No. 06-5271 (November 2005). http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/sleep/healthy_sleep.pdf
Myth 1: Sleep is a time when your body and brain shut down for rest and relaxation.
No evidence shows that any major organ (including the brain) or
regulatory system in the body shuts down during sleep. Some
physiological processes actually become more active while you
sleep. For example, secretion of certain hormones is boosted,
and activity of the pathways in the brain needed for learning and
memory is heightened.
Myth 2: Getting just 1 hour less sleep per night than needed will not have any effect on your daytime functioning.
This lack of sleep may not make you noticeably sleepy during
the day. But even slightly less sleep can affect your ability to
think properly and respond quickly, and it can compromise your
cardiovascular health and energy balance as well as the ability
to fight infections, particularly if lack of sleep continues. If you
consistently do not get enough sleep, eventually a sleep debt
builds up that will make you excessively tired during the day.
Myth 3: Your body adjusts quickly to different sleep schedules.
Your biological clock makes you most alert during the daytime
and most drowsy at night. Thus, even if you work the night
shift, you will naturally feel sleepy when nighttime comes. Most
people can reset their biological clock, but only by appropriately
timed cues?óÔé¼ÔÇØand even then, by 1?óÔé¼ÔÇ£2 hours per day at best.
Consequently, it can take more than a week to adjust to a
dramatically altered sleep/wake cycle, such as you encounter
when traveling across several time zones or switching from
working the day shift to the night shift.
Myth 4: People need less sleep as they get older.
Older people don?óÔé¼Ôäót need less sleep, but they often get less sleep
or find their sleep less refreshing. That?óÔé¼Ôäós because as
people age, they spend less time in the deep, restful stages of
sleep and are more easily awakened. Older people are also
more likely to have insomnia or other medical conditions that
disrupt their sleep.
Myth 5: Extra sleep at night can cure you of problems with excessive daytime fatigue.
Not only is the quantity of sleep important but also the quality
of sleep. Some people sleep 8 or 9 hours a night but don?óÔé¼Ôäót feel
well rested when they wake up because the quality of their sleep
is poor. A number of sleep disorders and other medical conditions
affect the quality of sleep. Sleeping more won?óÔé¼Ôäót
alleviate the daytime sleepiness these disorders or conditions
cause. However, many of these disorders or conditions can be
treated effectively with changes in behavior or with medical therapies.
Myth 6: You can make up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping more on the weekends.
Although this sleeping pattern will help relieve part of a sleep
debt, it will not completely make up for the lack of sleep. This
pattern also will not make up for impaired performance during
the week because of not sleeping enough. Furthermore, sleeping
later on the weekends can affect your biological clock so that
it is much harder to go to sleep at the right time on Sunday
nights and get up early on Monday mornings.
Myth 7: Naps are a waste of time.
Although naps do not substitute for a good night?óÔé¼Ôäós sleep, they can
be restorative and help counter some of the impaired
performance that results from not getting enough sleep at night.
Naps can actually help you learn how to do certain tasks quicker.
But avoid taking naps later than 3 p.m., as late naps can interfere
with your ability to fall asleep at night. Also, limit your naps to no
longer than 1 hour because longer naps will make it harder to
wake up and get back in the swing of things. If you take
frequent naps during the day, you may have a sleep disorder
that should be treated.
Myth 8: Snoring is a normal part of sleep.
Snoring during sleep is common, particularly as a person gets
older. Evidence is growing that snoring on a regular basis can
make you sleepy during the day and more susceptible to diabetes
and heart disease. In addition, some studies link frequent snoring
to problem behavior and poorer school achievement in
children. Loud, frequent snoring can also be a sign of sleep
apnea, a serious sleep disorder that should be treated.
Myth 9: Children who don?óÔé¼Ôäót get enough sleep at night will show signs of sleepiness during the day.
Unlike adults, children who don?óÔé¼Ôäót get enough sleep at night
typically become more active than normal during the day.
They also show difficulty paying attention and behaving properly.
Consequently, they may be misdiagnosed as having attentiondeficit
hyperactivity.
Myth 10: The main cause of insomnia is worry.
Although worry or stress can cause a short bout of insomnia, a
persistent inability to fall asleep or stay asleep at night can be
caused by a number of other factors. Certain medications and
sleep disorders can keep you up at night. Other common
causes of insomnia are depression, anxiety disorders, and
asthma, arthritis, or other medical conditions with symptoms that
become more troublesome at night. Some people who have
chronic insomnia also appear to be more revved up than
normal, so it is harder for them to fall asleep.
AMIA Summit on Translational Research
The AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association) summit on Translational Research is March 15-17, 2009 in San Francisco. http://summit2009.amia.org/ Conducted in close partnership with the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB), this meeting will be an indispensible gathering for translational bioinformatics research and development worldwide. The abstracts to papers and posters are available for viewing.
Peanut Product Recall
The FDA has a website that lists all the peanut containing products that have been recalled by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Some PCA peanut products have been linked to the Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm
This Friday, go red
Friday, February 6th is National Wear Red Day, when Americans nationwide wear red to show their support for women’s heart disease awareness.
Around town, local ladies will attend American Heart Association’s annual Go Red for Women luncheon and fashion show. Additionally, Macy’s will give all-day in-store savings & online discounts to customers wearing red February 5-8th.
In Louisiana, 35 percent of all deaths are a result of cardiovascular disease, and more women than men die from heart problems. You can find more information on heart disease in the Louisiana Health Report Card (pdf).
What is your risk for heart disease? Find out with the American Heart Association’s online heart checkup.
Science and Psychiatry
For February only, download a free PDF copy of Solomon Snyder’s Science and Psychiatry: Groundbreaking Discoveries in Molecular Neuroscience. A free, monthly book download is part of the subscription from Psychiatry Online, your one-stop online shop for (free) psychiatric textbooks.
Solomon Snyder has been instrumental in the establishment of modern psychopharmacology?óÔé¼ÔÇØas a pioneer in the identification of receptors for neurotransmitters and drugs and in the explanation of the actions of psychotropic agents. Science and Psychiatry is a collection of some of his best scientific papers, publications ranging over forty years that represent important advances in psychopharmacology and molecular biology. Audacious and unanticipated when they first appeared, these papers opened up new areas of understanding and revolutionized the modern study of the brain. Republished here, they show why fundamental research into the ?óÔé¼?ômessengers of the mind?óÔé¼?Ø is as essential for clinicians as for researchers.
You can access the book from PsychiatryOnline’s home page:
http://0-www.psychiatryonline.com.innopac.lsuhsc.edu/
(requires log-in off campus)
DynaMed, MD Consult, UpToDate Smackdown
A new study from Australian Family Physician found “no clear ‘winner'” between DynaMed, MD Consult and UpToDate when it came to answering clinical questions.
You can read the full report free online here:
http://www.racgp.org.au/afp/200810/28814
Honestly, I’m happy if you just use an evidence-based clinical resource instead of Google.
DynaMed: http://www.lsuhsc.edu/no/library/ss&d/data/dyna.html
MD Consult: http://www.lsuhsc.edu/no/library/ss&d/data/mdconsult.html
A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine
Whether it’s your first H&P or fifty-thousandth, medical students and other health care professionals will find A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine useful.
Created by Charlie Goldberg, M.D. and Jan Thompson at UCSD School of Medicine, A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine is designed eye towards clinical relevance. Each section is constructed to answer the question: “What do I really need to know about this area of medical care?” and the material is presented in a concise, ordered fashion with color photographs that should be readily applicable to the common clinical scenarios seen in day to day practice.
Detailed descriptions of how to function in clinical settings are included. If you’ve ever wondered about oral presentations, patient write-ups, outpatient clinics, functioning on an inpatient service or clinical decision making, there are sections describing exactly that.
A Practical Guide to Clinical Medicine is freely available online for anyone.
Choking Hazards
Everyone knows to watch out for small children and choking hazards, especially when age recommendations are not followed. As tomorrow (January 6th) is the first day of carnival, it is also the first day of the official King Cake season. Make sure you don’t choke on any plastic babies.
22 must-see diagnoses for med students
Wandering around Learningradiology.com today, I stumbled across “22 Must-See Diagnoses for Medical Students“. It’s a great review if you have 12 minutes to brush up on your radiology skills.
LearningRadiology.com has a ton of multimedia radiology resources, from interactive quizzes, and cases of the week. There’s also video podcasts available to download to your iPhone or mobile device too.
Have a favorite radiology site? Post here, and we’ll add it our radiology links page.
Get Thee to a Leprosarium
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene concluded their 57th annual meeting in New Orleans this week. Since Louisiana is the home for the Hansen’s Disease Center, it only makes sense that the subject of leprosy might come up. The fact that the disease is considered biblical rather than contemporary was discussed at the meeting this week; mis-diagnosis is a frequent problem which, of course, hampers treatment. The article emphasizes that we do not have an epidemic.
Need a Present for Grandma?
Consider buying your grandparent video games. Health Day recently released a report font size=”-1″>(link removed) about a December article in Psychology & Aging which stated that playing video games can boost the cognitive ability of older brains. The research wasn’t even funded by the gaming industry.
Bookmark Changes
As you may remember the Library converted its links to a Delicious Account back in August. In October, we posted about the social bookmarking phenomenon. The Delicious Links continue their dyamic growth with over a dozen new sites added in the last month. My particular favorite? The Virtual Stethoscope Project. from McGill University.