MajorHealth News - Physicians

The Ultimate Blood Test [Scientific American Body]

The Ultimate Blood Test [Scientific American Body]

As the dizziness began to fade and the nausea to subside, I kept thinking how two tablespoons did not sound like a lot of blood. During regular checkups, my physician draws only about half that amount. I suppose I might have guessed, especially after a 12-hour fast, I would sicken when my blood pressure and glucose levels dipped–I’m a terrible blood donor in that regard.

The nurse who drew my blood helpfully looked around my office for a sweet drink. “Do you have any soda or juice?” she asked. But the only thing I had was a can of Diet Coke. Which in a way is ironic: I used to drink regular Coke but switched to the sugar-free form after blood tests revealed that my triglycerides were too high.

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National Standards to Rank Physicians Planned
The agreement represents a truce between doctors and health insurers in their longstanding dispute over how health plans rank physicians’ efforts in taking care of patients.

‘Natural’ supplements linked to cancer in 2 men
Two men seeking to boost sexual performance and grow bigger muscles instead ended up with advanced prostate cancer after taking “herbal” supplements, U.S. doctors reported.

Demand for Rheumatologists Expected to Exceed Supply in Coming Decades

Demand for Rheumatologists Expected to Exceed Supply in Coming Decades
An increase in older adults combined with a greater ability to effectively manage many inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders is expected to require an increase in the number of practicing rheumatologists over the coming decades.

Blue Cross plans Web access to records
Come this fall, members of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will be able to go online to look up their healthcare claims and some medical records, which the insurer says will help patients manage their medical care and have more productive discussions with doctors.

Jobs: Nurse Practitioners

Jobs: Nurse Practitioners
Fri, 16 May 2008: Nurse Practitioners

Quid Pro Quo

Quid Pro Quo
( Release: Jun. 13, 2008   Rated: R - for some sexuality and language    Details | Trailers | Photos  ) — When Isaac Knott (Nick Stahl) was a young boy, he was in a car accident that killed his parents and left him confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As an adult, he hosts a public radio show and one night he hears a story about a man with two good legs who attempts to bribe a doctor to cut off one of them. Investigating the story, Isaac discovers a strange subset of normally-abled people who desperately desire to become disabled.

A Tennis Champion, and Neurologist, Who’s Watching Your Back

A Tennis Champion, and Neurologist, Who’s Watching Your Back
WHILE traveling with his family in Africa several years ago, Dr. Brian Hainline, a neurologist and sports medicine expert with a practice in Lake Success, met a local medicine man in Korogo, a village in Ivory Coast.

Liver cancer
Question: My brother has stage 4 liver cancer. It started in his kidney and the kidney was removed. He is having shortness of breath. Is that from the cancer? What should we watch for?

Answer: Shortness of breath from kidney cancer needs to get evaluated right away. There are many causes, but they are usually all serious. Your brother needs to be seen by his cancer doctor soon.

Ask an Expert: Thomas Olencki DO, Cancer

Doctors, Engineers To Study Bombs, Brains
Bombproof vehicle maker Force Protection and the Medical University of South Carolina form new center to better understand bomb-related brain trauma.

Jobs: CERTIFIED NURSE-MIDWIFE

Jobs: CERTIFIED NURSE-MIDWIFE
Fri, 06 Jun 2008: CERTIFIED NURSE-MIDWIFE

30 Applicants for Electronic Health Record Demonstration Project
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today applauded the more than 30 communities that have applied for a new demonstration project that will provide Medicare incentive payments to primary care physician practices that use certified electronic health records (EHR) to improve the quality of patient care.

Journal Publication Productivity in Academic Physical Therapy Programs in the United States and Puerto Rico From 1998 to 2002

Journal Publication Productivity in Academic Physical Therapy Programs in the United States and Puerto Rico From 1998 to 2002

Background and Purpose: The peer-reviewed journal article is the basic unit by which scholarship is defined. Few studies have examined peer-reviewed publication productivity in academic physical therapy programs. In this study, the publication productivity in academic physical therapy programs in the United States and Puerto Rico from 1998 to 2002 was documented, and publication productivity was examined in the context of selected program characteristics.

Subjects and Methods: A total of 194 programs listed on the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) Web site in the spring of 2004 were examined. The databases were searched for bibliographic citations of journal articles attributed to particular programs. The program characteristics of faculty size, offering of a research doctorate, and listing in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (Carnegie Classification) were compared with the number of citations.

Results: A total of 169 programs had at least 1 attributed citation, 50.3% of the programs had fewer than 5 citations, and 3% had 44 or more citations. Rankings based on the number of citations changed when adjusted for faculty size. Of the 38 programs offering a research doctoral degree, 16 had 20 or more citations. Five programs with 44 or more citations were all categorized by the Carnegie Classification as doctoral intensive or extensive.

Discussion and Conclusion: A few programs had a large number of attributed bibliographic citations, but the majority of programs had limited publication productivity in the 5 years studied. These results may provide a baseline for studying the effectiveness of the relatively new CAPTE standards mandating scholarship by physical therapy faculty over time and the impact of the Doctor of Physical Therapy degree on research in physical therapy.

Legs
Question: Sometimes when I`m walking my legs feel like I`m carrying weights around. I work and stand on cement floors all day could this be the problem

Answer: Yes, your work environment could be giving you problems, but also report the symptoms to your physician who knows your health history better.

Ask an Expert: Margery Gass MD, Menopause

Weight gain
Question: Last summer I went to the doctor with the flu. They of course check your weight and at that time I weighed 183 today I stepped on the scale and am 205. so in about 6 months time I have gained over 20 lbs. I eat right and workout everyday… I dont understand the gain and am now concerned. When I las . . .

Answer: Have there been any changes in the past year that would contribute to this weight gain? Have your medications changed or have you begun taking new medications not taken previously? Some medications have a side effect of weight gain. Please review your medications with your physician to see if this c . . .

Ask an Expert: Angela Blackstone RD, LD, Obesity and Weight Management

The New Genetics of Mental Illness [Scientific American Mind]

The New Genetics of Mental Illness [Scientific American Mind]

Throughout history shamans, clerics and physicians have tried to pin down what goes awry when a person slips into sadness, insanity or psychosis. [More]

Health Watch: Surviving A Stroke

Health Watch: Surviving A Stroke
The first few minutes after a stroke are the most critical. Find out why doctors say “time is brain.”

A Better Mosquito Net [Scientific American Magazine]

Malaria remains one of the world’s great scourges, striking more than 500 million people every year. The groups most at risk are pregnant women and children younger than five years old. In sub-Saharan Africa, 20 percent of all childhood deaths are from malaria. Pregnant women who contract the mosquito-borne disease can develop severe anemia and give birth to underweight babies. The World Health Organization estimates that 10,000 pregnant woman and 200,000 infants in Africa die from malarial infections every year.

To combat the disease, many development agencies have focused on distributing mosquito nets that would protect Africans from being bitten while they sleep. This strategy has resulted in a huge upsurge in the number of bed nets supplied to the population as a whole and particularly to pregnant women and young children. The widespread distribution, however, has not resulted in a significant decrease in malaria. Many doctors in sub-Saharan Africa attribute the failure to an overreliance on nets in lieu of other interventions, such as the indoor spraying of dwellings with insecticide. Other experts say the problem is the misuse of mosquito nets; there is anecdotal evidence that some people have employed the nets as wedding veils or fishing aids. Some economists argue that charging a small fee for the nets would increase the likelihood that they would be used appropriately. Others claim such a fee would prevent a large part of the population from receiving nets. These are valuable debates. Before delving into behavioral economics, though, it might be useful to consider a more basic problem: the mosquito nets are poorly designed.

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New Guidelines For Osteoporosis In Men
The American College of Physicians is out with new guidelines to bring awareness to osteoporosis screening in older men.