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This page shows you the most recent publications within this specialty of the MedWorm directory. This is page number 29.

Are you D-ficient?
Practicing sun safety to reduce skin-cancer risk is a good thing. But while taking steps to protect yourself from the sun can help prevent skin cancer, regularly avoiding it also increases the chance of having low levels of vitamin D. Listed below are some other risk factors for vitamin-D deficiency. Being dark-skinned, middle-aged, or overweight. Having a history of gastric-bypass surgery or a condition that interferes with the ability to absorb nutrients from food, such as celiac disease. Having a history of kidney or liver disease, multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, or thyroid prob...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - May 21, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: ConsumerReports.orgConsumer Reports Health Blog Tags: Beauty & personal care Conditions treatments Healthy living Safety Source Type: blogs

Can Bugs In Your Laxatives Give You The Runs?
The combination sounds like a winner, yes? But Braintree Labs, which sells gastrointestinal lavages, was tagged by the FDA for violating good manufacturing practices. This usually involves a host of serious, but somewhat dry, technical problems, but Braintree was cited because assorted bugs - such as spiders, and unnamed insect parts - showed up in its meds, which are used to clear the bowels before undergoing a colonoscopy. To wit, there were 21 consumer complaints back in 2008 and 2009 about “foreign materials” in five finished products. In its warning letter, the FDA notes that Braintree insisted its manufac...
Source: Pharmalot - May 21, 2010 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Braintree Laboratories Bug Juice Bugs Colonscopy Gastrointestinal Lavages Good Manufacturing Practices Insects Spiders Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 21, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesOregon. May 21: Oregon Public Health warn consumers about a nationwide recall of alfalfa sprouts produced by Caldwell Fresh Foods of Maywood, CA, and sold under several label names in Oregon. The sprouts, which are being sold in at least 17 other states in the West, Midwest and the South, have been identified as the source of ...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 20, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 22 People in 10 States
Alfalfa sprouts contaminated with Salmonella Newport responsible for outbreakCDC reports that alfalfa sprouts contaminated with Salmonella Newport were responsible for at least 22 illnesses in 10 states between March 1st and May 2nd of this year. The number of confirmed cases may increase as federal and state investigators continue to conduct DNA testing of Salmonella cultures recovered from patient samples.As of today, illnesses associated with this outbreak have been reported by Arizona (1), California (11), Colorado (1), Idaho (1), Illinois (1), Missouri (1), New Mexico (1), Nevada (2), and Oregon (1). The Oregon victim...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 20, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

How Good a Comic-Book Doctor Are You?
Diagnosing a patient is hard enough in the real world (that headache, is it a tension headache? migraine? meningitis? Strep? brain tumor?). Just imagine how much more difficult it would be in the world of comics, where psychics, aliens, strange drugs, and mutations all come into play. Still want to be a comic book doctor? Here’s your chance, with four more comic book medicine case studies: The previous case studies and a bit more an explanation can be found at Dr. Scott’s Case Studies of Comic Book Medicine Case Study #14: This patient is a male college student. Something of anti-establishment type, he has bee...
Source: Polite Dissent - May 19, 2010 Category: Family Physicians Authors: Scott Source Type: blogs

Digital Case Challenge: Pseudomelanosis duodeni
I saw this biopsy yesterday and thought it was a curious little finding--pseudomelanosis duodeni is the lovely and impressive name given to this rare but apparently harmless and incidental entity.The patient is a 73-year-old woman with a history of recent GI bleeding, chronic anemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, CAD/CHF, and chronic renal disease, and CML with hemoccult-positive stool and hemoglobin 6.2 gm/dL and symptomatic anemia requiring RBC transfusions. She underwent upper and lower GI endoscopy. Her endoscopic examination of the duodenum was described as unremarkable and biopsies were obtained ...
Source: The Daily Sign-Out - May 19, 2010 Category: Pathologists Authors: Mark D. Pool, M.D. Tags: Digital Case Challenge Gastrointestinal pathology General surgical pathology Source Type: blogs

Allergan Taps Social Media To Lobby Washington
In its latest aggressive move, Allergan has launched a social media campaign to promote its Lap Band surgical device for gastric binding - a way to lose weight - by encouraging at least 250,000 consumers to sign an online petition. This will be delivered to Congress in hopes of “improving access” to the surgical procedure needed for inserting the device. Essentially, Allergan wants greater reimbursement and guidelines that mention surgery as an option. And so the ‘CHOICE’ campaign (Choosing Health over Obestity Inspiring Change through Empowerment) attempts to strike a populist chord by flagging con...
Source: Pharmalot - May 19, 2010 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Allergan Lap Band Obesity Source Type: blogs

Will 250,000 Morbidly Obese People Sign Allergan's Petition to Congress?
"Be heard!", says Allergan. "The voices of 250,000 can influence the dialogue on the obesity epidemic and help shape policies that can make a real difference in our efforts to reduce the obesity epidemic."That's the pitch of Allergan's new "social media" "C.H.O.I.C.E." ("Choosing Health over Obesity Inspiring Change through Empowerment") campaign, a core element of which is a petition to Congress to propose "legislation for obesity treatment and weight-loss surgery options like adjustable gastric banding for the morbidly obese."The petition is really an ad for weight-loss surgery. It states:"Weight-loss surgery has been pr...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - May 19, 2010 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: social media Allergan obesity Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 19, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesAnchorage, AK. May 17: Undercooked fiddlehead ferns may have been the source of an outbreak of food poisoning that affected at least 20 participants at a Rotary Club luncheon in downtown Anchorage last week. Fiddleheads contain a natural toxin that is inactivated by thorough cooking. The fiddleheads were produced in British Co...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 18, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

Cheese — Acting as ‘Carrier’ for Probiotic Bacteria — Found to Improve Immune Response of Elderly
From ScienceDaily.com: Scientists in Finland have discovered that cheese can help preserve and enhance the immune system of the elderly by acting as a carrier for probiotic bacteria. The research, published in FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, reveals that daily consumption of probiotic cheese helps to tackle age-related changes in the immune system. “The increase in the proportion of aged individuals in modern society makes finding innovative ways to thwart the deterioration of the immune system a priority,” said lead author Dr Fandi Ibrahim from the University of Turku in Finland. “The intake...
Source: Renegade Neurologist - A Blog by David Perlmutter, MD, FACN - May 18, 2010 Category: Neurologists Authors: Dr. Perlmutter Tags: Heads Up Source Type: blogs

Richard Blumenthal’s Lyme Deception
Conclusion Although the failure of Mr. Blumenthal’s political investigation brought negative attention towards guideline making committees, the outcome provided irrefutable evidence that the current guidelines process is valid. This is despite the accusation by anti industry academics, politicians and others that guidelines committees need to eliminate members with relationships with industry. That by and large because they are committees and not independent judgments, and that these committees are working on reliable peer reviewed evidence to make their recommendations. Patients depend on their doctors to...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 17, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 18, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesSaratoga Springs, UT. May 15: The City of Saratoga Springs has lifted its "Boil Water" order.Utah, May 16: Utah Department of Health that nine cases of Campylobacter and six cases of Salmonella gastroenteritis have been linked to two dairies in the state.Silver Spring, MD. May 17: FDA reports that it is conducting a company-wi...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 17, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

DTC Ads Not Biggest Driver Of Drug Spending: Study
If you enjoy discussions of price elasticity, do we have a paper for you. Economic simulations suggest that the expansion in broadcast DTC ads may have been responsible for 19 percent of the overall growth in prescription drug spending from 1994 to 2005, with over two-thirds driven by increased demand due to expanded advertising and the remainder due to higher prices. All this is according to a new paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (purchase required). But while DTC advertising was deemed significant, the authors conclude “it has not been the primary force driving the growth in overall presc...
Source: Pharmalot - May 17, 2010 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Direct-to-Consumer Advertising DTC DTC Advertising Prescription Drug Advertising Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 17, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesBaton Rouge, LA. May 16: Louisiana Dept. of Heath & Hospitals closes oyster harvesting bed areas 19 and 21 as a precautionary response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf.EuropeNorway. May 16: Nineteen passengers on the cruise ship King Harald are reported to be suffering from gastroenteritis, thought to be caused by Norovirus...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 16, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

what specialty is right for you?
by Adminnaoum (Posted Sun May 16, 2010 9:37 am)I just got forwarded this link about the "Medical Specialty Aptitude Test" hosted at the Virginia med school site.It asks a series of questions then comes up with a ranking of which specialties might be good for you. Here's what it came up with for me. Interestingly, I never considered 7 of the top 10 specialties. I do feel attracted to psych, radiology, and GI, but not the others. It's fun, but maybe not so helpful - what do you think?1 med oncology 442 psychiatry 433 radiology 424 pediatrics 425 physical med & rehabilitation 416 gastroenterology 417 dermatology 418 allergy &...
Source: Med Student Guide - May 16, 2010 Category: Medical Students Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 16, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesRoanoake Valley, VA. May 15, 2010: A survey of beverages from 30 different self-serve and behind-the-counter soda machines in Roanoake Valley found that 20% of the samples tested positive for levels of coliform bacteria exceeding drinking water standards. The study was published in the International Journal of Food Microbiolog...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 15, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 15, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesSaratoga Springs, UT. May 13, 2010: Boil Water Order Issued. The City of Saratoga Springs has issued a boil water order because the drinking water for the following subdivisions may be contaminated with Campylobacter: Harvest Hills, Aspen Hills, Sunrise Meadows, Dalmore Meadows, Summer Village, Sunset Haven, Sierra Estates, Ri...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 14, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

Why Is Outpatient Primary Care Dying?
I received a letter the other day for a reader. Why is outpatient primary care dying? Here's why:I have been following your blog for about 2 years now. I think I originally stumbled upon it while searching for inpatient coding tips. I've found it very helpful. I'm trained in Family Medicine and graduated xxx years ago. I live in a city/town of xxxxxxxx and do the old school inpatient/outpatient thing. Typically rounding in the morning, clinic all day, then round at lunch or afternoon if necessary. I've found I love inpatient and outpatient...but not both. Driving between two h...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - May 14, 2010 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: The Happy Hospitalist Source Type: blogs

Breast Milk Best? It’s All in the Genes
From ScienceDaily.com: Is breast milk so different from infant formula? The ability to track which genes are operating in an infant’s intestine has allowed University of Illinois scientists to compare the early development of breast-fed and formula-fed babies. They say the difference is very real. “For the first time, we can see that breast milk induces genetic pathways that are quite different from those in formula-fed infants. Although formula makers have tried to develop a product that’s as much like breast milk as possible, hundreds of genes were expressed differently in the breast-fed and formula-fe...
Source: Renegade Neurologist - A Blog by David Perlmutter, MD, FACN - May 14, 2010 Category: Neurologists Authors: Dr. Perlmutter Tags: Heads Up Source Type: blogs

Outbreaks and Alerts: May 14, 2010
A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety newsIf you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line. United StatesCape Girardeau County, MO. May 10, 2010: At least 14 people have fallen ill after drinking water at the Class Act Sports Complex, located outside of Jackson. E. coli has been found in the drinking water, which is supplied from a private well. Four of the victims have been hospitalized.Daviess County, KY. May 13, 2010: Thirty i...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 13, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

Rotavirus vaccine led to decline in hospitalizations for gastroenteritis.
From the AMA Morning Rounds we find that Epidemiologist Aaron T. Curns of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and his colleagues studied hospitalizations for gastroenteritis in 18 states accounting for almost 50% of the U.S. population. They compared rates for children hospitalized from 2000 to 2006 to those in the following two years. The team reported online in the Journal of Infectious Diseases that hospitalization rates for acute gastroenteritis dropped by 16% in 2007 and by 45% in 2008 compared with the earlier period. They estimated that about 55,000 hospitalizations were prevented during 2008 by the vacci...
Source: Dr. Buttery's Public Health BLOG - May 13, 2010 Category: Epidemiologists Tags: Immunizations Prevention policy Source Type: blogs

Bigotry Against the Obese by Leaders of Massachusetts General Hospital and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts?
I am amplifying a post by Roy Poses entitled "Why Pretend An Advertising Executive and Chamber of Commerce Leader Are Public Health Experts?".In that post, Dr. Poses noted a lack of relevant professional credentials in executives making profoundly misinformed and indeed cruel statements about the obese:Obesity as a public health problem has been the subject of considerable discussion. So that luminaries from the prestigious Partners Healthcare system and Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield would weigh in on the issue at a public meeting should surprise no one. But see this report by the Boston Herald:When asked about risi...
Source: Health Care Renewal - May 12, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: Paul Guzzi Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts Jack Connors obesity Massachusetts General Hospital discrimination Source Type: blogs

It's Not Just E. coli O157:H7 Anymore!
Industry and government must think outside the (Jack In The) BoxAs many as 30 people in New York, Tennessee, Ohio and Michigan are suffering from gastroenteritis after consuming shredded romaine lettuce that was contaminated with E. coli O145, according to CDC. Twenty-three of the cases are confirmed; the other seven are described as "probable" cases.Twelve of the victims have been hospitalized – three of them with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Fortunately, there have been no deaths so far.The outbreak strain has been recovered from a previously unopened package of shredded romaine lettuce obtained from an institution...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - May 11, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

Recombination between cellular and viral RNA produces a pathogenic virus
Bovine viral diarrhea virus is an economically important animal pathogen that may cause a fatal gastrointestinal disease in beef and dairy herds. Infection of a fetus with this virus during the first trimester leads to the birth of animals that are persistently infected for life. Some animals remain healthy, while others develop severe mucosal disease. The lethal outcome is a consequence of RNA recombination that produces a cytopathic virus. Pathogenicity of bovine viral diarrhea virus is associated with the synthesis of a the viral protein NS3. This protein is not produced by the noncytopathic virus that persistently infe...
Source: virology blog - May 11, 2010 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Tags: Basic virology Information bovine viral diarrhea virus cytopathic noncytopathic recombination ubiquitin Source Type: blogs

Playing chicken with drug resistant Salmonella
Salmonella is an enteric pathogen that causes quite a lot of foodborne illness. I learned there were several species of Salmonella bacteria of which the cause of typhoid fever was called Salmonella typi. Spread via food and water it used to kill a lot of people in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nowadays all Salmonella bacteria are considered to be different subspecies (serovars) of just one species, Salmonella enterica. There are more than 2500 of them, of which several routinely infect humans. Salmonella enteritidis is the most common form of foodborne bacterial infection (NB: many foodborne infections are of unknown ...
Source: Effect Measure - May 11, 2010 Category: Epidemiologists Tags: Antibiotics Source Type: blogs

When it comes to heartburn drugs, less may be more
When a bout of heartburn flares up, you may be tempted to reach for powerful drugs like Nexium (esomeprazole), Prilosec (omeprazole) or Prevacid (lansoprazole) also known as proton pump inhibitors, or PPIs—to extinguish the flames. Three PPIs are now available without a prescription, but if your heartburn is mild, this may be like putting out a candle with a fire hose. Several new studies released today by the Archives of Internal Medicine confirm earlier warnings in a recent Best Buy Drugs report: these drugs are routinely overprescribed and come with serious risks, including bone fractures and bacterial infections. ...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - May 11, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: ConsumerReports.orgConsumer Reports Health Blog Tags: Conditions & treatments Drug safety Prescription drugs Source Type: blogs

The Medicaid Contagion Has Spread. Medicaid Is Not Insurance. It's An Insult.
The world debt crises is rapidly spreading across western civilization. So is the Medicaid contagion. Once a program mostly abandoned by primary care, Medicaid has found a dead end with subspecialty groups as well. Medicaid is the backbone inisurance program of choice for ObamaCare's poor and humbled masses. But, Medicaid is rapidly becoming an insurance program on paper only. Not accepting Medicaid used to be the in thing for primary care. Only one internist out of thirty in Happy's town accepts new Medicaid patients. That's nothing new. However, this Medicaid contagion has now ...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - May 10, 2010 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: The Happy Hospitalist Source Type: blogs

Opiate dependence treatment options
Below is one chapter of my long, long book– the one that I will probably never finish. I wrote this chapter about two years ago, and have not published it anywhere else, at least not that I can remember. It is LONG, but if you are addicted to opiates and considering your options, I hope you will check it out. I invite other addicts and friends of addicts to read it as well, even though it is LONG (did I say that already?). It essentially describes my ‘vision’ for addiction treatment going forward. I am posting it now because I will be attending a summit in DC over the next few days, discussing t...
Source: Suboxone Talk Zone - May 8, 2010 Category: Addiction Authors: SuboxDoc Tags: 12 steps Suboxone addiction buprenorphine methadone recovery buprenorphine recovery opiate dependence opiate treatment pain pill addiction Suboxone and recovery treatment options treatment program Source Type: blogs

Boston Review — Adriane Fugh-Berman: Selling Diseases
This article is part of Big Pharma, Bad Medicine, a forum on the impact of the pharmaceutical industry on medical training and science, and the responsibilities of physicians.Marcia Angell notes that industry-funded continuing medical education (CME) is marketing masquerading as education. I will focus on this critique because, in fact, CME is the pharmaceutical industry’s most important marketing tool. Through a largely unnoticed process that plays out over a course of years, the pharmaceutical industry uses CME—which, unlike other forms of drug promotion, is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—t...
Source: PharmaGossip - May 7, 2010 Category: Pharma Commentators Source Type: blogs

Migraine treatment that could save you hundreds of dollars a year
Did you know that about one in five women suffer from migraine headaches? That’s a lot of us (22 million, to be exact), and though we don’t really know why, only about six percent of men suffer from them. While migraine medications can be costly, and overuse of these can trigger even more problems, there are effective, money-saving treatment options. When a migraine attack strikes, a good first step is to try inexpensive, over-the-counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol and generics), aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil and generics), naproxen (Aleve and generics) or combination products that contain acetaminophe...
Source: Consumer Reports Health Blog - May 6, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: ConsumerReports.orgConsumer Reports Health Blog Tags: Conditions & treatments Drug safety Prescription drugs Women Source Type: blogs

When Opposites Attract, We Get Better Health
Yin versus Yang. East versus West. Technology versus theology. Two Fox topics I covered within a single week were at seemingly opposite ends of the healthcare spectrum. Both were moving. Both made a meaningful difference in peoples lives. Which was better? I was confused…until I started writing the last paragraph of this blog. Bill Carlson is a 60 year old man that I met online about a year ago during the weekly Fox chat with viewers. “Shellback,” his screen name, signed in every few weeks with progress updates on his recovery from a heart transplant…and then always commented on the wonderful care he received at th...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - May 6, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Innovation Patients Alternative Medicine April Art of Living Foundation Bill Carlson Cardiac arrest complementary medicine Conditions and Diseases health health care Heart failure heart transplant integrative medicine meditatio Source Type: blogs

Gastro-Intestinal Microbial Ecology
November 9 - 11, 2010 International Scientific Conference on Gastro-Intestinal Microbial Ecology - GME2010Kosice, Slovakia Further informationAt GME2010 leading scientists will present and discuss current advances in the research of gut microbiota and gut microbial ecosystem. The scientific programme aims to advance the understanding of microbial diversity of the gastro-intestinal ecosystem by presenting new insights in its complex balance or imbalance, and discuss ways to modulate the gut microbiota to the benefit of the host by means of bioactive substances.Suggested reading: Bifidobacteria: Genomics and Molecular Aspects
Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. - May 5, 2010 Category: Microbiology Tags: Conferences Source Type: blogs

My Lifelong Struggles With Weight Loss [Forum]
Okay, to get better acquainted with my new friends, I've decided to throw caution to the wind and bear my soul. Yes, that IS a pun. Here goes: ~My take on the "Eating Whatever You Want On the Weekends" diet consists of buying enough fast food for three meals and eating it all at once, then spending the rest of the weekend constipated and hating myself. By Monday, I'm regular and pretending the weekend never happened. I do this at least twice a month. Sidebar: McDonalds has become my "Cheers." ~I come from an obese family. My mother died when I was 15 from complications from then-experimental gastric bypass surgery. My...
Source: Diet Blog - May 4, 2010 Category: Other Conditions Authors: contactus at diet-blog.com Tags: Weight Loss Source Type: blogs

Attending the Executive Health Resources (EHR) reception tonight
Tonight, Executive Health Resources or EHR is having a Cocktails & Conversation event. If you're considering a career change, perhaps you may enjoy working for a company like EHR. What would you do as a physician advisor? Get familiar with the phrase RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor). Not familiar with the concept? Click here to read about RACs on the Medicare website. Click here to view physician advisor job openings at EHR. Here's a snippet from their website that describes the "The Physician Advisor Approach" EHR's Physician Advisor review provides an admission status certification, which is suppor...
Source: Non-Clinical Physician Jobs, Careers, and Opportunities - May 4, 2010 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Dr. Joseph Kim Source Type: blogs

Journal of the American Medical Association 2010 (Vol. 303 No. 17)
The objective of this article is to summarise evidence on the performance of diagnostic tests for identifying coeliac disease in adults presenting with abdominal symptoms in primary care or similar settings. An NHS Athens password is required to access this article online, alternatively contact the library for a copy of this article. Filed under: Current Awareness, E-Journals, Journals Tagged: Celiac Disease, Coeliac Disease, Gastroenterology, Primary Care, Systematic Reviews
Source: Fade Library - May 4, 2010 Category: Medical Librarians Authors: hmedley99 Tags: Current Awareness E-Journals Primary Care Gastroenterology Systematic Reviews Coeliac Disease Celiac Disease Source Type: blogs

FDA Warns Novartis Over Gleevec Internet Sites
Reading the April 21 warning letter from the FDA to Novartis is a bit like reading a primer on how not to promote one’s drug on the Internet. Where to begin? Well, Novartis was tagged by the FDA after its DDMAC division reviewed two web sites - gistalliance.com and cmlalliance.com - which were sponsored by the drugmaker, but are now out of commission. The problem? The web sites don’t mention the Gleevec cancer drug by name, but come close enough to ruffle the FDA. In effect, these disease awareness sites came off as so-called product branded sites. And so the agency writes these were “false and misleading...
Source: Pharmalot - May 4, 2010 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Ed Silverman Tags: Uncategorized Chronic Myeloid Leukemia CML DDMAC Gatrointestinal Stromal Tumors GIST Gleevec Internet Novartis Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Web Site Source Type: blogs

More Evidence That Pay For Performance Is Working
Here’s a Podcast of this post: ____________ DrRich has long praised Pay For Performance as a particularly effective tool for covertly rationing healthcare. Traditionally, pay-for-performance efforts (modeled after time-honored techniques used on trained seals), produce checklists of approved “activities,” which physicians of quality will always perform when engaged in a “patient encounter.” By examining filled-out checklists, the payers (both health insurance companies and the government) can thus determine which doctors are of sufficiently high quality to deserve their full reimbursement all...
Source: The Covert Rationing Blog - May 3, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: DrRichRichard N Fogoros (DrRich) Tags: General Rationing Issues Source Type: blogs

Potential for New Cancer Detection and Therapy Method Described
From ScienceDaily.com: University of Missouri School of Medicine scientists explain a potentially new early cancer detection and treatment method using nanoparticles created at MU in an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article illustrates how engineered gold nanoparticles tied to a cancer-specific receptor could be targeted to tumor cells to treat prostate, breast or lung cancers in humans. ——————————————————————————– &...
Source: Renegade Neurologist - A Blog by David Perlmutter, MD, FACN - May 3, 2010 Category: Neurologists Authors: Dr. Perlmutter Tags: Heads Up Source Type: blogs

Emergency Water Notice Issued for Boston and Other Eastern Massachusetts Communities: Persons Should Boil or Disinfect Tap Water for Drinking and Cooking
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) has issued an emergency “boil water order” for people living in Massachusetts cities and towns that are served by the MWRA and are located east of the town of Weston. (A full list of affected communities is given later in this blog item.) The MWRA advises all residents in the affected area - which includes the cities of Boston and Somerville – to boil tap water before drinking it or consuming it in other ways, such as cooking, hand washing, and brushing teeth. Boil water orders are issued to protect public health from waterborne germs that could be or are known to ...
Source: AIDS Action Committee's Blog - May 2, 2010 Category: HIV AIDS Authors: Eric Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Follow Friday: Featuring 5 Impressive Physicians for April's End
On this last Friday in April, OrganizedWisdom recommends these impressive physician profiles for this #FollowFriday. @JBMatthews Jeff Matthews, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief, Dean for Clinical Affairs at The University of Chicago frequently shares quality health information for the benefit of others. You can see his pride in the medical staff of The University of Chicago shine through in his posts. Dr. Matthews is a gastrointestinal surgeon and leading authority on the surgical treatment of diseases of the pancreas, bile ducts, and liver, especially the treatment of acute and chronic pancreatitis. @DrMerrillShum Merrill Shum, MD ...
Source: The Health Wisdom Blog™ (by OrganizedWisdom) - April 30, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Julie Bohlen, MBA-HCM, ELS Source Type: blogs

Using the RCA process to bring a patient's entire picture into focus
by Thomas Dahlborg Process improvement experts use root-cause analysis (RCA) to evaluate and identify the reason for the cause of a defect in an effort to isolate the one major area adversely impacting and contributing to a defect and the defect's recurrence. Identifying the root cause of a chronic illness is one critical process improvement that will positively impact the lives and health of both individuals and communities (and bend the healthcare cost curve down). When RCA is done successfully, and the root-cause is identified, corrective actions are implemented to correct the root cause issue and thus prevent the de...
Source: hospital impact - April 30, 2010 Category: Health Managers Authors: hospitaltony Source Type: blogs

More Evidence that Pay for Performance is Working
Podcast: DrRich has long praised Pay For Performance as a particularly effective tool for covertly rationing healthcare. Traditionally, pay-for-performance efforts (modeled after time-honored techniques used on trained seals), produce checklists of approved “activities,” which physicians of quality will always perform when engaged in a “patient encounter.” By examining filled-out checklists, the payers (both health insurance companies and the government) can thus determine which doctors are of sufficiently high quality to deserve their full reimbursement allotment, and which doctors are of substand...
Source: The Covert Rationing Blog - April 29, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: DrRichcovertra at covertrationingblog.com Tags: General rationing issues Source Type: blogs

Constipation in Recovery
People in recovery from alcoholism, addiction and codependency face a host of potential causes of constipation, including: Past or present use of medications Decreased eating or physical activity as a result of depression or another psychiatric disorder Anxiety Bad habits learned throughout their drinking or drugging career Medical conditions gained through their addiction that decrease bowel movement. This condition also can make people stop taking medications. Constipation carries a tremendous cost in terms of resources and quality of life. People in recovery can avoid the discomfort and quality-of-life conseque...
Source: Recovery Is Sexy.com - April 29, 2010 Category: Addiction Authors: Sparrow Tags: Addictions Alcoholism Codependency Drugs Medications Recovery bowels cancer colon constipation Source Type: blogs

E. coli Outbreak In Ohio, Michigan And New York
At Least 14 students in three states infected with E. coli O145Public health workers in Michigan, Ohio and New York are investigating an outbreak of E. coli O145 gastroenteritis that has struck students at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), and Daemen College (Buffalo, NY). As of today, Michigan is reporting 8 confirmed cases, with an additional 13 cases pending. Ohio has confirmed 5 cases, with 8 still under investigation. One case has been confirmed in Erie County, NY; at least 11 more people may be affected. In all, at least 46 illnesses – 14 of them confirmed – hav...
Source: eFoodAlert.com - April 28, 2010 Category: Nutritionists and Food Scientists Authors: Phyllis Entis Source Type: blogs

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE
We presented barn owls with synchronous sounds that contained different bands of frequencies (3-5 kHz and 7-9 kHz) from different locations in space. When the owls were confronted with the conflicting localization cues from two synchronous sounds of equal level, their orienting responses were dominated by one of the sounds: they oriented toward the location of the low frequency sound when the sources were separated in azimuth; in contrast, they oriented toward the location of the high frequency sound when the sources were separated in elevation. We identified neural correlates of this behavioral effect in the optic tectum ...
Source: A Blog Around The Clock - April 28, 2010 Category: Medical Publishers Tags: Science News Source Type: blogs

Potential for common bacteria to cause colorectal cancer
Student guest post by Desiré Christensen Colorectal cancer (aka colon cancer) includes cancers of the colon, rectum, and appendix. Colorectal cancer is more common in developed countries (e.g. United States and Japan) compared to developing countries in Africa and Asia. Each year in the United States, there are around 150,000 cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed and about 50,000 people die from this cancer. Risk factors for colorectal cancer include lifestyle factors (e.g. habitual alcohol use; high-fat, low-fiber diet; obesity; sedentary lifestyle; smoking), family history of intestinal polyps or colorectal cancer, and ...
Source: Aetiology - April 27, 2010 Category: Epidemiologists Tags: Cancer epidemiology Source Type: blogs

KNOW THE SIGNS OF BRAIN HEMORRHAGE!
A brain hemorrhage is a type of stroke. It’s caused by an artery in the brain bursting and causing localized bleeding in the surrounding tissues. This bleeding kills brain cells. The Greek root for blood is hemo. Hemorrhage literally means “blood bursting forth”. Brain hemorrhages are also called cerebral hemorrhages, intracranial hemorrhages or intracerebral hemorrhages. They account for about 13% of strokes. Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain. The brain is very sensitive to bleeding and damage can occur very rapidly. Bleeding irritates the br...
Source: Nursing Comments - April 26, 2010 Category: Nurses Authors: Stephanie Jewett, RN Tags: Advice/Education Caregiving General Public Home/Articles Nursing/Nursing Students Patients/Specific Diseases bleeding in the brain brain bleed brain bleeding brain hemorrhage don't smoke hematoa hemorrhagic stroke intracerebral h Source Type: blogs

Medical Innovation In the Flat World
In the 1960s, Dr. Raul Perez, an obstetrician and gynecologist, immigrated to America from Cuba, and came to St. Louis. He “had a problem with acid reflux and went for treatment to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, where he was helped by an Indian-American doctor, V. K. Sharma.” Then, during one of his follow-up appointments, Dr. Sharma mentioned the idea of using a pacemaker-like device to control the muscle that would choke off acid reflux. Fortunately, Dr. Perez had met Dan Burkhardt, a local investor and together, they created a medical venture fund in 1997 called Oakwood Medical Investors, according to a recent New Yor...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 25, 2010 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs