MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'conventional'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:25:47 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107517&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fanonymous-blogger-reviews-the-lack-of-evidence-for-robotic-surgery%2F2011.08.08 The surgeon who blogs as Skeptical Scalpel writes that he (she?) is unable to contain him(her)self any longer and then lunges into a review of evidence (or lack thereof) for robotic surgery. You may disagree with Skeptical Scalpel’s decision to be anonymous, but he/she explains: “I’ve been a surgeon for almost 40 years and a surgical department chairman for over 23 of those years. During much of that time, conforming to the norms, rules and regulations of government agencies, accrediting bodies, hospitals, societies, and social convention was necessary for survival. I was always somewhat outspoken but in a controlled way most of the time. I now have a purely clinical surgery practice with no meetings, site visits or administrative hassles. I am free to speak my mind about... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107517 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:00:07 +0100 5107517 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4525087&cid=t_219947_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-medication%2Fthe-difference-between-herbal-and-conventional-adhd-medicine.php ADHD is defined as a neurobiological disorder characterized by age-inappropriate features of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Research has shown that the disability tends to affect more boys than girls. ADHD is assumed to be caused by genetic factors but there is no empirical evidence to date that would point to the real cause of this condition. What is apparent though is that cases of ADHD have continued to rise by 3% to 5% in school-age children. As parents and teachers struggle to deal with this phenomenon, different methods are being tested and implemented. One approach deals with the use of ADHD medicine to help manage if not to treat the disorder.  An ADHD medicine come in two forms. One is the traditional medicine that is prescribed by doctors and the other is alternati... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4525087 Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4525087 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3885344&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fthe-selectiveness-of-science-denialism%2F2010.08.19 Statement #1: The holocaust never happened. Hitler loved Jews and respected Jewish culture. The photographic evidence of the camps, including the bodies and atrocities, were all fakes designed by the State of Israel to generate international sympathy. Statement #2: Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an effective treatment for numerous medical conditions. Acupuncture has been around for centuries and is widely practiced in China and elsewhere. Science has proven its efficacy in controlled experiments. With any luck, that first statement should generate dozens of hits from watchdog groups berating me for spreading the vile lie of Holocaust denial. The second statement, or words perilously close to that effect, has appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, a previously-prestigious ... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3885344 Thu, 19 Aug 2010 18:00:13 +0100 3885344 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3737045&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fpersonalized-medicine-a-bait-and-switch%2F2010.07.08 Mark Hyman, a proponent of so-called “functional medicine” promoting himself over at the Huffington Post (an online news source that essentially allows dubious medical infomercials to pass as news) has posted a particularly egregious article on personalized medicine for dementia. In the article Hyman distorts the modern practice of medicine, the current state of genetic science, and the very notion of “disease.” It is, as usual, a fine piece of medical propaganda sure to confuse many a reader. Hyman starts with some standard epidemiology of dementia –- it’s a common and growing disorder –- but then descends quickly into distortion and pseudoscience. (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3737045 Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:00:38 +0100 3737045 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3733019&cid=t_219947_83_f&fid=34856&url=http%3A%2F%2Finsidesurgery.com%2F2010%2F07%2Fbariatric-surgeon-dr-philip-schauer-studying-bariatic-surgery-diabetics%2F Cleveland Clinic bariatric surgeon Dr. Philip Schauer is enrolling diabetic patients who are obese but not as heavy as typical weight loss surgery patients in a study to see if this type of surgery can cure their diabetes. Diabetes patient Cristina Iaboni opted for surgery instead of conventional weight loss attempts to lose the 50 lbs it took to control her diabetes. (Source: Inside Surgery) Inside Surgery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3733019 Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:23:17 +0100 3733019 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3718400&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2F%25e2%2580%259cnaturopathic-oncology-a-new-specialty-of-pseudoscience%2F2010.07.01 On “wholistic” medicine If there’s one aspect of so-called “alternative medicine” and “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM) is that its practitioners tout as being a huge advantage over what they often refer to sneeringly as “conventional” or “scientific” medicine is that–or so its practitioners claim–alt-med treats the “whole patient,” that it’s “wholistic” in a way that the evil reductionist “Western” science-based medicine can’t be. Supposedly, we reductionistic, unimaginative physicians only focus on disease and ignore the “whole patient.” Of course, to me this claim is belied by the hectoring to which my own primary care physician has subjected me about my horrible diet and lack of exercise on pretty much every visit I’ve had wi... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3718400 Thu, 01 Jul 2010 12:00:53 +0100 3718400 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3695572&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fnew-movie-promotes-energy-medicine%2F2010.06.24 It’s boring to try to ferret out reliable health information from dry medical journals. It’s easier and more fun to watch a movie. A new movie promises to change the way you think about your health. To bring you breakthroughs that will transform your understanding of how to get well and stay well. To share the discoveries of leading researchers and health practitioners about miracle cures that traditional medicine can’t explain. If this makes your baloney detector light up, good for you! The Living Matrix: A Film on the New Science of Healing is an atrociously bad movie that falls squarely in the tradition of What the Bleep Do We Know? In his book Nonsense on Stilts, Massimo Pigliucci characterized the “Bleep” movie as “one of the most spectacular examples of a horribly tangled... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3695572 Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:00:37 +0100 3695572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3549308&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fdoes-group-health%25e2%2580%2599s-medical-home-leave-the-poor-behind%2F2010.05.10 Group Health has published two papers recently, one in Health Affairs and the other in JAMA, both extolling the virtues of its Medical Home. These follow their brief report last fall in the NEJM and the lengthy description of their model in the American Journal of Managed Care. Their model has been promoted by the Commonwealth Fund, and it is cited in the currrent issue of Lancet. The big news is that costs were a full 2% lower than conventional care, hardly a great success –- it wasn’t even statistically significant. But was even this small difference due to the Medical Home, or was it because the Medical Home patients were less likely to consume care? (more…) *This blog post was originally published at PHYSICIANS and HEALTH CARE REFORM Commentaries and Controversies*... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3549308 Mon, 10 May 2010 12:00:57 +0100 3549308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3311746&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F02%2F26%2Ffriday-flashback-for-february-26-2010%2F I’m in Houston on my annual e-patients retreat. So what better way to help you get through your TGIF fever than to give you a look back on what we were talking about on Psych Central in years past (gee, I sound so old-timey!). 11 Years Ago on Psych Central The Great Psychology Prescription Debate I boiled psychologists’ push for prescription privileges down to a question of money in this post. Psychologists are being pushed down the income ladder by cheaper psychotherapy providers (like marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers), and so look upward to see what they could be doing that could be making them more money. Psychiatrists can make twice as much psychologists because they can prescribe psychiatric medications. Re-reading this essay, I think things are a... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3311746 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:18:02 +0100 3311746 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3220559&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F01%2F29%2Fdo-you-refer-to-yourselves-as-we-in-a-couple%2F If you do, congratulations! You’re likely better at conflict resolution with your partner than couples who don’t refer to themselves as “we.” How do we know? Well, conversations can tell us a lot about how couples view themselves, both individually and as a couple. By analyzing conversations between couples, you can learn a lot about their interactions: UC Berkeley researchers analyzed conversations between 154 middle-aged and older couples about points of disagreement in their marriages and found that those who used pronouns such as “we,” “our” and “us” behaved more positively toward one another and showed less physiological stress. In contrast, couples who emphasized their “separateness” by using pronouns such as “I,” “me” and “you” we... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3220559 Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:02:37 +0100 3220559 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2927363&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F10%2F26%2Fwhy-sleeping-on-it-helps%2F We’re often told, “You should sleep on it” before you make an important decision. Why is that? How does “sleeping on it” help your decision-making process? Conventional wisdom suggests that by “sleeping on it,” we clear our minds and relieve ourselves of the immediacy (and accompanying stress) of making a decision. Sleep also helps organize our memories, process the information of the day, and solve problems. Such wisdom also suggests that conscious deliberation helps decision making in general. But new research (Dijksterhuis et al., 2009) suggests something else might also be at work — our unconscious. Previous research suggests that sometimes the more consciously we think about a decision, the worse the decision made. Sometimes what’s... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2927363 Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:35:15 +0100 2927363 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2452707&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F06%2F04%2Frevenge-the-psychology-of-retribution%2F Your boyfriend just broke up with you and you’re thinking, “Wow, he left his favorite t-shirt over here at my place. He wouldn’t mind if I cleaned the toilet with it, would he?” Revenge is sweet. Or is it? Psychology research on the study of revenge suggests the picture is a little more complicated than a feeling of satisfaction after we’ve taken out our revenge on another. Researchers call revenge the psychology of retribution, and our feelings about revenge the “revenge paradox,” because when we take out revenge on another person, we often feel worse afterward when we thought we would feel better. Vaughan over at Mind Hacks has the commentary on an article that appeared in the APA’s Monitor this month: One of the most interesting bits is w... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2452707 Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:10:09 +0100 2452707 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2424206&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F05%2F19%2Favatar-customization-increases-feelings-of-presence%2F Although it may be pretty obvious that allowing a user to customize their avatar would lead them to enjoy whatever service they’re using, new research confirms this conventional wisdom for children as well. (An avatar is simply a graphical representation of a person in a virtual or other online environment.) In a small study of 30 children ages 10 to 12, researchers found evidence to support their hypothesis that avatar customization (as opposed to being assigned an avatar, or choosing from a stock set of avatars) can affect both subjective feelings of presence and physiological indicators of emotions during their time playing a game: For game producers and sponsors, this means that creating more customizable games may make the experience more sympathetically arousing, which may in ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2424206 Tue, 19 May 2009 10:27:10 +0100 2424206 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2347783&cid=t_219947_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FXoayINLz6MA%2F The Obama administration believes in recycling, as shown by the so-called high-speed rail plan it announced last week. Below is a map of the plan, and below that is a map of the Federal Railroad Administration’s 2005 high-speed rail plan. As you can see, the proposed routes are identical. (The grey lines on the first map represent conventional Amtrak routes.) Of course, this is a time-honored practice. Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System was really the Bureau of Public Roads’ Interregional Highway System. There is no doubt that the Federal Railroad Administration is thrilled that Obama has adopted its plan. Yet there are several problems with Obama’s plan. First, it is important to understand that most of Obama’s plan is not bullet trains or TGVs. Instea... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2347783 Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:27:30 +0100 2347783 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2190555&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F02%2F15%2Freeling-from-rejection%2F Can rejection cause havoc in your life? You bet it can, at least according to a new article appearing in Newsweek. While I don’t think rejection is going to have any long-term effect on your intelligence or your immune system (despite the article’s claims), I could see how it might temporarily increase your aggression toward others and increase your social isolation (at least in the short term): Twenge’s other research has found that rejected individuals also become less social, are more likely to interpret neutral words and behaviors as signs of rejection and score lower on intelligence tests—all from a simple 15-minute activity. And this pain was felt whether the rejection came from someone we want to like us, or someone we couldn’t care less about. “Ther... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2190555 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:07:40 +0100 2190555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2073999&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2008%2F12%2F31%2Fcollectively-are-we-still-happy-in-a-depression%2F Sonja Lyubomirsky thinks so. Or at least that seems to be her argument in a recent op-ed in the New York Times, where she suggests that people (What people? Most people? Her friends? She doesn’t say…) aren’t panicking due to the depression/recession that we’re in. That most people aren’t really that unhappy in these difficult economic times. Of course, I have to raise an eyebrow whenever a commentator makes a claim such as this which goes against conventional wisdom and is supported by zero evidence. Instead, she cites research into our individual happiness, which says nothing about society’s collective happiness in tough economic times such as these: Research in psychology and economics suggests that when only your salary is cut, or when only you... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2073999 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:09:15 +0100 2073999 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1546943&cid=t_219947_109_f&fid=35677&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FBrainBasedBusiness%2F%7E3%2F320657063%2Fplan_a_brain_fitness_week_at_w.html Care to zap your brain into shape for a new mental adventure today? It’s the difference between feeling trapped in routines or ruts … and challenging your brain for higher productivity. Brain fitness often involves doing daily routines in different ways. To the brain, status quo is handled by the basal ganglia … while mental fitness tends to take place in the working memory. Can you see how these two brain basics compete daily for your attention? How so? If your basal ganglia routines win, you’ll likely linger in ruts. In contrast, with a few changed activities, you’ll grow more working memory for adventures.  Use more working memory and you also keep your brain alive and well. Recent research shows how working memory can expand with use. Drawing from y... BrainBasedBusiness blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1546943 Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:40:35 +0100 1546943