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 'differential'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:29:10 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028336&cid=t_298692_93_f&fid=36531&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FJeffreyMD%2F%7E3%2FOOUP2O7Ei_E%2F The following post originally appeared on Medscape’s The Differential on January 12, 2011. ***** Knowing I had recently completed a rotation in OB/GYN, a friend asked me how they (medical schools) make male medical students understand what their pregnant patients feel like. It was an interesting question. And it got me thinking about understanding what our patients go through – no matter their age, or sex, or condition. As medical students, there is not much discussion about how our patients feel. Sure, there are classes about human suffering. But these classes deal with generalities. Each patient experiences their condition in their own unique way. To draw upon the obstetrical cases, telling a woman that she is pregnant can be met with a variety of responses that range from fear ... JeffreyMD.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028336 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 05:28:24 +0100 5028336 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4664180&cid=t_298692_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fcrowd-sourcing-for-medical-diagnoses%2F2011.03.31 The Times ran an intriguing experiment on its Well blog yesterday: a medical problem-solving contest. The challenge, based on the story of a real girl who lives near Philadelphia, drew 1379 posted comments and closed this morning with publication of the answer. Dr. Lisa Sanders, who moderated the piece, says today that the first submitted correct response came from a California physician; the second came from a Minnesota woman who is not a physician. Evidently she recognized the condition’s manifestations from her experience working with people who have it. The public contest – and even the concept of using the word “contest” – to solve a real person’s medical condition interests me a lot. This kind of puzzle is, as far as I know, unprecedented apart from the somewhat removed d... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4664180 Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:00:56 +0100 4664180 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4074065&cid=t_298692_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fhow-to-help-your-doctor-make-a-good-diagnosis%2F2010.10.14 When patients and doctors communicate effectively, the patient has the best result. Not every doctor asks the critical question that can cinch a diagnosis. Yet good communication, coupled with good diagnostic skill can be worth more than $10,000 in tests and referrals to consultants. You can help your doctor figure out what is going on by thinking and communicating like a physician. Whether you have a new problem or something that has been bothering you for a long time, here are some things that the doctor will want to know: 1. What are the symptoms? Be specific. Don’t just say “Sometimes I have a pain in my stomach.” Since more than 80 percent of health problems can be diagnosed based on information that you provide, make sure you can verbalize what you are feelin... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4074065 Fri, 15 Oct 2010 01:00:00 +0100 4074065 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4045039&cid=t_298692_83_f&fid=34856&url=http%3A%2F%2Finsidesurgery.com%2F2010%2F10%2Fpatent-ductus-arteriosus-signs-symptoms%2F Differential cyanosis (upper body pink, lower body cyanotic) (Source: Inside Surgery) Inside Surgery blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4045039 Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:21:05 +0100 4045039 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3526798&cid=t_298692_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F05%2F03%2Fmalingering-ptsd%2F You can “malinger” — fake — virtually any mental disorder, because mental illness is defined by symptom lists that are self-reported. That is, you tell the doctor or therapist the symptoms you’re experiencing, and they simply go down the list and figure out which disorder the symptoms best fit into. Since the symptoms are self-reported, you can easily make up the symptoms to qualify for whatever diagnosis you want. In medicine, things are a bit different. Although doctors might use your self-reported symptoms as a starting point on how to diagnose the medical problem you present with, they can usually followup by ordering a series of laboratory tests to confirm their diagnosis. There is no equivalent for mental health concerns (although there are many paper-an... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3526798 Mon, 03 May 2010 11:32:35 +0100 3526798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3208446&cid=t_298692_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F01%2F26%2Fptsd-brain-scan-hype%2F Last week, we noted along with many news outlets that a biomarker had been apparently discovered for PTSD. The researchers claimed they had a new tool to help make a differential diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The tool is a brain scanning technology that, like EEG, measures the brain’s electrical activity. But instead of directly measuring such activity, it measures magnetic fluctuations in the electrical activity. The technique is called MEG. There are certain technical benefits to this method as compared to a traditional EEG, so some researchers are exploring its greater use. Mind Hacks has a very good analysis of why the researchers’ claims were overreaching and a bit ridiculous: Crucially, the scan didn’t pick out cases of PTSD among people with ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3208446 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:00:08 +0100 3208446 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2320625&cid=t_298692_123_f&fid=37052&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpda4peds.com%2Fpda-categories%2Finfect%2Fvids%2Fvideo-files%2Fiddx.wmv USBMIS recently released their new title IDdx, which means Infectious Disease differential diagnosis. The app is based on the popular infectious disease reference, Control of Communicable Disease Manual. This is the ultimate differential diagnosis app design that we have been waiting for … See how it looks on Windows Mobile; As we can see above there are two main buttons, one for diseases and another for symptoms. So we can either search by diseases and we’ll get all the symptoms and signs associated with that disease or on the other hand we can diagnosticate by adding the symptoms and see which diseases may cause those symptoms. Not only that but even there are several filters like choosing whether the disease should have all of the symptoms together or any of them and also w... The Pediatric PDA Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2320625 Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:57:21 +0100 2320625 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249855&cid=t_298692_123_f&fid=37052&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2F6O-Zj3-7VYs%26amp%3Bhl%3Den%26amp%3Bfs%3D1%26amp%3Brel%3D0 Here comes another app from Unbound Medicine, but this time they learned the game.. They are offering it at a low price so as to compete with the incredibly low prices that are seen in App store. Diagnosaurus can be downloaded for only $0.99 from App store, Click here to download it. Here’s how it looks; Diagnosaurus is offered for free for the Palm and Windows Mobile [go to download page] [read Pda4peds review] and it should have been free here also, but anyway nobody can complain about 99 cents. The previous models from Unbound Medicine was in much higher prices such as Davis Drug Guide and Nursing Central. Probably they are experimenting with Diagnosaurus to see which model is going to work better. So far, all the iTunes reviews are positive for Diagnosaurus after 24 hours of its... The Pediatric PDA Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249855 Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:37:32 +0100 2249855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2201830&cid=t_298692_123_f&fid=37052&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fv%2F7-zyvY4rI3M%26amp%3Bhl%3Den%26amp%3Bfs%3D1 The famous Merck Manual is now offered from Unbound Medicine in a new format and in a bundle of symptoms and drugs resources. The original Merck Manual was previously offered from Unbound Medicine as a stand-alone PDA product, but recently they have added two optional resources to the package; These are the Merck Manual with patient symptoms and Davis Drug Guide for physicians. So let’s see how it looks on Windows Mobile: The solution is available for Palm, Pocket PC, Blackberry, and also as a wireless website and a regular website [check it out here http://www.unboundmedicine.com/merckmanual/ub] all for one annual subscription price. If only the manual it is $50; if you add the symptoms guide it is $60; and if want the Davis Drug guide added then it’s $80. The website amusing... The Pediatric PDA Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2201830 Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:52:48 +0100 2201830 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=993229&cid=t_298692_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Ffungalcompgenomics%2F%7E3%2F177540541%2F A paper in PLoS Biology from Sandy Johnson's lab entitled "Interlocking Transcriptional Feedback Loops Control White-Opaque Switching in Candida albicans" discusses phenotype switching in the human pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. Why is the important? "White-opaque switching is an epigenetic phenomenon, where genetically identical cells can exist in two distinctive cell types, white and opaque. Each cell type is stably inherited for many generations, and switching between the two types of cells occurs stochastically and rarely—roughly one switch in 10^4 cell divisions" There is also a review by Kira O'Day to discuss the implications of the findings.  Understanding this sort of developmental and epigenetic signaling is important to better know how fungi adjust and interact with their... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=993229 Wed, 31 Oct 2007 05:08:28 +0100 993229