Archive for February 2010

The current edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine reports that health care providers who use electronic prescriptions are seven times less likely to make errors, compared to those who write prescriptions by hand. Electronic prescriptions are written on computers which contain databases of information on drugs which assist physicians in selecting proper drug dosages, avoid drug interactions, and checking drug allergies. The majority of errors were unlikely to cause serious harm to patients as they were often picked up by pharmacists – these include incomplete directions and omitting the quantity of drug to dispense. A small number of errors were more serious, such as prescribing incorrected dosages of drugs. However, the advantages of e-precribing go well beyond reducing the risk of patient harm. Reduction in errors can dramatically improve health care delivery and reduce health care costs. [via iHealth Bulletin]

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A new Stanford University study published in the current journal Obstetrics & Gynecology suggests that acupuncture during pregnancy may help with symptoms of depression. The small study followed 150 pregnant women with major depression who were randomly assigned to undergo either acupuncture specifically designed for depression, general acupuncture or Swedish massage. After eight weeks of treatment, nearly 66% of the women who underwent depression-specific acupuncture demonstrated a reduction in at least 50% of their symptoms, compared with just under half of the women treated with either massage or regular acupuncture.  [via TopNews]

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Are you one of those people who never forgets a face? Well, it seems that the credit for your ability (or lack of ability) may go to your genes. In the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences new research results show that there’s a clear genetic basis for higher level perception and cognitive abilities such as facial recognition. By comparing groups of twins, scientists found that identical twins (who share 100% of their genetic material) were more than twice as likely to share the same competence level in recognizing faces, compared to non-identical twins (who share 50% of their genetic material). “We are excited about this finding because the brain mechanisms carrying out face recognition are fairly well understood, meaning that the high heritability of face recognition could provide a good opportunity to connect genes to brain mechanism and then to behavior,” said lead author, Dr. Brad Duchaine. [via PNAS]

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Approximately 10% of all adolescents in grades 7 through 9 are victims of internet bullying, also known as cyberbullying. “Cyberbullying occurs when new technologies such as computers and mobile phones are used to harass or bully somebody. The perpetrators often use SMS, e-mail, chat rooms and Facebook to spread their message,” says Ann Frisen, Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg and a part of an EU network of researchers studying the phenomenon. Although cyberbullying doesn’t confer any direct physical harm, it can be more emotionally and mentally damaging because the victims have little refuge. Cyberbullying can occur during and after school hours, and the harassment can spread across the internet very quickly. Research shows that the perpetrator is almost always from the same school as the victim, and can be smaller or younger than the victim since cyberbullies are able to act anonymously. So as childhood moves further into cyberspace, so must parenthood. Parents, and authority figures alike, should be aware of cyberbullying in order to successfully confront this rising trend. [via Medical News Today]

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A new study in this month’s issue of the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology demonstrates that excessive weight gain during pregnancy, especially in the first trimester, can increase a woman’s risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Although it’s known that too much weight gain can lead to GDM (which is one of the reasons why doctors carefully follow a pregnant woman’s weight), results from the current study shows that women who gained more weight during pregnancy than recommended by the US Institute of Medicine were 50% more likely to develop the disorder. GDM can lead to early delivery, increased risk of c-sections, type 2 diabetes in the mother post-partum, and even increases the likelihood that the child will develop diabetes and obesity later in life. [HealthDay via Yahoo! News]

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Green tea has been touted for various health benefits (such as fighting against heart disease and cancer) largely due to it’s high level of antioxidants called catechins. Now, Chinese scientists have found that the catechins appear to be able to penetrate into the tissues of the eyes, especially into the retina, which is the light-sensing tissue that lines the back of the eye. The study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, demonstrated that this antioxidant activity can last for up to 20 hours after drinking green tea extract. The authors theorize that the readily absorbed antioxidants help to protect the delicate tissues of the eye from glaucoma and other eye diseases. However, it must be noted that East Asians experience the highest rate of blindness from one common type of glaucoma, despite being among the largest consumers of green tea. Therefore, further studies will definitely be needed to confirm any protective ocular effects of green tea in humans. [Via WebMD]

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For the first time ever all US counties have been scored and ranked in terms of the overall health of their residents and compiled in the 2010 County Health Rankings. The data will allow health officials to compare the statistics of their county with demographically similar counties. This effort is an attempt to bring comprehensive health data to the local level in order to stimulate action towards improved health. Anyone now can go online to see how their country ranks within their state in regards to a variety of health outcome measures and health factors organized into the broad categories of mortality and morbidity, health behaviors, health care access, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors. To see where your county ranks, visit www.countyhealthrankings.org.

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A new Cochrane Systematic Review incorporating over 16 thousand subjects has found that flexible working hours can have positive impacts on a variety of health outcomes including blood pressure, sleep and mental health. European countries are looking at the study with interest due to their recent trend towards more flexible working hours. “Flexible working seems to be more beneficial for health and wellbeing where the individuals control their own work patterns, rather than where employers are in control,” said the review lead, Clare Bambra of the Wolfson Research Institute, Durham University in the UK. “Given the limited evidence base, we wouldn’t want to make any hard and fast recommendations, but these findings certainly give employers and employees something to think about.” It’s logical that flexible work hours may lessen stress and improve productivity, but does this hold true for all employees and professions? Would flexible working hours further increase the divide among socioeconomic groups if they were more readily available to higher status occupations? [via Medical News Today]

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The world of industrial design doesn’t always take into consideration the health and safety of our senior citizens. For example, did you know that annually over 2,600 US senior citizens sustain serious elevator-related injuries? In a report in the January issue of the Journal of Trauma Injury, Infection and Critical Care researchers found that three-quarters of the injured seniors were women, more than half of the injuries were due to trips and falls, and one-third were as a result of elevator doors closing on the injured party. Senior citizens are more prone to elevator injuries due to decreased vision, balance problems, and their use of walking aids, which can impede ambulation. Study author Greg Steele is also advocating the elevator industry to implement larger elevator open buttons. “Elevator open buttons should be made twice the size of the other elevator buttons so they are not hard to find by passengers who want to stop the door from closing on an approaching individual,” Steele said. “This would be very inexpensive to change because electronics don’t have to be altered, just the button. Certainly all newly installed or updated elevators should have such buttons.” [via Health Day]

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As much as medical dramas are just television shows, their portrayal of certain emergency situations can leave powerful impressions upon the viewer. For those who have had formal CPR training, how many times have you seen incorrect compression techniques used on tv? Now, a new Canadian study is calling attention to the incorrect management of seizures as portrayed on popular US medical dramas (Grey’s Anatomy, House, MD, Private Practice, ER), and how these depictions can cause the lay person to inappropriately intervene should they be in the presence of someone having a seizure. The researchers found that nearly 46% of the time  seizures were handled incorrectly by either holding the person down, trying to stop the involuntary movements, or putting things in the person’s mouth – all these are wrong ways to manage seizures. In nearly all these depictions, first aid was administered by nurses and doctors. The lead author described the findings as a call to action and urged those with epilepsy to “lobby the television industry to adhere to guidelines for first aid management of seizures.” This study will be presented this April at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto. [via Medical News Today]

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