Monthly Archives: September 2013

Prevent Running Injuries Sugar Land Houston Sports Medicine – Dr. J. Michael Bennett – Video

Posted on by


Prevent Running Injuries Sugar Land Houston Sports Medicine - Dr. J. Michael Bennett
Call 281-633-8600 for information and visit http://orthopedicsportsdoctor.com. In this video recorded at Plex in Richmond, TX, Dr. J. Michael Bennett gives t...

By: Dr. J. Michael Bennett

Read this article:

Prevent Running Injuries Sugar Land Houston Sports Medicine - Dr. J. Michael Bennett - Video

Doctoral candidate to talk on late 18th-century medicine Sept. 26

Posted on by

Posted September 16, 2013

The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine is pleased to invite faculty, students, and the public to a talk by Monique Dufour, a doctoral candidate in science and technology studies at Virginia Tech.

This special program is held in conjunction with a traveling exhibit from the National Library of Medicine titled Every Necessary Care & Attention: George Washington & Medicine, which examines how George Washington focused considerable attention on the health and safety of his family, staff, slaves and troops at his home in Mount Vernon and during the Revolutionary War.

In this talk, we will explore the stories we have told about disease, medicine and health in the Colonial U.S., said Dufour. How did medical ideas circulate in words and images in the 18th century? What were their cultural meanings and political functions? What about in our own time? What stories does the NLM exhibit tell about the meaning of George Washington and medicine?

The event will be held on Sept. 26, at 5:30 p.m. at 2265 Kraft Drive in the main VCOM building. The exhibit is on display on the second floor of the same building, outside of the library, from now until Oct. 12.

For information, contact Elaine Powers at (540)-231-3763 or Laura Young at (540)-231-3926.

Submitted by Laura Young, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine

No comments yet.

Read more:

Doctoral candidate to talk on late 18th-century medicine Sept. 26

Why personalised medicine is bad for us all

Posted on by

The growth of personalised medicine threatens the communal approach that has brought our biggest health gains

ADVOCATES of personalised medicine claim that healthcare isn't individualised enough.

Backed up by the glamour of new biotechnologies such as direct-to-consumer genetic testing, personalised medicine what I call "Me Medicine" appears to its advocates as the inevitable and desirable way to go. Barack Obama, when still a US senator, declared that "in no area of research is the promise greater than in personalised medicine".

This trend towards Me Medicine is led by the US, but it is growing across the developed world.

In contrast, "We Medicine" public-health programmes such as flu shots or childhood vaccination is increasingly distrusted and vulnerable to austerity cuts. Yet historically this approach has produced the biggest increase in lifespan. Even today, countries with more social provision of healthcare and less individualistic attitudes have better health outcomes across all social classes.

Contrary to the claims of its proponents, the personalised approach hasn't yet delivered a paradigm shift in medicine. A 2012 Harris poll of 2760 US patients and physicians found that doctors had recommended personal genetic tests for only 4 per cent of patients. The Center for Health Reform & Modernization, run by US healthcare company UnitedHealth, put the figure at just 2 per cent.

But money is still pouring into Me Medicine. In July, the UK government announced that it would offer private companies a subsidy from a 300 million fund to encourage investment in its personalised medicine initiative, Genomics England. Last year the US administration increased the National Institutes of Health budget for personalised medicine, while cutting the budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Public Health Genomics by 90 per cent.

Of course it would be nice if we could afford both, but in reality there's a growing risk that "me" will edge out "we". If it does, it won't be because the science is better or the outcomes more beneficial. In some instances of Me Medicine, clinical outcomes are worse than the We equivalent. For example, according to the UK's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, private umbilical cord blood banks, which ostensibly provide a personal "spare parts kit" for the baby, produce poorer outcomes than public cord blood banking.

It is true that in some areas of Me Medicine, such as genetically individualised drug regimes for cancer care (technically known as pharmacogenetics), there has been genuine progress. For example, vemurafenib, a drug for aggressive melanoma, was reported in a 2012 New England Journal of Medicine article to extend the lifespan of 1 in 4 patients by seven months if they carry a specific genetic mutation in their cancer.

But only about half of those with the "right" type of tumour responded, and the mutation in question only occurs in about half of such melanomas. What is more, pharmaceutical firms will probably charge more for such drugs than for mass-market ones. They will be expensive, may benefit only a subset of the population and could leave cash-strapped state healthcare systems facing difficult decisions about where to allocate resources.

Read the original post:

Why personalised medicine is bad for us all

Medicine Strangled by 'Regulopathy,' States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

Posted on by

TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 16, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- "In the 'Age of Regulopathy,' morning rounds focus on items on the quality checklist, such as Foley Catheter Days, rather than patient well-being," notes the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) in the September issue of AAPS News. Catheters need to be pulled before the post-op clock strikes 48 hours.

Benefits may be outweighed by adverse effects, AAPS explains. For example, early removal of central intravenous lines may mean fewer central line infections, but more wounds may dehisce (open up) as patients become malnourished.

With ObamaCare, the burden will rise rapidly. AAPS states that 20,000 pages of regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) had been issued by Apr 30, and as many as several hundred thousand more are expected.

"Team Obama is now the red-tape record holder," states AAPS News. It posted 78,961 pages in the Federal Register in 2012, and the all-time record number of 81,405 in 2010. "For increases in red tape, the U.S. is in a class with Zimbabwe, Burundi, and Yemen."

Counting both compliance costs and opportunity costs, "we are 75% poorer than we might have been under the 1949 regulatory regime," states AAPS.

The ACA makes the imposition of more regulations much easier. AAPS points to the fact that the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is exempted from the administrative rule-making requirements that apply to all other federal agencies. This even goes beyond "fast-track" authority.

A major burden being imposed on physicians, under the pretext of improving quality and efficiency, is the electronic health record, AAPS states. After adopting EHRs out of fear of federal penalties, "one in five physicians may be filing for divorce from their [EHR]."

The EHR introduces new kinds of errors. One physician, commenting on AAPS News, writes that errors are easy to introduce and hard to remove: "I have cared for a female patient with prostatic hypertrophy and a 70-year-old male cataract patient being treated for post-partum depression."

The ACA will drive many independent physicians out of practice, states AAPS. Its malign effects are not restricted to doctors. Michael Riesberg, M.D., writes: "The destruction of private medicine and the overburdening of small businesses by ObamaCare will further the cause of destroying the middle class."

The AAPS case challenging the constitutionality of the ACA, AAPS v. Sebelius, is pending in the Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Original post:

Medicine Strangled by 'Regulopathy,' States Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

Mind Over Medicine: Dr Lissa Rankin's book shows incredible influence of mind over body

Posted on by

Dr Lissa Rankin's Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself draws on scientific studies to prove the power of self-healing Dr Rankin was medically trained but became frustrated by seeing patients who were clearly ill but who returned negative test results She says she was cynical about views that the mind had power over the body as she was brought up by a father who was a 'conventional physician' Other cases she refers to include a woman who was cured from severe nausea by a pill which causes vomiting - because she was told it would help

By Emma Innes

PUBLISHED: 07:28 EST, 16 September 2013 | UPDATED: 03:03 EST, 17 September 2013

16 shares

150

View comments

Dr Lissa Rankin's book, Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself, aims to demonstrate the power of the mind

It is often said that the mind has a huge amount of power over the body and a new book has set out to prove just how powerful it can be.

In Mind Over Medicine: Scientific Proof That You Can Heal Yourself, Dr Lissa Rankin lays out many remarkable examples of how the mind can affect the body.

For example, she cites one study in which a group of patients were given a saline solution which they were told could be chemotherapy.

See the article here:

Mind Over Medicine: Dr Lissa Rankin's book shows incredible influence of mind over body

NY medical schools increase enrollment

Posted on by

ALBANY New Yorks 16 medical schools have enrolled 120 more students this fall than last year, including the first classes in a pair of three-year programs that allow students to graduate faster and with less debt.

More than half of the 2,424 new medical students are state residents, nearly half are women and 3 percent are international students, according to Associated Medical Schools of New York. Most programs last four years with annual tuition ranging from $30,000 to $50,000.

Demand for physicians has intensified in New York due to its aging population, rising costs, and state and federal policy changes, association President Jo Wiederhorn said.

A new state marketplace, established in response to a federal mandate, is expected to enroll 1.1 million more New Yorkers in health insurance programs over the next few years, increasing the need for primary care practitioners.

New York Universitys School of Medicine has 162 new students, including 16 in its new three-year program who are all offered acceptance into an NYU Langone Medical Center residency program. Their academic year starts six weeks earlier and they spend the summer between the first and second year on a fellowship.

With 168 new students, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons has four who already hold doctoral degrees in biomedical sciences in a new three-year program. Theyll have the same 18-month preclinical training as the others and 16 months of clinical training. Their fourth-year scholarly project will be waived and theyll be encouraged to pursue an abbreviated residency.

The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education enrolled 74 students this year for its seven-year program, all state residents coming directly from high school out of 705 applicants. The City College of New York schools first five years fulfill bachelors degree requirements and the pre-clinical medical school curriculum, followed by two years of clinical training at a collaborating medical school.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center enrolled 188 new students, 80 percent from New York, while SUNY Upstate Medical University enrolled 165, 90 percent of whom are state residents.

Albany Medical College reported 143 new medical students from nearly 9,000 applicants, while Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai enrolled 140 students out of more than 5,000 applicants.

Other schools and enrollments for their Class of 2017 were Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, 183 students; Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, 80 students; New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, 315; New York Medical College, 200; University of Rochester School of Medicine, 102; Stony Brook University School of Medicine, 124; School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, 144; Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, 135; and Weill Cornell Medical College, 101 students.

Go here to read the rest:

NY medical schools increase enrollment