The CDC study shows that six in 10 American adults were regular drinkers in 2005-2007, but only about three in 10 regularly exercised.

Since 1997, rates of cigarette smoking have declined by several percentage points, rates of obesity have climbed, and rates of alcohol use, exercise, and sleep have remained relatively unchanged.

Men were more likely than women to be drinkers (68% vs. 55%).

The more educated people were, the more likely they were to drink. 74% of people who have a graduate degree were drinkers, compared with 44% of people with a high school diploma.

Adults with higher levels of education were less likely to be smokers, be physically inactive, and be obese and to sleep six hours or less per night.

Twitter comments:

@kcb704: "The more educated people were, the more likely they were to drink." http://goo.gl/JDv1 // work hard, play hard..

@BrettLinda: Hold on... good or bad? RT @DrVes Good and Bad Health Habits in U.S.: drinkers outnumber exercisers http://goo.gl/JDv1

References:
Good and Bad Health Habits in U.S. WebMD.

While cigarettes are by far the most important cause of lung cancer, chemicals and other on-the-job hazards "play a remarkable role" in lung cancer risk.

5% of lung cancers in men are job-related. Men in the known to be risky occupations were 74% more likely to have been diagnosed with lung cancer.

The strongest associations were seen for ceramic and pottery jobs and brick manufacturing, as well as for those working in manufacturing of non-iron metals.

A CXR shows a right upper lobe (RUL) mass due to lung cancer. Source: Finger Clubbing due to Lung Cancer. Clinical Cases and Images.

References:

Based on review of data from a large clinical trial and data from other sources, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is informing the public about an increased risk of muscle injury in patients taking the highest approved dose of the cholesterol-lowering medication, Zocor (simvastatin) 80 mg, compared to patients taking lower doses of simvastatin and possibly other drugs in the "statin" class.

The muscle injury, also called myopathy, is a known side effect with all statin medications. The most serious form of myopathy is called rhabdomyolysis. Patients with myopathy generally have muscle pain, tenderness or weakness, and an elevation of a muscle enzyme in the blood (creatine kinase). The higher the dose of statin used, the greater the risk of developing myopathy. The risk of myopathy is also increased when simvastatin, especially at the higher doses, is used with certain drugs (see Simvastatin Dose Limitations below).

The data come from the SEARCH study, in which myopathy was seen in nearly 1% of patients taking the 80 milligram dose of Zocor but in only 0.02% of patients taking the 20 milligram dose of Zocor.

Rhabdomyolysis was rare in the SEARCH study. It happened in only 11 of 6,031 patients (0.02%) in group taking the 80 milligram dose of Zocor, but was not seen in patients taking the 20 milligram dose.

New data also suggest that people of Chinese descent should not take Zocor at the 80 milligram dose -- and should be careful even when taking lower doses -- if they also take niacin-containing products.

Simvastatin Dose Limitations

These limitations apply to ALL patients taking simvastatin.

Do not use simvastatin with these medications:

According to a 2004 study in Chest, the ability of medical students to recognize heart murmurs is poor (20%), and does not improve with subsequent years of training.

Five hundred repetitions of four basic cardiac murmurs significantly improved auscultatory proficiency in recognizing basic cardiac murmurs by medical students. These results suggest that cardiac auscultation is, in part, a technical skill.

On 25 November 2009, Dio's wife and manager announced that he was diagnosed with stomach cancer:

"Ronnie has been diagnosed with the early stages of stomach cancer. We are starting treatment immediately at the Mayo Clinic. After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans. Long live rock and roll, long live Ronnie James Dio. Thanks to all the friends and fans from all over the world that have sent well wishes. This has really helped to keep his spirit up." -- "He has had a few hiccups between Christmas and New Year's," she said in a statement to fans. "He has had a blood clot, a trip to the emergency room, and a three-day stay at the hospital."

ArtisanNewsService — April 13, 2010 — "One of heavy metal's premiere vocalists Ronnie James Dio shares his thoughts on his battle with stomach cancer at the Revolver Golden Gods awards."

On 14 March 2010, Dio's wife and manager Wendy posted an online update on his condition:

"It has been Ronnie's 7th chemo, another cat scan and another endoscopy, and the results are good - the main tumour has shrunk considerably, and our visits to Houston (MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas) are now every three weeks instead of every two weeks."

References:
Ronnie James Dio. Wikipedia.
http://www.nme.com/news/black-sabbath/49346
Black Sabbath, Dio singer Ronnie James Dio gives cancer update. NME.com.

From NPR:

The hockey-puck-on-a-rod test was invented by a Michigan high school student.

It works like this: Tester suspends the device while injured athlete sits with forearm on table, fingers loosely circling the stick. Without warning, tester drops stick. Athlete grabs stick as fast as possible. Place where athlete grabs gives an instant readout of reaction time.

It all happens in milliseconds - too fast to measure with a stopwatch. Athletes with concussions had reaction times that were 15% slower.

This website "reports patient ratings and rankings of pharmaceuticals and prescription drug side effects. Database includes FDA-approved pharmaceuticals."

http://www.askapatient.com

You can Search by Drug Name:

From Slate:

"I was the first person these would-be doctors had ever fully examined on their own. Some were shaking so violently when they approached me with their otoscopes—the pointed device for looking in the ear—that I feared an imminent lobotomy.

A "standardized patient" is a trained person who is paid $15 an hour to be poked and prodded by inexperienced fingers, so that med students can learn communication and examination skills before they are sicced on actual sick people.

Now there are standardized patients trained for genital duty (they're called GUTAs, for genitourinary teaching associates).

Dr. N wasted the first eight minutes of the exam trying repeatedly to get a blood pressure reading. The panic in his eyes seemed to say, "She appears to be alive, yet she has no vital signs."

From Science Life Blog at the University of Chicago:

NatureVideoChannel — March 31, 2010 — "You might not realize it, but with an iPhone, you also have a stethoscope and a CPR trainer within reach. These are just a few of the more than 2,000 medical applications available on the iPhone, and here we've rounded up ten for you to check out. Whether you're a researcher, doctor, or patient, get ready for your medicine to go mobile."

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) levels were measured in 414 (ex)-smokers older than 50 years and the link between vitamin D status and presence of COPD was assessed. The rs7041 and rs4588 variants in the vitamin D-binding gene (GC) were genotyped and their effects on 25-OHD levels were tested.

In patients with COPD, 25-OHD levels correlated significantly with forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1).

Compared with 31% of the smokers with normal lung function, as many as 60% and 77% of patients with GOLD (Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease) stage 3 and 4 exhibited deficient 25-OHD levels lower than 20 ng/ml.

25-OHD levels were reduced by 25% in homozygous carriers of the rs7041 at-risk allele.

The site is easy to navigate, well-organized and it looks helpful. Check the navigation menu in the left sidebar.

From Reuters:

"In our country, we think the doctor should have all the medical records," said Dr. James McElligott, a pediatrician at the Medical University of South Carolina who worked on the study. "I like the idea of putting the ownership back in Mom's hands and empowering her a little bit."

When parents kept a so-called shot card, their child's odds of being up-to-date on vaccinations rose by more than half.

40 percent of the toddlers had a shot card, and 84 percent of these had up-to-date vaccinations. By contrast, only 79 percent of the children without a card had all their shots.

Use the card: it doesn't have a downside and it's cheap."

References:

Google Drawings is a new collaborative drawing editor - part of the updated Google Docs. It is free to use, just like the rest of Google Docs. The new standalone drawings editor lets you collaborate in real time on flow charts, designs, diagrams and other fun or business graphics. You can copy these drawings into documents, spreadsheets and presentations using the web clipboard, or share and publish drawings just like other Google Docs.

Until now, my service of choice for medical mind maps was Bubbl.us and I have made more than 100 diagrams with it for AllergyCases.org:

Mind Map Diagrams in Allergy and Immunology

Bubbl.us works very well but I was concerned about embedding the mind maps in case the service goes down temporarily or if the company closes down in the future (mind maps can be exported in XML format for backup). None of these should be a problem with Google Docs. Drawings is obviously behind Bubbl.us in terms of features but it works for basic mind maps and I am planning to use it frequently in the future.

From BBC:

"An Australian grandmother has survived a shark attack by repeatedly punching and kicking the animal after it "ripped off" part of her body.

Surgeon Mark Flanagan said: "We can estimate that she lost about 40 per cent of her blood volume from the degree of shock that she had when she came in, and the fact that we required to give her several units of blood."

Mrs Trumbull said she was happy to be alive."

Shark Tunnel and Aquarium at Omaha Zoo, Nebraska.

"Surgery may be an option for some people, but for those who don't want surgery or can't have it for medical reasons, there is another option. Doctors at Mayo Clinic developed a liquid meal program geared toward people who need to lose a lot of weight."

Initiating metformin soon after diabetes diagnosis and while A1C is low might preserve ?-cell function, prolong the effectiveness of metformin, reduce lifetime glycemic burden, and prevent diabetes complications.

These findings support the current treatment algorithm for hyperglycemia management that recommends metformin initiation when diabetes is first diagnosed.

Video: How the Body Works - The Pancreas.

References:

Reduced saturated fat (SFA) consumption is recommended to decrease coronary heart disease (CHD), but there is an absence of strong supporting evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of clinical CHD events and few guidelines focus on any specific replacement nutrient. Additionally, some public health groups recommend lowering or limiting polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) consumption, a major potential replacement for SFA.

The overall pooled risk reduction was 19% (RR = 0.81), corresponding to 10% reduced CHD risk (RR = 0.90) for each 5% energy of increased PUFA.

These findings provide evidence that consuming PUFA in place of SFA reduces CHD events in RCTs. This suggests that rather than trying to lower PUFA consumption, a shift toward greater population PUFA consumption in place of SFA would significantly reduce rates of CHD.

Low-dose combination therapy with rosiglitazone and metformin was highly effective in prevention of type 2 diabetes in patients with impaired glucose tolerance, with little effect on the clinically relevant adverse events of these two drugs.

Preventing type 2 diabetes with low-dose combinations: Lifestyle interventions aimed at reducing bodyweight, and use of metformin, thiazolidinediones, acarbose, and orlistat, reduce the risk of diabetes by 25—60% over 3—6 years

The biological passport and doping in athletics: A biological passport monitors an athlete's blood and body chemistry values over time to assess whether there has been a deviation from an established baseline, thus indirectly detecting illegal manipulation.

A long look at obesity: Even with their primitive understanding of nutrition, our neolithic forebears somehow made the “right choices”, thriving on a wholesome diet of nuts, seeds, and fruits with the occasional piece of meat. And what is more, their rare intake of animal protein could only have been obtained through vigorous exercise, which they would, of course, indulge in every day.

In the future, diabetics may be able to wear contact lenses that continuously alert them to variations in their glucose levels by changing colors - potentially replacing the need to routinely draw blood throughout the day.

The non-invasive technology, developed by Chemical and Biochemical Engineering professor Jin Zhang at The University of Western Ontario, uses extremely small nanoparticles embedded into the hydrogel lenses. These engineered nanoparticles react with glucose molecules found in tears, causing a chemical reaction that changes their color.

References:
Nanocomposites could change diabetes treatment. The University of Western Ontario, 2010.