01/05/16

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

DOJ forces Texas pharmacy to stop mixing drugs until inspection

Last year, CBS News discovered that Downing Labs sent millions of dollars in medications to patients who didn't order them

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-forces-texas-pharmacy-to-stop-mixing-drugs-until-expert-inspection/

E-cigarette explodes in California teen's pocket

19-year-old is recovering from burns - and these kinds of accidents have happened before

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/e-cigarette-explodes-in-teens-pocket-at-work/

Mayo Clinic Minute: The Mayo Clinic Diet

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBEww8MlrEg

Suppository Eases Vaginal Dryness in Small Study

Anti-aging hormone DHEA reduced discomfort without raising estrogen levels in rest of body, researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/women/news/20160105/suppository-eases-vaginal-dryness-in-small-study?src=RSS_PUBLIC

New plan to help head off concussions in sports

Washington D.C. schools will be using a new web-based system to track head injuries in youth sports

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/new-plan-to-help-head-off-concussions-in-sports/

New technology offers on-field head injury reporting

Experts hope system will help get student athletes the speedy treatment they need after a head injury or concussion

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-technology-offers-on-field-head-injury-concussion-reporting/

Afraid of the dentist? This strategy can help

Study suggests a tried and true approach can help people get over crippling dental phobia

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/talk-therapy-can-help-tackle-fear-of-the-dentist/

Mayo expert talks surgical mesh

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuiHO_yJnnI

Millions of Teens Exposed to E-Cigarette Ads: CDC

Unrestricted marketing could upend decades of progress against youth smoking

From: http://teens.webmd.com/news/20160105/millions-of-teens-exposed-to-e-cigarette-ads-cdc?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Correcting Pelvic Mesh and Improving Quality of Life

From: Mayo Clinic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJL8x3QNZB0

Young woman in Reno hospital end-of-life case dies

20-year-old woman died at the hospital where she never awoke from anesthesia after a surgery on April 1

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/young-woman-in-reno-hospital-end-of-life-case-dies/

World's first "smart" bra to debut at CES 2016

Bra that measures biometric health data takes wearable tech into intimate new territory

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ces-to-feature-worlds-first-smart-bra/

High doses of vitamin D may hurt seniors instead of help

Researchers hoped more vitamin D might improve mobility in the elderly, but it may have the opposite effect

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-hurt-seniors-instead-of-help/

E-cigarette ads reach millions of underage students

CDC experts say e-cigarette use is soaring among youth, but communities can fight the trend

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/e-cigarette-ads-reach-millions-of-middle-and-high-school-students/

Yeast Infection Treatment Tied to Miscarriage Risk

The oral drug fluconazole may increase the risk, Danish researchers say

From: http://www.webmd.com/women/news/20160105/antifungal-for-yeast-infections-tied-to-miscarriage-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Twins Show Some Families Carry Shared Cancer Risk

Large review finds if one identical twin gets a cancer, the other is at increased risk for the disease as well

From: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20160105/some-families-carry-shared-risk-of-cancer-twins-study-shows?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Aspirin May Decrease Death From Prostate Cancer

Researchers suspect drug may help prevent spread of deadly disease

From: http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20160105/aspirin-may-decrease-death-from-prostate-cancer-study-finds?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Report: Rape rates at big football colleges spike on game day

Federal study suggests upset wins in college football increase the incidents of rape on campuses

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-rape-rates-at-big-football-colleges-spike-on-game-day/

Try this 2-week challenge for better health

In his new book, "The Lucky Years," Dr. David Agus gives practical tips for customizing your health care and taking full advantage of the "brave new world" of medicine

From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dr-david-agus-new-book-the-lucky-years-two-week-challenge/

The truth about altruism

People credit Eleanor Roosevelt as asking, “When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?” Sadly, tenderness is still not a feature of every human conscience. So violence continues, often rationalized as revenge in response to misery caused by others.

Although altruism is often understood as rooted in tenderness, scientific research suggests otherwise. Rather, altruism may have evolved alongside the impulse to condemn and even punish those who act only in their own self-interests. We may be motivated to do good in order to avoid being shunned by our community.

The function of altruism

These impulses to act for the greater good may have helped our early ancestors enforce social norms, in a time before formal laws, contracts and courts compelled cooperation.

Years ago, a world-wide group of researchers, led by the anthropologist Joseph Henrich of Emory University in Atlanta, tested this theory. They created three experimental games and played them with people who lived in Africa, South America, New Guinea, the South Pacific and the American Midwest.

In these games, players were anonymous to one another. They were all given a real sum of money (or “stake”) to operate with:

The Dictator game. Player A decides how much of their stake to give to player B. Player B has to accept whatever amount is offered. If player A is stingy, there is no punishment.
The Ultimatum game. Player A decides how much to share with player B. Player B, before hearing the amount, decides what offer is acceptable. If B rejects A’s offer, both players get nothing.
The Third Party Punishment game. Player A decides how much to share with player B. Player C is given a separate stake. If C feels A has been too stingy, C can punish A by reducing A’s winnings, but C must pay part of his or her stake for that privilege.

Self-interest dictates that all players should keep whatever money they’re given, since these are one-time, anonymous encounters and reputation doesn’t matter.

In fact, self-interest did not govern the results. Few people acted purely selfishly. Worldwide, there was an almost universal tendency to act altruistically and share the stake.

Player A usually offered something to player B and frequently gave away half. In the third party punishment game, player C was usually willing to sacrifice some money to punish selfishness. Player A, when aware that punishment was possible, tended to be more generous.

As player A got stingier, more players opted to punish him or her, whether they were the butt of player A’s selfishness or merely an onlooker. Local customs did affect the amount of sharing and the threshold for punishment.

Human values and norms

The studies don’t show whether punishment was induced by a desire for revenge, or from feelings of envy or competition. In any case, people may be more generous when they expect to be punished for selfishness that strays outside the cultural norm or where behaving fairly is a strong community value.

What does this mean for Eleanor Roosevelt’s longing for a universally tender human conscience? Humans with a greater capacity for altruism may have had a survival advantage in early societies. But so did people who were good with a spear or had a talent for foraging or farming. In evolutionary terms, being both strong and altruistic seems like the winning combination.

If pure altruism exists, Henrich’s study gives no proof of it. But it does support the notion that, even when we’re being “selfless,” we are serving our own interests.

Mrs. Roosevelt might argue that society becomes more livable when people feel good about being sympathetic and generous, rather than hard-hearted and ruthless. And if she could look around today, she probably would not think tenderness had flourished in the world since her death in 1962.

But she may be heartened to know about research that demonstrates “altruism” or conscience as a naturally emerging property of human societies. We humans do seem to have the capacity to play fair, even if we sometimes need the fear of punishment to help us do so.

The post The truth about altruism appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.

From: Michael Craig Miller, M.D. http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-truth-about-altruism-201601058929

Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Additional Support for Iowa Producers to Improve Nutrient Management and Water Quality Efforts

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 5, 2016 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a host of new efforts to help Iowa's farmers and livestock producers conserve water and soil resources and improve nutrient management practices on the state’s 30 million acres of farmland. Vilsack said the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will expand access to USDA’s signature conservation programs for Iowa producers, making available up to 85,000 additional acres for sensitive lands, and better target grants and loans for technical assistance and capital improvements, while working with state partners to more closely align priorities in an improved "watershed-based strategy" for nutrient management.

From: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2016/01/0002.xml&contentidonly=true

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

The function of altruism

Human values and norms

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