Twenty-eight years ago, Lynn Bartos helped nurse a young girl with a life-threatening intestinal problem back to health
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/nurse-and-patient-switch-roles-decades-after-first-meeting/
Friday, March 11, 2016
Brittany Maynard's doctor on the right to die
Brittany Maynard has become a symbol for those who believe the terminally ill should control how they die
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/brittany-maynards-doctor-on-the-right-to-die/
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/brittany-maynards-doctor-on-the-right-to-die/
Whistle-blower guardedly optimistic about Wounded Warrior's future
Now that the CEO and COO of the Wounded Warrior Project have been fired, the charity's board of directors is looking at whether or not lavish internal spending has become part of the overall corporate culture
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/whistle-blower-guardedly-optimistic-about-wounded-warriors-future/
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/whistle-blower-guardedly-optimistic-about-wounded-warriors-future/
California right-to-die law to take effect this spring
29-year-old Brittany Maynard helped inspire the law's approval; her husband and doctor spoke with CBS News
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-right-to-die-law-to-take-effect-this-spring/
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-right-to-die-law-to-take-effect-this-spring/
International group honors Dr. Kathy Kell
International Dental Manufacturers, a worldwide dental trade organization, presented the first IDM Global Oral Health Progress Award to FDI President-elect Dr. Kathy Kell, an Iowa dentist and ADA trustee from 2004-08.
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/international-group-honors-kell
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/international-group-honors-kell
Senate passes opioids bill, 94-1
The Senate on March 10 passed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, 94-1.
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/senate-passes-opioids-bill-941
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/senate-passes-opioids-bill-941
Drug ads: $5.2 billion annually -- and rising
Nine out 10 big pharma companies spend more on marketing than on R&D, but what are consumers getting in return?
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/drug-ads-5-2-billion-annually-and-rising/
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/drug-ads-5-2-billion-annually-and-rising/
5 ways daylight saving time messes with your health
Losing an hour of sleep when we "spring forward" may do more than just make you feel groggy
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/media/daylight-saving-time-affects-your-health/
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/media/daylight-saving-time-affects-your-health/
Even Gardening or Dancing May Cut Alzheimer's Risk
Any regular physical activity is linked to a healthier brain, study suggests
From: http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20160311/even-gardening-or-dancing-might-cut-alzheimers-risk?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Severe Migraines Tied to Pregnancy, Birth Problems
Women older than 35 appear most at risk, study finds
From: http://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/news/20160311/severe-migraines-linked-to-complications-during-pregnancy-childbirth?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Fight Turns Personal for a Man at War With Zika
The Zika virus outbreak in Puerto Rico has become personal for one man charged with fighting the virus. WebMD reports.
From: http://www.webmd.com/news/20160311/a-man-at-war-with-zika?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Exercise Doesn't Seem to Affect Breast Density
Physical activity's positive effect on breast cancer stems from another cause, researchers suggest
From: http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/20160311/exercise-doesnt-seem-to-affect-breast-density?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Diabetes May Raise Dangerous Staph Infection Risk
Researchers believe the disease might dampen immune system, leaving people more vulnerable
From: http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20160311/diabetes-may-raise-risk-for-dangerous-staph-infection?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Younger Siblings and Kids' Obesity Risk
But children who didn't have a younger sibling by first grade much more likely to be obese
From: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20160311/if-younger-sibling-arrives-before-1st-grade-kids-less-likely-to-be-obese-study?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Fort Smith flips the switch on fluoridation
For the first time, people in this western Arkansas city and nearby communities served by its water system will, starting in March, enjoy the benefits of community water fluoridation.
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/fort-smith-flips-the-switch-on-fluoridation
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/fort-smith-flips-the-switch-on-fluoridation
Mom's Smoking May Up Kids' Later COPD Risk
Risk was almost tripled when mothers smoked heavily, but study didn't prove cause and effect
From: http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20160310/moms-smoking-may-put-kids-at-higher-risk-of-copd-in-adulthood?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Zika cases in U.S. reach new level
Health officials plead with Congress to fund Zika virus prevention efforts in Latin America to stem risk to U.S.
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/zika-cases-in-us-reach-new-level/
From: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/zika-cases-in-us-reach-new-level/
Nestle Recalls Food Products Over Glass Concerns
Nestle Recalls Food Products Over Glass Concerns
From: http://www.webmd.com/news/20160311/nestle-food-recall?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack to Join President Obama and Cabinet Delegation on Travel to Cuba
WASHINGTON, March 11, 2016 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will join President Obama when he travels to Cuba later this month. This historic visit - the first by a sitting U.S. President in nearly 90 years - is another demonstration of the President’s commitment to chart a new course for U.S.-Cuban relations and connect U.S. and Cuban citizens through expanded travel, commerce, and access to information.
From: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2016/03/0062.xml&contentidonly=true
From: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentid=2016/03/0062.xml&contentidonly=true
Volpe Research Center postdocs pursuing improved dental composites
Two postdoctoral researchers with strong international research backgrounds are working with the team at the ADA Foundation Dr. Anthony Volpe Research Center on cutting-edge explorations that may bring new materials and tools into dental practice in the near future.
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/volpe-research-center-postdocs-pursuing-improved-dental-composites
From: http://www.ada.org/en/publications/ada-news/2016-archive/march/volpe-research-center-postdocs-pursuing-improved-dental-composites
Drug Duo May Rapidly Shrink Breast Tumors in Some
Researchers say combo therapy worked well for about 1 in 4 women with HER2-positive breast cancer
From: http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20160310/drug-duo-may-rapidly-shrink-breast-tumors-in-some-patients?src=RSS_PUBLIC
Is addiction a “brain disease”?
There are many good reasons to emphasize the biological underpinnings of substance use disorders. Perhaps most important, the biologic basis of this chronic disease is a strong argument for parity: that is, treating (and funding treatment for) addiction on par with other “biologic” diseases.
The stigma and shame of addiction has much to do with the perception that people with substance use disorders are weak, immoral, or simply out for a good time at society’s expense. Understanding that addiction impairs the brain in many important ways may reduce such stigma. What’s more, the specific type of brain dysfunction may help identify a range of effective interventions and preventions. For example, during adolescence, the brain is at its most plastic — and vulnerable. This is a time when caution and intervention may prove most valuable. The earlier the drug exposure or trauma to the brain, the greater the damage.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a review of the “brain science” related to addiction and its management by Dr. Nora Volkow and her colleagues. It is a great review with terrific graphics. I’ve sent it to several of my colleagues.
It would take many blog posts to summarize in detail what goes on in the article (let alone the brain), so I’ll hit the points that are most meaningful to me as a practitioner and citizen — and forgive me if I get a little personal.
A look into the science of addiction
The most depressing course I took in college was an introduction to behaviorism. The low point was when I came to believe that free will did not exist, though I later came to believe that this was a narrow and false conclusion. Humans, with our over-developed frontal cortices, have the power to choose not to respond the way, for example, a pigeon would in an experiment of rewards and punishments. When I became a doctor, I perceived that people suffering with addiction were stripped of their fundamental liberty to choose to live life as they would want (within social and economic constraints). I can honestly say that helping to restore some of that freedom is among the most rewarding things I do as a doctor. That’s the personal stuff.
An addicted person’s impaired ability to stop using drugs or alcohol has to do with deficits in the function of the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain involved in executive function. The prefrontal cortex has several important jobs: self-monitoring, delaying reward, and integrating whatever the intellect tells you is important with what the libido is telling you. The difficulty also has to do with how the brain, when deprived of the drugs to which it is accustomed, reacts to stress. The response is usually exaggerated negative emotion, and even despair. In this setting, the strong association of learned environmental cues (for instance, smelling beer at a ball game or seeing the corner where the dealer can be found) exacerbates the craving for the substance. And the flood of intoxicating brain chemicals called neurotransmitters (chiefly dopamine) during drug use makes the brain relatively insensitive to “normal” sources of pleasure — say, a good conversation with a friend or a beautiful sunset.
The brain science behind these observed and measurable processes in addiction helps to clarify the goals of treatment. Agonist medications (such as methadone and buprenorphine) can stabilize the craving brain while the planning and reasoning processes get back in shape.
But how can a person with addiction avoid the cues that set off craving? How can they reliably get help?
What this all means for overcoming an addiction
It is not enough simply to “just say no.”
The person needs to develop alternative sources of joy and reward, and people who have been isolating themselves in order to drink or use drugs without inhibition may need to work in a purposeful way to re-acquire habitual “joy” — social interactions, physical pleasures like a swim or a bike ride, and other healthy, enjoyable rewards.
At the same time, to say that substance use disorders are “all biology” is an over-simplification. Clearly, there are people on the mild end of the spectrum who have the ability to choose to stop or cut back. For these people, when the rewards of not using outweigh those of using, they stop. Some people with a pattern of unhealthy drug or alcohol use that meets criteria for a diagnosis of substance use disorder may also “mature” out of it without formal treatment. However, the more severe the diagnosis (in other words, the more diagnostic criteria that are met), the less likely this is to happen.
I hope for my patients that understanding that there is biology somewhere down deep in these problematic and often life-threatening behaviors can mitigate the self-loathing and guilt that is nearly universal among people with addiction. And to understand that it may even go deeper, to the genes and experiences over which they had no control, may also help. To learn what normal joy is like, to appreciate a sunset for the first time in years, and to have the skills to choose to deny reward of a craving, when repeated, can become a habit. And when we get good at it, maybe, just maybe, we can begin to have the choice to live a life that is acceptable — or even better than we’d imagined.
Related Post:
The post Is addiction a “brain disease”? appeared first on Harvard Health Blog.
From: Michael Bierer, MD http://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-addiction-a-brain-disease-201603119260
Live. Work. Play: Michael’s Diabetes Story
Working for the American Diabetes Association® means making a difference for millions of people and working toward a future free of diabetes and all its burdens.
We all have a story to share. Some of us live with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes or prediabetes. Others have loved ones with the disease or have lost someone to the fight.
The following are personal stories from the Association’s staff about why we are so committed to the mission to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
Michael Eisenstein
Publisher, ADA Publishing
Home Office (Alexandria, Va.)
When I received a call from the Association recruiter in December, her first question was: “Why do you want to work for the American Diabetes Association?”
“My wife, my eldest daughter, my dad and I all live with type 2 diabetes,” I answered. The words just flew out of my mouth as if I’d needed to say them for a long time.
When I was 17, my doctor of internal medicine subjected me to a not-so-fun oral glucose tolerance test. The test showed I was low-normal. He looked at me and said: “This is an indicator, along with your dad having type 2, that you will have the disease as you grow older.”
I dismissed it, thinking, “Hey, my sugar is 70 and you’re telling me I’m going to have diabetes? No way!” When you’re 17, you feel immortal. I was wrong.
The number 17 is meaningful here because 17 years ago my internist diagnosed me with type 2 diabetes. I was floored, shaking, sweating. I felt panicky and started doing research—probably not the smartest thing to do the day of diagnosis. I had two daughters and my eldest would be diagnosed a few years later. I worried how long I would be around. I thought, “Will I walk them down the aisle? Hold my grandchildren? Face amputations?”
However, I got my head together and started eating right and working out five days a week at a gym. I went for blood tests every couple of months, and my veins and fingers quickly got used to needles. The more consistent my workouts—40 tough, sweaty minutes on a treadmill—the more controlled my glucose levels became.
Today, I am doing okay. Although I do have a number of related complications that are not getting worse, but not better either.
Before I came to the Association, I did not really think about how this disease had ravaged so many in my family. My wife had gestational diabetes with our second daughter. The doctor told her it could become type 2 diabetes in time, which it did about 10 years ago. My dad gave up his driver’s license a few years back when his right foot went numb (from diabetic neuropathy) while driving; unable to feel the brakes, he hit the accelerator instead. He hit a wall and totaled his car, but fortunately, no one was hurt.
The opportunity to serve as the Association’s new publisher just blew me away. I felt a passion inside that I’d never felt before in any of my professional positions. I’ve been working here two months now and the passion grows daily. It’s quite possible I can make a difference to help my family and the hundreds of millions in the world who suffer from this insidious disease.
I cannot imagine a better job than the one I have right now. It is an honor to work here and I am proud to be an ADA-er!
To learn more about nationwide employment opportunities and life at the Association, please visit diabetes.org/careers.
From: American Diabetes Association http://diabetesstopshere.org/2016/03/11/michaels-diabetes-story/
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