Health & Healthcare | November 18, 2009 | By T. A. McNamee, MDcloseT. A. McNamee, MD Name: Turi McNamee
Site: http://brainblogger.com
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About: Dr. McNamee is an associate professor and internal medicine residency program director at Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota. | 1 Comment

A New Look at Medical Errors in Residency Training

It’s a phenomenon that medical educators have long suspected but haven’t been able to prove: a rise in medical errors when newly-hatched physicians begin their residency training programs in July. This suspected occurrence has been studied several times, but until recently, no conclusive evidence existed that it actually was true. For the first time, a study based in Australia has been able to demonstrate that this really does happen, but perhaps not for the reasons you’d suspect. Read more →

Articles & Studies | November 14, 2009 | By Jennifer Gibson, PharmDcloseJennifer Gibson, PharmD Name: Jennifer Gibson
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About: Jennifer Gibson, PharmD, is a practicing clinical pharmacist and freelance medical writer and editor with experience in researching and preparing scientific publications, developing public relations materials, creating educational resources and presentations, and editing technical manuscripts. Her clients include academic research institutions, international authors, pharmaceutical companies, professional organizations, and public advocacy groups. | 1 Comment

Cancer – To Screen or Not to Screen?

I once treated a patient who was in her 90s. She was less than 5 feet tall and had never weighed more than 90 pounds. But, she was tough as nails and had lived a great life. I came to advocate for her when the internist at the skilled nursing facility in which she lived insisted that she have a mammogram. She had already been diagnosed with breast cancer in her 70s, but was healthier than anyone else her age now. She knew that even if she did receive another diagnosis of breast cancer at this stage in her life, it would probably not be treated and it almost certainly would not shorten her life. She refused the mammogram, much to the dismay of the healthcare providers that treated her like a checklist of tests and screenings and medications. She lived to be well over 100 years old, without her mammogram. Read more →

Psychiatry & Psychology | November 10, 2009 | By Dirk Hanson, MAcloseDirk Hanson, MA Name: Dirk Hanson
Site: http://addiction-dirkh.blogspot.com/
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About: Dirk Hanson is a freelance science writer and the author of "The Chemical Carousel: What Science Tells Us About Beating Addiction." He is also the author of ''The New Alchemists: Silicon Valley and the Microelectronics Revolution.'' He has worked as a business and technology reporter for numerous magazines and trade publications. He currently edits the Addiction Inbox blog. | 2 Comments

The Evolution of Depression

Millions of people around the world suffer from depression, the most common mental disorder of all. Since depression appears to be largely genetic, several long-standing questions continue to bedevil researchers. Have the genes for clinical unipolar depression undergone selective evolution–or is depression a random product of mutation, evolutionary drift, or other non-selective forces?

The symptoms of depression are found in every culture and time period, from the ancient Greeks to modern New Yorkers, from the !Kung of southern Africa to ranchers in the American West. Why is depression so much more common than any other major mental illness? Clearly, it is a malfunction, a maladaptation — or is it? Read more →

Articles & Studies | November 06, 2009 | By Jennifer Gibson, PharmDcloseJennifer Gibson, PharmD Name: Jennifer Gibson
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About: Jennifer Gibson, PharmD, is a practicing clinical pharmacist and freelance medical writer and editor with experience in researching and preparing scientific publications, developing public relations materials, creating educational resources and presentations, and editing technical manuscripts. Her clients include academic research institutions, international authors, pharmaceutical companies, professional organizations, and public advocacy groups. | 1 Comment

A Small Sip from the Fountain of Youth

The search for eternal youth is as old as time itself. The theme of immortality winds its way through religion, mythology, poetry, fiction, and modern movies. Usually, stories of those who have achieved immortality expose the curse of eternal life, rather than the blessing of perpetual youth. While living forever may never be possible, life expectancy is steadily increasing, and healthier — that is, more youthful — aging may actually be possible.

New research published in the medical journal The Lancet posits that most babies born since the year 2000 will live to be at least 100 years old. Read more →