Monthly Archive for May, 2009
Health & Healthcare | By May 31, 2009 | By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD | 1 Comment
Death and Dying in Tough Economic Times
Cash-strapped states and private health care providers are looking for ways to cut costs and save money in these economic times. While across-the-board cuts in spending are intuitively appealing and a seemingly straightforward method for saving money, it turns out that some health care expenditures actually lead to cost savings. Spend money to save money — at least when patients are dying.
One of the newest areas of specialization in health care is hospice and palliative care. (The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just began recognizing hospice and palliative care early in 2009.) This new specialty focuses on treating not just physical symptoms, but psychological, social, and spiritual suffering that accompanies a terminal illness. Read more →
- Medicate or Educate? – Just Pop a Polypill
- Dressing for Success? – the White Coat Dilemma
- What is Free Will?
- Clearing the Haze – Is Marijuana Addictive?
- Migraine Uncovered – Interview with Dr. Cady, Headache Expert
- Brain Blogging, Forty-Fifth Edition
At this moment, a trial is underway in India. This trial, named the TIPS trial, involves a new medication — a so-called “polypill” — which contains three antihypertensive drugs, a statin, and aspirin. Its researchers enthuse that it may cut the risk of cardiovascular disease by half in healthy people. So far, the study has shown that the side effects of this medication are minimal, or at least not any worse than those of any of the individual components alone. It’s also demonstrated small but significant reductions in blood pressure and cholesterol. The bigger question is: why do we think we really need this medication in the first place? Read more →
For nearly 200 years, the white coat has served as a symbol of the medical profession. Originally, the white coat was worn to symbolize hope and life — an absolute contrast to the black of death and mourning that was widespread at the time. Hospitals, and the physicians who worked in them, became places of hopefulness and healing, and the white coat embodied these sentiments.
As the medical profession evolved into a scientific discipline, the white coat began to represent the physician as a scientist. It also epitomized a feeling of cleanliness, and served as a barrier between the physician and his patient. Read more →
This post continues my discussion of free will and determinism in neuroscience. Due to the relatively brief nature of these posts, this discussion is incomplete. However, I hope it spurs additional discussion. I believe addressing free will and determinism allows us to understand the underlying theories and implications of neuroscience and social science research as well as the practical application of that research.
For this article, the main questions are: “Is behavior biologically determined?” and “Do humans have free will?” I will not address in this post the argument between compatibilism and incompatibilism. In response to comments and questions about my previous post, I thought it necessary to attempt to define free will before I write further posts on this general topic of free will and biological determinism in the neurosciences. Read more →
In the past few years, as addiction researchers have been mapping out the chemical alterations in the brain caused by alcohol, nicotine, methamphetamine, and other drugs, America’s most popular illegal drug has remained largely a scientific mystery. It is a drug that millions of Americans have been using regularly for years, and, from a clinical perspective, it remains the least studied illicit drug of all.
The most popular, and the least studied — not a prescription for rational decision making from a public health point of view. A variety of influences combined to force marijuana research off the table years ago, but the birth of “receptorology,” as molecular scientist Candace Pert once called it, and a more relaxed grip on federal funding has refueled the research. Read more →
It is estimated that 18% of women and 6% of men experience migraines. In fact, most medical visits for headache are due to migraine. Over a year ago, Dr. Larry Mccleary, former acting Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Denver Children’s Hospital, shed light on the neural theory of migraine causation. In response to this article, numerous readers showed interest in knowing more about migraines basics and how to deal with it from a biopsychosocial perspective. So, we at Brain Blogger sought answers from the premier headache expert, Dr. Roger K. Cady, from the Headache Care Center in Springfield, Missouri. Read more →
Welcome to the forty-fifth edition of Brain Blogging. In this round, we discuss new trials using stem cells for stroke, the neurobiology of empathy, if brain tonics really work, the connection between obesity and mental illness, and many more topics.
Remember, we review the latest blogs related to the brain and mind that go beyond the basic sciences into a more human and multidimensional perspective. You can check out our archive for past editions. Read more →
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
- Religion - A "Natural" Phenomenon?
- Psychotropics and Youth, Part 1 - The Five Myths
- How Culture Shapes Our Mind and Brain
- Sex, Violence and The Male Warrior Hypothesis
- The Secret to Good Health – Listen to the Data
- If Herbal Medicine is Medicine, Shouldn't it be Treated as Such?
- Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Neuroscience Conferences for 2010
- Too Much Information?
- "I Feel Your Pain" - The Neural Basis of Empathy
- Income Inequality and Health Outcomes
- Journal Retracts Autism Research
- Speaking in Tongues - A Neural Snapshot
- Logging On for Psychotherapy
- The Neural Basis of the Self
- Post-Partum Psychosis - Rare but Real
- The Evolution of Depression
- Is Your Doctor Happy or Burnt-Out?
- Ginkgo Biloba Ineffective... Again
- Worried Well on the Web
- Psychotropics and Youth, Part 2 - The Solutions
- Psychotropics and Youth, Part 3 – Equip Teachers with Prescription Pads?
- Why Some Human Brains Become Leaders, While Others Followers?
- Brain Blogger Finalist for Two 2010 Research Blogging Awards in Neuroscience and Psychology
- Tall Tales of Diabetic Amputations
- Psychotropics and Youth, Part 2 – The Solutions
- Brain Blogging, Forty-Ninth Edition
- How Your Brain Groups Words
- The Child Brain and the Playing Teacher
- You Have a Right to Choose if we Agree
- Measuring Quality in Primary Care
- Matchmaker, Matchmaker Make Me A Match – The NRMP Main Residency Match
- Psychotropics and Youth, Part 1 – The Five Myths
- When It Comes to Aging, Size Matters
- “I Feel Your Pain” – The Neural Basis of Empathy
- Speaking in Tongues – A Neural Snapshot
- Neuro Case 1 – Using Transcranial Doppler for Basilar Artery Occlusion
- Journal Retracts Autism Research
- Crossing the Line from Physician to Journalist
- Ginkgo Biloba Ineffective… Again
- The Smart Ones are Living Longer
- I think that there’s also a social aspect to it. If you grow up in an area where...
- I have had epilepsy since I was 9 and am now 42. I have tried about every med. o...
- In this text is a serious error. Brain areas are found that contain religious ex...
- It's amazing how the brain works....
- Organ transplant for unavoidable patients have been around for quite some time a...
- Diet plays a major role in having diabetes. In today's world, people are finding...
- Interesting... I think that there's also a social aspect to it. If you grow up i...
- I think the article is actually describing a normal human being. Leadership tra...
- I think that applies to leaders within certain fields of knowledge or creativity...
- Thank you for your comments, Shaheen. Your article was quite interesting and you...
- Dear Bill,I wrote on this issue for ...
- In December we had the findings that suggested we not have mammograms if we are ...
- I agree Bill. They'd like to test children if society allowed it, but it's not "...
- I can "speak in tongues", or babble something that sounds like language, at will...
- Interesting piece. The third point really struck me. So the medical establishmen...
- Thank you Regards R.Aravind...
- Hello Anonymous As you see I first posted here on 7 May 2008, the first comment...
- Dear Aravind,The conference organizer has not replied. Accordingly, I have rem...
- Dear Dr.Lakhan Is there any update about the 2nd chongqing international clinci...
- Playful teaching does promote faster brain development and stimulates the brain ...

