Music not only soothes the savage beast; it heals the critically ill.

A study in Critical Care Medicine evaluated the mechanisms of music-induced relaxation in critically ill patients. The researchers measured blood pressure and heart rate, brain electrical activity, serum levels of stress hormones and cytokines, requirements for sedative drugs, and level of sedation before and after an hour of listening to piano sonatas through headphones. Read more →

I spend my days poring over medical research reports and databases, looking for high-quality evidence to build compelling arguments. And, when it comes to mind-body treatment modalities, I can’t find it. I’m not sure I want what it will take to get it, either.

I find small studies that lack control groups or testing for statistical significance. I find review articles that end like this: “More trials are needed” or “Future research… must be more rigorous in the design and execution of studies and in the analysis and reporting of results.” Read more →

We are shaking things up with this round of Brain Blogging in our thirty-second edition. This time, we are stripping off the fat and giving you exactly what you want: short excerpts that highlight each article with a clear link to the blog.

If you were left out in this round, just leave a comment with your blog entry. Don’t worry, we’ll format it to match the blog carnival (or even include it in the main post). Read more →

Parents have always worried about their kids. But it used to be that worrying increased when kids reached puberty. It’s then that parents hesitantly hand over the car keys; let their daughter go out on a group date; sit by the door at midnight until they heard the familiar sound of their child arriving home before curfew. Read more →

The February 1st edition of the New England Journal of Medicine reports that suffering a concussion in Iraq after a bomb attack was strongly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Read more →

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects 10 to 15 percent of the U.S. population, predominately women, and can produce severe abdominal pain, bloating, and changes in bowel habits. No physical abnormalities can be identified on examination, and patients are often left with suboptimal symptomatic treatments and the idea that the pain is “all in your head.”

Well, maybe it is. Read more →