Health & WellnessS


Pills

UK Claim: Doctors paid to talk up drugs

Tamara McLean
Herald Sun
Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:42 UTC
Prominent doctors are being paid by drug companies to act as "salespeople" to drive up prescription rates, a researcher and an industry insider say.

A report in the latest British Medical Journal is critical of so-called "key opinion leaders" paid by pharmaceutical companies to give lectures and advice, or be involved in medical trials.

Author Ray Moynihan of the University of Newcastle said the practice was widespread, with doctors getting up to $2600 to deliver a scientific speech to "educate" the profession and the public.
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Butterfly

Pet therapy is all smiles at pediatric facilty

Kathryn Garcia
abc15.com
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 19:35 UTC
Four-year-old Bryson pulled the covers up to his chin and then carefully helped tuck in Reno, a 4-year-old Australian cattle dog, who lay curled up beside him.

Staff at Hacienda Healthcare, an Arizona pediatric nursing facility, describes the bond as miraculous. "It's just unconditional love," said Jamie Pepper, who volunteers as a pet therapist at Hacienda. "Reno likes being near him."

Image
©Jeff Cochran

Pepper and Reno visit patients at the facility every Thursday and she said the results are powerful. "I could come and visit with them or read books or talk, but nothing can do what he can do, which is making somebody relax," Pepper said. "Patients that don't even talk when Reno is around, they may say, 'doggie' or 'good dog."
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Bulb

'Cross fire' from the brain makes patients tremble


Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 17:41 UTC
A typical symptom of Parkinson's disease is tremor in patients. A group of scientists, including Professor Peter Tass from Forschungszentrum Jülich have succeeded in demonstrating the mechanisms which cause the so-called tremor: neuron clusters in the depths of the brain drive the tremor. This discovery supports Tass' research activities aiming at developing a therapy for Parkinson's disease. A new deep brain pacemaker is to bring cells out of the diseased mode for good.

Today's article in the high-impact journal "Europhysics Letters" shows that the scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich, a member of the Helmholtz Association, are on the right track. Their new deep brain pacemaker is to help Parkinson's patients on a large scale for the first time in 2009. Communication between the networks of neurons is disturbed in people suffering from Parkinson's disease. These "fire" their stimuli at the same time thus causing the typical tremor. The frequency measured here is 5 hertz (Hz), i.e. five oscillations per second. In Germany, there are officially around 150,000 Parkinson's patients, although it is estimated that up to 450,000 people are affected.
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Beer

Binge drinking tied to conditions in the college environment


Harvard School of Public Health
Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:11 UTC
Heavy alcohol use, or binge drinking, among college students in the United States is tied to conditions in the college environment. That is one of the key findings from research conducted by researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), a landmark study that surveyed more than 50,000 students at 120 colleges from 1993 to 2001. In a new review that examines the findings from the CAS and their implications, the researchers conclude that heavy drinking behavior of students was more common in college environments that have a strong drinking culture, few alcohol control policies on campus or in the surrounding community, weak enforcement of existing policies, and alcohol made easily accessible through low prices, heavy marketing and special promotions. The review appears in the July 2008 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
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Info

Brain Region for Overcoming Fear and Anxiety Found

Ker Than
National Geographic News
Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:16 UTC


Image
©3D4Medical.com/Getty Images

Special cells called intercalated neurons allow animals to overcome fear and anxiety by recalling similar situations when they were unafraid, new research reports. These cells are found in a region of the brain called the amygdala - seen above in a computer image of the human brain.

The finding could lead to new drugs for helping people with anxiety-related conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, scientists say.

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Magic Hat

The pursuit of happiness: it's good to talk... or is it?

Jeremy Laurance
The Independent
Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:57 UTC
The belief that cognitive behaviour therapy is the most effective way of treating depression is wrong, claim leading psychotherapists.
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Health

Depression Meds May Trigger GI Tract Bleeding

Heather J. Chin
The Bulletin
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:05 UTC
A class of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are associated with an increased risk of upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract bleeding, particularly when combined with painkillers known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), according to a study published in the July issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, a JAMA/Archives journal.

Comment: Better yet, try dealing with inflammation naturally. That eliminates one drug at least from the picture.



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Alarm Clock

US: Hospital error blamed for more infant overdoses


Associated Press
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:41 UTC
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The case of 14 babies who received accidental overdoses while in intensive care has raised new questions about how a common blood-thinning medication could be given to infants repeatedly in the wrong dosage.
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Einstein

How Food Affects The Brain: Omega 3 Especially Important


Science Daily
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:17 UTC
In addition to helping protect us from heart disease and cancer, a balanced diet and regular exercise can also protect the brain and ward off mental disorders.

"Food is like a pharmaceutical compound that affects the brain," said Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, a UCLA professor of neurosurgery and physiological science who has spent years studying the effects of food, exercise and sleep on the brain. "Diet, exercise and sleep have the potential to alter our brain health and mental function. This raises the exciting possibility that changes in diet are a viable strategy for enhancing cognitive abilities, protecting the brain from damage and counteracting the effects of aging."

Gómez-Pinilla analyzed more than 160 studies about food's affect on the brain; the results of his analysis appear in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Omega-3 fatty acids -- found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit -- provide many benefits, including improving learning and memory and helping to fight against such mental disorders as depression and mood disorders, schizophrenia, and dementia, said Gómez-Pinilla, a member of UCLA's Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center.
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Info

Brain Cells Related To Fear Identified


Science Daily
Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:48 UTC
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that in any given year, about 40 million adults (18 or older) will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder, including debilitating conditions such as phobias, panic disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Image
©iStockphoto/Duncan Walker

It is estimated that nearly 15 percent of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan develop PTSD, underscoring the urgency to develop better treatment strategies for anxiety disorders. These disorders can lead to myriad problems that hinder daily life - or ruin it altogether - such as drug abuse, alcoholism, marital problems, unemployment and suicide.
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