Category Archives: Health
To reopen the economy safely, experts estimate the U.S. will need to administer millions of tests every month.
Medical Podcast: “Tension Headache” Can Be Episodic Or Chronic (The BMJ)
Tension-type headaches can be either episodic or chronic. They are rarely disabling or associated with any significant autonomic phenomena, thus patients do not usually seek medical care and usually successfully self-treat. Unlike migraine, there is no significant nausea, no vomiting, and a lack of aggravation by routine physical activity.
In this podcast Mark Green, Professor of Neurology, Anesthesiology and Rehabilitation Medicine, Director of Headache and Pain Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, gives a clinical overview of the condition.
Reopening The Economy: “What The Year Ahead Might Look Like” (NY Times)
Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times, discusses how the Coronavirus lockdown might end what it would look like.
While the economy is likely to reopen slowly, there is hope that society will adapt to manage the uncertainty of our new circumstances. Here’s what experts say the next year (or more) will look like.
Medical Podcasts: Are Cardiovascular Patients Avoiding Emergency Rooms During Covid-19?
Cardiovascular consults are way down. Is the threat of COVID-19 infection scaring people away from ED’s?
We caught up with Dr. Comilla Sasson, the American Heart Association’s VP for science and innovation. She’s an emergency physician who teaches at the University of Colorado. She’d traveled to New York City to “help with the response,” and she talked with us from a field hospital that had been set up on a tennis court in Central Park.
She had lots to say about what’s driving patients away from emergency departments these days and what’s likely to happen in medicine (hello, telemedicine!) once the pandemic abates.
Running time: 15 minutes
Health: “Patient One – Saving America’s First Known Coronavirus Patient” (Frontline)
The inside story of how the first confirmed COVID-19 patient in the U.S. was identified and treated in Washington State.
When a man returning from Wuhan, China in January 2020 exhibited symptoms of the novel coronavirus, public health officials in the Seattle area were already on alert.
“We had a game plan in place already,” says Dr. George Diaz, who treated patient one when he was admitted to Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett. Yet in spite of the state’s preparedness, it would soon become clear that the virus’s spread was already ahead of efforts to contain it.
“Patient One: Saving America’s First Known Coronavirus Patient” was drawn from FRONTLINE’s reporting for “Coronavirus Pandemic” – veteran science reporter Miles O’Brien and his team’s investigation of the U.S. response to COVID-19.
“Coronavirus Pandemic” premieres Tues., April 21. Stream it on the PBS Video App starting at 7/6c, or watch it on PBS or YouTube at 9/8c. Check local PBS listings.
More here: https://to.pbs.org/2ypGUOw
Health News: “Navigating The Coronavirus” – Wall Street Journal (April 17)
From the Wall Street Journal (April 17, 2020):
As the coronavirus pandemic upends work, travel and home life, the rules are shifting for what people can and can’t do in their daily lives. The WSJ is continuously updating advice and information on how to stay safe, healthy and connected, and how to help others.
Aid to a Friend Caring for a Coronavirus Patient
“Because I am organized in my job and day-to-day life, I took on my husband’s care thinking I would have it all quickly in hand. But things didn’t turn out that way,” writes Leslie Yazel, whose husband came down with coronavirus-related pneumonia. Here, she offers what she learned about the best ways to help those who are caring for someone with coronavirus.
Get a Good Night’s Sleep
Covid-19 Podcast: Testing Lab Challenges, WHO Funding & Immune System Issues (Nature.com)
Benjamin Thompson, Noah Baker, and Amy Maxmen discuss Trump withholding funds from the WHO, and how COVID-19 kills. We also hear about controlling misinformation while communicating risk.
In this episode:
01:15 Understanding bottlenecks
After listening to last week’s episode of Coronapod, researchers in the USA were inspired to start collecting data about the challenges facing labs carrying out testing. After more than 4,000 responses to their online survey, we discuss their goals.
03:08 A hole in the WHO’s funding
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to withhold funding for the WHO, pending a review of the organization’s handling of the pandemic. We discuss the decision and ask what it means for the global response to COVID-19.
News: Nature‘s rolling coronavirus news blog
05:55 Responding to the immune system
We investigate the role of the immune system in the death of COVID-19 patients and what this could mean for treatments. Could some therapeutics actually be undermining the body’s ability to fight the virus?
News: How does COVID-19 kill? Uncertainty is hampering doctors’ ability to choose treatments
13:54 One good thing this week
Our hosts pick out things that have made them smile in the last 7 days, including seasonal memories from Sierra Leone, a trip to the supermarket, and the 99-year old war veteran who has raised millions for charity.
BBC News: Coronavirus: Capt Tom Moore’s NHS fundraiser hits £17m
18:33 Communicating complex data
Clearly communicating risks and evidence is key for governments and other organisations if they are to best inform the public during the pandemic. But what is the best way to do it? We hear the methods that communications experts and behavioural scientists recommend to keep the public informed, and keep misinformation at bay.
New Study: Obesity Results In Six Times Higher Rates Of Type 2 Diabetes, 3X More Than Genetic Risks (2020)
From a Diabetologia online study release (April 15, 2020):
“Having normal body weight is crucial in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, regardless of genetic predisposition.”
“The results suggest that type 2 diabetes prevention by weight management and healthy lifestyle is critical across all genetic risk groups.”
“Overall, the results indicate that a favorable lifestyle should be universally recommended in the prevention of type 2 diabetes, regardless of genetic predisposition, thus supporting current public health guidelines,”
Methods
We examined the joint association of genetic predisposition, obesity and unfavourable lifestyle with incident type 2 diabetes using a case-cohort study nested within the Diet, Cancer and Health cohort in Denmark. The study sample included 4729 individuals who developed type 2 diabetes during a median 14.7 years of follow-up, and a randomly selected cohort sample of 5402 individuals.
Results
Obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2) and unfavourable lifestyle were associated with higher risk for incident type 2 diabetes regardless of genetic predisposition (p > 0.05 for GRS–obesity and GRS–lifestyle interaction). The effect of obesity on type 2 diabetes risk (HR 5.81 [95% CI 5.16, 6.55]) was high, whereas the effects of high genetic risk (HR 2.00 [95% CI 1.76, 2.27]) and unfavourable lifestyle (HR 1.18 [95% CI 1.06, 1.30]) were relatively modest.
Health: LVMH And Fashion Industry Now Making Hand Sanitizer, Masks And Protective Gear (Podcast)
Jamie Waters explains how the fashion industry emerged as a vital contributor in the fight against the pandemic. Many brands, big and small, have pivoted to make masks and other protective equipment.
Medical Economics: Virus Exposes America’s “Broken Healthcare System” (2020)
From The Guardian (April 16, 2020):
“As this epidemic makes clear, at any moment, any of us could become sick, could become hospitalized, could be on a mechanical ventilator,” said Adam Gaffney, an ICU doctor in Boston. “And that, in the United States, could mean potentially ruinous healthcare costs.”
With over 21,000 people dead and more than a 547,000 infected with the coronavirus in the US the last question on a person’s mind should be how they will pay for life-saving treatment.
There were 27.9 million people without health insurance in 2018, and record-high unemployment will increase that figure by millions
But as the death toll mounted, a patient who was about to be put on a ventilator in one of New York City’s stretched to capacity intensive care units had a final question for his nurse: “Who’s going to pay for it?”
Boomers Daily 