Chronic Pain: Observations as Patient and Provider About What Works (…And What Doesn’t)
Dr. Grace Dammann, medical director of the Pain Clinic at Laguna Honda Hospital, and seven of her colleagues talk about what does and does not work in the treatment of chronic pain. She talks as both a patient and a provider. There is also a discussion of various non-pharmacologic and complementary medicine modalities to treat pain.
From a BioRxiv.com online news release:
Antibiotic resistance is a global threat for public health. It is widely acknowledged that antibiotics at sub-inhibitory concentrations are important in disseminating antibiotic resistance via horizontal gene transfer. While there is high use of non-antibiotic human-targeted pharmaceuticals in our societies, the potential contribution of these on the spread of antibiotic resistance has been overlooked so far. Here, we report that commonly consumed non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac), a lipid-lowering drug (gemfibrozil), and a β-blocker (propanolol), at clinically and environmentally relevant concentrations, significantly accelerated the conjugation of plasmid-borne antibiotic resistance genes.
To read more click on following link: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/724500v1.full
From a MiddleTownPress.com online article:
The quality scorecard rates health care organizations through a five-star system on more than 30 health measures outlined by an advisory council composed of consumer advocates, providers, community organizations, state agencies, and payers. The range of measures focus on the quality of care provided by primary care providers and span more than 10 areas, including behavioral health, children’s health, women’s health, chronic conditions, and preventative health.
Health care organizations are also evaluated on patient experience in four categories: office staff, provider communication, timely care, and an overall patient experience rating.
Users can access interactive tables and graphs to compare provider networks, like Hartford HealthCare and Western Connecticut Health Network, to each other and the state average for any given health measure, such as asthma or diabetes. In addition, users can compare the overall performance rating of provider networks against all networks across all quality measures.
To read more click on following link: https://www.middletownpress.com/middletown/article/New-CT-health-care-rating-system-helps-patients-14290596.php
From a YankoDesign.com article:
Imagine a smart insulin port attached to your skin, delivering the right dose, and at the right time. At the same moment, getting all information regarding your sugar levels, meds timings and health data, managed and analyzed with the accompanying app.
Kite replaces the need to pump yourself with over 30 injections a week, thanks to the soft cannula insertion. It turns any device into a ‘smart’ device, and automatically dispenses the accurate insulin dose. Designed to be affordable, a device like this can be very helpful in the lifestyle management of diabetics.
The functions of the port include: dispensing the dose, capturing data and sending to the diabetes management app. The app integrates blood sugar levels, carb intake and activity. Kate also has wireless connectivity.
Designers: Mitul Lad & Cambridge Consultants
Website: https://ifworlddesignguide.com/entry/234687-kite-smart-insulin-port
From a Wall Street Journal article by Andreas Michalsen:
At the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, I’ve employed what’s called intermittent fasting, or time-restricted eating, to help patients with an array of chronic conditions. These include diabetes, high blood pressure, rheumatism and bowel diseases, as well as pain syndromes such as migraines and osteoarthritis.
Fasting is one of the biggest weight-losstrends to arise in recent years. Endorsed by A-list celebrities and the subject of a spate ofbest-selling books, it was the eighth most-Googled diet in America in 2018.
There are different ways to go about it, but Iadvise patients to omit either dinner or breakfast, so that they don’t ingest any foodfor at least 14 hours at a stretch.
From a Neurology.org online Journal article:
Low and high levels of hemoglobin are associated with an increased risk of dementia, including AD, which may relate to differences in white matter integrity and cerebral perfusion.
Objective: To determine the long-term association of hemoglobin levels and anemia with risk of dementia, and explore underlying substrates on brain MRI in the general population.
Methods: Serum hemoglobin was measured in 12,305 participants without dementia of the populationbased Rotterdam Study (mean age 64.6 years, 57.7% women). We determined risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease (AD) (until 2016) in relation to hemoglobin and anemia. Among 5,267 participants without dementia with brain MRI, we assessed hemoglobin in relation to vascular brain disease, structural connectivity, and global cerebral perfusion.
To read more click on following link: https://n.neurology.org/content/neurology/early/2019/07/31/WNL.0000000000008003.full.pdf
From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
To read more click on following link: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/resources/factsheets.html
Today, 10,000 people in the U.S. turn 65 every day. The U.S. Census Bureau projects the number of older adults to grow by 55 percent from 2010 to 2050, eventually making up 21 percent of the population.1 Currently, older adults account for more than 40 percent of all inpatient operations, and 33 percent of outpatient procedures performed annually in the U.S. This number will grow as the population ages, and the need for surgical services concurrently rises
The GSV Program will help hospitals of any size prepare for the influx of older adults considering surgery with care standards that define the resources hospitals need to have in place to perform operations effectively, efficiently, and safely in this vulnerable population. The standards take into account that older adults have distinct physical and social vulnerabilities, as well as unique goals for their care, that warrant a more thorough and individualized approach to surgery.
The standards outline processes for systematically improving older adult surgical care, including, but not limited to:
To read more click on following link: https://www.facs.org/quality-programs/geriatric-surgery
From an International Journal of Obesity July 2019 study:
This study, combined with the results of previous studies, supports the hypothesis that engaging in morning exercise may result in more weight loss compared to engaging in a similar amount of exercise later in the day. Furthermore, we observed individuals who performed most of their exercise sessions in the afternoon or evening tended to have slightly higher levels of EI and reduced NEPA and NEEx, suggesting that there are potentially important differences in the components of energy balance based on time of day exercise is performed.
Circadian physiology has been linked to body weight regulation and obesity. To date, few studies have assessed the association between exercise timing and weight related outcomes. The aim of this secondary analysis was to explore the impact of exercise timing (i.e., 24 h clock time of exercise session) on weight loss and components of energy balance.
To read more click on following link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-019-0409-x
From a Science Daily online article:
“We found staggering inconsistencies between how costs of dementia are calculated across studies and our analysis strongly supports that current estimates fail to recognise the true costs of the diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, that cause dementia. Some studies have estimated that out of pocket expenses for people with dementia are up to one third of their household wealth in the final five years of their life, and that caregivers have healthcare costs that are twice as high as non-caregivers. We also found evidence that costs begin rising up to 10 years prior to diagnosis — we need to better measure and factor all these into future societal cost estimates.”
Some of dementia’s hidden costs explored in the analysis include:
Currently, dementia is estimated to cost the US economy $290bn a year; the UK economy £26bn a year, and $1tn globally. A team of experts from institutions in the UK, Canada, Spain and the US reviewed existing evidence to assess what different costs are associated with dementia and analyse how these costs are measured.
To read more click on following link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190730092616.htm
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