The Daily Osteopath

“It is the object of the physician to find health; anyone...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:28:00 -0600

“It is the object of the physician to find health; anyone can find disease.”

-A.T. Still, founder of osteopathy

Photo

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:01:00 -0600

Well: Aging Well Through Exercise

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:00:33 -0600

Well: Aging Well Through Exercise:

flowprivatepractice:

Physical frailty may not be inevitable with old age, a growing body of science suggests: exercise might allow us to rewrite the future for our muscles.

soupsoup: 23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:33:51 -0600

soupsoup:

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health? (by DocMikeEvans via @CBM)

cranquis: Just in time for my 9,000-follower mark: It’s DR....

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:35:02 -0600

cranquis:

Just in time for my 9,000-follower mark: It’s DR. CRANQUIS’ CHRISTMAS SURPRISE: Over an hour of audio-only interview of yours truly (with voice disguised a bit) containing:

on-the-spot answers to reader questions

discussions about telemedicine and whether doctors will be the first to go in a zombie apocalypse

a link to Dr. Cranquis’ personal never-before-shared (because it’s downright bizarre) other Tumblr blog.

Bonus: I sing a song that I wrote for my other blog, near the end of the interview.

Consider this my early Christmas present to all of my Constant Readers. Enjoy!

(and a HUGE thank-you to Addie “tymkrs” for offering me this interview opportunity — what a fun and flattering experience!)

This is a really fantastic explanation of the possible solutions...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:20:00 -0600

This is a really fantastic explanation of the possible solutions to the problems facing the healthcare system of the United States, and incredibly cover a great deal of information in a few short napkins.

Please read All of these, they really break up the vitriol and hyperbole into easy to understand components

HealthMap.Org

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:09:06 -0600

HealthMap.Org:

HealthMap is a fascinating tool which offers global awareness about the distribution of disease, as well as the concerns one should be aware of in their own community. Epidemiology, Ho!

Everyone should understand how to read a basic blood test, and...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:52:26 -0600

Everyone should understand how to read a basic blood test, and what it means for their health. Such a transition to a easier format may accomplish just this, but the public then must know what such data means.

“Hans Rosling’s 200 years, 200 countries, 4...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:49:05 -0600

“Hans Rosling’s 200 years, 200 countries, 4 minutes”

Global Health expert Hans Rosling exhibits the vast improvements in global health across each continent in a novel, animated and informative way, describing the current state of health around the world, both good and bad.

For me, data such as this really puts the current healthcare crisis of the United States in perspective, as Rosling’s scale defines a “healthy country” as one with an average life expectancy of 75 years, which the US exceeds by 3 years, and a “wealthy country” as one with an average household income of $40k, which describes nearly 60% of US households. We shouldn’t have to look to physicians for moral guidance, for in light of such statistics, we as a society should take responsibility for our national health, and not take our gifts for granted.

Take note, theres no shame in calling a cab or crashing on a...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:32:26 -0600

Take note, theres no shame in calling a cab or crashing on a couch. The real damage that affects an entire community are the repercussions of drunk driving.

Epidemiology doesn’t stop at the waiting room of your primary car physician, thats why its called “Public Health”

I’m not one for touting the benefits of organic versus...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:28:00 -0600

I’m not one for touting the benefits of organic versus traditional food products, but I do believe that we as consumers have the responsibility to know where are food is coming from.

The Healthcare Systems of Five Capitalist Democracies and How They Do It

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:17:50 -0600

The Healthcare Systems of Five Capitalist Democracies and How They Do It:

“Each has a health care system that delivers health care for everyone — but with remarkable differences.”

The realities of medical school You are not a medical/med-grad...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:24:00 -0600

The realities of medical school

You are not a medical/med-grad student until you have cried your eyes out in the parking lot, true story :)

jayparkinsonmd: If there was a service that would let you: snap...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:10:35 -0600

jayparkinsonmd:

If there was a service that would let you:

snap a photo of a mole you’ve been worrying about with your iPhone

have it sent off and diagnosed by a trusted dermatologist

the accuracy has been researched and is reported as being 98% accurate (the same as an in-person dermatology exam)

and then get a response within 24 hours of it’s nothing to worry about or you do need to have it seen by a dermatologist

keep in mind, if it looks suspicious, you’d still have to go see a dermatologist

How much would you pay (be specific) for that virtual exam read by one of the best dermatologists in the city?

In actuality, this is priceless, but I would say such an app would most likely be for one time use, and therefore a fair price might be anywhere from $10 to $25, representative of a reduced co-pay and the virtual nature of the exam, perhaps to be raised as accuracy increases or subsidies for forward and preventative health consciousness are considered.

This is the way of the future, my friends.

violenceandscience: Gee, thanks for the inside tip, Kaplan. I...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:57:03 -0600

violenceandscience:

Gee, thanks for the inside tip, Kaplan. I can tell you’ve got my back for this MCAT thing.

Dont look too much into my current research, lab position or thesis, for Biochemistry is in a totally different galaxy from general and organic chemistry, both of which I loathe.

But, simple tips like this truly make the difference on important exams. This one made me smile, because I hadn’t thought of it and instantly recognized how simple a tool it can be to remember such an important concept.

Also, I supposed the negativity of “Anion” could be remembered from its prefix “A-” for english geeks, or its middle “-N-“, as in negative.

orangushamstursaurus: i doubt this will prove anything anon, i...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:50:09 -0600

orangushamstursaurus:

i doubt this will prove anything anon, i just prefer occasionally walking around reading notes than sitting at a desk for hours and hours at a time..

This is what my office was starting to look like, but I found that only served to remind me of topics. I actually need a much more active form of studying to retain information, like listening to lectures and condensing notes to produce notecards (HUNDRED OF NOTECARDS!!!!! ALL OF THE NOTE CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!).

Had I the capacity to study in my apartment, Im sure if would look like this, though. A homespun solution that many of my friends have taken to is buying a big section of whiteboard material, propping it up in their kitchens, and over the course of the semester, write down the major points from each section of class. This way, the outline is already burned into your head after months of staring at it during dinner. I think I’ll be doing that this semester :)

jayparkinsonmd: Today is the end of an era folks. Lipitor, the...

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:37:29 -0600

jayparkinsonmd:

Today is the end of an era folks. Lipitor, the #1 selling branded medication in the world is going off patent. This means, instead of the $115 a month Pfizer has been charging, it is now a race toward the bottom for generic manufacturers to produce and sell it for hopefully $4 a month.

Despite Lipitor’s wild popularity, as you can see below, either 96 or 98% of people (depending on whether or not you have prior heart disease) who take Lipitor see no benefit. It does do what it says— it lowers your cholesterol. But prolonging your life and increasing the quality of your life is much more complicated than just lowering your cholesterol. Here are the numbers for:

Those without heart disease (just high cholesterol):

For those with a heart disease diagnosis:

Taking chronic medications like Lipitor is quite similar to receiving vaccines. You receive vaccines to not only protect yourself, but to also protect society. At the individual level, Lipitor is a very bad investment. At the population level, a very small percentage of Lipitor takers are helped. As you can see, if you’re a gambler, it’s not a very good bet to take Lipitor. And if you look at the entire population of people, less than 4% of those taking Lipitor will actually be helped.

This is modern medicine folks, bottled up and sold via daytime television.

And by the way, see that chemical structure up there. That’s called atorvastatin. It’s also called Lipitor. If anything changes in that chemical structure, it’s fundamentally different and can no longer be called atorvastatin. So if any of you are wondering if a generic is better/different from a branded medication. It’s simply not. If a generic medication were different/better, it would be a fundamentally different chemical compound. And that applies to all medications and vitamins. Don’t let marketers fool you that there’s a benefit to spending $111 more a month on a branded drug.

My research adviser is tremendously awesome, and constantly reassures me that my project is most certainly worth pursuing

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:48:00 -0600

An endocrinologist by trade, he stumbled upon a very interesting effect that progesterone has upon human melanoma cells soon after setting up his lab last year. I wont go into great detail, but the cells appear to lose their adhesion capabilities, which somehow also results in negative proliferation.

Today, we discussed the future of my research program and outlined the next year’s worth of work, in which I will confirm his preliminary findings in the superior murine (mouse cell) model, and advance the project by identifying the protein(s) involved in the observed effect induced by progesterone, as well as the similar effect by its synthetic inhibitor, Mifepristone. Interestingly, although its supposed to be a progesterone-specific antagonist, preliminary findings suggest that Mifepristone acts through another mechanism, supposedly non-genomically, which may mean the progesterone receptor could have novel functions in melanoma cells.

I also find it strangely exciting how nearly all of our mentors are actively aware of the fine line between the requirements for M.S. and Ph.D. most of my program’s members are approaching with our curriculum and research projects, given that nearly all of us are in this program for better preparation for medical school and how extremely rare DO/PhD’s actually are. I mean, if you viewed the MS/DO program as a whole (Its called the “Two Year Interview” for a reason), we’re really just one year shy of a DO/PhD as it is.

Anyway, I just thought I ‘d share one of my increasingly common moments of confidence :)

medicalschool: MRI video of a beating heart Tremendously...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:26:08 -0600

medicalschool:

MRI video of a beating heart

Tremendously awesome :)

realcleverscience: jayparkinsonmd: Philips just released a new...

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:00:01 -0600

realcleverscience:

jayparkinsonmd:

Philips just released a new iPad 2 app called Vital Signs Camera that uses the camera to measure your heart and breathing rate. It detects subtle beat-to-beat changes in the color of your face to measure your heart rate.

We’re slowly living in the future.

Love it!