User login
Terry Rudd has covered clinical news and health policy as a reporter and editor since 1994.
Expert outlines strategies for managing migraine in women
Understanding the hormonal changes women go through over their lives can help physicians refine migraine treatment approaches.
“It’s so critical that you know what’s going on hormonally, both endogenously and exogenously, to better evaluate treatment,” according to Susan Hutchinson, MD, director of the Orange County Migraine & Headache Center in Irvine, Calif.
In an interview, Alan M. Rapoport, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, talks with Dr. Hutchinson about estrogen treatment for menstrual migraine, the safety of new medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and the importance of a collaborative approach between a patient’s primary care, neurology, and ob.gyn. providers.
Understanding the hormonal changes women go through over their lives can help physicians refine migraine treatment approaches.
“It’s so critical that you know what’s going on hormonally, both endogenously and exogenously, to better evaluate treatment,” according to Susan Hutchinson, MD, director of the Orange County Migraine & Headache Center in Irvine, Calif.
In an interview, Alan M. Rapoport, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, talks with Dr. Hutchinson about estrogen treatment for menstrual migraine, the safety of new medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and the importance of a collaborative approach between a patient’s primary care, neurology, and ob.gyn. providers.
Understanding the hormonal changes women go through over their lives can help physicians refine migraine treatment approaches.
“It’s so critical that you know what’s going on hormonally, both endogenously and exogenously, to better evaluate treatment,” according to Susan Hutchinson, MD, director of the Orange County Migraine & Headache Center in Irvine, Calif.
In an interview, Alan M. Rapoport, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, talks with Dr. Hutchinson about estrogen treatment for menstrual migraine, the safety of new medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding, and the importance of a collaborative approach between a patient’s primary care, neurology, and ob.gyn. providers.
Small-molecule CGRP receptor antagonists may pose a risk during stroke
“It turns out that these drugs make the blood vessels of the brain dysfunctional, such that the collateral channels that bring in blood to the region that is having the stroke are impaired,” explains the study’s lead author, Cenk Ayata, MD, associate professor of neurology and radiology at Harvard Medical School, Boston.
In an interview, Alan M. Rapoport, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, talks with Dr. Ayata about his study findings, and about CGRP receptor antagonists’ potential effects if a patient has an ischemic event.
This article was updated 4/21/20.
“It turns out that these drugs make the blood vessels of the brain dysfunctional, such that the collateral channels that bring in blood to the region that is having the stroke are impaired,” explains the study’s lead author, Cenk Ayata, MD, associate professor of neurology and radiology at Harvard Medical School, Boston.
In an interview, Alan M. Rapoport, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, talks with Dr. Ayata about his study findings, and about CGRP receptor antagonists’ potential effects if a patient has an ischemic event.
This article was updated 4/21/20.
“It turns out that these drugs make the blood vessels of the brain dysfunctional, such that the collateral channels that bring in blood to the region that is having the stroke are impaired,” explains the study’s lead author, Cenk Ayata, MD, associate professor of neurology and radiology at Harvard Medical School, Boston.
In an interview, Alan M. Rapoport, MD, clinical professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles, talks with Dr. Ayata about his study findings, and about CGRP receptor antagonists’ potential effects if a patient has an ischemic event.
This article was updated 4/21/20.
Lessons from Seattle: Prepping a critical care system for COVID-19
What can the nation’s critical care systems do to prepare for the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mark Tonelli, MD, is professor of medicine and section head of the University of Washington Medical Center’s division of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. In an audio interview, Dr. Tonelli outlines exactly how the University of Washington and the region’s other health systems are readying their critical care departments for the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. And he offers advice from the front lines for health systems nationwide as they prep their own critical care systems.
To listen to the interview, click the play button below.
What can the nation’s critical care systems do to prepare for the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mark Tonelli, MD, is professor of medicine and section head of the University of Washington Medical Center’s division of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. In an audio interview, Dr. Tonelli outlines exactly how the University of Washington and the region’s other health systems are readying their critical care departments for the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. And he offers advice from the front lines for health systems nationwide as they prep their own critical care systems.
To listen to the interview, click the play button below.
What can the nation’s critical care systems do to prepare for the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Mark Tonelli, MD, is professor of medicine and section head of the University of Washington Medical Center’s division of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. In an audio interview, Dr. Tonelli outlines exactly how the University of Washington and the region’s other health systems are readying their critical care departments for the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. And he offers advice from the front lines for health systems nationwide as they prep their own critical care systems.
To listen to the interview, click the play button below.
How texting unites Seattle’s critical care departments
One of a smartphone’s simplest features has become a powerful communication and coordination tool for metro Seattle’s critical care departments.
Anne B. Lipke, MD, is the medical director of Swedish Medical Center’s Issaquah, Wash., campus in suburban Seattle. In an audio interview, Dr. Lipke explains how texting has become a fast, effective component of Seattle’s critical care response to COVID-19. And she offers lessons for physicians across the country who may soon be seeing situations similar to Seattle’s.
One of a smartphone’s simplest features has become a powerful communication and coordination tool for metro Seattle’s critical care departments.
Anne B. Lipke, MD, is the medical director of Swedish Medical Center’s Issaquah, Wash., campus in suburban Seattle. In an audio interview, Dr. Lipke explains how texting has become a fast, effective component of Seattle’s critical care response to COVID-19. And she offers lessons for physicians across the country who may soon be seeing situations similar to Seattle’s.
One of a smartphone’s simplest features has become a powerful communication and coordination tool for metro Seattle’s critical care departments.
Anne B. Lipke, MD, is the medical director of Swedish Medical Center’s Issaquah, Wash., campus in suburban Seattle. In an audio interview, Dr. Lipke explains how texting has become a fast, effective component of Seattle’s critical care response to COVID-19. And she offers lessons for physicians across the country who may soon be seeing situations similar to Seattle’s.
What to know about CFTR modulator therapy for cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulators are bringing new hope to many patients with CF. But what do physicians and patients need to know about the latest CFTR modulator therapies?
Susan M. Millard, MD, is a pediatric pulmonologist at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich. In an audio interview, Dr. Millard discusses the new Food and Drug Administration-approved combination therapy of elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor (Trikafta). It's a trio that could make a significant difference for the roughly 90% of patients with at least one F508del mutation.
Dr. Millard outlines which patients are candidates for the combination therapy, what physicians and patients can expect with Trikafta use, and how the drug affects patients' use of other CF therapies. She also explains the steps physicians should take before starting patients on the therapy, and what side effects to watch for during treatment.
Dr. Millard is the local principal investigator for CF research at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, including Mylan, Therapeutic Development Network, and Vertex clinical studies.
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulators are bringing new hope to many patients with CF. But what do physicians and patients need to know about the latest CFTR modulator therapies?
Susan M. Millard, MD, is a pediatric pulmonologist at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich. In an audio interview, Dr. Millard discusses the new Food and Drug Administration-approved combination therapy of elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor (Trikafta). It's a trio that could make a significant difference for the roughly 90% of patients with at least one F508del mutation.
Dr. Millard outlines which patients are candidates for the combination therapy, what physicians and patients can expect with Trikafta use, and how the drug affects patients' use of other CF therapies. She also explains the steps physicians should take before starting patients on the therapy, and what side effects to watch for during treatment.
Dr. Millard is the local principal investigator for CF research at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, including Mylan, Therapeutic Development Network, and Vertex clinical studies.
Cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator modulators are bringing new hope to many patients with CF. But what do physicians and patients need to know about the latest CFTR modulator therapies?
Susan M. Millard, MD, is a pediatric pulmonologist at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital in Grand Rapids, Mich. In an audio interview, Dr. Millard discusses the new Food and Drug Administration-approved combination therapy of elexacaftor, tezacaftor, and ivacaftor (Trikafta). It's a trio that could make a significant difference for the roughly 90% of patients with at least one F508del mutation.
Dr. Millard outlines which patients are candidates for the combination therapy, what physicians and patients can expect with Trikafta use, and how the drug affects patients' use of other CF therapies. She also explains the steps physicians should take before starting patients on the therapy, and what side effects to watch for during treatment.
Dr. Millard is the local principal investigator for CF research at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, including Mylan, Therapeutic Development Network, and Vertex clinical studies.
The dementia height advantage, and ‘human textile’
Soylent stitches are people!
Ask anyone in advertising and they’ll tell you that branding is everything. Now, there may be a bit of self-promotion involved there. But you can’t deny that naming your product appropriately is important, and we’re going to say with some degree of confidence that “human textile” is not the greatest name in the world.
Now, we don’t want to question the team of French researchers too much. After all, according to their research published in Acta Biomaterialia, they’ve come up with quite the nifty and potentially lifesaving innovation: stitches made from human skin.
By taking sheets of human skin cells (eww) and cutting them into strips, the researchers were able to weave the strips into a sort of yarn, the advantages of which should be obvious. Patients can say goodbye to pesky issues of compatibility and adverse immune response when doctors and surgeons can stitch wounds, sew pouches, and create tubes and valves with yarn crafted from themselves.
We just can’t get past the name they chose. Human textile. The process of making them is gruesome enough already. No need to call to mind some horrific dystopian future in which cotton can no longer grow and we have to recycle humans (alive or dead, depending on how grim you’re feeling) in big industrial textile mills to craft clothing for ourselves.
It’s just too bad Charlton Heston is dead; he’d have made a great spokesperson.
Towering over dementia
Let us take a moment to pity the plight of the shorter brother. Always losing the battle of the boards in fraternal driveway basketball games. Never reaching the Pop-Tarts cruelly stashed high in the pantry by one’s taller, greedier sibling. Always being addressed during family dinners as “Frodo.”
And new research findings add to the burden borne by altitude-impaired brothers everywhere: Being the short one may boost your risk of dementia.
Danish researchers at the University of Copenhagen examined the potential role that height in young adulthood plays later in dementia risk. The planet’s taller-brother Danes (the world’s third-tallest nation) analyzed data from more than 666,000 Danish men, including more than 70,000 brothers.
They found that, for every 6 cm of height in those above average height, the risk of dementia dropped 10%. And that inverse relationship between height and dementia risk held even in the shared environments of families: Being the taller brother delivered relatively more dementia protection. Even being smarter, better educated, and savvier at playing point guard didn’t erase shorter brothers’ dementia/height disadvantage.
Before you take solace in a Coors stubby, littler brothers, let’s remember the advantages shorter siblings still enjoy: Never being called “Ichabod.” Walking tall in low-ceilinged parking garages. Fitting comfortably into 911s and F-18s alike. Draining threes from anywhere in the driveway.
Oh, and clearly being Mom’s favorite.
Swinging for longevity
They say that laughter is the best medicine, but we always assumed that it applied to the people doing the laughing.
That may not be the case, according to a report presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Dallas.
It may be even better to get laughed at, and Adnan Qureshi, MD, of the University of Missouri, Columbia, and associates have data from the Cardiovascular Health Study of adults aged 65 years and older to prove it.
It’s all about the golf. The 384 golfers among the almost 5,900 participants had a death rate of 15.1% over the 10-year follow-up.
As for the nongolfers – the ones who make fun of golfers’ clothes and say that golf is boring, who joke about riding around in carts and hanging around with old people, who laugh because the lowest score wins, who say it’s easy to hit a little white ball that’s not even moving, who think an albatross is just a bird ... um, we seem to have gotten a bit off topic here.
Anyway, the death rate for the nongolfers in the study was a significantly higher 24.6%. So, suck on that, nongolfers, because it looks like the golfers will be having the last laugh. In plaid pants.
Soylent stitches are people!
Ask anyone in advertising and they’ll tell you that branding is everything. Now, there may be a bit of self-promotion involved there. But you can’t deny that naming your product appropriately is important, and we’re going to say with some degree of confidence that “human textile” is not the greatest name in the world.
Now, we don’t want to question the team of French researchers too much. After all, according to their research published in Acta Biomaterialia, they’ve come up with quite the nifty and potentially lifesaving innovation: stitches made from human skin.
By taking sheets of human skin cells (eww) and cutting them into strips, the researchers were able to weave the strips into a sort of yarn, the advantages of which should be obvious. Patients can say goodbye to pesky issues of compatibility and adverse immune response when doctors and surgeons can stitch wounds, sew pouches, and create tubes and valves with yarn crafted from themselves.
We just can’t get past the name they chose. Human textile. The process of making them is gruesome enough already. No need to call to mind some horrific dystopian future in which cotton can no longer grow and we have to recycle humans (alive or dead, depending on how grim you’re feeling) in big industrial textile mills to craft clothing for ourselves.
It’s just too bad Charlton Heston is dead; he’d have made a great spokesperson.
Towering over dementia
Let us take a moment to pity the plight of the shorter brother. Always losing the battle of the boards in fraternal driveway basketball games. Never reaching the Pop-Tarts cruelly stashed high in the pantry by one’s taller, greedier sibling. Always being addressed during family dinners as “Frodo.”
And new research findings add to the burden borne by altitude-impaired brothers everywhere: Being the short one may boost your risk of dementia.
Danish researchers at the University of Copenhagen examined the potential role that height in young adulthood plays later in dementia risk. The planet’s taller-brother Danes (the world’s third-tallest nation) analyzed data from more than 666,000 Danish men, including more than 70,000 brothers.
They found that, for every 6 cm of height in those above average height, the risk of dementia dropped 10%. And that inverse relationship between height and dementia risk held even in the shared environments of families: Being the taller brother delivered relatively more dementia protection. Even being smarter, better educated, and savvier at playing point guard didn’t erase shorter brothers’ dementia/height disadvantage.
Before you take solace in a Coors stubby, littler brothers, let’s remember the advantages shorter siblings still enjoy: Never being called “Ichabod.” Walking tall in low-ceilinged parking garages. Fitting comfortably into 911s and F-18s alike. Draining threes from anywhere in the driveway.
Oh, and clearly being Mom’s favorite.
Swinging for longevity
They say that laughter is the best medicine, but we always assumed that it applied to the people doing the laughing.
That may not be the case, according to a report presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Dallas.
It may be even better to get laughed at, and Adnan Qureshi, MD, of the University of Missouri, Columbia, and associates have data from the Cardiovascular Health Study of adults aged 65 years and older to prove it.
It’s all about the golf. The 384 golfers among the almost 5,900 participants had a death rate of 15.1% over the 10-year follow-up.
As for the nongolfers – the ones who make fun of golfers’ clothes and say that golf is boring, who joke about riding around in carts and hanging around with old people, who laugh because the lowest score wins, who say it’s easy to hit a little white ball that’s not even moving, who think an albatross is just a bird ... um, we seem to have gotten a bit off topic here.
Anyway, the death rate for the nongolfers in the study was a significantly higher 24.6%. So, suck on that, nongolfers, because it looks like the golfers will be having the last laugh. In plaid pants.
Soylent stitches are people!
Ask anyone in advertising and they’ll tell you that branding is everything. Now, there may be a bit of self-promotion involved there. But you can’t deny that naming your product appropriately is important, and we’re going to say with some degree of confidence that “human textile” is not the greatest name in the world.
Now, we don’t want to question the team of French researchers too much. After all, according to their research published in Acta Biomaterialia, they’ve come up with quite the nifty and potentially lifesaving innovation: stitches made from human skin.
By taking sheets of human skin cells (eww) and cutting them into strips, the researchers were able to weave the strips into a sort of yarn, the advantages of which should be obvious. Patients can say goodbye to pesky issues of compatibility and adverse immune response when doctors and surgeons can stitch wounds, sew pouches, and create tubes and valves with yarn crafted from themselves.
We just can’t get past the name they chose. Human textile. The process of making them is gruesome enough already. No need to call to mind some horrific dystopian future in which cotton can no longer grow and we have to recycle humans (alive or dead, depending on how grim you’re feeling) in big industrial textile mills to craft clothing for ourselves.
It’s just too bad Charlton Heston is dead; he’d have made a great spokesperson.
Towering over dementia
Let us take a moment to pity the plight of the shorter brother. Always losing the battle of the boards in fraternal driveway basketball games. Never reaching the Pop-Tarts cruelly stashed high in the pantry by one’s taller, greedier sibling. Always being addressed during family dinners as “Frodo.”
And new research findings add to the burden borne by altitude-impaired brothers everywhere: Being the short one may boost your risk of dementia.
Danish researchers at the University of Copenhagen examined the potential role that height in young adulthood plays later in dementia risk. The planet’s taller-brother Danes (the world’s third-tallest nation) analyzed data from more than 666,000 Danish men, including more than 70,000 brothers.
They found that, for every 6 cm of height in those above average height, the risk of dementia dropped 10%. And that inverse relationship between height and dementia risk held even in the shared environments of families: Being the taller brother delivered relatively more dementia protection. Even being smarter, better educated, and savvier at playing point guard didn’t erase shorter brothers’ dementia/height disadvantage.
Before you take solace in a Coors stubby, littler brothers, let’s remember the advantages shorter siblings still enjoy: Never being called “Ichabod.” Walking tall in low-ceilinged parking garages. Fitting comfortably into 911s and F-18s alike. Draining threes from anywhere in the driveway.
Oh, and clearly being Mom’s favorite.
Swinging for longevity
They say that laughter is the best medicine, but we always assumed that it applied to the people doing the laughing.
That may not be the case, according to a report presented at the American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Dallas.
It may be even better to get laughed at, and Adnan Qureshi, MD, of the University of Missouri, Columbia, and associates have data from the Cardiovascular Health Study of adults aged 65 years and older to prove it.
It’s all about the golf. The 384 golfers among the almost 5,900 participants had a death rate of 15.1% over the 10-year follow-up.
As for the nongolfers – the ones who make fun of golfers’ clothes and say that golf is boring, who joke about riding around in carts and hanging around with old people, who laugh because the lowest score wins, who say it’s easy to hit a little white ball that’s not even moving, who think an albatross is just a bird ... um, we seem to have gotten a bit off topic here.
Anyway, the death rate for the nongolfers in the study was a significantly higher 24.6%. So, suck on that, nongolfers, because it looks like the golfers will be having the last laugh. In plaid pants.
The Zzzzzuper Bowl, and 4D needles
HDL 35, LDL 220, hike!
Super Bowl Sunday is, for all intents and purposes, an American national holiday. And if there’s one thing we Americans love to do on our national holidays, it’s eat. And eat. Oh, and also eat.
According to research from LetsGetChecked, about 70% of Americans who watch the Super Bowl overindulge on game day. Actually, the term “overindulge” may not be entirely adequate: On Super Bowl Sunday, the average football fan ate nearly 11,000 calories and 180 g of saturated fat. That’s more than four times the recommended daily calorie intake, and seven times the recommended saturated fat intake.
Naturally, the chief medical officer for LetsGetChecked termed this level of food consumption as potentially dangerous if it becomes a regular occurrence and asked that people “question if they need to be eating quite so much.” Yeah, we think he’s being a party pooper, too.
So, just what did Joe Schmoe eat this past Sunday that has the experts all worried?
LetsGetChecked thoughtfully asked, and the list is something to be proud of: wings, pizza, fries, burgers, hot dogs, ribs, nachos, sausage, ice cream, chocolate, cake. The average fan ate all these, and more. Our personal favorite: the 2.3 portions of salad. Wouldn’t want to be too unhealthy now. Gotta have that salad to balance everything else out.
Strangely, the survey didn’t seem to ask about the presumably prodigious quantities of alcohol the average Super Bowl fan consumed. So, if anything, that 11,000 calories is an underestimation. And it really doesn’t get more American than that.
Zzzzzuper Bowl
Hardly, according to the buzzzzzz-kills [Ed. note: Why so many Zs? Author note: Wait for it ...] at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In a report with the sleep-inducing title “AASM Sleep Prioritization Survey Monday after the Super Bowl,” the academy pulls the sheets back on America’s somnolent post–Super Bowl secret: We’re sleep deprived.
More than one-third of the 2,003 adults alert enough to answer the AASM survey said they were more tired than usual the day after the Super Bowl. And 12% of respondents admitted that they were “extremely tired.”
Millennials were the generation most likely to meet Monday morning in an extreme stupor, followed by the few Gen X’ers who could even be bothered to cynically answer such an utterly pointless collection of survey questions. Baby boomers had already gone to bed before the academy could poll them.
AASM noted that Cleveland fans were stumped by the survey’s questions about the Super Bowl, given that the Browns are always well rested on the Monday morning after the game.
The gift that keeps on grabbing
Rutgers, you had us at “morph into new shapes.”
We read a lot of press releases here at LOTME world headquarters, but when we saw New Jersey’s state university announcing that a new 4D-printed microneedle array could “morph into new shapes,” we were hooked, so to speak.
Right now, though, you’re probably wondering what 4D printing is. We wondered that, too. It’s like 3D printing, but “with smart materials that are programmed to change shape after printing. Time is the fourth dimension that allows materials to morph into new shapes,” as senior investigator Howon Lee, PhD, and associates explained it.
Microneedles are becoming increasing popular as a replacement for hypodermics, but their “weak adhesion to tissues is a major challenge for controlled drug delivery over the long run,” the investigators noted. To try and solve the adhesion problem, they turned to – that’s right, you guessed it – insects and parasites.
When you think about it, it does make sense. What’s better at holding onto tissue than the barbed stinger of a honeybee or the microhooks of a tapeworm?
The microneedle array that Dr. Lee and his team have come up has backward-facing barbs that interlock with tissue when it is inserted, which improves adhesion. It was those barbs that required the whole 4D-printing approach, they explained in Advanced Functional Materials.
That’s sounds great, you’re probably thinking now – but we need to show you the money, right? Okay.
During testing on chicken muscle tissue, adhesion with the new microneedle was “18 times stronger than with a barbless microneedle,” they reported.
The 4D microneedle’s next stop? Its own commercial during next year’s Super Bowl, according to its new agent.
HDL 35, LDL 220, hike!
Super Bowl Sunday is, for all intents and purposes, an American national holiday. And if there’s one thing we Americans love to do on our national holidays, it’s eat. And eat. Oh, and also eat.
According to research from LetsGetChecked, about 70% of Americans who watch the Super Bowl overindulge on game day. Actually, the term “overindulge” may not be entirely adequate: On Super Bowl Sunday, the average football fan ate nearly 11,000 calories and 180 g of saturated fat. That’s more than four times the recommended daily calorie intake, and seven times the recommended saturated fat intake.
Naturally, the chief medical officer for LetsGetChecked termed this level of food consumption as potentially dangerous if it becomes a regular occurrence and asked that people “question if they need to be eating quite so much.” Yeah, we think he’s being a party pooper, too.
So, just what did Joe Schmoe eat this past Sunday that has the experts all worried?
LetsGetChecked thoughtfully asked, and the list is something to be proud of: wings, pizza, fries, burgers, hot dogs, ribs, nachos, sausage, ice cream, chocolate, cake. The average fan ate all these, and more. Our personal favorite: the 2.3 portions of salad. Wouldn’t want to be too unhealthy now. Gotta have that salad to balance everything else out.
Strangely, the survey didn’t seem to ask about the presumably prodigious quantities of alcohol the average Super Bowl fan consumed. So, if anything, that 11,000 calories is an underestimation. And it really doesn’t get more American than that.
Zzzzzuper Bowl
Hardly, according to the buzzzzzz-kills [Ed. note: Why so many Zs? Author note: Wait for it ...] at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In a report with the sleep-inducing title “AASM Sleep Prioritization Survey Monday after the Super Bowl,” the academy pulls the sheets back on America’s somnolent post–Super Bowl secret: We’re sleep deprived.
More than one-third of the 2,003 adults alert enough to answer the AASM survey said they were more tired than usual the day after the Super Bowl. And 12% of respondents admitted that they were “extremely tired.”
Millennials were the generation most likely to meet Monday morning in an extreme stupor, followed by the few Gen X’ers who could even be bothered to cynically answer such an utterly pointless collection of survey questions. Baby boomers had already gone to bed before the academy could poll them.
AASM noted that Cleveland fans were stumped by the survey’s questions about the Super Bowl, given that the Browns are always well rested on the Monday morning after the game.
The gift that keeps on grabbing
Rutgers, you had us at “morph into new shapes.”
We read a lot of press releases here at LOTME world headquarters, but when we saw New Jersey’s state university announcing that a new 4D-printed microneedle array could “morph into new shapes,” we were hooked, so to speak.
Right now, though, you’re probably wondering what 4D printing is. We wondered that, too. It’s like 3D printing, but “with smart materials that are programmed to change shape after printing. Time is the fourth dimension that allows materials to morph into new shapes,” as senior investigator Howon Lee, PhD, and associates explained it.
Microneedles are becoming increasing popular as a replacement for hypodermics, but their “weak adhesion to tissues is a major challenge for controlled drug delivery over the long run,” the investigators noted. To try and solve the adhesion problem, they turned to – that’s right, you guessed it – insects and parasites.
When you think about it, it does make sense. What’s better at holding onto tissue than the barbed stinger of a honeybee or the microhooks of a tapeworm?
The microneedle array that Dr. Lee and his team have come up has backward-facing barbs that interlock with tissue when it is inserted, which improves adhesion. It was those barbs that required the whole 4D-printing approach, they explained in Advanced Functional Materials.
That’s sounds great, you’re probably thinking now – but we need to show you the money, right? Okay.
During testing on chicken muscle tissue, adhesion with the new microneedle was “18 times stronger than with a barbless microneedle,” they reported.
The 4D microneedle’s next stop? Its own commercial during next year’s Super Bowl, according to its new agent.
HDL 35, LDL 220, hike!
Super Bowl Sunday is, for all intents and purposes, an American national holiday. And if there’s one thing we Americans love to do on our national holidays, it’s eat. And eat. Oh, and also eat.
According to research from LetsGetChecked, about 70% of Americans who watch the Super Bowl overindulge on game day. Actually, the term “overindulge” may not be entirely adequate: On Super Bowl Sunday, the average football fan ate nearly 11,000 calories and 180 g of saturated fat. That’s more than four times the recommended daily calorie intake, and seven times the recommended saturated fat intake.
Naturally, the chief medical officer for LetsGetChecked termed this level of food consumption as potentially dangerous if it becomes a regular occurrence and asked that people “question if they need to be eating quite so much.” Yeah, we think he’s being a party pooper, too.
So, just what did Joe Schmoe eat this past Sunday that has the experts all worried?
LetsGetChecked thoughtfully asked, and the list is something to be proud of: wings, pizza, fries, burgers, hot dogs, ribs, nachos, sausage, ice cream, chocolate, cake. The average fan ate all these, and more. Our personal favorite: the 2.3 portions of salad. Wouldn’t want to be too unhealthy now. Gotta have that salad to balance everything else out.
Strangely, the survey didn’t seem to ask about the presumably prodigious quantities of alcohol the average Super Bowl fan consumed. So, if anything, that 11,000 calories is an underestimation. And it really doesn’t get more American than that.
Zzzzzuper Bowl
Hardly, according to the buzzzzzz-kills [Ed. note: Why so many Zs? Author note: Wait for it ...] at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In a report with the sleep-inducing title “AASM Sleep Prioritization Survey Monday after the Super Bowl,” the academy pulls the sheets back on America’s somnolent post–Super Bowl secret: We’re sleep deprived.
More than one-third of the 2,003 adults alert enough to answer the AASM survey said they were more tired than usual the day after the Super Bowl. And 12% of respondents admitted that they were “extremely tired.”
Millennials were the generation most likely to meet Monday morning in an extreme stupor, followed by the few Gen X’ers who could even be bothered to cynically answer such an utterly pointless collection of survey questions. Baby boomers had already gone to bed before the academy could poll them.
AASM noted that Cleveland fans were stumped by the survey’s questions about the Super Bowl, given that the Browns are always well rested on the Monday morning after the game.
The gift that keeps on grabbing
Rutgers, you had us at “morph into new shapes.”
We read a lot of press releases here at LOTME world headquarters, but when we saw New Jersey’s state university announcing that a new 4D-printed microneedle array could “morph into new shapes,” we were hooked, so to speak.
Right now, though, you’re probably wondering what 4D printing is. We wondered that, too. It’s like 3D printing, but “with smart materials that are programmed to change shape after printing. Time is the fourth dimension that allows materials to morph into new shapes,” as senior investigator Howon Lee, PhD, and associates explained it.
Microneedles are becoming increasing popular as a replacement for hypodermics, but their “weak adhesion to tissues is a major challenge for controlled drug delivery over the long run,” the investigators noted. To try and solve the adhesion problem, they turned to – that’s right, you guessed it – insects and parasites.
When you think about it, it does make sense. What’s better at holding onto tissue than the barbed stinger of a honeybee or the microhooks of a tapeworm?
The microneedle array that Dr. Lee and his team have come up has backward-facing barbs that interlock with tissue when it is inserted, which improves adhesion. It was those barbs that required the whole 4D-printing approach, they explained in Advanced Functional Materials.
That’s sounds great, you’re probably thinking now – but we need to show you the money, right? Okay.
During testing on chicken muscle tissue, adhesion with the new microneedle was “18 times stronger than with a barbless microneedle,” they reported.
The 4D microneedle’s next stop? Its own commercial during next year’s Super Bowl, according to its new agent.
The scents-less life and the speaking mummy
If I only had a nose
Deaf and blind people get all the attention. Special schools, Braille, sign language, even a pinball-focused rock opera. And it is easy to see why: Those senses are kind of important when it comes to navigating the world. But what if you have to live without one of the less-cool senses? What if the nose doesn’t know?
According to research published in Clinical Otolaryngology, up to 5% of the world’s population has some sort of smell disorder, preventing them from either smelling correctly or smelling anything at all. And the effects of this on everyday life are drastic.
In a survey of 71 people with smell disorders, the researchers found that patients experience a smorgasbord of negative effects – ranging from poor hazard perception and poor sense of personal hygiene, to an inability to enjoy food and an inability to link smell to happy memories. The whiff of gingerbread on Christmas morning, the smoke of a bonfire on a summer evening – the smell-deprived miss out on them all. The negative emotions those people experience read like a recipe for your very own homemade Sith lord: sadness, regret, isolation, anxiety, anger, frustration. A path to the dark side, losing your scent is.
Speaking of fictional bad guys, this nasal-based research really could have benefited one Lord Volde ... fine, You-Know-Who. Just look at that face. That’s a man who can’t smell. You can’t tell us he wouldn’t have turned out better if only Dorothy had picked him up on the yellow brick road instead of some dumb scarecrow.
The sound of hieroglyphics
The Rosetta Stone revealed the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics and unlocked the ancient language of the Pharaohs for modern humans. But that mute stele said nothing about what those who uttered that ancient tongue sounded like.
Researchers at London’s Royal Holloway College may now know the answer. At least, a monosyllabic one.
The answer comes (indirectly) from Egyptian priest Nesyamun, a former resident of Thebes who worked at the temple of Karnak, but who now calls the Leeds City Museum home. Or, to be precise, Nesyamun’s 3,000-year-old mummified remains live on in Leeds. Nesyamun’s religious duties during his Karnak career likely required a smooth singing style and an accomplished speaking voice.
In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the British scientists say they’ve now heard the sound of the Egyptian priest’s long-silenced liturgical voice.
Working from CT scans of Nesyamun’s relatively well-preserved vocal-tract soft tissue, the scientists used a 3D-printed vocal tract and an electronic larynx to synthesize the actual sound of his voice.
And the result? Did the crooning priest of Karnak utter a Boris Karloffian curse upon those who had disturbed his millennia-long slumber? Did he deliver a rousing hymn of praise to Egypt’s ruler during the turbulent 1070s bce, Ramses XI?
In fact, what emerged from Nesyamun’s synthesized throat was ... “eh.” Maybe “a,” as in “bad.”
Given the state of the priest’s tongue (shrunken) and his soft palate (missing), the researchers say those monosyllabic sounds are the best Nesyamun can muster in his present state. Other experts say actual words from the ancients are likely impossible.
Perhaps one day, science will indeed be able to synthesize whole words or sentences from other well-preserved residents of the distant past. May we all live to hear an unyielding Ramses II himself chew the scenery like his Hollywood doppelganger, Yul Brynner: “So let it be written! So let it be done!”
To beard or not to beard
People are funny, and men, who happen to be people, are no exception.
Men, you see, have these things called beards, and there are definitely more men running around with facial hair these days. A lot of women go through a lot of trouble to get rid of a lot of their hair. But men, well, we grow extra hair. Why?
That’s what Honest Amish, a maker of beard-care products, wanted to know. They commissioned OnePoll to conduct a survey of 2,000 Americans, both men and women, to learn all kinds of things about beards.
So what did they find? Facial hair confidence, that’s what. Three-quarters of men said that a beard made them feel more confident than did a bare face, and 73% said that facial hair makes a man more attractive. That number was a bit lower among women, 63% of whom said that facial hair made a man more attractive.
That doesn’t seem very funny, does it? We’re getting there.
Male respondents also were asked what they would do to get the perfect beard: 40% would be willing to spend a night in jail or give up coffee for a year, and 38% would stand in line at the DMV for an entire day. Somewhat less popular responses included giving up sex for a year (22%) – seems like a waste of all that new-found confidence – and shaving their heads (18%).
And that, we don’t mind saying, is a hair-raising conclusion.
If I only had a nose
Deaf and blind people get all the attention. Special schools, Braille, sign language, even a pinball-focused rock opera. And it is easy to see why: Those senses are kind of important when it comes to navigating the world. But what if you have to live without one of the less-cool senses? What if the nose doesn’t know?
According to research published in Clinical Otolaryngology, up to 5% of the world’s population has some sort of smell disorder, preventing them from either smelling correctly or smelling anything at all. And the effects of this on everyday life are drastic.
In a survey of 71 people with smell disorders, the researchers found that patients experience a smorgasbord of negative effects – ranging from poor hazard perception and poor sense of personal hygiene, to an inability to enjoy food and an inability to link smell to happy memories. The whiff of gingerbread on Christmas morning, the smoke of a bonfire on a summer evening – the smell-deprived miss out on them all. The negative emotions those people experience read like a recipe for your very own homemade Sith lord: sadness, regret, isolation, anxiety, anger, frustration. A path to the dark side, losing your scent is.
Speaking of fictional bad guys, this nasal-based research really could have benefited one Lord Volde ... fine, You-Know-Who. Just look at that face. That’s a man who can’t smell. You can’t tell us he wouldn’t have turned out better if only Dorothy had picked him up on the yellow brick road instead of some dumb scarecrow.
The sound of hieroglyphics
The Rosetta Stone revealed the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics and unlocked the ancient language of the Pharaohs for modern humans. But that mute stele said nothing about what those who uttered that ancient tongue sounded like.
Researchers at London’s Royal Holloway College may now know the answer. At least, a monosyllabic one.
The answer comes (indirectly) from Egyptian priest Nesyamun, a former resident of Thebes who worked at the temple of Karnak, but who now calls the Leeds City Museum home. Or, to be precise, Nesyamun’s 3,000-year-old mummified remains live on in Leeds. Nesyamun’s religious duties during his Karnak career likely required a smooth singing style and an accomplished speaking voice.
In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the British scientists say they’ve now heard the sound of the Egyptian priest’s long-silenced liturgical voice.
Working from CT scans of Nesyamun’s relatively well-preserved vocal-tract soft tissue, the scientists used a 3D-printed vocal tract and an electronic larynx to synthesize the actual sound of his voice.
And the result? Did the crooning priest of Karnak utter a Boris Karloffian curse upon those who had disturbed his millennia-long slumber? Did he deliver a rousing hymn of praise to Egypt’s ruler during the turbulent 1070s bce, Ramses XI?
In fact, what emerged from Nesyamun’s synthesized throat was ... “eh.” Maybe “a,” as in “bad.”
Given the state of the priest’s tongue (shrunken) and his soft palate (missing), the researchers say those monosyllabic sounds are the best Nesyamun can muster in his present state. Other experts say actual words from the ancients are likely impossible.
Perhaps one day, science will indeed be able to synthesize whole words or sentences from other well-preserved residents of the distant past. May we all live to hear an unyielding Ramses II himself chew the scenery like his Hollywood doppelganger, Yul Brynner: “So let it be written! So let it be done!”
To beard or not to beard
People are funny, and men, who happen to be people, are no exception.
Men, you see, have these things called beards, and there are definitely more men running around with facial hair these days. A lot of women go through a lot of trouble to get rid of a lot of their hair. But men, well, we grow extra hair. Why?
That’s what Honest Amish, a maker of beard-care products, wanted to know. They commissioned OnePoll to conduct a survey of 2,000 Americans, both men and women, to learn all kinds of things about beards.
So what did they find? Facial hair confidence, that’s what. Three-quarters of men said that a beard made them feel more confident than did a bare face, and 73% said that facial hair makes a man more attractive. That number was a bit lower among women, 63% of whom said that facial hair made a man more attractive.
That doesn’t seem very funny, does it? We’re getting there.
Male respondents also were asked what they would do to get the perfect beard: 40% would be willing to spend a night in jail or give up coffee for a year, and 38% would stand in line at the DMV for an entire day. Somewhat less popular responses included giving up sex for a year (22%) – seems like a waste of all that new-found confidence – and shaving their heads (18%).
And that, we don’t mind saying, is a hair-raising conclusion.
If I only had a nose
Deaf and blind people get all the attention. Special schools, Braille, sign language, even a pinball-focused rock opera. And it is easy to see why: Those senses are kind of important when it comes to navigating the world. But what if you have to live without one of the less-cool senses? What if the nose doesn’t know?
According to research published in Clinical Otolaryngology, up to 5% of the world’s population has some sort of smell disorder, preventing them from either smelling correctly or smelling anything at all. And the effects of this on everyday life are drastic.
In a survey of 71 people with smell disorders, the researchers found that patients experience a smorgasbord of negative effects – ranging from poor hazard perception and poor sense of personal hygiene, to an inability to enjoy food and an inability to link smell to happy memories. The whiff of gingerbread on Christmas morning, the smoke of a bonfire on a summer evening – the smell-deprived miss out on them all. The negative emotions those people experience read like a recipe for your very own homemade Sith lord: sadness, regret, isolation, anxiety, anger, frustration. A path to the dark side, losing your scent is.
Speaking of fictional bad guys, this nasal-based research really could have benefited one Lord Volde ... fine, You-Know-Who. Just look at that face. That’s a man who can’t smell. You can’t tell us he wouldn’t have turned out better if only Dorothy had picked him up on the yellow brick road instead of some dumb scarecrow.
The sound of hieroglyphics
The Rosetta Stone revealed the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics and unlocked the ancient language of the Pharaohs for modern humans. But that mute stele said nothing about what those who uttered that ancient tongue sounded like.
Researchers at London’s Royal Holloway College may now know the answer. At least, a monosyllabic one.
The answer comes (indirectly) from Egyptian priest Nesyamun, a former resident of Thebes who worked at the temple of Karnak, but who now calls the Leeds City Museum home. Or, to be precise, Nesyamun’s 3,000-year-old mummified remains live on in Leeds. Nesyamun’s religious duties during his Karnak career likely required a smooth singing style and an accomplished speaking voice.
In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the British scientists say they’ve now heard the sound of the Egyptian priest’s long-silenced liturgical voice.
Working from CT scans of Nesyamun’s relatively well-preserved vocal-tract soft tissue, the scientists used a 3D-printed vocal tract and an electronic larynx to synthesize the actual sound of his voice.
And the result? Did the crooning priest of Karnak utter a Boris Karloffian curse upon those who had disturbed his millennia-long slumber? Did he deliver a rousing hymn of praise to Egypt’s ruler during the turbulent 1070s bce, Ramses XI?
In fact, what emerged from Nesyamun’s synthesized throat was ... “eh.” Maybe “a,” as in “bad.”
Given the state of the priest’s tongue (shrunken) and his soft palate (missing), the researchers say those monosyllabic sounds are the best Nesyamun can muster in his present state. Other experts say actual words from the ancients are likely impossible.
Perhaps one day, science will indeed be able to synthesize whole words or sentences from other well-preserved residents of the distant past. May we all live to hear an unyielding Ramses II himself chew the scenery like his Hollywood doppelganger, Yul Brynner: “So let it be written! So let it be done!”
To beard or not to beard
People are funny, and men, who happen to be people, are no exception.
Men, you see, have these things called beards, and there are definitely more men running around with facial hair these days. A lot of women go through a lot of trouble to get rid of a lot of their hair. But men, well, we grow extra hair. Why?
That’s what Honest Amish, a maker of beard-care products, wanted to know. They commissioned OnePoll to conduct a survey of 2,000 Americans, both men and women, to learn all kinds of things about beards.
So what did they find? Facial hair confidence, that’s what. Three-quarters of men said that a beard made them feel more confident than did a bare face, and 73% said that facial hair makes a man more attractive. That number was a bit lower among women, 63% of whom said that facial hair made a man more attractive.
That doesn’t seem very funny, does it? We’re getting there.
Male respondents also were asked what they would do to get the perfect beard: 40% would be willing to spend a night in jail or give up coffee for a year, and 38% would stand in line at the DMV for an entire day. Somewhat less popular responses included giving up sex for a year (22%) – seems like a waste of all that new-found confidence – and shaving their heads (18%).
And that, we don’t mind saying, is a hair-raising conclusion.
The age of maximum misery, and why Marcus Welby was gray
A year to forget
47.2. Just another number, right? Nothing too special about it. But this innocent number is hiding a deep, dark secret. It is the number of misery.
More specifically, 47.2 is the age when human misery hits its peak, according to a study distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The data, collected from 132 countries, show that human happiness is actually U-shaped. We all start out pretty happy, you know, being infants and all. Sadly, life takes a pretty sharp downhill turn when we’re born, and that slide doesn’t abate until the magic age of 47.2. That’s the point in our lives when we’re at our most unhappy.
We do have some good news if you happen to have been born in early November 1972 and you’re having a rough time of things lately. That U-shaped curve will be your friend from now on, as your happiness will, according to the data at least, grow constantly from this point forward. Once you get past 70, at least in the United States, you’ll be as happy as you’ve ever been in your adult life.
Of course, that’s not much comfort for those of us who’ve yet to hit that magic number. So if you thought the daily existential crises were bad now, just wait: Apparently, they’ll only get worse. Won’t that be fun?
Why Marcus Welby was gray
Stress is a key ingredient in the Bureau of LOTME’s recipe for success. The deadlines. The office coffee. The serial commas. And what do we get for all that stress? Other than fan mail (thanks, Mom) and cease-and-desist orders?
Gray hair.
Is the correlation coefficient between stress and our silvering LOTME coifs truly zero? We think not. And now science agrees: Stress may indeed be gray hair’s follicular fertilizer.
Harvard University scientists say they’ve mapped the path from after-hours EHR data entry to premature silver fox status. Specifically, like a pharma rep with a new drug to detail, stress wears on nerves, which help spew norepinephrine and deplete the stem cells that regenerate your hair follicles’ pigment cells. Presto! You’ve got gray hair and a med closet bursting with more drug samples.
More accurately, the Harvard researchers found that stress damages the color-restorative function in the hair of mice. Which means 92-year-old Mickey Mouse is clearly hiding a dye job. (Ed. note: C’mon, people – another Disney cease-and-desist letter?)
We know no one knows stress as intimately as physicians. That’s why we’re planning a complete line of hair coloring products we call “Just for Docs,” featuring colors like “Pre-Auth Platinum Blonde,” “MOC Magenta,” and “EHR Red.” And, of course, “Burnout Brunette.”
Mr. Bedbug goes to Washington
You’ve heard it a million times: The old good news/bad news delivery.
Well, make that a million and one, because it’s time to play “Good news is bad news!”
Good news: Baltimore is no longer the bedbug capital of the United States. Bad news: It only dropped from first to second place on Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list. More bad news: Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is now the bedbug capital as well. [Insert joke about Congress here.]
Good news: Kids in England are getting less sugar and salt in their packed school lunches than they did a decade ago. Bad news: They are also getting less vitamin A, vitamin C, and fruit, according to a study in BMJ Open.
Good news: Drinking skim or 1% milk instead of 2% can add more than 4 years to your life, and the reduction in lifespan is even greater for whole milk. Bad news: “Children who drink whole milk are actually 40% less likely to be obese or overweight than kids drinking reduced-fat milk,” Study Finds reported.
Wait a second. That’s not exactly bad news, is it? Maybe for those who are drinking low-fat milk to add a few years to their lives. They will live longer, but they’ll be overweight while they’re doing it.
Thank you for watching “Good news is bad news.” Remember, if you’re not confused, you haven’t been paying attention.
A year to forget
47.2. Just another number, right? Nothing too special about it. But this innocent number is hiding a deep, dark secret. It is the number of misery.
More specifically, 47.2 is the age when human misery hits its peak, according to a study distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The data, collected from 132 countries, show that human happiness is actually U-shaped. We all start out pretty happy, you know, being infants and all. Sadly, life takes a pretty sharp downhill turn when we’re born, and that slide doesn’t abate until the magic age of 47.2. That’s the point in our lives when we’re at our most unhappy.
We do have some good news if you happen to have been born in early November 1972 and you’re having a rough time of things lately. That U-shaped curve will be your friend from now on, as your happiness will, according to the data at least, grow constantly from this point forward. Once you get past 70, at least in the United States, you’ll be as happy as you’ve ever been in your adult life.
Of course, that’s not much comfort for those of us who’ve yet to hit that magic number. So if you thought the daily existential crises were bad now, just wait: Apparently, they’ll only get worse. Won’t that be fun?
Why Marcus Welby was gray
Stress is a key ingredient in the Bureau of LOTME’s recipe for success. The deadlines. The office coffee. The serial commas. And what do we get for all that stress? Other than fan mail (thanks, Mom) and cease-and-desist orders?
Gray hair.
Is the correlation coefficient between stress and our silvering LOTME coifs truly zero? We think not. And now science agrees: Stress may indeed be gray hair’s follicular fertilizer.
Harvard University scientists say they’ve mapped the path from after-hours EHR data entry to premature silver fox status. Specifically, like a pharma rep with a new drug to detail, stress wears on nerves, which help spew norepinephrine and deplete the stem cells that regenerate your hair follicles’ pigment cells. Presto! You’ve got gray hair and a med closet bursting with more drug samples.
More accurately, the Harvard researchers found that stress damages the color-restorative function in the hair of mice. Which means 92-year-old Mickey Mouse is clearly hiding a dye job. (Ed. note: C’mon, people – another Disney cease-and-desist letter?)
We know no one knows stress as intimately as physicians. That’s why we’re planning a complete line of hair coloring products we call “Just for Docs,” featuring colors like “Pre-Auth Platinum Blonde,” “MOC Magenta,” and “EHR Red.” And, of course, “Burnout Brunette.”
Mr. Bedbug goes to Washington
You’ve heard it a million times: The old good news/bad news delivery.
Well, make that a million and one, because it’s time to play “Good news is bad news!”
Good news: Baltimore is no longer the bedbug capital of the United States. Bad news: It only dropped from first to second place on Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list. More bad news: Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is now the bedbug capital as well. [Insert joke about Congress here.]
Good news: Kids in England are getting less sugar and salt in their packed school lunches than they did a decade ago. Bad news: They are also getting less vitamin A, vitamin C, and fruit, according to a study in BMJ Open.
Good news: Drinking skim or 1% milk instead of 2% can add more than 4 years to your life, and the reduction in lifespan is even greater for whole milk. Bad news: “Children who drink whole milk are actually 40% less likely to be obese or overweight than kids drinking reduced-fat milk,” Study Finds reported.
Wait a second. That’s not exactly bad news, is it? Maybe for those who are drinking low-fat milk to add a few years to their lives. They will live longer, but they’ll be overweight while they’re doing it.
Thank you for watching “Good news is bad news.” Remember, if you’re not confused, you haven’t been paying attention.
A year to forget
47.2. Just another number, right? Nothing too special about it. But this innocent number is hiding a deep, dark secret. It is the number of misery.
More specifically, 47.2 is the age when human misery hits its peak, according to a study distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The data, collected from 132 countries, show that human happiness is actually U-shaped. We all start out pretty happy, you know, being infants and all. Sadly, life takes a pretty sharp downhill turn when we’re born, and that slide doesn’t abate until the magic age of 47.2. That’s the point in our lives when we’re at our most unhappy.
We do have some good news if you happen to have been born in early November 1972 and you’re having a rough time of things lately. That U-shaped curve will be your friend from now on, as your happiness will, according to the data at least, grow constantly from this point forward. Once you get past 70, at least in the United States, you’ll be as happy as you’ve ever been in your adult life.
Of course, that’s not much comfort for those of us who’ve yet to hit that magic number. So if you thought the daily existential crises were bad now, just wait: Apparently, they’ll only get worse. Won’t that be fun?
Why Marcus Welby was gray
Stress is a key ingredient in the Bureau of LOTME’s recipe for success. The deadlines. The office coffee. The serial commas. And what do we get for all that stress? Other than fan mail (thanks, Mom) and cease-and-desist orders?
Gray hair.
Is the correlation coefficient between stress and our silvering LOTME coifs truly zero? We think not. And now science agrees: Stress may indeed be gray hair’s follicular fertilizer.
Harvard University scientists say they’ve mapped the path from after-hours EHR data entry to premature silver fox status. Specifically, like a pharma rep with a new drug to detail, stress wears on nerves, which help spew norepinephrine and deplete the stem cells that regenerate your hair follicles’ pigment cells. Presto! You’ve got gray hair and a med closet bursting with more drug samples.
More accurately, the Harvard researchers found that stress damages the color-restorative function in the hair of mice. Which means 92-year-old Mickey Mouse is clearly hiding a dye job. (Ed. note: C’mon, people – another Disney cease-and-desist letter?)
We know no one knows stress as intimately as physicians. That’s why we’re planning a complete line of hair coloring products we call “Just for Docs,” featuring colors like “Pre-Auth Platinum Blonde,” “MOC Magenta,” and “EHR Red.” And, of course, “Burnout Brunette.”
Mr. Bedbug goes to Washington
You’ve heard it a million times: The old good news/bad news delivery.
Well, make that a million and one, because it’s time to play “Good news is bad news!”
Good news: Baltimore is no longer the bedbug capital of the United States. Bad news: It only dropped from first to second place on Orkin’s Top 50 Bed Bug Cities list. More bad news: Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, is now the bedbug capital as well. [Insert joke about Congress here.]
Good news: Kids in England are getting less sugar and salt in their packed school lunches than they did a decade ago. Bad news: They are also getting less vitamin A, vitamin C, and fruit, according to a study in BMJ Open.
Good news: Drinking skim or 1% milk instead of 2% can add more than 4 years to your life, and the reduction in lifespan is even greater for whole milk. Bad news: “Children who drink whole milk are actually 40% less likely to be obese or overweight than kids drinking reduced-fat milk,” Study Finds reported.
Wait a second. That’s not exactly bad news, is it? Maybe for those who are drinking low-fat milk to add a few years to their lives. They will live longer, but they’ll be overweight while they’re doing it.
Thank you for watching “Good news is bad news.” Remember, if you’re not confused, you haven’t been paying attention.
Sleep apnea’s got your tongue, and singin’ in the kerosene rain
On the tip of my tongue
The greatest risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea is obesity, and unsurprisingly, people who are obese and have sleep apnea very often improve their breathing when they lose weight.
But what if you’re secretly a hobbit named Peregrin Took, and you absolutely have to have both first and second breakfast? Is there any way to ease your sleep apnea?
According to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, weight loss in and of itself isn’t what improves sleep apnea symptoms. No, it’s something more targeted.
The secret to improving sleep apnea is ... tongue fat.
The patients in the study lost about 10% of their body weight over 6 months, and experienced a 31% improvement in sleep apnea scores. MRIs done before and after the intervention showed that, while reductions in pterygoid and pharyngeal lateral wall volumes helped, the reduction of tongue fat volume was the primary link between weight loss and sleep apnea improvement.
The Livin’ on the MDedge team eagerly awaits the dawning of the tongue weight-loss industry, thanks to this new research. Tongue diets. Tongue exercise. Pretty soon you’ll be able to buy “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” DVDs featuring tongues in bad ’80s Spandex flopping all over the place. Have your cake and eat it too – just don’t let your tongue know.
The rain falls mainly from the plane
Why does rain inspire music? Gene Kelly sang in it. Prince crooned about its purple hue. The Weather Girls gave vocal thanks for a downpour of men. And kids will joyfully create a symphony of mud in a summer shower.
But what if it rains on the playground? On a sunny day? Kids will definitely sing the blues, right?
Especially when the shower’s not water.
Shortly after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport this week, Delta Air Lines Flight 89 to Shanghai developed engine problems. Which sent Flight 89 right back to LAX. Not wanting to land a distressed Boeing 777 with wings full of explosive aviation fuel, the pilot began dumping his Jet A-1 kerosene as he circled back to the airport.
Which fell to earth as a mist ... that blanketed five elementary schools in the middle of the school day.
The plane rain led to minor lung and skin irritation in 56 kids and adults below. But the Los Angeles County Fire Department said injuries were minor, and the drizzling jet fuel evaporated quickly.
Given the absence of serious injuries, it’s clear the Los Angeles students heeded at least one public health message during the kerosene shower: Nobody was engaged in outdoor underage smoking.
And the Inventing Oscar goes to ...
For many people, the new year means the announcement of the Oscar nominations.
We here at LOTME have been waiting for an announcement that comes at the beginning of each year, but it has nothing to do with who got snubbed by the Academy. We’re talking about something really big: the National Inventors Hall of Fame class of 2020.
As usual, we were not disappointed. The world of health care was well represented among this year’s inductees.
At the head of the class, at least alphabetically, is R. Rox Anderson, who developed groundbreaking laser technology (patent number 5,595,568) used in medical treatments and procedures. Then there’s James McEwen, who invented the first microprocessor-controlled automatic surgical tourniquet system (patent number 4,469,099).
Posthumous NIHF nominations went to Stewart Adams and John Nicholson, the codevelopers of 2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid, which we know as ibuprofen (patent number 3,228,831). Adams, a pharmacologist, and Nicholson, an organic chemist, worked for Boots Pure Drug Co. in England during the 1950s and 1960s while they collaborated on the drug’s creation.
Several other nominees have somewhat-less-direct medical connections. Edward W. Bullard invented the hard hat (patent number 1,699,133), which has undoubtedly saved lives and prevented injuries. Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, and Polly Smith invented the sports bra (patent number 4,174,717), which “has enabled women’s participation in athletic activities and advanced women’s health and well-being,” the NIHF said in a written statement.
And finally – for those of you who thought this would never end – there’s Floyd Smith, the trapeze artist turned aviator who invented the modern parachute (patent numbers 1,340,423 and 1,462,456) and kept many sky divers out of the emergency department.
On the tip of my tongue
The greatest risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea is obesity, and unsurprisingly, people who are obese and have sleep apnea very often improve their breathing when they lose weight.
But what if you’re secretly a hobbit named Peregrin Took, and you absolutely have to have both first and second breakfast? Is there any way to ease your sleep apnea?
According to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, weight loss in and of itself isn’t what improves sleep apnea symptoms. No, it’s something more targeted.
The secret to improving sleep apnea is ... tongue fat.
The patients in the study lost about 10% of their body weight over 6 months, and experienced a 31% improvement in sleep apnea scores. MRIs done before and after the intervention showed that, while reductions in pterygoid and pharyngeal lateral wall volumes helped, the reduction of tongue fat volume was the primary link between weight loss and sleep apnea improvement.
The Livin’ on the MDedge team eagerly awaits the dawning of the tongue weight-loss industry, thanks to this new research. Tongue diets. Tongue exercise. Pretty soon you’ll be able to buy “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” DVDs featuring tongues in bad ’80s Spandex flopping all over the place. Have your cake and eat it too – just don’t let your tongue know.
The rain falls mainly from the plane
Why does rain inspire music? Gene Kelly sang in it. Prince crooned about its purple hue. The Weather Girls gave vocal thanks for a downpour of men. And kids will joyfully create a symphony of mud in a summer shower.
But what if it rains on the playground? On a sunny day? Kids will definitely sing the blues, right?
Especially when the shower’s not water.
Shortly after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport this week, Delta Air Lines Flight 89 to Shanghai developed engine problems. Which sent Flight 89 right back to LAX. Not wanting to land a distressed Boeing 777 with wings full of explosive aviation fuel, the pilot began dumping his Jet A-1 kerosene as he circled back to the airport.
Which fell to earth as a mist ... that blanketed five elementary schools in the middle of the school day.
The plane rain led to minor lung and skin irritation in 56 kids and adults below. But the Los Angeles County Fire Department said injuries were minor, and the drizzling jet fuel evaporated quickly.
Given the absence of serious injuries, it’s clear the Los Angeles students heeded at least one public health message during the kerosene shower: Nobody was engaged in outdoor underage smoking.
And the Inventing Oscar goes to ...
For many people, the new year means the announcement of the Oscar nominations.
We here at LOTME have been waiting for an announcement that comes at the beginning of each year, but it has nothing to do with who got snubbed by the Academy. We’re talking about something really big: the National Inventors Hall of Fame class of 2020.
As usual, we were not disappointed. The world of health care was well represented among this year’s inductees.
At the head of the class, at least alphabetically, is R. Rox Anderson, who developed groundbreaking laser technology (patent number 5,595,568) used in medical treatments and procedures. Then there’s James McEwen, who invented the first microprocessor-controlled automatic surgical tourniquet system (patent number 4,469,099).
Posthumous NIHF nominations went to Stewart Adams and John Nicholson, the codevelopers of 2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid, which we know as ibuprofen (patent number 3,228,831). Adams, a pharmacologist, and Nicholson, an organic chemist, worked for Boots Pure Drug Co. in England during the 1950s and 1960s while they collaborated on the drug’s creation.
Several other nominees have somewhat-less-direct medical connections. Edward W. Bullard invented the hard hat (patent number 1,699,133), which has undoubtedly saved lives and prevented injuries. Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, and Polly Smith invented the sports bra (patent number 4,174,717), which “has enabled women’s participation in athletic activities and advanced women’s health and well-being,” the NIHF said in a written statement.
And finally – for those of you who thought this would never end – there’s Floyd Smith, the trapeze artist turned aviator who invented the modern parachute (patent numbers 1,340,423 and 1,462,456) and kept many sky divers out of the emergency department.
On the tip of my tongue
The greatest risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea is obesity, and unsurprisingly, people who are obese and have sleep apnea very often improve their breathing when they lose weight.
But what if you’re secretly a hobbit named Peregrin Took, and you absolutely have to have both first and second breakfast? Is there any way to ease your sleep apnea?
According to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, weight loss in and of itself isn’t what improves sleep apnea symptoms. No, it’s something more targeted.
The secret to improving sleep apnea is ... tongue fat.
The patients in the study lost about 10% of their body weight over 6 months, and experienced a 31% improvement in sleep apnea scores. MRIs done before and after the intervention showed that, while reductions in pterygoid and pharyngeal lateral wall volumes helped, the reduction of tongue fat volume was the primary link between weight loss and sleep apnea improvement.
The Livin’ on the MDedge team eagerly awaits the dawning of the tongue weight-loss industry, thanks to this new research. Tongue diets. Tongue exercise. Pretty soon you’ll be able to buy “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” DVDs featuring tongues in bad ’80s Spandex flopping all over the place. Have your cake and eat it too – just don’t let your tongue know.
The rain falls mainly from the plane
Why does rain inspire music? Gene Kelly sang in it. Prince crooned about its purple hue. The Weather Girls gave vocal thanks for a downpour of men. And kids will joyfully create a symphony of mud in a summer shower.
But what if it rains on the playground? On a sunny day? Kids will definitely sing the blues, right?
Especially when the shower’s not water.
Shortly after takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport this week, Delta Air Lines Flight 89 to Shanghai developed engine problems. Which sent Flight 89 right back to LAX. Not wanting to land a distressed Boeing 777 with wings full of explosive aviation fuel, the pilot began dumping his Jet A-1 kerosene as he circled back to the airport.
Which fell to earth as a mist ... that blanketed five elementary schools in the middle of the school day.
The plane rain led to minor lung and skin irritation in 56 kids and adults below. But the Los Angeles County Fire Department said injuries were minor, and the drizzling jet fuel evaporated quickly.
Given the absence of serious injuries, it’s clear the Los Angeles students heeded at least one public health message during the kerosene shower: Nobody was engaged in outdoor underage smoking.
And the Inventing Oscar goes to ...
For many people, the new year means the announcement of the Oscar nominations.
We here at LOTME have been waiting for an announcement that comes at the beginning of each year, but it has nothing to do with who got snubbed by the Academy. We’re talking about something really big: the National Inventors Hall of Fame class of 2020.
As usual, we were not disappointed. The world of health care was well represented among this year’s inductees.
At the head of the class, at least alphabetically, is R. Rox Anderson, who developed groundbreaking laser technology (patent number 5,595,568) used in medical treatments and procedures. Then there’s James McEwen, who invented the first microprocessor-controlled automatic surgical tourniquet system (patent number 4,469,099).
Posthumous NIHF nominations went to Stewart Adams and John Nicholson, the codevelopers of 2-(4-isobutylphenyl) propionic acid, which we know as ibuprofen (patent number 3,228,831). Adams, a pharmacologist, and Nicholson, an organic chemist, worked for Boots Pure Drug Co. in England during the 1950s and 1960s while they collaborated on the drug’s creation.
Several other nominees have somewhat-less-direct medical connections. Edward W. Bullard invented the hard hat (patent number 1,699,133), which has undoubtedly saved lives and prevented injuries. Lisa Lindahl, Hinda Miller, and Polly Smith invented the sports bra (patent number 4,174,717), which “has enabled women’s participation in athletic activities and advanced women’s health and well-being,” the NIHF said in a written statement.
And finally – for those of you who thought this would never end – there’s Floyd Smith, the trapeze artist turned aviator who invented the modern parachute (patent numbers 1,340,423 and 1,462,456) and kept many sky divers out of the emergency department.