Brain Drain
Obesity, diabetes, and brain damage “It’s well-known that type 2 diabetes can cause medical complications in certain organs, including the brain. But overweight and obese people with early-stage type 2 diabetes have more severe abnormalities in brain structure and cognition than normal-weight people with type 2 diabetes, according to a new study in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. “Having type 2 diabetes and being overweight, then, can combine to have a greater effect on brain structures.” Click here to read the full CNN...
Read MoreMarijuana abuse
People Who Live in states with legalized medical marijuana are more likely to use and abuse marijuana, study suggests. USA Today (4/26, Hughes) reports people who live in states that have “legalized medical marijuana are more likely to use and abuse cannabis than people” who live in states that have not legalized medical marijuana, according to a study published online April 26 in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers found that the number of people using marijuana “without a doctor’s note” as well as the number of people with a marijuana use disorder both increased in states with legalized medical...
Read MoreTaking your medications?
Nonadherence To Prescribed Medications Is An “Epidemic” In The US. The New York Times (4/17, Brody, Subscription Publication) reports, “Nonadherence to prescribed medications” is “an out-of-control epidemic in the” US “that costs more and affects more people than any disease Americans currently worry about.” The article suggests that nonadherence “explains why so many patients don’t get better, suffer surprising relapses or even die when they are given drug prescriptions that should keep their disorders under control,” cites research on how widespread the problem is, and also outlines why...
Read MoreICD-10 afflictions
The World Health Organization has a wonderful website where all 68,000 of the ICD-10 codes we’re now using to classify and bill for the various conditions we treat are categorized and enumerated. First a little about symbolism The WHO logo at left contains an international symbol of medical care also used by the American Medical Association, a serpent lifted up on a pole, that some believe was derived the mythological figure of Asclepius, a supposed half-deity dating to about 1200 BC who was associated with healing and medicine. However, those of us in the Judeo-Christian tradition...
Read MoreE-Cigarettes
The good news is that the smoking rate among New York’s high school students declined to a historic low of 4.3 percent in 2016. The bad news is that during the last two years, the use of e-cigarettes among youth nearly doubled from 10.5 percent in 2014 to 20.6 percent in 2016. Many young people are lured by the intentionally sweet flavors and the mistaken belief that e-cigarettes are safe to use. But e-cigarettes are not safe. Both cigarettes and e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and can cause permanent changes in young, developing brains. In addition, although...
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