Medicine

Using Citrus to Teach Surgical Technique

NPR has a report on their health blog about an innovative (and inexpensive) way to teach laproscopic surgical technique using clementines.?á I’m sure satsumas would work just as well in Louisiana.

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New Adverse Effects Checker

Are you or your patients having strange symptoms after taking an new herbal supplement??á Natural Standard can help!

Natural Standard, a source for?á high-quality, evidence-based information about complementary and alternative medicine, announced today the release of their new Adverse Effects Checker.

Simply check off the symptoms and the Adverse Effects Checker will provide a list of dietary supplements that may be causing those symptoms.

2 Minute Tip: Welcome to The JAMA Network

JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association recently debuted a substantial redesign of its website for the first time since 2001.

When?áJAMA?áand the 9?áArchives?áJournals launched their website in 1999, smartphones had not been invented, Google was still a noun, Mark Zuckerberg was 15, and Steve Jobs was about to become CEO of Apple. While the journals transitioned to a new platform in 2001, most of them have not moved since. In the meantime, the web world evolved and in medicine ÔÇ£digitalÔÇØ became much more than part of the physical examination. Source

New features include a smarter search engine utilizing semantic technologies, more multimedia content, and enhanced CME. At 1:40, this overview of the new JAMA Network definitely qualifies as ?áa two minute tip!

2 Minute tips is a blog series where we bring you short video tutorials on various tools and resources in the library.

CDC Feature: Staying Healthy on a Cruise

The CDC published another feature on travel earlier this month; this time on Staying Healthy on a Cruise.?á At least this one isn’t an advisory like the ones for Spring Break or Carnival.

It recommends being up on the appropriate immunizations and vaccines and mentions precautions regarding seasickness and norovirus.

Along these travel lines, the books display at the Isché Library highlight a variety of travel topics.

Children and Diabetes

NPR ran a story this morning about the troubling rise in diabetes rates in adolescents.?á According to a CDC study the rates of diabetes in youths aged 12-19 has risen alarmingly.

LSUHSC’s own Dr. Melinda Sothern commented in the story about the concerns of the high rates of diabetes in adolescent girls in particular:

These are teen girls ÔÇö adolescent girls ÔÇö who are going to become mothers in the next five to 10 years. And if their weight is not healthy, we’re going to have another generation of these children with metabolic problems that lead to diabetes and prediabetes

Obesity in children is a hot topic right now and is something that concerns all of us, not just those with children.?á A report on economic costs of diabetes states:

Approximately $1 in $10 health care dollars is attributed to diabetes. Indirect costs include increased factors such as absenteeism, reduced productivity, and lost productive capacity due to early mortality.

FYI, LSUHSC has another connection to the NPR story. The accompanying photo on NPR’s website was taken by Director of Information Services, Leslie Capo.

Urban Chicken: Keeping Poultry at Home

As the “locavore” movement continues to blossom across the country, it’s no longer only rural citizens who have access to less-industrialized food options: even residents of cities are finding ways to grow their own produce, or at least acquire it from nearby sources. This provides more economical and healthy options for cooks. A part of this movement has been the choice of some urban homesteaders to raise their own poultry.

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) currently has a page on its website with helpful information about Keeping Backyard Poultry. The major point that the CDC addresses is the prevention of the spread of Salmonella, an illness that is transmitted in a variety of ways. It can be spread through contact with poultry (or any birds), including?áchickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys.

Salmonellosis is an infection with the bacteria called?áSalmonella.?áMost persons infected with?áSalmonella?ádevelop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without treatment. However, in some persons, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. In these patients, the?áSalmonella?áinfection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.

The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness. The CDC highly recommends hand-washing and careful hygiene to anyone handling live poultry or poultry products such as meat or eggs. All poultry and poultry-related equipment and supplies should be considered contaminated even if the animals look healthy.

Interestingly enough, the?áTimes-Picayune?ápublished an article?álast year that examined troubles with feral chicken populations which have grown since Hurricane Katrina. Recently, local ABC affiliate WGNO-TV covered a story about the difficulties in catching feral chickens in the city. New Orleans has its own special set of issues when it comes to the cosmopolitan bird.

Health Care For the First Freedpeople

Contraband camp, Richmond, Va, 1865, image courtesy of the US National Archives

Here’s a great post about the first US sponsored hospital for African Americans from Jill L. Newmark, exhibition specialist in the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland.

On a parcel of swampy land in northwest Washington, D.C. bounded by 12th, 13th, R and S Streets N.W., a tented camp and hospital once stood that served thousands of escaped slaves and black soldiers during the American Civil War. Known as Contraband Camp, it contained one of the few hospitals that treated blacks in Washington, D.C. during the war and whose staff, including nurses and surgeons, were largely African American.

Read more: Contraband Hospital, 1862-1863: Health Care For the First Freedpeople

Sports & Stomach Flu

Photo Credit: F.P. Williams, U.S. EPA

Various local news agencies are reporting that the LSU baseball team was missing 16 players for their game last night due to stomach flu.

Coincidentally, the CDC is featuring Norovirus Surveillance on their webpage yesterday. We published a publication alert post in November about Norovirus in NBA players.

CDC’s Spring Break Advisory

Much like the Carnival Advisory we wrote about last month, the Centers for Disease Control has posted a Spring Break Travel Advisory. I wonder how many Spring Breakers even know that the CDC exists?

Rare Disease Day

Today is the fifth International Rare Disease Day which will be recognized and celebrated in over 40 countries worldwide.

Started on February 29, 2008 by EUROIDS (The European Organisation for Rare Diseases) this day is used for gaining individual hope and political awareness for those who suffer with rare diseases around the globe.

Events scheduled for this year focus on ÔÇ£solidarityÔÇØ with the slogan ÔÇ£rare but strong together.ÔÇØ To learn more click here.

Below is a list of Rare Disease Communities that exist (found on http://www.rarediseasecommunities.org/en), but others can be found through an available search engine.

• Alkaptonuria (AKU)
• Alternating Hemiplegia
• Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syn.
• Beh?ºetÔÇÖs Syndrome
• CAPS
• CDG
• Cystinosis
• Dravet syndrome
• Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS)
• Epidermolysis Bullosa
• Familial Mediterranean Fever
• Glut1 DS
• Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
• Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia
• Multiple Myeloma
• Moebius syndrome
• Paraneoplastic Neurological Syn.
• Von Hippel-Lindau

Dental care in the ER

Americans who turn up in the emergency room to get dental care aren’t lost, they’re probably just running out of options.

According to a new report from the Pew Center on the States more than 800,000 visits to the ER in 2009 were for toothaches and other avoidable dental ailments.

What effect will this have on the future of dental care??á It really depends on who you are talking to:

This is NPR’s view.

This is the ADA’s view.

Louisiana Seafood Fitness Challenge

Ever wonder why fashion models and fitness buffs are perpetually dining on fish and veggies??á

Because?áSeafood is healthy!

Not only is it full of protein, Omega 3s, vitamins and minerals- it typically contains fewer calories and fat grams than other protein sources (i.e. poultry and eggs).

With all of this positive information letÔÇÖs take a minute to ponder how lucky we are to live in New Orleans, Louisiana- a veritable wonderland of seafood!

OK. Minute is up.

Now itÔÇÖs time to take action and join the Louisiana Seafood Fitness Challenge!

Started by Bobby Hebert (former New Orleans Saints Quarterback) and his WWWL SportÔÇÖs Talk co-host (Deke Bellavia), Louisiana Seafood Fitness Challenge ?áwill follow these men as they see who can lose the most weight in 40 days simply by incorporating more seafood into their diet. The best part? Anyone can join this challenge.

Take the pledge, submit your healthiest seafood recipe and?áshare your inspirational seafood success story all in the name of encouraging all of?áLouisiana to eat their way to health . . . with Louisiana Seafood of course!

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is today, February 7th. The CDC reports “Among all racial/ethnic groups, African Americans bear the greatest burden of HIV in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 1 in 16 black men and 1 in 32 black women will be diagnosed with HIV infection during their lifetimes. In 2009, blacks made up 14% of the US population but accounted for nearly half (44%) of all new HIV infections.”

Know the facts about HIV/AIDS in New Orleans and get involved in?áLouisiana.

*Edit* the Gambit blog has more on this topic.

CDC’s Carnival Advisory

Library Shoebox Float - 2010

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have a Carnival Advisory linked from their main webpage at the moment.

A couple of quick points about the page: