Medicine

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25156743

Summary

A University College London study analyzed nearly one million survey responses from 49,000 adults over two years and found that mental health is generally better in the morning, worsening by midnight.

Happiness and life satisfaction fluctuate by day and season, peaking in summer and on certain weekdays.

The study, published in BMJ Mental Health, suggests physiological factors like cortisol levels and daily routines may explain these patterns.

Researchers recommend considering time of day in mental health research and service availability, though causation remains unproven.

The advertisement appears harmless, but it is far from it: isotonitazene is a type of nitazene, a class of synthetic opioids up to 40 times stronger than fentanyl and up to 500 times more powerful than heroin.

Nitazenes were developed in the 1950s by a Swiss chemical company as a new type of painkiller, but the drug was so potent that it was never approved as a medicine. Even trace quantities can cause an overdose.

Decades later, nitazenes have re-emerged in the underground drug market: they have been detected in counterfeit prescription medicines, including fake oxycodone and benzodiazepines pills, and in street drugs, including cocaine, heroin and ketamine.

The UN drugs agency and countries around the world have warned of the major health risks posed by nitazenes. The super-strength opioid has already caused hundreds of deaths in Europe, the UK and North America.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for improved infectious aerosol concentrations through interventions that reduce the transmission of airborne infections. The aims of this review were to map the existing literature on interventions used to improve infectious aerosol concentrations in hospitals and understand challenges in their implementation.

Methods

We reviewed peer-reviewed articles identified on three databases, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from inception to July 2024. 6417 articles were identified, 160 were reviewed and 18 were included.

Findings

Results on aerosol concentration were discussed in terms of three categories: (1) filtration and inactivation of aerosol particles; (2) effect of airflow and ventilation on aerosol concentrations; and (3) improvements or reduction in health conditions. The most common device or method that was outlined by researchers was high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters which were able to reduce aerosol concentrations under investigation across the included literature. Some articles were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of interventions in terms of improving health outcomes for patients.

Interpretation

The key finding is that infectious aerosol concentration improvement measures based on filtration, inactivation, improved air flow dynamics, and ventilation reduce the likelihood of nosocomial infections. However limitations of such approaches must be considered such as noise pollution and effects on ambient humidity. Whilst these efforts can contribute to improved air quality in hospitals, they should be considered with the other interacting factors such as microclimates, room dimensions and use of chemical products that effect air quality.

Funding

This study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) (NIHR205439).

I really have no idea what we can do as medical professionals to protect our pregnant patients. I try not to be pessimistic, but if H5N1 becomes another pandemic, I'm not very confident that Trump or those of his ilk in other countries are going to do anything useful about it.

This is a very small case series, but there aren't that many cases to study (yet). I still find it to be very concerning, even if it is a very small sample size.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/24627021

Summary

A study analyzing gut microbiomes of over 12,000 people across 45 countries found that higher fiber intake may promote beneficial bacteria (Faecalibacterium) that suppress harmful ones like E. coli.

These bacteria produce short-chain fatty acids, which are linked to better gut health.

While the study shows associations—not causation—experts emphasize fiber’s proven benefits for diabetes, weight control, and heart health.

Most Americans consume only 58% of the recommended daily fiber (30g). Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes are key sources for increasing fiber intake.

The article description below is from an email newsletter:

Physicians are expected to always act in the best interest of their patients. Increasingly, many doctors find they must speak up and be advocates before a world that seemingly cares little for the lives and rights of their patients. In some cases, that advocacy has been in the form of civil disobedience against policies and laws seen to be unjust or inequitable.

However, civil disobedience by doctors is complicated. On the one hand, medicine is a profession of norms, rules, regulations, standards and tradition. On the other, there are often times of moral crisis that call on physicians to challenge those very norms, rules and expectations.

Today in The Conversation Canada Wael Haddara from the Schulich School of Medicine at Western University discusses his research into how the Canadian Medical Association’s code of ethics has changed over the decades, and explains why doctors sometimes need to take a moral stand, even with the risk of losing their job.

I’m trying to practice heating my body, not the whole room. The main problem is cold fingers when using a keyboard. Fingerless gloves are insufficient. So I figured a heat lamp would be ideal for this. And it turns out it’s been done.

I’m nixing that particular device though because the light is not red (thus not good for late night usage). It’s also only sold online and I will only buy local. The linked Beurer heat lamp is a “medical device” intended for humans. It looked suitable for my purpose -- then I saw there is a timer with max 15 min. What is that about? Is that for safety or for convenience?

I can imagine 15 min being enough for pain relief but my use case requires keeping my hands warm for hours. Pet stores sell 150 watt IR heat lamps for reptiles just as a standard bulb, thus would go into a desk lamp without a short time limit.

The linked device is 300 watt. That’s good but it has no intensity control. A normal light dimmer on the A/C line would solve that. But I wonder:

• is long-term exposure to IR heat harmful?
• if not, should I be avoiding medical devices and looking in pet shops or restaurant supply shops for IR heat lamps, to avoid the timers?
• are there IR lamps for medical purposes that have longer timers?

Bit nutty.. or it could work if the mouse is not needed much→ http://i.stack.imgur.com/bbE42.jpg

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/36282639

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/23719065

Summary

ProPublica investigates health insurers’ reliance on controversial doctors to deny mental health treatment.

Highlighting Emily Dwyer’s case, it details United Healthcare’s rejection of coverage for her anorexia treatment, despite evidence she was gravely ill.

Courts have criticized insurers for “arbitrary and capricious” denials, with judges pointing to factual errors and dismissive reviews by company-hired psychiatrists.

While some families, like the Dwyers, fought back in court, most lack resources to challenge insurers.

Critics call for reforms as denials often worsen health outcomes and highlight systemic issues in mental health care access.

Folk music/bluegrass has a long history of producing very poignant protest music, and this song/artist is no exception. The song does a good job of conveying a quick summary of where we are and how we got here (and it's a delightfully catchy tune!)

This might be a good thing to share with folks who aren't quite getting the message as it's a pleasant way to share the information and is less than 2 minutes long.

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/20278273

This is a great article written by Robert Evans of 'Behind the Bastards' fame that goes into Luigi's background, social media presence, and apparent ideologies.

We all have had patients with chronic pain, we all know someone with chronic pain, and some of us unfortunately have chronic pain. We know how horrible it can make someone's life, and how much worse life can be if your insurance just keeps denying anything that could help.

Edit: Here's a link to what is most likely the real manifesto: https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/luigis-manifesto

Ken Klippenstein is a very reliable journalist and this version of the manifesto contains the snippets that have been released by law enforcement. Also, considering the thing was hand-written, that very long version involving his mom is dubious. (And there’s not any good evidence that his mom is in anything besides decent/good health)

My thoughts are summarized by this line

Casey Fiesler, Associate Professor of Information Science at University of Colorado Boulder, told me in a call that while it’s good for physicians to be discouraged from putting patient data into the open-web version of ChatGPT, how the Northwell network implements privacy safeguards is important—as is education for users. “I would hope that if hospital staff is being encouraged to use these tools, that there is some significant education about how they work and how it's appropriate and not appropriate,” she said. “I would be uncomfortable with medical providers using this technology without understanding the limitations and risks. ”

It's good to have an AI model running on the internal network, to help with emails and the such. A model such as Perplexity could be good for parsing research articles, as long as the user clicks the links to follow-up in the sources.

It's not good to use it for tasks that traditional "AI" was already doing, because traditional AI doesn't hallucinate and it doesn't require so much processing power.

It absolutely should not be used for diagnosis or insurance claims.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/25095680

UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. health insurance provider, blamed a Russia-based ransomware gang for the huge data breach of U.S. medical data.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/31063000

Intro section below:

Seventy-five per cent of health care in Canada is provided at home by unpaid family caregivers. Not only is this essential health-care work often unrecognized and under-supported, it is rapidly changing.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many health-care appointments have shifted to telephone and videoconferencing. This change in the mode of health-care delivery has now become more fully integrated into the Canadian health-care system.

While a lot of policy and research has focused on the impact of this transition on doctors and patients, these changes also have important implications for caregivers.

With a growing portion of Canadians opting to age in place at home, family members will increasingly be relied upon to provide care. However, unlike professional health-care workers, family caregivers are generally not compensated for their labour. A middle-aged man helping an older man take his medication With a growing portion of Canadians opting to age in place at home, family members will increasingly be relied upon to provide care. (Shutterstock)

In fact, the act of caregiving is associated with personal costs. Caregivers often must take time away from paid work to provide care, which in turn affects their financial security. Notably, women make up the major share of caregivers in Canada.

To better understand the needs of caregivers, our research team reviewed existing studies, and conducted interviews and workshops with caregivers and others taking part in virtual health. Our findings shed light on how virtual care has so far interacted with existing inequities to create opportunities and challenges for caregivers.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/24371438

Six transplant patients tested positive for HIV after receiving infected organs from the Rio de Janeiro organ donation service, state officials said on Friday.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/3F8Pi

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com%2Fworld%2Famericas%2Fsix-transplant-patients-brazil-contract-hiv-infected-organs-2024-10-11%2F