Morning Break: Deadbeat Patients, Fish in the Gullet?

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Published: Mar 20, 2014

Business owners who claim that forcing them to provide health insurance that covers contraception violates their religious freedom will get their day in court -- Supreme Court -- next Tuesday when the "Supremes" hear oral arguments on that issue. Kaiser Health News in collaboration with The Daily Beast preview talking points.

An ACA rule could put doctors on the hook for patients who don't pay their insurance premiums. Read MedPage Today's coverage of the AMA's advice to doctors on how to handle such patients.

A New England Journal of Medicine editorial Wednesday called for the Senate to confirm Vivek Murthy, MD as the next surgeon general despite his comments about gun control.

Since laughter is the best medicine, here's your Rx today: Dr. Grumpy relates what not to say to a blind patient.

If anyone has ever told you they felt it in their gut that dark chocolate is good for you, unfortunately, they are sort of right.

WHO says only one-quarter of patients globally with multidrug-resistant TB are diagnosed, but a new initiative is improving the odds.

People are passionate about food, as CNN.com learned from the dozens of responses to a story about the "correct" way to cook quinoa.

A nurse's conviction for encouraging suicides was overturned by the Minnesota Supreme Court Wednesday, ruling unconstitutional parts of a law making it a crime to encourage or advise suicide, Reuters reported.

In case you ever need to remove a live fish from a patient's throat, here's how.

GlaxoSmithKline's MAGE-A3 cancer vaccine disappointed again, this time in a phase III trial for non-small cell lung cancer. Last fall, it fell short as a melanoma treatment.

An op/ed on SGR asks: "Is this anyway to treat America's doctors?" by MedPage Today reader Brian Joondeph, MD.

What's the evidence for evidence-based medicine? asks a blogger at BMJ.

Leana Wen, MD, profiles The Ten Types of ER Patients.

William Heisel looks at what happens after doctors are disciplined by state medical boards.

Who had richer parents, doctors or artists? asks NPR.

The A4 Alzheimer's chemoprevention trial team lays out the plan and rationale in this essay in Science Translational Medicine (sub req'd).

Health reform is literally changing the way medical practices are built.

IBM's Watson will help match glioblastoma patients with optimal treatment as part of a study run by the New York Genome Center.

Morning Break is a daily guide to what's new and interesting on the Web for healthcare professionals, powered by the MedPage Today community. Got a tip? Send it to us:   MPT_editorial@everydayhealthinc.com.

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Morning Break: Tweeting Surgery, Bionic Limbs

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Published: Mar 21, 2014

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will live Tweet from the OR as surgeons perform gastric bypass surgery on a 12-year old Texas girl who has had uncontrollable hunger following removal of a brain tumor almost 3 years ago. The girl, Alexis Shapiro, gained a national attention following a story in People.

Physician assistants are in hot demand by hospitals, according to staffing firm.

An oncology patient didn't have 8 months to wait for her daughter's wedding, so the hospital staff brought the wedding to the ICU, as reported in the New York Times.

Also in the Times yesterday, the Well blog tackles the issue of whether today's advances in medicine are generating enough of a benefit to make a difference in patients' outcomes.

A woman whose left leg was partially amputated following the Boston Marathon bombing showed off a new bionic limb by dancing a rumba at TED2014.

American Medical Association President Ardis Hoven, MD, went on C-SPAN this week to talk about how the Affordable Care Act is impacting doctors.

Republicans' Obamacare replacement bill may never see the light of day.

Florbetaben (Neuraceq) became the third PET tracer for beta-amyloid plaques to win FDA approval, following florbetapir (AmyVid) and flutemetamol (Vizamyl).

A new poll shows people want elected officials to try to make the ACA work rather than fail.

A former health official in the Clinton administration wrote in the Huffington Post that we shouldn't be quick to judge medical homes.

The Federal Trade Commission opened a two-day workshop on competition in healthcare Thursday.

Lobbyists want the FDA to hurry up on approving new sunscreen ingredients that could prevent skin cancer.

Health Affairs published a policy brief on the ICD-10 conversion. Check it out here.

Medical marijuana is coming to Alabama.

Meanwhile, debate in Connecticut heats up over a physician-assisted suicide bill. (Subscription required)

The EU's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use had a busy week, recommending nine new drugs for approval.

Morning Break is a daily guide to what's new and interesting on the Web for healthcare professionals, powered by the MedPage Today community. Got a tip? Send it to us:  MPT_editorial@everydayhealthinc.com.

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Morning Break: Tweeting Surgery, Bionic Limbs

Get customized medical news and FREE CME!Select Specialties and Topics of Interest to Customize Your NewsContinue to RegisterRegister for FREE customized news, conference, policy and practice coverage and CME tracking. Register Today

Earn Free CME Credits by reading the latest medical news in your specialty.

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Published: Mar 21, 2014

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center will live Tweet from the OR as surgeons perform gastric bypass surgery on a 12-year old Texas girl who has had uncontrollable hunger following removal of a brain tumor almost 3 years ago. The girl, Alexis Shapiro, gained a national attention following a story in People.

Physician assistants are in hot demand by hospitals, according to staffing firm.

An oncology patient didn't have 8 months to wait for her daughter's wedding, so the hospital staff brought the wedding to the ICU, as reported in the New York Times.

Also in the Times yesterday, the Well blog tackles the issue of whether today's advances in medicine are generating enough of a benefit to make a difference in patients' outcomes.

A woman whose left leg was partially amputated following the Boston Marathon bombing showed off a new bionic limb by dancing a rumba at TED2014.

American Medical Association President Ardis Hoven, MD, went on C-SPAN this week to talk about how the Affordable Care Act is impacting doctors.

Republicans' Obamacare replacement bill may never see the light of day.

Florbetaben (Neuraceq) became the third PET tracer for beta-amyloid plaques to win FDA approval, following florbetapir (AmyVid) and flutemetamol (Vizamyl).

A new poll shows people want elected officials to try to make the ACA work rather than fail.

A former health official in the Clinton administration wrote in the Huffington Post that we shouldn't be quick to judge medical homes.

The Federal Trade Commission opened a two-day workshop on competition in healthcare Thursday.

Lobbyists want the FDA to hurry up on approving new sunscreen ingredients that could prevent skin cancer.

Health Affairs published a policy brief on the ICD-10 conversion. Check it out here.

Medical marijuana is coming to Alabama.

Meanwhile, debate in Connecticut heats up over a physician-assisted suicide bill. (Subscription required)

The EU's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use had a busy week, recommending nine new drugs for approval.

Morning Break is a daily guide to what's new and interesting on the Web for healthcare professionals, powered by the MedPage Today community. Got a tip? Send it to us:  MPT_editorial@everydayhealthinc.com.

MOST READ IN Public Health & PolicyTOP CME IN Public Health & Policy

View the original article here

Smart ways to break distance in bedroom revealed

 

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Washington: A Huffington Post contributor has brought out some ways to break the distance between a couple in the bedroom.

Firstly, a person should get in touch with ways in which they might be denying their partner or coming on too strong sexually, the Huffington Post reported.

Secondly, they should strike a balance between separateness and togetherness and should avoid criticizing each other and make peace by stopping the blame game.

Thirdly, they should always keep in mind that it's the pattern not the person that's the problem so they should try to find ways to connect with their partner and be more accepting.

Fourthly, people who distance themselves from their partners in bedroom need to practice initiating sex more often and try carving time out for emotional intimacy and romance.

Fifthly, the people who pursue their other halfs to bed need to find ways to tell their partner that they are sexy but should avoid a critique after sex.

Sixthly, if a person or their partner feels flooded, they should walk away but not in anger or blame but should disengage as a way to restore their composure not to punish their other half.

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Early Course of HIV Therapy May Give Infants a Break From Drugs

WEDNESDAY, Aug. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Giving immediate drug therapy to HIV-infected infants for a limited period of time protects their immune system and delays the start of lifelong treatment, according to a new study.

HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

Currently, infants who begin so-called antiretroviral therapy must continue for life. However, long-term use of the therapy increases their risk of drug-related toxicity and drug resistance, according to background information in the study published Aug. 22 in The Lancet.

"This important finding indicates we may be able to temporarily stop treatment and spare infants from some of the toxic effects of continuous [antiretroviral therapy] for a while, if we can monitor them carefully," study co-leader Mark Cotton, a professor at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, said in a journal news release.

"With [antiretroviral therapy] coverage in children currently at just 28 percent, our findings highlight the urgency of increasing early (within the first 3 months of life) testing and treatment of HIV-infected infants," he added.

The researchers looked at five years of follow-up data from 377 HIV-infected infants who, at ages 6 weeks to 12 weeks in 2005, were randomly selected to begin immediate short-term antiretroviral therapy of 40 weeks or 96 weeks, or to wait until they showed signs of illness or a weakened immune system before beginning treatment.

On average, infants in the delayed-treatment group needed to begin taking lifelong therapy 20 weeks after the start of the study. In comparison, those completing the immediate course of treatment for 40 weeks were able to then delay restarting treatment for an average 33 weeks, and those who completed the immediate course of 96 weeks of treatment were able to delay restarting treatment for an average 70 weeks, the investigators found.

By the end of the trial, nearly 20 percent of infants who were given 40 weeks of early treatment and about one-third of infants who received 96 weeks of initial antiretroviral treatment were still well enough to avoid restarting what would eventually become lifelong treatment.

The researchers also found that the delayed-treatment group had a significantly higher number of deaths and hospital admissions, and had higher health care costs than the groups of infants who received immediate, temporary antiretroviral therapy.

"Early treatment followed by a break is definitely better and more cost-effective than delaying starting infants on treatment. But we do not know if a longer initial period of treatment, or early continuous treatment, might be even better," study co-leader Dr. Avy Violari, from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, said in the news release.

-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2013 HealthDay. All rights reserved. SOURCE: The Lancet, news release, Aug. 21, 2013

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