Archives for April 2012

5 Tips to Reduce Your Stress Right Now

April 18, 2012 | by

This article was written by Carter Harkins.

Stress is at epidemic levels in our population. The American Psychological Association released its Stress in America 2011 Report earlier this year, and according to the report, 73% of us think our stress levels are the same or higher than they were 5 years ago [1]. Ninety-four percent of us believe that stress can contribute to the development of major illnesses such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes and depression, but only 29% say that they are doing an excellent or good job at managing or reducing stress. Clearly, this is cause for concern.

Doodle to reduce your stress

Warning To Parents: “Choking Game” is Popular, Dangerous

April 16, 2012 | by

A new study published in the medical journal Pediatrics reports on the prevalence of youth participation in a dangerous strangulation game, commonly referred to as the “Choking Game” [1]. The game involves obstructing blood flow to the brain by tightening a scarf, rope or belt around the neck. When the belt is removed and blood returns to the brain, the participant experiences a euphoric high. The game, researchers report, is played purely for the purpose of experiencing a high; it is non-sexual in nature and is not the same as autoerotic asphyxiation.

Belt

Third Reported Recovery From Clinical Rabies in the U.S.

April 13, 2012 | by

Rabies is a serious — almost always fatal — viral infection of the central nervous system. The virus is present in the saliva of infected mammals, and is most often spread via a bite wound. Raccoons, skunks, bats, foxes, and coyotes are the most common carriers of rabies in the United States, though any mammal, including domestic dogs and cats, can become infected and transmit the disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention keeps statistics on rabies incidence in the U.S., and notes that cases are quite rare. Only one or two individuals a year become infected with the rabies virus, and prophylaxis (vaccination post-exposure, but prior to the development of symptoms) is almost always effective.

Bat

Imagine the Future of Health and Medicine: TEDMED 2012

April 11, 2012 | by

There’s one place where you can learn about the latest innovations in technology, science, health and medical research from some of the most influential thought leaders in their fields: TEDMED.

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, is the world’s most famous conference on the ideas that shape the world. For the past three years, there’s been a special TED just for health and medicine — TEDMED — where passionate doers and thinkers go once a year to experience the power of new ideas, hear amazing and inspiring talks, meet innovative people, and leave transformed.

The annual TEDMED conference started today. TEDMED brings together 1500 thinkers and doers from a wide array of medical and non-medical disciplines. For the next three and a half days (April 10-13) at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., this uniquely diverse community will explore the ideas, innovations and challenges that will help shape the future of health and medicine for 300 million Americans … and the world.

TEDMED is hosting over 60 speakers this year, including Francis S. Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health; Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Joel Salatin, Polyface organic farmer and author; and Ivan Oransky, Executive Editor of Reuters Health.

TEDMED has no agenda and no policy prescriptions. Instead, the organization seeks to serve the nation — and the world — by creating a safe place where people with very different ideas can come together to talk, to learn and to celebrate the amazing world we live in.

Bilinguals Switch Tasks Faster than Monolinguals

April 11, 2012 | by

Children who grow up learning to speak two languages are better at switching between tasks than are children who learn to speak only one language, according to a study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health. However, the study also found that bilinguals are slower to acquire vocabulary than are monolinguals, because bilinguals must divide their time between two languages while monolinguals focus on only one.

Bilingual