It has been recently brought to my attention that there is a new form of Identification theft.
Medical ID Theft

As I understand it, bad people out there are stealing Health Insurance and personal information and then using it to get "free" health care.  It doesn't surprise me as health care has become so expensive that it is now a major commodity that's worth stealing.

What is even scarier about this is it can affect your health.  If persons claiming to be you seek health care from a physician or hospital their diagnosis and medical records will be linked to you.  It could affect your insurance coverage as well as possibly link medical conditions or allergies to you that you do not have.

This is just a reminder to be careful and protect your personal information.  Your Insurance cards and benefits records (which you receive in the mail) could all be used to gain access to your Insurance coverage. 

Thanks to the fine people at "The Prescriber's Letter" for creating a nice patient informational sheet on this topic. 

Medical Identification Theft Info Sheet from The Prescriber's Letter

This Article from Scientific America is one of the best summaries I have seen about how to encourage children and not blindly "praise" them.

We have for years been so worried about our children's self-esteem that we have forgotten to teach our children to constantly strive for better.  As Ernest Hemmingway put it,
"Contentment is the foe of heresy."  i.e.- Those who are content will never question anything.

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids
Hint: Don't tell your kids that they are. More than three decades of research shows that a focus on effort—not on intelligence or ability—is key to success in school and in life

Ran across this amusing cartoon.  It is a scary truth that seems more and more prevalent.  I for one am trying to educate my patients about this pitfall.  Medicines are wonderful but maybe we use them as a crutch to often?  or... Maybe all the commercials we see on TV are really true.... you decide.

More reason to support new moms.  This is a significant study.  fairly well done (although it doesn't address all the variables.)  Mom's that don't get enough sleep are 3 times more likely to hold on to the pregnancy weight at one year.  Ok dad's, time to strap on those boots and do more 1am baby feedings:)

Sleep Helps New Moms Fit into Their Old Jeans

by Allison Aubrey

Im a big believer in giving to education and children (the only way that has ever improved poverty.)  This website is great.

Donors Choose

Teachers apply for a school project, you get to choose a project and help fund it.  Then the teacher will perform the project & you get feedback about how the project went.  And of course... it's tax deductible. 

If your looking for a way to give back to this world.  This may be a nice and rewarding way to do it.

Every so often an unfortunate story like this shows up.
A young person (usually out west) contracts a strange disease and becomes very ill or worse dies.  The diagnosis is made and it is the PLAGUE!!!! (RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!)
The media immediately picks up on the story and before you know, it's Plague hysteria everywhere.  Well I would like to calm some fears.
This story recently occurred.  An unfortunate 37 year old biologist from the Grand Canyon recently contracted and died from pulmonary (or lung) plague a few days after performing an autopsy on a mountain lion from the region.  This is tragic and my thoughts go out to the young man's family and friends, but this is a rare and a freak event.
Plague is caused by a bacteria that is found in many animal populations.  During the 1400s, crowded inner city populations in Europe and horrible public sanitation the bacteria was rapidly passed from rats to people by flea bites.  Because they had no antibiotics the illness killed nearly 25% of the worlds population at the time.  The Bubonic (or Black) Plague.
It often killed by blood infections and lead to large black lymph nodes or Bubos (thus the name.)  Rarely the bacteria can go airborne and cause a severe and almost always fatal pneumonia (which seems to have happened in our unfortunate biologist in Arizona.)
But the fact is that Yersinia pestis (the dubious bacteria) is sensitive to simple penicillin.
It is treatable (most of the time.)

So please.... it is an interesting and historical illness but NOT something for people to get worked up about.  If you want to worry... worry about cervical cancer, diabetes, and malaria.  Those diseases cause much more death and illness and we can do something about it.

Plague Suspected In Death Of Man In Arizona

Over the last few years new light has been shed on the condition known as sepsis.  Sepsis is the term used when someone dies from an overwhelming blood infection.  It is extremely common and seen often in the hospital.  We previously thought that it was related to toxins produced by the infecting organisms.  But new evidence suggest that it is actually caused by an immune response from the body against the invaders.  Like an autoimmune disease.  Sepsis is hallmarked by blood pressure and cardiac collapse.
This interesting study suggest that a compound in green tea may actually reduce the risk of Sepsis occurring in infected people.  This is exciting because to date we have little to nothing to truly treat sepsis. 
This is only a study on mice so much more study is needed but I'm encouraged by this.

Green Tea Proves Powerful Medicine Against Sepsis

This is some great advice.  We often want to do so much for our elderly yet... most of the time.  SIMPLE is Better.

Six Creative Holiday Ideas For Your Senior Family Member

Finally a little respect for all the infamous but neglected diseases of the world!

Dracunculus medinensis, Tularemia , Q-fever, and even leishmaniasis will all finally get their due.

it seemed like no one would ever want to play with a Charlie in the box!

Journal of Neglected Tropical Diseases

A recent study has been disappointing for treating Hep C patients with persistence disease.
The standard of care in Hepatitis C treatment is peginterferon alfa-2a.  For some time we have been treating new Hep C patients with interferon therapy with the goal of eradicating the virus.  Unfortunately this is not always successful and now it appears that long term interferon therapy is also unsuccessful in helping prevent liver disease.

This study gave long term interferon to patients who had failed eradication therapy.  The virus levels and liver enzymes all improved, however rates of progression to liver disease were the same.  The reason is unclear.  This is unfortunate and we should push forward for more treatment options for these patients.

Hepatitis C Treatment Reduces the Virus but Serious Liver Problems May Progress

Well, it looks like people are finally realizing that being thin is not actually a healthy thing.  go figure....
but it actually goes further than that.  just maybe, the scientist have gotten it wrong too?
A recent study shows a lower death rate for people that are over weight (note: this does not mean OBESE (BMI>30.))
The reasons for this are unclear but my guess would be that a little extra energy reserves provides a survival benefit from illness.  Again, it is important to note that this was a lower death rate when compared to the "ideal" body weight.  Under weight and Obese people still have higher death rates.  Also, this study only looked at deaths, not at morbidity (or decreased quality of life that may be caused by excess weight.  It's still to premature to make a huge change in our recommendations but this may be the beginning of an upper change in the "Ideal" body weight.  Check out these links:

Causes of Death Are Linked to a Person’s Weight: New York Times

Cause-Specific Excess Deaths Associated With Underweight, Overweight, and Obesity- JAMA