The Truth About Organ Donation

August 26, 2010 | by

This article was written by Rebekah Apple.

Right now, more than 107,000 Americans wait for a life-saving organ transplant. The list grows with another name every 11 minutes, and every day, 18 people on that list die.

One organ donor can save eight people’s lives and a tissue donor can help up to 50 others. The fact remains, however, that there simply aren’t enough organs to save everyone on the waiting list.

Donate Life

Signing up to become a donor is easy — most Americans can designate themselves as donors when they get their drivers license and, in many states, that designation transfers their information to a state database. In the event of their death, organ donation professionals access that database, which begins the process of saving lives.

Making the decision to become a donor is different; it requires a clear understanding of the way donation works — which can prove difficult, given various persistent myths about donation.

Social Media in Health and Medicine: Medlibs Round 2.7

August 11, 2010 | by

Welcome to Medlib’s Round, edition 2.7, the monthly blog carnival highlighting excellent blog posts in the field of medical information. Just under a year ago, we hosted MedLibs Round 1.8: Finding Credible Health Information Online. For this edition, we wanted to focus on how social media is being used to promote health information online.

Social media in health and medicine
There’s a revolution occurring on the Web: those “authoritative” articles written on traditional, static websites are being replaced with blogs, wikis and online social networks. In the sphere of health, medicine and information technology, this “real-time Web” consists of many who are professionals in the field; their posts are listed below.
In the digital age, these are the characteristics of new media: recent, relevant, reachable and reliable.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the term mobile is being used quite often when discussing social media and health. Indeed, according to a recent Pew Internet report, 59% of adults are now accessing the internet wirelessly using a laptop or cell phone [1].

Keeping with this month’s theme, we’re tweeting and sharing posts using the Twitter hashtags #medinfo and #medlibs. If you like a particular post, share it with your friends and be sure to add both hashtags.

The Quick Guide to Healthy Living

August 4, 2010 | by
The Quick Guide to Healthy Living

Earlier this year, we reported on the National Health Observances Toolkit, a resource at healthfinder.gov to help promote certain health observances. Late last month, they released another really useful tool: the Quick Guide to Healthy Living.

Your job, friends, the kids — we’re all on tight schedules these days. You try to stay up-to-date with prevention and wellness tips, but often there isn’t time to search through all the complex health information on the Web. The Quick Guide to Healthy Living now makes it easier — and faster — to find actionable prevention and wellness tips.

The guide features one-page, printable tools so you can find information to help you and those you care about stay healthy. Topics range from “Nutrition and Fitness” to “For Parents” to “Cancer Screening and Prevention” and include articles such as:

  • Manage stress and protect yourself from serious health problems
  • Take a heart healthy shopping list with you to the grocery store
  • Prevent allergy and asthma attacks at home
  • Get tested for breast cancer
  • Prevent mosquito and tick bites

Most of the guides have three sections, displayed as tabs on the page: Overview, The Basics and Take Action. Each guide also provides suggestions — Start Today: Small Steps — to help you get started right away.

Eat Healthy

With over 80 health and wellness tips, there’s something for everyone. It’s easy, it’s fast and it’ll help you stay healthy: the Quick Guide to Healthy Living from healthfinder.gov.

A Look Back at 50 Years of Birth Control

June 30, 2010 | by

Birth control pills are a very popular form of birth control and are currently used by almost 12 million women in the United States and more than 100 million women worldwide [1-2]. Typically referred to as “the pill”, oral contraception has an interesting history and has generated enormous social and cultural impact.

Subsequent to drug trials in the mid-1950’s, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved birth control pills for contraceptive use in the U.S. in 1960. The first published case report of a blood clot and pulmonary embolism in a woman using birth control pills did not appear until November 1961 [3]. Between 1961 and 1963 there were 347 cases of thrombophlebitis (meaning vein inflammation related to a blood clot) in women using birth control pills for contraception that were reported to the manufacturer [4]. After almost 10 years of epidemiological studies, it was established that there is an increased risk of venous thrombosis (meaning a blood clot that forms in a vein) in oral contraceptive users and an increased risk of stroke and heart attack in oral contraceptive users who smoke or have high blood pressure or other cardiovascular or cerebrovascular risk factors.

Womens Health Zone recently posted an infographic surveying the changes that have resulted from the use of birth control pills. The infographic provides insight into statistics collected from PlannedParenthood.org on birth control over the last 50 years and is republished here on Highlight HEALTH below.

A look back at 50 years of birth controlCreative Commons License photo credit: Expedient InfoMedia

References

  1. Mosher et al. Use of contraception and use of family planning services in the United States: 1982-2002. Adv Data. 2004 Dec 10;(350):1-36.
    View Abstract
  2. Trussell, James (2007). “Contraceptive Efficacy”. in Hatcher, Robert A., et al.. Contraceptive Technology (19th rev. ed.). New York: Ardent Media.
  3. Jordan WM and Anand JK. Pulmonary embolism. Lancet. 1961 Nov 18;278(7212): 1146-7.
  4. Tyler ET. Oral contraception and venous thrombosis. JAMA. 1963 Jul 13;185(2):131-2.
    View Abstract

An Inside Look at NIH Peer Review

June 17, 2010 | by

Scholarly peer review is the process by which a researcher’s work — grant applications and research articles — are subjected to the scrutiny of others who are experts in the same field. This process of evaluation requires a community of experts for a given field who are both qualified and able to perform impartial review. These experts recommend scholarly work for acceptance, revision or rejection. Although impartial review may be difficult to accomplish, it is generally considered essential to academic quality and is used in most important scientific publications. Peer review encourages researchers to meet the accepted standards of their discipline and prevents the dissemination of irrelevant findings, unjustified claims, unacceptable interpretations and personal views.