Health Highlights – March 6th, 2009

Reading time: 2 – 3 minutes

Health Highlights is a biweekly summary of particularly interesting articles from credible sources of health and medical information that we follow & read. For a complete list of recommeded sources, see our links page.

• How distractible are you? The answer may lie in your working memory capacity | Cognitive Daily

  Dave Munger pays attention to a recent study on memory capacity and mental focus.

• Genetics of Cancer Resistance | Dr Shock MD PhD

  Dr Shock reviews fundamental concepts in genetics and highlights a study providing alternative explanations for cancer resistance.

• Why Does My Child Need a Flu Shot? | Doctor David’s Blog

  Dr. David Loeb covers recent flu-related news and discusses a study on drugs designed to treat influenza. His advice: prevent the flu with a flu shot.

• FDA OKs First Human Trials of Embryonic Stem Cells – Geron Biotech | The Medical Quack

  Barbara Duck reports that the Federal Drug Administration has approved the first human trials of embryonic stem cells to treat a small group of spinal cord injury patients.

• How to make EBM easy to swallow: BMJ PICO | Laikas MedLibLog

  Cliff Notes for evidence-based medicine? Shamsha Damani reports that the British Medical Journal (BMJ) will be publishing summaries for published research articles.

• Reality Deniers | Science-Based Medicine

  Homeopaths deny chemistry, acupuncturists and chiropractors deny anatomy, energy therapies deny our understanding of physics and energy – they all deny the validity of the scientific method.