Last Sunday, 60 Minutes profiled John Kanzius, an inventor who may have come up with one of the most promising breakthroughs in cancer research in years. It’s still in the experimental stage and much research needs to be done, but if future clinical trials are successful, the Kanzius Machine will destroy cancer cells throughout the body without need for drugs or surgery.
The Kanzius Machine: A Future Alternative to Chemotherapy?
April 17, 2008 | by
The Last Lecture – How to Live Your Childhood Dreams
April 10, 2008 | by
Nightline aired The Last Lecture: A Love Story For Your Life last night on ABC. For those who may have missed it, Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006. Less than a year later, the cancer metastasized to his liver and spleen, and he was given six months to live. In September 2007, Pausch said goodbye to Carnegie Mellon and his students with a Journeys Lecture called “How to Live Your Childhood Dreams”. In it, he discussed his life’s journey and the lessons he has learned. Journeys are a Carnegie Mellon lecture series in which faculty members share their reflections on everyday actions, decisions, challenges and joys that make up their lives.
Funding of Childhood Cancer, NF Research in Jeopardy
March 31, 2008 | by
Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a set of genetic disorders that can cause tumors to develop and grow along various types of nerves. The tumors may also affect the development of non-nervous system tissues such as skin and bone.
There are three types of NF tumors that result from mutation or loss of different tumor suppressor genes:
- Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is the most frequent inherited cause of brain and nerve tumors. One in every 3,000 children is born with NF1, making it also one of the most common inherited human diseases worldwide. Enlargement and deformation of bones may also occur. Approximately 50% of people with NF1 also have learning disabilities. NF1 is caused by a mutation or loss of the tumor suppressor gene NF1.
- Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is much rarer, occurring in one in 25,000 births. NF2 is characterized by the development of multiple tumors on the cranial and spinal nerves. The hallmark of NF2 is the formation of tumors that affect auditory nerves. Hearing loss beginning in the teens or early twenties is typically the first symptom of NF2. NF2 is caused by a mutation or loss of the tumor suppressor gene NF2.
- Schwannomatosis is even rarer than NF2, affecting one in 40,000 individuals. SImilar to NF1 and NF2, Schwannomatosis tumors can develop on cranial, spinal and/or peripheral nerves. Although patients with Schwannomatosis do not have learning disabilities, they experience chronic pain and occasionally numbness, tingling and weakness. The candidate Schwannomatosis tumor suppressor gene is named INI1.
The Doctor’s Channel – A Media Snack for Doctors
March 28, 2008 | by
“Media snacking” is a term used to describe the consumption of small bits of information, data or entertainment. Social networks such as StumbleUpon, Facebook and del.icio.us, text and media sites such as Twitter and Pownce, Flickr … the list goes on and on. People that consume bite-sized media chunks, short web videos, RSS feeds and blogs are picking and choosing media that can be viewed quickly and easily. Today, it’s all about the packaging of information.
It’s all about being brief and succinct.
In today’s fast-paced, hectic world, everyone is busy, especially doctors. With patient visits, paperwork and meetings, doctors have little time to learn from each other and the healthcare community. The Doctor’s Channel, an internet TV site for doctors, is a time-saving tool that offers doctors an informative media snack, enabling them to learn about the latest news, ideas and information quickly.
The site offers 1 — 2 minute streaming videos offering rich, concise content delivered by doctors, as well as opinions and editorials. Doctors can film and post short videos pertaining to anything they think would be of interest to their peers, such as therapy approaches, surgical procedures, new drugs, etc. Further, users can register on the site and, like other social networks, join groups related to their interests. The site covers a total of 42 therapeutic specialties.
The Doctor’s Channel President David Best, MD, MBA, said [1]:
We started The Doctor’s Channel because it’s apparent that the traditional system of medical education isn’t working as well as it could. Watching a talking head for 15 minutes on a computer screen is a crushing bore. The world is media snacking, getting their information in short bursts from cell phones, podcasts and RSS feeds. We decided that the physician, who really does have precious few minutes a day, is the perfect audience for short, succinct educational streaming videos. Our goal is to provide an engaging, interesting way for doctors to learn that quickly gets to the point.
The Doctor’s Channel is just one of several websites that offer reputable video content that can be viewed by health consumers. Additional websites include:
- icyou, a healthcare video community with hundreds health-oriented videos from certified medical and health professionals (as well as regular people)
- Empowered Doctor, a health and medical news website that offers the latest news with short video stories.
These are excellent alternatives to using YouTube as a source of health misinformation.
Do you know of other reputable medical video content websites? Let me know!
Additional health and medical video resources are listed in the Highlight HEALTH Web Directory.
Reference
Nirvana in the Right Hemisphere: A Stroke of Insight
March 19, 2008 | by
In January 2007, a meta-analysis published in the journal Neurology determined updated rates of the most common neurological disorders [1]. The review found that 183 out of every 100,000 people suffer a stroke each year. Most studies included in the analysis attributed 80% or more of all strokes to ischemia (meaning a localized deficiency of blood caused by a clot obstructing arterial flow). In contrast, the incidence of a hemorrhagic stroke (meaning bleeding in the brain) is much more rare and is associated with higher mortality rates. Indeed, a study of stroke incidence rates and case fatality in 15,792 middle-aged adults found that hemorrhagic strokes were 4.5 times as fatal as ischemic strokes [2].
