Friday, June 20, 2014

Just four questions can identify which ER patients need prompt care

A simple formula can help physicians identify which emergency room patients with vague complaints need rapid treatment.
Physicians at the University Hospital Basel in Switzerland asked psychologist Mirjam Jenny of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin to develop the diagnostic tool. The physicians had identified 88 signs of serious illness in 1,278 ER patients who had described nebulous problems

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

True Hope for Bipolar Disorder Sufferers?

NaturalNews) A new supplement from Truehope Nutritional Support, Ltd. may hold promise for people suffering from bipolar and other mood disorders. EMPowerplus is a supplement sporting a blend of 36 vitamins, minerals and amino acids, and it's making waves in the Canadian and American psychiatric communities. To its critics it is an unproven treatment that could prove dangerous, but to those who claim to have been helped by the supplement it is nothing short of a scientific breakthrough in the treatment of mood disorders.

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See also article 'Effective Mood Stabilization with a chelated mineral supplement: an open label trial in bipolar disorder (Journal of clinical Psychiatry 2001: 62:936-944)

Genetic tests may help bipolar disorder patients

Scientists have identified a group of patients with a genetic predisposition to mental illness, opening up for the first time the prospect of personalised medicine in psychiatry.
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Scientists Closer to Identifying Bipolar Risk Genes

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have taken a major step toward identifying the specific genes that contribute tobipolar disorder.
Rather than just relying on clinical symptoms alone, researchers combined the findings of brain imaging, cognitive testing, and a variety of temperament and behavior tests to identify about 50 brain and behavioral measures that have both a strong genetic influence and a link to bipolar disorder.

It’s been tough, but my training mojo’s making a comeback

I can't tell you how happy this last week has made me. After months of inactivity, to get out and actually do something physical was such a joy
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Monday, June 16, 2014

Ireland’s mental hospitals: the last gap in our history of 'coercive confinement'?

As the inquiry into mother and baby homes begins, campaigners say it’s time to shine a light on psychiatric care. 

At the age of 19, Hanna Greally was admitted to St Loman’s Psychiatric Hospital in Mullingar. It was the mid-1940s and she had just returned home from London, where she had witnessed the horrors of the blitz.
She thought she was being admitted to the hospital for “a rest”.
Despite several escape attempts and pleading letters to relatives to sign her out, she remained there for the best part of 20 years.

Friday, June 13, 2014

AllTrials campaign: European Medicines Agency is changing its data sharing policy in response to pressure

Dear Friends
The European Medicines Agency is changing its data sharing policy in response to pressure from all of us. At its board meeting yesterday Executive Director Professor Guido Rasi tabled amendments to remove the on-screen-only access clause and to allow researchers to download, save and print clinical study reports. This is great. The policy will now be closer to the original draft the EMA published in June and that hundreds of us supported.
Yesterday’s improvement to the policy only happened because hundreds of researchers, patients and citizens called for it. We’ve heard that a number of the attendees at the meeting didn’t know there had been any criticisms of the policy. If our correspondence hadn’t been tabled the changes probably wouldn’t have been voted through. Huge well done to everyone who wrote, this is down to you.
Of course allowing downloading of the data isn’t everything we called for. We don’t know if there are going to be changes to the redaction policy or to the terms of use that would allow third parties to sue researchers but we don’t think there will be. The EMA is finalising the text of the policy over the next few weeks and we understand it will be published in September.
Read our comments about it here and share this news. Please, get more people to sign the petition. Share the campaign video with as many people as you can and ask them to share it too.
Best wishes

Ian Bushfield
Campaigns Support Officer
Sense About Science

www.AllTrials.net
www.SenseAboutScience.org

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

A swim in the sea seems to solve life's stresses

Author Stephen Burke talks about swimming, healthy eating and catching up on his favourite TV programmes

"The American Nurse"

If you haven't heard already, the new documentary, "The American Nurse", has been taking the country by storm since it's release during Nurses Week. If you haven't yet seen the film, brace yourselves and make sure you do so as soon as possible. It is a testament to our profession. 
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What does it take to be a great nurse (in three words or less)?

It takes many, many (many) qualities to be a great nurse. Is it possible to boil these qualities down to three words or less?
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Most Popular Health News Articles for 2014

The most popular health news articles posted in 2014 are shown below. 
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Monday, June 9, 2014

Fish Oil , Depression

It is now no secret that people all over the western world are turning to high grade ethyl EPA omega 3 fish oil to treat a number of conditions, but can it really work against a problem that knows no boundaries of age, race or gender. It is a condition that affects millions of people at some time in there lives, it’s called depression.
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Who Uses Complementary and Alternative Medicine?

The most recent National Health Interview Survey reports that in the preceding 12 months, 38% of Americans used complementary and alternative medicine (CAM); defined as “a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine.” So why is interest in alternative therapies increasing?
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