Conclusions
Dyslipidemia seems to have no association with sensorineural hearing loss in 5–18 years old children according to this study.

from the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology

A collaborative study from hospitals in Pittsburgh has found that people with depression after coronary bypass recover more quickly, physically and mentally, with a telephone-based therapy regimen provided by nurses than they do with usual care. This was particularly true for men. The intervention required patients to obtain their own medication and outside mental health care, if needed. The authors suggest this model may be useful in other settings, such as for chronically ill people living in rural areas.

RESULT: Telephone-delivered Collaborative Care for Treating Post-CABG Depression
JAMA | Nov 16, 2009

However, sending an e-mail version of postcards to teenagers had no effect whatever on their tendency to seek treatment for depression, according to this study from Australia, which was created to address deficiencies in earlier trials. (The discussion section, pondering what went wrong, may reveal less about the nature of depression than it does about the authors’ misunderstanding of teenagers, communication, and the Internet.)

RESULT: Health e-Cards as a Means of Encouraging Help Seeking for Depression Among Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial
Journal of Medical Internet Research | Oct 22, 2009

Search: depression

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OTHER RECENT SEARCHES ON SEARCHMEDICA

Search: social anxiety

RESULT: Guided and unguided self-help for social anxiety disorder: randomized controlled trial
British Journal of Psychiatry | Nov 1, 2009

Even without the help of a therapist, simply reading about cognitive behavior strategies for social anxiety disorder, on the Internet or in a book, can be effective in improving social anxiety disorder when supplemented with an online support group, according to this study from Sweden.

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SEARCH TIP: Quotation marks are useful—but beware

Last week someone achieved less than great results with cognitive “behavior modification” “learning disability“—a carefully crafted search term. It produced only 4 results.

The peril with specifying a phrase using quotation marks is that you may exclude results that use synonymous but different language. (For instance, “behavioral modification” would be excluded.) By removing the quotation marks, we found many interesting articles that used both “behavior” and “modification,” but not adjacent to each other.

It may be useful to try both versions of the query, with and without quotation marks.

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OTHER RECENT SEARCHES ON SEARCHMEDICA

Search: managing autism in children

RESULT: Safety and Efficacy of Oral DMSA Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Part B – Behavioral Results
BMC Clinical Pharmacology | Oct 23, 2009

Responding to a reported association between high body burdens of toxic metals such as lead and mercury in some children who have autism, researchers tried treatment with oral dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA), which binds to these metals so that they are excreted in the urine. The treatment was safe and “possibly helpful in reducing some of the symptoms.”

Search: patient labeling

RESULT: Daily Med (Carvedilol tablet, film coated)
DailyMed | Nov 12, 2009

This search was probably intended to locate articles about the social problems inherent in the fact of a psychiatric diagnosis and the dissemination of that information to the patient and others.  Instead it found many results about medications and their printed labels. 

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SEARCH TIP: Stop. Sit back. Take a deep breath. Muse.

This search is quite a challenge. We tried clicking around the article categories at the top of the results list. We tried using the All of Medicine tab, rather than Mental/Nervous. We tried putting the query inside quotation marks. Every strategy brought the same result: articles about medications.

If you’re just not able to convey what you mean, try this strategy: Pretend you’re writing an article about the topic in question. Begin to craft the abstract in your mind. Actually key in a sentence or two about the subject on your keyboard.

That’s how the phrase “labeling of patients” came to mind. It worked.

Sometimes, trolls can be annoying, and sometimes they can be funny. Maybe it’s just my stupid sense of humor, but I lmao’d at this one.

Iubitul meu cel de departe,
ce greu de paşi singurătatea îmi atârnă!…
Eu dorm sub cerul gol; ca niciodată
nu mă veghează stele şi nici lună.

De-aici, din lumea mea de sticlă,
vreau să cuprind ce-n veci n-a fost cuprins;
dar între noi trec secole, nu clipe
şi-a nu ştiu câta oară azi a nins.

Şi de-aş găsi pe undeva o zână bună
sau de aş câştiga dreptul de a iubi la loterie,
aş cumpăra şi pentru cerul meu o lună,
o lună mare, poleită, din hârtie.

Uneori, în nopţile goale de vise,
când simt eliberare-atât de-aproape,
mă-ntreb de-am să mă fac vorbe nezise
sau dor de stele şi de ape.

Je sais que certains jeunes cachent tout à leur parents. Qui ils sont vraiment, où ils vont, qui ils fréquentent. Ils inventent des fables pas possibles et s’esquivent, derrière une façade de conformité approximative.

J’ai froid dans le dos, lorsque j’y pense. Je déteste les rapports qui ne sont pas sincères. À quoi bon mettre au monde et élever un enfant si en bout de ligne, c’est pour entretenir de lui  une image qui est fausse, sauvegarder à tout prix l’illusion de le connaître et de savoir qui il est, un jeu de dupe qui finira on ne sait quand.

Le coût de la sincérité fait mal. Je me tiens prête à renoncer à certains idéaux que j’entretiens à propos de mon fils, de son avenir. Vivre l’adolescence de son enfant, c’est accepter que progressivement, un étranger s’installe sous son toit. Ce qu’il fait ou ne fait pas ne nous plaira pas nécessairement, il faut tolérer sa présence parfois dérangeante. Mais c’est aussi une présence plus forte, plus fiable, plus stimulante. C’est de plus accepter les limites de son influence. Faire la différence entre aider et contrôler. Je peux aider à ce qu’il prenne les mesures nécessaire à sa réussite scolaire, mais pas le forcer à réussir. Aider en insistant, en limitant, en confrontant, en exigeant des efforts. Pour le reste, que faire ?

Je deviens bonne dans l’art des disputes asymétriques. Je passe ma remarque, qui fait l’effet d’un cocktail molotov. Je me replie un peu le temps de l’explosion, mais je ne flanche pas. Je ne cherche pas à avoir réponse à toutes les récriminations. Hausser les épaules, une fois que l’essentiel est dit, ça suffit.

Tout un apprentissage, mais il en vaut la peine.

Si demain vous déplaît. C’est une pièce de théâtre coup de coeur, sacrée meilleur spectacle de la saison 2008-2009 par les récents Prix de la critique.

Elle s’articule autour du monologue d’un adolescent né entre la chute du mur de Berlin et les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 à New York; C’est un appel au renouveau des idées, une envie de révolution exaltée. Le cri d’une génération qui désire retrouver une vie plus humaine et un avenir où tout est possible.

(D. Berns, O. Mouton, J-M Wynants – Le Soir 10-11-2009)

Extrait

Je suis l’adolescent.

Je suis né dans les années 90, un peu après le 9 du 11.

La chute du mur.

Boum.

Et un peu avant le 11 du 9.

La chute des tours.

Badaboum.

Au temps de la décomposition. Dans le sentiment confus d’un achèvement sans lendemain.

Partout il n’est question que de la fin.

Fin des utopies. Fin du politique. Fin du sens. Fin de l’art.

Fin du féminisme. De la libération sexuelle. Du plein emploi. De l’âge d’or.

Fin du communisme. Fin de l’Histoire. Et pour en finir, fin de la modernité elle-même.

Je suis l’enfant d’un enterrement.

Un enfant à qui l’on a bourré le crâne de leçons trop nombreuses.

Et (…) je voudrais en finir avec la fin.

Je sais que j’ai des parents progressistes.

Mais ils sont désabusés.

Au fond, je suis sûr que chaque jour ma mère espère que je vivrai sans mouvement de société, sans idéaux politiques trop grands pour moi, sans hostilité à l’égard des pouvoirs en place.

Mon père espère que “tout se passera bien” pour moi.

Quelque part ils voudraient me faire confondre “devenir adulte” et “résignation”.

Allez vous faire foutre !

La nouvelle architecture du monde uni est démocratique et généreuse, tout le monde peut y trouver sa place.

Elle prévoit que nous ayons accès au travail, à l’éducation au confort….Au bonheur. (…)

Tous m’enseignent que nous sommes libres et égaux en droit. Libre de rêver. Libre de s’exprimer. Libre de choisir. Je suis même libre de me révolter. Tout en dedans. Rien n’est en dehors.

J’ai oublié la provenance de ces principes.

J’ignore qui en a décidé. Tout ce que je sais c’est que la nouvelle architecture du monde Uni a tout avalé.

Y compris sa propre contestation.

Je cherche une issue. (…)

J’aurais voulu autre chose.

J’aurais voulu qu’on m’apprenne ce que c’est la révolution. La contestation. J’aurais voulu qu’on m’apprenne ce que c’est s’indigner, s’insurger, dire non.

J’aurais voulu qu’on m’apprenne ce que c’est se réunir, prendre parti, défendre ses idées.

J’aurais voulu qu’on m’apprenne quelles actions sont possibles pour changer les choses plutôt que de s’en accommoder.

J’aurais voulu qu’on m’apprenne ce que c’est la révolution et pas la révolte.

J’aurais voulu que l’on me parle joliment de l’être humain.

J’aurais voulu sentir de la force concentrée partout autour de moi pour qu’on ait le désir de changer les choses ensemble.

Sans doute que plusieurs d’entre vous me trouvent ridicule.

Sans doute que certains se disent “oh qu’il est mignon”.

Ceux-là, je les emmerde.

Je suis l’adolescent et je vous emmerde.

Parce que vous ne me donnez pas de réponse et que je ne sais pas où en trouver.

Je suis l’adolescent et je vous emmerde.

Parce que je suis en manque. (…)

Manque de temps / Manque d’amour/ Manque d’envies/ Manque de besoins/ Manque de confiance/ Manque d’espoir/ Manque de pulsions/ Manque de créativité (…) …

http://www.utopia2.be/show/cat.php?idcat=34&souscat=1

ScienceDaily (Nov. 25, 2009) — Angst could be more than a rite of passage for insecure teenagers, according to a study published in the Journal of Pain. Researchers from the Université de Montréal, Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center and McGill University have discovered that insecure adolescents experience more intense pain in the form of frequent headaches, abdominal pain and joint pain. These teens are also more likely to be depressed than peers with secure attachments.

Dr. Isabelle Tremblay, a researcher at the Université de Montréal and its affiliated Sainte-Justine University Hospital Center, and Dr. Michael Sullivan, a psychology professor at McGill University, launched this study to build on previous findings that childhood experiences play a major role in the relationships people develop in later life. Simply put: insecure infants grow up to be insecure adolescents, and later, insecure adults.

“Although previous studies in adults found that an individual’s security level was influenced by painful experiences, it was not clear why relationship security should be related to pain,” says Dr. Tremblay. “We found that adolescents with insecure relationships tend to be more ‘alarmist’ about their pain symptoms; they have a tendency to amplify the degree of threat or severity of their pain. This amplification leads to more intense pain and more severe depressive symptoms.”

Some 382 students, from Grades 8 through 12, were recruited for the study from a francophone high school in Montreal, Canada. Participants were asked to fill questionnaires on the frequency and intensity of their emotional and physical pain.

“It is possible that individuals who have insecure relationships may perceive the world as more threatening or more stressful and that manifests in physical symptoms,” says Dr. Sullivan. “Alternately, it is possible that individuals who feel insecure might ‘express’ more intense distress as a means of eliciting support from others in their social environment.”

Interpersonal factors must be considered when managing adolescent experiences of pain and depression, according to the researchers. “Adolescents have different health and mental health needs than adults. Although interpersonal factors have not been considered integral component of the treatment of pain and depression in adults, these factors might need to be considered in the treatment of adolescents,” stresses Dr. Sullivan.

Adapted from materials provided by University of Montreal, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091125110849.htm

Adele thought that she was a wonderful parent before she had kids. She was always an “expert” on why the parents she knew were having problems. Then Adele had three children of her own.

Adele realized that raising children can take a parent to the depths of his or her character. Initially, understanding children and what motivates behavior in kids was a mystery to Adele. But she soon learned that the best way to connect with kids and figure out how to motivate them to proper behavior begins with emotional connection. There is a direct connection between how kids feel and how they behave.

Emotional bonding with your kids begins with the most fundamental unit of communication – what Psychologist Dr. John Gottman calls an emotional “bid.” A “bid” can be a question, a gesture, a look or touch, any single expression that says “I want to feel connected to you.” Understanding healthy “bids” for emotional connection is essential to a successful and rewarding parent-child relationship.  A parent needs to analyze his or her style of emotional “bidding” and how he or she responds to a child’s emotional “bidding.”

Connecting with your kids emotionally will strengthen and add power to your relationship. Strong parent-child emotional understanding and bonding can form a healthy foundation for which your kids will benefit in navigating relationships for the rest of their lives.

Ca va mal ? Osez en parler

http://www.alloecouteado.org/

Quebec doctors report the rapid emergence of H1N1 resistance to oseltamivir in a father who was given the drug in a failed attempt to prevent him from catching the pandemic flu from his infected child. They urge that prophylactic doses be raised to therapeutic levels as soon as symptoms develop. Monitoring for the mutation that causes this resistance (in avian and seasonal as well as pandemic H1N1) is also crucial.

RESULT: Emergence of Oseltamivir-Resistant Pandemic H1N1 Virus during Prophylaxis
New England Journal of Medicine | Nov 11, 2009

The CDC quickly posted online ahead of print this report of naturally arising resistance due to a different mutation found in an American teenager who took a flight to Hong Kong, arrived ill with the pandemic flu, and refused treatment with oseltamivir. H1N1 viruses with this mutation appear to replicate rapidly, and there is “great concern” that resistant strains may become dominant.

RESULT: Oseltamivir-Resistant Influenza A Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Virus, Hong Kong, China
Emerging Infectious Diseases | Oct 20, 2009

Search: tamiflu

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OTHER RECENT SEARCHES ON SEARCHMEDICA

Search: hypertension

RESULT: Cardiovascular and Metabolic Predictors of Progression of Prehypertension Into Hypertension: The Strong Heart Study
Hypertension | Nov 1, 2009

A prospective study of Native Americans in Arizona, North and South Dakota, and Oklahoma has shown that in addition to diabetes and initial systolic blood pressure, increased left ventricular (LV) mass is a strong predictor of progression from prehypertension to hypertension. There’s a chicken-and-egg question, however: Is the higher LV mass merely an earlier indicator of the underlying problem—as yet undetected by the blood pressure measurement—or an actual risk factor for hypertension?

RESULT: Newly Reported Hypertension After Military Combat Deployment in a Large Population-Based Study
Hypertension | Nov 1, 2009

For military personnel, deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan appears to be a stress-related risk factor for the development of new hypertension.

Search: lower respiratory tract infection

RESULT: Risk Factors for Lower Respiratory Tract Infection Death Among Infants in the United States, 1999-2004
Pediatrics | Oct 1, 2009

Among infants with a normal birth weight, those born to Native American/Alaskan or black mothers are at increased risk for lower respiratory tract infection. The unanswered question is why.

Search: headache

RESULT: Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in Outpatients with a Complaint of Headache
Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine | Nov 1, 2009

About one-third of patients who appear at a primary care office complaining of headache also have depression, according to this study, compared to only 10% of those who come in for another reason. The authors suggest screening all people who have chronic headaches for depression.

RESULT: Health Care Assistants in Primary Care Depression Management: Role Perception, Burdening Factors, and Disease Conception
Annals of Family Medicine Medicine | Nov 1, 2009

Follow-up by health care assistants using structured telephone interviews proved actually better than usual care for depression, according to this study of primary care practices in Germany. The staff found this an additional burden but preferred it to administrative tasks and were willing to undertake it.

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SEARCH TIP: That other option: The entire Web

Someone wrote in to thank us for a useful result about headache found using the option “The entire Web” (rather than “Recommended medical sites,” which is the default).

RESULT: Headache: Hope Through Research
National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke

The gratitude is misplaced. This page for a general audience, including descriptions of research, does not appear among our sites recommended for a physician audience.

This option is useful for searching the general news. But SearchMedica’s Advisory Board has not approved its content and it cannot be recommended as a source of medical information.

Tonight I walked in front of this old school I used to go to many years ago. It’s still the same but with minor differences. The swing sets are gone. Some bricks are mildly undone.

I wasn’t the cool guy at school. I was the silent type. I was shy. During recess, I had some funny jokes to tell, and I was sure that they were funny, but I wouldn’t dare to tell them. At some point some cool guy would walk in and say something funny. I remember I wanted to be like them. I didn’t want to be bullied. I wanted to laugh and yell and act like a little man.

I remember this very cute and cool girl at school. I was so much in love with her. I think she was too. But there was this thing. This limit. She had cool friends and I didn’t. Sometimes she would reach to me. Sometimes she would come to me and talk to me but every time she would do this, some cool friend of her’s would jump in ” Hey, why are you hanging out with this weirdo? ” and she would leave with that person.

So I ended up watching her evolve as a young woman through the years. During high school she stopped coming towards me. We now were in separate classes. Sometimes I would sit in the cafeteria and watch her. Her boyfriends would never treat her right. I wanted to beat the hell out of them and save her. I knew I was able to treat her right. But I never had the strength. I didn’t have it in my arms, I didn’t have it in my heart and I didn’t have it in my soul.

Then I became very sick. I stopped going to school. I stopped going everywhere. I stayed at home. I read. I wrote. I listened. I watched. I began to think. By myself. I began to talk. I became stronger. Maybe not in my arms, but in my heart and soul. And that’s 2 out of 3.

As the years flew by, she went away like the others. I stayed here in my little hometown. I was alone, but I was also with myself. I found myself through these difficult years. I built myself. And now, here I am.

And there she is.

Un adolescente israeliano su otto soffre di disturbi psicologici. A lanciare l’allarme – attraverso un dossier pubblicato questa settimana – è il ministero della Salute. Anche se – fanno sapere – “il dato è in media con i paesi occidentali”.

La depressione è il disordine mentale più riscontrato (3.3%). Seguito dal deficit d’attenzione (3), fobie specifiche (2,5) e comportamenti violenti, che includono le aggressioni nei confronti di un membro della propria famiglia (1,8).

Nel campione – ragazzi dai 14 ai 17 anni – sono stati inclusi anche gli arabo-israeliani. Per questi il disturbo più frequente è l’ansia da distacco affettivo (3%, contro il 2,4 di quelli di religione ebraica).

Excerpt from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report: Health, US, 2008:

• 67% percent of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 years and over who are overweight or obese (2005-2006)
• 34% percent of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 years and over who are obese (2005-2006)
• 18% percent of adolescents age 12-19 years who are overweight (2005-2006)
• 15% percent of children age 6-11 years who are overweight (2005-2006)
• 11% percent of children age 2-5 years who are overweight (2005-2006)

Delayed gratification is the ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants. The ability to control impulsiveness is usually considered to be a personality trait which is important for life success.

The marshmallow experiment is a famous test of the concept of delyaed gratification conducted by Walter Mischel at Stanford University. In the 1960s, a group of four-year oldswere given a marshmallow and promised another, only if they could wait 15 minutes before eating the first one. Some children could wait and others could not. They were profiled as “grabbers” or “delayers.”

The researchers then followed the progress of each child into adolescence, and demonstrated that those with the ability to wait were better adjusted and more dependable (determined via surveys of their parents and teachers), and scored an average of 210 points higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT).

The experiment has been done over and over again over the years by Mischel and others. The results are similar and indicate a strong connection between delaying gratification and success in all areas of life.

L’avis de Leiloona

Now that I have been out of college for 7 months (!), I feel that there are a few things I should share with those  in college and considering/entering college.

Over these seven months, I have had time to recollect and consider my college experience – what I did well, what I wish I had done, what I would do differently now, etc.

This blog post is a list (in no particular order) of things that I believe one should do to get the most of their college experience.

Here we go…

• Spend money wisely and learn to save & budget.

I’m pretty sure that college freshmen have more money that first year of college than they will ever have at any point in time in their entire lives.  I know I did.  And I also know I spent all of it on ridiculous things (for the most part).  Now that I don’t have that kind of money, I wish I had learned to spend it better (or not at all) way back then.

• Spend time with friends while you have them all right there with you.

Now that I don’t live in a dorm and am surrounded by neighbors I don’t even know, I’m finding that I miss the community that dorm life offers.  In college, I could walk a couple of feet away from my door and reach a friend.  Not anymore.  I have to make a more pointed effort to be able to spend time with friends now.  So get off Facebook, and go hang out with a friend in real life while you still can.

• Take advantage of the library and the books it has to offer.

This one is a good one, as simple as it seems.  Lately, I have wanted to read something related to my field, but I don’t have access to the kinds of material I had access to in the ETBU library.  Now I have to buy most of the (nonfictional) books that I would like to read – which might not be so bad if I had learned point number one earlier on (see above).

• Talk to your professors, especially the ones in your department.

Professors.  The ones who forced me to write research papers and read a plethora of books, most of which were not-so-interesting.  Only now am I realizing how much I wish I still had them around.  Not because I want them to give me assignments and lectures, but because they have so much knowledge and information to offer from their brilliant, scholarly minds.  I wish I still had the luxury of taking a seat in the offices of the religion professors to ask questions about philosophy, ethics, Greek, and, yes, even biblical interpretation.  And most of them are eager to discuss other non-scholastic things as well (like movies and practical jokes).  So cash in on your professors while you can.

• Learn.  Learn.  Learn.

In college, it’s incredibly easy to get wrapped up in making the grade and even easier to neglect actual learning.  How I wish I had given more attention to Greek translations.  Prophetic literature.  Mentoring.  Adolescent Psychology.  I can’t tell you how surprised I have been to actually be using a big majority of this stuff in my life post-ETBU, either at work or in regular day-to-day life.  In fact, just the other day I had to pull out my textbook for my Adolescent Psychology class for a work project.  So yeah, I got my degree, but I wish I had taken more from my academic experience.

There it is.  Nothing completely profound, but yet so hard to learn and often too late.  And there are many others that I’m sure will be revealed to me even later on in life.

Here’s to you, East Texas Baptist University.

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