tingilinde

herd immunity

Greg points out a nice visual explainer on herd immunity

wearable sensors for athletes

An overview paper in Nature Digital Medicine of the current state of sensors for sports medicine. (pdf)  It's still very early in the game.

 

Wearable sensors for monitoring the internal and external workload of the athlete

Dhruv R. Seshadri¹, Ryan T. Lⁱ², James E. Voos³, James R. Rowbottom⁴, Celeste M. Alfes⁵, Christian A. Zorman⁶ and Colin K. Drummond¹

The convergence of semiconductor technology, physiology, and predictive health analytics from wearable devices has advanced its clinical and translational utility for sports. The detection and subsequent application of metrics pertinent to and indicative of the physical performance, physiological status, biochemical composition, and mental alertness of the athlete has been shown to reduce the risk of injuries and improve performance and has enabled the development of athlete-centered protocols and treatment plans by team physicians and trainers. Our discussions in this review include commercially available devices, as well as those described in scientific literature to provide an understanding of wearable sensors for sports medicine. The primary objective of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of the applications of wearable technology for assessing the biomechanical and physiological parameters of the athlete. A secondary objective of this paper is to identify collaborative research opportunities among academic research groups, sports medicine health clinics, and sports team performance programs to further the utility of this technology to assist in the return-to-play for athletes across various sporting domains. A companion paper discusses the use of wearables to monitor the biochemical profile and mental acuity of the athlete.

__________

1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA; 2Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA; 3University Hospitals Sports Medicine Institute, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA; 4Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology, The Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA; 5Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Case Western Reserve University, 9501 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA and 6Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106

 

we didn't stand a chance

Native Alaskans and the opioid crisis

a tip of the hat to Anne-Helen

 

 

progress the republicans are fighting

What California did .. (via The Washington Post)

 

 

the "miracle" cure that actually works

Lots of serious evidence on this and it's the only one with very few, and in most cases, no side effects. (the British Medical Journal)

 

 

 

mild head trauma and another issue for kids

This isn't concussive, but it is troubling to follow up on..  even mild head trauma can lead to a disruption of the blood-brain barrier in kids.

snip

...

The findings, Camarillo said, are further evidence that the longstanding model of concussion is likely too simplistic. The current paradigm is that the brain slams into the skull, recoils and slams again on the opposite side. According to this model, most brain damage should occur along the outer surface of the brain. But recent evidence — including the present study — suggests that head trauma’s effects are felt much deeper in the brain.

Going forward, the researchers plan to conduct a similar study in a larger cohort. They’re also interested in determining whether the blood-brain barrier disruptions they observed heal on their own and, if so, how long that takes.

While the findings are still at an early stage, the imaging technique used in this study — perhaps in conjunction with blood biomarkers — could one day be used to figure out how much damage an athlete has sustained, and when he or she can return to play, according to Grant.

“I think we’re ignoring many of these kids who are experiencing these injuries throughout the season but aren’t aware of them, or they have no symptoms,” Grant said. “Maybe this study can help us figure out how to better classify some of these kids and figure out if they are truly safe to go back and play.”

...

a tip of the hat to Sukie

 

 

 

a peanut allergy drug

lots of questions.

snip

...

The likelihood of rapid, widespread uptake makes concerns about safety especially salient. Tice led a team that did an extensive report on the product for the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, and concluded that the product stood to be widely adopted without clear benefit, and despite evident risk. Tice does not think it’s ready for approval—because it has not been found to decrease a person’s risk of a severe allergic reaction.

What wasn’t emphasized in the study in The New England Journal of Medicine was that when people started taking the drug, their rate of severe allergic reactions went up by six times. In the lab, the subjects taking the peanut pill were able to eat up to two peanuts. Out in the real world, those people reported many more systemic reactions: 14 percent versus just 3 percent in the control group. “This is just what we’re trying to prevent—having to get taken to the ER and getting injected in school, that sort of outcome,” Tice says. “The trials clearly demonstrated desensitization [to peanuts], but apparently at the cost of more harm, and no clear evidence of long-term benefit.”

...

 

 

worker wellness programs

Do they work?  Perhaps not..

snip

...

More broadly, simple numbers can’t capture everything necessary to be a healthy person. An obsessive focus on those metrics can even harm workers who have disabilities or eating disorders, or who just don’t want to think about their bodies on the job.

Indeed, there is research showing the negative impact of worker wellness programs. In a 2015 paper titled “Employers Should Disband Employee Weight Control Programs,” the American Journal of Managed Care said such programs could bring down company morale and might be bad for employee health. The authors raised concerns that wellness campaigns could encourage crash dieting, humiliating of bigger employees, and overdiagnosis from over-screening.

...

a tip of the hat to Anne Helen

 

superland

A repost of Susie Cagel's illustrated piece on diabetes.  She's one of the few reporters who also happens to be an illustrator.

 

heat deaths in the american southwest

Taking a big jump.  Of course reporting isn't exactly accurate, but one can expect more - particularly when older people are in over hot areas with inadequate cooling.