Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/H4mvftl5mrQ

If your teen daughter has headaches from adolescent stresses, she may want to pick up a paintbrush as part of art and mindfulness therapy.  A small study at the University of Washington just published in the journal Art Therapy shows the usefulness of this approach.

Therapists there intensely studied a group of 8 teen girls who each experienced 3 or more stress-related headaches over a 2 week period.  During the 6 twice-weekly therapy sessions, the girls would draw body maps of their pain and stress points, do mindfulness exercises, and create art.

The therapy reduced their headaches by some 40%.  The teens particularly liked the square breathing mindfulness exercise and painting with oil pastel paints.  Though experiencing fewer headaches, they still felt stressed but better able to cope.

If your daughter, or for that matter your son or you, is experiencing headaches due to life pressures, you might just want to try some mindfulness exercises coupled with drawing, painting, or some other creative pursuit.

Elin A. Björling, Christine Stevens, Narayan B. Singh. Participatory Pilot of an Art-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Adolescent Girls With Headache. Art Therapy, 2019; 36 (2): 86 DOI: 10.1080/07421656.2019.1609325

#Headache #stress #teens #girls #arttherapy #mindfulness

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/H4mvftl5mrQ

If your teen daughter has headaches from adolescent stresses, she may want to pick up a paintbrush as part of art and mindfulness therapy.  A small study at the University of Washington just published in the journal Art Therapy shows the usefulness of this approach.

Therapists there intensely studied a group of 8 teen girls who each experienced 3 or more stress-related headaches over a 2 week period.  During the 6 twice-weekly therapy sessions, the girls would draw body maps of their pain and stress points, do mindfulness exercises, and create art.

The therapy reduced their headaches by some 40%.  The teens particularly liked the square breathing mindfulness exercise and painting with oil pastel paints.  Though experiencing fewer headaches, they still felt stressed but better able to cope.

If your daughter, or for that matter your son or you, is experiencing headaches due to life pressures, you might just want to try some mindfulness exercises coupled with drawing, painting, or some other creative pursuit.

Elin A. Björling, Christine Stevens, Narayan B. Singh. Participatory Pilot of an Art-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Adolescent Girls With Headache. Art Therapy, 2019; 36 (2): 86 DOI: 10.1080/07421656.2019.1609325

#Headache #stress #teens #girls #arttherapy #mindfulness

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/ixvp4So9CZM

If you’re one the the 80% of Americans suffering from an aching back, a recently published study from the University of Michigan suggests you try acupressure on yourself.  

Researchers there report a preliminary study of 67 middle-aged subjects who were randomized into groups to receive 6 weeks of either acupressure or conventional physical therapy.  Outcome measures included pain, fatigue, and sleep quality.

Those self-administering either relaxing or stimulating acupressure with a wooden stick, a pencil tip eraser, or a fingertip enjoyed a 35% reduction in back pain and a 26% reduction in fatigue symptoms.  The acupressure failed to improve sleep patterns.

This small study will be expanded, but it does show that Eastern medicine has a definite role in the management of back pain.  If you do suffer from this common problem, I’d suggest you visit an Eastern medicine practitioner to learn a proper acupressure technique.

Susan Lynn Murphy, Richard Edmund Harris, Nahid Roonizi Keshavarzi, Suzanna Maria Zick, Self-Administered Acupressure for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial, Pain Medicine, , pnz138, https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnz138

#Backpain #acupressure #fatigue

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/ixvp4So9CZM

If you’re one the the 80% of Americans suffering from an aching back, a recently published study from the University of Michigan suggests you try acupressure on yourself.  

Researchers there report a preliminary study of 67 middle-aged subjects who were randomized into groups to receive 6 weeks of either acupressure or conventional physical therapy.  Outcome measures included pain, fatigue, and sleep quality.

Those self-administering either relaxing or stimulating acupressure with a wooden stick, a pencil tip eraser, or a fingertip enjoyed a 35% reduction in back pain and a 26% reduction in fatigue symptoms.  The acupressure failed to improve sleep patterns.

This small study will be expanded, but it does show that Eastern medicine has a definite role in the management of back pain.  If you do suffer from this common problem, I’d suggest you visit an Eastern medicine practitioner to learn a proper acupressure technique.

Susan Lynn Murphy, Richard Edmund Harris, Nahid Roonizi Keshavarzi, Suzanna Maria Zick, Self-Administered Acupressure for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial, Pain Medicine, , pnz138, https://doi.org/10.1093/pm/pnz138

#Backpain #acupressure #fatigue

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/fovGVOV83o8

If you’re told that you must have cardiac surgery during the summer when the fresh crop of training doctors hit the hospital, you can go to the operating room with confidence that you are safe.  A study from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that the complication rates for the most common heart procedures were no higher July through September than April though June.

The study reviewed data from more than 470,000 procedures including coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), aortic and mitral valve replacements, and thoracic aortic reconstructions.  There were no differences in complications, mortality, costs, or lengths of stay for those patients treated during the first or the fourth quarter of the med school academic year.

It is reassuring that, for critical cardiac surgery, safety nets are in place to assure uniformly high quality outcomes.  I would add, though, if you are having cardiac or any surgery, do your best to have it at institutions with the most experience, the highest clinical volumes, and the best track records.  You can find that data online.

Rohan M. Shah, Sameer A. Hirji, Spencer Kiehm, Shivangi Goel, Farhang Yazdchi, Andrea Bellavia, Cheryl K. Zogg, Marc P. Pelletier, Prem Shekar, Tsuyoshi Kaneko. Debunking the July Effect in Cardiac Surgery: A National Analysis of More Than 470,000 Procedures. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2019.06.015

#Cardiacsurgery #julyeffect #outcomes #surgicaltraining

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/fovGVOV83o8

If you’re told that you must have cardiac surgery during the summer when the fresh crop of training doctors hit the hospital, you can go to the operating room with confidence that you are safe.  A study from Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that the complication rates for the most common heart procedures were no higher July through September than April though June.

The study reviewed data from more than 470,000 procedures including coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), aortic and mitral valve replacements, and thoracic aortic reconstructions.  There were no differences in complications, mortality, costs, or lengths of stay for those patients treated during the first or the fourth quarter of the med school academic year.

It is reassuring that, for critical cardiac surgery, safety nets are in place to assure uniformly high quality outcomes.  I would add, though, if you are having cardiac or any surgery, do your best to have it at institutions with the most experience, the highest clinical volumes, and the best track records.  You can find that data online.

Rohan M. Shah, Sameer A. Hirji, Spencer Kiehm, Shivangi Goel, Farhang Yazdchi, Andrea Bellavia, Cheryl K. Zogg, Marc P. Pelletier, Prem Shekar, Tsuyoshi Kaneko. Debunking the July Effect in Cardiac Surgery: A National Analysis of More Than 470,000 Procedures. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.athoracsur.2019.06.015

#Cardiacsurgery #julyeffect #outcomes #surgicaltraining

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/bfkDdLP53zs

If you were worried, a German study just published in the journal Neurology effectively dispels rumors that the common vaccines can trigger multiple sclerosis.  For added measure, vaccinations aren’t associated with Crohn’s inflammatory bowel disease or psoriasis either.

The study analysis included a dataset of over 200,000 subjects more than 12,000 of whom had diagnoses of MS.  The vaccines studied included the common ones against pneumococcal and meningococcal diseases, mumps, measles, rubella, chickenpox, human papilloma virus, hepatitis A & B, tick-borne encephalitis, and influenza.  There was NO association of MS with any of these vaccines..

This study adds to the many others that certify the safety of vaccines.  It should help dispel the fears of those trying to decide if they should undergo vaccinations of all sorts.  The real danger of vaccines is not using them!

Alexander Hapfelmeier, Christiane Gasperi, Ewan Donnachie, Bernhard Hemmer. A large case-control study on vaccination as risk factor for multiple sclerosis. Neurology, 2019; 10.1212/WNL.0000000000008012 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000008012

#MS #vaccines #Crohns #psoriasis

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/bfkDdLP53zs

If you were worried, a German study just published in the journal Neurology effectively dispels rumors that the common vaccines can trigger multiple sclerosis.  For added measure, vaccinations aren’t associated with Crohn’s inflammatory bowel disease or psoriasis either.

The study analysis included a dataset of over 200,000 subjects more than 12,000 of whom had diagnoses of MS.  The vaccines studied included the common ones against pneumococcal and meningococcal diseases, mumps, measles, rubella, chickenpox, human papilloma virus, hepatitis A & B, tick-borne encephalitis, and influenza.  There was NO association of MS with any of these vaccines..

This study adds to the many others that certify the safety of vaccines.  It should help dispel the fears of those trying to decide if they should undergo vaccinations of all sorts.  The real danger of vaccines is not using them!

Alexander Hapfelmeier, Christiane Gasperi, Ewan Donnachie, Bernhard Hemmer. A large case-control study on vaccination as risk factor for multiple sclerosis. Neurology, 2019; 10.1212/WNL.0000000000008012 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000008012

#MS #vaccines #Crohns #psoriasis

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/xvR4VNV6-sc

The S5 DNA methylation test is able to predict which women with pre-cancerous cervical tissue disease will go on to develop frank cervical cancer.  A study from London’s Queen Mary University is the latest in a string of investigations to underscore the predictive value of this assay.

The S5 pyrosequencing methylation test, papilloma virus genetic testing, and conventional cytology were carried out on 149 young women with grade 2 cervical dysphasia, a precancerous state.  The S5 test was significantly better than either viral genetic testing or cytology at predicting which women would be in the group of 17% to suffer progression, in the group of 60% to enjoy regression of their disease, or in the group of 23% to have stable disease.

Currently, the default recommendation for women with significant pre-cancerous cervical disease is surgical removal.  The procedure has a painful recovery period and can leave a woman with a uterus unable to protect against fetal infection and premature delivery.  This S5 DNA methylation test can allow 83% of such women to avoid unnecessary surgery.

Karolina Louvanto, Karoliina Aro, Belinda Nedjai, Ralf Bützow, Maija Jakobsson, Ilkka Kalliala, Joakim Dillner, Pekka Nieminen, Attila Lorincz. Methylation in predicting progression of untreated high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciz677

#Cervicaldysplasia #DNAmethylation #CIN #cervicalcancer 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/xvR4VNV6-sc

The S5 DNA methylation test is able to predict which women with pre-cancerous cervical tissue disease will go on to develop frank cervical cancer.  A study from London’s Queen Mary University is the latest in a string of investigations to underscore the predictive value of this assay.

The S5 pyrosequencing methylation test, papilloma virus genetic testing, and conventional cytology were carried out on 149 young women with grade 2 cervical dysphasia, a precancerous state.  The S5 test was significantly better than either viral genetic testing or cytology at predicting which women would be in the group of 17% to suffer progression, in the group of 60% to enjoy regression of their disease, or in the group of 23% to have stable disease.

Currently, the default recommendation for women with significant pre-cancerous cervical disease is surgical removal.  The procedure has a painful recovery period and can leave a woman with a uterus unable to protect against fetal infection and premature delivery.  This S5 DNA methylation test can allow 83% of such women to avoid unnecessary surgery.

Karolina Louvanto, Karoliina Aro, Belinda Nedjai, Ralf Bützow, Maija Jakobsson, Ilkka Kalliala, Joakim Dillner, Pekka Nieminen, Attila Lorincz. Methylation in predicting progression of untreated high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2019; DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciz677

#Cervicaldysplasia #DNAmethylation #CIN #cervicalcancer