Dr. Howard Smith Reports

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/afcH5ANj4AU

Let’s say that you smoked heavily in your younger years but then quit. That’s good news for your health, but a new study just published from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health shows that your risk of circulatory problems in your legs goes on for up to 30 years after you quit.

The study looked at 13,355 subjects at Hopkins, the University of North Carolina, and UC-San Diego for more than 26 years, and tabulated their development of peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease, and cerebral vascular disease with stroke.  Those who smoked the longest and most heavily had the highest risks in each category.   Most important was the finding that the risk of peripheral vascular disease lasted the longest at 30 years followed by coronary artery disease at 20 years.  

This study proves that once your begin smoking, you are damaging your body for close to forever.   The best strategy is never to begin.

Ning Ding, Yingying Sang, Jingsha Chen, Shoshana H. Ballew, Corey A. Kalbaugh, Maya J. Salameh, Michael J. Blaha, Matthew Allison, Gerardo Heiss, Elizabeth Selvin, Josef Coresh and Kunihiro Matsushita.  Cigarette Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Long-Term Risk of 3 Major Atherosclerotic Diseases. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Volume 74, Issue 4, July 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.05.049

#Smoking #peripheralarterialdisease #coronaryarterydisease #stroke

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/afcH5ANj4AU

Let’s say that you smoked heavily in your younger years but then quit. That’s good news for your health, but a new study just published from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health shows that your risk of circulatory problems in your legs goes on for up to 30 years after you quit.

The study looked at 13,355 subjects at Hopkins, the University of North Carolina, and UC-San Diego for more than 26 years, and tabulated their development of peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease, and cerebral vascular disease with stroke.  Those who smoked the longest and most heavily had the highest risks in each category.   Most important was the finding that the risk of peripheral vascular disease lasted the longest at 30 years followed by coronary artery disease at 20 years.  

This study proves that once your begin smoking, you are damaging your body for close to forever.   The best strategy is never to begin.

Ning Ding, Yingying Sang, Jingsha Chen, Shoshana H. Ballew, Corey A. Kalbaugh, Maya J. Salameh, Michael J. Blaha, Matthew Allison, Gerardo Heiss, Elizabeth Selvin, Josef Coresh and Kunihiro Matsushita.  Cigarette Smoking, Smoking Cessation, and Long-Term Risk of 3 Major Atherosclerotic Diseases. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Volume 74, Issue 4, July 2019 DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2019.05.049

#Smoking #peripheralarterialdisease #coronaryarterydisease #stroke

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kx_55ON9oB4

The annual hospital academy awards are out!  The magazine US News & World Report has just released its picks for best overall hospitals.  They base their selections by analyzing public data from almost 5,000 US hospitals that covers treatment success rates, breadth of specialized services available, patient safety, patient and family satisfaction scores, and scores on surveys from more than 30,000 US physicians.

Here are the top 20:

1. Mayo Clinic, Minnesota
2. Mass. General Hospital, Boston
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
4. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
5. New York Presbyterian-Columbia/Cornell, New York City
6. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
7. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
8. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
9. NYU Medical Center, New York City
10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
11. University of Michigan Hospitals, Michigan
12. Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, CA
13. Brigham & Women’s, Boston
14. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City
15. UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh
16. USC Hospital, Los Angeles
17. University of Wisconsin Medical Center, Madison
18. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia tied with
19. 18 Mayo Clinic, Phoenix
20. Houston Methodist  Hospital, Houston tied with

20. Yale-New Haven Hospital, Connecticut

These are the best general hospitals in the country. If you have a significant medical problem, you should get yourself to one of these or to one of their associated specialty hospitals.

https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings

#Hospitals #USNews #besthospitals

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/kx_55ON9oB4

The annual hospital academy awards are out!  The magazine US News & World Report has just released its picks for best overall hospitals.  They base their selections by analyzing public data from almost 5,000 US hospitals that covers treatment success rates, breadth of specialized services available, patient safety, patient and family satisfaction scores, and scores on surveys from more than 30,000 US physicians.

Here are the top 20:

1. Mayo Clinic, Minnesota
2. Mass. General Hospital, Boston
3. Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore
4. Cleveland Clinic, Ohio
5. New York Presbyterian-Columbia/Cornell, New York City
6. UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
7. UCSF Medical Center, San Francisco
8. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles
9. NYU Medical Center, New York City
10. Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago
11. University of Michigan Hospitals, Michigan
12. Stanford Hospital, Palo Alto, CA
13. Brigham & Women’s, Boston
14. Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City
15. UPMC Shadyside, Pittsburgh
16. USC Hospital, Los Angeles
17. University of Wisconsin Medical Center, Madison
18. Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia tied with
19. 18 Mayo Clinic, Phoenix
20. Houston Methodist  Hospital, Houston tied with

20. Yale-New Haven Hospital, Connecticut

These are the best general hospitals in the country. If you have a significant medical problem, you should get yourself to one of these or to one of their associated specialty hospitals.

https://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals/rankings

#Hospitals #USNews #besthospitals

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/YfP0WefTOZs

Proactively reassuring students leaving the secure nest of elementary school for what seems to them insurmountable challenges of middle school improves their performance, attendance, and cooperation.  A just published study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison measured the effects of interventions crafted to convince fearful, anxious students that they are not alone and that both academic and social help is always available.

The study looked at more than 1300 first year Wisconsin middle school students.  Those student in the program were 18% more likely to pass their courses, 12% more likely to attend regularly, and 34% less likely to require discipline.  They enjoyed less test anxiety, demonstrated more trust for their teachers, and did ask for help more freely.

Since a troubled start to middle school often portends an unsuccessful high school experience, the modest cost of the program, several $$ per child, is definitely money well spent.

University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Power of refocusing student stress in middle school transition: Sixth graders taught to see transition turmoil as 'normal, temporary' perform better in class." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 July 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190729164630.htm.

#MiddleSchool #transition #secondaryeducation 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/YfP0WefTOZs

Proactively reassuring students leaving the secure nest of elementary school for what seems to them insurmountable challenges of middle school improves their performance, attendance, and cooperation.  A just published study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison measured the effects of interventions crafted to convince fearful, anxious students that they are not alone and that both academic and social help is always available.

The study looked at more than 1300 first year Wisconsin middle school students.  Those student in the program were 18% more likely to pass their courses, 12% more likely to attend regularly, and 34% less likely to require discipline.  They enjoyed less test anxiety, demonstrated more trust for their teachers, and did ask for help more freely.

Since a troubled start to middle school often portends an unsuccessful high school experience, the modest cost of the program, several $$ per child, is definitely money well spent.

University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Power of refocusing student stress in middle school transition: Sixth graders taught to see transition turmoil as 'normal, temporary' perform better in class." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 July 2019. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190729164630.htm.

#MiddleSchool #transition #secondaryeducation 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/UR3ucjqx6hM

A new preliminary study from the University of Texas shows that endoscopic removal of clots from the arteries of stroke victims with large areas of affected brain tissue can assure better recovery.  This so-called Endovascular Thrombectomy is currently established treatment but only for those strokes with smaller areas of tissue damage.

The study included 105 patients from 9 centers.  The thrombectomy compared with medical management alone doubled the chances that a patient would achieve functional independence while reducing the mortality rate by 30%.

A larger trial is now getting underway.  Meanwhile, with strokes occurring in ever younger persons, be aware that Endovascular Thrombectomy could be lifesaving for you or a family member so ask!

Amrou Sarraj, Ameer E. Hassan, Sean Savitz, Clark Sitton, James Grotta, Peng Chen, Chunyan Cai, Gary Cutter, Bita Imam, Sujan Reddy, Kaushik Parsha, Deep Pujara, Roy Riascos, Nirav Vora, Michael Abraham, Haris Kamal, Diogo C. Haussen, Andrew D. Barreto, Maarten Lansberg, Rishi Gupta, Gregory W. Albers. Outcomes of Endovascular Thrombectomy vs Medical Management Alone in Patients With Large Ischemic Cores. JAMA Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.2109

#Stroke #thrombectomy

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/UR3ucjqx6hM

A new preliminary study from the University of Texas shows that endoscopic removal of clots from the arteries of stroke victims with large areas of affected brain tissue can assure better recovery.  This so-called Endovascular Thrombectomy is currently established treatment but only for those strokes with smaller areas of tissue damage.

The study included 105 patients from 9 centers.  The thrombectomy compared with medical management alone doubled the chances that a patient would achieve functional independence while reducing the mortality rate by 30%.

A larger trial is now getting underway.  Meanwhile, with strokes occurring in ever younger persons, be aware that Endovascular Thrombectomy could be lifesaving for you or a family member so ask!

Amrou Sarraj, Ameer E. Hassan, Sean Savitz, Clark Sitton, James Grotta, Peng Chen, Chunyan Cai, Gary Cutter, Bita Imam, Sujan Reddy, Kaushik Parsha, Deep Pujara, Roy Riascos, Nirav Vora, Michael Abraham, Haris Kamal, Diogo C. Haussen, Andrew D. Barreto, Maarten Lansberg, Rishi Gupta, Gregory W. Albers. Outcomes of Endovascular Thrombectomy vs Medical Management Alone in Patients With Large Ischemic Cores. JAMA Neurology, 2019; DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.2109

#Stroke #thrombectomy

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/lYbltmFJsVg

Babies under the age of two show empathy for those who are victimized and expect that parents and teachers will intervene to put a stop to the bullying.  These related conclusions come from separate studies at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and Israel’s Ben Gurion University.

The Israeli study shows that infants as young as 6 months can recognize a victim of bullying and show appropriate concern for that individual’s feelings and welfare.  The Illinois investigation demonstrates that, by 18 months of age, infants and toddlers understand social order, and they expect that the leaders of groups, their parents and teachers, will intervene to right any wrongs and int-group transgressions that have occurred.

Given these studies, it would seem that babies have more common sense than some of our politicians.  Time and again, our elected leaders bully their peers as well as the general public, and it seems that those in authority lack the sense or the courage to establish law and order.

Florina Uzefovsky, Yael Paz, Maayan Davidov. Young infants are pro‐victims, but it depends on the context. British Journal of Psychology, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12402

Maayan Stavans and Renée Baillargeon. Infants expect leaders to right wrongs. PNAS, 2019 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820091116

#Bullying #infants #parenting #socialorder 

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/lYbltmFJsVg

Babies under the age of two show empathy for those who are victimized and expect that parents and teachers will intervene to put a stop to the bullying.  These related conclusions come from separate studies at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and Israel’s Ben Gurion University.

The Israeli study shows that infants as young as 6 months can recognize a victim of bullying and show appropriate concern for that individual’s feelings and welfare.  The Illinois investigation demonstrates that, by 18 months of age, infants and toddlers understand social order, and they expect that the leaders of groups, their parents and teachers, will intervene to right any wrongs and int-group transgressions that have occurred.

Given these studies, it would seem that babies have more common sense than some of our politicians.  Time and again, our elected leaders bully their peers as well as the general public, and it seems that those in authority lack the sense or the courage to establish law and order.

Florina Uzefovsky, Yael Paz, Maayan Davidov. Young infants are pro‐victims, but it depends on the context. British Journal of Psychology, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12402

Maayan Stavans and Renée Baillargeon. Infants expect leaders to right wrongs. PNAS, 2019 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1820091116

#Bullying #infants #parenting #socialorder