Medical Notes for the week of January 6, 2019 including: Death risks related to blood transfusion, sleep studies indicating high anger responses in those who are sleep deprived, and finally abused employees making great bosses.

Does addiction affect all of us in some degree? A noted addiction specialist and author believes we are all somewhere on the addiction spectrum, from bad habits to full-blown addiction. He discusses how small triggers can push people to seek relief, producing deepening decline.

Medical Notes for the week of December 30, 2018 including: Death rates for most major health conditions are in decline except for chronic kidney disease. Children don't just grow up faster but also age faster if they had a tough childhood, and finally, if you're a night owl, recent studies your health may suffer for it.

Epilepsy affects 3.5 million Americans, yet stigma prevents many from speaking out, which in turn prolongs the stigma. An award-winning writer who has epilepsy describes the discrimination faced by people with seizure disorders and dispels the many myths many people hold about them.

Drug and alcohol addiction and abuse is rising. Researchers have found that “fear mongering” educational efforts to combat it in adolescents doesn’t work. New science has discovered that certain personality types are predictably predisposed to addiction risk, and that educational efforts can be targeted to them effectively. Experts discuss.

In the near future, cars will be able to provide data as well as receive it, and a variety of methods are being researched to tap into this. Experts explain how cars can communicate with roads, traffic signals and central computers, and how roads themselves may collect data on the cars they carry. In the future, autonomous cars may use these links to greatly speed travel and make it much safer.

Medical Notes for the week of December 23, 2018 including: The reason for a decline of American lifespans, a study explaining why waiting a year between the birth of 1 child lowers complications, and finally if your desk is a mess, your co-workers probably make negative assumptions about you.

Many people with dwarfism also face skeletal abnormalities which can lead to disability. Experts, all little people themselves, discuss major causes of dwarfism, the hurdles they create, the struggle for respect, and the prospect of treatments that could one day make little people much more rare.

It's a rare thing for people to lose their memory of past events. An expert discusses why doctors believe it may occur, and a woman to whom it happened recounts her experience.

Medical Notes for the week of December 16, 2018 including: Studies showing neither aspirin, nor omega 3 fish oil supplements help during a heart attack. Then, health issues related to inflammation and grief and finally, people with ADHD being recognized as assets to their employers.