Myopia - 2012 Lancet review

From the Lancet:

Myopia (nearsightedness) has emerged as a major health issue in east Asia, because of:

- increasingly high prevalence in the past few decades. It now affacts 80-90% in school-leavers.
- sight-threatening pathologies associated with high myopia, which now affect 10-20% of those completing secondary schooling in east Asia.

Similar, but less marked, changes are occurring in other parts of the world.

The higher prevalence of myopia in east Asian cities seems to be associated with increasing educational pressures, combined with life-style changes, which have reduced the time children spend outside.

There are no reported major genes for school myopia, although there are several genes associated with high myopia. Any genetic contribution to ethnic differences may be small.

There are some optical and pharmacological interventions that seem promising for preventing the development of myopia or slowing its progression, but the evidence is still preliminary.

References:

Myopia. Prof Ian G Morgan PhD a b , Prof Kyoko Ohno-Matsui MD c, Prof Seang-Mei Saw PhD. The Lancet, Volume 379, Issue 9827, Pages 1739 - 1748, 5 May 2012.
Nearsighted kids may get worse in winter http://trib.in/VcvmC1 -- Myopia progression seem to decrease in periods with longer days and to increase in periods with shorter days. Children should be encouraged to spend more time outside during daytime to prevent myopia (study) http://buff.ly/X1cFSm
Image source: OpenClipArt.org

Healthcare social media #HCSM - top articles

Here are my suggestions for some of the top articles related to healthcare social media (#HCSM) from the past 2-3 weeks:

You CAN enjoy Twitter without tweeting -- From AllergyNet: This tweet recently crossed my timeline: “If you don’t engage, there is no point having followers. Agree?” No. I don’t agree. Why? Because a comment like that immediately disenfranchises the 40% of those on Twitter who never tweet. These are the same people that go to public meetings and never ask questions. This is acceptable in a public meeting, and it should be on Twitter. Being inactive does not mean being disinterested. http://buff.ly/SL85DS

Potentials of Social Media for Tacit Knowledge Sharing Amongst Physicians (PDF) http://bit.ly/RFrAfj

Social media is an efficient and effective method for physicians to keep up-to-date http://buff.ly/TEHaxW

How the Mayo Clinic Maximizes Learning Opportunities Through Social Media http://buff.ly/PNCRPb

"Allergy Action Plan: Bring The Paperwork To Life" (video) http://buff.ly/QN8tTW

The “most-tweeted” medical conference ever http://buff.ly/QQq0dI

The Smartphone in Medicine: A Review of Current and Potential Use Among Physicians and Students http://buff.ly/THrvOA

Mark Zuckerberg confirms: 'I wear the same thing every day' - NBC http://buff.ly/U9bwsE

ENT doctor: "Twitter is the best and most efficient way to get started learning from and sharing information" http://buff.ly/QVwjwS

How to automatically archive all the links you share to Twitter and Facebook http://bit.ly/SwanKI

Doctors Are Texting the Teenage Patient - NYTimes http://buff.ly/TczIUl

Virtually There -- following the 2012 ACEP meeiting via Twitter http://buff.ly/RgZ2fE

Web sites will soon fall into two categories: high audience low yield, low audience higher yield http://buff.ly/RVgLcW

Quantifying yourself: the apps I use to measure myself - Loic Le Meur http://buff.ly/Rld9R0

A History of Social Media [Infographic] http://buff.ly/RMC3t2

The articles were selected from my Twitter and Google Reader streams. Please feel free to send suggestions for articles to clinicalcases@gmail.com and you will receive an acknowledgement in the next edition of this publication.

Narcolepsy - NHS video

From NHS Choices YouTube channel: Samantha was 16 when diagnosed with narcolepsy, a chronic sleep disorder. She describes the symptoms and how it affects her daily life, and an expert discusses its causes and treatment:



Provigil (modafinil), used in narcolepsy, may be addictive http://tinyurl.com/c8cosm

Top medicine articles for November 2012

Here are my suggestions for some of the top articles in medicine for October-November 2012:

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Doesn't Decrease Risk of Major Cardiovascular Disease Events http://goo.gl/RFO39

Comparison of Physician-, Biomarker (FeNO)-, Symptom-Based Adjustment of ICS in Adults With Asthma: No Difference http://buff.ly/SerAlH

Randomized controlled trial of political messages delivered to 61 million Facebook users http://goo.gl/Q0QAi

Health Care Social Media List is now hosted by Mayo Clinic http://mayocl.in/QdWGxg and http://mayocl.in/QdWGNO

Sinus Surgery Lawsuit Against ENT - case appears to suggest that informed consent does not provide legal protection http://buff.ly/SeqB57

Clinical Practice Guideline for Group A Streptococcal Pharyngitis: 2012 Update http://bit.ly/U5TqCq

Risk factors for adolescent depression: family history, parental conflict, poor peer relationships, negative thinking http://goo.gl/gWqF8

The good old ways: Doctors and hospitals are rediscovering a few ideas from the 1990s, says The Economist http://goo.gl/yZt0q

In North America, prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome is 5-10% with peak prevalence from 20-39 years of age http://goo.gl/2NlS4

Syphilis: a reemerging infection. Point-of-care immunochromatographic strip testing can be used for screening http://goo.gl/jzvAl

Fighting neglected tropical diseases in the southern United States | BMJ http://goo.gl/ZUprT

46% of American adults take prescription drugs; the average is 4 prescriptions. Reliance on multiple drugs is no longer confined to older Americans: 25% of those ages 18-39 take 2 prescription drugs http://goo.gl/Jfq31

Bowel Obstruction From Ingested Water-Absorbing Ball http://goo.gl/F5uv0 and http://goo.gl/PWtY3

The articles were selected from my Twitter and Google Reader streams. Please feel free to send suggestions for articles to clinicalcases@gmail.com and you will receive acknowledgement in the next edition of this publication.

Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival

The “Best of Medical Blogs - weekly review and blog carnival” is a weekly summary of the best posts from medical blogs. Feel free to send your suggestions to my email at clinicalcases@gmail.com. Best of Medical Blogs (BMB) is published every Tuesday, just like the old Grand Rounds.

A list of predictions on where US health care is headed regardless of Tuesday’s presidential election - from the blog Glass Hospital http://buff.ly/SMfntF

Whither the stethoscope?

From Notes from Dr. RW: Well, after all, the thinking goes, why work to maintain auscultatory skills when you can just get an echo? As this article in CCJM points out, that's dangerous thinking. Echocardiography can mislead. If it doesn't correlate with basic clinical data something's wrong. As the late J.Willis Hurst was fond of saying, master low technology (basic clinical skills) or you're bound to abuse high technology. http://buff.ly/SMcDfP

You CAN enjoy Twitter without tweeting

From AllergyNet: This tweet recently crossed my timeline: “If you don’t engage, there is no point having followers. Agree?” No. I don’t agree. Why? Because a comment like that immediately disenfranchises the 40% of those on Twitter who never tweet. These are the same people that go to public meetings and never ask questions. This is acceptable in a public meeting, and it should be on Twitter. Being inactive does not mean being disinterested. http://buff.ly/SL85DS

We order too many preop tests, says Skeptical Scalpel

From from the former department chairman, Skeptical Scalpel: "As far as I can tell, "I was following evidence-based guidelines" is not a foolproof defense against a malpractice suit. While there have been some attempts to legislate that following evidence-based guidelines should "immunize" doctors against malpractice suits, to my knowledge, no such laws exist." http://buff.ly/SL25uX

Animal Healthcare - Life as a Healthcare CIO http://buff.ly/SKZFwb

Enjoy the Music, Skip the Hearing Loss http://buff.ly/SMcwAT