Hi Everyone,
You couldn't find a more diverse group of articles this week if you tried. I hope you find something useful in all of them. I think I loved the "sick rapper" the best. Here is Dr. Repetto's latest newsletter. ICAK Canada has added their tribute to Dr. Walther. I hear a new AK article will be published on Chiroweb soon.
It will address the bias of the AK skeptics. Enjoy, Donald
1. How to rap your way out of sickness
2. Gut feelings and body awareness are important components of admiration for another person.
3. Manipulation and Stroke paper author's admit bias.
4. Acupuncture is an option for depression during pregnancy.
5. Personal stuff cause low back pain to return.
6. Legislation for Herbalists in UK
7. Latest US guidelines for chronic pain management
8. More exercises for chronic conditions
9. Dr. McCord to speak at Florida Integrative medical conference
10. Lumbar joints are larger in low back pain suffers.
11. Speed and length of bending predict spine weakness
12. Media campaigns about back care don't achieve much.
13. Old Manipulation books as e-books for free.
14. FDA finds cancer causing viruses in infant vaccines.
15. The next new diseases to be launched on humanity.
16. Muscle testing methods patented.
17. When government policy becomes the science of the day
18. Fruit and vegetables keep disease and cancer at bay
19. Sex causes overheating in 54 year old man.
20. Brain Balance clinics help autistic kids, medical review.
21. The more you sleep, the skinnier you get.
22. Apologies work opposite for men and women
23. Marriage breakups related to miscarriage and child deaths
24. How to fix headaches caused by too much headache medication.
25. Is there a celiac pandemic?
26. New Update of Homeopathy benefits shows equal with placebo.
27. A new validation of manual muscle testing.
28. Fractures in Adolescents predict later psychosis
29. Personal goals work better for students than external goals.
30. International Chiropractic Sports Science Diploma for Upper Extremities in Switzerland for June.
4 Steps to Success
1. How to rap your way out of sickness. "An Australian stuck in quarantine after a trip to South America has become an internet sensation after rapping about his ordeal. Christiaan Van Vuuren, known as the Fully Sick Rapper, was admitted to a Melbourne hospital at the end of last year after be started to cough up blood. With nothing to do in quarantine he decided to keep his friends updated on his condition by filming rap videos. Van Vuuren was let out of hospital after a few days but was re-admitted when it was discovered he had a rare, drug-resistant form of tuberculosis and had to spend another 80 days in quarantine. The videos quickly went viral and have attracted almost one million hits on YouTube. Thanks to Winston for this link.
2. Gut feelings and body awareness are important components of admiration for another person. "Social emotions like admiration for another person’s virtue are often associated with a desire to be virtuous one’s self, and to engage in meaningful and socially relevant activities against any odds (Haidt & Seder, 2007). These emotions can profoundly inspire us, sometimes motivating our most significant life-course decisions. Yet despite the cognitive maturity and complexity of knowledge required to induce an emotion like admiration for virtue, our recent study of the brain and psychophysiological correlates of experiencing this emotion revealed significant involvement of low-level brain systems responsible for the feeling of the gut and the maintenance of basic life regulation (Immordino-Yang, McColl, Damasio, & Damasio, 2009). These findings contribute an interesting jumping-off point for reexamining the educational study of motivation states because they suggest that, contrary to current conceptions in educational research, nonconscious, low-level physiological processes related to survival and bodily sensation may be critical contributors to intrinsic motivation."
3. Manipulation and Stroke paper author's admit bias. "Dear Dr. Wenban, Thank you for your kind interest in our review article. Con-
cerning your opinion that spinal manipulation should reference professions including osteopaths, physiotherapists as well as phy- sicians, you are right in stating that there might be a bias in the selection of the papers"
4. Acupuncture is an option for depression during pregnancy. "The short acupuncture protocol demonstrated symptom reduction and a response rate comparable to those observed in standard depression treatments of similar length and could be a viable treatment option for depression during pregnancy"
5. Personal stuff cause low back pain to return. "Participants response rate at follow-up was excellent (91%). After controlling for earlier LBP, age, and BMI, regression analysis showed that modifiable social or lifestyle, psychologic and physical characteristics (namely, smoking, increased physical activity, higher stress, reduced back muscle endurance, greater posterior pelvic rotation in slump sitting, and more accurate spinal repositioning in sitting) were significant and independent predictors of new-onset LBP at follow-up. Inclusion of these factors in multivariate logistic regression analysis, with significant new-onset LBP as the outcome, resulted in a substantial model R2 of 0.45. Discussion: Modifiable personal characteristics across multiple domains are associated with new-onset LBP in female nursing students. These findings may have implications for the development of prevention and management interventions for LBP in nurses."
6. Legislation for Herbalists in UK. "Mr Burnham said, "Low back pain affects seven out of 10 people at some time in their lives. This pilot and its evaluation will provide us with good evidence about the benefits for patients and value to the NHS of extending the treatment choices available for the management of a disabling and costly condition."
7. Latest US guidelines for chronic pain management. "PRACTICE Guidelines are systematically developed recommendations that assist the practitioner and patient in making decisions about health care. These recommendations may be adopted, modified, or rejected according to clinical needs and constraints and are not intended to replace local institutional policies. In addition, Practice Guidelines developed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) are not intended as standards or absolute requirements, and their use cannot guarantee any specific outcome. Practice Guidelines are subject to revision as warranted by the evolution of medical knowledge, technology, and practice. They provide basic recommendations that are supported by synthesis and analysis of the current literature, expert and practitioner opinion, open forum commentary, and clinical feasibility data. This document updates the “Practice Guidelines for Chronic Pain Management,” adopted by the ASA in 1996 and published in 1997."
10. Lumbar joints are larger in low back pain suffers. "The lumbar facet areas measured in vivo in this study were similar to previous cadaveric studies. The lumbar facet area was significantly greater at the inferior lumbar levels and also increased with age. This age-related increase in the facet joint surface was observed more in the low back pain subjects compared with asymptomatic subjects. The increase in the area of the facet joint surface is probably secondary to increased load-bearing in the lower lumbar segments and facet joint osteoarthritis."
11. Speed and length of bending predict spine weakness. "A multivariate model including right lateral trunk velocity, timing of the maximum dynamic asymmetric load moment exposure, and the magnitude of the dynamic sagittal bending moment predicted reduced spine function well."
12. Media campaigns about back care don't achieve much. "A Canadian media campaign appears to have had a small impact on public beliefs specifically related to campaign messaging to stay active, but no impact was observed on health utilization or work disability outcomes. Results are likely because of the modest level of awareness achieved by the campaign and future campaigns will likely require more extensive media coverage."
13. Old Manipulation books as e-books for free. I have many of the originals of these, but this is a great way to search and reference the old stuff from chiropactic and osteopathic foundation days.
14. FDA finds cancer causing viruses in infant vaccines. "The FDA learned about the contamination after an academic research team using a novel technique to look for viruses in a range of vaccines found the material in GlaxoSmithKline's product and told the company,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told CNN."
15. The next new diseases to be launched on humanity. "A pill to prevent postmenopausal osteoporosis packs the "magic three" of drug sales-- fear, forever and faith--since you never know if it's working or you need it but fear stopping. But 15 years after women began swallowing bisphosphonates like Boniva and Fosamax because pharma-planted bone density machines in medical offices revealed they had "osteopenia,"* bisphosphonates are linked to jaw bone death, esophageal cancer and causing the fractures they were supposed to prevent. Sorry about that. Now pharma is hawking Selective Estrogen Receptor Modulators (SERMs) like Evista and Tamoxifen to prevent osteoporosis and even some cancers. Unfortunately they can cause others…"
16. Muscle testing methods patented. Here is a outgrowth concept of sphygmomanometer testing.
17. When government policy becomes the science of the day. "Over the past 6 months the UK's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)—an independent expert body that advises government on drug-related issues—has hardly been out of the headlines. One sacking and seven resignations is not a good track record for any organisation. The public's discontent at the ACMD over how it operates and how it is unduly influenced by government has left a bitter taste, together with a crisis in confidence about evidence-based policy making in the UK."
18. Fruit and vegetables keep disease and cancer at bay. "although the latest EPIC results showed a small benefit against cancer overall, the study has previously shown a bigger protective effect against certain cancers—eg, mouth, oesophagus, bowel, and lung cancer. Third, eating fruit and vegetables can help maintain a healthy bodyweight, which can reduce the risk of cancer since obesity is only second to smoking as a preventable cause. Fourth, fruit and vegetables are a good source of fibre and eating a high fibre diet can help prevent bowel cancer. The five-a-day campaign is still an incredibly important public health initiative. Eating five or more fruit and vegetables a day keeps several diseases, including some cancers, at bay."
19. Sex causes overheating in 54 year old man. "In March, 2009, a 54-year-old man attended the pacemaker clinic for routine review. He described a 20-month history of intermittent episodes of rigors and fevers (temperatures up to 39·3°C) associated with myalgia and arthralgia predominantly related to severe physical exertion and sexual intercourse. Transoesophageal echocardiogram (TOE) showed a large vegetation attached to the ventricular pacemaker lead at the level of the tricuspid valve without valvular involvement (figure). Our patient underwent percutaneous pacemaker lead extraction. Cultures of the pacemaker's lead tip confirmed coagulase-negative staphylococcus infection. Pocket tissue cultures were negative. Our patient received a 6-week course of intravenous and oral flucloxacillin. Repeat exercise test and blood cultures were negative. A new PPM was inserted 8 weeks later. At his last outpatient visit in September, 2009, he was asymptomatic."
20. Brain Balance clinics help autistic kids, medical review. "Ricky Heilbron is racing a timer as he shoves metal pegs into a wooden board. The 9-year-old wears blue-tinted glasses and a buzzer on his left ear -- visual and audio stimulation for the right side of his brain."
21. The more you sleep, the skinnier you get. "People who are trying to stay trim may want to make sure they get plenty of sleep
Given the findings, and the fact that people have been sleeping less and getting fatter over the past few decades, "sleep restriction could be one of the environmental factors that contribute to the obesity epidemic," they wrote in a March 31st online report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In a study, researchers found that normal-weight young men ate a Big Mac's-worth of extra calories when they'd gotten four hours of sleep the night before compared to when they slept for eight hours."
22. Apologies work opposite for men and women. "Women’s blood pressure returns to normal more swiftly when they receive an apology after an insult, whereas men recover more slowly, new research presented here at the Society of Behavioral Medicine 31st Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions shows. Prior studies have shown that forgiveness can influence physiologic reactivity and recovery when people revisit a memory of a past transgression. The aim of the current study was to investigate physiologic effects after a live incident."
23. Marriage breakups related to miscarriage and child deaths. "Specifically, couples who had a miscarriage were 22% more likely than those who had a live birth to separate during the 15-year study period. With stillbirth, the risk was 40% greater. And while the increased risk associated with miscarriage was seen within three years of the loss, the risk linked to stillbirth persisted for nearly a decade. The researchers say their study, published online April 5th in Pediatrics, is the first national study to show that couples who suffer a pregnancy loss are at increased risk of a breakup."
24. How to fix headaches caused by too much headache medication. "Headache brought on by chronic overuse of headache drugs responds well to a regimen of withdrawal, fluid replacement and anxiolytics, Italian researchers report."
25. Is there a celiac pandemic? click on Dr. Coralee Thompson's new article under Fitness and Health on this webpage. "Medical Acceptance of the celiac pandemic: Is the Decades-Old Ridicule Ending?"
26. New Update of Homeopathy benefits shows equal with placebo. "Homeopaths also point to observational studies that seem to suggest that homeopathy is effective.23 Some then tend to interpret the discrepancy between this evidence and that from controlled studies in a most unusual way: they claim it shows that the controlled clinical trial is not suited for the study of homeopathy and that observational data demonstrate the true value of homeopathy.23 A more rational explanation would be that the positive outcomes of observational studies are caused by the non-specific effects of homeopathic treatments (eg, the empathic and lengthy consultation typical of homeopathic services), while the controlled trials demonstrate that homeopathic remedies are placebos. In conclusion, the most reliable evidence — that produced by Cochrane reviews — fails to demonstrate that homeopathic medicines have effects beyond placebo."
27. A new validation of manual muscle testing. "The present results confirmed the capacity of quantitative muscle testing to discriminate between healthy and DM1 patients with different levels of impairments. This study is a preliminary step for the implementation of a valid, reliable and responsive clinical outcome for the measurement of muscle impairments with this population."
28. Fractures in Adolescents predict later psychosis. "Adolescents who later develop schizophrenia are likely to have problems with motor coordination and many adolescents with schizophrenia have self-injurious behaviour before treatment of first psychosis but association between injuries in adolescence and onset of psychotic disorder is unknown. The aim of this study was to describe what type of injuries psychotic individuals had during adolescence and in which age these injuries occurred. The study population consists of 155 members of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort with diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disease and 620 matched controls. All injuries which had occurred before onset of psychosis were extracted from Finnish Hospital Discharge Register. Individuals with psychotic disorder were more likely to have a history of severe injury. During the age 12–19, 11% of psychotic subjects and 5.3% of healthy controls had an injury (z = 2.38; P = 0.017) and the most common type of injury was fractures. Our findings suggest that severe injury in adolescence may be a predictor of psychosis."
29. Personal goals work better for students than external goals. "This research aimed to study the relationships between students” future goals (FGs) and their immediate achievement goal orientations (AGOs) among 5,733 Singaporean secondary school students (M age = 14.18, SD = 1.26; 53% boys). To this end, we hypothesized that the relationships between like valenced FGs and AGOs (both intrinsic or both extrinsic) will be stronger than those of opposite valenced FGs and AGOs (intrinsic-extrinsic) and tested two alternative models: Model A positing the prediction of AGOs by FGs and Model B positing the prediction of FGs by AGOs. Structural equation modeling showed the heuristic superiority of Model B in which intrinsic FGs (career-, society-, family-oriented) were more strongly related to mastery-approach goal orientation than to performance-approach goal orientation and extrinsic FGs (fame- and wealth-oriented) were more strongly related to performance-approach goal orientation than to mastery-approach goal orientation and. The findings suggest that, to enhance school motivation, teachers should encourage students to adopt intrinsic AGOs and FGs."
30. International Chiropractic Sports Science Diploma for Upper Extremities in Switzerland for June. "FICS would like to remind you of the fast upcoming Upper Extremity ICSSD module inLausanne, Switzerland. Please find the application form attached, alternatively, follow the link below."
Donald McDowall
DC, MAppSc, DNBCE, DIBAK, FACC
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it