Hits & Misses – 2009/10/15
New IBM goal: making a personal genome cheaper than a ticket to a Broadway play.
Better than dieting and exercise? An educated wife increases a man’s life expectancy.
Category: Interesting Links
Oct 15, 2009 | 4 comments | by John Goodman
Hits & Misses #2 – 2009/10/14
Drinkers less depressed than non-drinkers. (Just as I expected.)
The benefits of running a marathon are short lived.
A vaccine for cocaine addiction. But does it work?
Oct 14, 2009 | 3 comments | by Devon Herrick
Hits & Misses – 2009/10/14
One more reason to watch Congressional debates on C-SPAN: After being confronted with the absurd, students do better on tests.
WSJ: “Fraudulence and fiscal sleight-of-hand.” They’re talking about the Baucus bill.
David Cutler: Even without reform, the cost curve may be bent: Low-cost new technologies will replace high-cost ones; I.T. will lower administration costs; and managed care will lower the cost of chronic care.
Oct 14, 2009 | 4 comments | by John Goodman
Hits & Misses – 2009/10/9
Paper to hire medical marijuana critic.
Vanity hurts: 60% of women have worn types of shoes that put them at risk for chronic foot pain.
Bad economy may be good for your health: Mortality dropped and life expectancy increased during the Great Depression.
Oct 09, 2009 | 4 comments | by Devon Herrick
Hits & Misses – 2009/10/2
Huge waste found in Medicaid: 1,800 prescriptions written for dead patients and 1,200 prescriptions written by dead doctors.
Medical pot sales booming: 13 states allow it.
David Leonhardt (NYT) explains why there should not be unlimited tax relief for employer-provided health insurance. But where was he during last year’s election?
Oct 02, 2009 | 5 comments | by John Goodman
Hits & Misses – 2009/10/1
Can evolution run in reverse? No.
Can aging be reversed? Maybe.
Rise in melanoma explained: Doctors are misdiagnosing benign lesions as early-stage malignant cancers.
The average emergency room doctor is interrupted 10 times an hour. In aeronautics, interruptions and distractions are the most common cause of pilot error.
What are probiotics (found, e.g., in Dannon yogurt) good for? Reducing diarrhea: yes. Lowering cholesterol and blood pressure, preventing cavities, reducing cancer risks and the duration of colds: unclear.
For baby delivery, does it matter where a doctor was trained? Yes.
Most common cause of injury requiring medical attention? Falling down.
First-born siblings tend to be more risk-averse: last-born siblings tend to be bigger risk takers.
Oct 01, 2009 | 4 comments | by John Goodman
Hits & Misses – 2009/9/30
British and French proposals would require disclaimers on ads where beauty is enhanced by photo retouching. But what about cosmetic surgery enhancement? And why stop with ads? What about ID tags at cocktail parties?
Healthy habits don’t mean lower medical bills. Vermonters are the nation’s healthiest people, but they have the ninth highest level of spending.
Private clinics and surgical centers are springing up in British Columbia. Technically, they’re illegal.
Sep 30, 2009 | 3 comments | by John Goodman
Hits & Misses – 2009/9/29
$19,911 is the wage gap between college graduates and those with no college. But does the college make the student or does the student make the college?
Sep 29, 2009 | 11 comments | by John Goodman
Hits & Misses – 2009/9/28
The Max Baucus plan would impose new taxes on medical device manufacturers of $40 billion over 10 years. That’s more than the industry’s venture capital investment.
Should we dilute our H1N1 vaccine so that we can share more of it with the rest of the world? WHO says “yes.”
Sep 28, 2009 | 3 comments | by John Goodman
