Category: Interesting Links

Electric Jolt Improves Memory, and Other Links

Pacemaker for the brain: Electric jolt improves memory.

Nearly 1 in 20 US adults over 50 have artificial knees.

Krugman vs the world. BTW, all the other economists pictured are quite civil when not engaged with Krugman.

Mediterranean diet may be good for the brain as well as the heart.

Feb 15, 2012 | 4 comments | by John Goodman

Portfolio Risk Connected to Genetics, and Other News

Take the Medicare quiz. I missed one.

Studies of professional traders have demonstrated that about 25% of individual variation in portfolio risk is due to genetics.

What college students think: It’s scary. (video)

Good news: hearing aids, eyeglasses, contact lenses exempt from the medical device tax. Thousands of other products are still in limbo.

Feb 09, 2012 | 2 comments | by John Goodman

Less than 60% of Health Workers Get Flu Shots, and Other News

Fewer than 64% of health care workers get flu shots.

If medical research could reduce cancer mortality by just 10 percent, that would be worth $5 trillion to U.S. citizens.

Tax evasion: $2 trillion in individual income is unreported to the IRS, constituting between 18 and 19 percent of total taxable income.

Can an analysis of your breath tell whether you have cancer or diabetes?

Feb 07, 2012 | 3 comments | by John Goodman

Butler Defends Heritage on Individual Mandate, and Other News

Stuart Butler defends Heritage on the individual mandate question. See Peter Ferrara’s view here.

Uwe Reinhardt: Every dollar of wasteful spending is someone else’s income.

Brains of addicts are inherently abnormal: study

IOM report: Chronic illness cost 75% of total health care spending.

Feb 06, 2012 | 7 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

“The federal government spent an average of 48 percent more on benefits for its employees than private employers spent between 2005 and 2010.”

Maybe a Prescription Is Making You Sick: 759,000 adverse-event reports filed for prescription drugs in 2010.

S&P warns it may downgrade G20 nations if their governments fail to enact reforms to curb healthcare spending and other costs related to aging populations.

Green job program: $500 million creates 8,035 jobs.

CBO: Cost of government health care programs will double in the next ten years.

Feb 03, 2012 | 4 comments | by John Goodman

Few Psychological Advantages in Being Married vs. Cohabitating, and Other Links

Why get married? Wedded couples experience few advantages in psychological well-being and social ties, according to a new study at Cornell University.

Why you end up paying taxes that are imposed on other people: a very good primer. HT to David Henderson.

Study: No obesity link to junk food in schools. It gets worse: School-based obesity prevention programs may INCREASE eating disorders.

Elephant gets a contact lens. HT: Tyler.

Jan 30, 2012 | 5 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

CBO 2001 prediction: the publicly held debt of the federal government (then about $3.5 trillion) will be eliminated by 2010; it actually increased to $9 trillion.

Tax loopholes amount to over $1 trillion per year.

Doctors borrowing to live: Government-backed loans to doctors have surged more than 10-fold in the past decade.

Obama administration fights court decision that says bone marrow donors may be paid.

Jan 26, 2012 | 3 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

Fat docs give bad weight loss advice to fat patients.

Hospitals: ObamaCare will cost nearly 278,000 jobs over the next decade.

So-called “shake-and-bake” meth is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment.

Jan 24, 2012 | 7 comments | by John Goodman

Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen

For some, a daily Aspirin does more harm than good.

Docs skip 46 percent of recommended tests on annual exams.

Jan 20, 2012 | 4 comments | by John Goodman

How Your Personality Contributes to Weight Gain, and Other News

Study: your personality is making you fat.

Study: Nicotine-replacement therapy in the form of patches, gum, inhalers or nasal sprays doesn’t work.

Heart-attack risk rises to 21 times higher than normal within the first day after a loved one has died.

Everything you ever wanted to know about urine.

Jan 18, 2012 | 5 comments | by John Goodman