Giving thanks is good for your health. Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not.
How many calories are in your Thanksgiving meal?
A Thanksgiving dinner for vegetarians.
Thanksgiving menu transparency for nervous nellies. Bon Appétit.
Does eating turkey make you sleepy? Aaron Carroll says no.
Can a pill prevent AIDS? Men who faithfully take a daily pill can reduce their HIV risk by up to 95 percent.
There are those who do not become fitter or stronger, no matter what exercise they undertake. The findings suggest that “there will be millions of humans who cannot improve their aerobic capacity or their insulin sensitivity, nor reduce their blood pressure” through standard exercise.
Separate and unequal: The New York Times wants poor people to stay in Medicaid.
Positive-outcome bias: It means you are more likely to hear about research findings about stuff that works than stuff that doesn’t work, even thought the two types of information are equally valuable.
“No one on their deathbed ever wished they had spent more time in the office,” the saying goes. But is the saying correct? Robin Hanson updates us on death bed regrets.
Demographics alone will cause government to get bigger. HT to Jason Shafrin.
Maine to “repeal and replace.” Before there was a federal health care overhaul and before there was a Massachusetts law, there was Dirigo.
Gallup: 82% believe the health care they receive is excellent or good. Individuals with private insurance have 6 points higher satisfaction than those in government-run health care (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid) and even 66% of the uninsured say their care is excellent or good.
People with low incomes are more likely to develop kidney failure and less likely to receive a living donor kidney transplant. This is consistent with every study I have ever seen on non-price rationing.
Earmarks really do cause higher spending. HT to Tyler Cowen.
McKinsey: “something in the range of 80 to 100 million individuals are going to change coverage categories in the two years post-2014.” HT to Grace-Marie Turner for the pointer.
Woman loses leg due to med student mistake. “When I was a fourth-year medical student, I did 17 amputations in a state hospital,” Parkland CEO says.
New trend in hospital emergency rooms: Patients make appointments.
A 58 percent tax on soda would drop the average body mass by only 0.16 points on a scale of 30.
There is a market in baby foreskins. HT to Tyler Cowen.
Novartis smart pill expected in 18 months. An ingestible chip is activated by stomach acid and sends information to a small patch worn on the patient’s skin, which can transmit data to a smart phone or send it over the Internet to a doctor.
There are 384 health providers who earned more than $100,000 from drug companies. Some earned more than $300,000.
84% of parents fed their kids fast food in the past week. One of the worst choices: Dairy Queen’s original cheeseburger with a side of fries, a full-sugar soft drink and chocolate Dilly Bar adds up to 973 calories, 171 of which are from saturated fat, and 1,450 mg of sodium.
Why you love ice cream. It begins with an enzyme in saliva called amylase, which breaks down starch into liquid and a gene, called AMY1 that turns on the production of amylase.
The number of federal worker earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years. It has double since President Obama took office.
Hospital checklists work. Study: they reduced complications by one-third and in-hospital deaths were cut in half.
One-third of rheumatoid arthritis patients on Medicare do not receive any drug therapy. It gives a whole new meaning to the concept of self help.
Inconsistent data on bloodstream infections may compromise public report cards that rank hospital quality of care. One writer rants about it.
Smart kids learn how to lie sooner than dumb kids. Early liars also do better later in life.
When it comes to teamwork, 2’s company, but 3’s a crowd. Two people can learn to cooperate intuitively, but larger groups need to communicate.
Why the rich eat healthier? They’re better educated and less price-sensitive.
Voters in Arizona and Oklahoma opt out of the individual mandate in the federal health reform law. Colorado voters stay in.
Primary care doctors worked an average of 53.1 hours per week and earned an average annual income of $187,857 in 2004/05. Income was 48% higher for surgeons, 36% higher for internal medicine and pediatric subspecialties, and 45% higher for clinicians in other specialties.
Why do Medicare patients living in nursing homes go to the hospital so often? Because doctors (and just about everybody else) get paid more when that happens. (HT to Jason Shafrin)
Follow up: 24 percent of all hospitalizations for long‐term care facility residents in 2006 were potentially preventable. (HP to Jason Shafrin)
