Shocking, Stimulating and Surprising

     Temple Grandin, one of the world's most accomplished and well known adults with autism, has a new book out, The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum. We interviewed Dr. Grandin in Colorado a couple of years ago and her story continues to amaze me. Click here, Temple Grandin's Tips for Autism at Every Age and Nurturing Autistic Children to Become Thriving Adults, to see our two reports about her and her work. She is a remarkable woman!

     Watch our Medical Headline Videos:

• Being shocked during sleep may be the best thing that could happen to certain cardiac patients. In fact, it might save their lives. Take a look at our story from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, “ ’Shocking’ New Fashion! The Wearable Defibrillator,” where John A. McPherson, M.D., talks about a wearable device called the LifeVest, which keeps track of the patient’s heart rate and will restart the heart in the event it goes into arrhythmia.
• In “Deadly Brain Drain: Fixing a Leaky Skull,” Dr. Michael Lemole at The University of Arizona uses a unique endoscopic operation to fix a tiny crack in the skull of a patient who thought her non-stop running nose was merely the result of a sinus infection or allergy. See how Dr. Lemole and other surgeons used neuronavigation to find the crack, and how they sealed the leak in her skull without needing to open it up
• Marc Ott, DC, a chiropractic physician at Integrative Physical Medicine in Oviedo, Florida says an electric stimulator called The ReBuilder is helping patients with neuropathy get some much-needed relief from pain, and that most patients start seeing results with the first treatment. Watch “Knocking Out Neuropathy” to learn more about the electric stimulator and how it helps get the patients’ nerves back into a normal firing pattern.

     In other news this week, we have a story from Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando on how some hospitals around the country are using the outdoors to promote healing, with one study finding that surgery patients who faced a window with trees healed a day faster, needed less pain meds and had fewer complications than those who faced a wall. Also take a look at this week’s In-Depth Doctor’s Interview with Eric Peden, M.D., a vascular surgeon at Methodist Cardiovascular Surgery Associates who gives some good tips on dealing with varicose veins.

     Anyone suffering from the chronic digestive disease called GERD will want to see our story from Florida Hospital Celebration where Dr. James C. Rosser, Jr. discusses five myths about acid reflux. One myth is that heartburn is the only sign of GERD. I was surprised to learn some other symptoms of acid reflux are dry cough, sinus problems and even asthma. Read the story to learn more about the myths and for Dr. Rosser’s recommendations on what foods and beverages can help, and what to avoid.

     In case you missed them, you may want to check our past reports, Premium Content in Archives Stopping Copper to Stop Cancer or Premium Content in Archives Alternative Therapies for High Blood Pressure. Premium Content in the Archives may be purchased for as little as $9 for 24-hour, unlimited access. If you would like to access Premium Content for the first time click here.

     Finally, I am fascinated by the issue of who owns genetic information or can patent genes as well as tissue, cells and DNA from a patient. Is it the doctor who removed the tissue and did the research, or the patient, who agreed to have the tissue removed? If you are also interested in this topic, you can learn about the specific case in question and vote on this issue at http://knowgenetics.org/case-study-ownership-of-genetic-information/ . I was surprised how heavily weighted the votes were on the side I voted for!

And there's more where that came from...

Marjorie Bekaert Thomas

President, Ivanhoe Broadcast News

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-- Maya Angelou