Andrew Griffith's Blog, page 22

Ottawa Hospital to be first collection site in new public cord blood bank

A good initiative, starting in Ottawa, to help address the shortage of donors for stem cells. Quote: OneMatch is currently trying to find matches for approximately 1,000 patients, but its match-success rate sits at 50 per cent, even with access to nearly 20 million donors worldwide and more than 500,000 sources of cord blood. “The [...]

Embracing Children for Who They Are – NYTimes.com

Good piece on parenting and the need to accept and support one’s children for who they are (while of course giving them opportunities to explore different areas). Most of us learn this – sometimes the hard way – as our children grow older and their interests and personalities become clearer. Quote: The goal of parenting [...]

Monday’s medical myth: natural cancer therapies can’t harm you

Good short piece on natural vs medical therapies, focusing on the main difference being the rigorous research and clinical testing to substantiate effectiveness. Quote: So natural does not necessarily equate to harmless. Nor does conventional necessarily equate to unnatural. Plenty of natural products are used in chemotherapy. These include extracts from the yew tree (docetaxel, [...]

Health Advantages Worth a Digital Leap for Seniors – NYTimes.com

Not a bad list. But of course if you are reading this, you already are connected Learn more about your health problems and how best to manage them. Become an informed and active participant in decisions about your health. Remain independent and in your own home longer. Maintain an electronic personal medical record with everything [...]

The missing link in chronic disease care | The Ethical Nag

A good piece on mental health and depression with people with chronic disease. Interestingly enough, journal writing is one of the proposed techniques (my blog and book played that role for me): The rate for depression occurring along with serious physical health issues is quite high. For example: Heart attack: 40%-65% Coronary artery disease (without [...]

Big Food is our modern day Big Tobacco

Good piece. Particularly trenchant on some of the health organization partnerships with unhealthy food companies. Quote: Diet and weight-related diseases are ravaging the developed world. Americans are now spending the majority of their food dollar on foods purchased outside of the home, while the purchase of processed foods for consumption inside the home have doubled [...]

Healthy brain aging: No strain, no gain – Harvard Health Publications

Good piece on how to keep the brain healthy (in addition to being physically active). While in the aging context, also applies to cancer treatment recovery and reducing the effect of chemo brain. Quote: Being challenged sometimes means being uncomfortable. One stereotype of aging is that young people are bold explorers but older people are [...]

A Moment Of Reflection As The Pink Of Breast Cancer In October Gives Way To The Reality of Lung Cancer In November

Good post by Len Lichtenfeld of the American Cancer Society on the contrast between the amount of attention and resources devoted to breast cancer in contrast to lung cancer. His final plea is powerful: Which brings me to another thought: is there anyone out there besides me who is frustrated and perhaps dismayed at this [...]

Reassessing Flu Shots as the Season Draws Near – NYTimes.com

Just what one needs during the flu season: uncertainty about the effectiveness of flu shots. In the end, the recommendation is still in favour of the flu shot, just not to believe it is 100 percent effective (I had my flu shot last week as I am in the ‘at risk’ category). And the obligatory [...]

A doctor & terminally ill cancer patient musing about life & death

A good piece on death and dying, and the various tools to help patient-doctor dialogue (e.g., the Liverpool Care Pathway), and the inevitable controversies that emerge (the UK version of the ‘death panels’ inanity). As always, the preventive and anticipative aspect of such discussions is key. Quote: One thing in life is certain; we are [...]