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If the lab you're following has any exciting new postings, please mention them in the Comments.
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I found an interesting website ( https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections ) that has issued projections of when COVID-19 hospital resource... -
Our first topic, as we resume the course in online/distance mode, involves the health consequences of divorce. The focus is on individuals g...
I am following Jena Doom who works at a DenverU lab and studies how stress and relationships affect health. She has been tweeting a lot more recently, a lot of which includes tips for maintaining mental health during quarantine. Yesterday she retweeted a thread of how stress can affect our behavior and thought processes in regard to quarantining including effects such as changes in eating, changes in sleep, and loss of motivation/enjoyment. The link to the thread is here: https://twitter.com/CamHostinar/status/1244012546765414400?s=20
ReplyDeleteI am following the SPI lab and they posted a blog article that discussed how the coronavirus lockdown has significantly decreased the amount of pollution that is present in the air of major cities. They first displayed a map of China and their CO2 emissions in January 2020 and how that compares to the emissions released in February 2020. The results are astonishing - there are large drops of gas being released. Italy is seeing similar results with their nitrogen dioxide gas emissions. This is due to less people flying, less companies operating, and overall less people polluting the air personally. This raises questions about how humans are treating Earth and how quarantine is beneficial to other aspects of life.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link: https://medium.com/inspire-the-mind/running-in-the-times-of-coronavirus-b093b97cefc0
Also, I am Caroline Kolman. I'm still trying to figure out this blog! :)
DeleteI follow the Healthy Families Lab UTK (@FamiliesLab) and they recently posted an article about what cancer patients need to know about Corona. The article discusses how patients with hematologic [blood] malignancies, those in active chemotherapy, and bone marrow transplant patients are most at risk due to increased immune deficits. In mid-February China published a study on cancer patients exposure to Covid19 and found both current and past cancer patients are at greater risk for contracting the virus, but the article acknowledges that this was a rather small study following only 18 patients. Cancer patients undergoing treatment are recommended to continue their treatment and attend appointments unless they're experiencing symptoms of Corona. Upon experiencing symptoms they are recommending patients call their providers and arrange for testing. Finally, they recommend social distancing from family members who are sick or may increase exposure risk to prevent contraction. Cancer patients are also encouraged to avoid public transit and other events that could increase exposure and again compromise their immune system at this time.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2020/03/coronavirus-what-cancer-patients-need-to-know.html
This is Anthony Inyang. I am following the Black Health Lab. The information about the post below comes from Harvard Medical School. Racism and discrimination in health care: Providers and patients by Monique Tello, MD, MPH.
ReplyDeleteIn this article Dr. Tello explains to use an issue she sees within our healthcare system.
A patient of her’s recently shared a story with her about their visit to an area emergency room just a few years ago. This patient had a painful medical condition. The emergency room staff not only did not treat her pain, but she recounted: “They treated me like I was trying to play them, like I was just trying to get pain meds out of them. They didn’t try to make any diagnosis or help me at all. They couldn’t get rid of me fast enough.”
Dr. Tello states there was nothing in her history to suggest that she was pain medication seeking. She is a middle-aged, churchgoing lady who has never had issues with substance abuse. Fortunately, she eventually received a diagnosis and appropriate care elsewhere. The patient is convinced that she was treated poorly by that emergency room because she is black. And Dr. Tello says she was probably right.
It is well-established that blacks and other minority groups in the U.S. experience more illness, worse outcomes, and premature death compared with whites. These health disparities were first “officially” noted back in the 1980s, and though efforts by government agencies resulted in some improvement, the most recent report still shows ongoing differences by race and ethnicity of all measures.
Doctors take an oath to treat all patients equally, so why is it that not all patients are treated equally?
Now that we recognize that racism and discrimination are deeply ingrained in the social, political, and economic structures of our society, we must find a way of care for minorities, and as well for differences to no longer result in unequal access to quality education, healthy food, livable wages, and affordable housing.
In response to the rhetoric of the 2016 election and this alarming increase in hate speech, a large group of physicians published an open letter seeking to reassure patients. The letter is a statement of commitment to health as a human right, women’s health, mental health, LGBTQ health, evidence-based medicine, dismantling structural racism, and ending race-based violence. “It’s everything I want to tell my patients right now.” says Dr. Tello.
So can we fix this?
“Yes, articles addressing racism in medicine suggest many of the same things. To fight racism and discrimination, we all need to recognize, name, and understand these attitudes and actions. We need to be open to identifying and controlling our own implicit biases. We need to be able to manage overt bigotry safely, learn from it, and educate others. These themes need to be a part of medical education, as well as institutional policy. We need to practice and model tolerance, respect, open-mindedness, and peace for each other. It is important to link all of these goals and actions together, as they are layers of the same huge problem. The insidious structural racism, subconscious implicit bias, and overt, external discrimination come from the same place.” Says Dr. Tello.
To that end, the call to action to address racism and discrimination in medicine is for all of us, current healthcare providers, future healthcare providers, and patients.
“People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they have not communicated with each other.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/racism-discrimination-health-care-providers-patients-2017011611015
This is Reyna Ostos. I changed my twitter lab right before spring break to the EAT Lab and Clinic at the University of Louisville. The lab is "dedicated to research on and treatment for eating disorders and anxiety" and is led by Dr. Cheri A. Levinson.
ReplyDeleteThe article I read (and linked below) discussed the lack of access to eating disorder treatments in Kentucky. Dr. Cheri Levinson, a professor at the university, has opened her own private clinic: The Louisville Center for Eating Disorders. It mainly focuses on local access and new treatment methods. She offers training to graduate students, some of which stay on after they graduate. The success rate at the center is currently 50-60%.
I found this article a few weeks ago, when I initially switched, and there have been many tweets since then. I am excited to continue following this lab and posting more interesting tweets!
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2019/02/26/louisville-professor-expanding-eating-disorder-treatment-kentucky/2857778002/
This is Reagan Chapman. I follow UCL Health Psychology. They recently posted a couple links to articles relating to the Coronavirus. One was a retweet about an article on thelancet.com about school closure, and the other was an article from BBC about families feeling strain as Easter approaches which is the one I will focus on.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was interesting because it highlighted feelings from parents, teenagers, young adults, children, and doctors. It revealed stress as a huge issue these families are facing and that no one wants to be stuck inside. It revealed issues that people are facing like one woman being forced to work from home not able to afford cutting hours but now also responsible for the care and homeschooling of her children and the care of her mother simultaneously. As teenagers and children are concerned, they are also stressed about those around them falling ill and feel the stress from their parents. Teachers are struggling with teaching remotely so the children aren’t all too far behind for next year while also understanding that teaching remotely is extremely hard and requires many circumstances to be successful. It is also pointed out that actually getting dressed for “work”, even if it’s from home might make you feel better, and the family pet does a lot of stress relieving during this time.
I follow the UCLA Stress lab and luckily, they continue to post often. In one recent post, they shared how their building was lit up in blue to show appreciation for health care workers and essential workers. They have been doing a lot of retweeting of other articles and findings, but they also just published a review over the Social Safety Theory. This theory is the idea that people developing and maintaining friendly social bonds is a fundamental principle of human behavior, while threats to social safety are a critical feature of stressors. These stresses can put you at an increased risk disease. It then goes further to discuss the biological process that cause this to happen. I thought this review was very interesting and related to the current times with the Coronavirus going on. Humans rely on social interaction with others and we are not getting much of that right now. While it is in everyone's best interest to stay indoors and isolate ourselves, it is having an affect on our mental health.
ReplyDeleteThis is Mackenzie Sherwood by the way!
DeleteJacqueline Peters here! On March 11, the HaPi Research Lab tweeted about their new paper on "A systematic review of human behavior in and around floodwater." In this paper, researchers aimed to understand people's behavior during floods or flood-related experiences. Based on this understanding, they hoped to be able to develop better strategies to implement during floods; these strategies could hopefully decrease mortality rates in and around floods.
ReplyDeleteResearchers focused on three different ideas:
1. activities and risk-taking behaviors
2. loss reduction, knowledge, and warnings
3. diet and hygiene
Unfortunately, the review faced limitations, including the lack of knowledge in "social psychological mechanisms" that lead to flood-related behaviors.
Citation:
Hamilton, K., Demant, D., Peden, A. E., & Hagger, M. S. (2020, March 10). A systematic review of human behaviour in and around floodwater. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212420918308604?via=ihub
I am following the Health Disparities Institute, and they recently retweeted an article, published by the Marshall Project, that documents current trends in testing for COVID-19 in prisons. Different states and counties have taken different approaches on both extremes of the testing spectrum, from not testing any inmates or prison staff to testing everybody regardless of apparent health. In those prisons where the prison staff and inmates have been tested, especially without waiting on symptomatology to test, it has been found that some prisons have infection rates of well over half of the prison population. Such was found in the Cummins Unit in Lincoln County, Arkansas, where vigorous testing efforts revealed a hotbed of infection. In another prison in North Carolina, 65% of the prisoners tested positive for COVID-19, but 98% of those infected were not showing symptoms. This paints a very alarming picture for those prisons who are neglecting to test the population of their prisons, including staff. Especially if staff are not tested, they run the risk of entering into highly infected areas and transferring that risk into the free population. Additionally, as revealed by the many prisoners and prison staff who have already died as a result of COVID-19, not testing prisoners is blatantly negligent of proper health care. Prisoners are an often-overlooked but still very human portion of the population, and their health needs, especially given the concentration and contact found in many prisons, should be regarded as just as important as the health needs of any other. Increasing the testing of prisoners and prison staff, therefore, should be among the priorities in those to address the impact of the pandemic and determine appropriate responses.
ReplyDeleteThe link to the tweet and article is found here: https://twitter.com/UConnHDI/status/1255512300989173761
Hello! This is Tanvi Tirumala and I am following Michigan Health Lab. They posted an article today about how Nursing Homes were prepared for pandemics, but COVID-19 reveals gaps. In this article, Michigan nursing homes at least have a responded in a survey that they were far better prepared for this pandemic than they were for the last one (H1N1 influenza pandemic). This survey was previously taken before 2009 when the H1N1 Influenza broke out. Pandemic preparedness happened after 2005's H5N1 "bird flu" pandemic had spread raising national awareness of being prepared in situations like this. Lona Mody, a geriatrician at Michigan Medicine, with her colleagues published a pandemic preparedness guidance for nursing homes. In mid-March, before COVID-19 hit drastically, 85% of nursing homes had stockpiled supplies such as surgical masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer. Many are still concerned that they may run out of personal protective gear, but are trying their best. Every time a new person joins the team, training on infection prevention and pandemic response will be offered. Half of the nursing homes expected staff shortages as well as staff working over time. Mody and her colleagues recommend a few steps to be initiated in areas where COVID-19 is spreading widely. She recommends to gap communication in nursing homes of patients and their families by keeping them informed and enabling them to connect virtually.
ReplyDeleteThe link to the article is found here: https://labblog.uofmhealth.org/rounds/nursing-homes-prepared-for-pandemics-but-covid-19-reveals-gaps
Hi everyone! My name is Skylar Flores and my research twitter page is the Carolina Social Neuroscience & Health Laboratory (@SocNeuroHealth). They recently retweeted an article that came from the Falk CommNeuro Lab called, "You can help slow the virus if you talk about it accurately online." This article was published by the Washington post and coveres the COVID-19 pandemic. When this virus first broke out, WHO and the CDC gave guidelines such as social distancing and washing your hands more frequently. Recent studies show that along with those tips, just being more aware of the virus and talking about it with others can help shape other's behavior to be more cautious. Though, it should only be evidence-based facts that should be shared. Spreading false information that hasn't been proved by researchers could do more harm than help. How people relate to the information is also very important, so being able to share personal experinces can go a long way rather than showering people with statistics. Most stories end up online, and stories shared this way more people can see, allowing more change in perspective. Stories online should be taken with caution, it is important to emphasize what people can do to reduce the threat since not everyone can feel the same emotions as you. These are just a couple of ways to reduce risk for COVID-19, but it's not guaranteed to work.
ReplyDeleteThe link to this article can be found below:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/04/28/you-can-help-slow-virus-if-you-talk-about-it-accurately-online/
I follow the Healthy Families Lab UTK (@FamiliesLab) and they recently posted an article about the links between cancer and diabetes. Around 50 years ago it was observed that cancer was more commonly found in people who had diabetes, more recent research has found a specific link between breast cancer and type 2 diabetes. In postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes their risk for cancer increases 20-27%. While there is no clear link between the increased risk for breast cancer and type 2 diabetes, researchers suspect the high glucose levels and increased inflammation play a role as well as the over lapping risk factors for the two diseases. Patients who have type 2 diabetes and are diagnosed with breast cancer also have a 50% increased chance of mortality and are more likely to not receive more aggressive forms of treatment due to the associated side effects. The article stresses the importance of being aware of your risk factors such as lack of physical activity, being overweight, and being older as they increase the likely hood of developing one or both diseases. Families wit histories of either diabetes or breast cancer should be aware of this connection and have regular checkups to monitor their health.
ReplyDeleteLink: https://ww5.komen.org/KomenPerspectives/Komen-Perspectives---Diabetes-and-Breast-Cancer-(November-2014).html
The PolicyLabCHOP out of Philidelphia shared an article about the toll missing milestones is taking on class of 2020 teens. https://policylab.chop.edu/blog/covid-19-how-missing-milestones-impacting-teen-mental-health
ReplyDeleteIt cites frustration, anger and loss of motivation as potential side effects and lists ways to support teens in this time.