Art by Nathan Kocmoud, from a contest for the Bush Library
Although the week following Memorial Day is a short one for MD Consult, there has been no shortage of news items. One story described a way in which telemedicine is becoming more specialized, with a closer look at tele-endocrinology. The results of a pilot study suggested that rural patients experienced significant improvements in both diabetes and thyroid disorders, especially when the telemedicine consultations were combined with management from a primary care provider. Elsewhere, there was controversy – the new guidelines set out by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for PSA screening have been met with dismay by many urologists, and the issue came in for scrutiny in both a news article and a commentary.
June’s Disease-a-Month is an especially timely issue as people head outdoors for summer activities; it focuses on tick-borne illnesses, and not just on the more common such as Lyme disease. Advice is offered on when to suspect these illnesses (hint: especially at this time of year) as well as what potential red flags practictioners should look for. And while Lyme disease is certainly covered, there are other possibilities such as babesiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and other less-common, although still not unusual, diseases. Prevention of tick-borne illnesses is also addressed. Another June issue appearing this week is the latest Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. One paper investigates whether parents eat less well than their childless counterparts; the authors found that while parenthood doesn’t lead to an improved diet, it does not seem to make it considerably worse either, although parents still tend to eat more saturated fat. Another study looks at caffeine use among active-duty soldiers, and the results of a pilot study that placed chefs in school cafeteria kitchens are also published in this issue. School lunches come in for scrutiny again in an article looking at participation in the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program; perhaps unsurprisingly (although real data is always welcome), schools in the program tended to offer healthier lunches to their charges.
New in the Clinics is Psychiatric Clinics of North America; this month’s theme is substance abuse disorders. The latest advances in treatments for opioid addiction are covered, as are new systems of care for affected patients. Difficult specific situations, including the management of co-occurring substance use and pain disorders and approaches to pregnant substance abuse patients are addressed. The genetic basis for addiction is described, while another article looks at the subject from a neurobiological perspective. Pediatric Clinics of North America’s June issue also went up this week, this time with a look at children and the media. The always-popular question of whether babies should be watching TV comes up, with the most recent research included, and internet bullying also comes under review. But there are positive aspects of children interacting with the media to report as well: healthy interactions and cooperative attitudes are detailed in one paper, while another looks at the ten-year history of a website aimed at providing teens accurate and accessible health information.
Check back next week for more of what’s new on MD Consult.
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