Asclepios

1. Sports fans who tailgate are more likely to get drunk.
 ”Our findings suggest that a significant number of attendees at professional sporting events may have elevated BAC levels, particularly young adults and those who participated in tailgating activities. ”

2. Sport fan identification in obituaries.
“To assess whether sport involvement, particularly as a fan, is central enough to one’s self-concept to be mentioned in obituary content, it was hypothesized that a greater proportion of men’s obituaries than women’s would mention the deceased individual’s sport fan identification.”

3. Choose wisely, rooting for the winning team DOES make you more manly.
“In both studies, mean testosterone level increased in the fans of winning teams and decreased in the fans of losing teams. These findings suggest that watching one’s heroes win or lose has physiological consequences that extend beyond changes in mood and self-esteem.”

4. The “Fan Can”: innocent football fan fun, or menace to sober society?
“Participants were exposed to images of beer in either a standard can or a can featuring the colors of their university (i.e., ‘fan cans’). We hypothesized that exposure to fan cans would change ...

It’s Facebook week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring papers about everyone’s favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

“Are We Facebook Official?” Implications of Dating Partners’ Facebook Use and Profiles for Intimate Relationship Satisfaction.

“Extending previous research on positive and negative correlates of Facebook use for individuals’ outcomes, this study examined male and female dating partners’ (n=58 couples) Facebook use and portrayals of their intimate relationship on the Facebook profile. Confirming hypotheses from compatibility theories of mate selection, partners demonstrated similar Facebook intensity (e.g., usage, connection to Facebook), and were highly likely to portray their relationship on their Facebook profiles in similar ways (i.e., display partnered status and show their partner in profile picture). These Facebook profile choices played a role in the overall functioning of the relationship, with males’ indications of a partnered status linked with higher levels of their own and their partners’ (marginal) relationship satisfaction, and females’ displays of their partner in their profile picture linked with higher levels of their own and their partners’ relationship satisfaction. Finally, male and female reports of having had disagreements over the Facebook relationship status was associated with lower level of females’ but not males’ relationship satisfaction, ...

It’s Facebook week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring papers about everyone’s favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus? Examining Gender Differences in Self-Presentation on Social Networking Sites.

“Psychological research on gender differences in self-presentation has already revealed that women place higher priority on creating a positive self-presentation, while men are less concerned about the image they present in face-to-face (ftf) communication. Nowadays, with the extensive use of new media, self-presentation is no longer so closely tied to ftf situations, but can also take place in the online world. Specifically, social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook or MySpace, offer various features such as profile pictures, groups, and virtual bulletin boards with which users can create elaborated online representations of themselves. What remains open is whether this virtual self-presentation on SNS is subject to gender differences. Based on studies emphasizing gender-related differences in Internet communication and behavior in general, it can be assumed that men and women have different motives regarding their SNS usage as well. A multimethodological study, combining results of an online survey and a content analysis of 106 user profiles, assessed users’ diverse motives ...

It’s Facebook week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring papers about everyone’s favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

Laypersons can seek help from their Facebook friends regarding medical diagnosis

“INTRODUCTION:
In contrast to Internet search engines, social media on the Internet such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. reach a large number of people, who are ready to help answering questions. This type of information aggregation has been dubbed “crowdsourcing” i.e. outsourcing a task to a large group of people or community (a crowd) through an open call. Our aim was to explore whether laypersons via Facebook friends could crowd source their way to a medical diagnosis based on a brief medical history, posted as a status update on Facebook.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:
The participants posted a brief case story on their Facebook profile and asked their “Facebook friends” to come up with possible diagnoses.
RESULTS:
The correct diagnosis was suggested in five of the six case stories, and the correct diagnosis was made after a median of ten minutes. The quality of the responses varied from relevant differential diagnoses to very silly diagnostic suggestions.
CONCLUSION:
Based on this study, we believe that laypersons can use his or ...

It’s Facebook week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring papers about everyone’s favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

“OBJECTIVE: To assess the incontinence resources readily available for patients among social networks. Social networks allow users to connect with each other and share content and are a widely popular resource on the Internet. These sites attract millions of users; however, social media are underused in the healthcare industry. METHODS: A search for “incontinence” was performed on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in September 2010. The first 30 results were reviewed for each. The results were evaluated as useful or not useful and additionally catalogued as healthcare professionals, commercial products, or complementary and alternative medicine resources. RESULTS: On Facebook, 4 results (13%) were informative, 12 (40%) advertised commercial incontinence products, and 14 (47%) had no usable information. Of the live “tweets” reviewed on Twitter, 18 (60%) linked to incontinence-related healthcare information (none were from, or referred one to, healthcare professionals), 9 (30%) advertised for commercial incontinence products, 1 (3%) advertised complementary and alternative medicine resources, and 2 (7%) were humorous. Of 4 Twitter user results, 1 was comic, 1 provided incontinence-related health information, and 2 were incontinence medical ...

It’s Facebook week on NCBI ROFL! All this week we’ll be featuring papers about everyone’s favorite social networking site. Enjoy!

“Contrasting hypotheses were posed to test the effect of Facebook exposure on self-esteem. Objective Self-Awareness (OSA) from social psychology and the Hyperpersonal Model from computer-mediated communication were used to argue that Facebook would either diminish or enhance self-esteem respectively. The results revealed that, in contrast to previous work on OSA, becoming self-aware by viewing one’s own Facebook profile enhances self-esteem rather than diminishes it. Participants that updated their profiles and viewed their own profiles during the experiment also reported greater self-esteem, which lends additional support to the Hyperpersonal Model. These findings suggest that selective self-presentation in digital media, which leads to intensified relationship formation, also influences impressions of the self.”

Photo: Flickr/owenwbrown

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A Medphone, em mais uma parceria com o Conselho Federal de Medicina, lançou o aplicativo "Diretrizes Crack" para iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. Baseado nas "Diretrizes Gerais Médicas para Assistência Integral ao Crack" lançadas em 2011, o aplicativo será mais uma ferramenta no combate ao uso do crack, já considerado uma epidemia no Brasil.  
As diretrizes abordam desde conceitos sobre o crack e a dependência química até orientações sobre tratamento e encaminhamento do paciente. O aplicativo aborda esse conteúdo de forma mais sucinta e de fácil acesso, como mostram as imagens abaixo:


O aplicativo está disponível gratuitamente na App Store.
Para saber mais sobre outros aplicativos da Medphone, clique aqui.



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Fonte: goo.gl/GL48y

Por que os médicos erram As armadilhas mentais que produzem diagnósticos enganosos

CRISTIANE SEGATTO

Errar é humano, mas o erro de alguns humanos é menos tolerado que o de outros. Com os médicos, é assim. Diante da preciosidade da matéria com a qual eles lidam, o mínimo equívoco pode ser a diferença entre a vida e a morte.

Quase sempre os erros médicos são atribuídos à má qualidade da formação profissional, à carga de trabalho extenuante, à negligência ou ao excesso de confiança nas próprias habilidades. Existem, porém, outros fatores potencialmente fatais.

São falhas cometidas até mesmo pelos médicos mais bem formados, que trabalham nas melhores condições e que tem a clientela mais poderosa. Elas não são fruto apenas da má vontade, da pressa ou do descontentamento com as condições de trabalho.

Leia mais…

Fonte: goo.gl/GL48y

How (not) to communicate new scientific information: a memoir of the famous brindley lecture

“In 1983, at the Urodynamics Society meeting in Las Vegas, Professor G.S. Brindley first announced to the world his experiments on self-injection with papaverine to induce a penile erection. This was the first time that an effective medical therapy for erectile dysfunction (ED) was described, and was a historic development in the management of ED. The way in which this information was first reported was completely unique and memorable, and provides an interesting context for the development of therapies for ED. I was present at this extraordinary lecture, and the details are worth sharing. Although this lecture was given more than 20 years ago, the details have remained fresh in my mind, for reasons which will become obvious.

The lecture, which had an innocuous title along the lines of ‘Vaso-active therapy for erectile dysfunction’ was scheduled as an evening lecture of the Urodynamics Society in the hotel in which I was staying. I was a senior resident, hungry for knowledge, and at the AUA I went to every lecture that I could. About 15 min before the lecture I took the elevator to go ...

Em artigo especial de Natal publicado no British Medical Journal no final do ano passado, um grupo de pesquisadores holandeses tentou estabelecer a relação entre a surdez de Beethoven e suas composições. Desde o início do século XX que há discussões médicas sobre a doença do compositor, mas como investigar um caso clínico que aconteceu há cerca de 200 anos?

Beethoven começou a ter sintomas auditivos com menos de 30 anos,  bem antes de compor suas obras mais famosas. Muito se especulou sobre a doença de base ser auto-imune ou infecciosa (alguns atestaram sífilis), mas é fato que não se sabe a causa: sabe-se apenas que sua audição foi piorando ao longo dos anos, pois ele se correspondia com amigos relatando o problema e chegou até a usar instrumentos para compensar a perda auditiva (imagem acima). Parece inacreditável, mas ao compor a 9ª Sinfonia (sua obra mais famosa) Beethoven já estava completamente surdo.

Mas como esses pesquisadores estudaram o caso de Beethoven? Em vez de se preocupar em como ele poderia ter ouvido suas obras, como outros artigos fizeram, o grupo holandês analisou a quantidade de notas agudas (mais difíceis de ouvir) nas partituras para quartetos de cordas. Eles dividiram, então, as obras em quatro grupos temporais e analisaram a porcentagem de notas agudas em cada composição. A conclusão é que as notas agudas diminuíram ao longo dos anos e voltaram a subir no final da sua carreira, quando ele já estava completamente surdo e não se preocupava mais em compor obras que pudesse ouvir. Então, sim! As composições de Beethoven não eram somente fruto de sua inspiração, mas também das limitações impostas pela sua doença.





Referência:
Saccenti E et al. Beethoven’s deafness and his three styles. BMJ 2011;343:d7589


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The sickening rug: a repeating static pattern that leads to motion-sickness-like symptoms.

“The nauseogenic properties of a patterned rug that reputedly caused motion-sickness-like symptoms in those who viewed it was the topic of this study. Naive observers viewed a 1:1 scale image of the black-and-white patterned rug and a homogeneous gray region of equivalent luminance in a counterbalanced within-subjects design. After 5 min of viewing, symptoms were assessed with the simulator sickness questionnaire (SSQ), yielding a total SSQ score and sub-scores for nausea, oculomotor symptoms, and disorientation. All four scores were significantly higher in the rug condition. Observers also reported significantly more self-motion perception in the rug condition, even though they were seated during the experiment. Results are consistent with findings that suggest that neurologically normal individuals who view a repeating static pattern can experience unpleasant symptoms, some of which are similar to motion sickness.”

Bonus quote from the full text:
“Bottom line: be careful what you buy. You might have to look at it for a while and
it might just make you feel sick.”

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“We advance a new account of why people endorse conspiracy theories, arguing that individuals use the social-cognitive tool of projection when making social judgements about others. In two studies, we found that individuals were more likely to endorse conspiracy theories if they thought they would be willing, personally, to participate in the alleged conspiracies. Study 1 established an association between conspiracy beliefs and personal willingness to conspire, which fully mediated a relationship between Machiavellianism and conspiracy beliefs. In Study 2, participants primed with their own morality were less inclined than controls to endorse conspiracy theories – a finding fully mediated by personal willingness to conspire. These results suggest that some people think ‘they conspired’ because they think ‘I would conspire’.”

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Photo: flickr/kyz

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“Numerous studies have shown that men overestimate the sexual intent of women based on their clothing style; however, this hypothesis has not been assessed empirically in a natural setting. This small field study measured the time it took for men to approach two female confederates sitting in a tavern, one wearing suggestive clothes and one wearing more conservative clothes. The behavior of 108 men was observed over 54 periods on 16 different nights in two different taverns. The time it took for the men to approach after initial eye contact was significantly shorter in the suggestive clothing condition. The men were also asked by male confederates to rate the likelihood of having a date with the women, and having sex on the first date. The men rated their chances to have a date and to have sex significantly higher in the suggestive clothing condition. Results are discussed with respect to men’s possible misinterpretation that women’s clothing indicates sexual interest, and the risks associated with the misinterpretation.”

Photo: Flickr/philosophygeek

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Pode parecer revolucionário para nós, mas a cirurgia robótica existe desde a década de 80. Todavia, foi somente com o Da Vinci, lançado no final dos anos 90, que os robôs ficaram mais populares na medicina: o Da Vinci conta com um console com tela 3D e joystics de onde o cirurgião controla os 4 braços robóticos que são acoplados ao paciente. Como o Da Vinci tem imagem 3D e pinças que rodam 360º, há menor lesão tecidual e sangramento. Entretanto, apesar de revolucionário, o Da Vinci está longe de ser perfeito! É enorme, pesa cerca de meia tonelada e custa 1,8 milhão de dólares. Além disso, a curva de aprendizado é lenta e seu uso se popularizou em poucos procedimentos, principalmente histerectomias e prostatectomias.  
Imagem 01 - Aspecto do Da Vinci com seus braços robóticos e estação de imagem do cirurgião.
Talvez essas falhas do Da Vinci sejam a glória de um novo robô, o Raven! Desenvolvido pela Universidade de Washington com o objetivo de ser usado no campo de batalha e em expedições (espaciais ou submarinas), Raven é compacto, leve e relativamente barato (custará 250 mil dólares). Além disso, seu software é open-source, permitindo que seu código seja editado e outras funções sejam desenvolvidas e testadas por cirurgiões pesquisadores. 
Imagem 02 - Ascpeto do Raven, com sua estrutura bastante compacta.
Em teste desde 2007, Raven já operou em desertos e submarinos. Agora, a partir de fevereiro, chegará às universidades americanas para ser testado em cirurgias de animais: em Harvard os cirurgiões vão tentar operar um coração batendo graças à capacidade do Raven de compensar o movimento. Mas pode ser na Universidade da Califórnia o experimento mais astuto: ensinar o robô a operar de forma autônoma através da mímica dos movimentos dos cirurgiões.


Depois basta esperar: após realizadas as pesquisas em animais, o Raven deve ser aprovado pelo FDA e liberado para comercialização. Quem sabe teremos uma nova era na cirurgia robótica!



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You must have been a beautiful baby: ratings of infant facial attractiveness fail to predict ratings of adult attractiveness.

“Facial attractiveness has been studied extensively, but little research has examined the stability of facial attractiveness of individuals across different stages of development. We conducted a study examining the relationship between facial attractiveness in infants (age 24 months and under) and the same individuals as young adults (age 16-18 years)using infant and adult photographs from high school yearbooks. Contrary to expectations, independent raters’ assessments of infant facial attractiveness did not correlate with adult facial attractiveness. These results are discussed in terms of the adaptive function of heightened attractiveness in infancy, which likely evolved to elicit and maintain parental care.”

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Photo: flickr/daveynin

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“Because men of higher genetic quality tend to be poorer partners and parents than men of lower genetic quality, women may profit from securing a stable investment from the latter, while obtaining good genes via extrapair mating with the former. Only if conception occurs, however, do the evolutionary benefits of such a strategy overcome its costs. Accordingly, we predicted that (a) partnered women should prefer attached men, because such men are more likely than single men to have pair-bonding qualities, and hence to be good replacement partners, and (b) this inclination should reverse when fertility rises, because attached men are less available for impromptu sex than single men. In this study, 208 women rated the attractiveness of men described as single or attached. As predicted, partnered women favored attached men at the low-fertility phases of the menstrual cycle, but preferred single men (if masculine, i.e., advertising good genetic quality) when conception risk was high.”

Photo: Flickr/MikeCrane83

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Effects of loading on maximum vertical jumps: Selective effects of weight and inertia.

“A novel loading method was applied to explore selective effects of externally added weight (W), weight and inertia (W+I), and inertia (I) on maximum counter-movement jumps (CMJ) performed with arm swing. Externally applied extended rubber bands and/or loaded vest added W, W+I, and I corresponding to 10-40% of subjects’ body mass. As expected, an increase in magnitude of all types of load was associated with an increase in ground reaction forces (GRF), as well as with a decrease in both the jumping performance and power output. However, of more importance could be that discernible differences among the effects of W, W+I, and I were recorded despite a relatively narrow loading range. In particular, an increase in W was associated with the minimal changes in movement kinematic pattern and smallest reduction of jumping performance, while also allowing for the highest power output. Conversely, W+I was associated with the highest ground reaction forces. Finally, the lowest maxima of GRF and power were associated with I. Although further research is apparently needed, the obtained finding could be of potential importance not only for understanding ...

Effects of heated seats in vehicles on thermal comfort during the initial warm-up period.

“Eight subjects participated in a subjective experiment of eight conditions to investigate the effects of heated seats in vehicles on skin temperature, thermal sensation and thermal comfort during the initial warm-up period. The experimental conditions were designed as a combination of air temperature in the test room (5, 10, 15, or 20 °C) and heated seat (on/off). The heated seat was effective for improving thermal comfort during the initial warm-up period when air temperature was lower than 15 °C. Use of heated seats prevented decreases in or increased toe skin temperature. Heated seats also increased foot thermal sensation at 15 and 20 °C. Optimal thermal sensation in contact with the seat was higher when air temperature was lower. Optimal skin temperature in contact with the seat back was higher than that with the seat cushion. Moreover, these optimal skin temperatures were higher when air temperature was lower.”

Photo: flickr/kjarrett

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A brief telephone interview to identify lesbian and bisexual women in random digit dialing sampling.

“Lesbian health research has most often relied on nonprobability samples that are biased and restrict generalizability. Random sampling could reduce bias, but requires development of a method for fast and reliable screening of a large number of women. We tested the feasibility of using a brief telephone interview to assess sexual attraction, behavior, and identity. Using Random Digit Dialing in a neighborhood of Boston with a high density of lesbian residents, we interviewed 202 women aged 18 to 59. Of the respondents, 33% reported some sexual attraction to other women, 20% reported sex with women since age 18, and 14% identified as a lesbian. The high level of cooperation with the study among eligible women (94%) and the high proportion of women who disclosed homosexual attraction, behavior, or identity show that it is feasible to use a brief screening questionnaire about sexuality of women over the telephone even without building special rapport with the respondents.”

Photo: Flickr/MacKinnon Photography

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Doing better by getting worse: posthypnotic amnesia improves random number generation.

“Although forgetting is often regarded as a deficit that we need to control to optimize cognitive functioning, it can have beneficial effects in a number of contexts. We examined whether disrupting memory for previous numerical responses would attenuate repetition avoidance (the tendency to avoid repeating the same number) during random number generation and thereby improve the randomness of responses. Low suggestible and low dissociative and high dissociative highly suggestible individuals completed a random number generation task in a control condition, following a posthypnotic amnesia suggestion to forget previous numerical responses, and in a second control condition following the cancellation of the suggestion. High dissociative highly suggestible participants displayed a selective increase in repetitions during posthypnotic amnesia, with equivalent repetition frequency to a random system, whereas the other two groups exhibited repetition avoidance across conditions. Our results demonstrate that temporarily disrupting memory for previous numerical responses improves random number generation.”

Photo: flickr/garryknight
Thanks to bboybutzemann for today’s ROFL!

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