Palpitations Over Pills for Kids

 by Tara Parker-Pope
From the Well Blog

"Reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service and provided by the A.A.P. show that the academy has received contributions from several companies with ties to statins, including $433,000 from Merck, $835,250 from Abbott Laboratories’ Ross Product Division and $216,000 from the Bristol-Myers Squibb company Mead Johnson Nutritionals. The biggest statin maker, Pfizer, is not listed as a contributor. The A.A.P. reported a total of $81 million in revenue in 2007."

Click here to read full article at www.well.blogs.nytimes.com

Ben Goldacre: What doctors don't know about the drugs they prescribe

When a new drug gets tested, the results of the trials should be published for the rest of the medical world -- except much of the time, negative or inconclusive findings go unreported, leaving doctors and researchers in the dark. In this impassioned talk, Ben Goldacre explains why these unreported instances of negative data are especially misleading and dangerous.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.

www.ted.com

Half of US clinical trials go unpublished

Results are reported more thoroughly in government database than in journals.
by Nicola Jones
03 December 2013

The results of clinical trials are going unpublished as much as half the time, and those that are published omit some key details, a study has found. 

US law requires the results of medical research for drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to be submitted to a database called ClinicalTrials.gov. Results, including adverse effects, have been made public there since 2008. Researchers who do not post results within a year of trial completion risk losing grants and can be fined as much as US$10,000 per day. But the database was never meant to replace journal publications, which often contain longer descriptions of methods and results and are the basis for big reviews of research on a given drug.

In an analysis of 600 trials picked at random from the database, Agnes Dechartres, an epidemiologist at Paris Descartes University, and her colleagues have now found that only 50% had made their way into print. “Non-publication is a crucial problem for all stakeholders, from patients to health policy-makers,” says Dechartres. For one thing, she says, failure to publish results in journals breeches the implied contract with patients who participated in the trials. “If results are not [fully] available, we can consider that research wasted,” she says.

Click here to for full article on www.nature.com

“Pay-to-Play” Meetings Shed Light on FDA’s Role in Prescription Abuse Epidemic

Originally published by Alliance for Natural Health USA

October 22, 2013

Drug companies paid up to $25,000 to influence FDA policy—the latest in a decades-long FDA/Big Pharma scandal. 

What class of drugs:

• causes more deaths a year than heroin and cocaine combined;
• accounts for two-thirds of drug overdose fatalities;
• killed 16,000 Americans in 2010 alone;
• adds $72.5 billion a year to the cost of US healthcare from misuse; and
• according to the CDC, has directly contributed to a sharp rise in our country’s suicide rate?

 
We’ll give you a hint: they’re FDA-approved.

click here to continue reading on www.anh-usa.org...

10 Easy Things That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science

Written by Belle Beth Cooper

Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. So naturally we are obsessed with it. I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science.

Continue reading on themindunleashed.org: http://www.themindunleashed.org/2013/10/10-easy-things-that-will-make-you.html?m=1

Is there a link between pain and depression?

Expert Answers on MayoClinic.com
Answer from Daniel K. Hall-Flavin, M.D.

Pain and depression are closely related. Depression can cause pain — and pain can cause depression. Sometimes pain and depression create a vicious cycle in which pain worsens symptoms of depression, and then the resulting depression worsens feelings of pain....

Continue reading at MayoClinic.com:   http://goo.gl/F6Wp2Z

Study Finds Link Between Stress And Physical Pain

Scientists believe they have discovered why psychological stress can lead to physical pain.

A research team at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that chronic psychological stress is associated with the body losing its ability to regulate the inflammatory response....

Continue reading on Huffington Post:  http://goo.gl/IWcFw0

In Eyes, a Clock Calibrated by Wavelengths of Light

"Researchers like Dr. Brainard hope the science may lead to a new generation of lights and screens designed with wavelengths that adjust according to the hour of the day."

click here to read full article on nytimes.com 

Otto Steininger

 

NEW STUDY: Cranial electrical stimulation (CES) and insomnia

Efficacy of cranial electric stimulation for the
treatment of insomnia: A randomized pilot study

R. Gregory Lande, Cynthia Gragnani
Click here for full study. 

Summary
Objectives: This pilot study examined the potential efficacy of cranial electric stimulation for
the treatment of insomnia.
Design: The researchers tested the hypothesis through a randomized, double-blind, and placebo
controlled clinical trial. The researchers approached eligible subjects who scored 21 or above
on the Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale. The researchers then randomly assigned the subjects
to receive either an active or sham device. Each study subject received 60 min of active or
sham treatment for five days. Following each intervention the subjects completed a sleep log,
as well as three and ten days later.
Setting: The researchers conducted the study among active duty service members receiving
mental health care on the Psychiatry Continuity Service (PCS), Walter Reed National Military
Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.
Main outcome measures: The study’s primary outcome variables were the time to sleep onset,
total time slept, and number of awakenings as reported by the subjects in the serial sleep logs.
The researchers identified a nearly significant increase in total time slept after three cranial
electric stimulation treatments among all study subjects. A closer examination of this group
revealed an interesting gender bias, with men reporting a robust increase in total time slept
after one treatment, decay in effect over the next two interventions, and then an increase
in total time slept after the fourth treatment. The researchers speculate that the up and
down effect on total time slept could be the result of an insufficient dose of cranial electric
stimulation.

Published by Elsevier Ltd

Click here for full study.

Prescription-Drug-Induced Violence Medicine's Best Kept Secret?

Data Based Medicine Americas Ltd. announces free online tool to show possible links between prescription drugs and violence.

Toronto, Canada (PRWEB) November 12, 2012
by David Carmichael
 

RxISK.org, the first free independent website for researching and reporting prescription drug side effects, has added a Violence Zone to demonstrate and collect data on the links between prescription drugs and violent thoughts and behavior — from mild to suicidal or homicidal.

This article first appeared on http://www.prweb.com, click here for full article.

NEW STUDY: Cranial Electrical Stimulation on Fibromyalgia

The latest research using Alpha-Stim technology! 

 

A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Pilot Study of the Effects of Cranial Electrical Stimulation on Activity in Brain Pain Processing Regions in Individuals with Fibromyalgia http://ow.ly/gC34k

Electroacupuncture Helps With Chronic Stress in Laboratory Rats

 "In a laboratory study, researchers found that electroacupuncture was able to affect a key stress response in rats—by blocking a sympathetic pathway that is stimulated during chronic stress. Electroacupuncture (acupuncture combined with electrical stimulation) has been proposed as a complementary therapy in the treatment of chronic stress in people; however, the existing data on its effectiveness and how it works are unclear. This study, funded in part by NCCAM, was published in the journal Experimental Biology and Medicine."

Continue reading here...