It's been a few weeks since we've had to write a blog, and in that time I've been deluged with text messages from our school about various muggings or robberies around campus. I am, as are most students, signed up for the emergency alert text message system. But never have I seen it used so frequently! I'm used to one or two events happening a semester that they alert us about, but there were at least 4-5 in the span of a few weeks. And all seemed to center around the same few blocks.
Stranger was the news this weekend about incidents around our area. Just two blocks from my house a car flipped over and damaged several parked cars (luckily not mine...). I don't know why this particular incident happened, and by the time I heard about it and went to go look the car had been removed. Then last night apparently two armed men stole a car around 50th St. and ended up crashing it at 40th and Locust, on Penn's campus. A shootout with Philadelphia police ensued and one of the men was killed, with the other being taken into custody.
I consider myself lucky over the last four years that I have not been involved in any incidents like these around our area. But I know people who have, and on Saturday night my roommate was walking back to our house from a bar at the time the carjacking/shootout occurred. Thankfully he took a different route home. I'm always torn about what to say to parents of prospective students when they come to admissions events and ask about safety. I think that the area just around campus is relatively safe, but people have to remember that we do live in a large urban environment. Crime happens everyday in the neighborhoods around us, and I think that these events are a good reminder for students to be careful when walking around at night. I won't lecture about all the ways to avoid danger, but the bottom line is to stay in groups and stay on the busier roads (like Spruce St). Both for this holiday season and the rest of your time at school, please be smart when you're off campus and stay safe.
Link to an article (which doesn't really tell much more info because the event was so recent)-
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/11/21/1260855/carjacking-ends-on-penn-campus.html
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Sleep Research
This week, I thought I'd talk about my job at Penn. I work as a research assistant for a group of insomnia researchers. At the moment, there are four different studies that are going on, each of which focuses on a different aspect of insomnia. The first study is almost over, and is the one I have been working on the longest. It involves the stress response and its role in insomnia. The idea is that if people suffering from insomnia are stressed before going to bed, their sleep will get worse and they will have a different salivary cortisol response to the stressor than healthy sleepers. The fun part of the study, for me, is the "stress" night...where I get to use an electric shock machine to administer a mild shock to the wrist of the participants. That is the initial stressor, as well as the knowledge that they could be shocked up to three times during the night. Before shocking them, of course, I show them that the shock is not that bad by administering it to myself.
The other study I am most involved in is a study examining the treatment of insomnia in cancer survivors. The study compares the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) treatment with or without the use of a drug that is intended to reduce daytime fatigue. CBT-I is supposed to help those who suffer from insomnia manage their sleep habits at night in order to increase their sleep time and their sleep efficiency (which is a measure of time asleep vs. time spent in bed). The drug should help with insomnia by reducing daytime fatigue and allowing the person to actually be tired enough at night to fall asleep. So together these treatments should be better than either one alone. The study is double-blind (of course), with those participants not receiving the medication receiving a placebo instead. My role is mainly in recruitment of participants from the cancer clinic at Penn, as well as consenting/screening participants who seem eligible.
The other two studies I am less involved in, but I will detail in a later post.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Halloween Health Hazards
Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. But it is also a holiday that seems to be regarded as dangerous, at least compared to others like Christmas or Thanksgiving. As a kid, the dangers all centered around trick-or-treating. My mom lectured my sister and I each year before we went out about staying together, only going to lit houses, not entering strangers houses, etc. Then, when we (miraculously) came home unharmed, her attention switched to my beloved candy. Even when I was in high school she still checked each piece for puncture marks (from poisoned needles?) in the wrapping and any other signs of tampering. Finally, my sister and I had intense negotiations in order to maximize the candies we liked and get rid of anything we didn't before it was all put away and strictly rationed over the next few months (which I always found a way around when my mom wasn't home).
As my friends and I grew older, the dangers of Halloween reversed themselves; instead of being worried about something from the night harming me, my mom became worried that I would go out and harm the neighborhood. Once, during a Halloween party at my house, the police came because we were loud and down the street some other people had been egging houses. To my knowledge, none of the people at my house were involved and the police did believe us...after my mom vouched for us being home all night.
The last few years the dangers associated with Halloween have changed again. This Friday all USP students got an email from the dean warning of the dangers of alcohol assumption, date rape, and walking around at night in the city (presumably at/after a Halloween party). While those concerns are legitimate on any college campus, especially the latter given the number of muggings the last two weeks, it's interesting that Halloween is the only holiday I still get warned about. But as always, I've had a great Halloween weekend and made it home safely at the end...unfortunately with no candy to get me through the rest of the semester.
http://www.suite101.com/content/halloween-health-and-safety-reminders-a296271
As my friends and I grew older, the dangers of Halloween reversed themselves; instead of being worried about something from the night harming me, my mom became worried that I would go out and harm the neighborhood. Once, during a Halloween party at my house, the police came because we were loud and down the street some other people had been egging houses. To my knowledge, none of the people at my house were involved and the police did believe us...after my mom vouched for us being home all night.
The last few years the dangers associated with Halloween have changed again. This Friday all USP students got an email from the dean warning of the dangers of alcohol assumption, date rape, and walking around at night in the city (presumably at/after a Halloween party). While those concerns are legitimate on any college campus, especially the latter given the number of muggings the last two weeks, it's interesting that Halloween is the only holiday I still get warned about. But as always, I've had a great Halloween weekend and made it home safely at the end...unfortunately with no candy to get me through the rest of the semester.
http://www.suite101.com/content/halloween-health-and-safety-reminders-a296271
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Vaccines
Ironically, for another psychology class I am taking I have to design a mini health psychology intervention. Not being able to use backpacks again, the topic I've chosen is vaccines and the fear that some parents have about vaccinating their children. Normally, children receive many vaccinations as they grow up in order to prevent them from contracting diseases that are potentially deadly. And by vaccinating at least 90% of children it helps protect the population as a whole from outbreaks of these diseases by creating herd immunity. However, there is fear, driven primarily by misinformation, that vaccines given to children can result in autism. As a result of this fear parents refuse to have their children vaccinated, leaving them susceptible to many diseases that other children are not.
At least some of this fear originated with the supposed results of a study that showed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. However, many problems about this study were later uncovered. There was a careful selection of participants whose families already believed that the vaccine caused the autism. The principle investigator was also accused of financial conflict of interest because he received funding from lawyers involved in vaccination lawsuits. Six years after the study was published, almost all of the authors published a retraction of its results. Many other studies, some following thousands of children longitudinally over several years, found no link between vaccinations and the development of autism. Despite this overwhelming evidence to the contrary, parents still hang onto their fears and do not vaccinate their children.
When examining the actions of the parents who decide not to vaccinate their children it is important to keep in mind that they believe they are doing what is best for their children. But in developed countries such as ours, many of the diseases that vaccines prevent have not been seen or experienced in years. For instance, most parents raising children today have never seen a case of polio or smallpox, two diseases that were all but wiped out thanks to the use of vaccines.
Despite strongly disagreeing with their decision due to the scientific evidence, I do think that their thoughts and decision fits into the Health Belief Model we discussed in class. Not seeing many of the diseases vaccines protect against means that parents have a low perceived susceptibility to them. And this lack of first-hand experience could also reduced any perceived severity that parents acknowledge. Most importantly, the misinformation about the risk of autism can act as a huge perceived barrier. The risk of inadvertently making their child autistic outweighs any perceived benefits of the vaccine.
The focus of my presentation will be on changing the minds of these doubtful parents so that their children are vaccinated along with the rest of the population, protecting them from a myriad of potentially deadly diseases.
References-
At least some of this fear originated with the supposed results of a study that showed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. However, many problems about this study were later uncovered. There was a careful selection of participants whose families already believed that the vaccine caused the autism. The principle investigator was also accused of financial conflict of interest because he received funding from lawyers involved in vaccination lawsuits. Six years after the study was published, almost all of the authors published a retraction of its results. Many other studies, some following thousands of children longitudinally over several years, found no link between vaccinations and the development of autism. Despite this overwhelming evidence to the contrary, parents still hang onto their fears and do not vaccinate their children.
When examining the actions of the parents who decide not to vaccinate their children it is important to keep in mind that they believe they are doing what is best for their children. But in developed countries such as ours, many of the diseases that vaccines prevent have not been seen or experienced in years. For instance, most parents raising children today have never seen a case of polio or smallpox, two diseases that were all but wiped out thanks to the use of vaccines.
Despite strongly disagreeing with their decision due to the scientific evidence, I do think that their thoughts and decision fits into the Health Belief Model we discussed in class. Not seeing many of the diseases vaccines protect against means that parents have a low perceived susceptibility to them. And this lack of first-hand experience could also reduced any perceived severity that parents acknowledge. Most importantly, the misinformation about the risk of autism can act as a huge perceived barrier. The risk of inadvertently making their child autistic outweighs any perceived benefits of the vaccine.
The focus of my presentation will be on changing the minds of these doubtful parents so that their children are vaccinated along with the rest of the population, protecting them from a myriad of potentially deadly diseases.
References-
Allan MG, Ivers N (2010). The autism-vaccine story: fiction and deception? Canadian Family
Physician, 56,1013.
Aronson E, Wilson TD, Akert RM. (2007). Social Psychology (7th Edition). Saddle River, NJ.
Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine, Council on Community Pediatrics (2010).
Increasing immunization coverage. Pediatrics, 125, 1295-1304.
Price CS, Thompson WW, Goodson B, Weintraub ES, Coren LS, Hinrichsen VL, Marcy M,
Robertson A, Eriksen E, Lewis E, Bernal P, Shay D, Davis RL, DeStefano F (2010). Prenatal and infant exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and immunoglobulins and risk of autism. Pediatrics, 126, 656-664.
Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism. (2004). Washington D.C.: National Academy
Press.
Gupta VB (2010). Communicating with parents of children with autism about vaccines and
complementary and alternative approaches. J Dev Behav Pediatr, 31, 343-345.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Methamphetamine
Don't be scared about the title of this post- I won't regale you of stories of that methamphetamine binge from second year (which I am kidding about anyway). But I have read a few news articles describing a suit that the government is bringing against CVS because its policies allowed people to come in and buy large quantities of over-the-counter decongestants. Apparently these decongestants contained pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient used to make methamphetamine. Because of this, federal law limits how much a person can buy in a day and pharmacies are supposed to check ID's and make customers sign for their pseudoephedrine-containing drugs.
The problem with CVS's system (that apparently was avoided by all other major pharmacies) was a computerized ledger that allowed people to buy more than the federally regulated amount. And employees were told to listen to the computer, even if they were not sure about how much a customer was buying.
What bothers me about this situation is an unsettling trend for us to just listen to computers (not only in healthcare, but in other industries as well) rather than take the time to actually evaluate a situation. A computerized ledger keeping track if ID's that are scanned into a pharmacy computer makes sense; it eliminates a lot of the human error in paper and pencil record keeping. But to just assume that system is right does not. Given the amount of education needed to be a pharmacist (or any other healthcare professional), the decisions made in the industry should be by those people. Especially when it involves materials that can be used to make things like meth or other controlled substances. Or when people's lives are at stake. Computers can be useful to collect data and analyze it, but in the end I think the decisions of what to do should remain in the hands of people.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/10/15/130585355/cvs-pseudoephedrine-meth-smurfs
http://www.newser.com/story/102972/cvs-fined-75m-for-selling-meth-ingredient.html
The problem with CVS's system (that apparently was avoided by all other major pharmacies) was a computerized ledger that allowed people to buy more than the federally regulated amount. And employees were told to listen to the computer, even if they were not sure about how much a customer was buying.
What bothers me about this situation is an unsettling trend for us to just listen to computers (not only in healthcare, but in other industries as well) rather than take the time to actually evaluate a situation. A computerized ledger keeping track if ID's that are scanned into a pharmacy computer makes sense; it eliminates a lot of the human error in paper and pencil record keeping. But to just assume that system is right does not. Given the amount of education needed to be a pharmacist (or any other healthcare professional), the decisions made in the industry should be by those people. Especially when it involves materials that can be used to make things like meth or other controlled substances. Or when people's lives are at stake. Computers can be useful to collect data and analyze it, but in the end I think the decisions of what to do should remain in the hands of people.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/10/15/130585355/cvs-pseudoephedrine-meth-smurfs
http://www.newser.com/story/102972/cvs-fined-75m-for-selling-meth-ingredient.html
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Sports Injuries
I'm not a huge sports fan; I generally don't try to watch every game or know stats of every player of a given sport. But I do follow the Philly teams (mostly Eagles and Phillies) and have a great appreciation for what the athletes do, especially given my own less than average ability at most sports. But one thing that has always bothered me about sports, and not just at the professional level, is the number of injuries that players have.
Today is a great example of that. During the Eagles game, which was unbearable for a number of other, non-injury related reasons, at least three or four players left the field because of injuries. Most notably was Michael Vick's rib injury that took him out of the game. While I know that I would look pretty bad if two 250-pound men wearing pads and body armor tackled me, I've never understood how players who train for months to get themselves into such a high state of physical fitness can be hurt in one moment. And I don't mean things like broken legs, obviously that can happen in an instant, but subtler things like muscle sprains or tears. After all the hours of training in the off-season and in between games, how are their bodies not able to play for 60 minutes (or less) of game time?
With other sports that are less physical than football I am even more surprised. How do you get hurt playing baseball? Most of the game is spent standing around waiting for something to happen or sitting in the dugout. And then the few minutes of excitement and activity involve hitting a ball and running 90ish feet at a time. At speeds that definitely would not qualify players for Olympic sprinting events. Not to minimize what the players are doing, but I've never been able to figure out how players spend weeks recovering from injuries.
The weirdest thing is that plays that I think should cause injuries don't seem to. Carlos Ruiz was hit in the elbow today with a pitch...and just shook it off and walked to first base. He was in pain, but still played. He didn't even sit out an inning to get it looked at. The same thing is true for one of the Braves' outfielders that caught a ball and collided with a fence along the back wall of the stadium. Those kinds of impacts, to me, seem like what would cause health concerns and injuries.
As a non-sports person I'd be interested to hear any explanation from athletes who may have experienced injuries or know someone who has.
Today is a great example of that. During the Eagles game, which was unbearable for a number of other, non-injury related reasons, at least three or four players left the field because of injuries. Most notably was Michael Vick's rib injury that took him out of the game. While I know that I would look pretty bad if two 250-pound men wearing pads and body armor tackled me, I've never understood how players who train for months to get themselves into such a high state of physical fitness can be hurt in one moment. And I don't mean things like broken legs, obviously that can happen in an instant, but subtler things like muscle sprains or tears. After all the hours of training in the off-season and in between games, how are their bodies not able to play for 60 minutes (or less) of game time?
With other sports that are less physical than football I am even more surprised. How do you get hurt playing baseball? Most of the game is spent standing around waiting for something to happen or sitting in the dugout. And then the few minutes of excitement and activity involve hitting a ball and running 90ish feet at a time. At speeds that definitely would not qualify players for Olympic sprinting events. Not to minimize what the players are doing, but I've never been able to figure out how players spend weeks recovering from injuries.
The weirdest thing is that plays that I think should cause injuries don't seem to. Carlos Ruiz was hit in the elbow today with a pitch...and just shook it off and walked to first base. He was in pain, but still played. He didn't even sit out an inning to get it looked at. The same thing is true for one of the Braves' outfielders that caught a ball and collided with a fence along the back wall of the stadium. Those kinds of impacts, to me, seem like what would cause health concerns and injuries.
As a non-sports person I'd be interested to hear any explanation from athletes who may have experienced injuries or know someone who has.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
A Positive Spin on Stress
I figured I could't make it through an entire semester of health psych without touching on stress at least once. But I am not going to take the angle that you might expect. Many people view stress as negative, and long-term chronic stress is indeed harmful to your health. But a small amount of stress, over a short period of time, can have benefits.
I choose stress this week because tomorrow I have my first medical school interview, which (as you can imagine) is very stressful. But I am glad to feel the stress; it forced me to focus this weekend on getting ready for the interview instead of going out or trying to get ahead on other coursework. It is what will let me actually wake up at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow (along with my three alarm clocks) so I can be on time. I know that if I were completely relaxed and not stressing about the interview (or any other part of the med school admissions process) then I would not be working as hard to prepare myself and hopefully impress the admissions people enough to let me in. Keeping in mind, of course, that I am also not allowing myself to be consumed by stress, which would have those negative consequences both physiologically and (probably) how I perform at an interview.
When actually looking into some health benefits of stress, I was surprised that there are positive, measurable physiological effects of stress on the immune system. The number of leukocytes is boosted in mice following a stressor, which could be helpful in fighting infections and other diseases. Other studies in mice have shown a benefit in terms of resistance to cancer and the flu after being exposed to an experimental stressor, some of which lasts for weeks.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-surprising-benefits-of-stress-1285344/
http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050328154440_health_news.shtml
http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050328154440_health_news.shtml
And now that I've finished this last bit of work for the weekend, I am going to try to go to bed to get plenty of sleep for tomorrow as well. Hopefully stressing about the interview won't keep me awake too long...
I choose stress this week because tomorrow I have my first medical school interview, which (as you can imagine) is very stressful. But I am glad to feel the stress; it forced me to focus this weekend on getting ready for the interview instead of going out or trying to get ahead on other coursework. It is what will let me actually wake up at 6:30 in the morning tomorrow (along with my three alarm clocks) so I can be on time. I know that if I were completely relaxed and not stressing about the interview (or any other part of the med school admissions process) then I would not be working as hard to prepare myself and hopefully impress the admissions people enough to let me in. Keeping in mind, of course, that I am also not allowing myself to be consumed by stress, which would have those negative consequences both physiologically and (probably) how I perform at an interview.
When actually looking into some health benefits of stress, I was surprised that there are positive, measurable physiological effects of stress on the immune system. The number of leukocytes is boosted in mice following a stressor, which could be helpful in fighting infections and other diseases. Other studies in mice have shown a benefit in terms of resistance to cancer and the flu after being exposed to an experimental stressor, some of which lasts for weeks.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/the-surprising-benefits-of-stress-1285344/
http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050328154440_health_news.shtml
http://www.aphroditewomenshealth.com/news/20050328154440_health_news.shtml
And now that I've finished this last bit of work for the weekend, I am going to try to go to bed to get plenty of sleep for tomorrow as well. Hopefully stressing about the interview won't keep me awake too long...
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