http://thedesignspace.net/ My daily explorations, troubleshooting, solutions and discoveries. en-us ellen@thedesignspace.net Sat, 26 Jan 2013 09:42:57 -0500 http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/001012.html The field of Healthcare today is filled with opportunities for improvement. Inconsistent treatment, preventable illness, and medical errors that result in injury are all too common, along with enormous inefficiency and waste. The Institute of Medicine, the medical arm of the National Academy of Sciences, is leading an initiative that descibes a better organizing principle for healthcare - a... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000486.html The problem: Over the last few years, public attention has been focused increasingly on the problem of nosocomial or hospital acquired infections (HAI's). Why is there so much concern? A study by the CDC published in the March/April 2007 issue of the journal Public Health Reports, estimated that 1.7 million hospital patients per year ― 4.5 of every 100 admissions... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000624.html Quick, what is the the fifth leading cause of death in the United States? Heart problems? Liver failure? Cancer? You probably won't believe me when I tell you it is flying in airplanes. Deep Vein Thrombosis in air travelers is far more frequent than most of us know. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a dangerous condition where lack of movement... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000599.html There is growing interest in the use of intranasally administered insulin for treating symptoms of early alzheimers and for improving memory and cognition in general. An article published in Neurology in 2008 describes the results of a double-blind study of 25 participants with early alzheimers who were given either insulin or a placebo using an electronic atomizer, daily. They found... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000578.html http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000557.html An enormous breakthrough. Research by Professor Ruth Itzhaki and her team at the University of Manchester confirms earlier suspicions about the role of the HSV1 virus as a cause of Alzheimer's disease. As reported in Science Daily and Slashdot, researchers in the University of Manchester have published research that suggests: "...that HSV1 (the Herpes cold sore virus) enters the brain... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000549.html If you have every tried to help out with finding care for someone who is just returning home from a hospital stay, or for someone who has need of long term care within their home, you know how difficult it can be. Since patients are frequently discharged from the hospital before being fully recovered, it's often necessary to rapidly... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000478.html Tumor Necrosis Factor is a type of signaling molecule (cytokine) involved in inflammation. It has been found to be an important factor in a variety of disease processes, because it promotes the inflammatory response which, although necessary in fighting infection, can be deadly in the case of overreaction, as in asthma. Finding this association has been a breakthrough in treating... http://thedesignspace.net/MT2archives/000139.html I did a little research into why we now only have two (no, make that one!) suppliers of flu vaccine for the entire US, and why that supply is available only through the government. If the authors quoted below are correct, perhaps current policy needs to be revised. I've heard various politicians and administrators lately (most recently Tommy Thompson) telling...