Cocoa is rich in polyphenols, similar to those found in green tea, and as polyphenols have been shown to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease such as hypertension, stroke, myocardial infarction but also diabetesFor cocoa, the terms that are used to describe the particular compounds of interest are flavanols. Flavanols are a subclass of flavonoids which are, in turn, a subclass of polyphenolsCocoa is the non-fat component of cocoa liquor (finely ground cocoa beans) which is used in chocolate making or as cocoa powder (commonly 12 % fat) for cooking and drinksChocolate refers to the combination of cocoa, cocoa butter, .....read more »

But Dr. Hussain, who entered his profession at a time when Iraqi doctors were among the most sophisticated and highly trained in the Middle East, is caught in a time warp in a war-torn land where knowledge and sophistication have been largely overwhelmed by third-world decay, and ancient equipment has plunged some treatments into a “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” barbarism, despite the best intentions.Article in The New York Times, shocking newsRelated posts: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” Reopened From sanctuary to snake pit: the rise and fall of asylums Virtual Psychiatric Ward Helpful for New Admissions? ..read more »

In Google Health you can now add your health information. You can add your diseases and medication use. The systems alarms when dangerous interactions appear with your different medications. You can also add allergies.You can even add medical records from sources of which a few of are shown in the next figureWhen you link a website to your profile, you may authorize that website to read your Google Health profile or to automatically send and update information in your profile (such as medical records or prescription histories). You decide which permissions to grant when you sign up with each website.All .....read more »

Supportive therapy in psychiatry is mostly done by unexperienced psychiatric residents during their training. Most residents as well as psychiatrists think that supportive therapy is just providing a sense of safety, support self esteem and hope, alternated by advice how patients should live their life, structure their day, get to work and behave. Psychiatrist the least qualified usually apply for the supervision of residents doing these therapies based on these premises.To my opinion these kind of therapies are the hardest to do, need the most experienced and psychotherapeutic best qualified psychiatrists. Yes psychiatrists because this kind of therapy is mostly .....read more »

This blog is mostly about depression and it's treatment. Today some happy news. Iceland, the block of sub-Arctic lava to which these statistics apply, tops the latest table of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Human Development Index rankings, meaning that as a society and as an economy - in terms of wealth, health and education - they are champions of the world.And why is that?It is the country with the sixth highest GDP per capita in the worldWhere people buy the most booksWhere life expectancy for men is the highest in the world, and not far behind for womenIt's .....read more »

Bass-Krueger wanted to test how large this effect was. He had some of his several dozen subjects play Tetris for 15 minutes. Then he gave everyone a spatial reasoning test similar to those used in IQ assessments. The results were staggering: Tetris players scored more than 55% higher than the control group. “Even in 15 minutes it can still have an effect,” Bass-Krueger told us here in Atlanta at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair, where he presented his results.In Scientific AmericanMore healthy gamesRelated posts: Are whales smarter than humans? The placebo effect, dopamine and reward Chocolate as Make-Up ..read more »

Watch this video and you will know why. Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why -- though we want to know more about the world than ever -- the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs. Related posts: 20 Wonders of the Microscopic World Iceland has the Happiest People in the World Online Gaming Can Make a Beter World ..read more »

The answer is: in the stress system. Stress reactivity might be an important link between a genetic variant of the serotonin transporter gene, stressful life events in early years and depression.There is evidence of interaction between a functional genetic variant of the serotonin transporter gene and life events. Depression is not based on a simple gene or a cluster of genes. But on a gene and environment interaction. So the risk of getting a depression is higher when a certain genetic variant of the serotonin transporter gene is present in the presence of life stress, especially in early life. .....read more »

This is a call for cases to be submitted to this new journal. Not only the extraordinary exciting cases but all cases. The intention is to form a database with thousands of cases and a search function so that physicians as well as patients can look for e.g. male 52 years with COPD and non smoking. The focus is on outcome of these cases, that is what they want to know from the authorsAre we in need of this new journal? Don't think so.Let me know in the commentsRelated posts: Why are doctors more accurate with difficult cases? New Journal: Brain Stimulation Conflicts .....read more »

I wanted to be a psychiatrist before I went to Med School. Fascinated by the work of Jung and especially Freud, psychiatry seemed the ultimate goal for Med School. Encountered these pioneers while reading literature and a new goal was formulated. Before that my hart was set on social geography, thank god I changed my mind.Other factors such as the encounter with people out of the ordinary during my earlier years most certainly did help my career choice but I found out after finishing Med School during residency in psychiatry.During Med School I only once doubted my choice. It was .....read more »