CasesBlog - Medical and Health Blog: March 2009

Wikipedia has a List of Medical Slang Terms

Wikipedia has an extensive list of Medical Abbreviations and Acronyms and since this was obviously insufficient, the "wisdom of crowds" assembled a complimentary list of Medical Slang Terms.

Some items are listed below:

Baby Catcher - an obstetrician
Bounceback - a patient who returns to the emergency department with the same complaints shortly after being released
CNS-QNS - Central Nervous System - Quantity Not Sufficient
Code Brown - a faecal incontinence emergency. Often used by nurses and medical technicians requesting help cleaning up an unexpected bowel movement
Code Yellow - a patient who has lost control of his or her bladder
Doc in a Box - a small health-care center, usually with high staff turnover
Hasselhoff - a term for any patient who shows up in the emergency room with an injury for which there is a bizarre explanation. Original Source: Baywatch actor David Hasselhoff, who hit his head on a chandelier while shaving. The broken glass severed four tendons and an artery in his right arm.
Shotgunning - ordering a wide variety of tests in the hope that one will show what's wrong with a patient

References:
Medical slang, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Health News of the Day

Health News of the Day is a daily summary made from the selected links I post on Twitter. It is in a bullet points format with links to the original sources which include 350 RSS feeds that produce about 2,500 items per day.

Late Bedtimes Linked to Heart Disease: Men who go to bed after midnight have significantly more hardening of the arteries. The fewer hours a man slept each night, the higher his BMI, blood pressure, and triglyceride levels, a study showed http://bit.ly/fiYX
Polypill (called Plycap = thiazide, atenolol, ramipril, simvastatin, aspirin) promising in cutting heart risks http://bit.ly/16gA2h
Polymeal: Diet of wine and chocolate, fish, almonds, and garlic might cut heart risk by more than 75% http://bit.ly/KSX8T
Heavy use of marijuana may trigger psychosis http://bit.ly/xAvj4
TASER shot to the head may cause a generalized tonic-clonic seizure http://bit.ly/3WvOCn
Tonsillectomy linked to excess weight gain in kids http://bit.ly/2ocUjd
Codapedia, a Wiki for medical coding will launch in April http://www.codapedia.com/
Babies born between Apr-July more likely to have hypoplastic left heart syndrome, mother's Strep throat possible cause http://bit.ly/1JqENW
Babies born just a few weeks earlier than 37 weeks are more likely to have developmental and behavior problems later on http://bit.ly/fa3Gx
"ICU Glycemic Control: Another Can’t Miss Quality Measure Bites the Dust" http://bit.ly/lRHs3
CR: Considering switching to Crestor? At about $105 for a month’s supply, a year’s worth of Crestor can exceed $1,000 http://bit.ly/8D7dA

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Health News of the Day

Patients on Crestror who reached aggressive targets of LDL below 70 and CRP below 1 had a 80% lower risk of CAD or death http://bit.ly/bcWjl
Pregnancy hormone "relaxin" relaxes blood vessels, reduces symptoms of acute heart failure and improves survival http://bit.ly/2UBo9
Mad cow expert may have died from the disease, possibly exposed to contaminated human tissue through his work http://bit.ly/rGCj
Kevin, MD: Nighthawks, dayhawks, and the demise of the American radiologist - are the days of general radiology numbered? http://bit.ly/1aF9UI
NPR: Listen to "Electronic Medical Records A Charged Debate" http://bit.ly/17MXE

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Statins may decrease DVT and PE risk

The study authors randomly assigned 17,802 healthy men and women with LDL of less than 130 mg/dL (3.4 mmol/L) and high-sensitivity CRP of 2.0 mg/L or higher to receive rosuvastatin, 20 mg per day, or placebo.

The rates of venous thromboembolism were 0.18 and 0.32 event per 100 person-years of follow-up in the rosuvastatin and placebo groups, respectively (hazard ratio with rosuvastatin, 0.57; P=0.007).

The rates of pulmonary embolism were 0.09 in the rosuvastatin group and 0.12 in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.41 to 1.45; P=0.42), whereas the rates of deep-vein thrombosis only were 0.09 and 0.20, respectively (hazard ratio, 0.45; P=0.004).

In this trial of apparently healthy persons, rosuvastatin significantly reduced the occurrence of symptomatic venous thromboembolism by 43% (DVT and PE).

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

NBC video.

References:
A Randomized Trial of Rosuvastatin in the Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism. MEJM, March 29, 2009 (10.1056/NEJMoa0900241).

Health News of the Day

Watching your team lose in the Super Bowl could increase your risk of death by 17% http://is.gd/pqsQ
Working Out at the 'Brain Gym' - Outfits Promise to Keep Older Minds Sharp With Computers, Walnuts and Green Tea http://is.gd/prlg
CNN on Medical tourism: Have illness, will travel http://bit.ly/RPHcc

Portable doctor: Rovio is a WiFi-enabled mobile webcam - allows you see, hear, and speak from anywhere in the world... http://bit.ly/vtdZL
MedConnect - a portal for Australian physicians by Elsevier http://is.gd/plPC

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Medical Geek Humor on Twitter

AllergyNotes Transcriptionist made up a new word for an asthma dictation: "Since she was not able to tolerate beta agonase" - Correct: "beta-AR2 agonist" about 1 hour ago from web

murphygrainne I miss our typists. No more 'abdominal erotic aneurysms' ;-) about 1 hour ago from dabr in reply to AllergyNotes

If you are included in this post but you would like to have your tweet removed for any reason, please email me and will comply with your request the same day.

Health News of the Day

People who ate red meat 10 times weekly were 47% more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration (AMD) http://is.gd/plEA
Women who live in 3-generational households with a spouse, children, and parents have double the risk for a coronary event http://is.gd/plD3
Study: It may seem unlikely that teenage boys could have erectile difficulties, but it can happen. http://is.gd/plCk
Soon, the police could build a picture of what a criminal looks like by analyzing DNA found at a crime scene http://is.gd/pbL6
New therapy for osteoporosis: Denosumab is a monoclonal antibody that binds to RANKL (Receptor Activator for NFkB Ligand) http://is.gd/plH8
Robert Scoble finds a "top pediatrician on Yelp: it's not just for restaurants anymore." http://is.gd/pbom

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

"Dad defends loopy kid's video "David After Dentist"

"David After Dentist" is a YouTube hit with more than 54 million views.

Video: David After Dentist, a little boy gets out of the dentist's chair and is a little woozy.

Poor guy. I felt sorry for him. However, he looks much happier in the CNN follow-up video embedded at the top.

Family cashing in on 'David After Dentist'

CNN follow-up story from March 2010:

The viral clip has been viewed almost 54 million times and gave rise to the catchphrase and has been an unexpected bonanza for the boy's Orlando, Florida-area family, who, despite some criticism that they exploited their child by posting his image online, has turned the 1:59 min home video into a lucrative sideline. The surgeon who performed the surgery on David "wants nothing to do with the video," DeVore said.

DeVore used to work as a real-estate agent but has quit that for now to focus on the little "David After Dentist" empire. The video continues to get about 100,000 views a day. He has even heard from medical students who want to use the video in presentations about anesthesiology.

He would not say exactly how much the family has earned from the video but said it's in the "low six figures." The video's popularity may also help pay for David's college tuition. The family earns money from licensing use of the video and gets a cut of revenue from the ads placed around the clip on YouTube.

References:
360 Shot: Trip to the dentist. A little boy gets out of the dentist's chair and is a little.

Family cashing in on 'David After Dentist. CNN, 2010.

Updated: 03/18/2010

Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 51

Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages (called "tweets") that you find interesting, useful, amusing, or disagreeable. Here is the 51st edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top): Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people. You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.

zappos So @tempo finishes story & cab driver promptly turns music off. Eerily silent now. Driver is either subtle hinter or on twitter 5:45 PM Mar 17th from txt

zappos Sharing taxi, @tempo starts telling me a story and cab driver promptly cranks music way up. With great power comes great responsibility. 5:34 PM Mar 17th from txt

scanman His recent loss of hair has made @movinmeat a philosopher ;) "If a tweep tweets and nobody reads it, did it make a sound?" 1:14 AM Mar 17th from iTweet

dreamingspires I am being followed by someone following 22,429 tweeples. do you think he'll miss me if I don't follow back. 9:01 PM Mar 16th from TweetDeck

AllergyZoneCEO #AAAAI 9 kids with peanut allergy, 4 responded to oral desensitization. Not ready for prime time. Don't try this at home! 3:28 PM Mar 16th from web

atask Bernanke on 60 Min: 'I Told Paulson Not to Let Lehman Fail, But Did Listen? Noooo' http://bit.ly/9RMZ8 #itoldyouso 2:54 PM Mar 16th from web

JoyHCN U wanna prevent a deadly food allergy anaphylaxis rxn: "No epi, no eatie!" Always have an epi pen and know how to use it #AAAAI 10:04 AM Mar 16th from web

zappos "A lot of people have no idea how ridiculously lucky they r that they are a human & not a tree. (Nothing against trees)" - @garyvee at #sxsw 6:06 PM Mar 15th from txt

loic "don't worry about being unfocused, remain unfocused and something will happen" @garyvee #sxsw #quote 5:38 PM Mar 15th from twhirl

AllergyNotes I find the "link-sharers" on Twitter useful. The "conversationalists" - not so much. Both can be entertaining though... :) 11:59 AM Mar 15th from TweetDeck

hjluks @dawson go outside... look up and out and take in the big picture.... Focus on the horizon... Always works for me.... 11:40 AM Mar 15th from Power Twitter

AllergyNotes Oversaturation of tweets is reversing the value that Twitter offers from conferences http://is.gd/nnJg - Does not apply to med. conferences 10:44 AM Mar 15th from TweetDeck

The inclusion of a Twitter update (tweet) in Selection of My Twitter Favorites does not represent endorsement or agreement of any kind.

If you are included in this post but you would like to have your tweet removed for any reason, please email me and will comply with your request the same day.

Health News of the Day

Recommended daily sodium intake for people with HTN, over 40, and all African-American adults: 1,500 mg http://is.gd/pair
A 65-year-old couple retiring in 2009 would need $240,000 to cover medical costs over the rest of their lives http://is.gd/papD
Pet lovers beware: Cats, dogs are tripping hazards - 240 Americans go to ER daily for sprains, fractures caused by them. Women are 2.1 times more likely to have a pet-related fall http://is.gd/paeT
Beta-carotene, retinol, and lutein supplements at doses higher than in multivitamins, increase lung cancer risk http://is.gd/pag1
Video: Post-Op Interview - Lance Armstrong shows X-rays of his clavicle with 12 screws http://is.gd/pamU - Best wishes for speedy recovery!
Economy Down, Vasectomy Up: Urologists are reporting that twice as many men have been seeking permanent sterilization http://is.gd/pagB
Bad TV makes for worse medical education: medical students admitted they "learned" how to intubate from ER TV series http://is.gd/p4zJ
Trans Fat: When Zero Isn't Really Zero - eat a few snack foods a day and trans fats add up incrementally http://is.gd/p4AV
BBC: "Drinking steaming hot tea may lead to oesophageal (food tube) cancer" http://is.gd/pacE - Who calls the esophagus "food tube"?
Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder who are not receiving medication often have sleep disturbances. Sleep problems affect 25 to 50 percent of children with ADHD http://is.gd/padX

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Health News of the Day

Less than 2% of U.S. hospitals have a comprehensive system of electronic health records across all clinical units http://is.gd/oZwv
Two Paths to Personal Health Records: Your Doctor's Office or the Internet? NEJM perspective: http://is.gd/oZY3
Maternal immune cells "teach" those of the fetus how to balance the need for self-defense and immunologic tolerance http://is.gd/oZYq
Male circumcision significantly reduced the incidence of HIV, HSV-2 infection and the prevalence of HPV infection http://is.gd/oZYB
The American Psychiatric Association will end CME seminars and meals sponsored by drug companies at its annual meetings http://is.gd/oZD2
Video: Horse treated for grass allergy with avoidance and antihistamines http://bit.ly/spSw8

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Health News of the Day

Eating a light meal during labour did not influence obstetric or neonatal outcomes, nor did it increase vomiting http://bit.ly/1HGl8k
Allowing a pregnant woman to eat during labor does not seem to have any impact on the outcome of the infant or mother. The C-section rate was 30% in each group - women who ate a light meal during labor and those who did not http://bit.ly/fZfvj
WHO Stresses TB-HIV Link : HIV patients accounted for a quarter of people who died from tuberculosis in 2007 http://bit.ly/151rfY
Fluoroscopy-guided lumbar puncture, doubles the risk of bleeding in people older than 80 years compared to younger people http://bit.ly/rMAn
Not surprising: Dog-bite injuries in children (head and neck) peak in warm weather. Dog-bite injuries in children: family pet was to blame in 27%, pit bulls were most commonly involved. http://is.gd/oZCr
Sleeping position does not influence the severity of flat head syndrome in infants (deformational plagiocephaly) http://is.gd/oZDJ

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Strangest PubMed title ever? And the same author has published a whole string of them...

Judge for yourself:

I am a 64-year-old man, and I've always been proud of my perfect health record. I've also been proud of my full head of hair, even after the gray started creeping in. Four months ago I caught pneumonia and spent eight days in the hospital (three in intensive care). It took a while, but I'm finally back to normal - except that my hair is falling out. It comes out in clumps when I shampoo or even comb it, and it's gotten noticeably thin all over. I remember reading about Propecia in your newsletter but I don't have the old issue. Should I try the medication?
Simon HB.
Harv Mens Health Watch. 2002 Jun;6(11):8. No abstract available. PMID: 12079806 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The same author has published a whole string, all 193 of them:

On call. My wife doesn't want our son to go out for the wrestling team because she's worried he might catch herpes. I thought herpes was contracted from a very different contact sport. Please enlighten us.
Simon HB.
Harv Mens Health Watch. 2008 Aug;13(1):8. No abstract available. PMID: 19112673 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

-------------

On call. Wife's disinterest in sex.
Simon HB.
Harv Mens Health Watch. 2006 Apr;10(9):7-8. No abstract available. PMID: 18833637 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

-------------
On call. Ever since I retired last year, I've enjoyed taking an afternoon nap whenever it's convenient. My wife says napping will turn me into an old man. I can easily give up my naps if she is right--but is she?
Simon HB.
Harv Mens Health Watch. 2008 Sep;13(2):8. No abstract available. PMID: 18822519 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

-------------
On call. I hope you can help me understand a troubling and embarrassing problem. I often find it difficult, sometimes even impossible, to pass my urine in a public men's room. I'm 41 years old, and I'm very healthy. I have no problem urinating at home, and I rarely get up at night. But last week I couldn't even urinate at a friend's house, and I had to go home early just to use the bathroom. What can you suggest?
Simon HB.

Harv Mens Health Watch. 2007 Dec;12(5):8. No abstract available.PMID: 18225336 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Harvey Simon is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Founding Editor of the Harvard Men's Health Watch. His most recent book, The No Sweat Exercise Plan, was published by McGraw-Hill in 2006.

Related:
PubMed Suprise: A Researcher with 600 Co-Authors on a Single Article
Link via The OpenHelix Blog.

Health News of the Day

Intensive glucose control (81-108 mg/dL) increased mortality among adults in the ICU. New target:180 mg/dL or less. NEJM: http://is.gd/oKOP
Aggressive blood sugar treatment an ICU danger: lowering glucose below 108 mg/d/L increases death risk by 10% http://bit.ly/uzLg
Three out of every four Americans are deficient in vitamin D. http://bit.ly/G1YTY
Non-spine bone fractures were 20% less likely among seniors taking more than 400 U of vitamin D per day. New target dose of vitamin D between 1,000 and 2,000 units per day? http://bit.ly/C1CU6
CR: To get the vitamin D you need, we recommend as little as 10 minutes outdoors three or four times a week. http://bit.ly/k6Gh3
5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's, and each patient costs Medicare 3 times more than patients without the disease. Direct and indirect costs of Alzheimer's and other dementias amount to more than $148 billion annually. Alzheimer's is the sixth-leading cause of mortality in the United States http://bit.ly/zAgO9
Contaminated colonoscopy gear at the Miami Veterans Affairs Healthcare System may have exposed veterans to hepatitis, HIV http://bit.ly/uBuP
Men who ate fatty fish weekly had a 63% lower risk for developing aggressive prostate CA than those who "never" ate fish http://bit.ly/lvuw

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

What is the best test to diagnose vitamin D deficiency?

Serum 25(OH)D.

The circulating half-life of 25(OH)D is 2 weeks. This is the best test to determine vitamin D status.

A 25(OH)D level of less than 32 ng/mL is considered vitamin D insufficient because intestinal calcium absorption is optimized at levels above 32 ng/mL.

A 25(OH)D level of less than 15 or 20 ng/mL have been used to define vitamin D deficiency.

Parathyroid hormone levels start to rise at 25(OH)D levels below 31 ng/mL, which is another marker of vitamin D insufficiency. Although not always required for the diagnosis of vitamin D insufficiency, a serum PTH may be used to help establish the diagnosis of vitamin D insufficiency. Vitamin D is a steroid hormone and a component of a complex endocrine pathway sometimes called 'vitamin D endocrine system' (Medscape, 2012).

The word vitamin was originally derived from Funk's term "vital amine."

Calcifediol, also known as calcidiol, 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, or 25-hydroxyvitamin D (abbreviated 25(OH)D), is a prehormone which is produced by hydroxylation of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) in the liver.

Calcidiol.

Calcidiol is then converted in the kidneys into calcitriol (1,25-(OH)2D3), that is the active form of vitamin D.

Calcitriol, 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol.

Calcidiol can also be converted into 24-hydroxycalcidiol in the kidneys via 24-hydroxylation.

References:

Vitamin D Deficiency and Related Disorders: Differential Diagnoses & Workup. eMedicine.
Vitamin D -- Elixir of Life?
A vitamin D3 dosage of 800 IU/d increased serum 25-(OH)D levels to greater than 50 nmol/L in 97.5% of women http://bit.ly/GzBCcA
Vit. D may play a role in your allergies and want to get tested? Cost is no longer covered in ON, Canada - see why: http://goo.gl/1eyW4
Calcifediol, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Image sources: Wikipedia, public domain.

Medical Geek Humor on Twitter

EdBennett To @aaronwatkins "hopefully we start doing it" - Hopkins should go slow and carefully with SoMe, take a few years to get it right :) 36 minutes ago from Power Twitter

EdBennett To @aaronwatkins I'm kidding of course. I'd welcome a SoMe presence by our friends across town, adding a respected voice to the conversation 42 minutes ago from Power Twitter

If you are included in this post but you would like to have your tweet removed for any reason, please email me and will comply with your request the same day.

10 Questions You Need to Ask About Colonoscopy

From The NYTimes:

Why is effective bowel preparation important?
How can I maximize my chance of an effective bowel preparation?
Are there certain medications I should stop taking before colonoscopy?
Are all colonoscopists equally effective at finding polyps and cancers during colonoscopy?
How can I be sure that my colonoscopist will do a careful examination?
How can I reduce the risk of a complication during colonoscopy?
Should I try colonoscopy without sedation?
If I undergo sedation, should it be given by an anesthesiologist?
Do all colonoscopists follow the same rules to determine when my colonoscopy should be repeated?
Why aren’t the problems with the delivery of colonoscopy already solved?

Questions # 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 are very important, question # 10 probably not so much.

March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month: Get a Screening Colonoscopy if Appropriate for Your Age and History

References:

Cleveland Clinic Colorectal Cancer Risk Assessment Tool. Get your score in 2 minutes (free).
10 Questions You Need to Ask About Colonoscopy. NYTimes.
March is Colon Cancer Awareness Month: Get a Screening Colonoscopy if Appropriate for Your Age and History
Video: See What to Expect During a Colonoscopy.

Fear was the No. 1 reason people gave to explain why they hadn’t gone in for a colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer. NYTimes.

Get your colonoscopy in the morning - each hour brings a 4% reduction in the number of polyps the doctors spotted http://goo.gl/2FGQt
Colonoscopy Developer Dies at 94 - NYTimes http://goo.gl/iBnOp - Dr. Wolff was unconventional and surely made headlines in his day.
Colon cancer and colonoscopy - Cleveland Clinic YouTube playlist
Image source: Colon (anatomy), Wikipedia, public domain.

Comments from Twitter:

Jackie Fox @jackiefox12: 11th question: Do I have to??

New approach taking hold: Facebook is for (close) friends, Twitter is for business

fredwilsona longer explanation of my decision to cut my facebook friends by over 300 ppl yesterday http://bit.ly/41sSJMabout 1 hour ago from Power Twitter

AllergyNotes New approach taking hold: Facebook is for close friends and Twitter is for business - any thoughts? 28 minutes ago from TweetDeck

beryltheperil if twitter would only be for business, it would be boring. 27 minutes ago from TwitterGadget in reply to AllergyNotes

beryltheperil what I like about twitter is the randomness & playfulness mixed with the serious, it's nicer-less cumbersome. 7 minutes ago from TwitterGadget in reply to AllergyNotes

medconnect agree - twitter too instantaneous to be used only for friends - friends never online same times as me, but colleagues always are 8 minutes ago from TwitterFox in reply to AllergyNotes

omearamd I think @NathanBowers said it best, "Facebook is for people you used to know and Twitter is for people you want to know."11 minutes ago from web in reply to AllergyNotes

Health News of the Day

U.S. tea imports increased 7% in 2008, as people responded to the perceived health benefits of green tea. U.S. imports of traditional tea -- black, white, green and oolong -- grew by 3-5% per year over the past decade http://is.gd/omUr
Americans' diet - we get 7% of our calories from soft drinks, top food group by caloric intake is “sweets” http://is.gd/onT2
Scary headline of the day: Red meat raises risk of all kinds of death. 11% of deaths in men and 16% of deaths in women could be prevented if people decreased their red meat consumption. http://is.gd/oCZP
1 in 5 Americans has high triglycerides, the percentage had doubled over the past 30 years, driven by obesity http://is.gd/oD0T
Another descriptive health news headline: "Red-faced Asian drinkers at esophageal cancer risk" http://is.gd/oD1a - Reuters can do better... 30% of East Asians - Chinese, Japanese, Koreans - have an enzyme deficiency that causes flushing when they drink alcohol. This is the source: The Alcohol Flushing Response: An Unrecognized Risk Factor for Esophageal Cancer from Alcohol Consumption http://is.gd/oD7B
Robin Williams' heart surgery for aortic valve replacement goes 'extremely well' at Cleveland Clinic http://is.gd/oD5P
ABC video: Tweeting brain surgery http://gmy.news.yahoo.com/v... - Somehow, it doesn't sound too appealing...
Furious Rabies after an Atypical Exposure: 2 patients developed rabies after butchering and consuming a dog or a cat. http://is.gd/oD7y
Two thousand Pakistani women in four years were victims of "honour" killings, according to a study linked in BMJ. One in five homicides in Pakistan may be so called honour killings, main reason was alleged extramarital relationships http://is.gd/oD7A
Advanced Paternal Age Is Associated with Impaired Neurocognitive Outcomes during Infancy and Childhood http://is.gd/oD7E

Image source: OpenClipArt.org, public domain.

Medical Geek Humor on Twitter

scanman this is tweet number 8500; that could be a reason why so many tweeps stopped following me :) 10:23 AM Feb 9th from iTweet

scanman RT @movinmeat: I have nothing to say. And yet I cannot shut up. <== You've got the concept of twitter now :) 11:12 AM Feb 9th from Twitstat Mobile

If you are included in this post but you would like to have your tweet removed for any reason, please email me and will comply with your request the same day.

Video: Who Inspires You?

Video: Who Inspires You? Hear what inspiration means for Sir Ken Robinson.

Sir Ken Robinson is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources.

He was born into a modest income family in Liverpool, the fifth of seven children. He contracted polio when he was four and was sent to a school for disabled children. After an industrial accident his father became quadriplegic and yet continued to be central to their family lives. His parents encouraged him to pursue his education and to not allow his disability to define him. Later, he was included in a regular school, went on to university, and then on to an outstanding career in education.

Sir Robinson was knighted in June 2003 by Queen Elizabeth II for his achievements in creativity, education and the arts.

His latest book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, was published in January 2009.

References:
Ken Robinson (British author), from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The case for an education system that nurtures creativity: TED Conference talk, Monterey, California, 2006.
Sir Ken Robinson. Srdad.com.

Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 50

Twitter is a microblogging service where people answer the question "What are you doing?" via 140-character messages from their cellphone, laptop or desktop. You can select the messages (called "tweets") that you find interesting, useful, amusing, or disagreeable. Here is the 50th edition of My Twitter Favorites (the oldest post is at the bottom, the newest at the top): Micro-blogging on Twitter is easy, fun and can be very useful and educational if you follow/subscribe to interesting people. You can read more here: A Doctor's Opinion: Why I Started Microblogging on Twitter and visit my account at Twitter/AllergyNotes.

hjluks My latest survey of patients (Feb 2009) revealed 80% went to website, 55% read my twitter feed and 75% WANT me to have FB page. Avg age 52!! 10:27 AM Mar 15th from web
laikas The light is going out here (and the music too). Have a nice time wherever you are. - It is 1:18 am here. What time is it at your place? 7:18 PM Mar 14th from TweetDeck
jeffjarvis Zappos: "everything that improves the customer experience is actually a marketing expense" (incl free shipping for return customers) #sxsw 2:18 PM Mar 14th from Ginx
JoyHCN Audio & video recording of educational sessions @ #AAAAI is prohibited; Assume that DOESN'T include blogging/tweeting 11:34 AM Mar 14th from web
chrisseper Just got roped into the adult Korean class. Personally, I think some of my Korean relatives like the fact I don't know what they're saying. 9:01 AM Mar 14th from txt
JoyHCN #AAAAI sitting among all these docs, furiously typing on my laptop to Tweet, I'm getting some funny looks LOL! 8:37 AM Mar 14th from web
dreamingspires 2 hours in favourite cafe, 2 large cups of coffee, excellent help from twitter. a very good saturday morning. this pm = implementatn. Tx 10:07 PM Mar 13th from TweetDeck
wheezemd Is the Medical Home concept just another name for a new gatekeeper system? 4:20 PM Mar 13th from web
AllergyNotes @BiteTheDust I clear unread items in Google Reader down to zero every evening - bookmark, share, star, Twitter and blog. Done. 8:17 AM Mar 13th from web
colinsegovis Do not search for meaning in your life, make meaning in your life. 8:17 AM Mar 13th from twhirl
AllergyNotes @laikas Twitter can't replace Google Reader for me. It's like UpToDate to Pubmed. You need the primary source. 8:16 AM Mar 13th from web
AllergyNotes @BiteTheDust "I like what @AllergyNotes does, posting summaries from reader on twitter then exporting to blog for summaries." - Thank you :) 8:14 AM Mar 13th from web
chrisseper Need to Google how to tie a tie. It's been that long. 7:51 AM Mar 13th from txt
dawson To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are. 7:35 AM Mar 13th from TweetDeck

The inclusion of a Twitter update (tweet) in Selection of My Twitter Favorites does not represent endorsement or agreement of any kind.

If you are included in this post but you would like to have your tweet removed for any reason, please email me and will comply with your request the same day.

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