White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

The most exciting news story of the week came from NPR, How the White House nutrition conference may tackle Americans' unhealthy diets. The article discusses the recommendations of the report, Informing the White House Conference, to be discussed on September 28. Re-calibrating America's relationship with food is the first (and arguably the most important) step to digging ourselves out of our current exorbitantly priced, low-value healthcare model (value=quality/cost). I'm hoping a "Food Czar" for the USA is named as an end-product of the meeting.

Skeptical Reflections of a Cancer Patient

What I've Learned From Having Cancer Is Nothing, is a reflection on common thoughts while living with cancer. Despite what the author says, you'll learn something.

The Best Diet for Healthy Aging

Michael Gregor explores how simple dietary modifications can profoundly impact one's health and well-being. The Best Diet for Healthy Aging. Spoiler alert: eat more plants!

The Joy of Why - Dreams

I found a new podcast I like, The Joy of Why. The latest episode on dreaming: Why and How Do We Dream, was great. (transcript) The discussion on lucid dreams and dream engineering was fascinating. I need to learn more about dream engineering. One of the best non-fiction books I've read in the last few years is Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams.

Dragon Meet Maggots

I mentioned maggot therapy in 001 - Friendship, Psychedelics, and Maggots, Oh My. Now, maggot therapy has hit popular culture. Maggots made a cameo appearance In Episode 2 of House of Dragons. 'House of the Dragon' Episode 2's maggot scene is scientifically accurate I'm enjoying the Game of Thrones prequel.

Science behind Complementary Approaches to Irritable Bowel Syndrome

If you or someone you love suffer from IBS, the NCCIH has the evidence behind several complementary treatments: Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Complementary Health Approaches: What the Science Says

Dreaming of You(rself)

Everything you might want to know about experiencing memories/dreams in the first and third person: You've Probably Seen Yourself in Your Memories. I hadn't considered this phenomenon before, but the article points out the implications for the law, traumatic and near-death experiences, and more.

Thinking about Thinking

Rather than continuously constructing images based on all your sensory input, your brain likely conserves energy by predicting what it should see based on your previous experience and context, keying in on aspects that do not conform. The article, Your Brain Is an Energy-Efficient 'Prediction Machine', discusses efforts to understand the predictive processing framework.

9-Volt Nirvana

Two items on transcranial electrical stimulation hit my awareness in one of those "messages from the universe" (or maybe it's just the algorithms doing their thing). I'm fellowship trained in neuro-electrophysiology but was unaware of the studies focused on using mild electrical stimulation to enhance brain function (my fellowship focused on monitoring, not therapeutics). Early in the week, I read the article Brain stimulation boosts memory for at least a month. Then, without searching, a previous episode of Radiolab, 9-Volt Nirvana, , was in my podcast queue. After reading and listening to the podcast, I wondered if this technology might improve my quest to learn to play the guitar. I found an article I plan to read: Differential Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation-tDCS-Depending on Previous Musical Training. The jury is still out on the efficacy and safety of transcranial stimulation. Although there are already commercially available devices, I will wait to see how the field develops before I try it out.

Seven Simple Actions to Improve Your Mental Health

I read an article with pragmatic and easily actionable advice on improving your mental health. Feeling stressed? Here are 7 simple actions to boost your mental health.

The Down-Side of Dangerous World Beliefs

All of us want our children and loved ones to be safe. But teaching kids the world is dangerous in order to improve their vigilance is terrible, ultimately, for their health, happiness, and success. I learned a lot from the article, Don't Teach Your Kids to Fear the World. As a counter-narrative to all the negative news about the world, see the book What Are You Optimistic About?: Today's Leading Thinkers on Why Things Are Good and Getting Better.

Current Models of Aging

Eric Topol tweeted a link to an interesting paper that summarizes current thinking on aging. New hallmarks of aging: a 2022 Copenhagen aging meeting summary. I especially appreciated the first figure in the paper that graphically shows how our bodies break down.

My Thymus, Myself

The Radiolab episode, My Thymus, Myself was a whirlwind tour of the function of the thymus. You should listen if you're interested in the immune system and who isn't these days? Understanding the thymus could significantly impact infectious disease, autoimmunity, and transplant medicine. Bonus, the story featured a shoutout to Duke Cardiothoracic Surgery.

Quote of the Week

"All great truths begin as blasphemies." - George Bernard Shaw

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You may have noticed the difference in format this week. Starting today, I will send a weekly curated newsletter with interesting articles, videos, and audio from the week. I will reserve blog entries for longer-form writing, such as the following past articles:

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Here are some of the interesting items from this week.

On Friendship and Living Well

The Friendship Files - The Atlantic presents an out-of-the-box method to finding deep friendship, similar to an arranged marriage, complete with rituals and renewal of vows. The article made me think of another I had read about Aristotle's virtues and how to live a good life: How to be happy: Aristotle's 11 guidelines for a good life.

Maggot Therapy

This week's Science Friday featured a previous story on Maggot Therapy and an update. Science Friday: Big Bang Debate History, Black Hole Sounds, Maggot Healthcare, Forest Lichens. July 8, 2022, Part 2 on Apple Podcasts The history of the discovery of maggot's medicinal use is fascinating (it turns out larvae secrete antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral and pro-healing compounds). Listening to the story and reading about the history, The Biochemistry Of Medical Maggot Spit, made me think of some of the observations of Florence Nightingale (who observed that soldiers exposed to the fresh air and sunlight after being wounded, actually had better outcomes) Open hospital windows to stem the spread of infections, says microbiologist.

Mental Illness, Psychedelics, and Psychiatry

Currently, many eyes (both clinical and on Wall Street) are focused on the emergence of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. I've added Netflix's new docuseries, How to Change Your Mind, to my viewing queue. The series is adapted from Michael Pollen's excellent book of the same name. As I read another article, Will We Ever Find a Cure for Mental Illness? - The Atlantic, that reviews a new book by Andrew Scull on the history of psychiatry, Desperate Remedies.

Antibiotics and Mental Health

I read an interesting story about a study that claims a single dose of antibiotics correlates with altered emotional processing in young adults - Antibiotic Treatments May Make Us More Susceptible to Negative Emotions - Neuroscience News. I have yet to read the actual manuscript currently in pre-press, but I find fascinating the emerging focus on the gut-brain axis and its influence on mental health. The microbiome is the new frontier in diagnosing and treating mental illness. Last year, I delivered a Zoom lecture on the topic - Gut Feelings: the role of the microbiome in behavioral health — HealthHippieMD

The Brain's Low Power Mode

Much like our electronic devices, pre-clinical studies suggest the brain has a low-power mode that kicks in when energy is in short supply. This interesting article, The Brain Has a 'Low-Power Mode' That Blunts Our Senses covers the findings in the recently published paper, Neocortex saves energy by reducing coding precision during food scarcity. In short, the visual cortex conserves energy by altering the firing of neurons in the visual pathways. The power down-regulation could be switched off by administering Leptin. The influence of Leptin, a hormone usually thought of in a food-seeking context, not visual pathways, is another example of how our bodies are an extensive, complex, integrated system. The far-reaching effects of hormones should also be a warning that manipulation of single pathways of our complex physiology can have unintended consequences-there are still many unknown unknowns in human physiology and biochemistry.

Circadian Medicine

It seems everywhere I look, I see a story or study about the body's circadian rhythms. I read two articles this week on the topic: Clocking the Drugs, Drugging the Clock: The Health Impact Of Circadian Medicine. and One kind of work interferes with metabolic health Most are aware of the central master clock, but as with everything in the body, the story is much more complicated. Every organ, and likely every cell, has an intrinsic physiological clock. As with many processes in the body, the influence is bidirectional. For instance, circadian rhythms affect the composition of the microbiome, and the microbiome composition affects circadian rhythm. Current studies are investigating the impact of circadian rhythms on health, cancer treatment, and a whole host of other applications. One thing is growing increasingly clear: there is likely an optimal time to eat, sleep, and take medications/supplements. One kind of work interferes with metabolic health discussed the various health effects of working at night. There is an association between night work and obesity, cancer, and diabetes. The article made me wonder if nighttime workers should be offered hazard pay since night shifts negatively impact health and well-being.

NCCIH Free ebook on Yoga

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health published a free ebook about Yoga. The ebook provides an overview of the Science behind the benefits of Yoga, information on how to practice Yoga safely, and a summary of national survey findings about the use of Yoga in the United States. Yoga for Health (eBook) | NCCIH

Intermittent Fasting and Covid

Late in the week, I read this news release, Study finds people who practice intermittent fasting experience less severe complications from COVID-19! and the paper it cites, Association of periodic fasting with lower severity of COVID-19 outcomes in the SARS-CoV-2 prevaccine era: an observational cohort from the INSPIRE registry | BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health. Although there are many obstacles to the generalizability of the study (non-randomized study population, self-selection for database inclusion, self-reported fasting activity, etc. ), the paper includes many thought-provoking hypotheses on how fasting might influence COVID outcomes.

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