Revamping the Food Expiration System

Americans waste about one-third of their food. The article, Food expiration dates are broken — a microbiologist explains how to fix them discusses revamping the system to be more beneficial for consumers (and to decrease food waste).

Hospital Rankings

This week, the U.S. News and World Report released its hospital rankings. The podcast episode, Should We Trust Hospital Rankings? is an interesting discussion of the ranking system and how the rankings could be improved. "Hospitals compete for prime spots on the U.S. News rankings — but could those lists do more harm than good?"

The Dark Side of Cheerfulness

"Emotions are usually defined by their ungovernability, experienced as forces that wash over us and challenge our sense of agency. That quality is what makes most seem authentic and trustworthy to us. Fake anger or love feels like a betrayal. But fake cheer?..." The excerpt is taken from the book review, The Dark Side of American Cheerfulness on the book: Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History. The review is well worth the read, touching on psychology, culture, history, philosophy, and politics.

Smell you Later

Many of us believe we have cognitive control over most aspects of our lives, including the people we call friends and the people we choose as romantic partners. With all types of human connections, some just "click," but the basis behind interpersonal chemistry remains elusive. As with all things physiological, the story is complex. Do we like our friends because they stink like we do is a reminder that at our core, we are just evolved animals. These researchers claim they can determine "chemistry" between two individuals with 71% accuracy using only their smell.

Pandemic and Positive Emotions

Listened to the Pushkin Podcast from the Happiness Lab with Laurie Santos, What Did the Pandemic Teach Us About Happiness? about the role the pandemic played in happiness. The discussion referred to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy's NEJM article, Confronting Health Worker Burnout and Well-Being. In 2017 I tried to get my proposal, Measuring the impact of biofeedback-enhanced meditation on resident stress, burnout, and well-being, funded. The plan was to begin with residents but ultimately study the entire perioperative healthcare workforce. The proposal was not funded. I remain just as interested today as I was back then, maybe more so now that my daughter has started her long medical training.

Questioning the Theory of Chemical Imbalance in Depression

The manuscript, The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. stirred quite a bit of controversy. The commentary in Slate, Why has the misleading chemical imbalance theory of mental illness persisted for so long was one of the better articles I read.

Nutrition and Mental Health

And while we are on the topic of mental health, I discovered a new podcast this week from ZOE Science and Nutrition. I listened to two of the episodes. Both were excellent with a mix of science and actionable advice: How food can improve your mood and Can you reverse damage from a bad diet?

Can We Cure Aging?

Medscape published an excellent brief overview of longevity research: Is There a Cure for Aging?

Dr. Amazon is In

Several interesting stories about Amazon this week. First, an article about Alexa's potential utility in early diagnosis of cognitive decline: Alexa could diagnose Alzheimer's and other brain conditions — should it? The article discusses the technology and some of the ethics behind continuous digital monitoring—food for thought. Voice technology will continue to improve in its ability to "diagnose" many mood and cognitive disorders.

+I woke up to news that Amazon is interested in purchasing iRobot, the company that makes the Roomba. Roomba has a "Smart Maps" feature that maps the interior of your living area. The article focuses on Amazon as a surveillance company. I don't necessarily agree. I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon's interest in iRobot has medical applications--perhaps mapping the safety of an elder's environment to minimize falls. I look forward to hearing more about this deal.

Bacteriophages and IBD

I read an exciting news story on Inverse, Bacteria-eating virus cocktails may effectively treat gut inflammation, that covers the findings in the manuscript, Targeted suppression of human IBD-associated gut microbiota commensals by phage consortia for treatment of intestinal inflammation. An Israeli-led team (that includes UNC's Dr. Ryan Balfour Sartor) zeroed in on a strain of bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and demonstrated the bacteria could cause IBD like symptoms in mice. They then developed a cocktail of phages (viruses that selectively attack particular bacteria) that targeted K. pneumonia and ameliorated damage caused by the bacteria. The authors are now beginning clinical trials. I plan to follow this work carefully.

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