Life may get in the way of newsletter publication next week. I'm apologizing in advance for an abreviated or absent edition. I'll resume normal publication on Sunday, February 26.

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Demoralization of Healthcare Workers

Here is a provocative piece about diminished morale amongst healthcare workers. Although written by a physician about physicians, the same is true for other healthcare professionals. Opinion | Doctors Aren't Burned Out From Overwork. We’re Demoralized by Our Health System (gift article)

Food Choice and Cognition / Dementia

Here is another article on the cognitive value of eating whole, plant-based food: How Your Diet Could Help (or Hurt) Your Aging Brain. For a nice review paper on food and supplements, see: In Pursuit of Healthy Aging: Effects of Nutrition on Brain Function.

Exercise and Resilience

"Resilience is the ability to bounce back from adversity... Resilience is essentially an emotional muscle, but a growing body of research shows that exercising our physical muscles is one way to increase our capacity to cope with daily stress." WaPo had an article on the physiology behind the phenomenon: How exercise can help you build resilience at any age (gift article)

Your Lying Mind

The Atlantic procured several articles on how our minds can deceive us, especially when something threatens our identity: Your Lying Mind - The Atlantic (requires subscription)

Psychedelics Medically Approved Down-Under

Starting July 1, 2023, authorized Australian psychiatrists have another tool in their armamentarium: psychedelics. On February 3, MDMA and psilocybin, but the training standards and hoops to jump through to prescribe these drugs are still formidable: MDMA and Psilocybin Are Approved as Medicines for the First Time | WIRED (thanks, Richard!)

Relationship Contracts

A relationship contract looks pretty unromantic, but it seems to work for this couple: Creating a contract — yes, a contract! — could help you get what you want from your relationship |

Sound Therapy

Sound therapy instruments like the Digeridoo and Tibetan Singing Bowls have been used for thousands of years to calm the mind and heal the body. Is Sound Therapy the New Way to Zen? discusses the phenomenon. I was skeptical about sound therapy until I read literature on how specific frequencies of sound activate immune pathways (in rodents): Alzheimer's Disease and Gamma Waves

Coffee College

I'm interested in perfecting my coffee-making abilities. In the article, Coffee College: Everything You Wanted to Know about Coffee Making in One Lecture, I learned of the coffee-education service Barista Hustle and its associated Youtube channel. I'm setting aside 80 minutes to watch: Advanced Coffee Making Lecture at Assembly Coffee London.

Your Healthcare System: Official Corporate Partner of the NFL

A provocative opinion piece in WaPo about hospital marketing. "So when people see any TV commercial or billboard highlighting a hospital system's quality of care, then walk into that same hospital system's emergency room only to find it dangerously overcrowded and understaffed, it is worth connecting the dots. Imagine how many lives would be saved if only we were to take the bold step of demanding that our healthcare dollars be spent on actual healthcare." Opinion | Super Bowl ads are not where hospitals in crisis should spend money (gift article)

Artificial Intelligence Primer: Wired Complete Guides

Wired has been doing background pieces on today's important technology. Two examples to help you get up to speed: What Is Blockchain? The Complete WIRED Guide and What Defines Artificial Intelligence? The Complete WIRED Guide. Both are worth a read.

A New Approach to Graft-vs-Host Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (pre-clinical)

GI GVHD Link to Microbiome Dysbiosis Addressed by Reducing Intestinal Oxygen discusses a study looking at treating GVHD (and perhaps inflammatory bowel disease) by decreasing the oxygen content in the bowel using iron chelation. "The findings suggested that restoring the normal environment by reducing the oxygen level in the intestine could help re-establish the balance of the microbial community and lead to attenuation of GVHD."

The Science of Pleasurable Touch (pre-clinical)

You've probably heard of "skin hunger," the craving to be touched by another. Scientists are beginning to unravel why being touched by others is pleasurable: Scientists mapped the brain circuitry involved in pleasing touch in mice

How Do You Serve a Friend in Despair

Love oozed from a journalist's writing about his good friend who sunk into depression and ultimately committed suicide. "I learned, very gradually, that a friend's job in these circumstances is not to cheer the person up. It's to acknowledge the reality of the situation; it's to hear, respect, and love the person; it's to show that you haven't given up on them or walked away." Opinion | How Do You Serve a Friend in Despair? (gift article)

All Things Zuckerberg

"We are the germs, but Facebook is the wind." Facebook seems to be at the center of many controversies today. I just read the 2018 article, Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks Democracy?, The article was insightful and informative and is a must-read for anyone that wonders what all the hullaballoo is about.

Covid Evolved

A Crucial Group of Covid Drugs Has Stopped Working discusses how Covid has evolved, negating the effectiveness of drugs that were once the mainstay of prophylaxis for immunocompromised patients.