WARM UP:

One Joke: 

Where is the worst spot to play hide and seek in the hospital?

(Answer at bottom.)

One Fact: 

The average red blood cell can circumnavigate the human body in less than 20 seconds!

One Quote:

“There’s a significant difference between what you want to achieve (goals) and who you want to become (your identity).

A goal is vulnerable to the endless changes in life. An identity is permanent and can weather any storm.”​

- Adam Bornstein from the book You Can't Screw This Up

One Guess…Name That Disease: (Answer at bottom)

• The most common inherited connective tissue disease.

• This mutation causes a defect in the production of fibrillin, which is responsible for the production of elastic fibers throughout the body.

• Physical signs sometimes present in infancy but more often show up later in childhood or adolescence.

• It affects about 1 in every 8000 people.

• Patients are typically tall and thin with long arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Often associated with pectus excavatum.

• Along with a number of musculoskeletal symptoms it can also cause mitral valve prolapse, aortic dissection, and subluxation of the ocular lens.

• There is no cure. Management of the associated symptoms can prolong and enhance the quality of a patient’s life.

HEALTHCARE HEADLINES:

• Smells kinda fishy? Fish oil supplements have exploded in popularity as consumers look for added protection against heart disease, but studies haven’t shown the same amount of benefit from taking fish oil as eating seafood regularly.

• The everything scribe? Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of a new HIPAA-eligible service called HealthScribe for generative AI documentation and potentially other solutions. The service uses AI to listen to physician-patient conversations and create text-based summaries or notes.

• Women doctors made up 37% of the physician workforce in 2022, up from 30% in 2010, according to a 2022 census.

  

  Gif by friends on Giphy

WATER COOLER WONDERS…the stuff we found interesting this week:

• Contest: It’s time for our favorite contest of the year! Check out the 25 best mullets in the kids category. I would not bet against B-Rock N Rolls!

  

• Safety: Taking a shower during a lightning storm? Think twice. Other practical safety tips to consider the next time it storms.

• Images: Ever wondered what Nebraska would look like if it was a woman? Check out how one advanced AI model anthropomorphizes all fifty states based on the unique history, cultural vibes, and distinctive qualities of the state.

• Learn: Turns out you don’t need to use that much laundry detergent. Learn about laundry stripping (not as sexy as it sounds).

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WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS:

Ever wish you could get a full body scan to see what’s going on under your hood?

• The startup Prenuvo offers three MRI scan options, ranging from $999 to $2,500, that can screen the head, torso, or full body.

• No insurances are covering this, so it’s all out of pocket.

• The American College of Preventive Medicine warns this type of imaging is unlikely to improve outcomes and can zap health care resources.

• There’s no evidence suggesting whole-body scans in asymptomatic individuals will improve survival or the likelihood of finding tumors, especially since the tumor detection rate is less than 2% in this population.

• One review article found that abnormal whole-body scan findings are expected in about 95% of individuals - a high false positive rate can lead to anxiety and expensive additional testing.

• Prenuvo’s site concedes that “less than 5% of customers receive ‘life-altering’ news” following a scan.

• That isn’t keeping celebrities, entrepreneurs, and “biohackers” from opening up their wallets - interest spiked with Kim Kardashian recently posting about her scan.

• Read more about this debate.

THANKS FOR READING!

At The Hyperthalamus, we’re on a mission to educate and entertain health care workers. Because we believe work should be a fun place to hang out with your colleagues and make them feel dumb for not knowing the answers to our trivia questions.

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Joke Answer: The ICU

Disease Answer: Marfan’s Syndrome