ufo-1951536_960_720

I am frequently asked what scientific journals I subscribe to and often by the same practitioners over and over, because they can’t reconcile my answer: “None”.  Yet I constantly have my head in the scientific literature, right?  The two are not mutually exclusive, it’s just about knowing which free scientific and medical news-feeds are worth their weight in gold!  If you really are digging into the itty-bitty detail of things these won’t answer all your questions on all your topics but they do a great job of 1) keeping you up to date with the big headlines in general medicine, or, with the use of alert systems and filters, just the areas of health you’re particularly interested in and 2) offering you a huge highly credible resource database that is easily searchable. 

Point 1, Exhibit A 😉 :

Here’s just a few examples from the last month that popped into my inbox from Medscape that got my pulse racing:

Rethinking the ‘Cause’ of Depression – a Commentary by Stephen M. Strakowski, MD 

A 14min video and accompanying article that proposes that most cases of depression a comorbidity of another psychiatric illness or a generalised illness elsewhere or the result of medications that cross the BBB e.g. hypertensives and statins or a long list of others commonly prescribed.  You might not think this is entirely new…but when it comes out of the mouth founding chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the new Dell Medical School at the University of Texas in Austin – we should all be paying close attention.

Functional Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline

This is a great summary hot off the press from the Endocrine Society which blows out of the water the prescription of OCPs for women who are ammenorhoeic in order to ‘bring back their cycle’ or ‘protect their bones’ saying instead it risks masking both the spontaneous return of menses and ongoing bone loss secondary to energy and nutrition deficits.

And this one just yesterday!:

A Somewhat Bizarre Case of Grave’s Disease due to Vitamin Treatment

Ever had a patient with thyroid hormone results look like a raging case of sudden onset hyperthyroidism but they are completely asymptomatic?  I have and who would have known that taking biotin at fairly low doses e.g. 300mg/d – could have been the explanation!!! Not me…this is a fascinating case report for all you thyroid die-hards.

Point 2, Exhibit B (an extraordinarily easily searchable vast resource database):

Simply put the word ‘medscape’ in your google search with any medical condition, drug class or practice guideline you can think of and you are likely to get a succinct, up to date (just double check publication date if there are multiple Medscape resources which there typically are) and very reader-friendly, accurate information.  This is my favourite ‘go-to-place’ when I am looking for a quick reliable overview on something I am not familiar or need a fast refresher on.

 Anyway I’ve ‘taken you to my master’ (lol) – check it out if you’re not already using it or take us to yours! 🙂

Are you hanging out for the next edition of Update in Under 30? Take a look through the back catalogue of Update in Under 30s and you might be surprised at the pearls you find! “Zinc: Best Practice in Assessment, Adequacy & Intervention”, “An Update: What’s the OCP really doing?” and “Nutritional Interventions in mild Renal Impairment” are just some of the interesting topics Rachel has dug deep into, to provide you with immediately usable ‘take homes’. You can peruse the collection and purchase individual editions here.