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FDA Approves Updated Covid-19 Vaccines to Better Protect Against Currently Circulating Variants
On August 22, 2024, the FDA authorized new Covid-19 vaccines (2024-2025) “to include a monovalent (single) component that corresponds to the Omicron variant KP.2 strain of SARS-CoV-2. The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines have been updated with this formula to more closely target currently circulating variants and provide better protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization…
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Thoughts on the Homeless Mentally Ill
The homeless man who lives on the sidewalk outside our hotel reminds me of a couple of things. One is Dr. Gerard Clancy, MD who is University of Iowa Health Care Professor of Psychiatry, Professor of Emergency Medicine, and Senior Associate Dean of External Affairs. I remember Gerry, who was in the department of psychiatry…
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Alcohol is Bad for Old Guys
I took a quick peek at the study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that a few news agencies are reporting on which says alcohol in moderation is bad for older persons. So much for moderation. Actually, the full abstract is: Ortolá R, Sotos-Prieto M, García-Esquinas E, Galán I, Rodríguez-Artalejo F. Alcohol Consumption Patterns…
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Excelsior!
The health benefits of climbing stairs are well known and I’ve talked about them before. However, you haven’t really seen stair climbing in action until you’ve watched Sena ascend the stairs in our hotel. There are 4 flights of 10 steps each. Doing it just once can puff you out. The keyword for this is…
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What About Bob?
The homeless guy camped next to the busy street just outside of our hotel is still here. I’m going to call him Bob because it’s awkward to keep calling him “the homeless guy.” I haven’t met Bob yet, but Sena got him some water. She had to give it to the hotel resident who so…
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Thoughts About Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy
I read the Psychiatric Times article “FDA Issues CRL to Lykos for MDMA-Assisted Therapy.” The short story is that the FDA essentially told the drug company Lykos that their study of the efficacy of MDMA-assisted treatment of PTSD needs more work. I tried to wade through the on-line documents of the FDA’s meeting on June…
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Thoughts on Hobos and Homelessness
We can see the man from our hotel window. We assume he’s homeless. He has a small area where he sits on the curb next to the street. He does this most of the day. He has a blanket and a few other loose items which sometimes are strewn on the sidewalk or the grass.…
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Thoughts as Train Cars Visualization in Mindfulness Meditation
The Iowa Interstate Railroad train rumbles past our hotel a few times a day and it reminds me of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course I took 10 years ago. One of the exercises the instructor mentioned was the train visualization mindfulness exercise. I don’t know if I remember what our instructor actually said…
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Verbal De-escalation: University of Colorado School of Medicine Video Series cont. Chapter 5
Simpson, Scott & Sakai, Joseph & Rylander, Melanie. (2019). A Free Online Video Series Teaching Verbal De-escalation for Agitated Patients. Academic Psychiatry. 44. 10.1007/s40596-019-01155-2.
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Verbal De-escalation: University of Colorado School of Medicine Video Series cont. Chapter 4
Simpson, Scott & Sakai, Joseph & Rylander, Melanie. (2019). A Free Online Video Series Teaching Verbal De-escalation for Agitated Patients. Academic Psychiatry. 44. 10.1007/s40596-019-01155-2.
Go Retire Psychiatrist 