Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Colorectal Cancer Rising in the Obese Young
During the years 2002 to 2013 in national databases, the incidence of colorectal cancer increased in patients younger than age 50 at a rate of 1.5% per year, for an average 15% increase over the study period, according to Hisham Hussan, MD, of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus.
Source article here.
Yikes.
Tornadoes 10.09.18
Got lucky again.
NWS Norman update at 9:03 PM
Confirmed tornadoes from this morning: 1) EF1 southeast of Lake Draper 2) EF1 Midwest City and northeast 3) EF0 Choctaw and northeast 4) EF0 Lake Thunderbird area 5) EF0 in northeast OKC 6) Marietta (unknown intensity) More information to come as we continue to investigate…
Baby tornadoes.
Take a Selfie…Die!
From October 2011 to November 2017, there have been 259 deaths while clicking selfies in 137 incidents. The mean age was 22.94 years. About 72.5% of the total deaths occurred in males and 27.5% in females. The highest number of incidents and selfie-deaths has been reported in India followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan. Drowning, transport, and fall form the topmost reasons for deaths caused by selfies. We also classified reasons for deaths due to selfie as risky behavior or non-risky behavior. Risky behavior caused more deaths and incidents due to selfies than non-risky behavior. The number of deaths in females is less due to risky behavior than non-risky behavior while it is approximately three times in males.
Conclusion:
“No selfie zones” areas should be declared across tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths.
Read the study here.
No selfie zones? Seriously?
Chronic Pain and Suicide
Of 123 181 suicide decedents included in the study, 10 789 (8.8%) had evidence of chronic pain, and the percentage increased from 7.4% in 2003 to 10.2% in 2014. More than half (53.6%) of suicide decedents with chronic pain died of firearm-related injuries and 16.2% by opioid overdose.
Source article here.
America’s Declining Well-Being, Health, and Life Expectancy
Abstract
Although recent declines in life expectancy among non-Hispanic Whites, coined “deaths of despair,” grabbed the headlines of most major media outlets, this is neither a recent problem nor is it confined to Whites. The decline in America’s health has been described in the public health literature for decades and has long been hypothesized to be attributable to an array of worsening psychosocial problems that are not specific to Whites. To test some of the dominant hypotheses, we show how various measures of despair have been increasing in the United States since 1980 and how these trends relate to changes in health and longevity. We show that mortality increases among Whites caused by the opioid epidemic come on the heels of the crack and HIV syndemic among Blacks. Both occurred on top of already higher mortality rates among all Americans relative to people in other nations, and both occurred among declines in measures of well-being. We believe that the attention given to Whites is distracting researchers and policymakers from much more serious, longer-term structural problems that affect all Americans. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print September 25, 2018: e1–e6. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2018.304585)
Interesting AJPH analysis which can be accessed at this link.
The article has a link to the complete analysis in PDF.
Is Marijuana Safe?
A new study confirms that cannabis use is related to impaired and lasting effects on adolescent cognitive development.
To understand the relationship between alcohol, cannabis use and cognitive development among adolescents at all levels of consumption (abstinent, occasional consumer or high consumer), the research team followed a sample of 3,826 Canadian adolescents over a period of four years. Using a developmentally sensitive design, the authors investigated relationships between year-to-year changes in substance use and cognitive development across a number of cognitive domains, such as recall memory, perceptual reasoning, inhibition and working memory. Multi-level regression models were used to simultaneously test vulnerability and concurrent and lasting effects on each cognitive domain. The study found that vulnerability to cannabis and alcohol use in adolescence was associated with generally lower performance on all cognitive domains.
Yikes. Read the full story here.
20 Things Patients Can Do to Stay Out of My ER
When you’re arguing, do NOT tell your significant other that your life is no longer worth living just to make them feel bad. If they call 911, EMS will bring you to me. I’ll keep you until you’re legally sober, even if it takes a week. I’ll sedate you or tie you down if I have to. Afterwards, you’ll get a mental health evaluation, and we’ll let you go home. By that time, your significant other has thoroughly enjoyed life without you. Speak wisely.
Priceless!
Read the list at this link.
HT – nakedcapitalism.com
Tiny Living in Manhattan
Only $1800 a month for 98 square feet.
The pictures look nice.
Looks a lot nicer than tiny living in Hong Kong — The Guardian.
US Towns With the Shortest Life Expectancy
Link to The Oklahoman article.
(The article may be behind a paywall).
The Paradox
The National Center for Health Statistics narrowed its life expectancy data to census tracts of a few thousand people, which can be a small town, a large rural area or a neighborhood in a large city. Oklahoma’s least healthy areas are small towns and rural areas, but so are some of its healthiest, according to the life expectancy figures.
The highest life expectancy in Oklahoma — 89.4 years — is in a Caddo County census tract that surrounds, but doesn’t include, Anadarko. McCurtain County, in far southeast Oklahoma, is home to the second-highest life expectancy at 89 years. Sparsely populated parts of Pushmataha County, also in rural southeast Oklahoma, have an average life expectancy of 88 years.
Other long-living parts of Oklahoma include the area around Grand Lake State Park in Mayes County (86.7 years), southwest neighborhoods of Stillwater (86.6 years) and rural areas south of Kingfisher (86.1 years).
All of this bothers and intrigues me at the same time.
lifeunderwriter.net 
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