Social media FTW: Mayo Clinic offers preferred early access to journalists and bloggers to health news

The newly launched "Mayo Clinic News Network" is billed as the journalists' multimedia source for health, science and research information: http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org

The no cost, password-protected site for journalists offers the latest breaking medical news, videos, graphics, links for background, animation, experts and patient interviews. Journalists from TV, radio, newspaper, blogs, and mobile platforms are invited to visit our site http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org and register. Pending approval, you will have access to this rich source of multimedia content.



I feature high-quality videos from Mayo Clinic on CasesBlog 2-3 times per month, and after some brief consideration I registered and applied for access. I will let you know if a medical blog with 7 million page views qualifies for access to the Mayo Clinic News Network or not (update: the application was approved).

The flagship journal of ACP, Annals of Internal Medicine, already includes medical bloggers in their embargoed news release before each new issue.

The ACP Internist website took a step further and includes guest posts from hand-picked medical bloggers (disclaimer: I am one of the selected authors). Many of the posts are quite interesting and cover a wide variety of topics. You can see for yourself here: http://blog.acpinternist.org

Kudos to the ACP editor Ryan DuBosar who is leading the medical blog initiative there: http://blog.acpinternist.org/2012/05/qd-news-every-day-nearly-1-in-8-doctors.html

Stuttering affects 1% of schoolchildren - early intervention is recommended, within 1 year of onset

Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a common speech disorder of neural speech processing that typically begins during the first 3-4 years of life. A review of 44 studies shows a prevalence of around 1% for schoolchildren.

Stuttering is a movement disorder of speech, with effects on the:

- jaw

- mouth

- facial muscles

- sometimes upper limbs

People who stutter are at risk of developing social anxiety or mental health problems. Educational, occupational, and social problems are common if chronic stuttering is not treated early

It is not possible to predict who will recover spontaneously. The window of opportunity is to treat children within one year of onset.

Early intervention is recommended, preferably within one year of onset of stuttering. Speech restructuring can rehabilitate speech in people with chronic stuttering

References:

Clinical management of stuttering in children and adults. BMJ 2011; 342:d3742 doi: 10.1136/bmj.d3742 (Published 24 June 2011).

Start metformin early when diabetes type II is first diagnosed

Initiating metformin soon after diabetes diagnosis and while A1C is low might preserve β-cell function, prolong the effectiveness of metformin, reduce lifetime glycemic burden, and prevent diabetes complications.

These findings support the current treatment algorithm for hyperglycemia management that recommends metformin initiation when diabetes is first diagnosed.

References:

Secondary Failure of Metformin Monotherapy in Clinical Practice. Diabetes Care March 2010 vol. 33 no. 3 501-506.