Okay, this may be class-A boring to some of you, but here are some tidbits I ran across in health news today (hey, I am a medical librarian, after all). --feel free to skip

All links to Medscape can be accessed for free; you just have to register.

Interesting article on the biases found in published literature regarding pharmacological studies.

National Library of Medicine streamlining access to journal literature
--This is exactly the sort of behind-the-scenes sort of things that libraries do and no one every really realises the import it has on patient care or other aspects of our libes. As a medical librarian, I'm really impressed with the NLM, the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, and all the folks who help keep this running.

UK government warns against use of paraxotine in patients under 18
--I may have blogged about this already, forgive me I I did; I've seen it on several news pages. For those of you who don't know, paraxotine is also known as Seroxat in the UK and Paxil here in the US. I take this stuff every day of my life, and it has changed my life immensely for the good. (I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), social phobia, and generalised anxiety. I also used to have major depression. Basically there's a chemical inbalance that causes these, and Paxil and other SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) help with this). The problem is, many medicines affect kids differently, but aren't necessarily studied well in children. And paraxotine seems to have some effects if you stop it suddenly or take it erratically, and it can be hard to make sure a kid takes everything faithfully. Depression, especially suicidal depression, also seems to be more prevalent in teenagers and young adults. So I can see the concern.

Behavioural therapy may be useful in tricholotillomania
--Tricholotillomania is a disorder akin to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (which is why I've heard about it--it's thankfully something I dont' have). So it's not surprising to me that it responds well to behavioural therapy. I think many anxiety disorders would do well with some form of BT. They're talking about short-term effects here; I don't think that rules out medication as well as therapy for severe cases or long-term issues.

New ideas on gene therapy for cystic fibrosis
--Is it any wonder that those of us who aren't virologists kind of wonder about using bits of an ebola virus and feline immunodeficiency virus to try to save a sick child? It's a little Frankenstein-ish, up there with the spider goats. But it might help sick kids someday. I know just enough about science to understand most of what that article said, but not enough to understand how it actually might work. Sigh.