New stuff I’m learning about living dying and what matters most - Sun, Jan 26 2020

Author Affiliations Article Information Department of Surgery, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina JAMA. 2020;323(3):215-216. doi:10.1001/jama.2019.21664 I am reminded of her daily. As a surgical…

Jeff Cohn It would be nice if physicians could learn the important skills required to truly care for people with serious illness without first experiencing this through the illness/death of a beloved family member or friend...

A novel coronavirus, designated as 2019-nCoV, emerged in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. As of January 24, 2020, at least 830 cases had been diagnosed in nine countries: China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Nepal, and…

Jeff Cohn What we know so far about this new virus/illness- 'a virus that poses a low health threat on the individual level can pose a high risk on the population level'

There's a deadly virus spreading from state to state. It preys on the most vulnerable, striking the sick and the old without mercy. In just the past few months, it has claimed the lives of at least 39 children. The virus is influenza, and it poses…

Jeff Cohn Just a reminder about the much scarier virus that we too often downplay to our/society's detriment

The Washington Post – Marlene Cimons – Jan 20, 5:00 AM

But chronic inflammation is less obvious and often more insidious. Chronic inflammation begins without an apparent cause — and doesn't stop. The immune system becomes activated, but the inflammatory response isn't intermittent, as it is…

Jeff Cohn It seems like this is proposing that chronic inflammation may be its own entity, as opposed to how I've always thought of it, as secondary to some autoimmune, infectious, degenerative, or malignant disorder...hard for me to wrap my head around

Before beginning an exercise routine, you should talk to your family doctor. This is especially important if you haven't been active, if you have any health problems, if you're pregnant, or if you're an older adult. Ask your doctor about how much…

Jeff Cohn Pretty good practical info here, especially about stretches

Can you let things roll off your shoulders? Are you the tough, no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is, stand-your-ground type? Do you show up to work no matter what? Has no one ever seen you cry at work? We nurses openly divulge the issues that make us…

Jeff Cohn 'Seek awareness of why you go to work, how you replenish the health and condition of the elements that keep you together, and how you can build true resilience in yourself and others.'

As traffic roared down the four-lane road bisecting a bleak industrial corner of Chester, Terrance Lewis, 41, stood on the broken sidewalk outside the prison and gazed about, as if taking in a dazzling view. It was his first unobstructed look…

Jeff Cohn I don't usually put pieces like this in the newsletter but I found this to be a powerful and well-told story

Upper Dublin High grad Ben Zauzmer lives in Los Angeles now, where he churns numbers for the Dodgers' analytics group, but he still makes it home for the holidays and the Zauzmer family ritual of watching the year's Oscar contenders. “My…

Jeff Cohn (My) Hometown boy makes good