Weekly curation of medical news: current, curious, controversial. 1. Crowdsourcing treatment for depression; 2. Childhood cancer survival is longer but at a price; 3. Walnuts: good for your brain, colon, heart ...; 4. Want your brain to stay young? Meditate; 5. Expert breast pathologists don't see eye to eye; 6. Asthma and turbulent childhood.

1. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
Medi-culling
Curations: current, curious, controversial
13 April 2015
Crowdsourcing treatment
for depression 1
Childhood cancer survival
is longer but at a price
2
Walnuts: good for your
brain, colon, heart … 3
Want your brain to stay
young? Meditate 4
Expert breast pathologists
don’t see eye-to-eye 5
Asthma and turbulent
childhood 6 Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

2. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
There's a lot of ongoing effort in building web apps
and mobile apps to provide psychotherapy without
a therapist in the loop. A new peer-to-peer
networking tool enables sufferers of anxiety and
depression to build online support communities
and practice therapeutic techniques.
The platform was designed to closely mimic some
of the interaction paradigms that underlie very
engaging social programs. The new tool called
Panoply outperformed conventional self-help
techniques for easing depression and anxiety.
Crowdsourcing
treatment for depression
Novelty
Gear shift effect
Proof of concept
Applicability
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

3. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
The prevailing, primary focus on curing cancer
yields an incomplete picture of childhood cancer
survivorship. Although more than 80% of children
with cancer survive 5 years or more, the burden of
chronic conditions in this population is profound,
both in occurrence and severity.
About 70 percent of the survivors of childhood
cancers were estimated to have a mild or
moderate chronic condition, and about 32 percent
were estimated to have a severe, disabling, or life-
threatening chronic condition.
Children with cancer
survive longer but at a
significant price
Novelty
Gear shift effect
Proof of concept
Applicability
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

4. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
Research suggests walnuts may have the potential
to positively affect several important health factors.
Heart health, diabetes, cancer, cognition, fertility
and weight management, all benefit from eating
walnuts.
One component that differentiates walnuts is
alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), the plant-based
omega-3 fatty acid. Walnuts are the only nut that
contain a significant amount of alpha-linolenic acid
(ALA) with 2.5 grams per one ounce serving.
Walnuts: good for your
brain, colon, heart …
Novelty
Gear shift effect
Proof of concept
Applicability
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

5. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
Meditation may be associated with better
preservation of gray matter in the brain - the brain
component tissue responsible for processing
information and cognitive function. MRI studies
were performed on 50 meditators and 50 controls
who never meditated.
As expected, the researchers identified reduced
gray matter with increasing age but were surprised
to find that individuals in the meditation group
showed significantly lower gray matter loss in
numerous brain regions, compared with those in
the non-meditation group.
Want your brain to stay
young? Meditation may
be the answer.
Novelty
Gear shift effect
Proof of concept
Applicability
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

6. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
To investigate potential observer variability and
ambiguity in breast disease and cancer diagnoses,
investigators sent 60 breast biopsy slides — with a
diagnosis unanimously agreed upon by three
expert breast pathologists — to 115 practicing
pathologists.
Overall concordance of diagnosis between the
participants and expert pathologists was 75.3%.
Expert breast
pathologists don’t see
eye-to-eye
Novelty
Gear shift effect
Proof of concept
Applicability
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

7. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
Being exposed to adverse experiences in
childhood - such as witnessing domestic violence
or drug abuse - could significantly increase the risk
of developing asthma. Compared with children
who had not had any adverse childhood
experiences, the team found that those who had
one adverse childhood experience were 28% more
likely to develop asthma. The more adverse
experiences a child had, the greater the risk of
asthma.
Asthma and turbulent
childhood
Novelty
Gear shift effect
Proof of concept
Applicability
1 2 3 4 5
Low High
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

8. Dr Arjun Rajagopalan
Medi-culling
Curations: current, curious, controversial
13 April 2015
Dr Arjun Rajagopalan