Sleepy teens

Are you getting enough sleep these days? I know this writer and mom to two little ones is not. But, at least I don't have to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for a 7:30 a.m. class, like the sleep-deprived teens I discuss in my new UT HealthLeader article "A Cry for Sleep."  Did you know that only 30 percent of teens sleep at least eight hours--at a time when they should be sleeping more than nine hours a night? And an estimated one in four teenagers sleep only six hours a night or less. “Kids out there are chronically sleep deprived,” says Robert E. Roberts, PhD, a professor of health promotion and behavioral sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and author of several studies on sleep and adolescents. “They are at much greater risk for depression, reduced academic performance, they think their health is worse, they report more problems of all kinds at school, are less satisfied with life in general and are more prone to use drugs.”

How can we help? Roberts says communities should encourage school districts to start high school later in the day. In the meantime, parents can try their best to help their teens establish healthy sleep routines, including not watching television or playing computer games before bedtime.

Poor kids. I feel your pain and drink my Venti latte in honor of your sleeplessness and mine. Ahhh.

Ever wish you were anonymous?

I think everyone has nurtured the fantasy at one time of leaving behind community, connections and maddeningly persistent telephone solicitors (or bill collectors), and going someplace where nobody knows our name--a kind of anti-Cheers. The emergency room, however, is not the place we want to be anonymous when we are sick or injured. We want our doctors to have the latest information about our health at their fingertips, to help them give us the best care possible. Yet we might as well be blank slates, I learned when researching electronic health records for my latest UT HealthLeader article.

“We are not sharing data across organizations right now,” says Dean Sittig, PhD, professor of Biomedical Informatics at the UTHealth School of Biomedical Informatics, who together with Ryan Radecki, MD, coauthored a commentary in the July 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association recommending electronic medical records (also called electronic health records or EHRs) as a way to improve patient safety. He estimates that only 40 to 50 percent of academic centers, and fewer than 20 percent of small doctor practices, use electronic health records.

Thankfully, the news isn't all bleak. Major academic centers and affiliated hospitals are implementing sophisticated electronic health records systems that increase patient safety and convenience. And experts at UTHealth are working with independent physician practices to help them get with the program. You can read more in my article: For the Record: Why we need electronic records.

Calling all gamers

Those countless hours you spend playing video or computer games may actually pay off for you someday. Your awesome "skills" could even help you save a life. Pretty cool, huh? A surgeon in my latest UT HealthLeader article, TORS: New Life-Saving Robotic Surgery, uses a controller similar to a video game controller to manipulate tiny surgical instruments into tight spaces inside the throat, where a surgeon’s hands just can’t fit. The technology lets surgeons go through the mouth instead of cutting through the neck, and remove cancerous tumors.

“The robot helps us be minimally invasive, and to do many things with minimal interruption,” says Ron Karni, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School. Karni performs the surgery at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston. “It works just like a video game,” he adds.

The robot transmits images of the throat to a computer screen, above the patient. The surgeon watches the screen while guiding the instruments with a controller—like an intensely focused gamer.

Karni estimates the cure rate for throat cancer using TORS to be close to 90 percent, compared to the 60 to 70 percent with traditional chemotherapy and radiation alone.

Those are pretty good odds.

And the odds that playing Wii will get my children into medical school?

Slim.

I'm putting my money on Xbox.

Enjoy your summer, but...

Learn more than you ever wanted to know about the creepy, crawly--and let's face it, gross--side of summer,  in my two-part UT Healthleader series on "Yuck-ology." First, let's talk bedbugs. In part one, I talk with infectious disease expert, Charles Ericsson, MD, professor of medicine and director of the travel medicine clinic at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, about how to avoid the pesky critters on your summer vacation. Tip: check your bed, sheets, and all the areas around your bed for signs of bedbugs, even if you are staying in a four-star hotel.

“You don’t have to be staying in a youth hostel or a homeless shelter to find bedbugs,” Ericsson says. “These things can pop up in the finest hotels, so if you are on the road, it is not unwise to check for them.”

In part two of "Yuckology," I consulted experts at UT Health about how to identify and treat other pests and infections that are common in children during summer including lice, pinworm, impetigo and scabies infestations.

Parents shudder at the thought of their child having a parasite or oozing infection. But these conditions are more common than you think.

“Parents should not be embarrassed but should understand the ease of transmission among children since they are so touchy-feely,” says Johnnie Frazier, MD, a pediatrician and associate professor of pediatrics for UTHealth Medical School. “Early detection is important, because all of these ailments are highly contagious.”

The take home message? Don't let these pests ruin your vacation. Learn how to spot an infestation or infection, get prompt treatment and seek medical help if necessary. Most importantly, enjoy your summer!

Put down that salt shaker!

Actually, the salt in your morning Cheerios is worse for you than what you shake on your baked potato. Check out my latest article, Salt Sense: Spare the salt, spare the heart, to hear what researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston School of Public Health have to say on the matter. The article comes on the heels of new federal guidelines for salt consumption. “It is a challenge to stay within the recommendations,” says researcher Alanna Morrison, PhD, “If you go through your refrigerator or your pantry, things like the cereal that you feed your children or pasta, foods that you think are healthy—they all have salt in them. As consumers we really can’t get away from salt because it is in everything.”

Nearly three-quarters of the salt Americans eat comes from processed foods, she adds. Yikes.