Notes & Links: July 29, 2013

10 Reasons Why ObamaCare is Good for US

HealthPopuli has listed reasons she believes ObamaCare is good for us and the US. You’ve seen most of these enumerated else where but her list is more. It explains why each point will make a difference to us as consumer and the US as a nation. If you are looking to arm yourself for arguments with those who want to strike the ACA down the language and support here will serve you well. 

Github: How an Open Source Programming Tool With a Funny Name Could Help Revolutionize Medical Research. 

Joyce Lee, MD writing on The Health Care Blog brings a great idea from the tech world of programers and code writers to healthcare. Use open source GitHub to share medical research. Her thoughts on this really clarify how to make this idea work. But more important she has seeded the idea with her her own project. 

Why Healthcare Facilities Belong on Pinterest

I have made fun of Pinterest calling it Twitter for people who can’t read. Well Michael Sherman posting on HealthWorks Collective makes the case why Pinterest works and changes my mind. Guess I will have to stop laughing at my own jokes. 

Moms, Are Your Autoantibodies Causing Autism?

Provocative headline from and equally provocative study out of University of California, Davis. Emily Willingham contributing to Forbes does an excellent job of clarifying the data and putting into understandable writing for all of us.

Second, and probably more significant, is a question nags at me when I read these fetal-exposure-to-autoantibody studies. Once mothers make these autoantibodies, they don’t stop. Thus, if the autoantibodies are causative or play a big role in autism risk, I’d expect to see a higher rate of younger autistic siblings of autistic children whose mothers test positive for these autoantibodies or fall in the 99% specificity category. The evidence equation adds up like this: Researchers can show (1) the presence of autoantibodies around birth + (2) having an autistic child + (3) a greater autism risk or rate among younger siblings of that child than already exists for siblings of autistic children. Such results would, I think, help solidify these indicators that for a subset of cases of autism, maternal autoantibodies during fetal development play a role.