The homes can self-report data on staffing — a major factor in patient care — and on so-called quality measures that can be easily manipulated. That, in turn, influences the home’s overall rating, which also includes the facilities’ actual inspection results.

The site’s reliance on self-reported data has been a known problem for years. In fact, the Affordable Care Act addressed the problem by requiring the feds to confirm staffing data through payroll records. But today, four years later, CMS has yet to comply with that law.

A new and emerging risk factor is the role of intestinal microflora that may be associated with obesity. Our guts are populated or colonized if you will, by good bacteria. The kind of bacterial flora that lives in our guts is influenced by dietary and environmental factors. Different bacteria vary by their ability to extract energy and as a result these patterns of bacterial colonization can influence growth. This also can influence energy metabolism in our body. Previous studies have shown that intestinal microflora are associated with obesity in later life and that antibiotic exposure influences the microbial variability and composition. The question then remains whether there is an influence of antibiotic use on early childhood obesity?

An increased risk of obesity was associated with greater antibiotic use, especially for children with four or more exposures, when all antibiotics or only broad-spectrum antibiotics were examined.

For a broader and deeper view of research on the effects of antibiotics on health, see Missing Microbes.

The findings of this study are published in the September 2014 issue of the journal Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology

UI researchers showed individuals with Alzheimer's disease clips of sad and happy movies. The patients experienced sustained states of sadness and happiness despite not being able to remember the movies.

"This confirms that the emotional life of an Alzheimer's patient is alive and well," says lead author Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, a Dean's Graduate Research Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.

The enthusiasm factor is widespread, as Dr. Mark Chassin, CEO of The Joint Commission, reminds us. Even when evidence proves that an intervention is not effective, enthusiasm for it overwhelms objectivity. A case in Maryland of unnecessary stents involving nearly 600 people illustrates this phenomenon. A physician who assumed responsibility for the care of some of these patients, after the doctor involved stopped practicing, said that a small subset still believed that the physician who performed the unnecessary procedures saved their lives. The enthusiasm factor is alive and well because of what I call "the marinated mind." Our minds have been marinated by the media and marketing to believe that more is better. We need to dilute the marinade.

Finally, publicly-traded companies that sell drugs, devices, and equipment are a powerful driver of overuse. Their primary fiduciary duty is to shareholders and they are obligated to maximize shareholder value. This goal can be achieved only by selling more products and increasing the price. Selling more requires doctors to use more of their products in surgeries, tests, and prescribing practices.

People with Tourette syndrome have too many signals being sent to these cortical areas, leading to unwanted and occasionally inappropriate movements or sounds known as tics that the person may have little or no control over.

By reducing the hyperactivity in areas such as the SMA and the primary motor cortex (M1), only the strongest signals can be processed and produce movement.

“The more the cumulative days of use, the higher the risk of later being diagnosed with dementia,” Dr. Antoine Pariente, a pharmacoepidemiologist at the University of Bordeaux and a co-author of the study, told me in an interview.