Health

A marijuana decriminalization bill is headed to the Governor's desk.  As WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports, the state Legislature approved a measure where adults will face a fine instead of jail time for possessing a half-ounce or less of pot.

Doctors get years of training in medicine, but what’s often left out is humanity.

The relationship between doctor and patient is among the most important many of us will have in their lives, yet it’s becoming increasingly depersonalized thanks to overwhelming patient loads.

But there’s a growing field of study - and practice - that aims at putting the humanities back into doctor’s training...to better treat the humans they serve.

The legislative session ends next Wednesday, June 8, and there are dozens of bills that lawmakers have yet to take up. One bill that has bi-partisan support this year is a proposal to legalize medical marijuana. WNPR's Lucy Nalpathanchil reports

The General Assembly passed a medical marijuana bill in 2007 only to see then-Governor Jodi Rell veto it. This year's proposal is similar; the bill would allow patients with certain debilitating medical conditions to obtain a prescription for small amounts of marijuana for palliative use.

E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Cyclospora - All bacteria that have caused food borne illnesses and deaths in the past decades.

How do we heal difficult relationships and nurture healthy ones?  What is the significance of relationships in our spiritual life?  In his book, John E. Welshons says:  

Connecticut’s private employers have seen the price of health insurance premiums for workers and their families rise 102 percent since 1999, an analysis by C-HIT shows. The amount that families pay for this coverage rose an even steeper 107 percent.

The increases came during a decade when median household income in Connecticut grew by less than one third.

C-HIT’s review also found wide geographic variations in the insurance premiums charged for Connecticut families. 

When you hear about the human trafficking of young girls and women, third world countries in Asia and South America come to mind but law enforcement officials and advocates against exploitation say its as pervasive in this country as overseas. On VanityFair.com, writer Anne Fine Collins profiles a Connecticut case that was one of the first to be tried under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Elana Amsterdam is back on The Food Schmooze.  Her book of recipes using high protein almond flour in place of white flour was a hit with us and our regular Food Schmooze listeners. So we invited Elana to join us again to talk about some of her recipe ideas.

We'll tell you all about why blanched almond flour is considered a superfood by some; how it differs from white wheat flour and how it registers on the glycemic index.

An emotional debate concerning proposed changes to regulations governing nonprofit hospice care. We look at what those changes would mean for the patients.

An emotional debate concerning proposed changes to regulations governing nonprofit hospice care. We look at what those changes would mean for the patients.

A new Yale University study has pinpointed the types of riders involved in motorcycle accidents. Researchers think the data could be used to justify a mandatory helmet law in the state.

Adam Landman is an emergency room doctor at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He says he's tired of seeing motorcycle crash victims.

"My goal would be to go out of business," Landman says. "I don't want to be taking care of crash victims in the emergency department."

If Tim Cipriano has his way, food trucks won't just be for trendy urbanites anymore.

"It's like the big craze out there so we're looking to capitalize on the craze and get one donated to us that's similar to an ice cream truck that would be outfitted with refrigeration," Cipriano says.

Cipriano is a chef and director of food services in New Haven's public schools. He wants to use the truck to deliver meals to areas that aren't covered by the summer food service program. Right now, most of the food is served at schools, parks and summer camps.

Prejudice is one of the more troubling and baffling aspects of human nature

It has been the subject of scientific study for years.  But while social psychologists have learned a great deal about attitudes and societal influences that cause intergroup conflict, little effort has been devoted to understanding how adult humans come to have these biases in the first place.  So a Yale study set out to discover the roots of human prejudice, by studying groups of rhesus monkeys.

From shopping to banking to taxes “design thinking” is all around us....But beyond the buzz phrase, what does it mean?

Here’s another one: “Data Visualization” - and you’ve gotta come up with something better than an overhead projector showing a pie chart.  

Today we try to understand these new ways of looking at the systems that govern our lives, health, finances, even our environmental impact.  

The Connecticut Health Investigative Team or C-HIT has uncovered that many school cafeterias in Connecticut are not getting regular inspections as required by law.  Some schools, who were cited for various health infractions, did not even get a follow-up inspection to ensure they had resolved their health issue.  We talked to C-HIT reporter and co-founder, Lisa Chedekel about the story.

This week, state officials got a visit from an administrator in the Obama administration - who gave the state high marks for its efforts to implement health care reform.

But tell that to supporters of a “public option” under the state-run SustiNet plan, who held a rally to try and get that back into the state’s reform plan.   

Meanwhile, in Vermont, we’re hearing some say that state is moving toward “single-payer” health care - a kind of holy grail for some reform advocates.  Others say, hold on...it’s not really a single payer system.

About one in five prisoners in Connecticut is receiving mental health treatment .

According to the 2010 recidivism report recently released by the state, inmates with mental health problems are significantly more likely to end up back in jail once they get out.

The statistics reveal a flawed system of treatment and rehabilitation for the mentally ill in the state’s justice system - but it’s not confined to Connecticut.  

Children who sleep with fumes from water-based paints and solvents are two to four times more likely to suffer allergies or asthma, according to a new scientific study. Swedish and U.S. scientists measured the compounds - propylene glycol and glycol ethers - in the bedroom air of 400 toddlers and preschoolers, and discovered that the exposed children had substantially higher rates of asthma, stuffy noses and eczema. The irony is that these compunds are supposed to be healthier than the old, high-polluting, oil-based paints and solvents.

Cocaine v. Chocolate Milkshake? Could there be a similarity?  

One Yale researcher says that addictions to both food and drugs have similar reactions on the brain. Using an MRI, participants’ brains were scanned while looking at and eating a chocolate milkshake.

Today’s guest memorized the precise order of an entire deck of cards in one minute and forty seconds.

This supreme act of memorization earned Joshua Foer a US record for speed and a winning title at the US memory championship in 2006.  But how does his uncanny ability to memorize useless information relate to our daily blunders of lost car keys, forgotten birthdays…and the classic: “I know you just told me… but what’s your name again?!” 

Today's show was occasioned by a controversial New York Times page one article about Dr. Donald Levin.

It said: "Like many of the nation’s 48,000 psychiatrists, Dr. Levin, in large part because of changes in how much insurance will pay, no longer provides talk therapy, the form of psychiatry popularized by Sigmund Freud that dominated the profession for decades. Instead, he prescribes medication, usually after a brief consultation with each patient."

More than 336,000 residents of Connecticut use food stamps – up over 30% in the past year. 

This program, now known as SNAP - Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs – provides an average of $263 a month for each household on the program. 

Advanced science and technology is helping to keep people alive longer than ever, but our emotional and mental ability to cope with aging are as regressed as ever. 

Dr. Marc Agronin is a geriatric physciatrist and author of the new book How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey Into the Heart of Growing Old. 

Today, we’re going to take a break from our usual talk about the state budget crisis…or transportation policy…and talk about something really exciting.  Boredom!

Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.  Especially in these mid-winter stir crazy days.  What to do with myself?  Well, according to author Peter Toohey, there’s about 3000 years of bored humans dealing with the same problem.   His book is called Boredom: A Lively History.