The Scope Radio

That constipated look your baby gives you when they can’t poop can be entertaining to look at, but can be quite painful for your baby. Luckily, painful pooping, or infant dyschezia, is a very common, normal and curable problem. Dr. Cindy Gellner talks about what might cause dychezia and what safe methods you can use to help your baby.

Data can be incredibly useful to help inform big decisions—if you keep some key concepts in mind. Walter Douglas is the chief operating officer at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. In this short podcast, he shares some of his insight and expertise on what to do and what to avoid when you are putting together a strategic data plan.

Many women struggle with Valentine’s Day expectations: if he loved me, he’d know what I wanted; if he doesn’t do something big, he doesn’t care; surprises are more romantic. If this sounds familiar, Dr. Kirtly Parker Jones has advice on how to better approach it to set your partner up to succeed and you to have the Valentine’s Day you want.

Your nose runs and you might cough a few times during the day, even though you don’t have a cold. For otherwise healthy people, those are the immediate effects of a bad air day in Salt Lake City. And when the inversion goes away, so do those symptoms. But the inversion also impacts our health over the long term. Heidi Hanson is a researcher who investigates how polluted air affects people during the course of their lives. As a result, she is familiar with much of the research that has been done documenting the long-term effects of bad air. We ask her what we know about its impacts on long-term health, who the high-risk groups are and how serious the problem really is. Image credit.

Croaking, creaking, and vocal fry—they’re all different descriptions of a way of talking marked by a low, vibratory sound that often comes at the end of a sentence. You’ve no doubt heard many girls and women, and even some boys and men talking in this manner. Maybe even your own kids. It’s not only bothersome to many people to listen to, but it also can cause vocal fatigue and potentially harm the vocal chords. Speech disorders expert Dr. Katherine Kendall refers to this as a backwards-focused voice. We asked Dr. Kendall if this is a genuine medical condition and if it can be cured.

Do you find yourself short of breath taking even a slow walk with the dog? Do you get winded easily playing with the kids? Do you have to stop and catch your breath by the time you get to the top of a short staircase? Pulmonary hypertension might be the cause. It can limit your quality of life and, untreated, eventually lead to heart failure. Dr. Nathan Hatton says unlike hypertension (high blood pressure,) it’s difficult to detect and determine the root cause. If you have shortness of breath, take five minutes to listen to how Dr. Hatton helps patients that come to the pulmonary hypertension clinic with this disease.

For the first time, the Anticoagulation Forum has published clinical guidance statements for managing blood clots in the veins, or venous thromboembolism. Dan Witt, PharmD, Professor of Pharmacotherapy at the University of Utah, is a lead author on statements regarding warfarin management. He explains what prompted the new set of guidance statements, how they differ from existing guidelines, and why they will be of value to practitioners who encounter this condition.

Nail biting is a common habit, but usually not a serious one for most children. Most children who bite their nails eventually lose the habit, but some may continue well into adulthood. In more serious situations, nail biting can lead to health concerns. There is no prescription to stop nail biting, but it can be addressed. Dr. Cindy Gellner talks about the reasons why nail biting occurs and offers suggestions on how to help your child stop biting her nails.

Doctors’ instructions can be hard to understand, especially when it’s time for discharge. Most major medical institutions write dismissal summaries at a 10-11th grade reading level. Dr. Martin Zielinski, associate professor of trauma surgery at the Mayo Clinic, says this is too high for most patients. A higher readability level in medical instructions at discharge can result in more callbacks, questions and patient re-admissions. Dr. Zielinski talks with Dr. Kyle Jones about why medical instructions should be at a lower level and how to ensure better communication between patients and physicians.

Cross fit is a great way to get into shape. Dr. Travis Maak agrees, but says that about three weeks into it is when people tend to get injured. Listen to find out why he thinks three weeks is the magic number, what likely happens, and how to prevent it. He also has advice about how to get back to your workouts as quickly, and safely, as possible after you get hurt.

Diet enthusiasts talk and blog about it all the time—the Mediterranean diet. It can be difficult to follow, but it’s one of the better-known diets for a healthy heart. Medical director of Preventive Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation Dr. Lillian Khor talks with Dr. Kirtly Jones about why the Mediterranean diet is best to prevent heart disease and how to fit it into your and your family’s lifestyle.

Every year around this time you see the posts about how the number of heart attacks increase on Super Bowl Sunday. Is that legit or just a good story to pass around on social media? We asked cardiologist Dr. John Ryan if it’s for real.

What do doctors consider when determining whether to use a CT scan or a MRI for a patient? Radiologist Dr. Ulrich Rassner says there are many factors that go into that decision and it really comes down to what diagnostic information the physician wants to obtain. Learn what issues are involved so you can make sure your doctor recommends the best, and safest, imaging option for your situation.

It might seem like your child doesn’t eat enough, is never hungry or won’t eat, and you worry he or she will starve unless you spoon-feed them yourself. Don’t worry. It’s normal for a child’s appetite to slow down between the ages of 1 and 5. Normal doesn’t mean it’s pleasant, however. Dr. Cindy Gellner gives you tips on what you can–and shouldn’t–do to help your child through this period of eating struggles.

Older adults who are otherwise healthy are at earlier risk for death if they have low blood levels of bicarbonate, a main ingredient in baking soda. Kalani Raphael, M.D., an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah and nephrologist at the VA Salt Lake Health Care System, explains the surprising results of his research. Why might low bicarbonate levels indicate poor health, and how might doctors use this information in the future? Read the study in Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.