Archives for July 2011

19
Jul 2011

Five Great Articles To Help Your Resume

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Everyone should have an up to date resume ready – whether you have no desire to leave your current job, or whether you are looking to transition to a new position as a full-time or freelance worker.

Although “anything is better than nothing” in an emergency, ideally you want to avoid your resume being a trainwreck that heads toward the ER! So if you don’t have a resume at the moment, or you haven’t updated it in a while – now is the time to take action.

The trick, however, is making yourself stand out from the crowd. Prospective employers or clients will receive many resumes – so you want yours to reflect how special you are, and how you can make a difference to a company.

Sadly, few of us are effective self-marketers, so it’s easy for our resume to end up resembling a “To Do” list (or maybe a “To Done” list!). Highlighting how previous responsibilities helped employers, rather than simply listing what they were, can be an extremely effective tool in demonstrating your skill sets.

Although “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to resume-writing, there are definitely some general points worth considering as a starter. I’m in the middle of revamping my resume right now & thought I’d share some posts that I’ve come across & enjoyed.

Check out these 5 articles for some great insight into compiling a resume:

Is It Time For Your Resume Checkup?

Some resume-writing tips from a medical writer

Ten Easy Ways To Improve Your Resume

Don’t Make These Mistakes On Your Resume

Why You Should Keep Your Resume Updated

What tips can you share for resume writing?

Categories: Business Resources, Freelance Writing Tags: , ,
19
Jul 2011

Twitterized

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Everyone seems to be twitterizing themselves, so I decided to jump on the bandwagon.

Apparently I’m not very chatty, interesting, or enthusiastic – seems I may benefit from more socialization, and less twitterization! I did love the “likely obsession” though – anyone who knows me will know how my cat is my nemesis…….she’s tried to murder me twice…….

And the “gamer” title made me laugh even more – I despise video gaming with a thousand fiery passions!

Have you twitterized yourself yet?

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags: , ,
16
Jul 2011

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

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I’m a pathologist, so buying this book was a no-brainer for me. 

  

Mary Roach is a science writer, originally from New Hampshire, whose previous lives took her through freelance copy editing and public relations at the San Francisco Zoo!

“Stiff” was her first book, released in 2003. It shares the findings from her exploration of the current uses of human cadavers, as well as anecdotes about the 2,000 year history of the cadaver industry.

She covers everything you could possibly ever want to know (or maybe not) about cadavers, from body snatching to “how to know if you’re dead”. If you’ve always thought you’d prefer to simply be buried after death, it’s worth checking out Roach’s review of the body’s decay process. You may just change your mind! Reading about the alternative lives of cadavers, you too might even prefer that something much cooler could happen to your body after you die!

Many of us hate to think about death in general, and certainly many immediately reject the idea of donating their body to medical research without further consideration. “Stiff”, however, is a great book for reminding us just how important this donation could be: “For every cadaver that rode the crash sleds to test three-point seat belts, 61 lives per year have been saved. For every cadaver that took an airbag in the face, 147 people per year survive otherwise fatal head-ons. For every corpse whose head has hammered a windshield, 68 lives per year are saved.”

It’s become one of my favorite books since I bought it a few years ago. Although written with constant injections of humor from start to finish (even down to the chapter titles), Mary Roach’s commentary of the postmortem life of bodies is also extremely respectfully written. Her jokes are not at the expense of the dead, but are rather directed at the absurdity of our attitudes toward death. It’s brutally honest, tremendously gruesome at times, yet always thoroughly entertaining.

It was one of those disturbingly fascinating reads that I couldn’t wait to pick up, didn’t want to put down, and certainly hated finishing! I’ve actually bought many copies since as gifts for friends, who also loved it. And you don’t need to have any background in science to enjoy this book, although it’s definitely not a read for the faint hearted (or for those who nauseate easily)!

In the words of the author herself: “Death. It doesn’t have to be boring”.

Read it. It may just change your death.

Categories: Books Tags: , , , , , , ,
15
Jul 2011

This Week In Words

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The previous couple of days have involved working late into the night to finish editing a lengthy scientific manuscript for an ESL client. I learned a lot about “Chinese Herbs Nephropathy” though – very intriguing!

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags: , , ,
14
Jul 2011

Links I Love: 5 Sites That Get Me Going

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A plethora of wonderful, insightful, and helpful websites exist that can be really useful for anyone in the freelance business. Today I’d like to share five that I love – these are a little different from the typical sites that I regularly read that are more geared toward freelance workers.

I tend to think of “websites-I-visit” in three categories:

  • Inspirational
  • Motivational
  • Potential sources of work

Now I’m not saying that the first two are mutually exclusive – naturally I am frequently both inspired and motivated by many sites, but typically one feeling tends to dominate.

These following five sites are in the motivational category – where something I read or listen to is most likely to make me actually do something.

1) RAMIT SETHI’S “I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH”

Ramit Sethi is a 29 year old Stanford graduate & author of the New York Times’ bestselling book by the same name as his website: I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

He is a personal finance and entrepreneurial guru, & on his website you’ll find information that can help you with anything from credit card perks to starting your own business.  There’s a heap of great information there – lots of reading material, and video clips too – but one of things he does best, is to try to get into your mind. He aims to drive you into action – to show you that you can overcome your own mental barriers to make necessary behavioral changes that allow you to put techniques into practice, and see results for your efforts.

His idea is that: “When you ask people to take action, you will dramatically eliminate a huge percentage of people. This is why people leave hundreds of comments on my blog talking about how excited they are to have free content wash over them, but when you ask people to take action, a fraction of the people respond.”

2) MAGGIE MISTAL, CAREER CONSULTANT

I first came across Maggie Mistal about nine months ago when I bought a car that had satellite radio. She has a show on Sirius XM’s “Martha Stewart Living Radio”, on Friday afternoons at 4pm. Maggie is another great person who can really fire you up when it comes to anything to do with changing careers, and taking some necessary action. She is so enthusiastic when talking to people who call in with dilemmas over wanting to change track, often wanting to set up on their own.

If you’re not fortunate enough to have access to an actual satellite radio, you can still pay to access the service online. But if all else fails and you don’t get to listen to her on the radio, you can still at least follow her via her blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.

3) KEPPIE CAREERS

Amongst other things, Miriam Salpeter is a social media strategist for job seekers and entrepreneurs. I recently came across her when she was a guest on Maggie Mistal’s radio show. Much like Maggie, she too works to help people find the job or opportunity that they want, helping them to find clarity, and to overcome the barriers that prevent them from making positive strides in their business. Her website and blog contain some great tips that everyone can benefit from when building up their business.

4) EVENTUAL MILLIONAIRE

Jaime Tardy has an intriguing story to tell as the Eventual Millionaire. By age 22 she was earning a 6-figure salary, but a couple of years later she had over $70k in debt. And a job that she hated. So she revisited her goals, and decided that most importantly, she wanted to find a job that she loved. Then she could pursue the million dollars working at it! Within a couple more years, she’d quit her job and taken time off to figure out what work really excited her. Now she is an entrepreneurial coach, helping other entrepreneurs learn how to focus their strengths in order to grow their business.

5) STARTUP NATION

The Sloan brothers run StartupNation as a “one-stop-shop for entrepreneurial success”. They have a long track record of business success that dates back to their teenage years when they bought and sold houses. Now they’re two of the country’s top small business experts. On their site you have access to many useful things, from articles and podcasts to professional groups and member networking.

So hopefully you might find at least something useful from these links. Whilst they’re not medical writing-specific, I really find that they all have a lot to offer me. Do you have any favorite, motivational sites that spur you into action?

Categories: Business Resources Tags: , , , , , ,
13
Jul 2011

Chocolate Poisoning In Dogs

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“Chocolate poisoning” represented one of the “Top 10” pet poisonings reported by the Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). This occurs as a result of an adverse reaction to the alkaloid theobromine in chocolate. The toxicity affects dogs more than cats, probably because they  are more likely to consume large quantities of unusual foods chocolate, whereas cats are typically less likely to voluntarily eat chocolate, especially in large quantities. Animals of all ages, however, are affected.

How Much?

According to the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center, mild signs of toxicity are considered to occur in animals after eating around 20 mg of theobromine and caffeine per kg bodyweight, with severe signs arising at 40-50 mg/kg, seizures at 60 mg/kg, with potentially lethal results at 100 mg/kg.

Clinical signs typically occur within 6-12 hours, and how your dog reacts will depend especially on his size, as well as the type of chocolate eaten. Different types of chocolate contain different levels of theobromine: Baking chocolate contains the highest levels, followed by dark chocolate, milk chocolate & white chocolate, respectively.

Some approximate theobromine concentrations in various chocolate products are as follows:

  • Cacao beans: Up to 1200 mg/oz
  • Baking chocolate: 400 mg/oz
  • Dark chocolate: 150 mg/oz
  • Instant cocoa powder: 150 mg/oz
  • Milk chocolate: 50 mg/oz
  • Hot chocolate: 15 mg/oz
  • White chocolate 1 mg/oz

Although these are approximate figures only, they at least provide a sense of the wide range of theobromine concentrations in different products. These figures equate to ingestion of approximately 3 lbs of milk chocolate by a 32 kg Labrador retriever being fatal, while only 7 oz milk chocolate could be fatal to a 4.5 kg Yorkshire terrier.

Clinical Signs

The toxic effects of theobromine affect many organ systems. The first signs of chocolate poisoning, however, tend to be vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, restlessness and increased urination. Signs can ultimately progress to fatal cardiac arrhythmias and seizures.

Treatment

There is no antidote for chocolate poisoning, so treatment tends to be supportive. Since the half life of threobromine is around 18 hours, veterinarians will often induce vomiting in affected dogs within the first 1-2 hours post-ingestion, in particular if the quantity is unknown. Activated charcoal administration can also be useful in reducing the quantity of toxin absorbed. Otherwise, however, treatment is based on the clinical signs of each individual case, with intravenous fluid therapy being commonly used in animals with toxicity-induced dehydration due to vomiting and diarrhea, for instance.

If you do suspect that your pet has eaten an unknown quantity of chocolate, contact your veterinarian immediately for advice. With appropriate, timely treatment, most animals make a complete recovery.

(888) 426-4435 ASPCA Animal Poison Control 

Categories: Veterinary Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
12
Jul 2011

Step 3: Time To Socialize

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Time for Step 3 of the “Beginner’s Medical Writing” series – a step-by-step guide to getting yourself started in freelance medical writing – an extremely basic guide for making the first move into medical writing.  

If you’re just arriving, feel free to check out the earlier steps:

So, where are we up to now? Hopefully by now you have a blog or some kind of website “out there”. And I haven’t forgotten that I left you with some assignments to get you started with writing for your blog.

If you haven’t yet posted them to your blog, then go ahead and do so – this is the start of your showcase, so the sooner they are up and running, the better. As for the next step – it’s time to link up with some other folk in your field.  Gathering a new social circle can be a wonderful way to help propel your new business.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Does the very thought of being involved in social media leave you kicking & screaming? If so, you have a big decision to make. On the one hand, if you are social media-phobic, then it might be a waste of your time setting up accounts for your business – there’s no point pretending you’re going to give it a go, if you already know you’ll never use any of them. On the other hand, however, this is 2011 & like it or not, social media is now part of our online business DNA.

So before you dig in your heels & declare your business a failure when it’s just getting started, I’d urge you to give it just a little thought. These days, many small businesses are successfully using Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn (amongst others) to promote their services. So it is absolutely in your best interests to at least consider using one of them. Decide which of the social media sites might appeal to you most – take your pick based either on which will be a better choice for your type of freelance business, or which of the networks you are most likely to actually feel content about using.

 

Some benefits of social networking to help persuade you in the right direction:

  • Improves marketing of your services
  • Allows business networking with others in your niche
  • Increases visibility of your business
  • Drives traffic to your website/blog
  • Builds credibility for your services
  • Provides a simple method of enabling feedback on your services
  • A great way to gain moral support

 

Just One?

If you are looking to maybe just take on one of the social networks, I’d advise using LinkedIn – this will at least expose your business to the world (including potential employers) and is probably the one that requires the least maintenance once you’ve set it up appropriately. So this might be the choice for you if you absolutely know that the Facebook, Twitter, or other universes are simply not where you want to place your energy.

I use 2 networks for my business, so feel free to link up with me at any of them:

 

There are also direct links to my LinkedIn and Twitter profiles at the top right of the screen.

Whilst the situation will be different for different individuals, I have to say that I tried a business Facebook site, and this has been the least useful for my business purposes – although LinkedIn & Twitter have proven to be great ways to network and for me to be found.

So go ahead & explore some of the social networking options for yourself, & see which you might be interested in trying out. Your assignment today is to set up at least one social networking profile and link it up with your business site online.

Which of the social networks have you used, and which has been most useful for your business?

Categories: Beginner's Medical Writing Series, Medical Writing Tags: , , , , , , , ,
08
Jul 2011

This Week In Words

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The end of another busy week…….

 

Categories: Miscellaneous Tags: , ,
07
Jul 2011

Eating Less Salt May Not Cut Risks Of Heart Disease

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A study published online this week in the American Journal of Hypertension has rubbed salt in the wounds of the old belief that excessive salt intake contributes to the development of cardiovascular disease

A group of researchers from the University of Exeter in England analyzed the results of seven clinical studies. Collectively these studies involved over 6,000 adults who had been tracked for at least six months. Patients were assigned to one of three groups, according to whether they had:

  • Normal blood pressure
  • Hypertension
  • Heart failure

All patients were evaluated to determine how their dietary salt intake was associated with blood pressure, incidence of heart disease, and death. Subsequent meta-analysis of the combined data from these studies, however, failed to obtain any firm evidence that reducing dietary salt intake prevents the chances of death from cardiovascular disease.  Reduced salt intake did tend to reduce blood pressure a little, although it had no effect on reducing the rate of cardiac arrest, stroke, or heart surgery.

 

 

The National Salt Reduction Initiative

The World Health Organization currently recommends a maximum salt intake of 5 grams per day, whereas many people in western countries often ingest twice this amount. And indeed the FDA currently suggests not ingesting more than a teaspoon of salt a day – almost 2.5 grams. Although they recommend that people should be trying to reduce their salt use in food, they additionally advise the food industry to remove excess salt from their products. Almost 80% of the salt in our diets apparently derives from that which is added to processed foods and drinks before they are sold.

Such public health initiatives to reduce salt consumption are mostly based on observational studies that have shown a connection between high sodium intake and increased risk of cardiac disease. Such study types, however, are not designed to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship – they are only able to show association, and any association could potentially be explained by numerous other factors.

 

In Conclusion

This new report thus introduces more controversy on conventional thinking that a reduced salt intake can prevent heart disease. Subsequently the researchers of this most recent report conclude that additional research is required to clarify the association between heart disease and salt intake – and in particular, larger randomized controlled trials would be beneficial.

 

Taylor RS et al: Reduced Dietary Salt for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials (Cochrane review). (2011) Am J Hypertens, July 6 [Epub ahead of print]

Categories: Medical Tags: , , , , , , ,
06
Jul 2011

Post-Hip Fracture Mortality

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The hip is one of the most common fracture sites in people, with hip fractures most frequently occurring in elderly patients, representing an extremely serious outcome of osteoporosis.

In younger patients, hip fractures typically occur as a result of high impact injuries, such as those associated with a traffic accident. Patients with osteoporosis, however, have weakened bones, and can often develop hip fractures from even relatively minor trauma.

Fractures in this region represent the most common type that requires patient hospitalization, since treatment typically requires surgical correction. Approximately 10% of these fracture patients die during hospitalization, however, and it is not exactly clear what risk factors contribute to this excess mortality.

 

 

Risk factors for in-hospital post-hip fracture mortality

A recent Australian study evaluated hip fracture patients admitted to a teaching hospital from 1997-2007. They aimed to not only examine risk factors for mortality in these patients, but also to develop a prognostic model to predict in-hospital mortality.

The group evaluated outcomes among 1094 women and 410 men who were admitted to the hospital with a hip fracture.

The median duration of hospitalization was 9 days, and the primary outcome of the study was that in-hospital mortality occurred regardless of length of hospital stay. During hospitalization, the risk of mortality was higher in men (9%) than in women (4%). Increased risk of in-hospital mortality was associated with advancing age in men, as well as the presence of co-morbid conditions on admission.  In particular, the risk of mortality was increased in patients with a pre-existing congestive heart failure and liver disease – factors that together accounted for 69% of the risk for in-hospital mortality.

 

Overall, the results of this study of hip fracture patients determined that increased age, male gender, and pre-existing conditions such as congestive heart failure and liver disease were the main risk factors for mortality during hospitalization. They were, however, unable to develop a prognostic model to predict the outcome of hospitalization following a hip fracture.

 

Frost SA et al: Risk factors for in-hospital post-hip fracture mortality. (2011) Bone, Jun 13 [Epub ahead of print]

 

Categories: Medical Tags: , , , , , , , ,
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