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How to Get a Second Opinion

Sometimes even the best doctors are stumped. This can occur with a common disease say migraines which takes an uncommon or difficult to treat course. And of course it happens with unusual diseases. Most start with their primary care provider, who as a generalist tries his or her best to [...]

By | January 21st, 2013|2 Comments

This Year’s Three Nasty Bugs

This year is turning out to be a banner one, at least if you happen to be a pathogenic (disease causing) bug.  Three  are making a major comeback: H3N2, nora virus and pertussis. Before you press that panic button, you should know that all three are to a large degree [...]

By | January 14th, 2013|0 Comments

The Testosterone Driven Male: A Study in Stupidity

Some time ago I wrote a few blogs about testosterone and how this hormone, despite claims by some uninformed males, often leads to incredibly stupid behavior. Common sense becomes victim of the overpowering urge to strut our male, macho feathers and this results in unfortunate outcomes. Just one month ago, [...]

By | January 6th, 2013|0 Comments

The Future of Stem Cells

Stem cells are pretty amazing. These dudes are the chameleons of the body. They can transform themselves into virtually any type of cell, whether it a pacemaker cell in the heart or a cell in the bone. At birth there a quite a few of these stem cells. However, as [...]

By | December 31st, 2012|0 Comments

Misleading Drug Advertisements

Hard to believe, but most advertisements from the multibillion dollar drug industry actually are misleading. A recent study examined pharmaceutical advertisement geared toward doctors and found that only mon Dieu! a paltry 18% actually conformed to FDA guidelines. These guidelines were recently set up in order to identify the 'bad [...]

By | December 24th, 2012|0 Comments

A New Way to Stay Away from Fritos

If, dear readers, you are anything like me, than the mere sight of  carrot cake, the smell of freshly barbecued meats or the taste of home canned jam is enough to drive you crazy. The problem is that these delightful sensations send signals to the brain, which in turn gears [...]

By | December 17th, 2012|0 Comments

Are truck drivers healthy?

No big surprise that perhaps the unhealthiest profession is truck driving. It's not the exhaust from the truck; nor is it the long hours that really make these guys and gals be unfit. No, it is the fact that the job involves sitting for very long periods and then stopping [...]

By | December 10th, 2012|2 Comments

The Gold Standard for Research

To me it comes as no surprise that researchers paid by pharmacy companies report positive results. In fact 80% of studies sponsored by pharmacy come out with findings favorable to the drug or device studied. It is highly unlikely that only 20% of the results are negative. There is a [...]

By | December 3rd, 2012|0 Comments

Eat less live longer?

Several years ago a study appeared, which found that following a very low calorie diet might in fact lead to a longer life. Almost immediately, enthusiastic followers, including even some scientists, took up the study's findings: They followed a rigid diet, which was several hundred calories short of what the [...]

By | November 26th, 2012|0 Comments

Falls from Windows: Preventable Accidents

On the average about 5,200 kids fall out of windows each year. This number has been decreasing over time, but still about 0.2% died and 6.5 % occurred from falls greater than 2 stories. Not surprisingly, a majority were boys. What helped drive the decline are programs such as in [...]

By | November 19th, 2012|0 Comments