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Tattooing and body piercing are somewhat trendy now, having gained popularity in the 1990s. However, these forms of "body modification/body art" are anything but new. Both have been around since ancient times and are practiced in many cultures. Although their popularity attests that millions of customers feel both procedures are worth doing, there are some potential risks and complications.

Tattooing

Tattooing involves multiple punctures of the skin to instill pigment into the dermal or second layer. It is permanent, although over time some of the colors may fade. Dermatologist Dr. Audrey Kunin notes some risks to keep in mind when considering getting a tattoo. First, self-tattooing or giving someone else a tattoo as an amateur should never be done....

 National Public Radio (NPR) is concerned about a relatively small group of men who abstain from internet porn. Using language typically reserved for anti-vaccine gurus like RFK, Jr, the news outlet took aim at the websites where these "NoFap" advocates congregate, reporting last week that “Masturbation abstinence is popular online. Doctors and therapists are worried.”

The headline struck me as a little dramatic, so what exactly are these experts worried about?

“More than two decades of growing...

For those interested in listening to the entire one-hour broadcast, it is available here. The discussion was moderated by journalist Larissa Zimberoff, and featured

  • Jerry Mande, CEO of Nourish Science, “a new non-governmental organization (NGO) focused on solving the country’s current nutrition crisis,” formerly at the FDA and USDA.
  • Josiemer Mattei, Associate Professor of Nutrition at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, investigates “the genetic, dietary, and psychosocial risk factors of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease,” among other issues.
  • Kevil Hall, Senior Investigator at the National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases. He...

Here’s the headline from MedPage Today

"Pharmacist Prescribing for BP Control Makes Economic Sense"

Stat’s pharmacy newsletter echoed the MedPage sentiment. Evidently, unlike the authors at MedPage Today, I read and understood the article. Sometimes, you just have to declare shenanigans, and this economic model presented in JAMA Network Open is one of those times. Let’s begin here.

“In this simulated cost-effectiveness analysis of a 5-state Markov model, 50% uptake of a pharmacist-prescribing intervention to improve blood pressure control was associated with a $1.137 trillion in...

Medicine is notoriously slow to change, which is, in many ways, a good thing because it allows time for a concept to be tested and shown to have value. The usually 10-year process of developing a vaccine was short-circuited when COVID came to call, and Operation Warp Speed brought one to market in just a few months.

The translation of research to action has become a field of study, implementation science. For medicine, there are two distinct phases. The first, “translation to humans, is when basic science identifies a potential clinical good, be it a medication or surgical procedure. The second is “translation to patients,” as that new clinical good is tested and found to be of value or not. For context, Operation Warp Speed accelerated the second phase of the translation. There...

Sixty percent of Americans have at least one chronic illness, and 40% of us have two or more. Unlike an acute illness, chronic disease requires patient self-care; you must help yourself, at least between doctor visits. This creates a large marketplace for self-care instruction, and with such a high return on investment, social media influencers are ubiquitous, sharing content and growing an audience. We are all familiar with celebrity influencers, but in healthcare, the influencers are more often patients sharing their experience with a chronic disease. Health Union, a company pairing patient influencers with “health care opportunities,” defines patient influencers as

“the most visible and trusted health consumers. They raise...

Many Americans are seeking greater “authenticity” in their lives.  There’s nothing wrong with that unless, in the process, they’re being misled by false advertising that causes them to pay inflated prices for products that are “free from” various things that are actually beneficial, or for worthless nostrums.  Examples of false alarms include the rejection of the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), which is used to make certain plastics and as an antibacterial agent on metal coatings; and embracing the pseudo-medical practices of “naturopathy” and “homeopathy.”

BPA is used as a coating in canned food to prevent botulism and other bacteria-caused illnesses. Its protection of canned goods allows consumers better access to fruits and vegetables by safely preserving them in cans all year...

Woodstock 99 is remembered as one of the most disastrous events in music history. The three-day music festival was billed as a reboot of the original hippie-inspired Woodstock held in 1969, though it rapidly devolved into chaos. Ignited by price gouging, water and food shortages, insufficient security and sanitation services, rioting brought the concern to a tragic end.

Trash littered the festival grounds; vendor stalls and trailers were set ablaze; 1,200 attendees sustained injuries requiring medical treatment, including...

We frequently receive requests to comment on specific news stories. These are usually examples of journalists or pundits commenting on subjects they know nothing about and badly misleading their audiences as a result. Earlier this week, a dispatch subscriber asked us to review an opinion piece published in the Epoch Times: “Saying No to Glyphosate in Our Foods, Environment.”

Penned by “holistic nutrition counselor” Melissa Diane Smith, the article is a collection of misleading assertions, out-of-context study citations, and outright lies. It leaves...

Reporters like to lecture the public about the importance of science while promoting obviously unscientific ideas when it suits them. The pandemic brought this contradiction into the spotlight as news outlets like CNN, The Guardian and The Washington Post defended COVID-19 vaccines while routinely publishing sloppy stories about the dangers of pesticides and the blessings of eating organic food. 

Such inconsistency isn't exclusive to the popular press; it's very common in science media as well. Scientific American has fallen into this trap...