To what degree does a patient’s belief that treatment will succeed influence care outcome? Can a study of treating appendicitis with antibiotics shed some light on the role of faith in our care?
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Meryl Streep, a proud Vassar grad, recently received a Distinguished Alumni Award from her alma mater. But rather than stress her stellar career as an actor, she discussed an earlier moment as a citizen-scientist. “Once you know how to search out and credit the facts around certain problems, you are called on by your conscience to act on them. The Vassar conscience rings a bell in your head; it’s a call to action in your heart.” The problem? Alar.
I was supportive when governmental institutions told me to social distance and mask up. I bristle when they tell me that there should be no medical or surgical management for gender dysphoria for those under 18, even with parental consent. The science for both is unclear and unsettled. Are my feelings driven by politics or something else?
Let's say that your car gets 300 miles on a full tank of gas. Would you expect it to go 600 miles with a half tank? Or 1,200 with a quarter tank? If that sounds crazy welcome to Homeopathy World, where the same "logic" applies. This article might not get your car to go further but it could save you the 20 bucks you might otherwise throw away on Arnica.
Last week I stopped breathing. If it was not for my wife, who gave me some breaths, and the village of people who subsequently cared for me, we would be speaking through a Ouija Board.
It’s now been established that vaccination may be the last best hope of stemming the tide of increasing COVID-19 infections. We are currently in the 5th round of vaccinations, all of which performed as expected in the laboratory, hence their FDA certifications. However, vaccine effectiveness in the field depends on human elements that are not controllable in a free society.
The activist group Friends of the Earth and its cheerleaders at The Guardian say soaring pesticide use is poisoning millions of people and killing thousands. True to form, they have misused the evidence to make their case.
Mandating vaccination isn’t the greatest governmental policy. Catherine the Great knew that back in 1768 – more than two hundred and fifty years ago. Maybe politicians should look to history for ideas on what works when influencing population behavior. Perhaps they should also eschew involving themselves in scientific matters where they are ignorant.
Not that they asked my advice, but if a group is going to pour food on a famous oil painting, in a protest against oil companies, don't you think that they should have at least chosen the right food?
Sepsis is an overwhelming infection: bacterial, viral, or fungal. It requires immediate medical attention and intervention. EPIC, the company with the largest share of the electronic medical records market, developed an algorithm to help physicians timely identify at-risk patients. An independent study shows that it is not helpful. Is this healthcare’s 737Max moment?
Dr. Jay Joshi explains PRN and how it can help or harm pain patients.
An Israeli group has discovered that some cancers can be identified by blood tests that identify the DNA of different fungi that grow within different tumors. Could this be a breakthrough in cancer screening? Or maybe more? A strange but fascinating theory.
Hardly a day goes by when the "opioid crisis" doesn't make the news. But as you'll see, alcohol causes far more damage in terms of addiction, health problems, deaths, and economic impact yet is rarely mentioned. Why the discrepancy? It just doesn't add up.
Dr. Jeffrey Singer has written repeatedly about the "iron law of prohibition" and how it has contributed to soaring drug overdose rates, as generally safe medications are replaced by those that are far more dangerous. Not, it's not fentanyl. A class of illegal narcotics called nitazenes is now making the rounds, leaving devastation in its path.
The Non-GMO Project claims that drought-tolerant crops won't help "feed the world" as climate change threatens crop yields. The evidence says otherwise.
Hearing loss, frequently due to exposure to loud noises, is a significant health problem. Its biological underpinning may well be due to what we consider a trace mineral: zinc.
In a recent radio conversation with John Batchelor on CBS Eye on the World, we discussed plants' need for nitrogen, the use of fertilizers, and the potential for genetic engineering to maintain agricultural productivity and reduce detrimental environmental impact.
Are you better off now than before? It depends
Illegal markets in sand
A Beginner’s Mind Looks at Immunology
The political philosophy of Silicon Valley
Lawmakers think they can stem the flow of illicit fentanyl and its analogs into our country by seizing the assets of organizations trafficking the drug and its precursors. If that approach worked, organized crime would be a relic of the past. What they don’t understand is that even worse, that approach may make the nitazene crisis arrive ahead of schedule.
Lars Larson and I discussed on-air the declining rates of vaccination, as reported by both the World Health Organization and in FDA Commissioner Robert Califf's recent article about a potential tipping point in U.S. vaccinations.
The arrival of the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if. In order to be prepared for it, we will need government-funded basic science in universities and the collaboration of drug companies experienced in vaccine research and development. A "universal" vaccine – one that protects against infections by both existing and new variants – would be an important advance.
Scaling often refers to the ability of a system, application, or network to handle an increasing amount of work, users, or data. Scalability in human behavior considers how individual actions aggregate to form group dynamics, social institutions, and even global phenomena. As we continue to urbanize and our cities grow larger, it is increasingly vital to understand not just the use of resources but the creation of waste.
The magic of comfort food lies in its ability to nourish both body and soul. While few argue that it enriches one’s soul, providing solace and comfort, some believe that improvements can be made in bodily nourishment.
This story begins with a simple question: What is the prevalence of substance use disorders in patients surviving cancers? The “substances” in those use disorders can be causes of cancer and, more often, self-treatments for the stress and pain.
In this radio conversation, John Batchelor and I discuss the effectiveness of vaccines and the challenges posed by new variants of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) such as the now-dominant JN.1.
Pagination
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