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The first in a series of articles about all of the weird things that people put in places in their body, which then get stuck there. In short, decisions that make absolutely no sense.

One of the few places one might expect to find a soaring rate of gonorrhea infection is the piously conservative state of Utah. But, new CDC data shows that the incidence of gonorrhea is up over 400% in merely three years, from 2011 to 2014.

Roughly 40 percent of women have dense breasts, but, what does that mean in the context of breast cancer diagnosis? Turns out that having dense breasts makes mammography less effective at screening, and a recent study shows that radiologists have large variations on what constitutes a dense breast in the first place.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) V has relegated the terms substance abuse and substance dependence, replacing them with substance use. Substance use disorders (SUD) are characterized as mild, moderate, or severe according to the new diagnostic criteria which require evidence of impaired control, social impairment, risky use and pharmacological indicators (tolerance and withdrawal). The actual substances in consideration include alcohol, cannabis, hallucinogens, inhalants, opioids, sedatives/ hypnotics/ anxiolytics, stimulants, and tobacco. 

Bariatric, or weight loss, surgery works. A severely obese person might lose 50 percent of his or her excess body fat in the first year after such surgery. One question that has lingered for decades is: How long do such effects last? Another is: Do people gain back the weight that they've lost and, if so, how quickly does that happen?

Geeta Sidhu-Robb bills herself an inspirational mother of three, ex-corporate lawyer and entrepreneur who created a line of organic smoothies that she claims will detox you. Or anyone willing to give her money, really. She says her inspiration emerged because one of her children had severe food allergies, eczema and asthma and pesky medicine couldn't solve it. Really.

In 1960, a Boeing mechanic was told he had renal failure – a death sentence. But he was started on an experimental technique – dialysis – which extended his life for 11 years and made him Patient Zero in this revolutionary area in health care. Today, Medicare spends more than $10 billion on dialysis, medications and laboratory testing for some 370,000 patients.

We know you hate guessing games so lets' get right to the answer. An alarming 58 eight countries or territories currently have active Zika transmission. And those do not include those countries where someone brought it back home after becoming infected on a trip. Here's the breakdown.

Being around smokers is almost as weird for e-cigarette users as it is non-smokers.

One of the latest contributions from the Huffington Post to the national dialogue comes courtesy of self-described teenage "food safety activist" Rachel Parent, who skyrocketed to fame after giving an anti-GMO talk for Tedx, and debating Kevin O'Leary. Her new article is titled "GMO Propaganda Has No Place In Your Child's Classroom." She then goes on to regurgitate her own propaganda.

In case you're wondering, it isn't just you that has more than your share of accidents. Hundreds of thousands of people per year do, as well. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that unintentional injuries are the No. 3 cause of death in the United States and account for 1 of every 4 visits to the emergency room.

Researchers in Pittsburgh studying the effectiveness of email say that the electronic process is rife with miscommunication, exchanges between parties often have a difficult time conveying feelings properly, and most interestingly that emails among friends are no more effective than those between total strangers. 

We all know aerobic exercise -- running, swimming, walking briskly -- is good for the heart. Apparently it's also good for the brain, too. Researchers wanted to know what happens to the brains of older folks who exercised vigorously and often, if they stopped exercising. The report of their study was published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

When it comes to picking produce at the grocery store, don't judge a book by its cover! Spotted fruits and veggies aren't spoiled or harmful — they've simply been through a lot, and they need a little TLC.
 
 

The American Academy of Pediatrics wants to guide clinicians on “Countering Vaccine Hesitancy” among parents. This policy statement, published in the journal Pediatrics, rightly champions vaccination as "one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century." There is just one problem; pediatricians actually don't need more guidelines and protocols.

Roughly 1 in 3 women douche, but there is no good health reason to do so. Douching can change the makeup of the bacteria that normally live in the vagina, and it can even make women more susceptible to STDs. Now, researchers have added another concern: Douching appears to increase the risk of infection with HPV (human papillomavirus), which causes cervical cancer. 

Sometimes drugs behave very well. They do what they are supposed to do, and do it well, maybe even without side effects. We are fortunate to have one of these that works against a very common infection — herpes simplex virus.

Over the course of the past few weeks Mylan has replaced Turing and Valeant as the most scrutinized and critiqued pharmaceutical companies in the United States. Though politicians and pundits have claimed the problem is Big Pharma, the issue of price-gouging is far more pervasive among generic drugs.

We understand that a hungry child needs help and that school systems are socially efficient means of providing this assistance. But really: criticizing school principals for prioritizing academics over meals? What's next -- McDonald’s stressing reading over Happy Meals? 

Fortification of enriched grain foods with the B vitamin folate has been mandated in the U.S. and Canada since 1998. Since then, the prevalence of central nervous system defects in babies has decreased, as was the purpose of the fortification. A recent Canadian study indicates that such fortification has also reduced the prevalence of several heart malformation — an unexpected benefit.

Breastfed babies who consume a particular type of sugar in their milk are more likely to be protected from colonization by Group B Streptococcus — a bacteria, which is a major cause of meningitis and other serious ailments in newborns. These sugars — oligosaccharides — are thought to encourage the growth of non-pathogenic bacteria in the baby's GI tract which, in effect, "crowds out" the dangerous ones.

A new study confirms something that we believed was true, yet couldn't be sure of. Research published online in the journal Pediatrics concludes that when concussion victims are removed more quickly from physical activity after a collision and have additional time to recover before resuming play, the intervention significantly speeds recovery time and reduces concussive symptoms.

A vaccine for herpes? Is it possible? Maybe.

While you were out barefoot skiing this summer, we were holding down the fort in steamy Manhattan, defending evidence-based science and medicine and debunking hype. (But we're not complaining; that's what we do!) So, in case you missed it, here are the top 10 most popular articles we published this summer.

In an effort to halt what some pediatricians are calling a rising tide in vaccine hesitancy, the American Academy of Pediatrics have released a statement urging states to crack down on parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. The recommendations go as far as stating that pediatricians reserve the right to exclude anti-vaccine families from the practice who refuse to change their minds.