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There's "transplant commercialism" and “transplant tourism,” which sees patients travel abroad for transplants they might struggle to otherwise obtain quickly. Meanwhile, the global reach of social media makes it increasingly easy for organs to be offered for sale online. How common is this, and what are the larger implications? 

Monitors that continuously measure glucose levels have been recently approved for clinical use by the FDA. They are making patients' lives better, and they may provide us with a new way to better understand the dysregulation of glucose metabolism.

From the supposed need to take more time off, to accusations of being less productive on the job, there are plenty of falsehoods surrounding workers over the age of 50. Let's take a look at these dubious claims – and put them to bed once and for all.

Physicians, on average, interrupt their patients within the first 11 seconds of their visit. They do so when patients are discussing their "agendas." Is this bad manners or bad medicine?

After two decades of very tough research, Big Bad Pharma finally came up with a cure for hepatitis C – a viral liver infection that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer. So, are liver cancer rates dropping? No. That's because young Americans are drinking so much that they are destroying their livers. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals just delivered another blow to a rather-clever-but-cunning play by Allergan, the pharmaceutical giant, to game the patent system.

Plants, marine organisms and bacteria have the capacity to biosynthesize extraordinarily complex organic molecules. Those are the ones that drive chemists nuts when they try to make them synthetically. Here's the story of monensin, an antibiotic used in livestock. While it's a monumental effort to make it in the lab, bacteria can make it in their sleep. 

A new study says that the overdose-reversing drug increases opioid use, and doesn't reduce opioid-related mortality, overall, because it provides users with a “safety net” and thus encourages riskier drug use. But a public health researcher argues that it's a vital tool in fighting the overdose epidemic and too often it's hard to get when it's needed the most.

Since pets are in such close proximity to many more humans, they’re actually more likely than farm animals to transfer resistant bacteria – mainly through saliva or skin contact. Pets risk becoming reservoirs of resistant microbes that spill over into their owners with disastrous effects.

For do-gooders, the ends justify the means. Do-gooders believe they are saving the world, therefore any tactic is completely defensible. In Santa Barbara, selling a drink with a plastic straw could result in a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. 

Complementary medicine ranges from authentic stress-relieving massage to well-meaning (but expensive) placebo, to outright spurious healing claims. Researchers decided to study its impact on patients with curable cancers.

1. Jamie Wells, MD, testified at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week in favor of more transparency in science. The debate over putting an end to "secret science" and "sue-and-settle" agreements is solely a political one, but that has not prevented some scientists from circling the wagons defending a lack of transparency at the agency.

For every 1o C increase in temperature, the risk of suicide also increases by 1 percent to 37 percent. In general, heat tends to exacerbate previously existing mental illness and drug misuse.

Some activists are claiming that a "cocktail" of harmless chemicals is somehow doing something greater than the individual harmless chemicals can. These people don't just deny chemistry, toxicology and biology. They deny simple arithmetic.

While aspirin has been shown to be effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular events, there have previously been no dosage recommendations tailored to a person's weight. But a new study indicates that a weight needs to be considered to improve helpful outcomes and prevent any harmful effects from occurring.

More American drivers are dying in drug-related car crashes than they are from collisions involving just alcohol.

In the 60-and-older category, 50 percent of men and 38 percent of women are on cholesterol-lowering drugs. Is that really necessary?

While a new study highlighted the detrimental effects of isolation in an older Chinese population, it also noted that being connected to one's community and being more socially active were mitigating factors. The study also took a closer look at Asian-Americans, in general, being considered the U.S.'s so-called "model minority."

Asbestos is used in many building construction materials and vehicle products, due to its strength and ability to resist heat, fire and chemical and biological degradation. But as thousands of New York City residents are now aware, those who live near last week's steam-pipe explosion that sent a geyser of asbestos particles airborne, there's so much more to know about it.

Scribes inputting data into electronic medical records are supposed to free-up time for physicians, letting them care for their patients. But surprisingly, it may actually make care worse. Is this another example of unintended consequences? 

Funding science through the National Institute of Health is a highly competitive process. It is also highly skewed towards those who have been "successful" in the past. But does past performance predict future performance?

When business models drive medical systems, low-value care ensues. The concern is compounded by the tremendous growth in urgent-care and retail clinics. These facilities are now contributing to 40 percent of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions.

This law firm shows no concern for the truth. It fits comfortably and profitably into our postmodern world, in which truth and lies are no longer distinguishable. Unscrupulous people can make a lot of money by exploiting the public's confusion over vaccines, chemicals and pharmaceutical products.

Rather than be critical of a study that produced unsurprising results, they can instead be leveraged to help address the problem. That can be done by family members using the findings to engage hospital personnel, in order to get their assistance in making sleep more of a priority for loved-ones under their care.

Bundled payments, paying one fee for hospitalization and the next 90 days of care, reduces the cost of surgical care. But for a medical hospitalization there's no evidence of cost savings. Why?