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What is perchlorate? And is it dangerous?

Until a few moments ago, I, too, had been a victim of "tl,dr." In fact, I had the disease but did not know its name. Tl,dr is an acronym to “Too long, didn’t read.” Admit it, you have suffered from the same malady, but help is on the way.

Science and democracy, when museums were the source of scientific education, and what's the real deal with Prevagen?

Statistics and science aren't the same thing. Moreover, statisticians aren't fortune tellers, yet we continue to treat them as if they are. It's time to stop.

Nearly a year into the pandemic, can we begin to make some definitive statements about the transmission of COVID-19 between individuals, based on a patient’s symptoms or testing? A meta-analysis provides some answers. (Or at least it gets us into the ballpark.)

The infectious period for a COVID patient is thought to be 10-20 days, based on the severity of the disease. One patient, however, was shedding virus for 105 days and was infectious for 70 of them.

As the election drew closer, several scientific journals took the unprecedented step of endorsing a Presidential candidate. The cries of "politics polluting science" are met by equally vociferous shouts of "It's about time. Make the madness stop." As with many beliefs, the Age of COVID requires the relationship between science and politics to be rediscovered and refashioned.

The false narrative that prescription drugs caused the opioid crisis has been relentlessly undermined by evidence to the contrary, yet it remains. It may have suffered a ding here and there, but it's still mostly intact. But if evidence really matters, Dr. Jeffrey Singer just gave it another ding. Maybe even a dent. From 2019.

Pfizer and Moderna are producing fewer but more effective (and pricier) vaccines, while AstraZeneca is making a greater number of less effective (and cheaper) vaccines.

Antioxidants are one of the holy grails for marketers of a wide variety of food and supplemental products. For many, the term "antioxidant" has become synonymous through repetition with better health and the prevention of a myriad of ailments. In essence, antioxidants have been misconceived to be a magic bullet for health and longevity.

One change that COVID-19 has wrought is moving patient care from the office back into the home. While there are definitely growing pains for patients and physicians, there are some real gains as reported in Circulation last week.

From greasy menus to double-dipping, the COVID pandemic will help us say goodbye to some nasty cultural practices.

There's no doubt that COVID-19 infections are spiking. State and local governments are introducing a range of lockdown strategies. Super spread is real, but it varies from place to place. So how do we decide where to draw the line? Are our leaders making this up as they go? A new paper may help science lead the way.

Why is Facebook free? Walking the thin line between genetics and social determinants. Does history repeat itself? Turkeys in the time of COVID-19. Ten "scientifically proven" songs that will make you happy.

A new paper attempts to create the best estimate for the COVID infection-fatality rate (IFR), which answers the question, "If I get sick, what is the chance that I will die?" Beware: The virus discriminates.

We got some very good news in the past week. Vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna greatly exceeded expectations. But Drs. Seley-Radtke and Bloom argue in the Duluth News Tribune that antiviral drugs will still be needed, no matter how good the vaccines are.

Opposition to the use of biotechnology to enhance agriculture was always based on junk science. But now these anti-GMO activists look downright silly as cutting-edge biomedical science rescues us from COVID.

For decades, using rational arguments, scientists failed to convince European politicians of the importance of biotechnology, including gene editing. The reason is that Europe is convinced it is on the side of great virtue.

Hey, pain patients: You've got company. Me! Thanks to a herniated disc in my neck I'm going through some of the same stuff I have been writing about for years. Stuff that you're well aware of. With one exception. You did not wake up with a bowl of blueberries in your bed.

Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has canceled Thanksgiving as part of a new COVID lockdown. The Grinch of Whoville couldn't have created a better policy.

We've just gotten a whole bunch of good news – news we really needed – about finally getting the upper hand against COVID-19. Two vaccines, both more than 90% effective at protecting clinical trial participants against the disease, were announced just seven days apart. These numbers are well beyond expectations, but some critically important questions linger. Here they are. The answers will determine how successful the vaccines will be.

Medscape is a website focused on those working in healthcare. They recently ran a survey on some ethical dilemmas facing physicians.

Almost 100 years ago, Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel about a doctor trying to elevate scientific discovery over the pursuit of wealth that often accompanies the practice of medicine.
The story was about young Dr. Martin Arrowsmith, who discovers a new treatment for bubonic plague. It appears the drug works – but without rigorous controlled experiments, who can be sure?  Arrowsmith wants to play by the scientific rules and hold off universal dispensation until he can "prove" the efficacy of the treatment using controlled studies -- all the while people are dying around him.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have tried several means to reduce healthcare spending, notably bundling services for procedural care and the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) for primary care. A new study looks at cost savings in the primary care model.

COVID-19 has brought supply chains more prominently into our lives. Those include getting toilet paper onto store shelves, assuring take-out food gets delivered, as well as deliveries being made during the Christmas season. And the first COVID-19 wave revealed our Strategic National Stockpile cupboards were mostly bare. (Spoiler Alert: The "why" has far more to do with logistics than political affiliation.)