After five COVID vaccines of varying types in the last 3 years, I’m stopping. How often and how frequently should we vaccinate? That billion-dollar question remains unanswered. BC, i.e. before COVID, vaccination was, at most, a twice-early event for influenza. Most other vaccinations were recommended for anything between once for the childhood series (measles, mumps, rubella) to […]
Health & Medicine
A neoteric’s view
Our healthcare systems are bleeding beyond any hope of life-saving transfusions. Massive cuts are being made in direct patient services. Junior staff are being asked to take on more responsibility and work in riskier, often violent environments for the same pay. So, do our senior administrative staff deliver to the level of their remuneration? High […]
There are many roads we can travel with our medications. We can keep adding medications as the number of health problems we develop increases. We can stop taking medications as the side effects of these medications compound, or when our symptoms ameliorate. Once we start on a medication pathway, there are consequences. Despite that, very […]
The 20th century obsession with differentiating disease causality determined by whether we have XX or XY genes may be outdated. Now that we are accruing large datasets of genetic material in biobanks, the impact of the other 22 genes and their billions of variations is emerging. Block quote: The curation of Biobanks should not be left to […]
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a misnomer. There is nothing “artificial” about the origins of a system that purports to perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and language comprehension. After all, AI is only as good as the information it synthesizes, which comes from human sources and the derived algorithms, […]
Wellness is big business. Everybody wants it and there are many providers ready to offer a route to the panacea. In addition, disinformation and lax regulations have allowed health and wellness products to flourish and prosper without the rigor and evidence requirements of prescription medicines. While some vendors are prosecuted for their misleading claims, very […]
The more we describe the human body, the less we really understand it. The latest enigma is the immune system. It is a complex, and ever-changing ecosystem composed of many cell types that constantly interact with their environment to protect our bodies and maintain our internal equilibrium. Maybe soon we will be able to buy […]
In medical school we are taught to begin a consultation with an open-ended question such as, “How can I help you?” The top ten diseases clinicians record following an initial encounter include: upper respiratory tract infections, hypertension, arthritis, diabetes, depression, pneumonia, acute middle ear infection, back pain and dermatitis. That’s in developed countries. It’s a little different in developing […]
COVID lockdowns are fortunately behind us, and vacations are making a huge comeback. But how safe is it to holiday, especially on a ship? Cruise carriers bear a duty to keep their passengers safe. Despite the decrease in the number and severity of COVID cases, there are of course still risks in everyday life. Masks are no […]
Some people do not feel lonely when alone, while others may feel lonely even when surrounded by other people. The most widely described examples of this dichotomy come from studies of older residents in community dwelling facilities. Nearly all such residents feel at least moderately lonely (60%) or severely lonely (35%). Loneliness is a very expensive health problem. […]
Sex matters as much as gender. Sex differences still have an impact on the health of our populations. Despite an increased enrolment of women and the beginnings of understanding sex differences, very little has moved to explore these issues in the last three decades. Most clinical studies still do not include sex-specific analyses. It’s enough to keep […]
The World Health Organisation has outlined what it considers the top issues on the health care horizon for the next decade and beyond. As usual with any large consensus organization, the issues outlined are like spent stars – they were shining brightly once but are probably dead already. Let’s redesign, rename, revamp and reinvest. So , rather […]
To keep working healthily and in health care of course. But what doctor would want to work in any health care institution these days? Especially when at least 25% of our practicing time is spent on administrative and quality issues. Sure, some administrative activities, such as patient scheduling or staff hiring, are part of the core activities […]
Excess prescribing of pharmaceuticals is a nightmare for both patients and prescribers. It’s much easier to add one medication after another than to take a patient off any. After all, if one is good, aren’t two or three better? And in countries that lack robust primary care, multiple specialists may prescribe multiple medications without any cross referencing. […]
All of us are trying to be more eco-conscious as our planet reels from the current spate of pandemics, extreme weather conditions, food insecurity and conflict. Reusable water bottles have become a talisman of this concern – especially reusable plastic bottles. How safe is your water bottle? Little is known about the migration of chemicals from […]
Stress has become one of the most popular words in common usage. It is a scapegoat for a variety of health problems. Vast amounts of scientific work confirm that stress affects physical and mental health. Stress is just another a natural response body response. Distress isn’t. Linking stress to a range of common diseases is statistically easy. […]
Many countries are relaxing their restrictions on cannabis. It’s been a long time since a psychoactive drug based on a plant and already widely used illicitly has been regulated. That is not surprising, given the trajectories of use and abuse of three of the older regulated products – opioids, tobacco and alcohol. Can THC help? […]
The monosodium glutamate job is still around. The kind of job that satiates when you are in it …. but half an hour after leaving for the day, you feel empty and wonder, “Why I am still doing that job?” Then the next day you come back for more of the same. Most of these jobs are […]
The Prim, Regents Park Road, London
Now that COVID occurs in people who are vaccinated and/or treated, it is time call a truce. The fact that COVID continues to be part of our daily lives requires an ecological view of our relationship to our environment, which includes all living organisms and those that live within us. We must make friends of […]
The Thinker 